17 | decembrie | 2012 | agnus dei - english + romanian blog

VEZI aici PAGINA cu COLINDE, POEZII….

photo via http://www.thorharp.com

Christmas Canon

[1.]
Merry Christmas Merry Christmas Merry Christmas Merry Christmas

[Add the new stanza at the end of the first time]

[2.]
The joy that he brings The joy that he brings The joy that he brings The joy that he brings

[Together]
Brings…

[1.]
This night We pray Our lives Will show
This dream He had Each child Still knows

[Simultaneously – add a new stanza each second time]

[2.]
We are waiting
We have not forgotten

[3.]
On this night On this night
On this very Christmas night

More lyrics: http://www.lyricsmode.com/ Video below Published by BHOdirector

O holy night

O Holy Night! The stars are brightly shining,
It is the night of the dear Saviour’s birth.
Long lay the world in sin and error pining.
Till He appeared and the Spirit felt its worth.
A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices,
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.
Fall on your knees! Oh, hear the angel voices!
O night divine, the night when Christ was born;
O night, O Holy Night , O night divine!
O night, O Holy Night , O night divine!

Led by the light of faith serenely beaming,
With glowing hearts by His cradle we stand.
O’er the world a star is sweetly gleaming,
Now come the wisemen from out of the Orient land.
The King of kings lay thus lowly manger;
In all our trials born to be our friends.
He knows our need, our weakness is no stranger,
Behold your King! Before him lowly bend!
Behold your King! Before him lowly bend!

Truly He taught us to love one another,
His law is love and His gospel is peace.
Chains he shall break, for the slave is our brother.
And in his name all oppression shall cease.
Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we,
With all our hearts we praise His holy name.
Christ is the Lord! Then ever, ever praise we,
His power and glory ever more proclaim!
His power and glory ever more proclaim.

Video Published by ASHLEYHAYWARD1993

Faceti click pe ‘Watch this video on Youtube’ pe player. Pentru ca este o productie Sony, trebuie sa intrati la Youtube ca sa il vedeti. E COLIND EXCEPTIONAL cantat de ENYA la HARFA.

Der Theologe und Philosoph John Lennox (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In his first week of college, John Lennox was asked whether he believed in God by a student. Then the student said, „Oh wait, you’re Irish,” intimating that the Irish have been christians generation after generation. Ever since Lennox says that he has tried to engage with people that have a different worldview than his own. John Lennox is Professor of Mathematics at Oxford University. In recent years he has debated some of the most famous atheists in the world like Richard Dawkins, who is also Professor of Zoology at Oxford. He also debated Christopher Hitchens and Peter Singer right before this lecture.

Some points from this video:

The atheists think that what they hold is not a faith. I smile and I say, „I thought you believed it.” It is so absurd, really. But, what they feel is that those of us who believe in God, we have a faith and they don’t because atheists hold the default position. I do not believe that. It’s not about what particular religions people come from . It’s about what is true.I suspect, like you, I don’t want to be fooled in life.

The Christmas story of a child, born i humble circumstances. Shepherds coming, and angels and kings. There’s something about that story that has inspired some of the world’s greatest music and some of the world’s greatest poetry ever written. But, not only that, it’s inspired millions of people’s lives.

I live in a world where the authority of the scripture is constantly undermined, in the name of advancing secularism. How is it that I, a Mathematics professor at Oxford, how is that I can believe that on a specific occasion, in a specific country, at a specific time in history God became human? It is the most astounding story ever told.

I want to think for a moment of one of the most brilliant historians of the ancient world had to say. Luke, Dr. Luke, he’s the only scientist that writes in the New Testament. And he wrote both the Gospel of Luke and the earliest history of the christian church- the Book of Acts. He starts his book like this: „In as much as many have undertaken to compile an account of the things that were accomplished among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who were from the beginning witnesses and servants of the Word. It seemed fitting for me, as well, having investigated everything, currently from the beginning, to write it out for in the consecutive order, most excellent Theophilus. So that you may know the exact truth or the certainty about the things that you are being taught.”

Luke was presumably commissioned to write this GospelHe was commissioned to trace exactly what had happened from the beginning. To write it for, obviously a wealthy and powerful, influential man called Theophilus, to give him certainty about the things that he had been taught. The Gospel of Luke is a book about certainty. Even for people who have been taught the basic truths about Christianity. Because, as I travel around the world, I meet many people and they’ve been Christians for many years and still, there are doubts, there are questions, there are problems. And, indeed, if we are honest, all of us face major problems.

When Jesus came into the world, He came to the poor actually, didn’t He? The stable was a very humble place. The shepherds were the humblest of humble men. Ah, but there were kings who came. And so, to the poor and the rich God came into the world. Is that a fairy story?

It’s the specifics of Christianity that people object to. The story of Luke threatens to undermine the whole of secularism because it tells us that this world is not the only world that exists. That’s a very disturbing thing to you and I.

I used to listen to C.S.Lewis lecture in Cambridge. C.S. Lewis tells a wonderful story in his Narnia books. It was the witch that discovered that there might be a door into another world, and she was terrified. Oh yes, there is a door, because this world is not the only world there is. And the story of Christmas is the story of the other world, that preexisted our world, breaking into this world and God becoming human. It’s a big story, isn’t it?

The interesting thing is that Luke, and only Luke tells us two birth stories. He tells us of two conceptions that involved the supernatural, but, in different ways. First one is the conception and birth of John the Baptist. The second one is the conception and birth of the Lord Jesus. And he tells us the first one for a very specific reason. Luke says he checked everything thoroughly, he’s a medical doctor. He was an ancient version of a scientist. He lived in a world, by the way, where there were very clever people. We must not think that just in our contemporary world cleverness has been discovered. Luke was brilliant as a historian and as an observer.

Now, Luke has given us these 2 stories because he understood exactly what it is that people object to today. Luke understood a lot of the objections, so he tells us a story.(14:48)