“Then the king will say to those on his right, ‘Come, my Father has blessed you! Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world. I was hungry, and you gave me something to eat. I was thirsty, and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger, and you took me into your home. I needed clothes, and you gave me something to wear. I was sick, and you took care of me. I was in prison, and you visited me.’ “Then the people who have God’s approval will reply to him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you or see you thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you as a stranger and take you into our homes or see you in need of clothes and give you something to wear? When did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ “The king will answer them, ‘I can guarantee this truth: Whatever you did for one of my brothers or sisters, no matter how unimportant they seemed, you did for me.’
The people of this country never cease to amaze me, when I seen the news on ITV on Christmas Day I heard about the idea that a couple of railway workers had which resulted in London’s Euston train station being filled with the homeless for a Christmas Dinner I thought this was brilliant. They also said that this may be a thing that may be repeated each year, let’s hope so. Let’s also pray that it may catch on in our major cities throughout the country as well.
Questions For You and Me
By Jacob Folger
Stuffed and overflowing stockings hanging by the fireside
Pretty plastic candlelights glowing in the night
Sticky candy canes hanging from pine tree boughs
This all presents questions, I will in this poem pose.
When a little kid with Christmas time coming round
The joyful music, it seemed was the only sound
But really, I wonder now what it all means to me
Is it all about that perfectly shaped and lighted Christmas tree?
Little, sweet baby Jesus sleeping in some straw
It seems to me that someone might notice a little flaw
What is the difference between that dirty man without a home
And the King of Kings that almost all of us must have known?
And tell me what was that message that He gave to you and me
Before His life was ended on that old and lonely tree?
Was it all about just taking care of little, selfish me?
Or is there more here, more for all of us to see?
I asked a lot of questions in this poem this Christmas Eve
I guess this time of year, the cold, and the suffering that I see
Fills my head and heart with old and sad memories
I am hoping that maybe from it all we will not always flee.
Little, sweet baby Jesus sleeping in some straw
It seems to me that someone might notice a little flaw
What is the difference between that dirty man without a home
And the King of Kings that almost all of us must have known?
37 On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.”[c]39 By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.
I suppose you as well as myself will have noticed the number of appeals that went out from different charities over the Christmas period for different things.
The other night I seen this appeal on TV for clean water and it showed the difference it could make to the lives of those in poor countries
The thing that has really stuck in my mind about this advert is the joy on some of the children’s faces when they were drinking ‘Clean tap water’ for the first time
Verse 1 Life is a journey; long is the road, And when the noontide is high Souls that are weary faint ‘neath their load, Long for the waters, and cry:
Chorus The well is deep and I require A draught of the water of life, But none can quench my soul’s desire For a draught Or the water of life; Till one draws near who the cry will heed, Helper of men in their time of need, And I, believing, find indeed That Christ is the water of life.
Verse 2 Life is a seeking, life is a quest, Eager and longing desire; Unto the true things, unto the best, Godward our spirits aspire.
Verse 3 Life is a finding; vain wand’rings cease When from the Saviour we claim All we have longed for, solace and peace, And we have life in his name.
17 Mercy to the needy is a loan to God, and God pays back those loans in full.
When I look a the meaning behind this proverb I realise what a powerful statement it is.
In order to become true Christians we do need to show mercy on the poor, and God will pay us back in full
There are many ways that we can do this, we can attend to the needs of the poor in countries not so well off as our own.
Many Cities and large towns will have soup runs run by some sort of organisation for the down and outs in our towns and cities.
Also for those families who can’t afford to go to the big supermarkets many churches or organisations run ‘Food banks’ for those on a low income
We mustn’t forget the money that gets raised by the various churches and organisations to be distributed both in the UK and overseas.
On the lead up to Christmas some churches have a shoe box appeal for the less fortunate children overseas who wouldn’t normally be recieving a Christmas present
Most children nowadays seem to connect the above truck and Santa Claus with Christmas, I even seen one for Aldi supermarkets and The John Lewis advert (and yes as a young Christian I to also thought santa was real until one year my mother and father decided to put central heating in the house blocking off the chimney.
Whilst I am out carolling each year with The Salvation Army Band I am always amazed by the amount of people adults and children alike stop and listen even if it is for a few moments.
Let us not forget that ‘Jesus is the reason for the season’ a baby born to Mary and Joseph in a stable in Bethlehem
Mathew 1 V 21 “She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”
Whilst sat watching Pointless (a quiz show in the UK). One of the questions recently was about ‘Greats’ and the clue was the ruler of Judea from 37-4BCE. I was so busy puzzling what BCE meant I never got round to answering the questions. Thanks to google I found it means Before Common Era. What???? Apparently, BCE has now replaced BC to avoid any reference to Christianity and, in particular, to avoid naming Christ as Lord. For me that is the last straw. We are turning into a heathen country where we cannot mention the name of Jesus, unless it is to take his name in vain. A day I fear I will never see, I fear my children and my grandchildren will never see, when…
At the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, Every tongue confess him, King of glory now. ‘‘Tis the fathers pleasure we should call him Lord, Who from the beginning was the mighty word
Clara H. Scott (1841-1897) provides us with a hymn of consecration that has been sung for over 100 years. A Midwesterner, she was born in Illinois and died in Iowa.
