Pondering for Thursday, December 24, 2020

Part 1 of 3

AM: Daily Office Readings for Thursday of the 4^th Week of Advent 2020: Christmas Eve: Year 1

Psalms 45 and 46;
Isaiah 29:13 to 24; Revelation 22: 12 to 17 and 21; Luke 1:39 to 56)

“And Mary said, ‘My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,” (Luke 1: 46 and 47)

I ask you all to listen again to the Christmas song “Mary did you know.”  I like two lines in particular.  One that says, “The child that you delivered, will soon deliver you.” And “Did you know that your baby boy is heaven’s perfect Lamb? That sleeping child you’re holding is the great, I Am.” It’s powerful stuff.  Find it and listen to it again, please.

Part 2 of 3

PM: Daily Office Readings for Thursday of the 4^th Week of Advent 2020: Year 1

Christmas Eve: Psalm 89:1-2
Isaiah 59:15b to 21; Philemon 2:5 to11”

“Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness.” (Philemon 2: 5 to 7)

Our Lord Jesus has set the example for us. We should empty our selves also as he did.  Let us then be filled with the Holy Spirit of God, this Christmas and for evermore.

Part 3 of 3

Eucharistic Readings for Christmas Eve

Isaiah 9:2 to 7; Psalm 96; Titus 2:11 to 14:  Luke 2:1 to 20:

The First Night Before Christmas

It was me and my buddies out watching our sheep,

The night was quiet, not one of them bleeped.

It was so quiet in fact, we were about to sleep,

When we noticed someone out by the sheep.

Then all at once it became very clear,

No ordinary person was visiting us here.

We were all afraid, but he said “Fear Not.”

And then there were more, and their numbers wouldn’t stop.

He said go to Bethlehem and see the Baby,

He is the Word of God, there is no maybe.

He said the baby’s in Bethlehem, lying in a manger,

He can save you all, from permanent danger.

Then they all left, praising God for this birth,

Just like they came, they were all gone from the earth.

Then I and my friends said, “let’s go if we’re able,”

To Bethlehem there, and straight to the stable.

And there we were on a cold winter’s night,

We saw Mary, Joseph and Baby, what a sight!

We told them everything, right from the start,

But Mary just smiled, kept our words in her heart.

So we left there then in the thick of the night,

Asking you to thank God with all of your might.

Luke 2: 8 – 20

The Reverend John Thomas Frazier 2006

Let us hear what the Spirit is saying to, and through, the saints of God, and then ponder anew what the Almighty can do. John