Merry Christmas!
Happy birthday, Jesus! He IS the reason for the season and it remains a wondrous mystery that He would voluntarily leave the glories of Heaven to be born in the worst possible conditions, shunning all earthly advantages except loving parents, for the express purpose of dying a horribly painful death after hours of torture... all to pay for our sins. All to be sure we had a chance to spend eternity with Him, yet serving justice, too, for He could not turn His back on evil, leaving it unpunished any more than we could serve justice by letting murderers and rapists, and all manner of lawbreakers go unpunished.
So we joyfully celebrated His life.
And His death.
And His resurrection.
Yesterday, Brian and Athena were here and we had a wonderful time with them. The meal was great (if I do say so myself) and even included Figgy Pudding which Athena and Brian made. We ate and opened gifts and visited and played a game... and mostly just enjoyed being together.
Last night, we went to a candlelight service at the Vine. It was amazing and we were so blessed to be there. God has filled so many in our church family with musical and ministerial talent, and they poured out their hearts and gifts for us all to share as we celebrated the King's birth, life, death and resurrection. After the inspiring service, there were desserts and fellowship, topping off a splendid Christmas Eve all day and all night.
Today, we went over to Brian's folks' house for a lovely meal and a time of getting to know each other. Not unexpectedly, Brian's family are quite personable and it was a real pleasure to spend time with them.
When we arrived home, our neighbors invited us over for a meal and a time of celebration. We were still stuffed from the Christmas dinner we'd just had, but we accepted anyway. Our sweet neighbors are from the Island of Trinidad in the Caribbean and wanted us to sample their native foods. There was also music and dancing spilling out from the garage to driveway and on into the street.
Now, we are home again. All in all, we've been well loved and well fed. God has blessed us in every way! Happy birthday, Jesus!
So we joyfully celebrated His life.
And His death.
And His resurrection.
Yesterday, Brian and Athena were here and we had a wonderful time with them. The meal was great (if I do say so myself) and even included Figgy Pudding which Athena and Brian made. We ate and opened gifts and visited and played a game... and mostly just enjoyed being together.
Last night, we went to a candlelight service at the Vine. It was amazing and we were so blessed to be there. God has filled so many in our church family with musical and ministerial talent, and they poured out their hearts and gifts for us all to share as we celebrated the King's birth, life, death and resurrection. After the inspiring service, there were desserts and fellowship, topping off a splendid Christmas Eve all day and all night.
Today, we went over to Brian's folks' house for a lovely meal and a time of getting to know each other. Not unexpectedly, Brian's family are quite personable and it was a real pleasure to spend time with them.
When we arrived home, our neighbors invited us over for a meal and a time of celebration. We were still stuffed from the Christmas dinner we'd just had, but we accepted anyway. Our sweet neighbors are from the Island of Trinidad in the Caribbean and wanted us to sample their native foods. There was also music and dancing spilling out from the garage to driveway and on into the street.
Now, we are home again. All in all, we've been well loved and well fed. God has blessed us in every way! Happy birthday, Jesus!
© 2006 by Iona Hoeppner
| 6:34 PM
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