"Close the door of hate
and open the door of love
all over the world."
- Robert Louis Stevenson
"There's much more to Christmas
than candlelight and cheer;
It's the spirit of sweet friendship
that brightens all the year."
- Anon
"A Star shines brightly
from above,
Church bells ring of
peace and love,
For on this glorious
Christmas Day,
Christ the King
was born this day!"
- Anon
A Christmas Prayer
for Our Children
by R.E. Slater
Bright and beautiful
our precious child --
Take dear Lord our loved Ones dear.
And hold them close Thy loving breast
all the while our holy trust.
Where in your Love
protects and cares
by sustaining songs
of renewing life, amidst
twinkling stars of the night.
Bless your children dear --
upon your holy breast of tears
Hear our longings
that there they stay
warm and safe all their days.
R.E. Slater
December 23, 2020
@copyright R.E. Slater Publications
all rights reserved
Christmastime Solstice
by Cmk
It’s so dark and so cold and yet,
after the longest night of the year,
the sun still rises,
the days get longer,
dare we hope again
the warming days ahead.
Look up into the night sky --
it's wonderments and praise!
#HOPE
Cmk
December 23, 2020
Is there a moment quite as keen
or memory as bright
as light and fire and music sweet
to warm the winter's night?
- Adam Christianson
Winter Solstice heralds the symbolic rebirth of the Sun, the lengthening of days, and the promise of renewing life. On the Christian Calendar it is preceded by Christ's Advent Coming at the nativity of Bethlehem promising spiritual death to the old way of life in exchange for the birth of new life. Christmas films, novels, poems, and songs, speak to the sustaining promise of God in Christ that what once was in Eden's fellowship with God, has come again at Jesus Christ's birth. Sealed by Christ's atoning redemption at the Cross of Calvary, to become forever new in resurrection glory, truth, and hope, and sustaining divine love. It is because of the Christian story that the phrase, "Love Wins," succinctly captures God's promise to man and creation of redeeming renewal upon the human heart and beast wherein all the old worlds of sin and death be renewed in Jesus' forgiving love of Christmas Day. - re slater
Wikipedia
The winter solstice, hiemal solstice or hibernal solstice, occurs when one of the Earth's poles has its maximum tilt away from the Sun. It happens twice yearly, once in each hemisphere (Northern and Southern). For that hemisphere, the winter solstice is the day with the shortest period of daylight and longest night of the year, when the Sun is at its lowest daily maximum elevation in the sky. At the pole, there is continuous darkness or twilight around the winter solstice. Its opposite is the summer solstice. Also the Tropic of Cancer or Tropic of Capricorn depending on the hemispheres winter solstice the sun goes 90 degrees below the horizon at solar midnight to the nadir.
The winter solstice occurs during the hemisphere's winter. In the Northern Hemisphere, this is the December solstice (usually December 21 or 22) and in the Southern Hemisphere, this is the June solstice (usually June 20 or 21). Although the winter solstice itself lasts only a moment, the term sometimes refers to the day on which it occurs. Other names are the "extreme of winter" (Dongzhi), or the "shortest day". Since the 18th century, the term "midwinter" has sometimes been used synonymously with the winter solstice, although it carries other meanings as well. Traditionally, in many temperate regions, the winter solstice is seen as the middle of winter, but today in some countries and calendars, it is seen as the beginning of winter.
Since prehistory, the winter solstice has been seen as a significant time of year in many cultures, and has been marked by festivals and rituals. It marked the symbolic death and rebirth of the Sun. The seasonal significance of the winter solstice is in the reversal of the gradual lengthening of nights and shortening of days.
Winter’s Cloak
by Joyce Rupp and Macrina Wiederkehr
This year I do not want
the dark to leave me.
I need its wrap
of silent stillness,
its cloak
of long lasting embrace.
Too much light
has pulled me away
from the chamber
of gestation.
Let the dawns
come late,
let the sunsets
arrive early,
let the evenings
extend themselves
while I lean into
the abyss of my being.
Let me lie in the cave
of my soul,
for too much light
blinds me,
steals the source
of revelation.
Let me seek solace
in the empty places
of winter’s passage,
those vast dark nights
that never fail to shelter me.
*“Winter’s Cloak” is from The Circle of Life: The Heart’s Journey Through the Seasons by sisters Joyce Rupp and Macrina Wiederkehr in which “using reflections, poems, prayers, and meditations, they explore the relationship between the seasons of the earth and the seasons of our lives.”
While everything was
Wrapped in a gentle silence
And night in its swift course
Was now half gone...
Your All-Powerful Word
Leaped from heaven...
Into the midst of our needy and lonely world...
The whole of creation in its nature
Was fashioned anew -
Protected by your hand -
And gazing on marvelous wonders.
Wisdom 18:14-16, 19:6-9
The Bells of Christmas
by Eugene Field
Why do the bells of Christmas ring?
Why do little children sing?
Once a lovely shining star,
Seen by shepherds from afar,
Gently moved until its light,
Made a manger's cradle bright.
There a darling baby lay,
Pillowed soft upon the hay,
And it's mother sung and smiled:
"This is Christ, the holy Child!"
Therefore bells for Christmas ring,
Therefore little children sing.
New Choral Music for 2020
