Friday 24 December, the Eve of the Birth of Our Lord
The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; for to us a child is born, to us a son is given. (Isaiah 9.2,6).
Daniel Bonnell Seeing Shepherds. Click the image for a larger rendition.
Every person and every diverse sort of person exists for a unique joy, the joy of being who they are in relation to God, a joy which each person will experience differently. And when I encounter another, I encounter one who is called to such a unique joy; my relation with them is part of God’s purpose in bringing that joy to perfection—in me and in the other. This doesn’t rule out the tension and conflict that are unavoidable in human affairs—sometimes we challenge each other precisely so that we can break through what it is in each other that gets in the way of God’s joy, so that We can set each other free for this joy.
This, surely, is where peace on earth, the peace the angels promise to the shepherds, begins, here and nowhere else, here where we understand What human beings are for and what they can do for each other. The delighted reverence and amazement we should have towards the things of creation is intensified many times where human beings are concerned. And if peace is to be more than a pause in open conflict, it must be grounded in this passionate amazed reverence for others.
The birth of Jesus, in which that power that holds the universe together in coherence takes shape in history as a single human body and soul, is an event of cosmic importance. It announces that creation as a whole has found its purpose and meaning, and that the flowing together of all things for the joyful transfiguration of our humanity is at last made visible on earth.
— Rowan Williams, "The Marriage of Heaven and Earth", Christmas Day Sermon 2007. In Choose Life. London: Bloomsbury, 2013, pp. 56-7.
2 Samuel 7:1-5, 8-11, 16
Now when the king was settled in his house, and the Lord had given him rest from all his enemies around him, the king said to the prophet Nathan, ‘See now, I am living in a house of cedar, but the ark of God stays in a tent.’ Nathan said to the king, ‘Go, do all that you have in mind; for the Lord is with you.’
But that same night the word of the Lord came to Nathan: Go and tell my servant David: Thus says the Lord: Are you the one to build me a house to live in? Now therefore thus you shall say to my servant David: Thus says the Lord of hosts: I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep to be prince over my people Israel; and I have been with you wherever you went, and have cut off all your enemies from before you; and I will make for you a great name, like the name of the great ones of the earth. And I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them, so that they may live in their own place, and be disturbed no more; and evildoers shall afflict them no more, as formerly, from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel; and I will give you rest from all your enemies. Moreover, the Lord declares to you that the Lord will make you a house. Your house and your kingdom shall be made sure for ever before me; your throne shall be established for ever.
Psalm 89.19-29
Then you spoke in a vision to your faithful one, and said:
‘I have set the crown on one who is mighty,
I have exalted one chosen from the people.
I have found my servant David;
with my holy oil I have anointed him;
my hand shall always remain with him;
my arm also shall strengthen him.
The enemy shall not outwit him,
the wicked shall not humble him.
I will crush his foes before him
and strike down those who hate him.
My faithfulness and steadfast love shall be with him;
and in my name his horn shall be exalted.
I will set his hand on the sea
and his right hand on the rivers.
He shall cry to me, “You are my Father,
my God, and the Rock of my salvation!”
I will make him the firstborn,
the highest of the kings of the earth.
For-ever I will keep my steadfast love for him,
and my covenant with him will stand firm.
I will establish his line for ever,
and his throne as long as the heavens endure.
Luke 1:67-69
Then his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke this prophecy:
‘Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,
for he has looked favourably on his people and redeemed them.
He has raised up a mighty saviour for us
in the house of his servant David,
Greetings Friends, by Ian Frazier. Extracted from New Yorker, 18 December 2017 (with two tiny changes).
Another Yuletide at the door:
The wreath left on it since before
The Christmas of two-oh-two-one—
A goodly while ago, I mean—
Is up to date now once again.
And I can yet remember when
I hung it, in a better time
Well antecedent to this rhyme.
So come on in! The light is lit,
The dark still can't encompass it;
A vast supply of grateful gladness,
Above the current badness/madness,
Prompts us to spread good will promiscuous
And warmest greetings all Christmas-cuous! . . .
Christmas has one thing about it:
Despite the very worst who tout it,
They can't destroy it. Though they try,
It does outlast them by and by.
Angels flying ever higher,
Singing in the heav'nly choir
"Joy to the World" and "First Noël,"
Can the season's secrets tell:
Love one another, peace is near;
All people will be welcome here.
Thus, good friends, let hearts be merry!
Two-oh-two-two might bring us very
Different luck than we've had lately—
Fates improving bigly, greatly,
Spirits to protect and guide us,
Inspiration strong inside us,
Clearer vision, wiser choices.
Hear our better angels' voices.
St. Florianer Sängerknaben: »Wer klopfet an?« ["Who knocks?" St. Florian Boys' Choir.] The melody and text have been handed down from C19th Upper Bavaria and Austria.
1. "Who knocks?" "Oh two very poor people!"
"What do you want?"
"O through God's love we ask open your huts for us!"
"Oh no, no, no!"
"Oh, let us in!"
"It can't be."
"We will be grateful."
"No, no, no, it can't be.
Just go away, you won't come in."
2. "Who's at the door?"
"A woman with her husband."
"What do you want?"
Let us stay with you today. God will reward you with everything! "
"What are you paying me?"
"We have no money!"
"Then get out of here!"
"O open the door for us!"
"Oh, don't make me angry, pack yourselves there, go somewhere else! "
3. "What are you crying?"
"We freeze with cold."
"Who can do that?"
"Oh, give us quarters! Everywhere we are outcast, every gate is closed to us!"
"So stay out!"
"Oh, open the house for us!"
"Nothing will come of it."
"Show us another house."
"There go to the next door! I don't have space, just go from here!"
4. "Just go away!"
"O friend, where to, where from?"
"A cattle shed there!"
"O Joseph, go out!"
"Oh my child, according to God's will you must feel the poverty!"
"Now get away!"
"Oh, that harsh word!"
"To the cattle shed there!"
"Oh, probably a bad place!"
"Well, the place is good for you; you don't need much, you just have to go at once!
VOCES8 sings 'Sing Joyfully' by William Byrd in Grace Cathedral in San Francisco, USA. Psalm 81, verses 1-4: Sing joyfully to God our strength; sing loud unto the God of Jacob! Take the song, bring forth the timbrel, the pleasant harp, and the viol. Blow the trumpet in the new moon, even in the time appointed, and at our feast day. For this is a statute for Israel, and a law of the God of Jacob.
Piotr Illitch Tchaikovsky (1840-93) "The Hymn of the Cherubim", from the Liturgy of St John Chrysostom, Op. 41, no.6. (1878). INTRADA Vocal Ensemble, dir. Ekaterina Antonenko.
Eternal God, who made this most holy night to shine with the brightness of your one true light: bring us, who have known the revelation of that light on earth, to see the radiance of your heavenly glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
May the Lord, when he comes, find us watching and waiting. Amen.