Minnie Louise Haskins, American teacher and writer (1875-1957)
(quoted by George VI in his Christmas broadcast of 1939)

Throughout Advent, I have been using a devotional called O Come, Emmanuel, which includes hymns, carols, poems and stories inspired by Christmas.

Today's Bible reading is Philippians 2:5-11 and it is accompanied by Christina Rossetti's In the Bleak Midwinter. It has been fascinating to read about the origin of many of these carols and of the lives and faiths of their authors and composers, so another day I hope to share some of what I've learnt about them. However today I want to look a little at this carol.

Our God, heaven cannot hold him, nor earth sustain;
heaven and earth shall flee away when he comes to reign.
In the bleak midwinter a stable place sufficed
the Lord God Almighty, Jesus Christ.

Rossetti reminds us that Christ's humility was revealed in that he was born in lowly conditions that others would think beneath them. It certainly wasn't a suitable birthplace for a king! On the day that the firstborn of all creation, the one who would sit on the throne over all heaven and earth, was born as man in a great plan ordained before the creation of the world, the heavenly angels would rejoice, but on earth only some local unlearned shepherds would come to worship him. Instead, the world would reject him and ultimately kill him.

He made himself nothing knowing all this, submitting himself to the will of the Father of his own free will, being willing to suffer a painful death and the separation from the Father to make atonement for us. How else can we respond but to give him our hearts?

Though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Philippians 2:5-11

What's the most important new item you want to buy this year?

For my spiritual growth, I have decided to buy the Bible on CD to allow me listen to God's word while driving to and from work. A friend has bought Max Maclean's reading of the English Standard Version and really recommended it as a way to know the Bible better.

On a more frivolous note, I have finally invested in a digital camera, especially after being reprimanded by Jonny and Amanda for not owning one! I owned my first camera when I was about 5. It was a blue Fisher Price camera that took 110 film and had a hole at the top where real flash bulbs (which could only be used once) fitted. You'll see in the photo that it even had rubber-covered ends to stop it breaking when dropped. Sadly, I don't know what happened to mine, but I don't think I was a particularly gifted photographer as a child.

I bought my next and last camera the same year I started university. It uses film and has served me well. (My mother likes to tell me, "Your camera always takes good pictures!") However, after three years of saying I wanted to get a digital SLR, I have finally (literally, in the last few days) got round to it! To celebrate, I taken a photo of where my Wise Men have travelled after friends visited a few days ago! I'll be taking a lot more photos in the days to come and, as they are much easier to transfer on to the computer than film photos, I look forward to sharing them.

She considers a field and buys it;
with the fruit of her hands she plants a vineyard.
Proverbs 31:16

This has the potential to be completely lost on anyone not familiar with Irn Bru ("Scotland's other national drink"), Scotland and Scottish landmarks, or Raymond Briggs' The Snowman, but it was just so good that I had to share it with you all!

Lindsey at her Christmas blog, Advent for Evangelicals, has asked us to share the story of our nativity scene and to share some of our Christmas traditions.

My nativity scene stays up all year round. It's from Peru so has a special place in my heart after working there but I also like to have it up all year to remind myself and others who visit that celebrating Jesus is not confined to December!

I have adopted a tradition from one of my American friends that I hope to introduce to my future family. The nativity is complete all year until Advent. At the beginning of Advent, the Baby Jesus is hidden away until Christmas morning as we wait for his birth.

The Wise Men also leave the nativity and go on a journey throughout the house until they arrive on Twelfth Night. (You can see them hiding travelling through one of my bookcases on the right.) My friend and her roommates would hide the Wise Men in turn. Whoever found them next would hide them for another person to find, until the 6th of January when whoever found them would return them to the nativity. Admittedly, this doesn't work quite as well when you live on your own! That said, my friends enjoy hiding them for me whenever they visit.

(Apologies for the terrible quality of the photos! I don't have a digital camera and didn't have time to get proper photos developed, then I couldn't work out how to get camera phone photos from the camera to my computer, so I am afraid I was stuck with using my webcam!)

Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David, and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will dwell securely. And this is the name by which it will be called: 'The LORD is our righteousness.'
Jeremiah 33:14-16