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Our Daily Thread 12-25-17

Merry Christmas!

The Birth of Jesus

Luke 2:1-20

1 In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. 2 (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3 And everyone went to their own town to register.

4 So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. 5 He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. 6 While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, 7 and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.

8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,

14 “Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

15 When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”

16 So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. 17 When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, 18 and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. 19 But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. 20 The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

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Anyone have a QoD?

 

29 thoughts on “Our Daily Thread 12-25-17”

  2. Let me see if this works. I was looking around the internet after Phos’s song and found this.
    It only takes a minute.
    Chuck played “Silent Night” on his guitar as we lit the traditional Christmas candles to end the service last night.
    Silent Night, as o all know, is a guitar song.

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  4. We received these quotes in an email from a pastor friend in Texas:

    Christ became what we are, that He might make us what He is. – Athanasius

    The Son of God became the Son of Man, in order that the sons of men might become the sons of God. – John Blanchard

    When Jesus came to earth, it was not His Godhood He laid aside, but His glory. – John Blanchard

    Christ voluntarily took upon Himself everything that is inseparable from human nature. – John Calvin

    Christ took the form of a servant while He retained the form of God; it is exactly that which makes our salvation possible and achieves it. – William Hendricksen

    It was to save sinners that Christ came into the world; He did not come to help them save themselves or somehow enable them to save themselves. He came to save them.
    – William Hendricksen

    The mystery of the humanity of Christ, that He sunk Himself into our flesh, is beyond all human understanding. – Martin Luther

    The divine Son became a Jew; the Almighty appeared on earth as a helpless human baby, unable to do more than lie there, stare, wiggle, and make noises, needing to be fed, changed, and learning to talk like any other child. The more you think about it, the more staggering it gets. – J. I. Packer

    He that made man was made a man. – C. H. Spurgeon

    Christ took our flesh upon Himself, that He might take our sins upon Himself. – Thomas Watson

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  5. Merry Christmas everyone!

    It will be a pretty quiet day here, which is just as well because my husband can barely walk. I’m not sure what he did to himself getting out of bed, but we might be making a trip to urgent care if it doesn’t start getting better on its own by tomorrow. Though that might interfere with our plans to go see Star Wars tomorrow…

    Time to go check on Christmas breakfast (Sausage Strata).

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  6. Merry Christmas blessings to all for a joyful day with family (including pets) and friends. It’s transition tiTimor us. We have opened gifts, I have packed up foods…deviled eggs, veggie slow, fruit salad, cranberry bread, Brussels sprouts, bread, pumpkin pie, and gifts for brother. Next to drive there and feast. And open more gifts. It is cold here and feels like Christmas. ❤

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  8. 😦 Back issues.

    Merry Christmas to all. We are grateful to be snug in our nice warm home. This has to be one of the coldest Christmases for us; more like New Years. I am glad to not be out in the -15 plus wind. Brrr.

    One of my favorite gifts this time of year is a calendar from one of my daughters. I think she has outdone herself this year with all the photos she put in from so many occasions. She includes her siblings and all their children and our own photos she can access from Facebook. It is always a joy to first see it and then throughout the year. Those of you, who are savvy with this type of thing, may want to consider such a gift especially for the older folks.

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  10. Just got back from Christmas with our older daughter, first Christmas for her and her new husband in their new home; our younger daughter was there, too. The roads aren’t equally clear so it was “work” to get there, but a sweet morning. We just got home and have to leave in less than an hour to have lunch at his mom’s house (single daughter will be there too–that is actually her residence for now–but married daughter won’t be, as they are hosting his side of the family next, and then going to see different family).

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  12. Youngest daughter and little Archie came to the candlelight service with me last night. Best gift ever to be in church with family. I sit right up front and no one was in the first row so little Archie could watch everything. He liked the drummer and was mesmerized by the candles.

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  15. Merry Christmas to all from balmy New Mexico. It is almost 60 degrees here, in the bootheel. Miguel’s family has a tradition, that if the children are awake at midnight, they get to open their gifts. They were, and they did. Today is anticlimactic.

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  16. Just finished watching our favorite Christmas movie, The Muppets Christmas Carol (and getting some mending done, which is boring if I have to just sit and do it but not so much work if I can do it while watching a movie). Now getting ready for dinner – lasagna (from frozen, not homemade, but some things I can buy frozen better than I can cook and it’s a whole lot less work on a day when we’re all relaxing).

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  17. I made a spiral cut ham last night, and crock pot Mac n Cheese for today, with leftover ham. We had our annual brunch with the neighbors and are now home for the day. Still opening gifts, but I got a Norelco One Touch, and a Kindle Fire. I got spoiled by the girls this year. 🙂

    We also got an air fryer as a family gift, which I’ve already used for fresh cut ff’s and potatoes and asparagus. The girls loved it. 🙂

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  18. We just finished A Christamas Story for like the millionth time.

    Still funny. 🙂

    Ho ho ho…. you’ll shoot your eye out kid, a boot to the face, and down the slide he goes……..

    Never gets old……..

