Burunche’s Blog

Praise to God for His Faithfulness and Justice

“Praise the Lord! I will praise the Lord with my whole heart, in the assembly of the upright and in the congregation. The works of the Lord are great, studied by all who have pleasure in them. His work is honorable and glorious, and His righteousness endures forever.
 He has made His wonderful works to be remembered; the Lord is gracious and full of compassion. He has given food to those who fear Him; He will ever be mindful of His covenant. He has declared to His people the power of His works, in giving them the heritage of the nations.

The works of His hands are verity and justice; all His precepts are sure. They stand fast forever and ever, and are done in truth and uprightness. He has sent redemption to His people; He has commanded His covenant forever: Holy and awesome is His name.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; a good understanding have all those who do His commandments. His praise endures forever.”

“The works of the Lord are great, studied by all who have pleasure in them. His work is honorable and glorious, and His righteousness endures forever.” As we near the end of 2023, we should look back to see if we have learned anything or gained anything from this year. How have we spent our time this year? If God has called us to some type of work, have we worked as if God were our boss or have we given things a lick and a promise? Have we learned everything we can about our work, or have we been coasting, assuming we know enough to get by?

How have we spent our free time? Do our leisure activities honor God? Have we shared time with family and loved ones, or have we ignored them as we have run off to watch sports, play golf, or zone out in front of a computer or TV? Have we learned anything this year? And the biggest question of all, have we grown closer to God or has our love for God grown colder?

“He has made His wonderful works to be remembered; the Lord is gracious and full of compassion.” Do we take time to remember God’s wonderful works, or do we rush by, ignoring them? Every person we meet is one of God’s creatures, but many times, we take them for granted, refusing to acknowledge what miracles they are.

“The works of His hands are verity and justice; all His precepts are sure. They stand fast forever and ever, and are done in truth and uprightness.” These days, the international news is full of dissension and strife. If we only focus on news broadcasts about corrupt leaders and wars, we can quickly become depressed. The antidote to bad news is to study God’s Word and His creation, for His works are true and just.

“He has sent redemption to His people; He has commanded His covenant forever: Holy and awesome is His name.” Terrorists believe that covenants are made to be broken and those who keep their words are fools. But God is a covenant-keeping God and He continues to redeem and save.

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; a good understanding have all those who do His commandments. His praise endures forever.”  Many times, we think wisdom lies in classes and academic degrees. But knowledge that fails to consider God as its Source consists of facts but lacks wisdom. When the ancient Romans were giving triumphs, parades for conquering rulers, there was always one man designated to accompany the ruler, whispering in his ear, “Remember, Caesar, thou too art mortal.”

APPLICATION: When the famous Greek philosopher Socrates was on trial for alleged impiety and the corrupting of youth, he stated that “The unexamined life is not worth living.” For Socrates, it was not sufficient merely to accept a dictum because some authority declared it to be true; people needed to scrutinize their beliefs to know the foundations. Socrates paid with his life for teaching Greek youth to question the decision-making of authorities.

As we think about this year, we need to ask ourselves if we are dragging garbage into 2024. Are we dragging offenses, hurts, griefs, wrong beliefs, and an overall sense of failure into a bright new year? Which of us will buy a shiny new vehicle, only to install the dirty worn-out floor mats from our old car in it? Will we gather up all the discarded napkins, crumpled potato chip bags, pizza crusts, and other rubbish from our old car to dump it into our new one? Of course not!

Let’s ask God to show us the things we need to leave behind in 2023. But be ready for God to reveal some of your pet griefs and misbeliefs you have been carrying in your heart as things you must get rid of. God is always ready to clean us up; we are the ones who obstruct the process by refusing to let go of our cherished hurts and prejudices.

When we fear God, that does not mean we spend our days trembling in terror, but that we honor Him and revere Him and listen for His leading. God may use circumstances or people, but one thing of which we can be sure: God will never contradict His Word.

PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Lord, open our eyes, our minds, and our hearts to see the junk we have been dragging around. Help us to get rid of all of it so that we enter 2024 with clean hearts and minds. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.

Announcement of the Messiah’s Reign

A Psalm of David.

“The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand, till I make Your enemies Your footstool.” The Lord shall send the rod of Your strength out of Zion. Rule in the midst of Your enemies!

Your people shall be volunteers in the day of Your power; in the beauties of holiness, from the womb of the morning, You have the dew of Your youth.

The Lord has sworn and will not relent, “You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.” The Lord is at Your right hand; He shall execute kings in the day of His wrath.

He shall judge among the nations, He shall fill the places with dead bodies, He shall execute the heads of many countries. He shall drink of the brook by the wayside; therefore He shall lift up the head.”

“The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand, till I make Your enemies Your footstool.” The Lord shall send the rod of Your strength out of Zion. Rule in the midst of Your enemies!” When reading the psalms, we might forget that David served as a prophet as well as being a king and a priest. This psalm bears out David’s role as a prophet. We certainly understand that “the Lord” refers to the Lord God Almighty. But who is “my Lord?” Here David is referring to the coming Messiah. You might say, “Oh, David is simply referring to himself.” No. David was a flawed man, but he never made the mistake of worshiping himself. The rest of the psalm describes the reign of Messiah   as prophet, priest, and king.

1. “The Lord shall send the rod of Your strength out of Zion. Rule in the midst of Your enemies!”  Zion refers to Jerusalem, and Messiah will reign over the whole earth from Zion. Messiah will be all-powerful and all-conquering, ruling in the midst of His enemies because His enemies will be powerless in the face of his power.
2. “Your people shall be volunteers in the day of Your power…” All those who love God will gladly flock to Messiah and submit themselves to His rule.
3. “in the beauties of holiness, from the womb of the morning, You have the dew of Your youth.” Messiah will be eternal and ageless, with the strength and beauty of the most handsome young man you have ever seen.
4.  “The Lord has sworn and will not relent, “You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.” Who was Melchizedek? Melchizedek was a mystery man, the King of Salem and a priest of the One True Living God to whom Abraham paid tributes after rescuing his nephew Lot and other citizens of Sodom in battle. Melchizedek met Abraham, bringing out bread and wine and blessing Abraham. Abraham responded by giving Melchizedek a tithe of all his spoils. (Genesis 14:18-20) Melchizedek was not a Jew, and he lived long before God established the Levitical order of priests, so he was not a priest due to any hereditary order. Melchizedek was a priest because God called him, and the Messiah has a similar calling.
5. “The Lord is at Your right hand; He shall execute kings in the day of His wrath.”  Again, this refers to the Messiah. When Messiah comes, He will deal with all evil rulers.
6. “He shall judge among the nations, He shall fill the places with dead bodies, He shall execute the heads of many countries. He shall drink of the brook by the wayside; therefore He shall lift up the head.” Only Messiah can judge among the nations and carry out all the activities described in these verses. The reference to dead bodies may foreshadow Armageddon. “Lifting up the head” refers to the joy the Messiah will experience when he comes to His kingdom.  

