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"Why is it that, next to the birthday of the Savior of the world, your most joyous and most venerated festival returns on this [Independence] day? Is it not that, in the chain of human events, the birthday of the nation is indissolubly linked with the birthday of the Savior?"
"Lord Jesus, at this joyous season, When we celebrate thy birth, Flood each heart with kindliness Until it spreads through all the earth. Let the Star the Wise men followed Light our paths again, And the song that woke the shepherds Still abide in hearts of men."
"Success soons palls. The joyous time is when the breeze first strikes your sails, and the waters rustle under your bows."
Consider this short poem entitled “Power of Words:”
A careless word may kindle strife
A cruel word may wreak a life
A bitter word may hate instill
A brutal word may smite and kill
A gracious word may smooth the way
A joyous word ma...
Richard Foster in Celebration of Discipline - “Celebration is at the heart of the way of Christ. He entered the world on a high note of jubilation: ‘I bring you good news of a great joy,’ cried the angel, ‘which shall come to all the people.’ He left the world bequeathing his joy to the disciples: ‘These things I have spoken to you that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.’
He goes on to write, “The carefree spirit of joyous festivity is absent in contemporary society. Apathy, even melancholy, dominates the times. Harvey Cox says that modern man has been pressed ‘so hard toward useful work and rational calculation he has all but forgotten the joy of ecstatic celebration.”
“A careless word may kindle strife,
A cruel word may wreck a life;
A bitter word may hate instill,
A brutal word may smite and kill;
A gracious word may smooth the way
A joyous word may light the day;
A timely word may lessen stress,
A loving word may heal and bless.”
O Lord, how shall I meet Thee,
How welcome Thee aright?
Thy people long to greet Thee,
My Hope, my heart’s Delight!
Oh, kindle, Lord most holy,
Thy lamp within my breast
To do in spirit lowly
All that may please Thee best.
Thy Zion strews before Thee
Green boughs and fairest palms,
And I, too, will adore Thee
With joyous songs and psalms.
My heart shall bloom forever
For Thee with praises new
And from Thy name shall never
Withhold the honor due.
(The Lutheran Hymnal [TLH] 58:1, 2)
Like the first disciples, our greatest need is not just to see or hear about the resurrection, but to have the resurrection happen to us. Lloyd Ogilvie says, “The most powerful historical proof of the resurrection is the ‘resurrected’ disciples. Dull, defeated people became fearless, adventuresome leaders. Cowards became courageous; the timid became triumphant; the in...
Today we celebrate Holy Communion. In our Methodist and Anglican traditions the spirit of repentance has always been at the heart and center in observing this holy sacrament. Traditionally since the publication of the first BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER in 1549 and John Wesley’s 1784 work THE SUNDAY SERVICE OF METHODISTS IN NORTH AMERICA WITH OTHER OCCASIONAL SERVICES, we have prepared our hearts to receive the elements of the bread and wine by praying together “The Prayer of Humble Access.”
I am using contemporary English in this version of that prayer, but you will remember it goes like this:
We do not presume to come to this Your table, O merciful Lord,
trusting in our own righteousness, but in Your manifold
and great mercies. We are not worthy so much as to
gather up the crumbs under your table. But You are
the same Lord, whose property is always to have mercy.
Grant us therefore, gracious Lord, so to partake of this
sacrament of Your Son Jesus Christ, that we may walk
in newness of life, may grow into His likeness, and may
evermore dwell in Him, and He in us. Amen.
Since Vatican II not only the Roman Catholic Church but most Protestant Churches have revised their liturgies, especially the ones for Holy Communion. Communion has taken on the spirit of a joyous celebration of the resurrection power of Jesus Christ which it should always be, but usually “The Prayer of Humble Access” is omitted. This is regrettable.
"If you want to bring to mind humble, pure, obedient, God-pleasing and joyous hearts in God, then think of these angels. Here you see what great and kind friends they are to us also rejoicing over our salvation as if it were their own."
