By Rev. C.J. Barry Kentner
Angels sang at Bethlehem
Bringing down Good News to man;
Heralding a virgin birth
And proclaiming, “Peace on Earth.”
Prophecy was there fulfilled
And through the generations, thrilled
Millions who have bowed their knees
And received True Liberty.
Today the song that shepherds heard
Is Jesus Christ, God’s Living Word
Who Gave his Life on Calvary
And then
Rose again for you and me.
Still that Heavenly Anthem sounds
And the Joy of Salvation still abounds
Please, take this precious Christmas Gift
And let it give your heart a lift.
There are candy canes and mistletoe,
And pretty trees that wink and glow.
Coloured bulbs that pierce the night
To some
Christmas is a wondrous sight.
But then on the other side of Christmas,
Skies are not always blue;
And especially at Christmas is this true —
For behind the lights and mistletoe
There lies a different hue
Of bitterness and disappointment too.
But there is one Gift, a Giving gift
See
God wrapped his great Salvation
In the body of a babe.
Mary put this wondrous gift
In a cradle in a stable cave.
In swaddling clothes, to hold it firm
And shield it from the hay
That filled the crude wood manger
Where the baby Jesus lay.
The roughness of that stable
Matched the moods in town that day…
No matter where you went
“There’s no room” was all they’d say…
I have to pause and wonder,
Is it different, today?
After all these centuries
Where does baby Jesus lay,
At Calvary, He wrapped the gifts
In His own precious blood
And later, gave God’s Spirit
Wrapped in fiery tongues to flood
A world that looked for something more
That what was on its plate;
A gift that keeps on giving
For which no one has to wait.
Rev. C.J. Barry Kentner