APPLICATION: Why should we care about a coming Messiah? The Messiah will be prophet, priest, and king over all the nations of the earth, not just over Israel. No matter where we live, we will come under the rule of the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ. What will you do about Jesus? Will you believe in Him or not? The time to believe is now; none of us is promised tomorrow.

As we enter the new year, let us enter with new hearts as well, hearts enlightened by God’s love, that love that sent Jesus, God’s Son, to be born as a baby, live as a man, and die an undeserved death for the sins of the whole world.

PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and caring for us. Lord, we bless You and praise You for sending Your Son Jesus to be born as a baby, to live as a sinless man, and to die for our sins. Thank You that if we believe in Jesus, we will have eternal life with You. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.

Plea for Judgment of False Accusers

To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.

“Do not keep silent, O God of my praise! For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful have opened against me; they have spoken against me with a lying tongue. They have also surrounded me with words of hatred, and fought against me without a cause. In return for my love they are my accusers, but I give myself to prayer. Thus they have rewarded me evil for good, and hatred for my love.

Set a wicked man over him, and let an accuser stand at his right hand. When he is judged, let him be found guilty, and let his prayer become sin. Let his days be few, and let another take his office. Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow. Let his children continually be vagabonds, and beg; let them seek their bread also from their desolate places. Let the creditor seize all that he has, and let strangers plunder his labor. Let there be none to extend mercy to him, nor let there be any to favor his fatherless children. Let his posterity be cut off, and in the generation following let their name be blotted out.

Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before the Lord, and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out. Let them be continually before the Lord, that He may cut off the memory of them from the earth; because he did not remember to show mercy, but persecuted the poor and needy man, that he might even slay the broken in heart.

As he loved cursing, so let it come to him; as he did not delight in blessing, so let it be far from him. as he clothed himself with cursing as with his garment, so let it enter his body like water, and like oil into his bones. Let it be to him like the garment which covers him, and for a belt with which he girds himself continually.

Let this be the Lord’s reward to my accusers, and to those who speak evil against my person. But You, O God the Lord, deal with me for Your name’s sake; because Your mercy is good, deliver me. For I am poor and needy, and my heart is wounded within me. I am gone like a shadow when it lengthens;
I am shaken off like a locust. My knees are weak through fasting, and my flesh is feeble from lack of fatness. I also have become a reproach to them; when they look at me, they shake their heads. Help me, O Lord my God!

Oh, save me according to Your mercy, that they may know that this is Your hand—that You, Lord, have done it! Let them curse, but You bless; when they arise, let them be ashamed, but let Your servant rejoice. Let my accusers be clothed with shame, and let them cover themselves with their own disgrace as with a mantle. I will greatly praise the Lord with my mouth; yes, I will praise Him among the multitude. For He shall stand at the right hand of the poor, to save him from those who condemn him.”

“Do not keep silent, O God of my praise! For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful have opened against me; they have spoken against me with a lying tongue. They have also surrounded me with words of hatred, and fought against me without a cause. In return for my love they are my accusers, but I give myself to prayer. Thus they have rewarded me evil for good, and hatred for my love.”

Most of us would agree that King David was one of the heroes of the faith, albeit with flaws. But if you think a walk of faith consists of floating around on a pink cloud, think again! We can’t be sure at whom this psalm is directed, but David is absolutely furious! Someone David trusted and loved has wickedly betrayed him and now is fighting him and spreading lies about him. David spends the rest of the psalm begging God to avenge him in vivid details, employing eloquence and imagination. You might almost feel sorry for the object of David’s wrath.

“Set a wicked man over him, and let an accuser stand at his right hand. When he is judged, let him be found guilty, and let his prayer become sin. Let his days be few, and let another take his office. Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow. Let his children continually be vagabonds, and beg; let them seek their bread also from their desolate places. Let the creditor seize all that he has, and let strangers plunder his labor. Let there be none to extend mercy to him, nor let there be any to favor his fatherless children. Let his posterity be cut off, and in the generation following let their name be blotted out.” David not only curses his aggressor but also the man’s entire family. Worst of all, David begs God to blot out the family’s name. Family names and inheritances were so important in Israel that daughters could inherit from their fathers to preserve a heritage, provided they married within their tribe. David goes on to beg God to remember the sins of his accusers parents, that their memories may also be cut off.

“As he loved cursing, so let it come to him; as he did not delight in blessing, so let it be far from him. as he clothed himself with cursing as with his garment, so let it enter his body like water, and like oil into his bones. Let it be to him like the garment which covers him, and for a belt with which he girds himself continually.” Obviously, this man has gone all over Jerusalem cursing David, but curses are dangerous things; they can easily turn back on those who utter them. One of the laws of the Kingdom of God is that the measure you give out is the measure you will receive. The curses you have uttered against others will return to plague you as well.

“Oh, save me according to Your mercy, that they may know that this is Your hand—that You, Lord, have done it! …I will greatly praise the Lord with my mouth; yes, I will praise Him among the multitude. For He shall stand at the right hand of the poor, to save him from those who condemn him.” David ends the psalm by begging God to save him and bless him and to humble all his accusers and to vindicate him.

APPLICATION: WHOOF! We don’t know David’s target for this psalm, but we can almost feel sorry for the objects of David’s wrath. Assuming God answered every one of David’s petitions, entire families were blotted out. While this might seem harsh, it’s likely these men were not merely trying to undermine David but to obliterate him and his family completely.

