I know I have not written in quite some time...close to a month...but I cannot blame it all on being busy with family, the Nutcracker, etc. At least some of it (probably the larger portion) has to be attributed to lack of discipline coupled with my tendency to procrastinate. (By the way, if I may just say a little something about the Nutcracker, I had a blast!! It was so much fun! I hope I get to do it again next year!) In any case, I wanted to write something in celebration of Christmas and the gift of love God gave us in the person of His Son, Jesus Christ. I wrote a poem earlier this month, but I also want to include two songs (which I did not at all write) which I love and find particularly meaningful (and not just because one of them is actually a Christmas carol) because, like my poem, they don't just proclaim Christ's birth, they look ahead (implicitly or explicitly), to the fulfillment of what He was sent to do...which was to die (a horrible, undeserved death on a criminal's cross) for us so we don't have to pay the penalty for our sin.
"O LITTLE TOWN OF BETHLEHEM" (written in 1868 by Bishop Phillips Brooks)
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 Emmanuel!
"LORD OF THE DANCE" (by Sidney Carter)
I danced in the morning
When the world was begun,
And I danced in the moon
And the stars and the sun,
And I came down from heaven
And I danced on the earth
At Bethlehem
I had My birth.
(chorus) Dance, then, wherever you may be,
I am the Lord of the Dance, said He,
And I'll lead you all, wherever you may be,
And I'll lead you all in the dance, said He
I danced for the scribe
And the pharisee
But they would not dance
And they wouldn't follow Me.
I danced for the fishermen,
For James and John~
They came with Me
And the dance went on.
(chorus)
I danced on the Sabbath
And I cured the lame;
The holy people
Said it was a shame.
They whipped and they stripped
And they hung Me on high
And they left Me there
On a cross to die.
(chorus)
I danced on a Friday
When the sky turned black~
It's hard to dance
With the devil on your back.
They buried My body
And they thought I'd gone,
But I am the Dance
And I still go on.
Dance, then, wherever you may be,
I am the Lord of the Dance, said He,
And I'll lead you all, wherever you may be,
And I'll lead you all in the dance, said He.
ODE TO A BABY (written by me on 12/02/2008. I am not sure of the title. Suggestions?)
Real lasting joy and
the peace we all crave
from cradle to grave
comes not through the things
of this earth.
It comes by faith in
a promise of love
from the Father above,
through a babe born of
humble birth.
This heaven-sent gift~
the Majestic One,
Jesus, Divine Son,
came to a waiting
world below.
Separated from
God by our sin and
the evil within
we were lost, without
hope, and so
it pleased God to send
His heavenly child;
this babe, meek and mild,
who grew to a man
full of grace.
Jesus, He who saves,
did the work of God
while on earth He trod...
gave all for the whole
human race.
By death on the cross
His work was complete.
What looked like defeat
was not, it was true
victory!
His birth, life, and death
our future secured,
by faith in the Lord,
restoration for
you and me!
