Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Joy: Eighth Day of Christmas


Joy to the world! The Lord is come: let earth receive her king;
Let every heart prepare him room, and heaven and nature sing.

With “Joy to the world” in our hearts and minds, I invite you to join me in looking each of these twelve days for instances of the joy that runs through all of creation, especially through experiencing the beauty and wonder of God’s world.

The sky this evening was lovely. Clear skies and cold temperatures brought beautiful sunrises and sunsets to many Nebraskans today.



The joy of seeing this evening sky was deepened by the recollection of the words of the Phos hilaron that help articulate the spiritual experience of seeing such a sky:

O gracious Light,
pure brightness of the everliving Father in heaven,
O Jesus Christ, holy and blessed!
Now as we come to the setting of the sun,
and our eyes behold the vesper light,
we sing your praises, O God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
You are worthy at all times to be praised by happy voices,
O Son of God, O Giver of life,
and to be glorified through all the worlds.
(Book of Common Prayer, p. 118)

Joy to the world! The Savior reigns; let us our songs employ, while fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains, repeat the sounding joy.

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