Assume a position of leadership and at some point you will become a target of envy, jealousy, and plots. Shakespeare once wrote “Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown.” Remain in leadership and you will certainly be able to identify with David’s sentiments in this psalm. During the years when I headed our hospital, I could easily sympathize with David. Blessedly, there were many times when God insulated me so that I failed to realize those playing a double game. Those times when I recognized some staff were two-faced, I simply asked God to deal with them and went on caring for sick people.

You might ask, “Are we ever justified in cursing our enemies as David is doing here?” Good question. Short answer: No, not if you remain vengeful. This psalm teaches us that even heroes of the faith can become angry and bitter. What saves David from being trapped in his bitterness are his final requests: “Oh, save me according to Your mercy, that they may know that this is Your hand—that You, Lord, have done it! …I will greatly praise the Lord with my mouth; yes, I will praise Him among the multitude.” David moves on from anger and bitterness to release his accusers to the Lord for the Lord to deal with them.

You only have so much energy. If you waste your energy in bitterness and plotting vengeance, it will pervade your entire life and blight it. We are about to enter a new year. How much emotional baggage are you hauling? Do you really want to drag the hurts and offenses from 2023 into 2024? Let’s pray!

PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and caring for us. Lord, many of us are dragging so much emotional baggage we can scarcely move. Help us to drop those griefs and hurts at Your cross and leave them for You to handle. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.

Assurance of God’s Victory over Enemies

A Song. A Psalm of David.

“O God, my heart is steadfast; I will sing and give praise, even with my glory. Awake, lute and harp! I will awaken the dawn.

I will praise You, O Lord, among the peoples, and I will sing praises to You among the nations. For Your mercy is great above the heavens, and Your truth reaches to the clouds. Be exalted, O God, above the heavens, and Your glory above all the earth; that Your beloved may be delivered, save with Your right hand, and hear me.

God has spoken in His holiness: “I will rejoice; I will divide Shechem and measure out the Valley of Succoth. Gilead is Mine; Manasseh is Mine; Ephraim also is the helmet for My head; Judah is My lawgiver. Moab is My washpot; over Edom I will cast My shoe; over Philistia I will triumph.”

Who will bring me into the strong city? Who will lead me to Edom?  Is it not You, O God, who cast us off? and You, O God, who did not go out with our armies? Give us help from trouble, for the help of man is useless. Through God we will do valiantly, for it is He who shall tread down our enemies.”

“O God, my heart is steadfast; I will sing and give praise, even with my glory. Awake, lute and harp! I will awaken the dawn.”

This is another one of David’s psalms, even though an earlier psalm claimed to be his last one. Obviously, David did not compile the psalms. “I will awaken the dawn.” As I am writing this, my husband is watching an American football game, and the fans are making LOTS of noise. David is promising to make so much noise that he will cause dawn to come early. Why is David so enthusiastic?

“I will praise You, O Lord, among the peoples, and I will sing praises to You among the nations. For Your mercy is great above the heavens, and Your truth reaches to the clouds. Be exalted, O God, above the heavens, and Your glory above all the earth; that Your beloved may be delivered, save with Your right hand, and hear me.” David is praising God but in addition, he is begging God for deliverance.

“God has spoken in His holiness: “I will rejoice; I will divide Shechem and measure out the Valley of Succoth. Gilead is Mine; Manasseh is Mine; Ephraim also is the helmet for My head; Judah is My lawgiver. Moab is My washpot; over Edom I will cast My shoe; over Philistia I will triumph.” David is reminding God of His previous promises.

“Who will bring me into the strong city? Who will lead me to Edom?  Is it not You, O God, who cast us off? and You, O God, who did not go out with our armies? Give us help from trouble, for the help of man is useless. Through God we will do valiantly, for it is He who shall tread down our enemies.” Evidently, David feels as if God has withdrawn His protection, allowing David’s armies to be defeated. Why would God withdraw protection that He has already promised? Perhaps some of David’s men have committed a major sin. Perhaps David has failed to follow God’s instructions. David remains confident that God will come through when he asks.

APPLICATION: Does a setback mean that God has abandoned you? Can we trust God to fulfill His promises of protection? On the one hand, David is praising God; on the other, he’s querying God as to the reasons for a recent defeat and begging God for deliverance.

God allows setbacks for all sorts of reasons. Sometimes we have plunged ahead without seeking God’s guidance. Sometimes we have failed to heed signs warning us of imminent disaster. Many times, we feel that the problem at hand is one we can tackle using our own common sense, forgetting that God is the One who knows all ends from their beginnings. And sometimes God allows small problems because He has a bigger object in mind.

Typhoid is a bacterial illness that you can get repeatedly, even if you have been vaccinated. When I get typhoid, I feel so weak that all I can do is to stay home and rest. As the only doctor in a remote rural hospital, my bouts of typhoid have allowed me to have the reason I need to rest; otherwise, people just assume that I am the Energizer bunny and that I can keep going indefinitely.   

Sometimes God blesses us with poverty to keep us from making foolish mistakes. In the early 1960’s in the Middle West, many farmers spent enormous sums of money to purchase blue fiberglass silos for storing silage to feed beef cattle. Within two decades, most of the cattle were now being fed in huge lots further west while feed lots in our area were empty; meanwhile, these families were still paying off the bank loans they had taken. Some of these families lost their farms when land prices suddenly dropped by 50% overnight because they had used their land as security for those loans. One time I was discussing this phenomenon with my dad, a lifelong farmer. I asked Dad how he had been smart enough not to go in for one of these silos. Dad looked at me funny and then said, “Well, it was simple. We didn’t have the money for the down payment.” That temporary poverty protected my family from later losing their land.

Are you facing a setback? Are you entering the New Year wondering if God really cares about you? Rejoice! God cares and God is still looking out for you. But remember that sometimes God uses setbacks to protect you. David ends this psalm by saying, “Give us help from trouble, for the help of man is useless. Through God we will do valiantly, for it is He who shall tread down our enemies.” God doesn’t play favorites, and He can help you just as he did King David. Hold on and trust!

PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Lord, many of us feel stressed out and exhausted. Help us to rest in You, trusting that You will bring us through all our problems and that You have a perfect solution for them. Thank You for using our setbacks to protect and guide us. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.

 Thanksgiving to the Lord for His Great Works of Deliverance

“Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom He has redeemed from the hand of the enemy, and gathered out of the lands, from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south. They wandered in the wilderness in a desolate way; they found no city to dwell in. Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them. Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and He delivered them out of their distresses. And He led them forth by the right way, that they might go to a city for a dwelling place. Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men! For He satisfies the longing soul, and fills the hungry soul with goodness.

Those who sat in darkness and in the shadow of death, bound in affliction and irons—because they rebelled against the words of God, and despised the counsel of the Most High, therefore He brought down their heart with labor; they fell down, and there was none to help. Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and He saved them out of their distresses. He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and broke their chains in pieces. Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men! For He has broken the gates of bronze, and cut the bars of iron in two.

Fools, because of their transgression, and because of their iniquities, were afflicted. Their soul abhorred all manner of food, and they drew near to the gates of death. Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and He saved them out of their distresses. He sent His word and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions. Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men! Let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare His works with rejoicing.

Those who go down to the sea in ships, who do business on great waters, they see the works of the Lord, and His wonders in the deep. For He commands and raises the stormy wind, which lifts up the waves of the sea. They mount up to the heavens, they go down again to the depths; their soul melts because of trouble. They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits’ end. Then they cry out to the Lord in their trouble, and He brings them out of their distresses. He calms the storm, so that its waves are still. Then they are glad because they are quiet; so He guides them to their desired haven. Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men! Let them exalt Him also in the assembly of the people, and praise Him in the company of the elders.

He turns rivers into a wilderness, and the watersprings into dry ground; a fruitful land  into barrenness, for the wickedness of those who dwell in it. He turns a wilderness into pools of water, and dry land into watersprings. There He makes the hungry dwell, that they may establish a city for a dwelling place, and sow fields and plant vineyards, that they may yield a fruitful harvest. He also blesses them, and they multiply greatly; and He does not let their cattle decrease. When they are diminished and brought low through oppression, affliction, and sorrow, He pours contempt on princes, and causes them to wander in the wilderness where there is no way; yet He sets the poor on high, far from affliction, and makes their families like a flock. The righteous see it and rejoice, and all iniquity stops its mouth. Whoever is wise will observe these things, and they will understand the lovingkindness of the Lord.”  

Face it, folks, we don’t deserve God’s love, His mercy, or His grace. But God remains loving, merciful, and gracious. This psalm describes four different groups of people in dire straits whom God delivers. The first group is refugees. Considering the number of disasters with displaced people in the world, this psalm is amazingly applicable to current events. It is God’s will for people to dwell in safety and for longing souls to be satisfied. If there are refugee crises, it’s because those whom God has assigned to help are refusing to do so. People become refugees because those who should be protecting them in their own countries or in surrounding countries are attacking them or mishandling their governments or refusing to follow God’s will in a myriad of different ways.

Hamas has attacked Israel, and the Israelis are defending themselves from a group bent on wiping them out. Russia has been attacking Ukraine, a country that was living peaceably next to it, because Russian leaders want to dominate all those around them. In Sudan, Christians are dying due to a government bent on wiping out Christianity in their country. People are fleeing Venezuela because the government has destroyed the economy. God cares for refugees wherever they are.

The second group in need of God’s grace and mercy is prisoners, especially those chained in darkness. No prison is enjoyable, but some prisons are far worse than others, being actual dungeons where prisoners languish in darkness. Here the psalmist affirms that God breaks gates of bronze and cuts bars of iron, two of the strongest metals known at the time this psalm was written. The meaning is clear: God can deliver people from any prison, no matter how strong.

The third group appears to be those suffering from diseases they may have brought on themselves by abusing food, nicotine, or other drugs. Again, God demonstrates that He is the ultimate Healer with power over every sickness and infirmity.

The fourth group is those who travel, particularly on the seas. Air travel didn’t exist at the time the psalmist was writing, but it doesn’t matter. Whether a storm is on the sea or in the air, God is still the Master of the winds and the waves and nothing is too difficult for Him. Airplane crashes make big news, but there are the miraculous landings when people’s lives are saved, such as the landing of a huge airplane in the Hudson River several years ago.   

Finally, the psalmist describes the miraculous works of God. “He turns rivers into a wilderness, and the watersprings into dry ground; a fruitful land  into barrenness, for the wickedness of those who dwell in it. He turns a wilderness into pools of water, and dry land into watersprings. There He makes the hungry dwell, that they may establish a city for a dwelling place, and sow fields and plant vineyards, that they may yield a fruitful harvest. He also blesses them, and they multiply greatly; and He does not let their cattle decrease. When they are diminished and brought low through oppression, affliction, and sorrow, He pours contempt on princes, and causes them to wander in the wilderness where there is no way; yet He sets the poor on high, far from affliction, and makes their families like a flock. The righteous see it and rejoice, and all iniquity stops its mouth. Whoever is wise will observe these things, and they will understand the lovingkindness of the Lord.”  

APPLICATION: If each of us thinks about it, we can quickly identify times when God has delivered us from our own foolishness or from attack. God has done so much for each one of us, but are we grateful? What good is a gift if we refuse to be grateful for it? We can claim that we are entitled to God’s goodness, His mercy and grace; however, what is the basis for our sense of entitlement? The Bible tells us that all our righteousness is as filthy rags. We have nothing to commend us apart from God’s mercy and grace.

We have just celebrated Christmas. When people gave you Christmas presents, did you reject any of them or did you gladly open them and thank the giver? How many of us can remember what we received for Christmas last year? If you are so excited about gifts you won’t remember, why can’t you receive God’s gift of eternal life and praise Him for it? God’s gift will last forever while all those other gifts will fall apart.

Let’s pray.

PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Lord, we praise You for sending Your Son Jesus Christ to be born as a baby, to live as a sinless man, and to die for our sins so that those of us who will believe will gain eternal life in

Every holiday season, we are inundated with fruitcake jokes and cartoons, dissing fruitcake, and complaining about how terrible it is, how inedible, etc. One cartoon recently suggested that fruit cake could substitute for cement overshoes when gangsters were about to drown their victims. Well, those naysayers never tasted my mom’s fruitcakes!

