Tag: advent devotional

A Canticle for Advent: What Our Good God For Us Has Done

barnstormingblog4 Comments
The Nativity by Le Nain, Antoine and Louis (d.1648) & Mathieu (1607-77)
The Nativity by Le Nain, Antoine and Louis (d.1648) & Mathieu (1607-77)
Good people all, this Christmas time,
Consider well and bear in mind
What our good God for us has done
In sending his beloved son
With Mary holy we should pray,
To God with love this Christmas Day
In Bethlehem upon that morn,
There was a blessed Messiah born
The night before that happy tide
The noble Virgin and her guide
Were long time seeking up and down
To find a lodging in the town
But mark right well what came to pass
From every door repelled, alas
As was foretold, their refuge all
Was but a humble ox’s stall
Near Bethlehem did shepherds keep
Their flocks of lambs and feeding sheep
To whom God’s angel did appear
Which put the shepherds in great fear
Arise and go, the angels said
To Bethlehem, be not afraid
For there you’ll find, this happy morn
A princely babe, sweet Jesus, born
With thankful heart and joyful mind
The shepherds went the babe to find
And as God’s angel had foretold
They did our Saviour Christ behold
Within a manger he was laid
And by his side a virgin maid
Attending on the Lord of Life
Who came on earth to end all strife
There were three wise men from afar
Directed by a glorious star
And on they wandered night and day
Until they came where Jesus lay
And when they came unto that place
Where our beloved Messiah lay
They humbly cast them at his feet
With gifts of gold and incense sweet.
~Traditional Irish — the Wexford Carol 12th century

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2b6URDdh_7A

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Em3xPQvC8PI

 

“‘We would have healed Babylon,
but she cannot be healed;
let us leave her and each go to our own land,
for her judgment reaches to the skies,
it rises as high as the heavens.’

10 “‘The Lord has vindicated us;
come, let us tell in Zion
what the Lord our God has done.’
Jeremiah 51: 9-10

 

Even when I am weary,
one foot in front of the other
in the humble chores of the barn,
so cold I no longer
remember what was
once sweaty summer work,
now hands aching in an arctic wind
that shows no mercy.

I know respite comes, refuge is near.
I will remember what our good God
has prepared for us in such a place as this,what He has done to bring us home
when we are aching for Him.

 

A Canticle for Advent: Give Him My Heart

barnstormingblog1 Comment

fencenorth

In the bleak midwinter, frosty wind made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone;
Snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow,
In the bleak midwinter, long ago.

Our God, Heaven cannot hold Him, nor earth sustain;
Heaven and earth shall flee away when He comes to reign.
In the bleak midwinter a stable place sufficed
The Lord God Almighty, Jesus Christ.

Enough for Him, whom cherubim, worship night and day,
Breastful of milk, and a mangerful of hay;
Enough for Him, whom angels fall before,
The ox and ass and camel which adore.

Angels and archangels may have gathered there,
Cherubim and seraphim thronged the air;
But His mother only, in her maiden bliss,
Worshipped the beloved with a kiss.

What can I give Him, poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb;
If I were a Wise Man, I would do my part;
Yet what I can I give Him: give Him my heart.
~Christina Rossetti 1872

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0aL9rKJPr4

7 Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 8 And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.
2 Corinthinians 9:7-8

In bleak weather, as so many of us are experiencing today, it is a chore to do chores and a chore to be cheerful.  The arctic winds are moaning everywhere around the farm, the earth now hard as iron, all water like stone.
Yet to this misery He chose to come, knowing He was to be hurt, to bleed, to join us in pain.

How can I hold back my heart from One like this?   It is all I have of any value to Him.  It is what He came for, to take back with Him.

A Canticle for Advent: Boundless Grace of Face

barnstormingblog2 Comments
The Holy Night by Carlo Maratta
The Holy Night by Carlo Maratta

My love and tender one are you
My sweet and lovely son are you
You are my love and darling you
Unworthy, I of you

Haleluia, haleluia, haleluia, haleluia.

Your mild and gentle eyes proclaim
The loving heart with which you came
A tiny tender hapless bairn
With boundless grace of face

Haleluia, haleluia, haleluia, haleluia.

King of Kings, most holy one
Gone the sun eternal one
You are my god and helpless son
High ruler of mankind

Haleluia, haleluia, haleluia, haleluia.

My love and tender one are you
My sweet and lovely son are you
You are my love and darling you
Unworthy, I of you

Haleluia, haleluia, haleluia, haleluia.
~Traditional Gaelic carol Taladh Chriosda (Christ Child Lullaby) from the Hebrides

Another translation:

My love, my pride, my treasure oh
My wonder new and pleasure oh
My son, my beauty, ever You
Who am I to bear You here?2. The cause of talk and tale am I
The cause of greatest fame am I
The cause of proudest care on high
To have for mine, the King of all.3. And though You are the King of all
They sent You to the manger stall
Where at Your feet they all shall fall
And glorify my child, the King.		 4. There shone a star above three kings
To guide them to the King of kings
They held You in their humble arms
And knelt before You until dawn.5. They gave You myrrh and gave You gold
Frankincense and gifts untold
They traveled far these gifts to bring
And glorify their new born King. 

19 But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.
~Luke 2:19

This lullaby sings of the paradox of this special child: at once God and helpless baby.  Mary bore a Son bearing boundless grace for her and us all.
Unworthy, we of You.  Yet You came and will come again.

A Canticle for Advent: Dewdrops are Shining

barnstormingblog1 Comment

thistledowndrizzle

Hail the blest morn, See the Great Mediator
Down from the regions of glory descend
Shepherds go worship the Babe in the manger,
Lo, for His guard the bright angels attend.

Brightest and best of the sons of the morning,
Dawn on our darkness and lend us Thine aid;
Star of the East, the horizon adorning,
Guide where our infant Redeemer is laid.

  1. Cold on His cradle the dewdrops are shining;
    Low lies His head with the beasts of the stall;
    Angels adore Him in slumber reclining,
    Maker and Monarch and Savior of all!
  2. Say, shall we yield Him, in costly devotion,
    Odors of Edom and offerings divine?
    Gems of the mountain and pearls of the ocean,
    Myrrh from the forest, or gold from the mine?
  3. Vainly we offer each ample oblation,
    Vainly with gifts would His favor secure;
    Richer by far is the heart’s adoration,
    Dearer to God are the prayers of the poor.
    ~Reginald Heber 1811

 

 

After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. 11 On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.
Matthew 2:9-11

Advent is the expectancy of receiving God on earth, the unimaginable gift to Man that keeps on giving.
Yet in the anticipation of receiving that ultimate gift, we tend to forget that we ourselves bring something to lay down at the manger.
It isn’t gilded containers of rich and rare spices.
It is our own hearts,  offered with humble prayer of gratitude and adoration.
We give our gift knowing that in the giving, our lives will never be the same again.
Who else would accept such a gift and hand over His heart and life in return?