2023 - In Jesus' Name

 

This is a Kleenex –  actually it isn’t. This is a Scotties white tissue.

It is interesting how names work. In Canada and the US since the introduction of facial tissues in 1924, tissues are often referred to with the generic trademark ‘Kleenex,’ a trademark of the Kimberly-Clark company.

 

Today we observe the octave, or the 8^th day of Christmas. This festival has been liturgically practiced since the 6^th century. It commemorates the circumcision and naming of Jesus. The use of the name Jesus is as widespread as the use of the name Kleenex.

 

Nova Scotia began its birth registry in August of 1864. For each year we can go back and look at the most popular names. Any guesses for the most popular girl and boy names in 1864 Nova Scotia? … A clue, we are in the season of Christmas -  Mary and Joseph.

 

In the past 200 years, in the US, approximately 240,000 boys have been named Jesus. Surprisingly the height of popularity was 2001, up 114%, with 6400 babies receiving the name. Popularity was highest in States with the largest Spanish speaking peoples, New Mexico, Texas, California. Although there are a fair number of people named Jesus, the name is not so widespread because of the birth registry.

 

Like Kleenex, the name Jesus, has become a household word. It has become that mostly through swearing; where people take that which is holy, religious, or taboo to give power to their explicative. Over the years I have heard many complain about this usage of the name Jesus. This morning I would like us to consider approaching ‘Jesus’ name as a swear word from a different perspective. Perhaps it is not about the user, but the hearer.

When we hear the name of Jesus used as a swear, do we get bothered, judgemental, or all self-righteous? What if we set our ears to really listen?

  

Hearing Jesus’ name is a reminder to us that Jesus is hidden-in-plain-sight and present in the everyday. Incarnate. Jesus is present in the messiness of life and calling for followers to be present too; to refocus and act as a child of God.  That does not mean showing disgust and berating someone who is swearing.

Jesus as a name means – Yahweh saves; or the Lord is salvation. Through Jesus’ name followers are asked to address the brokenness they have encountered in another human being and offer healing, salvation.

Set your ears to really listen when you hear Jesus’ name. What is the person using the name conveying to you? Is it frustration, anger, stress, trauma, disappointments, fear, grief? When you listen what is pent-up inside the person and from what hurt does the explicative come from?

 

As followers of Jesus, we are asked to ‘living into a name’ – living into Jesus’ name is confronting, combating, and addressing the brokenness we encounter; listening and being present to usher in healing and wholeness.

 

The Hebrew scripture for today is the blessing we know very well. The Lord bless you and keep you. This blessing could be the perspective we adopt, from which we address, confront, and combat brokenness. The blessing organizes claims about how ‘the Lord’ acts and thus, how followers are to act out salvation. The text’s verbs commend the actions of: bless, keep, shine, be gracious, lift up, and give you (or give) peace.

 

As I consider hearing Jesus’ name in the world, and responding as a follower of Jesus, -to be present in the brokenness I encounter – I start the New Year with my pockets full of Kleenex (or Scotties white tissues if you prefer); to help me act – to dry tears, wipe noses, wrap wounds- so that I might be focused on blessing, keeping, shining, being gracious, lifting up, and giving peace.

 

Let us all begin and live this  new year in Jesus’ name.

Caroling through Advent - Devotion 13

 

 

Today’s devotion brings our reflections on beloved Christmas carols to a close. Thank you to everyone who shared their thoughts and memories. Thank you to readers and those who have sent private notes of gratitude and further memories.

 

The carols In the Bleak Mid-winter and Of the Father’s Love Begotten are set to tunes that are pensive. The carols’ words reflect on profound mysteries and proclamations of theology.

The Christmas season bridges one calendar year to the next. In Canada, the weather is winter cold, precipitation, and wind. It is a time to ‘hibernate,’ to curl up by the fire with a blanket, and a mug of one’s favourite hot drink. There is time to pause and reflect.

 

*As one year transitions to the next, do you reflect on the year past, and/or make goals for the coming year?

*Do you reflect on your year’s faith journey? Do you take stock of your hope-stores?

*This past year, what did you discover about God?

*Consider the health of your relationship with God.

 

Approaching a new year with Advent/Christmas themes still ringing in our ears, makes for an auspicious time to ‘repent’ – to turn around- to hit the reset button. Emmanuel, Hope, love, peace, and joy – are present, sitting within, waiting to address life’s big questions of purpose and meaning. They speak to hearts inviting people to approach life from a counter-cultural perspective. To consider that one is part of something far weightier than themselves and day to day situations.

