Happy Christmas

Star of Bethlehem

Have a very happy Christmas and a blessed New Year.

A Hymn on the Nativity of My Saviour
by Ben Jonson

I sing the birth was born tonight,
The Author both of life and light;
The angels so did sound it,
And like the ravished shepherds said,
Who saw the light, and were afraid,
Yet searched, and true they found it.

The Son of God, the eternal King,
That did us all salvation bring,
And freed the soul from danger;
He whom the whole world could not take,
The Word, which heaven and earth did make,
Was now laid in a manger.

The Father’s wisdom willed it so,
The Son’s obedience knew no “No,”
Both wills were in one stature;
And as that wisdom had decreed,
The Word was now made Flesh indeed,
And took on Him our nature.

What comfort by Him do we win?
Who made Himself the Prince of sin,
To make us heirs of glory?
To see this Babe, all innocence,
A Martyr born in our defense,
Can man forget this story?

Gratitude

Brother David

I’ve long been a fan of Brother David Steindl-Rast and his Gratefulness network and was pleased to see that he’d been invited to give a TED talk on Happiness, earlier this year. TED has a bit of a reputation for not being keen on religious or spiritual speakers so it is always a boon when such an eminent one slips under the radar.

Want to be happy? You can see the 14 minute talk here.

Over on Vimeo, Brother David has given a series of interviews as a form of Spiritual Biography to the New School at Commonweal. There’s about 7 hours of material and it is lovely to have access to this.

http://vimeo.com/newschoolcommonweal