16
ETERNITY SHUT IN A SPAN
John 1:1-14
Hear tfelt greetings from two soon-to-be octogenarians (Ann turns 80
on August 24; I on July 19). We pray that you will be blessed abundantly
not only during the holiday season but on through the year—yes, and on
through eternity!
When Methodists gathered in the early years of the Wesleyan movement,
they sang these words by Charles Wesley:
And are we yet alive,
and see each other's face?
Glor y and praise to Jesus give
for His redeeming grace.
What troubles have we seen,
what conflicts have we passed.
Fightings without, and fears within
since we assembled last!
But out of all the Lord
hath brought us by His love;
And still He doth His help afford,
and hides our life above.
As one year dawns and the other depar ts, may we bear in our hear ts
the amazing truth celebrated by 17th-century Richard Crashow, that
paradoxical mystery which enables us to trust that in Jesus Christ all the
bewildering riddles of our lives and human history will ultimately
be resolved.
Welcome, all wonders in one sight!
Eternity shut in a span!
Summer in winter! Day in night!
Heaven in ear th! and God in man!
Great Little One, whose all-embracing bir th,
Lifts ear th to heaven, stoops heaven to ear th.
-VCG, 1993
DECEMBER 11
