A Carpenter’s Song

A Carpenter’s Song

“By a Carpenter

Mankind was made,

And only by that Carpenter

Can mankind be remade.”

Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus

Dutch Renaissance Priest

(1466 – 1536)

PBPGINFWMY

Have you heard that one?

Many years ago, someone handed me a pin-on button with those letters printed on its face.

“What does that mean?” I asked.

“Please be patient. God is not finished with me yet.”

Hmm.

The Bible puts it this way, via the Apostle Paul’s letter to the early Philippian church:

“He who began a good work in you

will carry it on to completion

until the day of Christ Jesus.”

(Philippians 1:6b, NIV)

God, our Creator (and our Re-Creator) promises to finish the work He has started in us.

Do you know any carpenters? My own brother is a master carpenter. I have often been astonished at the remarkable things he has built, from heirlooms to whole houses. Carpentry astounds me, particularly because I can hardly hammer a single nail without harming my handiwork – or even my hand!

Jesus, the Father’s Son and also the son of Nazereth carpenter Joseph (see Matthew 13:55), is the ultimate Carpenter. He can build something out of nothing. And His specialty is rebuilding broken things, especially broken hearts and broken lives.

Guess what? He isn’t finished with me yet!

 A Carpenter’s Song

The Carpenter builds from His heart

To transform my rubble to art.

Each pass of His plane

Does follow the grain,

His beauty and grace to impart.

No hammer of harm does He wield,

Although to the same did He yield.

Instead, He constructs,

Rebuilds and instructs,

Till His new creation’s revealed.

The process may take all my days,

As I pull against all His stays.

With masterful hands,

He saws, and He sands,

Creating a portrait of praise.

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Image/s:

Childhood of Christ

By Gerrit van Honthorse

Displayed in The Hermitage of St. Petersburg

 

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Zzzzzz ... Time for a Long Winter's Nap

Zzzzzz ... Time for a Long Winter's Nap

Merry Christmas!

The Christmas presents have been unwrapped. The festive holiday feast is over. The carols have been sung.

And the Savior has come.

Happy Birthday, Lord! We welcome You. We celebrate Your Presence. And we thank You for entering our world to save us.

Now, who’s ready for a long winter’s nap?

A brand-new set of cozy winter pajamas awaits me. I’m putting on a pot of tea and calling it a night soon.

But first, let’s recap the Advent A to Z Challenge, in case you missed any posts:

1. Advent: An Adventure in Faith
2. Bethlehem bummed me out a bit
3. Cairo’s Camels and Classic Comedy
4. Devotion, a Dream and a Donkey
5. Everyday Exceptions and Eternity’s Expectations
6. Frenetically Frazzled
7. Grateful for the Gift of Guilt?
8. Is Ho-ho-ho a No-no-no?
9. Incarnate and In-Person
10. Just Joyful
11. Kickin' It with the King of Kings
12. Looking at a Light that Led
13. Meat-Eaters' Manger: Mockery or Merriment?
14. Naughty or Nice?
15. On Oppositions and Traditions
16. Picking Out Poinsettias and Passed-Over Prizes
17. Quirky Creches
18. Raging Relatives
19. Simply Santa and the Savior
20. Telling of Treasures
21. U-Turns and New Year's Resolutions
22. The Value of Vast Variety
23. Wonderful Words for the Word of Life
24. In Excelsis Deo
25. Yuletide - What a Ride
26. Zzzzzz ... Time for a Long Winter's Nap

 Merry Christmas to all. God bless us every one. And to all, a good night!

Image/s:

Sleeping Santa – Public Domain Art

 

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Yuletide - What a Ride

Yuletide - What a Ride

Yodel! Yell! Come sit a spell.

For Yuletide has a tale to tell.

Beginning with a pagan fest,

This fine December day is blest.

Let’s carol on for sweet Noel.

Say, strum the harp, and ring the bell.

Our Christmas trees by now are dressed,

And pretty packages we’ve guessed.

No wonder that our spirits swell.

Our God has come with us to dwell.

No longer are we sin-oppressed.

Immanuel met God’s request.

By angel chorus, all is well.

For Christ is born, death to expel.

The Infant Lord sleeps in His nest.

May all the world find peace and rest.

So burn the Yule log; dark dispel.

Cast out all melancholy smell.

Let none be downcast or distressed,

For Christmas joy is ne’er suppressed.

c2011 by Linda Ann Nickerson. All rights reserved.

 

“Therefore the Lord himself

will give you a sign:

The virgin will conceive

and give birth to a son,

and will call him Immanuel –

God with us.”

(Isaiah 7:14, NIV)

mage/s:

Carved Nativity Set

Creative Commons Licensing

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In Excelsis Deo

In Excelsis Deo

Here we go with a “X” post 

for the Advent A to Z Challenge.

(I bet you thought 

I’d go with X-mas, 

but I won’t!)

When Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, the skies opened with an angelic chorus, singing “Glory to God in the highest. And on earth, peace and goodwill to men.”

Gloria! In excelsis Deo! Glory to God!

I have often wondered how it might have felt for the angels to announce the Advent of the Answer to the world’s need.

Did the heavenly hosts already know that Jesus would grow into a man and suffer a ghastly death and disgrace to pay for the world’s sin? Could they have understand even then that the Messiah would miraculously triumph over death? Were they already clued in to God’s redemptive plan?

Or were the angels simply singing in joy and adoration that the Son of the Most High had come to earth as a child, born to a virgin hand-picked by Jehovah God?

I’m no angel, but I have loved singing in choirs.

When we were kids, my siblings and I took our turns in the youth choir at our church. I loved donning the bright red robes and shiny clean white v-collars, lining up with my peers and filing into the front pews of the ornate old church.

Waiting for our turn to stand and sing our painstakingly rehearsed anthems, we would count nooks and niches in the fancy wooden railings and stare in awe and the colorful stained glass windows. We would wriggle and try not to giggle in the well-worn wooden pews.

Finally, our super-serious choral director would stand and raise his baton.

We were anything but angelic.

Every Christmas Eve, the youth choir would sing the same song.

Now, decades later, my siblings and I can evoke memories of these musical moments by simply humming a few bars of this long-lost sacred Christmas carol, based on a Latin traditional hymn.

Do you remember this one?

On This Day Earth Shall Ring

(Trans. Personent Hodie)

Music: Piae Cantiones – Gustav Holst

On this day earth shall ring

with the song children sing

to the Lord, Christ our King,

born on earth to save us;

him the Father gave us.

Id-e-o-o-o, id-e-o-o-o, id-e-o,

gloria in excelsis Deo!

His the doom, ours the mirth;

when he came down to earth,

Bethlehem saw his birth;

ox and ass beside him

from the cold would hide him.

Id-e-o-o-o, id-e-o-o-o, id-e-o,

gloria in excelsis Deo!

God's bright star, o'er his head,

Wise Men three to him led;

kneel they low by his bed,

lay their gifts before him,

praise him and adore him.

Id-e-o-o-o, id-e-o-o-o, id-e-o,

gloria in excelsis Deo!

On this day angels sing;

with their song earth shall ring,

praising Christ, heaven's King,

born on earth to save us;

peace and love he gave us.

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Gloria! In excelsis Deo! Glory to God!

And Merry Christmas.

Image/s:

Children’s Choir – ClipArt Mountain

Musical Score for “Personent Hodie”– Creative Commons Licensing