I love celebrating Christmas. When I was younger, like many of us, I loved receiving gifts. As I grew, I started to enjoy giving gifts more than receiving them. When I came into the church, I started to celebrate Christmas as the time when we celebrate the birth of the Lord. It's this celebration of the coming of the Lord that I most enjoy about Christmas today.

As I write, on what we English call Boxing Day, I am enjoying a cup of tea and a warm feeling of happiness that has nothing to do with being in an easy chair under a warm blanket. This happiness comes from knowing that the Lord loved us so much, he miraculously poured himself into a body and allowed himself to be born under humble circumstances that are hard to fully comprehend. Approximately two thousand years ago, the Lord deemed that the time was right for the next phase of his plan to restore fellowship between him and us. It was time for our redeemer and our savior to come to this earth and bring hope and peace and love to a sin ravaged world.

The arrival of the king of kings in this world was worthy of celebration. A host of angels went forth and proclaimed the birth of Jesus to shepherds. This was a big deal in the eyes of the Lord. If it was worthy of a host of angels back then, it should be worthy of our time and attention now. A couple of years ago, Christmas fell on a Sunday and we held a simple service that day to celebrate. The service felt wonderful and it was well received by the congregation members who were there. This year Christmas was on a Wednesday, so we held service again (in the morning instead of the evening) and there was a wonderful presence of the Spirit of God.

Well, little Peter William turned one month old yesterday. To celebrate this I'll just share a few thoughts. Not in any specific order.

First, although I am completely biased, I do think that he's quite the handsome little fellow. I have been posting a picture a day on Facebook because it's much easier to update than this blog, especially from my phone.

He has passed the tipping point of sleeping more at night than being awake. This is very helpful, especially to the Queen of All She Surveys. We finally tried out a real swaddling blanket on him this week and it made a huge difference. For three nights straight he has slept for six hours after being put to bed fully swaddled. A one month old sleeping for six hours at night is the kind of thing that inspires you to nominate the creator of the swaddling blanket for a Nobel Peace prize!

Time for another quote from the Bulldog.

We shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and the oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be. We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender.

Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (1874-1965)

Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.

Acts 4:12

Peter is in trouble again. And this time John was with him. Peter healed a lame man, in the first recorded miracle of the new church. Proving that no good deed goes unpunished, the religious authorities have them arrested. Next time Peter, don't heal anyone in front of the temple! But if you do, don't let him dance around in the temple courtyard praising God. And if that happens, certainly don't start preaching about how Jesus is the Messiah and really, really don't remind the Jews that they killed him.

Naturally, Peter did all of these things. I love that guy. And not just because we share the exact same name. Five thousand men believed him that day before the captain of the temple reached him and provided a closing for the sermon.

You can never go wrong with a good quote from Winston Churchill.

What General Weygand called the Battle of France is over. I expect that the Battle of Britain is about to begin. Upon this battle depends the survival of Christian civilization. Upon it depends our own British life, and the long continuity of our institutions and our Empire. The whole fury and might of the enemy must very soon be turned on us. Hitler knows that he will have to break us in this island or lose the war. If we can stand up to him, all Europe may be free and the life of the world may move forward into broad, sunlit uplands. But if we fail, then the whole world, including the United States, including all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new Dark Age made more sinister, and perhaps more protracted, by the lights of perverted science. Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that, if the British Empire and its Commonwealth lasts for a thousand years, men will still say, "This was their finest hour!"

Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (1874-1965)