2011 Christmas Card

Christmas Eve is fast upon us!

This year, we have 4 Christmas Eve worship services scheduled (3:30, 5:00, 8:00, and 9:30 pm). Christmas Day falls on a Sunday this year, so we will have just one worship service (with Communion) at 10:00 am on Sunday.  If you are in our neighborhood, consider yourself invited. You don’t need to be a member, you don’t need to bring anything, you don’t need anything at all… just come and join us as we give thanks to God for the greatest Christmas gift of all!

I’ve started handing out my Christmas cards to everybody that I can connect with. This year I’m allowing for more time for this, as I’m hobbled a bit by a torn tendon in my left ankle. I usually hand out 500 cards each Christmas, so please be patient with me as I offer you a card… for the fifth or sixth time. I don’t keep a list. As a matter of fact, I will extend my Christmas message to everyone I see during this season… at the market, pumping gas, at work, at the post office… everywhere. This blog allows me to connect with a few other people, too. If you are one of them, here is this year’s Christmas card from me:

Front:

Sweet Christmastime…

Inside:

O Come, O Come…
Sweet Christmastime to Me

By David Alan Hoag – December 1, 2011
(sung to O Come, O Come Emmanuel)

O come, o come… sweet Christmastime to me
I want to see my grandkids trim the tree
I want to walk through bright streets of light
And like a child renew my lost delight.
O come…
O come…
Sweet Christmastime to me
And change my heart to what it ought to be.

O come, o come… sweet Christ child unto Earth
Again renew the promise of your birth
You come to us in meekness, not might
That we might move from darkness to light.
O come…
O come…
Sweet Christ child unto Earth
In me renew the promise of your birth.

According to that most accurate of sources, the Internet, the words to the favorite O Come, O Come Emmanuel carol were originally written in Latin in the 12th Century. The author of the words and composer to the music of O Come, O Come Emmanuel is unknown. It is, however believed that the melody was of French origin and added to the text a hundred years later. The Latin was translated into English by John Mason Neale in 1851. It seems a rather long gestation period for any song, but I suppose they wanted to get it just right! And now, in 2011, I add 2 verses of my own. Enjoy.

Blessings to you and your family, as you celebrate God’s love at Christmas time.

My prayer is that the peace, love, and joy that come from the salvation through Jesus Christ… be yours at Christmas, and all through the year.

Your brother in Christ,

Dave Hoag