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“O little town of Bethlehem how still we see thee lie.  Above the deep and dreamless sleep, the silent stars go by.  Yet in thy dark streets shineth the everlasting Light.  The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight.”  ~~O Little Town of Bethlehem

Phillip Brooks, an Episcopal priest, wrote those words to the well-known Christmas song after visiting Bethlehem in 1865.  The organist at his church in Philadelphia added the music.  I picture Phillip being overwhelmed with emotion as he visited the Savior’s birthplace in Israel.

My journey to the Holy Land in 2007 was not a normal vacation.  I will forever be changed—as I should be.  Christmas, of course, especially brings back the memories of being there.  One of our excursions was to travel the six miles from Jerusalem to Bethlehem.  We went through a security checkpoint at the entrance to Bethlehem.  It made me sad that we had to go through a prison-like wall to get from the place where Jesus died to the place where He was born.  An interesting feeling, for sure.

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“There is a God who loves me, who wraps me in His arms.

And, that is the place where I’m changed.  And, that’s where I belong.

Take me to the place, Lord, to that secret place where I can be with You,

You can make me like You.

Wrap me in Your arms…”~~ lyrics to “Wrap in Me Your Arms” by Michael Gungor

Don’t you sometimes long for God to take you into His arms?  To hold you and make you feel safe?  I know I do.  When things get tough in the world around me, my heart aches to feel the Lord’s closeness.  What a comfort it is to know that no matter what happens, God will never, ever leave us—ever!  “. . . God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.’”  (Hebrews 13:5b, NIV) And, He promises to never turn us away when we go to Him.   “. . . .those the Father has given me will come to me, and I will never reject them.” (Matthew 6:37, NLT)

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“And they’ll know we are Christians by our love…”  ~~Hymn lyrics by Peter Scholtes

Peter Scholtes wrote the above words to a hymn of the same name in 1968.  At the time, he was a Catholic priest in St. Brendan’s Parish on the South Side of Chicago.  Although it only took him a day to write, the song has become widely known and sung by countless people.  Jars of Clay and Rebecca St. James are just two of the Christian artists who have recorded it.  You can read more about Mr. Sholtes’ life and how he came to write this song at: http://www.pscholtes.com/obituary.cfm

But, does the world really see the love of God in us?  What kind of attitude do people sense in me?  When Jesus walked on this earth, He was very clear in His instructions of how we should act as His followers.  He said in John 13:35, “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (NIV) In Matthew 22:34-40, the Pharisees tested Jesus by asking Him what the most important commandment of the Law was.  He told them that the greatest and foremost commandment was to love God and that the second greatest was to “. . . love your neighbor as yourself.” (NIV) In Galatians 5:14, Paul repeats Jesus’ words and then adds in verse 15, “But if you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another.” (NAS)

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“Free at last, free at last.  Thank God Almighty, we are free at last.”~~Martin Luther King, Jr.

Dr. King spoke those words in his “I Have a Dream Speech” on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C., just 4½ years before his untimely death.  It is one of the most widely recognized quotes in all of history.  

Today, I was looking at the pictures in my office–of my three boys and my husband and others.  I became very aware of how I am free in Christ to love them and everyone in my life. In my head I have known that for many years.  But, I didn’t completely get it in my heart.  I haven’t always let myself love like that because of old and wrong recordings in my head that I listened to.

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