Merry Christmas to our Family 167

 in Uncategorized by

Having a wonderful family Christmas, and thinking of our community of blog commenters, hoping that nobody is lonely today.

As regular readers know, my favourite carol is “It Came Upon The Midnight Clear”. Search for the lyrics and you will find that this verse is routinely censored out (missing from 8 of the first 10 versions on a google.com search for “It Came Upon A Midnight Clear Lyrics”):

Yet with the woes of sin and strife
The world has suffered long;
Beneath the angel strain have rolled
Two thousand years of wrong;
And man, at war with man, hears not
The love-song which they bring;
O hush the noise, ye men of strife
And hear the angels sing.

Cemeron wants us to adopt Christian values. Not bombing people would be a good start in the New Year.

Love to all.

Allowed HTML - you can use: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>

167 thoughts on “Merry Christmas to our Family”

1 2 3 … 6
  • Pete B

    Just to reciprocate – Merry Christmas Craig to you and yours. Hope it’s going well for you all. Have a day off worrying about other people and enjoy it 🙂

    All the best,

    Pete

  • orkneylad

    Marsilio Ficino to Plero Vanni, Cherubino Quarquagli, Domenico Galletti: greetings.

    You have seen painted in my academy a sphere of the world; on one side Democritus laughing, and on the other Heraclitus weeping. Why is Democritus laughing? Why does Heraclitus weep? Because the mass of mankind is a monstrous, mad and miserable animal.

    Mortal men ask God for good things every day, but they never pray that they may make good use of them. They want fortune to wait upon their desires, but they are not concerned that desire should wait upon reason. They would like all their household furniture down to the least article to be made as beautiful as possible, but they are hardly ever concerned that the soul should become beautiful. They diligently seek out remedies for bodily diseases, but neglect the diseases of the soul. They think they can be at peace with others, yet they continually wage war with themselves.

    For there is a constant battle between body and soul, between the senses and reason. They believe that they can find themselves a faithful friend in others, but not one of them keeps faith with himself What they have praised, they reject; what they have desired, they do not want; and contrariwise. They lay out the parts of buildings to a measure, and tune strings on a lyre to a hair’s breadth, but they never attempt to harmonize the parts and movements of the soul. They make stones into the likeness of living men, and they make living men into stones; they despise wise men themselves, but they honour the statues and names of the wise. They claim to know about everyone else’s affairs, although they do not know about their own.

    What more, my friends? The magistrates forbid murder, and allow instruments for killing men to be made everywhere. They desire an excellent crop of men, yet they do not take sufficient care of the seedling, that is the child.

    People always live badly today; they only live well tomorrow. For the sake of ambition they strive against each other with evil deeds, but the path to glory would be easier to tread by doing good to one another.

    Although they always speak evil, they hope to be well spoken of themselves; although they do evil, they hope to receive good. We proclaim that we are the authors of good, but that God is the author of evil. We blame our faults on the stars.

    How many people will you find who value a man as much as money; who cultivate themselves in the same way as they cultivate their fields and other affairs; who bring up their family with as much care as many rear their horses, dogs and birds; who consider how grave is the waste of time? In spending money we are very mean, in expending time we are extravagant beyond measure. How many can you name who recognise the poverty of their soul? Everyone believes that he abounds in wisdom, but is short of money.

    What a sorry state! We seek the greatest in the least, the high in the low, good in evil, rest in activity, peace in dissension, plenty in penury; in short, life in death.

    I beg you, my friends, let us seek the same ends that we are already seeking, but let us not continue to seek them in the same place. The man who believes he will find one thing in its opposite is mad and miserable.

    Farewell.

  • Fedup

    Merry Christmas Craig and everyone, and cheers to you all for keeping misanthropy at bay at least in this corner of the cyberspace.
    ,
    Thanks for the Lyrics too, as a none denominational atheist, I enjoy a good hymn/carol as good as the next guy, and find it odd that there ought to exist such efforts in shepherding the minds of we the people by so many sensitive souls, who know what’s best for us.
    ,
    BTW anyone checked out the Vatican site for their music?
    ,
    Also tried but did not find the full transcript of the Pope’s message, to see if he has mentioned Yemen, Bahrain, Somalia, Nigeria, or has he just singled out Syria for admonishment?
    ,
    Now off to carry out the rite of gulping down the “swali” (as my hero St. Rab does)

  • Tim

    I thought I remembered “shut up your noise…” (would have been from the English Hymnal) but checked on wikipedia and could not find it – it seems to the the Methodists and Lutherans who have omitted the verse.
    Interesting that the poem is actually American – and can also be sung to the tune of the “House of the Rising Sun!”

    Merry Christmas

  • kashmiri

    Merry Christmas, Craig! Thanks for the lyrics, very moving. Let’s hope those trademark kill games of Homo Sapiens will stop one day – hopes not too high but still…

  • John Goss

    Great carol, Craig. And that verse really contains the message of Christianity. Happy Christmas to one and all. Love, peace and goodwill one to another!

