Christmastide

 

I took this picture in Nazareth, waiting in line to enter the Church of the Annunciation.
It's a bronze relief on a door at the entrance to the church. 

 

Christmas Eve was one continuous stream of worship and celebration, interrupted by the 30 minutes allotted between GCC's services for thousands to come and go. Each time the masses were moving, I ate a few of the jumbo shrimp my friend Danny Striz brought me from Lunker's. The services lasted all day, and by the time Sheila and I got home, it was Christmastide.

Christmas doesn't end on December 25th; it begins on December 25th. And that's when our family gathers to celebrate our Savior's birth. When the Church wraps Advent, my family gathers to unwrap GOD's Story, year-after-year.

Generation-to-generation, we're in GOD's Story... and you are too. 

 

Luke 2:4-7  -  So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.