Let Every Heart Prepare
Meditations for Advent and Christmas
BARBARA CAWTHORNE CRAFTON
| Morehouse Publishing NEW YORK • HARRISBURG • DENVER |
Copyright © 1998 by Barbara Crafton
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written permission of the publisher.
Unless otherwise noted, the Scripture quotations contained herein are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Hymn lyrics are from The Hymnal 1982, copyright 1985 by The Church Pension Fund.
Morehouse Publishing, 4775 Linglestown Road, Harrisburg, PA 17112
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Morehouse Publishing is an imprint of Church Publishing Incorporated.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Crafton, Barbara Cawthorne.
Let every heart prepare: meditations for Advent and Christmas / Barbara Cawthorne Crafton.
p. cm.
ISBN 978-0-8192-1755-4 (pbk.)
1. Advent—Meditations. 2. Christmas—Meditations. I. Title.
BV40.C68
242’.33—33dc21
98-27850
CIP
To my brother, David Cawthorne, 1948–1998 Your cat says hello.
Preface
Here may be sung a hymn. In the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer, this rubric appears in the Daily Office, just before the General Thanksgiving. After we’ve read the psalms and the scripture readings and the collects and made our personal intercessions, we are invited to sing, if we’re so disposed.
Good idea. Go ahead and sing. Never mind if you’re on a bus or sitting in your cubicle. Never mind if other people can hear you—it’ll be good for them. Maybe it will put them in mind of Advent when they were children, if they grew up that way. And if they didn’t, if all they knew growing up was that Santa Claus was coming to town, you’ll give them something new to ponder. You’ll also have your seat to yourself. Lots of people won’t sit next to someone who has inexplicably burst into song.
You’ve noticed, I’m sure, that it is easier to remember the words to a song than it is to remember a paragraph. We use a different part of our brains when we sing—it is a different neurological experience from the one we have when we merely recite. That is why you can still remember the lyrics to “One-eyed One-horned Flying Purple People Eater,” half a century after its untimely birth, even though you wish with all your heart you could forget. And now that I’ve brought it up, guess what you’ll be singing to yourself all day?
We can do better than that. I hope you do find yourself humming these old familiar hymns to yourself as you read, and I hope the condition persists for the rest of the day. I hope that the words they carry speak to you of Christ, who can be found in the most ordinary of your daily tasks. ...
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About Let Every Heart Prepare: Meditations for Advent and ChristmasFor centuries the words and poetry of our hymns have spoken deeply to Christian hearts. Many people find that what is heard in poetry and music sinks deeper into the soul than ordinary prose. And so it is to Barbara Cawthorne Crafton and the seasonal hymns that turns for inspiration for daily meditations during the great devotional seasons of the church year: Advent and Lent. |
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