Merry Christmas!

I can't resist sharing this one! From St. Paul's Arts and Kids in New Zealand...

And here's my favourite Christmas hymn. The words are fantastic; thank you, Marty Haugen! You are a musician and poet extraordinaire. Our family music group sang it at Christ-mass last night:

Awake! Awake and greet the new morn,

For angels herald its dawning,

Sing out your joy, for now he is born,

Behold! The child of our longing.

Come as a baby weak and poor,

To bring all hearts together,

He opens wide the heavenly door

And lives now inside us forever.

To us, to all in sorrow and fear,

Emmanuel comes a-singing,

His humble song is quiet and near,

Yet fills the earth with its ringing;

Music to heal the broken soul

And hymns of loving kindness,

The thunder of his anthems roll

To shatter all hatred and blindness.

In darkest night his coming shall be,

When all the world is despairing,

As morning light so quiet and free,

So warm and gentle and caring.

Then shall the mute break forth in song,

The lame shall leap in wonder,

The week be raised above the strong,

And weapons be broken asunder.

Rejoice, rejoice, take heart in the night,

Though dark the winter and cheerless,

The rising sun shall crown you with light,

Be strong and loving and fearless:

Love be our song and love our prayer,

And love, our endless story;

May God fill ev'ry day we share,

And bring us at last into glory.

(CBW #303, Awake! Awake and Greet the New Morn, (1983) Text and Tune by Marty Haugen) 

He came to bring us peace and joy, not the kind you see on greeting cards,
but a deeper awareness of ordinary, daily, simple peace and joy
 in the little things of life.

May that peace and joy be with you this holy season and always!

 With love, Maria