Nice rain overnight, so the air was rain-washed again this morning. And since the local paper did not double bag, it was a sorry mess, unreadable and useless.
A news item mentions the Christmas bird count which goes from December 14 to January 5. This is the 112th annual count that the Audubon Society does. The result is knowledge of where birds flock, where they are more abundant, and where less etc.
The count is very good and does track bird distribution. Any person who volunteers can help. Just get in touch with the local people. And thousands of people are doing this, and we are not even aware that it is going on.
Seems to me, in this Christmas Season, we will have all kinds of services, helpful work, much of it done behind the scenes, as it were.
“How silently, how silently,
The wondrous Gift is giv’n,
So God imparts to human hearts
The blessings of His heaven
No ear may hear His coming,
But in this world of sin,
Where meek souls will receive Him still,
The dear Christ enters in”. LSB 361,3
This Christmas, let us keep that truth in mind. Jesus is born in a stable, humbly, He enters unannounced, silently, Angels sing of this, and shepherds come to visit, and worship, and so do the wise men from the East later on.
The real noise begins when King Herod bumps into the knowledge of this King born, and he orders murder to “get rid of this distraction”. That is what He regards this King. Someone who will disturb the even way of his wretched life.
That is the real reason we see today cries about a manger scene on public property, or sneers at the Lord whom we worship, and all this other commotion caused by the enemy.
Our reaction, why, millions of Christians in this world live their lives of service and honor to give God glory in what they are, say, and do every day. That is what they are, and do, because Christ lives in them, as St. Paul tells us. “Know ye not that ye are the temple of god, whose you are?”
GPD 12/22/11
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