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On The Upper Room Discourse Re-Release For Lent 2024

Saturday, December 11, 2010

December 11

15When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, ‘Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.’ 16So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger. 17When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child; 18and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them. 19But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart. 20The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

Luke 2:15-20

What is Christmas without children!  Whatever would we do without their squeals of delight and laughter, their wide-eyed wonder and amazement?   How wonderful to see Christmas through a child’s eyes.

The English writer and painter, William Blake, wrote a poem, “The Lamb,” that expresses the wonder of God come down to us as a child.  Blake’s poem begins with an innocent child beholding a lamb and asking, “Who made thee?”

Little Lamb, who made thee?
Dost thou know who made thee?
Gave thee life, and bid thee feed,
By the stream and o’er the mead;
Gave thee clothing of delight,
Softest clothing, woolly, bright;
Gave thee such a tender voice,
Making all the vales rejoice?
Little Lamb, who made thee?
Dost thou know who made thee?

In the poem’s next stanza the little child’s curiosity is replaced with satisfied wonder as he discovers that both he and the little lamb were made by the One who calls himself a lamb, and calls himself a little child.

Little Lamb, I’ll tell thee,
Little Lamb, I’ll tell thee.
He is called by thy name,
For He calls Himself a Lamb.
He is meek, and He is mild;
He became a little child.
I a child, and thou a lamb,
We are called by His name.
Little Lamb, God bless thee!
Little Lamb, God bless thee!

Ah yes, bless thee little lamb!  Bless thee little child, and all the children who stir in us wonder at the gentle One who made us, and who became for us a little child, and became for us God’s little Lamb.

 

PONDER

 

Read, Reflect, Respond, and Rest with today’s scripture text,
Luke 2:15-20, and devotional.

Today’s Moments of Diaphany

  • an answer to prayer
  • evidence of his love and care
  • evidence of his creative power and wisdom
  • his help to do his work

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