 

These carols are weighty.

Ian Bradley (theologian and hymnologist) questions the theology of the carol, In the Bleak Mid-winter, asking, “is it right to say that heaven cannot hold God, nor the earth sustain, and what about heaven and earth fleeing away when he comes to reign?” Singing, Of the Father’s Love Begotten, one does not get past the title, without a dose of theology; followed by a text that expresses much of the Nicene Creed – tackling the mystery of Trinity and matters of Christ being both divine and human.

 

The Gospel for Christmas Day is John 1. This is John’s ‘Christmas Story.’ There are no shepherds, angels, or wise men. The narrative is not earthly. The narrative is cosmic! In the beginning was the Word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. This theology opens many paths for contemplation. It takes one outside the earthiness of the stable and directs attention to that which is beyond human understanding. Acceptance of weightier matter offers freedom, freedom from bondage to self, to circumstance, to what others think. Contemplation on ‘in the beginning was the word’ births elements of the cosmic – transcendence, awareness, awe, and gratitude- into the very nature of human life.

 

*Do you find it helpful to describe Christ as cosmic? To express God in terms of an expansive Great Mystery?

*In 2023, what would you like to explore about God?

*What theological question would you like to ponder?

*How does the experience of transcendence, awareness, awe, and/or gratitude change you and how you live?

 

Holy and Cosmic,

With awe we contemplate mysteries beyond our understanding. Birth in us freedom from all that keeps us in bondage. Birth in us gratitude and a thirst for contemplation on weighty matters. May 2023 be a year of renewed relationship with Emmanuel. Amen.

 

 

Link to In the Bleak Mid-winter  https://youtu.be/PuDpOWPf7_g

Of the Father’s Love Begotten https://youtu.be/n7YN97P72Rs

Caroling through Advent - Devotion 12

 

My list of favourite carols for Christmas is long, and includes the ones that put a lump in my throat - Silent Night; Joy to the world; and O Come All Ye Faithful, because when I sing them I am connected to the people I love, some living away, and some no longer living on earth. Yup, all the sentimental feels. 

I also love, Lo How a Rose E’re Blooming, because it connects me to my German heritage, and the strength of those family members who endured imprisonment, those who died fleeing persecution, and those who abandoned their home to make a new life. In all this, they held fast to their faith that God was with them. ---- Pr. Pam

 

*What does it mean to you ‘to have faith?’

*When you are afraid, do carols or hymns come to you?

 

Lo How a Rose E’re Blooming is a very old carol, considered to be in use in Luther’s time – sung by both Catholics and Protestants.  The tune, known as, Es Ist Ein Ros, was first published in the Cologne Gesangbuch of 1599.  In 1609, German composer, Michael Praetorius (who grew up in a staunch Lutheran family) harmonized the melody into the hymn tune we sing today.  

 

*Do you use your gifts to express in a new/renewed way the Gospel message for people today?

 

Praetorius’ harmonization of the tune speaks volumes. The melancholy nature of the tune reflects a Lutheran understanding of the Theology of the Cross.

The grace of Christmas, the grace of God, is that God would dare to become human and live among us; that God became incarnate. The celebration of Christmas is only a foretaste of what is to come. This carol illustrates that Christmas points us to Holy Week and Easter. We are reminder of the tension that birth leads to death, and death to life. Sorrow lies within our rejoicing. It is in vulnerability and suffering that God chooses to find us; to be God-with-us.

 

The carol gives us reason to pause.

God loves human beings so much, that God would go to great lengths, including death on a cross to show human beings the depth and abundance of God’s unconditional love.

 

*What does God’s love mean to you?

*How does God’s love make you feel?

*Can you open your heart to love of this depth? Can you live the abundance of love?

 

God, 

as the year draws to a close, I pause to reflect on the depth and abundance of your love. In 2023, deepen my ability to love, and expand the abundance of love I share. In gratitude to you – LOVE- Amen.

 

Link to Resurrection’s 2021 Christmas choir singing Lo How a Rose E’re Blooming

https://youtu.be/0z3njcDtGEk

 

Caroling through Advent - Devo. 11

 

Of several favorites in Christmas songs "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" is topmost this year for me. I liked this earlier for its old English rhythm; now it has a personal connection. I played it on my violin; via phone in hearing it was an English man in the hospital a few years ago. He remembered the first verse when he heard the music. ---- Sandra H.

