In The Bleak Midwinter

BY CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

In the bleak midwinter, frosty wind made moan,

Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone;

Snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow,

In the bleak midwinter, long ago.

Our God, Heaven cannot hold Him, nor earth sustain;

Heaven and earth shall flee away when He comes to reign.

In the bleak midwinter a stable place sufficed

The Lord God Almighty, Jesus Christ.

Enough for Him, whom cherubim, worship night and day,

Breastful of milk, and a mangerful of hay;

Enough for Him, whom angels fall before,

The ox and ass and camel which adore.

Angels and archangels may have gathered there,

Cherubim and seraphim thronged the air;

But His mother only, in her maiden bliss,

Worshipped the beloved with a kiss.

What can I give Him, poor as I am?

If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb;

If I were a Wise Man, I would do my part;

Yet what I can I give Him: give my heart.

Slaves? Perhaps.

I could not pass this quotation up, it is from poet James Russell Lowell:

They are slaves who fear to speak

For the fallen and the weak;

They are slaves who will not choose

Hatred, scoffing, and abuse,

Rather than in silence shrink

From the truth they needs must think; 

They are slaves who dare not be

In the right with two or three.

As King Lemuel's mother taught him (Proverbs 31:8 - 9):

Open your mouth for the mute,

For the rights of all the unfortunate.

Open your mouth, judge righteously,


And defend the rights of the afflicted and needy.

Are we, God's People, speaking up for the disenfranchised today?

Or, are we slaves?

Highly Favored

“Greetings favored one, the Lord is with you.” Luke 1:28.

“Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God.” Luke 1:30.

These words of Gabriel to Mary are the words of God to all who belong to Jesus Christ. Can we hear the words of the Apostle Paul, over and over again, to the recipients of his letters, “Grace and peace to you, from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ”?

The favor bestowed on Mary was the favor of mercy and grace, just as that conferred on us is the favor of mercy and grace; God’s sovereign and unmerited mercy and grace given freely to us according to the pleasure of His will.

Christ is born of Mary without the participation of a man; Christ is born in us without natural means: “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” (John 1:12 – 13).

As Jesus says, “That which is born of flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” (John 3:6).

As with the individual, so with the Church; the Son of God cannot be formed within His People by natural means – only the Life of the Son can reproduce the Life of the Son – the flesh cannot produce the spirit nor understand the things of the Spirit (1 Corinthians Chapter 2).

Those in Christ are highly favored with their Father’s mercy and grace – O that we might hear God speaking His Word to us in Christ Jesus, and O that we would respond in obedience to His Word.