Joy at Christmas

This is a strange Christmas for us.

 A year ago, on Christmas Day, my Mum went to be with her Saviour and Lord. We don't mourn for her. She is far better off  but yes, she is missed. Over the last year, I have found myself remembering and talking about things she said and taught me over the years. Still, the run up to this Christmas feels strange; remembering the time when she last went into hospital and the last time that I saw her. This contrasts strangely with the Christmas buzz and ephemera around but actually, not at all with the real meaning behind this celebration.

In the midst of life we are in death and we celebrate a Saviour who came that through dying, sorrowing sinners can live for ever through Him. This is real joy- not the feasting, the gifts and the glitter but the birth, life, death and resurrection of a glorious Redeemer.  

Joy to the world! The Lord is come;

Let earth receive her king;

Let every heart prepare him room,

And heaven and nature sing.

Joy to the earth! the Saviour reigns;

Let men their songs employ;

While fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains

Repeat the sounding joy.

No more let sins and sorrows grow,

Nor thorns infest the ground;

He comes to make his blessings flow

Far as the curse is found.

 

He rules the world with truth and grace,

And makes the nations prove

The glories of his righteousness,

And wonders of his love.

 Isaac Watts

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