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  19. Our family gift this year was a Sunbeam MixMaster. I had a stainless steel one that my mother received as a wedding present in 1960 when she married her first husband. (He left her a widow and she married my dad). Somewhere along the way it got lost. This one is plastic but does the same thing. It probably will not last 50 years like the last one. Appliances are “disposable” these days.

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  20. Last night we sang Christmas carols and had communion at the Christmas Eve service, and then lit candles. Husband thought we were going to burn the building down, as there were probably 1000 people waving their candles around. But I thought it was very nice, and we made it out unsinged.

    Today we had a wonderful lunch with Dad, Brother, Niece and her husband, children, and her mother. The house was full and sometimes noisy, but Samster had a blast playing with the children. The youngest can’t quite walk yet, and so was crawling around all over the room right there on Samster’s level. He was definitely intrigued. The kitchen is mostly put back together, and my feet are up for a few minutes. God is good. :–)

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  21. We just got back from our traditional (now) get-together at Chuck’s. We had dinner and exchanged gifts. I got some gift cards and a shirt. Good for me because there is nothing I need. Elvera got a nice house coat. She wears them, so that is nice.
    It was a nice get-together.
    Several times I realized how much we have been blessed.

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  22. A quiet day at home, just the four of us. Mrs. B’s two brothers and sisters-in-law, niece and nephew-in-law, and two great-nephews will be here for dinner tomorrow.

    It’s been a little bit sad today. We learned that our friend Jan passed away this morning. She was a second mother to my wife JB when she moved to Massachusetts after college 40 years ago. JB became a big sister to Jan’s and Ray’s four teenagers. One year Jan made Christmas stockings for all five of her children (including JB). JB was included in Christmas mornings and many other family occasions. Jan was a wise and godly woman and a treasured mentor for JB.

    We learned about Jan’s end-stage liver cancer a couple months ago and one of her sons has been keeping us posted, so we’ve been expecting this news soon. It’s only been a year since Mrs B lost her first mom, now her second mom is gone too.

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  23. I’m so sorry, Kevin, hard loss. And on Christmas day. 😦

    My cousin and I saw ‘Darkest Hour,” about WWII, very good. Then we found a Marie Calendar’s open so we had turkey dinners there. My cousin, who has always been trim, tends to comment a lot about the food, though — how many calories, how many carbs, how much food, too much food — so it kind of puts a damper on eating. I figure, it’s Christmas, eat it, enjoy it, eat a lot less tomorrow. No need to analyze it as it’s all being consumed. (At one point she said “there’s so much meat” in a critical way and I said “Yeah!”).

    Our culture has become so obsessed with dieting and nutrition. It’s good to be concerned about it, but when it just dominates the meal conversation, it kind of takes the joy out of some of it!

    anyway, that’s my take.

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  24. The last three days have been a whirl of meals, sugar, activities, singing, bustling, Jesus and the need for coffee.

    I was so tired at the late service last night, that after we finished our woodwind trio before the service began, I paged through the bulletin and asked the other clarinetist where in the service we played.

    “That was it.”

    I blinked several times, I’m done?

    “We were the pre-service music.”

    I’m glad I didn’t miss any notes! We also sang six Cantata pieces which I’ve now demonstrated I can sing in my sleep.

    I refused to go to church this morning and took it easy before making our two contributions and spending the day at son #1’s house.

    Adorables had brought home their costumes from last night and did a reprise. We had an angel, Mary and Joseph, with doll baby Jesus.

    They ran through it several times, argued about the baby and ran off. The angel reappeared while we were playing bridge, complaining that Mary wanted the baby Jesus back but had taken off her costume and that wasn’t fair so the angel was keeping her.

    We realized at that point it was probably time for the old folks to go home, so here we are.

    I received 89 hours and 36 minutes of Monk DVDs as a gift, so I’ll be occupied for a while reviewing all 8 seasons!

    It was a good Christmas and I’m fat, sugar hung-over and happy in the blue recliner tonight.

    Tomorrow I’ll have to write a blog post, but I don’t care right now!

    Merry Christmas!

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  25. I’m late getting here, & about to go off to bed soon, but I want to say that I hope everyone had a blessed Christmas. Mine was nice, but kept me busy, which maybe was actually good for me. I’ll probably write more tomorrow.

    I have, of course, shed lots of tears. I miss Hubby so much. As I grieve his loss, I think of Tim & Chris, & how they must be grieving Kathy (KBells), & I pray for their comfort. May God draw them each closer to Himself, & to each other.

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  27. We spent the day with D2 and her husband. They had invited any from their church that didn’t have other plans but no one else came. Our son and D3 were going to come but he wasn’t feeling well and she didn’t want to make the 90 minute drive alone.

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  28. Merry Christmas, friends. I’m sorry for the sadness today over the loss of dear loved ones, Kevin and Kizzie.

    I’ll write about our Christmas another day. Good night to all of you.

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  29. It ain’t Christmas no more.
    And I have to rake up leaves from a pin oak tree in my back yard.
    And it’s cold out there. It’s 25 degrees now, supposed to soar up to 41 this afternoon.

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