Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord, O my soul! I will praise the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praises to my God while I have my being. Put not your trust in princes, in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation. When his breath departs, he returns to the earth; on that very day his plans perish. Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his God, who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, who keeps faith for ever; who executes justice for the oppressed, who gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets the prisoners free; the Lord opens the eyes of the blind. The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down; the Lord loves the righteous. The Lord watches over the sojourners; he upholds the widow and the fatherless, but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin. The Lord will reign for ever, your God, O Zion, to all generations. Praise the Lord!
Thought
I wonder what type of Christmas tree you have up in your house, if you have one up at all? Do you buy a real tree each year, or do you have one of the many very realistic artificial ones that you can buy? A few weeks ago while I was out shopping I saw rainbow coloured Christmas trees, as well as ones made out of tinsel; not at all realistic but some might say quite fun. Once you have decided on the type of tree you want comes the decision of just how big is it going to be? Do you like to have the largest tree that you can fit in or do you prefer something a bit more sedate? I remember one Christmas when my brothers and I were all still living at home, my brother Richard bought the most enormous real Christmas tree. We lived in a house with lovely high ceilings but the tree completely filled the corner of the room.
Once you have your tree you still have many decisions to make about how it will be decorated. How many lights do you fit on and what colour do you go for? Do you have matching decorations or do you have a collection of rather random decorations that you have acquired over many years? The end result, once all the decorating has been done, is often a very personal tree.
Not all Christmas trees, however, are personal; many are put on display either outside people’s houses, places of work or in public places. As I drive about in the evenings I love seeing the Christmas trees that are on display and appreciate the time and effort people have gone to in order to decorate trees for other people to see.
One tree in particular has stood out for me this year. I found it so beautiful that I had to be careful to keep my eyes on the road as I drove past it. The tree is in a village that I pass through on my way to Lincoln and it stands in front of some workshops. It is a real tree, my guess is that it is an oak tree which has been there for many years. What they have done is to cover the trunk and all the branches, as far as they can, with small white lights. The lights have been wrapped around the individual branches so that you can see the shape of the tree and it is very beautiful.
When I saw it I was reminded of the beauty of God’s creation. We may put up as much tinsel and baubles as we like but nothing compares to the beauty that we see when we look closely at the creation that is all around us.
Prayer (David Adam)
What makes the sun to rise?
The power of God.
What makes the seed to grow?
The love of God.
What makes the wind to blow?
The Spirit of God.
Power of God protect us.
Love of God lead us.
Spirit of God strengthen us.
In all of life
And all creation.
Amen
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