Bethlehem Waits

-

View of Bethlehem at Night - Josef Langl


Bethlehem waits.

Gabriel speaks.

Zechariah questions.

Mary says, "I am the Lord's servant."


A visitation.

A child dances in the womb.

Elizabeth speaks a blessing.

Mary sings of humility.


His name is John.

Zechariah's response.

The voice in the wilderness.

Born of the barren.


Bethlehem waits.

The day of longing.

The cousin of John.

Savior of the poor.


copyright 2024 - Donald P James Jr

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Jesus in the Snow

-
Image
This picture hung on the side of my parents refrigerator when I was a child.  I was always intrigued by the black and white blotches which did not seem to form anything recognizable.  One day I asked my mother about the photograph.  She said it was the face of Jesus and that if I looked closely I could see Him. I could not for the life of me see our Lord in the meaningless menagerie of spots.  I remember standing at the side of the refrigerator staring at the picture as it hung there almost taunting me. One day, in my teen years, when I wasn't really trying to see the face in the black and white blotches anymore, I saw Him.  Maybe I needed to see the face more, at that age, when I was on the threshold of adulthood then when I was a child.  Now, as the years have passed, I find it difficult not to see Him in the patterns of melting snow on the mountainside. ~ I have a question for you.  When you look at the patterns of melting snow, do yo...
Read more

Matthew 19

-
Image
Does our law allow these things? And with the question He points back to scripture. "Have you not read". All the answers are right there. But you have to have eyes to see and ears to hear. Why then... and but...? Because you are dense, hard to teach. Two shall unite, man and woman, as in the days of creation. No man may separate or redefine. They ask a question, specific, and the Lord's answer encompasses so much more. They question divorce and He defines marriage. Does His law allow these things? copyright 2018 - Donald P James Jr https://www.amazon.com/stores/Donald-P.-James-Jr./author
Read more

Watch Out for Those

-
Image
He wore a robe that flowed behind him.  His tassels were neat, and his scripture box was in place.  His strides were confident.  He was greeted with the nodded heads of respect.  Toward some he returned their respectful actions, on others he cast a scowl, a judgement. "Watch out for these." A man dressed in tattered garments said to those gathered round. The words caught the ear of the well-dressed man.  He approached the crowd as the man who spoke a warning pointed in his direction. "These teachers of the law," the man at the center of the crowd continued. "Of whom do you speak, Rabbi?" The well-dressed man spoke his final word with contempt.  He did not consider the man before him to be anything but a vagabond preacher with no real knowledge of the scriptures. "Answer me this." The man in tattered clothes stood up from the crowd and moved toward the ordained teacher of the law. "Do you not find pleasure in the respect given to you?" ...
Read more

Pine Tree

-
Image
"Is it perfect?" Marcy said as they stopped along the short path. It was quiet on the edge of the woods, walking through the tree farm.  She loved the sound of snow crunching under her feet.  The three inches that had fallen three days ago was crusty underfoot.  The sun was trying its best to melt winter's dressing.  Marcy could feel the glowing warmth on her face, despite the cold temperatures. "Better than perfect," Robert replied. This would be their first Christmas as husband and wife.  They had come out to tag the tree.  It would later be cut down and Robert would pick it up with his Ford F-150 next weekend. "Will the star fit on top?  It is my Grandmother's star.  It has to fit on the top." "It will," Robert assured her. She wrapped her arm around the crook of his elbow. "If I listen," she said. "I can almost hear the sap running through the bark." "You're thinking of Maple Trees." "Nope.  I am...
Read more

Lukewarm

-
Image
"So, because you are lukewarm,  neither hot nor cold,  I am about to spit you out of my mouth." Revelation 3:16 Saint John Write the Book of Revelation on the Isle of Patmos - Gaspar de Crayer Neither refreshing, nor soothing. Neither quenching the thirst  on a hot day, nor healing as warmth should. You are lukewarm. You can claim to be neither cold, nor hot. Your temperature disgusts. You are to be spit out of the mouth. You are lukewarm. You have seen the falling away, the weakening of every Gospel. You place the world in your view and cast off the Word. You are lukewarm. Laodicea, your wealth, your position in this world, means nothing, if you neither refresh or heal. If you are lukewarm copyright 2024 - Donald P James Jr https://www.amazon.com/stores/Donald-P.-James-Jr./author
Read more

A Prophet Has Walked Among You

-
Image
They shall know that a prophet has been among them  Ezekiel 2:5 Christ Walking on the Water - Julius Sergius von Klever You should be able to tell by the imprints left by his sandals. Is there evidence that a heavy beam was dragged behind him? You should be able to tell since he was shunned by those who knew him most, by those who'd seen him when he was less serious about life. You should be able to tell by the words spoken from his mouth, or by the results of his hands being laid on the afflicted. A prophet walked among you. The lamb stood in your presence and you said, "Not him.  He is just a carpenter. Not him.  He is unacceptable, even in his own home." copyright 2024 - Donald P James Jr https://www.amazon.com/stores/Donald-P.-James-Jr./author
Read more

Bread from Heaven

-
Image
"So, we are talking today in our readings about bread that came from heaven.  Manna.  A flakey substance left on the ground, every morning.  There were restrictions.  God said to Moses, this was a test." She has been preaching to the people for three months.  She is the shepherd of a flock that belongs to the Lord.  The gathering isn't large.  The church is small, just a simple white church on a knoll with a steeple in need of paint and new pews.  The tiny building has a bell that calls out to worshipers every morning. This, with all its scars, is a piece of heaven. "Now put your self in the same position as the Israelites.  It's difficult to imagine living in the times of ancient Egypt.  The clothing styles, the food they ate.  All that is so foreign to our way of thinking.  Even the wilderness that the chosen people wandered through is something most of us have never experienced." She steps away from the pulpit.  She isn...
Read more

A Warped Idea of Choice

-
Image
Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. Jeremiah 1:5 Does this world call life, in the beginning, simply a fetus? Does this hide their guilt? Does this world remove God's blessing from the mother's womb with callousness? Does this world murder what it claims to be nothing but tissue with a beating heart? Does this world call a infant a hindrance, a thing to be disposed of like garbage? Does it even offer so much as a grave, on a lonely hillside, among the weeds, for those it slaughters? Does it take defenseless life and throw it into the world's warped idea of choice? copyright 2024 - Donald P James Jr https://www.amazon.com/stores/Donald-P.-James-Jr./author
Read more

The Light in Your Heart

-
Image
The Annunciation - Bartolome Esteban Murillo There was a light, dancing where no light had been. A voice signing a sonnet known only to those with the purest hearts.   He calls and the one who listens is most blessed. She takes each word, holding it dear, question out of innocence, not doubt.   Child, chosen by the light of your heart. The spirit embraces you, and generation upon generation will look to your humility as they seek their own. copyright 2024 - Donald P James Jr https://www.amazon.com/stores/Donald-P.-James-Jr./author
Read more