  • Mary

    Fedup. The Pope’s Christmas Message. http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/messages/urbi/documents/hf_ben-xvi_mes_20111225_urbi_en.html
    .
    […]
    Together let us ask God’s help for the peoples of the Horn of Africa, who suffer from hunger and food shortages, aggravated at times by a persistent state of insecurity. May the international community not fail to offer assistance to the many displaced persons coming from that region and whose dignity has been sorely tried.
    .
    May the Lord grant comfort to the peoples of South-East Asia, particularly Thailand and the Philippines, who are still enduring grave hardships as a result of the recent floods.
    .
    May the Lord come to the aid of our world torn by so many conflicts which even today stain the earth with blood. May the Prince of Peace grant peace and stability to that Land where he chose to come into the world, and encourage the resumption of dialogue between Israelis and Palestinians. May he bring an end to the violence in Syria, where so much blood has already been shed. May he foster full reconciliation and stability in Iraq and Afghanistan. May he grant renewed vigour to all elements of society in the countries of North Africa and the Middle East as they strive to advance the common good.
    .
    May the birth of the Saviour support the prospects of dialogue and cooperation in Myanmar, in the pursuit of shared solutions. May the Nativity of the Redeemer ensure political stability to the countries of the Great Lakes Region of Africa, and assist the people of South Sudan in their commitment to safeguarding the rights of all citizens.
    .
    Dear Brothers and Sisters, let us turn our gaze anew to the grotto of Bethlehem. The Child whom we contemplate is our salvation! He has brought to the world a universal message of reconciliation and peace. Let us open our hearts to him; let us receive him into our lives. Once more let us say to him, with joy and confidence: “Veni ad salvandum nos!”

  • Póló

    Happy Christmas Craig.

    Good on ya to highlight the censored/embarrassing bit of the carol.

    Thanks Tim for the nod on the House of the Rising Sun. Now I have the air and chords and don’t need to go ahunting in the hymnal

  • Azra

    Peace to the World… (If only)

    Merry Christmas everyone, And Craig thanks for the lyrics, Wonderful Carol, you can listen to it on Youtube as well.

  • Tom Welsh

    Merry Christmas, all! And thanks, Craig, for this blog and all your other efforts to make our world a little better.

    Thanks to you, too, Orkneylad, for the marvellous Ficino quotation.

  • Ken Ging

    I wonder if that evil reptile Obama realises he’s turning his state into a medieval Taliban-plus hellhole?

  • RealNews

    ,,,I wonder if that evil reptile Obama realises he’s turning his state into a medieval Taliban-plus hellhole?,,,

    are they getting rid off the bankers-wankers and drug dealers?

  • Tet-a-tet

    who can prove that Jesus was born on christmas day? why provoslav orthodox christians celebrate christmas on january 7th? what is christmas? can you all who are celebrating this day tell me what you are celebrating? when you say “merry christmas” what do you mean? are you really following Jesus? did he tell to celebrate this day as religious holiday? who is Jesus? if he was God why he was born? where is he now? is he dead? if he is dead how can a God die? if he is a son of God, does God have daughters and did he send his daughters to Earth? or is He discriminating them?

    -sorry guys, no offence. I am not christian, i just want to know, because i see more material/consumer/trade aspect in your celebrations rather than religious one.

    other than that respect to Craig, for standing up for truth.

  • crab

    “And man, at war with man, hears not
    The love-song which they bring;
    O hush the noise, ye men of strife
    And hear the angels sing.”
    .
    Oh Craig You Know some things! Googles ranking is a little tragic, but the technology is far from perfected 😀
    .
    Merry Twinkles All!

  • Mary

    Reprieve for Sandringham pheasants and other birds of a feather! Mass slaughter is off today as it is unlikely that the traditional Boxing Day shoot, which the D of Edinburgh organizes, will take place. The latter from a female BBC reporter speaking out of the darkness and stationed outside the gates unbelievably. The item, including a report on the state of the DoE’s ticker, led the 6am news on BBC1. Tosh.

  • Frank FitzWalter

    Re: Tet a Tet. The 25th December was the Roman feast of Saturnalia, taken over by the Christian Fathers. There is little proof that Jesus, or Joshua, ever existed. None of the New Testament writers describe his appearance. After the crucifixion, his brother James became head of the so-called Jerusalem Church. It surprises some people to learn that Jesus/Joshua, if he existed, was a Jew. Much of Judaism was borrowed from the Sumerians and Babylonians, the Egyptians and Canaanites. Islam borrowed heavily from Judaism. In the absence of proof, all religions fall back on faith to justify their claims. My hope is that people will discard religion in favour of a greater, personal spirituality. May your gods go with you.

  • Mary

    This link does nothing to indicate the extent of the propaganda for the enhancement of Lord Sebastian Coe’s image or for the Olympics. We had Coe’s rivalry with Ovett, Coe’s father’s training regime for the young athlete and the manual he wrote, Coe as a 12 year old inspired by British athletes winning at the Mexico Olympics in 1968, Coe revisiting the Moscow stadium where he won his first gold and even the priest of the Olympics and Paralympics giving his Thought for the Day. If I heard the words ‘Sebastian Coe’ once in the first hour, I heard them a hundred times.
    .
    Today: Monday 26th December
    Guest edited by Sebastian Coe, featuring a reflection on great sporting rivalries, Jose Mourinho on his aim to return to British football, and examining if the London Olympics will create a new generation of elite British athletes. And as Boxing Day hunts get underway we’ll ask if the ban on hunting with hounds is here to stay. http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/default.stm
    .
    Get ready for an onslaught of this stuff for the next seven months, greater than the amount of warmongering we are subjected to by the state broadcaster.

1 2 3 … 6

Comments are closed.