Aches and Praise Four Hundred & Eighty One

November 26, 2020
 
 
Dear friends,
 

For the past ten years, Karen and I have had the joy of travelling to Connecticut for American Thanksgiving, first to visit our daughter Candace’s boyfriend’s family, and for the past three years to visit Candace and Richie, and see his family and friends. This year we were able to see them on our cell phone and are thankful for this technology. To all our American friends we wish you a blessed Thanksgiving.

As we look ahead to celebrating the birth of Christ in a few weeks, our thoughts turn to the story of the shepherds watching their flocks in the fields around Bethlehem. What an amazing night it was when “an angel of the Lord stood before them and the glory of the Lord shone around them” (Luke 2:8-9). In the December 2020 issue of “Turning Points” magazine, Dr. David Jeremiah shares some interesting information about a famous Christmas novel and a popular Christmas song. In “A Christmas Carol,” Charles Dickens put the comma after “you” instead of after “merry” and he changed “God rest” to “God bless” in the song that the carolers sang: “God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen.”

Dr. Jeremiah observes: “No one knows who wrote the lyrics originally – it was a traditional song from the 1500s. In that era, ‘God rest you merry, gentlemen’ meant something different than we might imagine today. It didn’t mean, ‘God give you merry gentlemen rest!’ It meant, ‘Gentlemen: May God keep you happy and content!’ That certainly complements the next lines: ‘Let nothing you dismay, for Jesus Christ our Savior was born upon this Day.’… The 1775 version of the carol had a verse (rarely included in today’s versions) that mentioned the Bethlehem shepherds:

With sudden joy and gladness,                                                                                      
The shepherds were beguil’d,                                                                                
To see the Babe of Israel                                                                         
Before His mother mild.                                                                             
O then with joy and cheerfulness                                                         
Rejoice each mother’s child.                                                                   
And its tidings of comfort and joy.”

May we consider the lyrics of the Christmas carols that we sing in the coming weeks and adore the One who left the splendour of Heaven to come to Earth to save us from our sin.

Scripture for the weekend: “Then the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told them.” Luke 2:20 (NKJV)

Thought for the weekend: “Truth is like a good mirror. The more truth around you, the better view you can get on everything.” – Priscilla Shirer (from her devotional book “Unseen – The Prince Warriors”)

 

By His grace,
 

Steve


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