Post # 66 - CELEBRATING the BIRTH of JESUS CHRIST

“The Night Before Christmas” by Brandon Heath

“Christmas is built upon a beautiful and intentional paradox; that the birth of the homeless should be celebrated in every home.” ― G.K. Chesterton

“This Jesus of Nazareth without money and arms, conquered more millions than Alexander, Caesar, Mohammed and Napoleon; without science and learning He shed more light on matters human and Divine than all philosophers and scholars combined; without the eloquence of schools, He spoke much words of life as were never spoken before or since the produced effects which lie beyond the reach of orator or poet; without writing a single line, He set more pens in motion, furnished themes for more sermons, orations, discussions … than the whole army of great men of ancient and modern times.” ― Philip Schaff, Swiss-born U.S. biblical scholar, 1858

“Yet as I read the birth stories about Jesus I cannot help but conclude that though the world may be tilted toward the rich and powerful, God is tilted toward the underdog.”

― Philip Yancey

“The Word we study has to be the Word we pray. My personal experience of the relentless tenderness of God came not from exegetes, theologians, and spiritual writers, but from sitting still in the presence of the living Word and beseeching Him to help me understand with my head and heart His written Word. Sheer scholarship alone cannot reveal to us the gospel of grace. We must never allow the authority of books, institutions, or leaders to replace the authority of knowing Jesus Christ personally and directly. When the religious views of others interpose between us and the primary experience of Jesus as the Christ, we become unconvinced and unpersuasive travel agents handing out brochures to places we have never visited.”

― Brennan Manning

“I testify that Jesus Christ is utterly incomparable in what He is, what He knows, what He has accomplished and what He has experienced. Yet, movingly, He calls us His Friends”

― Neal A. Maxwell

“You know, we can quote the written Word all day to our friends, but nothing will touch them like our own hunger and love for the Word Himself. It is not dutiful love that attracts but love freely lavished from a heart familiar with the gardens of heaven.”

― Amy Layne Litzelman

May you experience the fullness of God in the very core of your being through the One He sent to our confused and violent planet. May you truly know Him in both the power of His resurrection, but also in the glorious fellowship of His sufferings. May the One born in a manger be at home in your heart as we move into 2013.  

Feliz navidad y un próspero año nuevo, Rusty