 

This carol, God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, is also known as Tidings of Comfort and Joy. The alternative title comes from the phrase being repeated in triplicate at the end of each verse. There is no doubt left by the author, that the message of Jesus’ birth and God’s action in the midst of humanity, is to illicit feelings of comfort and joy.

 

*What words and actions (given or received) give you comfort and joy?

*How does the use of an older word like ‘tidings’ make you feel?

 

 

For me, Christmas music has always been a staple of the season, so reducing a list of carols to a single favourite is difficult 🙂 But the first that came to mind when reading your message (and one that certainly makes a top-favourites list) is "God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen".

It is a favourite for a few reasons... first, it's just an enjoyable listen, with its perky tune and joyful lyrics. It was also one of many Christmas Carols that I grew up hearing at home and in church around the holidays, so to me, it has festive and sentimental connotations. And I am sure it also has something to do with the frequency at which it's played over the holidays: often enough to be nostalgic, but not so frequently that it's tiresome by early December. 

But I also like that the lyrics are essentially the Gospel message, packaged as a happy Christmas song. When the new 'Grinch' cartoon remake was released in 2018, it become a fast family favourite in my household (even though the original Grinch film [1966] is a tough act to follow). There is a scene in the new film where the Grinch is chased by a group of enthusiastic carolers all singing "God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen". It was amusing to me that amidst the colourful Dr. Seuss absurdities, in a movie that had nothing to do with Christ, was a striking recount of the Gospel message! And this is the wonderful thing about many of these old carols and Christmas hymns: they are like bite-sized sermons🙂   And, of course, they are not just heard in church services over the holidays - they are enjoyed in many settings by people of diverse experiences, backgrounds, and beliefs! ---- Rachel

                                                                   

God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen was an early carol from the oral tradition of the 1650s. It is a to-the-point carol of Christmas and the meaning of Christmas. It is a carol to take to heart and carry with us past Christmas Day. The season of Christmas continues until Epiphany (January 6). Until then, let us insert this carol and tidings of comfort and joy, into the world around us.

*Where can you take and share ‘tidings of comfort and joy?’

*With whom can you share the link, so that they hear the tidings of the season?

 

Emmanuel, God-with-us,

May I always remember that Christ the Saviour was born on Christmas Day, to save us all from Satan’s power when we were gone astray. Make my song of praise be one of comfort and joy, Oh tidings of comfort and joy. Amen.

 

A link for a version by the Laestadian Lutheran church (Swedish state church)

https://youtu.be/YdB526RRxs4

 

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day sermons 2022

 CHRISTMAS EVE

The hopes and fears of all the years – are met in thee tonight.

This line from O Little Town of Bethlehem expresses where I am tonight. The hopes and fears of all the years – the past three years- melt away for a moment as community gathers around the miracle of love.

 

I invite everyone to soak in this miracle – love. Love is not always easy to find, often hard to give, and certainly takes openness to accept. I invite you to sit comfortably and listen for love.

 

I had a high school teacher who taught students tricks to help with writing exams. At an exam, when feeling overwhelmed, or your brain has the answer but can’t quite pull it from memory, he suggested closing one’s eyes and listening for the farthest away sound that could be heard. He said that the exercise worked in facing life too. Try it. Close your eyes and concentrate to hear the farthest away sound you can hear.

 

At 16 this exercise was a lifesaver. The exercise centered me; it brought focus, calm, and an ability to get back to work. I used the exercise for decades: when anxious before a presentation or sermon delivery, in moments of writer’s block, when called to be present in situations of crisis. As I have aged the exercise doesn’t always work, sometimes I have ringing in my ears that won’t let me listen beyond my ears. Sometimes the ringing causes its own stress and anxiety.

Life is like that too – at 16 it was easier to bounce back and shift gears – as I have aged, as we all age, we accumulate experiences, our own and those of others, bearing witness to human condition and circumstances around the world. In living life humans accumulate grief, care-giver (COVID) fatigue, carry residue from stress and trauma. As we age our bouncing back ability dampens. We carry a lot of stuff, especially if we live from our hearts and venture into the realm of love.  This stuff is like constant ringing in the ears.

