Ave Maria

Pastor Kelcie sang this during our Service of the Nativity yesterday... it was a powerful moment in worship for me. This is one of the most beautiful renditions I've heard. I just thought I would share. 

"The angel said to her, 'Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.'" ~ Luke 1:30-33, NRSV

The Sound of Hope

One of the most powerful Christmas songs ever written “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day” was penned by the famous American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.  Christmas of 1860 was a truly blessed time in the Longfellow house.  Henry, Fanny and their five children spent the time at their beautiful home in Cambridge.  It was a Kodak moment.  But, everything changed that year.  Fanny was killed in a tragic fire, the country was in the middle of civil war, and their oldest son was crippled in the war. That year he wrote in his journal, “How inexpressibly sad are the holidays.  A merry Christmas’ say the children, but there is no more for me.”  And then he heard the church bells ringing and wrote these words:

 

I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day

Their old familiar carols play,

And wild and sweet the words repeat

Of peace on earth, good will to men.

 

I thought how, as the day had come,

The belfries of all Christendom

Had rolled along the unbroken song

Of peace on earth, good will to men.

 

And in despair I bowed my head:

"There is no peace on earth," I said,

"For hate is strong and mocks the song

Of peace on earth, good will to men."

 

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:

"God is not dead, nor doth he sleep;

The wrong shall fail, the right prevail,

With peace on earth, good will to men."

 

Till, ringing singing, on its way,

The world revolved from night to day,

A voice, a chime, a chant sublime,

Of peace on earth, good will to men!

 

God is not dead!  Light and love will overcome the darkness.  The Kingdom will come.  As we journey through the wilderness, may we be a people who walk in the Way of peace, promise, and joy – knowing that in the end love wins.  I pray that your holiday is filled with something much better than presents – I pray that it is filled with God’s Presence.