Each November, Mom and I would begin fruitcake preparations. We made two distinctly different kinds of fruitcake, a light one from a recipe in a Betty Crocker cookbook, and a dark molasses-laced fruitcake. The light fruitcake was studded with candied citrus peel, pecans, and candied cherries while the dark fruitcake included fruit juice or apple sauce to moisten the dough and featured walnuts and raisins. We would bake the light fruitcake in an angel food cake pan, giving a shape very similar to that on the left while the dark fruitcake would be baked in a regular bread loaf pan, giving the shape on the right. Whether light or dark, the fruitcakes would be anointed with rum flavoring, or even-gasp!-real rum, wrapped in cheese cloth, and allowed to age for several weeks. (Our household was generally alcohol-free apart from rum for fruitcakes and the communion wine at the local Lutheran church, but the alcohol evaporated. We were not contributing to the delinquency of anybody.) The result was food for angels-light cake that would melt in your mouth and rejoice your heart- and it made its appearance during our family Thanksgiving and Christmas celebrations.

In those days, many people baked fruitcakes. The local grocery stores stocked all the necessary ingredients and finding them was simple. Piles of the proper ingredients would appear during the last week of October.

When Mom died in 1980, my brother Rus took over the fruitcake baking duties, featuring mostly dark fruitcake. Sadly, Rus died in 2021 just before the Christmas season started. Although I was an accomplished baker, nine years of surgery residency left little time or inclination to bake fruitcake. Now I live in a country where candied fruit and pecans are unavailable, and raisins and walnuts are hideously expensive, even when available. Occasionally, we have found small fruitcakes on offer at specialty stores in the bigger cities, but they are no match for Mom’s or Rus’s.

What made those fruitcakes so good? There’s no doubt that Mom, Rus, and I were all excellent bakers, but one of the ingredients unavailable in any store was the love we put into each bowl of batter. Creating fruitcakes was a way of celebrating the Christmas season and the love our family shared. Each time we anointed the fruitcakes, we were adding love to them. Little wonder then, that when the fruitcakes made their appearance, they were consumed down to the last crumb.

Baking things at home is complicated, messy, and now, also expensive, but well worth it. No matter how delicious a bakery confection is, the one thing it will always lack is the love and care you put into your own baking. Perhaps fruitcake will never become your specialty, but find something you do enjoy making. While you are creating food for your family, you are also making memories that will last a lifetime. And even if the results of your efforts are less than perfect, the love will still be there.

Joy in Forgiveness of Israel’s Sins

“Praise the Lord! Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever. Who can utter the mighty acts of the Lord? Who can declare all His praise?

Blessed are those who keep justice, and he who does righteousness at all times! Remember me, O Lord, with the favor You have toward Your people. Oh, visit me with Your salvation, that I may see the benefit of Your chosen ones, that I may rejoice in the gladness of Your nation, that I may glory with Your inheritance.

We have sinned with our fathers, we have committed iniquity, we have done wickedly. Our fathers in Egypt did not understand Your wonders; they did not remember the multitude of Your mercies, but rebelled by the sea—the Red Sea. Nevertheless He saved them for His name’s sake, that He might make His mighty power known. He rebuked the Red Sea also, and it dried up; so He led them through the depths, as through the wilderness. He saved them from the hand of him who hated them, and redeemed them from the hand of the enemy. The waters covered their enemies; there was not one of them left. Then they believed His words; they sang His praise.

They soon forgot His works; they did not wait for His counsel, but lusted exceedingly in the wilderness,
and tested God in the desert. And He gave them their request, but sent leanness into their soul. When they envied Moses in the camp, and Aaron the saint of the Lord, the earth opened up and swallowed Dathan, and covered the faction of Abiram. A fire was kindled in their company; the flame burned up the wicked.

They made a calf in Horeb, and worshiped the molded image. Thus they changed their glory into the image of an ox that eats grass. They forgot God their Savior, who had done great things in Egypt, wondrous works in the land of Ham, awesome things by the Red Sea. Therefore He said that He would destroy them, had not Moses His chosen one stood before Him in the breach, to turn away His wrath, lest He destroy them.

Then they despised the pleasant land; they did not believe His word, but complained in their tents, and did not heed the voice of the Lord. Therefore He raised His hand in an oath against them, to overthrow them in the wilderness, to overthrow their descendants among the nations, and to scatter them in the lands.

They joined themselves also to Baal of Peor, and ate sacrifices made to the dead. Thus they provoked Him to anger with their deeds, and the plague broke out among them. Then Phinehas stood up and intervened, and the plague was stopped. And that was accounted to him for righteousness to all generations forevermore.

They angered Him also at the waters of strife, so that it went ill with Moses on account of them; because they rebelled against His Spirit, so that he spoke rashly with his lips. They did not destroy the peoples, concerning whom the Lord had commanded them, but they mingled with the Gentiles and learned their works; they served their idols, which became a snare to them.

They even sacrificed their sons and their daughters to demons, and shed innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan; and the land was polluted with blood. Thus they were defiled by their own works, and played the harlot by their own deeds. Therefore the wrath of the Lord was kindled against His people, so that He abhorred His own inheritance. And He gave them into the hand of the Gentiles, and those who hated them ruled over them. Their enemies also oppressed them, and they were brought into subjection under their hand.

Many times He delivered them; but they rebelled in their counsel, and were brought low for their iniquity. Nevertheless He regarded their affliction, when He heard their cry; and for their sake He remembered His covenant, and relented according to the multitude of His mercies. He also made them to be pitied by all those who carried them away captive.

Save us, O Lord our God, and gather us from among the Gentiles, to give thanks to Your holy name, to triumph in Your praise. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel From everlasting to everlasting! And let all the people say, “Amen!” Praise the Lord!”