 

A month ago, I invited the congregation to share with me their favourite Christmas carols and to share why. The favourites by far were Silent Night and O Holy Night. People noted that these carols bring forward emotions and memories of stillness, the ambience of candlelight, beauty in simplicity, a peace like gently falling snow. I wonder if these carols touch us so deeply because in the stillness of their nature they are just loud enough and in the right tone to abate the sound of ‘ringing in the ears,’ the noise of a harsh and crazy world, and usher in a calm to fill hearts and minds; a miracle- centering us once again into a state of love.

The hopes and fear of all the years – are met in thee tonight.

 

This miracle of love is a human reset, not something we can purchase and put under our Christmas trees, it is a gift from God – in fact it is God- love incarnate. God chooses to enter human life in all its messiness and noise to incarnate love among us. To say to the human being, the human heart:  you are worthy, you are loved, you are free; so that you can live from your heart and continue to venture into the realm of love.

 

Author, Nicholas Sparks, in “The Notebook,” wrote:

We sit silently and watch the world around us. This has taken a lifetime to learn. It seems only the old are able to sit next to one another and not say anything and still feel content. The young, brash and impatient, must always break the silence. It is a waste, for silence is pure. Silence is holy. It draws people together because only those who are comfortable with each other can sit without speaking. This is the great paradox.

 

I invite you to listen for a moment.

Tonight, we are drawn together, comfortable sitting with each other without speaking. There is a shared silence. A holy silence wherein love comes and dwells among us.

 

Holy silence is akin to embracing holy darkness: Jesus grew in the warmth and darkness of Mary’s womb; the shepherds watched their flock by night; the wisemen followed a star in the night skies; in the backdrop of darkness the glory of the angels appeared. In the night - this evening, in the midst of human condition and circumstances, in the noise of the world, in fears and hopes of all the years, holy silence rests upon us. This is a gift from God. A miracle!

 

Love has come. Love sits with us. Love embraces us. Love meets us.

Be blanketed in holy silence, filled with the miracle of love.  And may this silence and love travel with you, tonight and tomorrow and always.

 

 

 

 

CHRISTMAS DAY

 

We sit silently and watch the world around us. This has taken a lifetime to learn. It seems only the old are able to sit next to one another and not say anything and still feel content. The young, brash and impatient, must always break the silence. It is a waste, for silence is pure. Silence is holy. It draws people together because only those who are comfortable with each other can sit without speaking. This is the great paradox.

Last night I shared this quote from author Nicholas Sparks.

This morning it rings even more true, as I hear the words from John 1 – read in this holy space; devoid of presents and crinkling wrapping paper, bereft of pent-up excitement and over-exuberance, free of impatience – here we sit content in the quiet of holy silence, comfortably connected without having to say a word.

In holy silence, Christmas is different, with the noise of the world hushed for a moment, our hearts are open to hear these profound words:

 

In the beginning was the Word, the word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What came into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overtake it.  -John 1: 1-5

 

This text is an old friend. In my opinion one of the best pieces of literature ever written. I could sit silently with this text all day, as I watch the world go by. With morning coffee in hand, a blanket, and a comfy chair, I could repeat everyday all winter long.

One of my favourite words -because it enfolds me into a feeling- is the verb to bask.

To bask – is to laze, loll, lounge, relax, sunbathe, swim in, or toast oneself;

It too can be interpreted as to indulge, relish, revel, savour, enjoy, luxuriate, frolic, wallow.

Today I bask in Christmas.

Christ’s mass – to celebrate God incarnate; to be embraced by Word; warmed by love.

 

Many of you will have noted that when closing off emails and writing salutations, I write - Hugs and Son-shine; Son shine, spelled capital ‘S-o-n” dash shine.  

This is me basking in Christmas -in God incarnate- and in return offering a theologically pointed blessing.  ‘Hugs’ is me loving whomever I am speaking to, it is relational and personal, and meant from my heart to theirs. If I do not know a person as well, I say peace instead of hugs. The Son-shine is based on John 1. The son of course is Jesus, the Christ, who was in the beginning and brought life and light to the world. Son-shine is a word play of sunshine (like sun in the sky); sunshine that brings warmth and brightness. Christ does this too. When using this blessing I am inviting the receiver to Son-bathe (s. o. n.) in God’s grace, to bask in the Word, and to be embraced by love.  This is how I keep Christmas in my heart all year through.

