Readings (Click the links to see the readings)

Isaiah 40.1-11 | Psalm 96.7-13 | Matthew 18.12-14 |

Christmas Poem
by G.K. Chesterton

There fared a mother driven forth
Out of an inn to roam;
In the place where she was homeless
All men are at home.
The crazy stable close at hand,
With shaking timber and shifting sand,
Grew a stronger thing to abide and stand
Than the square stones of Rome.
For men are homesick in their homes,
And strangers under the sun,
And they lay their heads in a foreign land
Whenever the day is done.
Here we have battle and blazing eyes,
And chance and honour and high surprise,
But our homes are under miraculous skies
Where the yule tale was begun.
A child in a foul stable,
Where the beasts feed and foam;
Only where He was homeless
Are you and I at home;
We have hands that fashion and heads that know,
But our hearts we lost — how long ago!
In a place no chart nor ship can show
Under the sky's dome.
This world is wild as an old wife's tale,
And strange the plain things are,
The earth is enough and the air is enough
For our wonder and our war;
But our rest is as far as the fire-drake swings
And our peace is put in impossible things
Where clashed and thundered unthinkable wings
Round an incredible star.
To an open house in the evening
Home shall all men come,
To an older place than Eden
And a taller town than Rome.
To the end of the way of the wandering star,
To the things that cannot be and that are,
To the place where God was homeless
And all men are at home.

Prayer

Show forth your power, O Lord, and come. Come in your great strength and help us. Be merciful and forgiving, and hasten the salvation which only our sins delay. Let neither our daily work nor the cares of this life prevent us from readiness to meet your Son. Enlighten us with your wisdom and lead us into his company. Amen.

"Let the sea roar and all that fills it ..." Psalm 96.11
Ansell Adams. Dillion Beach, California (1964).

"Let the Seas roar", from Lessons Learned, by the Jersey Corn Pickers.