His Gospel is Peace
O holy night! The stars are brightly shining,
It is the night of our dear Saviour's birth.
Long lay the world in sin and error pining,
'Til He appear'd and the soul felt its worth.
A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices,
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.
Fall on your knees! O hear the angels' voices!
O night divine, O night when Christ was born;
O night divine, O night, O night Divine.
Truly He taught us to love one another;
His law is love and His gospel is peace.
Chains shall He break for the slave is our brother;
And in His name all oppression shall cease.
Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we,
Let all within us praise His holy name.
Christ is the Lord! O praise His Name forever,
His power and glory evermore proclaim.
His power and glory evermore proclaim.
I’ve had this is idea lurking in the back corners of my mind for quite some time, but I’ve waited until now to post it. It involves Christmas, and I know some people get annoyed when you begin talking about Christmas before Thanksgiving has even happened.
If you know me well, you probably know that I absolutely love Christmas and I love singing Christmas songs. Perhaps one of my favorites is “O Holy Night.” It speaks of Christ’s coming as liberation: personal liberation from our own individual sins, and global liberation from the sins of the world. Christ came not only to save us from our sins, but to lift up the poor, the enslaved, and the oppressed.
Did you know that there are more than 30 million slaves in the world today? Some of these slaves (many of which are children) are coerced in prostitution, some forced to work long hours in brick kilns, some make the ornaments hanging on your Christmas tree. It doesn’t make sense to me that we buy toys for our children that other children are suffering to make.
What better time than now, the season celebrating Christ’s birth, do we have to live out the incarnation of Jesus Christ? Now is the perfect time to choose how our actions will effect the suffering all around the world.
I would encourage you to do some research on human trafficking and how our actions have repercussions that travel all around the world. You can start here. This link will bring you to an interactive map that shows incidences of modern slavery. Keep in mind that these are only incidences reported to this particular organization. This is only a small portion of the slavery occurring in the world.
This post is not meant to ruin the Christmas spirit or to make you feel depressed or guilty. Instead, think of it as an opportunity for awareness or an opportunity to make a difference. Remember, it’s not up to you to save the world, but you can make small differences. I’ll leave you with a quote from Mother Teresa.
“In this life, we cannot do great things. We can only do small things with great love.”
It is the night of our dear Saviour's birth.
Long lay the world in sin and error pining,
'Til He appear'd and the soul felt its worth.
A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices,
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.
Fall on your knees! O hear the angels' voices!
O night divine, O night when Christ was born;
O night divine, O night, O night Divine.
Truly He taught us to love one another;
His law is love and His gospel is peace.
Chains shall He break for the slave is our brother;
And in His name all oppression shall cease.
Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we,
Let all within us praise His holy name.
Christ is the Lord! O praise His Name forever,
His power and glory evermore proclaim.
His power and glory evermore proclaim.
I’ve had this is idea lurking in the back corners of my mind for quite some time, but I’ve waited until now to post it. It involves Christmas, and I know some people get annoyed when you begin talking about Christmas before Thanksgiving has even happened.
If you know me well, you probably know that I absolutely love Christmas and I love singing Christmas songs. Perhaps one of my favorites is “O Holy Night.” It speaks of Christ’s coming as liberation: personal liberation from our own individual sins, and global liberation from the sins of the world. Christ came not only to save us from our sins, but to lift up the poor, the enslaved, and the oppressed.
Did you know that there are more than 30 million slaves in the world today? Some of these slaves (many of which are children) are coerced in prostitution, some forced to work long hours in brick kilns, some make the ornaments hanging on your Christmas tree. It doesn’t make sense to me that we buy toys for our children that other children are suffering to make.
What better time than now, the season celebrating Christ’s birth, do we have to live out the incarnation of Jesus Christ? Now is the perfect time to choose how our actions will effect the suffering all around the world.
I would encourage you to do some research on human trafficking and how our actions have repercussions that travel all around the world. You can start here. This link will bring you to an interactive map that shows incidences of modern slavery. Keep in mind that these are only incidences reported to this particular organization. This is only a small portion of the slavery occurring in the world.
This post is not meant to ruin the Christmas spirit or to make you feel depressed or guilty. Instead, think of it as an opportunity for awareness or an opportunity to make a difference. Remember, it’s not up to you to save the world, but you can make small differences. I’ll leave you with a quote from Mother Teresa.
“In this life, we cannot do great things. We can only do small things with great love.”
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