 

As this year draws to a close, I invite you to consider how you will carry Christmas with you into the new year? How will you witness to and share the Word?

 

On this Christmas Day - To each of you, from my heart to yours,

Hugs and Son-shine.

 

 

Caroling through Advent - Devotion 10

 

O Holy Night. Lyrics are amazing and I can remember my mom singing this in church...memories. Such a powerful tune. ---Paul T.

My nomination, especially as it was Thea's favourite is: "O Holy Night" also know as "O Night Devine", sung to the tune "Minuit Chretiens / Cantique de Noel". ---Ernest

 

*On this Christmas Eve who are you remembering? Who is close to your heart?

*Do you feel closer to your loved ones, who have gone on before, when you hear or sing their favourite songs?

 

Commentary on this carol suggests that it is a favourite all because we expectantly wait for the holy grail of vocal gravitas; it is all about one note. Of this I am not so sure, especially as this devotion follows yesterday's reflection on Silent Night. As it begins, the softness and gentleness of the carol draws the human soul in, souls seeking that peace which the world cannot give.

 

*How many renditions of O Holy Night could you listen to in one sitting?

*What do you receive when listening to this carol?

 

It is astounding to think that around 1843, the Catholic church in France, attempted to bury this beloved carol. Its author, Placide Cappeau (commissioned to write a Christmas poem for the occasion of dedicating a refurbished organ), was an atheist, and the composer, Adolphe Adams was Jewish. The carol’s theology was risky too; to suggest that humans had souls was a radical idea in that time and place.  The carol focused on humanity and championed humility. There is an expression of human agency in the soul feeling worth because of God’s love – meaning one is no longer in bondage to sin – this is not what the church wanted people to hear. It would mean a loss of power for the church.

To Lutheran ears this argument sounds ridiculous. But this was France in the mid-1800s, Roman Catholic territory, a different culture from that of protestants who had separated from Catholicism in the Reformation of the 1500s.

 

The beauty of the theology presented in the carol is that there is freedom from bondage.  Lutherans understand this through confession, we are in bondage and cannot free ourselves. The hymn came to America with Unitarians who were abolitionists; it became a favourite of Christian abolitionists too. They heard the words as freedom from the bondage of slavery.

 

Whatever the interpretation, the message is the power of God’s love. Not only does this power change human hearts and their actions – CHANGE and FREEDOM, starts with the soul receiving worth -recognizing its worth, believing its worth - because of God’s love.

 

*Do you feel a sense of worth because of God’s love?

*Do you experience a sense of warmth -God’s love- when hearing this carol?

* Do you feel like ‘falling on your knees’ as the carol crescendos, and then softens and slows to a final O night divine?

 

God,

You love me. You love humankind and all creation. Free my heart from whatever bondage enslaves it, to hear this message and integrate it, into who I am. I am worthy!  I am free! Because of your love! May this be my Christmas message to share with the world. Amen.

 

Link to:

 Jerry Butler’s rendition- https://youtu.be/v0dR1Dk7Bu0

Charlotte Church’s rendition of O Holy Night - https://youtu.be/Fp59f4C0VRc

 

Caroling through Advent - Devotion 9

 

 

Beth, Mary, Fred, Joyce, Sherilyn, and others in conversation, appoint Silent Night to be the congregation’s favourite!

 

Silent Night for me.

 Because growing up and attending Christmas Eve service it closed that service in a beautiful way and candles were always lit during the singing. Lots of positive memories on that one!!

-----Fred

 

Silent night, holy night, all is calm, all is bright…

This German carol was written by Austrian Pastor, Joseph Mohr. He wrote the words as the Napoleonic Wars were ending; 12 years of war that ruined social and political infrastructure, leaving a society in trauma. Other circumstances of the time included a catastrophically cold summer, followed by the eruption of Mount Tamboa, Indonesia, that compounded a change of climate. Crops failed in subsequent years, bringing crisis of famine and poverty. If only all was calm and bright!

*To what current issues and circumstances does Silent Night speak to?

*Where do you hope to see ‘all is calm, all is bright?’

 

Silent night holy night …  glories stream from heaven afar. Heavenly hosts sing Alleluia!

My favourite Christmas Carol is "Silent Night" sung on Christmas Eve by candlelight, by everyone in their mother tongue.  That is the reason we celebrate Christmas. --- Joyce

*Why do you celebrate Christmas?