“Praise the Lord! Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever. Who can utter the mighty acts of the Lord? Who can declare all His praise?” “Oh good!” we think. “Another nice praise psalm. How lovely!” But wait, for very shortly this psalm is going to take a turn into darkness. Evidently, this psalm was written after both the Northern Kingdom of Israel and the Southern Kingdom of Judah had been carried off into exile and before King Cyrus put out the call for the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem. Why do I say this? Look at the last few verses:

“Many times He delivered them; but they rebelled in their counsel, and were brought low for their iniquity. Nevertheless He regarded their affliction, when He heard their cry; and for their sake He remembered His covenant, and relented according to the multitude of His mercies. He also made them to be pitied by all those who carried them away captive. Save us, O Lord our God, and gather us from among the Gentiles, to give thanks to Your holy name, to triumph in Your praise.”

We don’t know whether this psalmist is sitting in Assyria or in Babylon, but he obviously is not in Israel. This writer begins by describing God’s wonderful mercies to the Israelites as they have repeatedly reverted to full-bore idolatry, suffering the consequences. Now the Israelites are languishing in exile, and the psalmist is begging God to deliver them again. The psalmist is trusting that God will forgive and deliver as He has in the past.

APPLICATION: Christmas is all about God’s forgiveness and God’s redeeming love. If God were not infinitely loving, infinitely kind, and infinitely merciful, none of us would still be here. God is holy, dwelling in unapproachable light while we are sinful, continually messing up. While we might not burn our children as offerings to Molech or engage in ritual prostitution, our thoughts and our acts still condemn us. Sin requires a blood sacrifice as payment; however, only the blood of a perfect sinless man can possibly make a one-time payment for human sin. At Christmas we celebrate God’s incredible gift of Jesus Christ, born both human and divine and destined to become the ultimate blood sacrifice. But there’s a catch: we must believe that Jesus has come, that He has died, and that He has risen from the dead, conquering death and the grave.

One Bible teacher wanted to demonstrate God’s gift to his students, so he brought in doughnuts and began distributing them to his students. Each time the teacher was about to give out a doughnut, one student who was an excellent athlete had to perform ten pushups to pay for the doughnut. The students themselves were not allowed to do their own pushups. Some students refused the doughnuts, thinking they were sparing their friend; however, the one student performed the pushups anyway. The message was clear: Jesus paid the price for our sins but we have a choice to accept or reject His work on our behalf.

God offers each of us His best Gift-the Gift of eternal life. Will you accept or reject it?

PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Lord, let everyone who reads these words choose to accept Your Gift. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.

The Eternal Faithfulness of the LORD
“Oh, give thanks to the LORD! Call upon His name; Make known His deeds among the peoples! Sing to Him, sing psalms to Him; talk of all His wondrous works! Glory in His holy name; let the hearts of those rejoice who seek the LORD!

Seek the LORD and His strength; seek His face evermore! Remember His marvelous works which He has done, His wonders, and the judgments of His mouth, O seed of Abraham His servant, you children of Jacob, His chosen ones!

He is the LORD our God; His judgments are in all the earth. He remembers His covenant forever, the word which He commanded, for a thousand generations, the covenant which He made with Abraham, and His oath to Isaac, and confirmed it to Jacob for a statute, to Israel as an everlasting covenant, saying, “To you I will give the land of Canaan as the allotment of your inheritance,” when they were few in number, indeed very few, and strangers in it.

When they went from one nation to another, from one kingdom to another people, He permitted no one to do them wrong; yes, He rebuked kings for their sakes, saying, “Do not touch My anointed ones, and do My prophets no harm.” Moreover He called for a famine in the land; He destroyed all the provision of bread. He sent a man before them—Joseph—who was sold as a slave. They hurt his feet with fetters, he was laid in irons. (Some translations read “the iron entered his soul.”) Until the time that his word came to pass, the word of the LORD tested him. The king sent and released him, the ruler of the people let him go free. He made him lord of his house, and ruler of all his possessions, to bind his princes at his pleasure, and teach his elders wisdom. Israel also came into Egypt, and Jacob dwelt in the land of Ham. He increased His people greatly, and made them stronger than their enemies. He turned their heart to hate His people, to deal craftily with His servants.

He sent Moses His servant, and Aaron whom He had chosen. They performed His signs among them, and wonders in the land of Ham. He sent darkness, and made it dark; and they did not rebel against His word. He turned their waters into blood, and killed their fish. Their land abounded with frogs, even in the chambers of their kings. He spoke, and there came swarms of flies, and lice in all their territory. He gave them hail for rain, and flaming fire in their land. He struck their vines also, and their fig trees, and splintered the trees of their territory. He spoke, and locusts came, young locusts without number, and ate up all the vegetation in their land, and devoured the fruit of their ground. He also destroyed all the firstborn in their land, the first of all their strength. He also brought them out with silver and gold, and there was none feeble among His tribes.

Egypt was glad when they departed, for the fear of them had fallen upon them. He spread a cloud for a covering, and fire to give light in the night. The people asked, and He brought quail, and satisfied them with the bread of heaven. He opened the rock, and water gushed out; it ran in the dry places like a river. For He remembered His holy promise, and Abraham His servant. He brought out His people with joy, His chosen ones with gladness. He gave them the lands of the Gentiles, and they inherited the labor of the nations, that they might observe His statutes and keep His laws. Praise the LORD!”

At first, we might ask what this psalm can possibly have to do with Christmas? There are no angels, no shepherds, no sign of Joseph and Mary and the baby, and no wise men. Instead, we have a recounting of the story of Joseph, the struggles of the Israelites, and the miracles God performed during all those times. But if Joseph had never gone to Egypt as a slave, his family would never have wound up remaining in Egypt. Moses and Aaron would never have led the Israelites out of Egypt. Israel would never have existed as a nation and Jesus would not have been born in Bethlehem.

Why did God need to establish Israel? Several times, God says in His Word that He chose Israel because it was the most insignificant of people groups. God wanted to demonstrate His power to transform a people into His Image. God gave these people His Word and commandments, outlining His designs for practical holiness. Then God chose these people to be the human family for His Son Jesus.

