A plague of our time–false prophets, lying teachers.
Is the Bible ambiguous? In a word, no.
God says what He means and means what He says. His word is recorded for us, for all time, in the Bible.
One of the plagues of our time is our bumper crop of false prophets, false Christs–more of ’em than you can shake a stick at! But then He did warn us this would happen, didn’t he (Matthew 24: 24)?
The Bible will not lead us wrong.
One of our friends out there usually requests this carol, but so far this year he hasn’t, so I thought I ought to go ahead and provide it myself.
The carol contest is not over, everyone! We’ll keep it going till New Year’s. So if you haven’t entered a Christmas hymn request yet, now’s the time to do it!
Meanwhile we have Once in Royal David’s City, sung by Daniel O’Donnell.
Phoebe has requested another go-round for Joy to the World–well, hey, it’s Christmas Day!
Isaac Watts’ classic Christmas hymn, performed here by Celtic Woman…
We’re going to watch The Princess Bride and have spare ribs for supper, and you’re all invited–cybernetically, of course: otherwise we don’t have enough room. You haven’t lived till you’ve had cyber-spare ribs.
Well, I can’t just stop the contest here, can I? For one thing, there’s still a tie score. For another, the only carol that picked up 30-plus views was in a post from 2019.
And one more consideration: I estimate 90% of the hymn requests come from 5% of our viewers, give or take a few. Some of you just never post a comment. Some of you are new to the site and, I guess, bashful. And others are not into contests, not into prizes, whatever.
So…. we’re extending the Christmas Carol Contest to New Year’s. We don’t have to worry about running out of carols! We do need Christmas, you know. And this is a good way to celebrate it. I’m not overstuffed with Christmas carols yet. Are you?
Yes, I posted this video earlier in the contest; but Susan has asked for it, so here it is–We Three Kings, performed for Australia television by Hugh Jackman, David Hobson, and Peter Cousen… and with great enthusiasm.
Besides, I like it, too.
Just to let you know, we got our tree decorated today–although I’m just totally exhausted (I had to vacuum, too, and dust the stairs) and Patty says I don’t look like I’ll make it to suppertime. But we’re having duck, so I’ll remain conscious for that.
Our tree is much smaller than what we usually have, and it wasn’t possible to use all the ornaments and I didn’t even put on Grandpa’s string of lights. I just wanted to be sure to use most of our family heirlooms. Just didn’t have the energy to do more.
Uh… got to clean the litter boxes now. I wouldn’t want our cat to face used litter. Not on Christmas Eve.
Phoebe asked for this one–Angels from the Realms of Glory. Posted by the Racine Bible Church: I wish I could tell you the singer’s name, but it has not been provided.
How many Christmas carols should I post today? But meanwhile it’s time to decorate the tree.
This is my annual Christmas gift to my readers–My Love’s an Arbutus, by the Fairhaven Singers. This hauntingly beautiful song is used as Alice’s theme in Scrooge, my favorite movie adaptation of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol.” Can’t watch it without being deeply moved. But then if redemption doesn’t stir your soul, what will?
My mother and my aunts used to sing this carol in German, because that’s how they learned it from their mother, and she from hers. And I break into tears when I hear it, because it brings them back to me.
Speaking of Christmas trees, I’ll still tired from yesterday. We have this nice little tree and I wanted to set it up in the living room so I could trim it today. Ah–but it doesn’t fit in the bucket, the stem’s too long. I’ll have to saw four or five inches off it. Which I must do outdoors–where it’s freezing cold and raining. Well, how long can it take, just to saw off a little bit?
Answer: If you’ve only got a rip saw, designed only for sawing with the grain, it’s going to take you a freakin’ long time! Wrong tool for the job, but the only tool I had. Eventually I sawed through it enough to knock off the rest with my hand. I’d’ve gotten an A in Shop for that, if you overlooked the fact that I used the wrong tool.
Brought it back in and set it up, and now it fit… and in just another minute or two, Robbie was camped out on the blanket under it. That sort of made it worthwhile.
Suppertime. Chinese food tonight. Plus Christmas present for the lady who runs the restaurant. One little problem, though: by now it’s so blisteringly cold, my car doors are frozen shut. Ditto Patty’s car. If I want our supper, I’ll have to walk. It’s only half a dozen blocks or so, but the wind practically took my face off.
So today we’ll vacuum up a bit, and I’ll decorate the tree, and we’ll listen to Christmas carols while we do it, and there’s duck for supper.
May the Lord bless your Christmas–as Tiny Tim observed, “God bless us, every one.”
P.S.–Just wonderin’: why are the Vienna Boys Choir wearing sailor suits? Not much call for a navy in Vienna, one would think.
Requested by my wife, so here goes–Ding-Dong Gloria on High, sung by the Kings College Choir.
This is so very beautiful! And I can’t help a silent cry–well, all right, not so silent: “You traded this for atheism? Even the San Francisco Giants make better trades than that!”