Where Life and Faith Meet
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4Ü #306

The Christmas tree

13 December 2007

WASSUP - The Christmas tree

The Christmas tree that has been sleeping
is awakened by the sounds of carols
Naked and exposed
dressed in its Christmas best
Adorned with tinsel and light
surrounded with gifts
As a flower that flourishes
in beauty shines
for a moment
then
stripped bare
packed away
it all goes back into the box

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INSIGHT OUT - A tiredness that is no longer rested in sleep

I can see in your eyes
a tiredness that is no longer rested in sleep
a treadmill of days that have become weeks
that have become months
a death of a thousand strokes
a rest-less-ness of body and soul

I can see in your eyes
a flicker of fragile hope
a faint whisper I move close to hear
that no amount of background noise can silence
a waiting that is patiently impatient
a long-full-ness that is ready to receive

God rest us
Rest that part of us which is tired
Awaken the part of us which is asleep
God awaken us and awake within us
Amen

Leunig

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OUTSIGHT IN - Christmas cake - food for thought

"Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful." ~Norman Vincent Peale

"Christmas is a time when you get homesick - even when you're home." ~Carol Nelson

"He who has not Christmas in his heart will never find it under a tree." ~Roy L. Smith

"I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round, as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys." ~Charles Dickens

"Happy, happy Christmas, that can win us back to the delusions of our childish days; that can recall to the old man the pleasures of his youth; that can transport the sailor and the traveller, thousands of miles away, back to his own fire-side and his quiet home!" ~Charles Dickens, The Pickwick Papers, 1836

"When we were children we were grateful to those who filled our stockings at Christmas time. Why are we not grateful to God for filling our stockings with legs?" ~G.K. Chesterton

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SEE YA SUNDAY - Kids countdown to Christmas @ 8.30am and 10.30am

How many sleeps till Christmas?
This morning's services will be filled with the fun and excitement of a kids Christmas.
And the best news of all is you don't have to be a kid to enjoy it!

CANVAS this Sunday evening @ 6.30pm with Matt and the crew.
Shared dinner.

Can't wait ... see ya Sunday

Thanks for this time to chat.

Andrew
St Columba
Where Life and Faith Meet
andrew.norton@stcolumba.org.nz

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It's free but don't steal

If this is of help to others, you are welcome to forward it. This e-mail letter is 97% original - 3% cut and paste & 100% fat free. 4U is copyright to Andrew Norton. That means you can't cut and paste it and call it your own (that's stealing). I'm happy for it to be used but please refer to the author.

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LAST WORD - With amazement

Thrive me
Stretch me make me
Drunk
With amazement

Michele Leggott


© 2008, St Columba Presbyterian Church, Auckland