12 Quotes of Christmas: Day 7

For thou, Lord God, art best,

most wise, most high, most mighty,

most sufficient, and most full of all goodness,

most sweet, and most comfortable,

most fair, most loving, most noble, most glorious;

In whom all goodness most perfectly is.

And therefore, whatsoever I have besides thee, it is nothing to me;

for my heart may not rest nor fully be pacified but only in thee.

(A Prayer of Catherine Parr, King Henry VIII's sixth wife)

12 Quotes of Christmas: Day 6

'The amazing things Jesus does in the gospels are not at all surprising if you believe in the incarnation. If Jesus was fully God... then it would be totally bizarre if the storm didn't go quiet when he told it to. If Jesus really was the Word made flesh, then it would be far stranger if he hadn't risen for the dead than if he had. People who struggle with Easter simply show t hey haven't understood Christmas.'

(Andrew Wilson)

12 Quotes of Christmas: Day 5

'A God who was only holy would not have come down to us in Jesus Christ. He would have simply demanded that we pull ourselves together, that we be moral and holy enough to merit a relationship with him. A deity that was an ‘all‐accepting God of love’ would not have needed to come to Earth either. This God of the modern imagination would have just overlooked sin and evil and embraced us. Neither the God of moralism nor the God of relativism would have bothered with Christmas.'

(Tim Keller)

12 Quotes of Christmas: Day 4

'At the Father’s will Jesus Christ became poor and was born in a stable so that thirty years later he might hang on a cross.'

(J.I. Packer)

12 Quotes of Christmas: Day 3

'That man should be made in God’s image is a wonder,

but that God should be made in man’s image is a greater wonder.

That the Ancient of Days would be born.

That He who thunders in the heavens should cry in the cradle?'

(Thomas Watson)

12 Quotes of Christmas: Day 2

'Because in Jesus God became human,

he is not only the God on the other side of the chasm,

he is the bridge over the gap.'

(Tim Keller)

12 Quotes of Christmas: Day 1

'Infinite and yet an infant.
Eternal and yet born of a woman.
Almighty, and yet nursing at a woman’s breast.
Supporting a universe, and yet needing to be carried in a mother’s arms.
Heir of all things, and yet the carpenter’s despised son.'

(Charles Haddon Spurgeon)

The 12 Quotes of Christmas

The 12 Days of Christmas start on Christmas Day and last until the evening of the 5th January - also known as Twelfth Night.

Starting Christmas Day I've scheduled '12 Quotes of Christmas': a short bitesize quote drawn from some of the stuff I've read this year. I hope you'll find them helpful in stimulating a moment of thankfulness or reflection amidst the craziness of Christmas and as we approach and enter a new year.

They start on Christmas Day. Look out for them. I hope you find them helpful.