A Christmas Rush

Christmas! The very word brings joy to our hearts. No matter how we may dread the rush, the long Christmas lists for gifts and cards to be bought and given, when Christmas Day comes there is still the same warm feeling we had as children, the same warmth that enfolds our hearts and our homes.

Joan Winmill Brown, British actress and author

In the rush of seasonal activity, I have neglected my chocolate box but many good things have overflowed with the cookie baking, shopping and making presents, chatting with good friends and re-connecting with lost ones, clapping along to musical theatre, feasting at a festive potluck, using my 'new' voice to read for the first time during a candlelight worship service, preparing for a job interview, helping out at the no-charge Christmas store and, finally this evening, decorating the Christmas tree. What a bounty of blessings!

Through all my years, setting up the Christmas creche always causes me to pause and give thanks. From the time I was a child, unwrapping each of the figures and arranging them around the baby has been a stirring task as my heart hears:

 The angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.’ And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favours!’