Dear Cornerstone Family,
Every Advent about this time, I pull together a few quotes from my Yuletide reading to share. This year, sadly, my seasonal reading was cut short by research for upcoming articles, conferences, and classes. Even with that, I sneaked in a bookish exploration or two, running wild in grand mystery of the incarnation. Below are a few jewels from my treasure hunts, as we draw the waiting season of Advent to a close and prepare for the festivity of Christmas.
“Maybe Christmas” he thought, “doesn’t come from a store. Maybe Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more.”—Dr. Seuss
“Christmas says there is a cosmic scheme of things. God made us as his image to reflect his glory. We have sinned and fallen short of that glory (Romans 3:23). But the Son of God, who is the very image of God (Colossians 1:15), was sent by God, and came in love to restore his image. Through faith in him, we discover that our lives fit into the ‘cosmic scheme of things.’ He recreates in us a love for himself and restores us to fellowship with himself, which transforms self-directed love into love of our neighbors. That is the destiny for which we were created.”—Sinclair Ferguson
On this day of thine own Nativity;
Show thyself the Prince of Peace;
Bid our jarring conflicts cease.”—Charles Wesley
“In the Christian story, God descends to reascend. He comes down; down the from the heights of absolute being into time and space, down into humanity... down to the very roots and seabed of the Nature He has created. But He goes down to come up again and bring the whole ruined world with Him. One has the picture of a strong man stooping lower and lower to get himself underneath some great complicated burden. He must stoop in order to lift; he must almost disappear under the load before he incredibly straightens his back and marches off with the whole mass swaying on his shoulders.”—C.S. Lewis“
"There is nothing so secular that it cannot be sacred, and that is one of the deepest messages of the incarnation.”—Madeline Engle
“We have nearly arrived at the great merry-making season of the year. On Christmas day we shall find all England enjoying themselves with all the good cheer which they can afford. Servants of God, you who have the largest share in the person of him who was born at Bethlehem, I invite you to the best of all Christmas fare—to nobler food than makes the table groan—bread from heaven, for your spirit. Behold, how rich and how abundant are the provisions which God has made for the high festival which he would have his servants keep, not now and then, but all the days of their lives.”—C.H. Spurgeon,
