The Gift of Gifts

O Source of all good, What shall I render to thee for the gift of gifts, Thine own dear Son, begotten, not created My Redeemer, proxy, surety, substitute, His self-emptying incomprehensible, His infinity of love beyond the heart’s grasp. Herein is wonder of wonders: he came below to raise me above, was born like me that I might become like him. Herein is love; when I cannot rise to him he draws near on wings of grace, to raise me to himself. Herein is power; when Deity and humanity were infinitely apart he united them in indissoluble unity, the uncreated and the created. Herein is wisdom; when I was undone, with no will to return to him, and no intellect to devise recovery, he came, God-incarnate, to save me to the uttermost, As man to die my death, To shed satisfying blood on my behalf, To work out a perfect righteousness for me. O God, take me in spirit to the watchful shepherds, And enlarge my mind; Let me hear good tidings of great joy, And hearing, believe, rejoice, praise, adore, My conscience bathed in an ocean of repose, My eyes uplifted to a reconciled Father; Place me with ox, ass, camel, goat, To look with them upon my Redeemer’s face, And in him account myself delivered from sin; Let me with Simeon clasp the new-born child to my heart, Embrace him with undying faith, Exulting that he is mine and I am his. In him thou has given me so much that heaven can give no more. The Valley of Vision, pp. 28-29

Christmas Concert Tonight at Shiloh

Tonight at 7 PM, the Shiloh Metropolitan Baptist Church of Jacksonville will host our music department's annual Christmas Concert.

Our Worship and Arts Department is under the capable hands of Dr. Roger Sears.

Our Mass Choir, Forgiven Ensemble, Children and Youth Choir, and Praise Dance Team will all be performing tonight.

It will be a great celebration of the miraculous birth and redemptive work of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

If you live in the Jacksonville area - and your local church does not have a meeting scheduled - joins us for this special time of worship. Or watch it online at www.smbcjax.com

My First Christmas in Jacksonville

My first Christmas in Jacksonville was very close to what would have taken place if I was still in Los Angeles. Most likely.

I was up quite late on Christmas Eve, editing my sermon. I only got a couple of hours sleep. And I was back up, continuing my preparations for my Christmas morning message.

H.B. woke up before everyone else. Typical. Once we woke up the women, we prayed, opened a couple of gifts, and then prepared for worship.

Our Christmas morning service at Shiloh Church was great. I was surprised by the attendance. And I was really looking forward to preaching. My message was on John 3:16 - "How God Says I Love You." God smile on our worship service.

After worship, we needed breakfast. Let the church says, "Waffle House!"

Upon returning home and watched the kids open the rest of the gifts. Several members were kind enough to give gifts to H.B., Natalie, and Hailey. As Natalie opened one such gift, she whispered, "Our church really loves us." Crystal and I looked at each other. I said, "I think you're right." Crystal said, "I am glad you noticed."

Time seemed to fly by. The afternoon arrived before we knew it. Crystal and the kids prepared to go to the home of new friends who invited us over for Christmas dinner. They were almost ready to go before they noticed that I hadn't budged. So they left me.

The "spirit of sleep" overtook me."

I was really hungry when I woke up. But Crystal and the kids were still out. I waited as long as I could before I had to go out to get me something. Let the church says, "Hamburgers."

We all got home about the same time. One of H.B.'s new friends was with them to spend the night with us. So Crystal went back out and made sure we were stocked-up on junk food. We threw in a movie. And twenty minutes into it, the "spirit of sleep" overtook me again.

New city. Same Charles family Christmas traditions. Crystal says this previous sentence should read, "Same H.B. Jr. Christmas traditions."

Bah humbug!

The Visited Planet

As a Christian, I believe that we live in parallel worlds. One world consists of hills and lakes and barns and politicians and shepherds watching their flocks by night. The other consists of angels and sinister forces and somewhere out there places called heaven and hell. One night in the cold, in the dark, among the wrinkled hills of Bethlehem, those two worlds came together at a dramatic point of intersection. God, who knows no before or after, entered time and space. God, who knows no boundaries took on the shocking confines of a baby's skin, the ominous restraints of mortality.

"He is the image of the invisible God," the firstborn over all creation," an apostle would later write; "He is before all things, and in him all things hold together." But the few eyewitnesses on Christmas night saw none of that. They saw an infant struggling to work never before used lungs.

Could it be true, this Bethlehem story of a Creator descending to be born on one small planet? If so, it is a story like no other. Never again need we wonder whether what happens on this dirty little tennis ball of a planet matters to the rest of the universe. Little wonder a choir of angels broke out in spontaneous song, disturbing not only a few shepherds but the entire universe. - Philip Yancey, The Jesus I Never Knew, pp. 44-45