A New Poem for Christmas 2015  

Posted by Benjie in , ,


Christmas Is . . .
(for Christmas Eve 2015)


Christmas is a time for stories;
Christmas is a time of thought;
Christmas is a time for worship;
Christmas is a time of song.

          Christmas is for little children;
          Christmas is for those we love;
          Christmas is for all the nations;
          Christmas is for everyone.

--Benjamin Potter, December 21, 2015

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Joy for All  

Posted by Benjie in , ,

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The Christmas season is filled with joy. We see it on the faces of those around us—even in the hustle and bustle of last-minute dashes to the market for a forgotten gift or a missing ingredient. We hear it in on the air as the bell-ringers fill the skies from one end of town to the next. Joy just seems to ooze out of everyone. Sometimes we’re afraid that the “Scrooge” in our life will break his face because he dons his annual smile for the Christmas spirit.
The joy is for all believers as we join with B. E. Warren in singing the chorus: “It is joy unspeakable and full of glory, full of glory, full of glory; It is joy unspeakable and full of glory, Oh, the half has never yet been told.”
The joy is for all people as the message of Christ, humbling Himself to our level, makes it possible of anyone who will believe to have eternal life.
            The joy is for all time because when Jesus brought the joy to a manger-bed filled with hay some two thousand years ago, it permeated all of existence—from creation to last breath. It never wears out.

You love Him, though you have not seen Him. And though not seeing Him now, you believe in Him and rejoice with inexpressible and glorious joy.  (1 Peter 1:8)

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Purpose-Filled Love  

Posted by Benjie in , ,

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Around this season of the year we speak of Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love more often than at other times. The gifts that are painstakingly purchased with more than just a passing thought (or perhaps made with someone special in mind), then wrapped with the most tender care that the giver can muster, are offered as tokens of love.
The example of this love is the first and greatest gift of Christmas—Christ the Lord. Christina Rossetti reminded us of this love in a poem she entitled “Christmastide”:

Love came down at Christmas,
Love all lovely, Love Divine;
Love was born at Christmas,
Star and Angels gave the sign.

Sometimes the simplest of gifts carry with them the greatest abundance of the Love that they represent. This Christmas share love—in a smile or kind word to the frazzled store clerk, in a coin or bill or check dropped into a bucket for charity, in a pleasant and loving disposition for the world to see the Love that came down at Christmas.
 
Therefore, be imitators of God, as dearly loved children. And walk in love, as the Messiah also loved us and gave Himself for us, a sacrificial  and fragrant offering to God.  (Ephesians 5:1-2)

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Peace of Heart  

Posted by Benjie in , ,

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Jesus’ disciples were anything but at peace. They had embarked over a calm sea to get to a restful place, and then a storm came up out of nowhere. Jesus was found to be sleeping in the back of the boat. Rousting Him from His sleep, the disciples begged for help from the Master. With a word (translated “Peace, be still”) Jesus brought calmness back to the lives of His followers.

That is the effect that He has on the hearts of those who believe. When the Angels visited the shepherds in the hill country outside of Bethlehem, they brought the news that the Baby born that night would bring peace on earth and good will for those who found their comfort in Him.

While there may be anything but calm going on around us in the form of a physical storm, economic decay, political unrest, or unbridled crime, Jesus can reach into the storming of our hearts and bring peace. This is the message of Christmas: Peace. The peace on Earth that is spoken of and sung about during this season is the heart work of the Christ of Christmas.

[A]nd the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.  (Philippians 4:7)

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