Sixth day of Christmas
             
1 John 2: 12-17 & Luke 2:36-40
 
What is God’s will? In the first of his letters, St. John outlines five ways we do God’s will: letting  our sins be forgiven on account of his name, knowing God who is from the beginning, conquering the evil one, being strong in the Lord, and allowing the word of God to rest in us.  Anna, who was a prophet present in the temple when Joseph and Mary presented Jesus there, was an example of such faithfulness.  Lord God, let me, like Anna, faithfully do your will.  
                        
From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. (John 1 ) 
 
Of the Father’s love begotten,
Ere the world began to be, 
He is Alpha and Omega, 
He the Source, the Ending He. 
Of the things that are that have been, 
And that future years shall see, 
Evermore and evermore. 
 
O that birth forever blessed!
When the Virgin, full of grace, 
By the Holy Ghost conceiving 
Bare the Saviour of our race, 
And the Babe, the world’s Redeemer, 
First revealed his sacred face, 
Evermore and evermore. (Prudentius AD 348-413 tr. JMN1861)
          
Soli ad gloriam dei
 

 Fifth day of Christmas
                                                         
Luke 2:22-35
 
Simeon, the man who affirmed Jesus’ role as Messiah to his parents, was a righteous and devout man fulfilling his own role in the kingdom of God. Luke tells us that the Holy Spirit rested on him.  For years Simeon had made place for the Holy Spirit - to descend into the spaces in his life, fashioned by his ‘looking forward to the consolation of Israel’; to alight within the hours he had spent in meditation and contemplation; to enflame his words and actions given over and opened up to the will of God. Lord God, let me, like Simeon, let your Holy Spirit rest on me. 
                        
Whoever says, “I abide in him” ought to walk just as he walked. (1 John 2 ) 
 
Of the Father’s love begotten,
Ere the world began to be, 
He is Alpha and Omega, 
He the Source, the Ending He. 
Of the things that are that have been, 
And that future years shall see, 
Evermore and evermore. 
 
O that birth forever blessed!
When the Virgin, full of grace, 
By the Holy Ghost conceiving 
Bare the Saviour of our race, 
And the Babe, the world’s Redeemer, 
First revealed his sacred face, 
Evermore and evermore. (Prudentius AD 348-413 tr. JMN1861)
          
Soli ad gloriam dei

A Blessed and Happy Christmas season to you and your family!  A newly polished Christmas poem follows. May it bless you in the reading as much as it did me in the writing ... so that in you, too, there will be new life unfolding, soul freed, Joy released.
 
Bev
 
                                                         New Creation
 
Behold through Christ Jesus you are a new creation.  Old things are passed away; all things are become new. [2 Corinthians 5:17]
 
Sweet straw in stable, manure and cobwebs,
Shadows of lamp and nestling beasts,
Armloads of fresh hay bedded in manger,
Shelter and home, night of stars and of peace.
 
First tightenings, water gushes.
Groans of pain, all else hushes.
Mother by God’s will, Fathered by Spirit,
In deep rhythms of travail, hands by man gripped.
 
Building waves opening; deep release through heart,
Babe within stirs, bones yield and part.
Child’s head cresting then body unfolds,
As Body from body, man new life beholds.
 
 
Water, blood gushes: babe is born.
Water, blood gushes: Son’s side is torn.
This Life Incarnate, so life incarnates:
Holy birth: Birth is holy.
 
Soul in travail; guts wrenching, heart throbbing,
Eyes gushing water, bleeding soul-wounds.
Babe stirs within me, Fathered by Spirit,
New life unfolding, soul freed, Joy released.
 
His Life Incarnate, so life incarnates:
Holy Birth: Birth is Holy.
bhi 2001,2002,2014

1 Samuel 2 & Luke 1:46-56 
Holy Spirit, let my spirit rejoice in God my Saviour . ..   
Even in the midst of darkness and oppression, my spirit is always free to rejoice in God, in Christ Jesus, the redeemer of humankind. Rejoicing is not as much a response of emotion, as it is a decision to turn towards the eternal Truth and Grace of God’s love for us, ‘his people’.  During this season of Christmas I choose to let my spirit rejoice in God my Saviour.  I wonder how much of the joy of Mary, Joseph, the shepherds, the angels, and of Jesus himself, I can find?  Holy Spirit, let my spirit rejoice in God my Saviour.   
My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God, my Saviour. (Luke 1) 
Soli ad gloriam dei    

Malachi 3:1-6 & Luke 1:57-66
 
When Zechariah’s protests to the Lord’s way for his life were silenced for nine months while his son John the Baptist was in the womb,  his heart was purified and refined to desire only God’s will for himself, his wife Elizabeth and their child. When he named his son, he proclaimed the prophecy given him by the angel, set straight all the family, friends and neighbors, who wanted to follow other ideas,and pronounced the truth “God is gracious!” (the meaning of  John). Am I open to having my heart so purified and refined that I like Zechariah rejoice in God’s will alone? Purify and refine my heart, O God.  

He leads the humble in what is right, and teaches the humble his way. (Psalm 25)
 
Soli ad gloriam dei