A Christmas Selection Box 2021

It’s traditional in Ireland to give chocolate selection boxes at Christmas, with a variety of different treats inside. I can’t share chocolate with you over the internet, so I’ve put together a different kind of selection box for you, full of different kinds of Christmas treats from different kinds of people. Enjoy!

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• First, here’s a Christmas spoken word from Glen Scrivener that makes an important point about how we view God:

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• Next up is an article from a friend of mine in Ireland, Isabel Quinlan, who writes beautifully about the hope we can have at Christmas even when we don’t feel very festive. In the process she talks a lot about Narnia, which makes me love this even more:

It’s nearly Christmas… Why do I feel like this?

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• Our next treat has a similar flavour to Isabel’s article, although it’s from a different time and place and written in a different form. This is a poem from the brilliant mind of George MacDonald:

CHRISTMAS, 1884

Though in my heart no Christmas glee,
Though my song-bird be dumb,
Jesus, it is enough for me
That thou art come.

What though the loved be scattered far,
Few at the board appear,
In thee, O Lord, they gathered are,
And thou art here.

And if our hearts be low with lack,
They are not therefore numb;
Not always will thy day come back–
Thyself will come!

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• Fourth is an article from Dr. Stephen Wellum, a theologian who has lectured several times for Munster Bible College in Cork:

10 Things You Should Know about the Incarnation

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• Here’s an ancient Irish Christmas carol, known as The Wexford Carol, written sometime in the middle ages. It’s a retelling of the Christmas story, and this recording comes from two incredibly talented musicians, Yo-Yo Ma and Alison Krauss:

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• Last up is one of my own articles from a few years ago, about how I never want to be content with just knowing the words about God, or the words about Christmas – I want to know the reality:

I Refuse To Be Content With Shorthand-Reality This Christmas

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A very happy Christmas to you and yours!