OzThoughts Thursday 24th December 2009

OzThoughts Thursday 24th December 2009

Phillips Brooks catches the quietness of Christmas:

[Listen: http://www.salvoaudio.com/audio/music/mus_433.mp3 ]

O little town of Bethlehem,
How still we see thee lie!
Above thy deep and dreamless sleep
The silent stars go by.
Yet in thy dark streets shineth
The everlasting light;
The hopes and fears of all the years
Are met in thee tonight.

For Christ is born of Mary;
And, gathered all above,
While mortals sleep, the angels keep
Their watch of wondering love.
O morning stars, together
Proclaim the holy birth,
And praises sing to God, the King,
And peace to men on earth.

How silently, how silently
The wondrous gift is given!
So God imparts to human hearts
The blessings of his Heaven.
No ear may hear his coming;
But in this world of sin,
Where meek souls will receive him, still
The dear Christ enters in.

O holy Child of Bethlehem,
Descend to us, we pray;
Cast out our sin, and enter in,
Be born in us today.
We hear the Christmas angels
The great glad tidings tell;
O come to us, abide with us,
Our Lord Immanuel.
Author: Phillips Brooks (1835-93)
The Salvation Army Song Book: Song Number:86

There is plenty of boisterous things happening about Christmas. It is a noisy season. I know many of us reading this add to the noise. There is the bands playing, the choirs singing and for some the bells ringing.

For some it is the sounds of house cleaning and the noises of a busy kitchen as Christmas treats are prepared early. For others it may be the hammering and sawing as special items are constructed in the workshop.

There was a quietness about the first Christmas. The shepherds listened to the bleating sheep and were alert for other sounds in the night. The quietness was broken by a most unexpected sound: the sound of an Angel speaking. Then there was the beautiful sound of the heavenly choir. Bethlehem was still asleep as the Shepherds arrived at the stable and found the baby in the manger and Mary and Joseph sitting quietly smiling at their child and each other as proud new parents do.

The wise men came up on camels. The soft pads of the camel’s feet silently moving along the hard stone street. Quietly the wise men dismounted and conversed with Mary and Joseph and presented their gifts. Then just as silently as they came , they left.

At least one song writer imagines the quietness of the occasion, if not the accurate truth of the matter when he writes “but little Lord Jesus no crying he makes”.

Many years ago the Prophet Isaiah recorded the words “in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength” Isaiah 30:15b KJV).

Seek out the quiet time in your hectic schedule of this season so you can be at peace with your God as you worship his Son.

PRAYER:

Heavenly Father, I come quietly to you. The world rushes by, but help me to renew my strength in these special moments I spend with you. Amen.

Isaiah 9:1-7 (The Message)
Isaiah 9
A Child Has Been Born—for Us!
1 But there'll be no darkness for those who were in trouble. Earlier he did bring the lands of Zebulun and Naphtali into disrepute, but the time is coming when he'll make that whole area glorious— the road along the Sea, the country past the Jordan, international Galilee.
2-7The people who walked in darkness
have seen a great light.
For those who lived in a land of deep shadows—
light! sunbursts of light!
You repopulated the nation,
you expanded its joy.
Oh, they're so glad in your presence!
Festival joy!
The joy of a great celebration,
sharing rich gifts and warm greetings.
The abuse of oppressors and cruelty of tyrants—
all their whips and cudgels and curses—
Is gone, done away with, a deliverance
as surprising and sudden as Gideon's old victory over Midian.
The boots of all those invading troops,
along with their shirts soaked with innocent blood,
Will be piled in a heap and burned,
a fire that will burn for days!
For a child has been born—for us!
the gift of a son—for us!
He'll take over
the running of the world.
His names will be: Amazing Counselor,
Strong God,
Eternal Father,
Prince of Wholeness.
His ruling authority will grow,
and there'll be no limits to the wholeness he brings.
He'll rule from the historic David throne
over that promised kingdom.
He'll put that kingdom on a firm footing
and keep it going
With fair dealing and right living,
beginning now and lasting always.
The zeal of God-of-the-Angel-Armies
will do all this.

Where is Christ in Christmas?

“Where is Christ in Christmas?” they ask.
I am too busy to answer as I do another task.
I have decorated the house and the tree
Oh yes they said this year they would help me.
However again I am stuck with all the chores
Things to do and things to make without a pause
Then after that there is the Christmas cake to make
And I mustn’t forget the fruit mince pies to bake.

“Where is Christ in Christmas?” I now ponder
As I do my Christmas chores my mind does wander.
“Where is Christ?” the wise men asked of Herod the King
But he joined the chorus who would ask the same thing
“Where is he?” said his parents on their way from Jerusalem
When suddenly they found he wasn’t travelling with them.
He was in the Temple among the wisest men of God
Doing His Father’s will He did not find at all so odd.

Where is Christ in Christmas? I now begin a list
To think of those who Christ never missed
I think of crowds but he found Bartimeus blind,
The lepers and a man in the tombstones out of his mind
A boy with his lunch and a woman at Jacob’s Well
And a woman who touched the hem he made well.
It is strange how a carpenter tells of seeds in the ground
And the one sheep, one coin and a son that must be found.

Where is Christ in Christmas? How could I face
The comments if he came to stay at my place?
Some said he will stay with them in Jericho
Surely to one of the Temple Priest’s place he’ll go.
However after all their preparations and endless fuss
He goes off with that little Tax Collector Zacchaeus.
Oh how it irritates the religious leaders when
Jesus says he is more at home with sinful men.

Where is Christ in Christmas? I think again
Surely he will be with the influential men?
The Pharisees, and scribes, the whole pious lot
Who say they live their lives without a sinful blot.
I hear he’s gone with Matthew and his friends to dine.
Drink more likely with that lot so fond of their wine.
Then when they wake to take in the morning’s fresh air
They find He is out in the garden alone and at prayer.

Where is Christ in Christmas? The thought arises
That he is off to Bethany before the sun rises
To spend the time there with Mary and Martha
(Why wasn’t Lazarus their brother called Arthur?)
“Where was Christ?” they asked when Lazarus died
But Jesus raised him to live as He too wept and cried.
They say that Martha is busy about the house doing chores
But Mary spends all her time with Jesus she adores.

Where is Christ in Christmas? It seems to me
That he is not always where we want Him to be.
We look for him in churches with or without a steeple
But more often he is out there among the people
I saw him the other day with a lady old and tired
Not a woman by her dress or manner admired
But there he was with her without any great fuss
Helping her with all her parcels to catch her bus.

Where is Christ in Christmas? Surely I dream
But to me it really, yes, it really did seem
In the shopping mall he was sitting in red
As a young blind and crippled child was led
To request a simple toy on this old man’s knee
And bring a tear to the eye of many more than me.
It may be my crazy imagination running wild
But surely it was Christ who hugged that child.

Where is Christ in Christmas? I simply pray
Christ be with us all on this Christmas day.
With my family and the crowds to church I will go
Personally to worship Christ and Him better to know.
I really want to know and see Christ in every place
To see Him in the Christmas joy on every face.
Thank Him that even in every necessary chore
I can come and you my Lord, Jesus Christ adore.
Author: Ray Reese
Christmas 2003

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