In 1856, Scott attended the first Music Institute held by C.M. Cady in Chicago, Ill. By 1859, she was teaching music at the Ladies’ Seminary, Lyons, Iowa. She married Henry Clay Scott in 1861, and published in 1882 the Royal Anthem Book, the first volume of choir anthems published by a woman.
Horatio R. Palmer, an influential church musician in Chicago and later New York City, was a source of encouragement for Scott, and helped her publish many of her songs. Three collections were issued before her untimely death, when a runaway horse caused a buggy accident in Dubuque, Iowa.
The text of “Open My Eyes” was written in 1895 shortly before Scott’s death. Each stanza reveals an increasing receptiveness to the “Spirit divine.” Open eyes lead to “glimpses of truth.” Open ears lead to “voices of truth.” An open mouth leads to sharing the “warm truth everywhere.” An open heart leads to sharing “love to thy children.”
The image of open eyes is common in the Bible. In some cases, this is a sign of Christ’s healing power, as when Jesus gave sight to the blind man at the pool of Siloam in John 9. Closed eyes, on the other hand, could be a metaphor for avoiding the truth as in the case of John 12:40, a passage following the triumphal entry of Christ into Jerusalem and beginning his journey to the cross: “He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them.”
The image of open ears is also significant in the biblical witness. Matthew often reprises the theme “Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.” Closed ears become a metaphor for a lack of understanding: “For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them” (Matthew 13:15).
While the eyes and the ears are receptive organs, the mouth has the capacity to project. The mouth may project “cursing and deceit and fraud” (Psalm 10:7), or it may be an organ that projects praise, as Psalm 51:15 exhorts us: “O Lord, open thou my lips; and my mouth shall show forth thy praise.”
The heart is the only organ included in this hymn that is not visible. It may harbor deceit. Jesus asks in Matthew 9:4, “Wherefore think ye evil in your hearts?” But Jesus also realized that the heart has the capacity for purity: “Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:8).
Scott has given us not only a list of organs through which we may receive and project truth and love, but also provides the method in her refrain:
Silently now I wait for thee, ready my God, thy will to see. Open my eyes, ears, and heart, illumine me, Spirit divine!
Learning to use these organs requires patience and reflection. The gentle 6/8 meter of Scott’s music provides a subtle sense of dancing in tune with the Spirit as we learn to see, hear and speak the truth from our hearts.
28″Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
Having returned from holiday I thought I’d use the topic of rest as my blog for today
I can’t say our holiday got of to a good start as the cottage my wife and I booked had a cat in it when we arrived, not only that I broke the leg of my glasses and the leg slid under one of the chairs and when we pulled it out to retrieve the leg there was a lot of dirt on the floor so we had to send for the cleaner. All this was just on the day of arrival.
As we were at our favourite place Windermere in the lake district (UK) despite the upset on the day of arrival we did enjoy ourselves visiting our favourite places & resting at night in front of the telly.
You could also look out onto lake Windermere from the cottage where the water was calm and watch the steamers go up and down. It also reminded of the story of Jesus walking on water.
When Jesus looked o’er Galilee,
So blue and calm and fair,
Upon her bosom, could He see
A cross reflected there?
When sunrise dyed the lovely deeps
And sparkled in His hair,
O did the light rays seem to say:
A crown of thorns He’ll wear?
When in the hush of eventide
Cool waters touched His feet,
Was it a hymn of Calvary’s road
He heard the waves repeat?
But when the winds triumphantly
Swept from the open plain,
The Master surely heard the song:
The Lord shall live again!
A blog with a difference today As we listen to Lt Col Ray Steadman Allen talks about ‘The Triumph of Peace’ written by Eric Ball for Brass Bands.
Peace in our time, O Lord,
To all the peoples – peace!
Peace surely based upon Thy will
And built in righteousness.
Thy power alone can break
The fetters that enchain
The sorely stricken soul of life
And make it live again.
Too long mistrust and fear
Have held our souls in thrall;
Sweep through the earth, keen Breath of Heav’n
And sound a nobler call!
Come, as Thou didst of old,
In love so great that men
Shall cast aside all other gods
And turn to Thee again.
Peace in our time, O Lord,
To all the peoples – peace!
Peace that shall build a glad new world,
And make for life’s increase.
O living Christ, Who still
Dost all our burdens share,
Come now and dwell within the hearts
Of all men everywhere.
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