Christmas, Past and Present



That is me (7-years-old) sitting between my brother
Keith, and sister Carol at our home in Los Angeles. 



Christmas 1964. My mother and "Papa" at my
grandparents' farm, near Leesville, Louisiana.

 

Okay, this needs some explaining. The penguin holding
the "Christmas star" was an ornament that kept falling
off the tree and into the manger scene. Ever since then,
we have set it up with the penguin as part of the scene.


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Advent: Christmas Day 

"Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel."

-Isaiah 7:14

   

    Let us to-day go down to Bethlehem, and in company with wondering shepherds and adoring Magi, let us see Him who was born King of the Jews, for we by faith can claim an interest in Him, and can sing, "Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given." Jesus is Jehovah incarnate, our Lord and our God, and yet our brother and friend; let us adore and admire. Let us notice at the very first glance His miraculous conception. It was a thing unheard of before, and unparalleled since, that a virgin should conceive and bear a Son. The first promise ran thus, "The seed of the woman," not the offspring of the man. Since venturous woman led the way in the sin which brought forth Paradise lost, she, and she alone, ushers in the Regainer of Paradise. Our Saviour, although truly man, was as to His human nature the Holy One of God. Let us reverently bow before the holy Child whose innocence restores to manhood its ancient glory; and let us pray that He may be formed in us, the hope of glory. Fail not to note His humble parentage. His mother has been described simply as "a virgin," not a princess, or prophetess, nor a matron of large estate. True the blood of kings ran in her veins; nor was her mind a weak and untaught one, for she could sing most sweetly a song of praise; but yet how humble her position, how poor the man to whom she stood affianced, and how miserable the accommodation afforded to the new-born King!

   

    Immanuel, God with us in our nature, in our sorrow, in our lifework, in our punishment, in our grave, and now with us, or rather we with Him, in resurrection, ascension, triumph, and Second Advent splendour.   

___C.H. Spurgeon