"Touch is the greatest thing on earth, Amen...thank the Lord 4 some sense of touch."
- Ray Charles

Merry Christmas Ya'll!!!

like Vince Guaraldi's "Christmas Time Is Here", this has become a staple during the Christmas Season...recorded the day after Christmas back in 07 with D-Major @ m3studios...

Jesus Is Coming

the beginning 4 the Church ya’ll
the new year starts 2day
it’s like the times square ball
when the baby Jesus lay

tis the month of the Feasts
so many I can’t keep count
Our Lady Of Guadalupe
Juan Diego there no doubt

my baby’s baking cookies
my children runnin round
Advent candle burning
Guaraldi getting down

keep ur eye on Jesus
like u keep ur eye on the star
the 3 kings r coming
Epiphany ain’t 2 far

get ur soul all ready
2 receive the Lord of Lords
practice all ur carols
better check out all the chords

Jesus is coming won’t u rejoice with me
an angel done told me in Bethelehem we’ll c
a brand new baby, the Prince of Peace He’ll b
everybody gaze upon the Lord, get down on ur knees!!!

written back in 04 on a cold iowa city nite, but oh so warm every Advent Season...

Advent

The coming of Christ
Is found in a girl
Not just any girl
chosen from this world

Hail full of grace
But how could this b
The Lord is with u
2 me let it b

Beautiful Mother Mary
God would ask u 2 carry
The Word in the womb
And power would bloom
4 all, the call

a women’s in need
no time 2 b queen
a leap from a man
baptism 4seen

u hold in urself
the creator of u
but no room in this world
a manger would do

Do not b afraid
He will b so great
And of his kingdom
There will b no end

some jams i always post this time of year...

here is an mp3 of Do U Hear

i originally wrote this demo 4 Lynn Cooper as possible inclusion on a Christmas album she released back in 2006...

if i remember correctly all the songs had already been chosen 4 her project, but she promised she would b singing the chorus around the house 4 the rest of the season :)

Do U Hear

do u hear what i hear
tis the season of cheer
this is when Bethlehem shines
and the Savior is born
in the fullness of time

snow on the ground
Nativity bound
we r just grateful 2 believe

in the still of the night
a babe would light
4 all of the nations 2 receive

a virgin is how
the kings knew 2 bow
a manger would hold His only Son

the Word of God
truly the way
and i feel the love on Christmas Day

and oh how long
did prophets long
2 c the Christ

In the Gospel for the Fourth Sunday in Advent, the angel Gabriel greets Mary in an unusual way: “Hail, favored one” (see Luke 1:28).

Kecharitomene, the Greek word translated as “favored one,” is very rare, used in only one other place in the New Testament. It comes from charis, the Greek word for “grace” and basically means “made full of grace” or “transformed by grace.”

This is how the word is used in Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, where he describes how God “granted” His grace to all of us in Jesus (see Ephesians 1:6-7). This sheds light on what the angel means - Mary has been “transformed by God’s grace.”

Notice that the angel doesn’t mention Mary’s name. That’s odd, too. There’s no other angelic greeting like this in Scripture. It’s as if Mary’s name is “favored one” or “made full of grace.”

In Scripture, when God gives a person a new name, it reveals the person’s role in His saving plan. Think of Abraham - the father of all nations (see Genesis 17:5), or Peter, the Church’s “rock” (see Matthew 16:18). Mary is God’s favored one, transformed by God’s grace to be the sinless mother of His only-begotten Son.

That’s why the angel’s greeting is one of the biblical foundations for Mary’s Immaculate Conception, which we celebrate December 8.

- Dr. Scott Hahn
St. Paul Center For Biblical Theology