It’s Over.
I am always amazed how the anticipation of Christmas grows and grows in intensity, then, the moment the date has passed, it ends immediately, like a popped balloon, and I’m left with a feeling of shock and an immediate pressure to pick up the pieces. There’s no decrescendo, no gentle descent back into normal. On the twenty-sixth, people are pulling down decorations, tearing down the tree. The radio stations go back to their regular cycle of music, stores start putting out Valentine’s Day stuff. We live in a move-on kind of culture, don’t we? Where we anticipate and look forward to something, then once it’s arrived, we’re over it. I…
“O Come Let Us Adore Him” – Advent Week Four
O Come All Ye Faithful Joyful and triumphant, O come ye, O come ye to Bethlehem. Come and behold Him, Born the King of Angels; O come, let us adore Him, O come, let us adore Him, O come, let us adore Him, Christ the Lord! Come Yesterday, I attended the funeral of a friend’s father. While I had only met the man once, I shed many tears during the service as friends and loved ones shared, especially hearing about his passionate love for Christ and others. The church was overwhelmingly filled with people who had been recipients of that love, and it was truly humbling to see the impact…
“His Law is Love and His Gospel is Peace” – Advent Week Three
Truly He taught us to love one another; His law is love and His gospel is peace. Chains shall He break for the slave is our brother; And in His name all oppression shall cease. Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we, Let all within us praise His holy name. Won by Love Though I grew up in a Christian home, I did not become an official follower of Jesus until I was in middle school. Sure, I had begged Jesus many times to come into my heart to save me from Hell, but that fear-based decision wasn’t a conversion at all. It wasn’t until I was an…
7 Christmas Songs that Make me Cry
Music has always been an essential part of the Christmas season. While I like some of the fun, classic songs of the season, my favorite Christmas songs will never be heard on the radio. The songs I revere most are the ones that move me, whether for the gorgeous instrumentation, the vocals, or the text to which its set. Here are seven Christmas songs that make me cry. O Come, O Come, Emmanuel This is my favorite Christmas hymn. I love the mystery of it. This arrangement by The Piano Guys is so beautiful and mysterious and simple, it moves me. O Nata Lux I am a…
“Amid the Cold of Winter, When Half Spent Was the Night” – Advent Week Two
Lo, how a Rose e’er blooming From tender stem hath sprung! Of Jesse’s lineage coming, As men of old have sung. It came, a flow’ret bright, Amid the cold of winter, When half spent was the night. Darkness Eight years ago, I went through a dark night of the soul. As a result of an unusual circumstance in which my safety was compromised, I began to descend into a deep valley, one overgrown with anxiety, loneliness, and doubt. The worst of it was around Christmastime. Instead of the love, hope, joy, and peace characterized with the season, I was experiencing incapacitating fear, hopelessness, depression, and unrest. And I endured…
