Merry Christmas!

8 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.

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9 And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them and the glory of the Lord shone round about them; and they were sore afraid.

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10 And the angel said unto them, "Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

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11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

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12 And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger."

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13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,

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14 "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men."

~ Luke 2:8-14, KJV

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"Merry Christmas! The words fall idly, perhaps, from too many careless lips; they are uttered by those who give it no deeper meaning than a passing friendly salutation of the moment; and yet every tongue that repeats the phrase bears unconscious witness to the power of the Gospel - those good-tidings of great joy to all mankind."

~ Susan Fenimore Cooper

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"The Son of God became a man to enable men to be come the sons of God."

~ C.S. Lewis

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"The true Christian religion is incarnational and thus does not begin at the top, as all other religions do; it begins at the bottom. You must run directly to the manger and the mother's womb, embrace the Infant and Virgin's Child in your arms and look at Him - born, being nursed, growing up, going about in human society, teaching, dying, rising again, ascending above all the heavens, and having authority over all things."

~ Martin Luther

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"Maker of the sun, He is made under the sun. In the Father He remains, from His mother He goes forth. Creator of heaven and earth, He was born on earth under heaven. Unspeakably wise, He is wisely speechless. Filling the world, He lies in a manger. Ruler of the stars, He nurses at His mother's bosom. He is both great in the nature of God, and small in the form of a servant."

~ Augustine

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"It is in the old Christmas carols, hymns, and traditions - those which date from the Middle Ages - that we find not only what makes Christmas poetic and soothing and stately, but first and foremost what makes Christmas exciting. The exciting quality of Christmas rests on an ancient and admitted paradox. It rests upon the paradox that the power and center of the whole universe may be found in some seemingly small matter, that the stars in their courses may move like a moving wheel around the neglected outhouse of an inn."

~ G.K. Chesterton

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MERRY CHRISTMAS!
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Persevero,

Scribe