December 7 1998

ARTICLE TOOLS

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Walking Bewildered in the Light
The world grows terrible and white,
And blinding white the breaking day;
We walk bewildered in the light,
For something is too large for sight,
And something much too plain to say.

The Child that was ere worlds begun
( … We need but walk a little way,
We need but see a latch undone … )
The Child that played with moon and sun
Is playing with a little hay.

—G. K. CHESTERTON, FROM "THE WISE MEN" IN
A MOTLEY WISDOM (NIGEL FORDE)

God's Great News
At Christmas time God cups his hands over his mouth, as it were, and shouts at the top of his voice, so that with all the din going on around them, human beings might hear what he has to say: "Listen! I've got great news that will bring you glorious joy!"

—Stuart and Jill Briscoe in
Meet Him at the Manger

Walking with the Shepherds
Send, O God, into the darkness of this troubled world, the light of your Son: let the star of your hope touch the minds of all people with the bright beams of mercy and truth; and so direct our steps that we may always walk in the way revealed to us, as the shepherds of Bethlehem walked with joy to the manger where he dwelt who now and ever reigns in our hearts, Jesus Christ our Lord.

—John Wallace Suter in The Communion of Saints:
Prayers of the Famous (ed. Horton Davies)

The Gift Unspeakable
Again they play, the children with their toys,
Gay parties draw the older girls and boys;
Regathered families hail the festive day,
And jovial revellers their gifts display:
How strange!—how almost inconceivable,
So few receive Heaven's "Gift Unspeakable"!

Yet none the less, as carol strains resound, Adoring hearts will everywhere be found; The throne-room of the soul they will prepare, To give ...