A Truly Blessed Feast of the Nativity of Our Lord

Two beautiful Services in the Lord's House this evening.  First, the Service of Lessons and Carols at 7 pm.  Truly wonderful, enhanced greatly by the talents of our musicians and singers.  Mary played the organ beautifully, as usual.  And we were treated to two solos by Roger and his guitar, who sang and played the first stanza of "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel" and, later, during the offering, greeted us with a stunning rendition of "O Holy Night" - simply breathtaking!  So much so that we asked him to do it again during Midnight Mass and he graciously agreed.  Then there was Sarah, who also blessed us with two solos, singing the first stanzas of both "What Child Is This" and "A Great and Mighty Wonder" - also, simply breathtaking.  I've said it before and I'll say it again:  I have no idea where that girl gets her voice, but, man, can she sing!  And Carol treated us to the first stanza of "Silent Night" in German, which was equally goose-bump worthy.  It was simply a gorgeous Service, from beginning to end.

Then came Midnight Mass at 11:30 p.m.  This is one of my absolute favorite Services of the year.  We began the Mass by candlelight with the reading of the Christmas Martyrology, and then processed in at the singing of "O Come, All Ye Faithful."  The Mass continued by candlelight until after the Salutation and Collect of the Day.  I allowed St. John Chrysostom, a.k.a. "Golden Mouth," to preach the majority of the homily, and then we partook of the Word Become Flesh in the Holy Eucharist.  Is there anything better than beginning Christmas Day with the Holy Sacrament?  I think not!  The Mass was beautified by the talents of our choir and soloists Carol, who sang the first stanza of "What Child Is This" and Roger, who, as I said above, once again treated us to "O Holy Night."  What a truly blessed Feast of the Nativity of Our Lord!

The only bummer was the weather.  It wasn't awful, but the freezing rain did make the roads a little slick and prevented some from joining us.

O God, You make us glad with the yearly remembrance of the birth of Your only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ.  Grant that as we joyfully receive Him as our Redeemer, we may with sure confidence behold Him when He comes to be our Judge; through the same Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.  Amen.

A Blessed Christ-Mass to All!