Dear Cornerstone Family,
Last Sunday we were treated to a lovely Christmas performance from our covenant children. There really is nothing sweeter than hearing little ones open their lips to declare the praise of our glorious God and Savior Jesus Christ.
As you know, such performances do not just happen. I’d run out of space mentioning the many names of those who served to make last week’s performance a reality. One name, however, simply must be named––Jessica Michaud. For years, Jessica has poured her heart into leading the children’s choir. Her efforts have grown our covenant children in their knowledge of and love for singing. I am so thankful for Jessica and for the small army of volunteers who labor so faithfully to train our children musically.
In addition to choir, I would like to publicly thank our children’s Sunday School teachers and assistants as well as all those who assisted in our children’s ministry on Wednesday nights this fall. Under the leadership of our Children’s Coordinator, Meredith Suits, it’s been a deeply encouraging semester of exploring God’s Word and putting the truth to work in fun crafts and activities. As we bring this semester to a close, please join me in giving praise to God for the gift of diligent teachers and assistants who weekly take the little children to Jesus (Matthew 19:14).
Now, like many of you, one of the things I look forward to during Advent and Christmas is seasonal reading. In fits and spurts over the last few weeks, I made my way through a number of volumes. To close out our Advent season, I’ve culled a few quotes from my seasonal reading. I hope these quotes serve to inform your mind and enflame your heart for the celebration of Christ’s coming into the world.
“Incarnation prophesies salvation...When God stoops down to man, it must mean that man is to be lifted up to God.” ––C.H. Spurgeon
“Now have the homely things been made Sacred, and a glory on them laid,
For He whose shelter was a stall,
The King, was born among them all. He came to handle saw and plane, To use and follow the profane; Now is the holy not afar
In temples lighted by a star, But where the loves and labors are,
Now that the King has gone this way,
Great are the things of every day!”––Edwin Markham
“What can I give him, poor as I am? If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb; If I were a Wise Man, I would do my part; Yet what I can I give him: I give my heart.” ––Christina Rosetti
“Nothing makes a Christmas gathering so happy as to feel that we are traveling on towards an eternal gathering in heaven.” ––J.C. Ryle
“The incarnation means that for whatever reason God chose to let us fall...to suffer, to be subject to sorrows and death––he has nonetheless had the honesty and the courage to take his own medicine...He can exact nothing from man that he has not exacted from himself. He himself has gone through the whole of human experience––from the trivial irritations of family life and the cramping restrictions of hard work and lack of money to the horrors of pain and humiliation, defeat, despair, and death...He was born in poverty and suffered infinite pain––all for us––and thought it worth his while.”––Dorothy Sayers
Your servant,
