Highest Joy – Dietrich Bonhoeffer

To go one’s way under the sign of the cross is not misery and desperation, but peace and refreshment for the soul, it is the highest joy.  Then we do not walk under our self-made laws and burdens, but under the yoke of him who knows us and who walks under the yoke with us.  Under his yoke we are certain of his nearness and communion.

From: Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship

Joy of Advent – Jamie L. Cardinal Sin

The joy of Advent is a joy born of eager expectation and waiting: waiting for something good, in fact, something wonderful. It is waiting for something sure. And what is sure? That God, the God who once came in Jesus, will come to us again. The joy of Advent springs from expecting him who came before “to build his tent in our midst” as one of us, and who will come again and again. It is a joy that springs from hope.

From: Jaime L. Cardinal Sin, Archbishop of Manila

For the Beauty of the Earth – Folliott Sandford Pierpoint

For the beauty of the earth,
for the glory of the skies,
for the love which from our birth
over and around us lies.

Refrain:
Christ, our Lord, to you we raise
this, our hymn of grateful praise.

For the wonder of each hour
of the day and of the night,
hill and vale and tree and flower,
sun and moon and stars of light, [Refrain ]

For the joy of human love,
brother, sister, parent, child,
friends on earth, and friends above,
for all gentle thoughts and mild, [Refrain]

For yourself, best gift divine,
to the world so freely given,
agent of God’s grand design:
peace on earth and joy in heaven. [Refrain]

From: Psalter Hymnal, 1987; Author: Folliott Sandford Pierpoint