December 3
Encouragement from Whitefield...

So tonight at our candle light service (which was fantastic!), I opened the evening with a brief reflection written by George Whitefield some 250 years ago from a sermon he preached in England.  Here's his contagious encouragement to take seriously the celebration of the birth of Christ.

"It was love, mere love; it was free love that brought the Lord Jesus Christ into our world. What, shall we not remember the birth of our Jesus? Shall we yearly celebrate the birth of our temporal king, and shall that of the King of kings be quite forgotten? God forbid! No, my dear brethren, let us celebrate and keep this festival of our church with joy in our hearts: let the birth of a Redeemer, which redeemed us from sin, from wrath, from death, from hell, be always remembered; may this Saviour’s love never be forgotten!  But may we sing forth all his love and glory as long as life shall last here, and through an endless eternity in the world above!  May we chant forth the wonders of redeeming love and the riches of free grace, amidst angels and archangels, cherubim and seraphim, without intermission, forever and ever!  And as, my brethren, the time for keeping this festival is approaching, let us consider our duty in the true observation thereof, of the right way for the glory of God, and the good of immortal souls, to celebrate the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ; an event which ought to be had in eternal remembrance.
What can we do to employ our time to a more noble purpose than reading of what our Redeemer has done and suffered; to read that the King of kings and Lord of lords came from his throne and took upon him the form of the meanest [least significant] servant; and what great things he underwent. This, this is a history worth reading, this is worth employing our time about…"