Year's End

A prayer from the “Valley of Vision” that has been one of my favorite for many years is called “Year’s End”.  The prayer is as follows.

O Love beyond Compare,
Thou art good when thou givest,
when thou takest away,
when the sun shines upon me,
when night gathers over me.
Thou hast loved me before the foundation of the world,
and in love didst redeem my soul;
Thou dost love me still,
in spite of my hard heart, ingratitude, distrust.
Thy goodness has been with me another year,
leading me through a twisting wilderness,
in retreat helping me to advance,
when beaten back making sure headway.
Thy goodness will be with me in the year ahead;
I hoist sail and draw up anchor,
With thee as the blessed pilot of my future as of my past.
I bless thee that thou hast veiled my eyes to the waters ahead.
If thou hast appointed storms of tribulation,
thou wilt be with me in them;
If I have to pass through tempests of persecution and temptation,
I shall not drown;
If I am to die,
I shall see thy face the sooner;
If a painful end is to be my lot,
grant me grace that my faith fail not;
If I am to be cast aside from the service I love,
I can make no stipulation;
Only glorify thyself in me whether in comfort or trial,
as a chosen vessel meet always for thy use.

Prudentius hymn on the Epiphany Stanzas 1-4

Lift up your eyes, whoe'er ye be
That fare the new-born Christ to see:
For yonder is the shining sign
Of grace perennial and divine.

What means this star, whose piercing rays
Outshine the sun's resplendent blaze?
'Tis token sure that God is come
In mortal flesh to make His home.

No courtier of the realms of night
Nor monthly moon's bright acolyte,
This star directs the course of day,
Sole sovereign of the heavenly way.

Although the Bears their track retrace,
Nor wholly their clear beams efface,
Yet ofttimes 'neath the dun cloud's haze
They hide themselves from mortal gaze.

Augustine on Christmas

When the maker of time, the Word of the Father, became flesh,
He gave us His day of birth in time.
Today Christ is born.
And He, without whose bidding no day runs it’s course,
In His incarnation reserved one day for Himself.
God Became man.
For He, Himself, with the Father, precedes all spans of time,
But on this day, issuing from His mother, He stepped into the tide of years.
Glory to God!
Man’s Maker was made man, that He, Ruler of the stars,
Might nurse at His mother’s breast,
That the Bread might be hungry, the Fountain thirst,
The Light sleep, the Way be tired from the journey.
Glory to God, Wonderful circumstance.
The Word was made flesh that the Truth might be accused by false witnesses,
The judge of the living and the dead by judged by a mortal judge.
Justice be sentenced by the unjust, the Teacher be beaten with whips,
The Vine be crowned with thorns, the Foundation be suspended on wood!
That Strength might be made weak, that He who was well might be wounded,
That Life might die.
Alleluia!
Glory to God in the highest!

Prayer after Christmas Day (Thomas Cranmer)

Almighty God, which hast given us thy only begotten son to take our nature upon him, and this day to be born of a pure Virgin; Grant that we being regenerate, and made thy children by adoption and grace, may daily be renewed by thy holy spirit, through the same our Lord Jesus Christ who liveth and reigneth with thee and the holy ghost now and ever.  Amen.

Prayer for Christmas Day (from collects of Thomas Cranmer)

God, who makest us glad with the yearly remembrance of the birth of thy only Son Jesus Christ, grant that as we joyfully receive him for our redeemer, so we may with sure confidence behold him when he shall come to be our judge, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, now and ever. Amen.

Merry Christmas

How are we to think of the Incarnation? The New Testament does not encourage us to puzzle our heads over the physical and psychological problems that it raises, but to worship God for the love that was shown in it. For it was a great act of condescension and self-humbling. “He, who had always been God by nature,” writes Paul, “did not cling to his privileges as God’s equal, but stripped Himself of every advantage by consenting to be a slave by nature and being born a man. And, plainly seen as a human being, he humbled himself by living a life of utter obedience, to the point of death, and the death he died was the death of a common criminal” (Phil 2:6-8 Phillips). And all this was for our salvation. . . .

The crucial significance of the cradle at Bethlehem lies in its place in the sequence of steps down that led the Son of God to the cross of Calvary, and we do not understand it till we see it in this context. . . . The taking of manhood by the Son is set before us in a way which shows us how we should ever view it — not simply as a marvel of nature, but rather as a wonder of grace.

– J. I. Packer, Knowing God, Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1993; pp. 58-59.

Candlelight Service

There are many reasons I love Christmas, one of my favorite is when I gather with my church family particularly around Christmas Eve candlelight service.  It has become a tradition these last several years around Calvary Baptist, and continues to be one of our largest community turnouts of the year.  If you are in the area, we worship together on Christmas Eve at 5:30 p.m.  The service lasts thirty minutes so it will be an appropriate commencement to your Christmas eve evening traditions.