Crown and Bough

Monday 26 December 2016

The Sun and the Moon and the Stars



A Child in a foul stable, 
Where the beasts feed and foam; 
Only where He was homeless 
Are you and I at home; 
We have hands that fashion and heads that know, 
But our hearts we lost – how long ago! 
In a place no chart nor ship can show 
Under the sky’s dome. 

This world is wild as an old wives’ tale, 
And strange the plain things are, 
The earth is enough and the air is enough 
For our wonder and our war; 
But our rest is as far as the fire-drake swings 
And our peace is put in impossible things 
Where clashed and thundered unthinkable wings 
Round an incredible star.

-- "The House of Christmas" by G.K. Chesterton

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“When we give each other our Christmas presents in his name, let us remember that he has given us the sun and the moon and the stars, the earth with its forests and mountains and oceans and all that lives and moves upon them . . .  And to save us from our own foolishness and from all our sins, he came down to earth and gave himself.”  -- Sigrid Undset

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"The great majority of people will go on observing forms that cannot be explained; they will keep Christmas Day with Christmas gifts and Christmas benedictions; they will continue to do it; and some day suddenly wake up and discover why." -- G.K. Chesterton

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