The Story Line......

I really enjoy a good movie…… a good book…. A good story.  

Some of my favorite readings is the book by Owen Wister, The Virginian.   A few years ago, I enjoyed reading Gene Edward’s book The Divine Romance.  and one of my favorite of all times stories is Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra.

How wonderful, the idea of a Love Story?  The Song of Solomon.  A Groom’s love, for his Bride.  Early Hebrew and Christian scholars long maintained that the love story is an allegory of God’s love for humankind, or of the intensity of divine love within the human heart.

Rides in the Hero....... rescues the fair maiden from the villain...Rides off into the sunset...some day to come again.......

Setting the Stage for a wonderful story.....   The Christmas Story. 

Elizabeth, Zechariah, Joseph, Mary,

This time of year, some of my favorite lines from the story:

 

Luke Chapter 1  (The Message)

Zechariah:
Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel;
    he came and set his people free.
He set the power of salvation in the center of our lives,
    and in the very house of David his servant,
Just as he promised long ago
    through the preaching of his holy prophets:
Deliverance from our enemies
    and every hateful hand;
Mercy to our fathers,
    as he remembers to do what he said he’d do,
What he swore to our father Abraham—
    a clean rescue from the enemy camp,
So we can worship him without a care in the world,
    made holy before him as long as we live.
And you, my child, “Prophet of the Highest,”
    will go ahead of the Master to prepare his ways,
Present the offer of salvation to his people,
    the forgiveness of their sins.
Through the heartfelt mercies of our God,
    God’s Sunrise will break in upon us,
Shining on those in the darkness,
    those sitting in the shadow of death,
Then showing us the way, one foot at a time,
    down the path of peace.

Elizabeth: 
You’re so blessed among women,
and the babe in your womb, also blessed!
And why am I so blessed that
    the mother of my Lord visits me?
The moment the sound of your
    greeting entered my ears,
The babe in my womb
    skipped like a lamb for sheer joy.
Blessed woman, who believed what God said,     
believed every word would come true!

 And Mary said,
I’m bursting with God-news;
    I’m dancing the song of my Savior God.
God took one good look at me, and look what happened—
    I’m the most fortunate woman on earth!
What God has done for me will never be forgotten,
    the God whose very name is holy, set apart from all others.
His mercy flows in wave after wave
    on those who are in awe before him.
He bared his arm and showed his strength,
    scattered the bluffing braggarts.
He knocked tyrants off their high horses,
    pulled victims out of the mud.
The starving poor sat down to a banquet;
    the callous rich were left out in the cold.
He embraced his chosen child, Israel;
    he remembered and piled on the mercies, piled them high.
It’s exactly what he promised,
  beginning with Abraham and right up to now.