Peace at any Price

Spirit to seed Cathedral to cave Throne to trough Starbursts to sawdust Angels to animals Robe to diaper Everything to nothing God to us He had equal status with God but didn’t think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what.
Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human!

Silent Night

The tense quiet was broken with the sound of:
“Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht, Alles schläft; einsam wacht.”
Huddled in frozen trenches a stone‟s throw apart, Scottish,
French and Germans strained to make sense of “Silent Night”
that Christmas Eve, 1914.
Clasping a Christmas tree, the man, much more at home in
the Berlin opera house, clamored up onto the field decorated
with the fallen he might soon be joining. Then one by one, leaving their weapons, enemies joined
the choir. French wine, Scottish beer and German chocolate
were swapped, sweetheart photos shared, prayers made
and war’s brutalities forgotten.

No Goodbye

One wintry London night, I walked into a little church.
Two hours later I walked out hand in hand with God. “Tonight you took my hand,” God whispered,
“I will never let you go,
I will never let you down,
I will never walk off and leave you.” Why these whispers from God?
Was it because the day I was born my dad walked out
of the rest of my life?
Someone walked out of your life?
A father, a husband, a friend, a business partner? Let you down? Let you go?

The Broken Organ

Music selected for the new organ, new church decorated,
Father Joseph Mohr, also new to the church in Obendorf,
left nothing to chance — especially the music.
Austrians loved the sound of music and never more so
than at Christmas.
No one in this alpine village missed the candle-light service.
St. Nicholas would be ablaze with light and sound. Then dismay. Father Mohr discovered the organ was broken. Is something broken in your life this Christmas – a marriage, a
friendship, health, a vehicle, a business? Can’t be fixed?

Can’t Keep Quiet!

“Our first child!
He’s beautiful.
Call Mom, Granddad, Aunt Sally.
Text Joey, Sarah.
Where’s the camera?
Facebook everyone.
A balloon! Billy, buy a blue one.
Walmart’s open.
Keys on the coffee table.”
The angel couldn’t keep quiet either:
Don’t be afraid.
I’m here to announce a great and joyful event that is meant for everybody, worldwide:
A Savior has just been born in David’s town, …