And ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appears.
Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.
(Latin hymn translated by John M. Neale, 1851, Thomas Helmore, 1854.) Based on one of the earliest forms of music known - the Chant or Plain Song.
This beautiful hymn calls us to remember the meaning of the Christmas season...the arrival of Jesus' first coming and expectation of Christ's second coming still ahead. Rejoice! We can sing these words over and over during the Advent season.
At our house, the Christmas decorations are mostly in place now. It is kind of a hodgepodge of things collected over the past 52 years. Somewhere along the way, I gathered several creches and three of them are on display. My decorations aren't something you would see in "House Beautiful," rather they are meaningful only to me. There is a lot of blue because I love that color: blue lights on the tree, blue bows on the light fixtures next to the fireplace, a blue scarf on a pudgy little snowman, (made by granddaughter Piper years ago), and a blue tablecloth.
The creches are the focal point of Christmas for me. I hope to remind anyone who comes, that Jesus is number one in my Christmas.
"In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin's name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, "Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you," (Luke 1:26-28 NIV).
Heavenly Father God, Thank You for this season of preparation for the birth of Your Son, and His arrival as a human baby on this earth- that You alone created. Thank You for the Christmas lights that remind us of Jesus' arrival as Emmanuel, the Light of the World. Thank You for sending Him to be born a baby in Bethlehem, as foretold hundreds of years before. We Rejoice! Amen.
We give God the Glory.
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