For the Shepherds (if one may speculate and think of groups representatively), there is to be brought unique gift and purpose, as in the following:
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Click on picture/movie and listen as you read.
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God in the details, God in the grand,
God in the mystery, God in the sand;
God of the large and God of the small,
Micro and macro, telling it all.
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Poets’, preachers’ letters, words —
Strong and weak, inspire to share,
Dull shepherds, mighty angels’ chantry:
Stories lift like birds in air.
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Winter Solstice presents us with the dichotomy of beauty and struggle in both nature and human relationship.
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We wake, staying over at friends, and the day is heavy with falling snow. The large, slowly falling flakes flicker and shift and gently touch the ground. There is no wind.
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Real worth is found in the Babe of Bethlehem, in the Christ of Glory!
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Prudentius Clemens Aurelius lived between 348 and 410 AD. A lawyer by training he was for many years employed in the civil service of Spain.
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Sometimes, somehow, despite the business of the Season, there can be a strange calm that settles upon us, even upon us last-minute, late-evening shoppers.
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A narrated video describing the captivity and release of ancient Israel from the Egyptians, but their subsequent 40 year wandering in the wilderness between the place of bondage and the Land of Pro
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I love all the Christmas music -- the cantatas, the carols. I also really like some old Christmas poems. Here’s one by Christopher Fry” -
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Christmas by Candlelight: St. John's Prologue
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I play for my own amazement (erm, amusement) and in wonder and joy at the Message of Christmas.
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Oh does it?! - and do they?! . . . Hmmm.
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I think that every person – their presence, their uniqueness, their face and body, their giftedness, the contribution of their life – says something about God, the God who created each one of us.
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In many cold climes Advent days are short and cold.
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They say one can never really go home again - that to go home is to find that all has changed, that everything has become very different from how you remember it.
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I've been thinking about God and how God can be known in the world, in His creation, in how God orders and sustains the universe.
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John 1:11 - "He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him."
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We are always thrilled to hear of the birth of the baby. Conflicting emotions of joy and sorrow well up within.
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Advent means waiting.
But actually, I hate waiting. I’m one of the most impatient people you’ll meet.
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God told Job that at the creation of the world "the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy."
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The People that walked in darkness have seen a great light; upon them that live in the shadow of the valley of death, upon them has the light shone . . .
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Our planet is but a small spec in a galaxy which is itself part of billions of stars and planets. And yes, from a distance it seems so beautiful, so ordered, peaceful and calm.
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Is there a more poignant and powerful carol than: ‘Joy to the World’ ? Well actually, I love them all, all the carols.
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I like the fact that Christians 'keep score' and 'tell time' in another way besides the usual bottom line(s) of life and the mere chronology of the passing hours and days.
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So why a rooster, the first Sunday of Advent?!
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So, we're past 'frost on the pumpkins' and moving right on to snow on the apples. I hate it when autumn's splendour goes, though I love (in another overall sense) the passing of the Seasons.
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Advent is a Season of waiting. Christians begin a new wait (not a wake, though we should come awake) each year, as the Christian Calendar commences it's own season passings.
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I survive another November, my least favourite month of the year, and my spirit skips and my heart begins to lean, as in childhood years, towards the coming of Christmas.
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Winter has its unique beauty. We try to capture its essence in picture, poem and song but it must be experienced to be appreciated – and respected.
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The cold of winter comes to us and each year we are shocked just a little.
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