Sometimes it’s tempting to ignore the Old Testament in favor of the New Testament; however, you can’t carve God up into little pieces like that. God always has had a plan for the human race: redemption and fellowship. That’s why the angels at Bethlehem sang “Glory to God in the highest and peace and good will to men with whom He is well pleased.” Even when Joseph’s brothers were selling him into slavery and even when Joseph was languishing in prison with irons on hands and feet and possibly around his neck, God was at work. When Moses led the Israelites through the wilderness, God guided them and provided for them. God brought Ruth to marry Boaz and become an ancestress of King David, who in turn would become an ancestor of Jesus’ human father Joseph so that Jesus would be born in Bethlehem due to the demands of a Roman census. When Joseph was being dragged off to Egypt, God was already selecting the shepherds who would hear the glorious news and rush off to that stable in Bethlehem.

APPLICATION: “Oh, give thanks to the LORD! Call upon His name; Make known His deeds among the peoples! Sing to Him, sing psalms to Him; talk of all His wondrous works! Glory in His holy name; let the hearts of those rejoice who seek the LORD!” What can we gain from this psalm? Christmas is a time for thanking God, worshiping Him, and praising His wonderful works. At Christmas we celebrate God’s gift, Immanuel, “God with us.”

Do you feel God is with you or do you feel God doesn’t care about your existence? Whether or not you feel like it, God is passionately interested in you and everything about you and your life. God is closer to you than your breath. If you were the only person in the world, Jesus would still have come to die for your sins. The fundamental message of Christmas is that God loves us and wants to be with us, despite our failures, despite our sins, despite the ugly parts of our lives. God is offering us the gift of eternal life, but we can choose to receive that gift or to refuse it. The choice is yours. Choose wisely.

PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Lord, let everyone who reads these words accept Your great Gift of eternal life through Christ Jesus. Amen.

How Many Are Your Works, O LORD!

“Bless the LORD, O my soul! O LORD my God, You are very great; You are clothed with splendor and majesty. He wraps Himself in light as with a garment; He stretches out the heavens like a tent, laying the beams of His chambers in the waters above, making the clouds His chariot, walking on the wings of the wind. He makes the winds His messengers, flames of fire His servants. He set the earth on its foundations, never to be moved. You covered it with the deep like a garment; the waters stood above the mountains.

At Your rebuke the waters fled; at the sound of Your thunder they hurried away—the mountains rose and the valleys sank to the place You assigned for them—You set a boundary they cannot cross, that they may never again cover the earth.

He sends forth springs in the valleys; they flow between the mountains. They give drink to every beast of the field; the wild donkeys quench their thirst. The birds of the air nest beside the springs; they sing among the branches. He waters the mountains from His chambers; the earth is satisfied by the fruit of His works. He makes the grass grow for the livestock and provides crops for man to cultivate, bringing forth food from the earth: wine that gladdens the heart of man, oil that makes his face to shine, and bread that sustains his heart.

The trees of the LORD have their fill, the cedars of Lebanon that He planted, where the birds build their nests; the stork makes her home in the pines. The high mountains are for the wild goats, the cliffs a refuge for the rock badgers.

He made the moon to mark the seasons; the sun knows when to set. You bring darkness, and it becomes night, when all the beasts of the forest prowl. The young lions roar for their prey and seek their food from God. The sun rises, and they withdraw; they lie down in their dens. Man goes forth to his work and to his labor until evening.

How many are Your works, O LORD! In wisdom You have made them all; the earth is full of Your creatures. Here is the sea, vast and wide, teeming with creatures beyond number, living things both great and small. There the ships pass, and Leviathan, which You formed to frolic there.

All creatures look to You to give them their food in due season. When You give it to them, they gather it up; when You open Your hand, they are satisfied with good things. When You hide Your face, they panic; when You take away their breath, they die and return to dust. When You send Your Spirit, they are created, and You renew the face of the earth.

May the glory of the LORD endure forever; may the LORD rejoice in His works. He looks on the earth, and it trembles; He touches the mountains, and they smolder. I will sing to the LORD all my life; I will sing praise to my God while I have my being. May my meditation be pleasing to Him, for I rejoice in the LORD. May sinners vanish from the earth and the wicked be no more. Bless the LORD, O my soul. Hallelujah!

This psalm celebrates God’s creation in phrases that have echoed through the ages. But what should we do with the descriptions of God’s dwelling place, his garments, etc., considering what we know about the universe?

We fail to recognize that an Almighty God may see space/time/spatial relationships and the nature of matter far differently than we do. C.S. Lewis alludes to this phenomenon in his book The Great Divorce. Lewis describes a mythical bus trip from hell to heaven. Those coming from hell are transparent, unable to tolerate even the touch of the grass because it is real and they are not. All of hell is contained in one small crack of the dirt in heaven. While we might delude ourselves that the psalmist is merely conceding to poetic license, we fail to realize he might be speaking prophetically, describing God’s nature precisely.  

“May the glory of the LORD endure forever; may the LORD rejoice in His works. He looks on the earth, and it trembles; He touches the mountains, and they smolder. I will sing to the LORD all my life; I will sing praise to my God while I have my being. May my meditation be pleasing to Him, for I rejoice in the LORD. May sinners vanish from the earth and the wicked be no more. Bless the LORD, O my soul. Hallelujah!”  

 APPLICATION: Today is Christmas Eve. If we might not think this psalm is very “Christmassy,” we would be wrong. When the angels appeared to the shepherd, they were only revealing the praise that goes on continuously in heaven and on earth. Even though God subjected the entire creation to futility after Adam’s fall in the Garden of Eden, the creation still responded-and responds-to God and His glory. The incident at Bethlehem only drew back the curtain of eternity momentarily so men could glimpse the ongoing praises of God.

As we celebrate that most holy night, let us join our praises with those of the angels and all creation. Oh come! Let us adore Him! Christ, the Lord!

PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Lord, help us to join our praises with those of creation and help us to truly love You and worthily magnify You. Thank You for sending Your Son Jesus to be born as a baby, to live as a man, and to die as the perfect Sacrifice for our sins. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen. 

Recently, I have been enjoying short videos of school programs and must say that some of them are truly amazing. But I want to return to a bygone era when school programs meant far more.