*Do your celebrations point to a Christian keeping of the holy-day or more as a secular holiday?

*Do you celebrate God’s glory? Do you sing ‘alleluia?’

 

Silent night, holy night, Son of God love’s pure light. …with the dawn of redeeming grace

My favorite Christmas carol - It would have to be some of the old hymns.  I like Silent Night, possibly because it brings back memories of church services with candles and everything being quiet and peaceful----- Sherilyn

This Christmas carol has been translated into over 300 languages. It has been arranged in styles of music from orchestral to heavy metal. UNESCO has designated Silent Night as a treasured item of intangible cultural heritage.  Hymnologists suggest that Silent Night is embraced across cultures and times because of its universal sense of hope and beauty, peace and grace, comfort and simplicity that transcends boundaries – whether language, people, culture, or faith.

 

*What truths do you find in the Christmas story and the Christmas season that transcend boundaries?

*Would Christmas be Christmas for you, if the only thing you did was sing, Silent Night?

 

For today’s prayer you are invited to hold two phrases from the carol – singing them to your inner self, your troubled mind, your hurting/yearning heart:

Sleep in heavenly peace! … Christ the Saviour is born!

Amen and amen!

 

Link to Silent Night - https://youtu.be/Q5hsy9ssSJw

Caroling through Advent - Devotion 8

 

Do you know “Mary's Boy Child" by Jim Reeves? It is a religious folk song that tells the Christmas story.  ---Merv

 

I’ve never thought about my FAVOURITE Christmas Carol before your request.  Two came to mind as possibilities though, “Oh Holy Night”, sung by “Uncle John” who sang with the Canadian Opera Company and the other, “Mary’s Boy Child”, the version sung by Jim Reeves, a long deceased country western singer my father loved, and subsequently a singer I came to love because of my father.  To this day, Jim Reeve’s Christmas Album, “Twelve Songs of Christmas”, embodies the happiest of Christmas memories from my early childhood when my father was still with us. He died unexpectedly in 1979, well before his time at the age of 59 (like me, he looked deceptively healthy.  He was one of the first “joggers” seen around the streets of Halifax. None of us knew he was missing one of the valves to his heart).  Yesterday, I listened to both songs again, “Oh Holy Night” and then “Mary’s Boy Child”.  The later won the “favourite” category because of the connection to my dad ~ my brilliant, wonderful father who loved Christmas so much and who along with my mother, brought love and joy to our home at Christmas time. The song still brings tears to my eyes every time I listen, with its simple Christmas message of the birth of Mary’s Boy Child.  It’s a message both my parents fervently believed and instilled in us as children, ”long time ago”.  ----Linda

 

*What warm Christmas memories do you have of those who have gone before us?

*What message(s) have you instilled in the next generation (children, nieces/nephews, God-children, etc.)?

 

Jim Reeves was called “Gentleman Jim.” It was said that he was a gentleman both on and off stage. He cared for others and used music as a medium to pass on knowledge. He took time to perform at US military bases around the world, and in South Africa recorded a few albums in Afrikaans. Through the carol, Mary’s Boy Child, Gentleman Jim not only told the Christmas story from the Gospel of Luke, he also repeated a statement of faith: That man will live forever more because of Christmas Day. Jim lived his faith. It was seen in his demeanor, music, and projects.

 

The inscription on Jim Reeves’ memorial reads: – “If I, a lowly singer, dry one tear, or soothe one humble human heart in pain, then my homely verse to God is dear, and not one stanza has been sung in vain.”

 

*What gifts do you use to live your faith?

*What medium can you use to tell the Christmas story and make a statement of faith?

*Think about how you can dry one tear and soothe a human heart in pain.

  

Jim was a creator – singing outside the lines, so to speak. He created a new sound that became known as the Nashville Sound – it was a country sound expressed through the inclusion of violins and lusher background arrangements. It meant a wider audience for his message because it broadened country music to other genres.  God coming as a baby - God was colouring outside the lines, finding a medium to express to human beings the expanse of God’s love.

 

Emmanuel,

Thank you for colouring outside the lines and going to great lengths to show us love. Thank you for songs that resurrect powerful memories and warm our hearts. Help us to find and use a host of mediums to tell your story and share faith. Amen.

 

Link to Jim Reeves singing “Mary’s Boy Child” - https://youtu.be/3OT9kOaiXLU