In the days before televisions became common, people in small towns depended on all kinds of programs for entertainment. Women’s clubs, PTA meetings, Ladies’ Aid meetings at churches-none of these programs would be complete without some form of entertainment by someone playing an instrument, singing, or doing a recitation. Most families lived in relative isolation on farms connected by gravel roads, and social opportunities were limited to church, school, and trips into town for groceries or to have feed ground at the local elevator (feed mill.) Apart from listening in to the neighbors’ conversations on the party phone line, the only other source of entertainment was the radio. School programs were a very big deal, and teachers and parents prepared accordingly.

It’s 1957, and we are in 4^th grade. Our tall blond teacher has worked diligently with our new music teacher to create a lively and meaningful Christmas program that will blend with the performances of the other grades. Our contribution is to sing “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear,” a song we have been practicing for weeks. The song has five verses and we are to sing four of them. Our problem is simple: some of us can sing and some of us need to be in the audience. But this is a small-town grade school program, and parents want to see their children up there performing, no matter what. Those parents who can afford it have invested in new clothes so their children will look as good as possible; after all, there will be plenty of doting grandparents in the audience, just waiting to inspect their grandchildren.

I am going to wear a dress sewn by my mother, who is an expert seamstress, and Mom has given me a home permanent. My grandmother loves to see curly hair because curls mean one has enough money to be cared for at a beauty shop and Grandma is a first-generation American for whom appearances are everything. Sadly, my hair is naturally very fine and the epitome of straightness. Years later, a friend will try to put my hair into French braids and give up because it is so fine. Now my hair is positively kinky, and I can still smell the fluid from the permanent kit Mom has used. My only problem is my shoes; no matter how much I have polished them, I can’t make them look new. Shoes are expensive, and this has been a bad year for farm prices. I can only hope that I get to stand behind somebody so my Grandma can’t see my shoes. For now, I am one of the taller kids, so that will help give me a place near the back of the group.  

Finally, the big night arrives. Our grade school once served as the local high school, so we get to stand on a real stage. Our teachers are sharp enough to realize that risers for grade school kids are not only ridiculous but also dangerous. It’s hard enough to keep grade school age boys quiet under the best of circumstances. Give them risers, and someone will be knocked off before the performance even starts. The classes are going to perform beginning with the first graders, followed by the second graders and so on. Once a group completes its performance, the kids can go sit with their parents. This means that my group must sit quietly together for at least 30-45 minutes as we wait for our turn to perform. That’s a long time for nine-year-olds, and the boys are already elbowing each other and trying to make farting noises with their armpits. Forbidden chewing gum is making an appearance, and teachers are frowning in a manner that should immobilize even the abominable snowman.

Finally we clomp up the steps to the stage to take our places. Our teachers have sorted us out by height and sex to neutralize potential conflicts among the males in our group. These efforts have been moderately successful; however, as we stand waiting for the piano to begin the introduction to the song, I can hear all kinds of whispering around me. I can only hope that one of these boys has not chosen to bring something totally awful in his pocket (a cockroach? A dead mouse?) so that he can drop it down the neck of the dress of some unsuspecting girl, namely me, at the wrong moment. As the piano starts, I am considering what I will do in the event of a foreign object introducing itself into my dress. Will I turn and hit the kid? It’s a tempting thought. Then we begin to sing.

I come from a family of singers; both my parents sing in the church choir and also sing while they work. But someone standing near me has evidently not had the benefit of such experience. As we near the end of the first verse, “The world in solemn stillness lay to hear the angels sing,” it’s obvious that for someone the world is NOT lying in solemn stillness, but in an agony of cacophony. The angels might be covering their ears! So we continue.

As we near the end of verse 2, we are singing, “And ever o’er its Babel sounds, the blessed angels sing.” I can hear more babel than music around me. I sing louder, trying valiantly to maintain the tune.

We skip verse 3, for which all us are duly thankful, and plow on into verse 4, singing more loudly. Somehow, those of us with tin ears are succeeding in drowning out those of us who can actually sing. Our teachers are looking beseechingly at us as we crash into the words

“And ye, beneath life’s crushing load, whose forms are bending low,
Who toil along the climbing way with painful steps and slow,
Look now! for glad and golden hours come swiftly on the wing.
Oh, rest beside the weary road, and hear the angels sing!”

By this point, our teachers undoubtedly feel that they are beneath that crushing load and wish that they could rest beside the weary road, but we have another verse.

All of us realize that this is verse 5 and that we are nearly THROUGH with this thing! Spurred on by that thought, we all but scream “For lo! the days are hast’ning on, by prophet seen of old,
When with the ever-circling years shall come the time foretold

When Christ shall come and all shall own the Prince of Peace, their King,
And saints shall meet Him in the air, and with the angels sing.”

We look triumphantly at our teachers. We have MADE IT! We are through! We don’t wave at our parents, although we would like to. We file off the stage, tripping down the stairs, and wait while the fifth and sixth graders perform before we all receive cylindrical boxes of “Twenty Mule Chew” molasses candy, the annual gift from Mr. E.W. Houghton, the owner of three lumber yards, and a staunch supporter of the local school system. That candy will practically glue our teeth together, but we are grateful for the candy and for the fact that we have SURVIVED! We have not disgraced our families by fainting on stage or tripping or having a costume failure or running off to go to the toilet. And Grandma never even looks at my shoes but only admires how curly my hair is. (She should! I look as if I have stuck my finger in an electrical socket. I am frizz personified, and I hate it. I am praying my hair grows out quickly!)

And so another Christmas program has ended successfully. The parents go home content that their progeny have performed well. The teachers go home to well-deserved long winter’s naps. And finally, the world lies in silence, waiting to hear the angels sing once more.

Many of the performances tonight have been anything but stellar. But the community has come together to support its children and to celebrate Christmas. Blessedly, we cannot see into the future. We don’t know that the beloved building in which this program has taken place will eventually have to be demolished because it contains asbestos and is no longer needed for a dwindling rural population. We don’t know that some of the boys on the program tonight will fight and die or be wounded on distant battlefields. We can’t see other tragedies waiting to befall our little village. But what we do share is love and a sense of belonging, a sense of security. And for tonight, that’s enough. The snow is falling as we leave, and we know that come morning, everything will look fresh and new, like the hope of Christmas. It is that hope that will carry us forward. May you share that hope this Christmas!