Advent Assignment #3 for Thursday
2. Watch the music video from Handel's Messiah.
"Behold, A Virgin Shall Conceive" and "O Thou That Tellest Good Tidings to Zion" are from Isaiah 7:14, Matthew 1:12, Isaiah 40:9, and Isaiah 60:1. Both of them are in this one video.
3. Read the poems below. Then write your own Christmas poem of at least 8 lines. Share it with your family. You can also illustrate it if you wish.
Star-Silver
by Carl Sandburg
The silver of one star
plays cross-lights against pine-green
And the play of this silver cross-wise against the green is an old story.
Thousands of years.
And sheep grazers on the hills by night
watching the woolly four-footed ramblers
watching a single silver star.
Why does this story never wear out?
And a baby, slung in a feed box back in a barn in a Bethlehem slum
A baby's first cry,
mixing with the crunch of a mule's teeth on Bethlehem Christmas corn
Baby fists, softer than snowflakes of Norway
The vagabond mother of Christ
and the vagabond men of wisdom
all in a barn on a winter night
and a baby there in swaddling clothes on hay
Why does this story never wear out?
The sheen of it all--is a star, silver and a pine, green
For the heart of a child asking a story
The red and hungry, red and hankering heart
Calling for cross-lights of silver and green
by Carl Sandburg
The silver of one star
plays cross-lights against pine-green
And the play of this silver cross-wise against the green is an old story.
Thousands of years.
And sheep grazers on the hills by night
watching the woolly four-footed ramblers
watching a single silver star.
Why does this story never wear out?
And a baby, slung in a feed box back in a barn in a Bethlehem slum
A baby's first cry,
mixing with the crunch of a mule's teeth on Bethlehem Christmas corn
Baby fists, softer than snowflakes of Norway
The vagabond mother of Christ
and the vagabond men of wisdom
all in a barn on a winter night
and a baby there in swaddling clothes on hay
Why does this story never wear out?
The sheen of it all--is a star, silver and a pine, green
For the heart of a child asking a story
The red and hungry, red and hankering heart
Calling for cross-lights of silver and green
The Paradox
by Virginia Knowles
Come, see where He lays,
Good Shepherd and Little Lamb
King of Kings and Servant of All
Prophet and Prophecy Fulfilled
Physician and Wounded One
High Priest and Atoning Sacrifice
Counselor and Rejected One
Builder and Foundation Stone
Righteous Judge and Condemned Prisoner
Ancient of Days and Newly-born Babe
God and Man
Good Shepherd and Little Lamb
King of Kings and Servant of All
Prophet and Prophecy Fulfilled
Physician and Wounded One
High Priest and Atoning Sacrifice
Counselor and Rejected One
Builder and Foundation Stone
Righteous Judge and Condemned Prisoner
Ancient of Days and Newly-born Babe
God and Man
Here are the Bible verses for each line of the poem. (You are not required to look these up. I'm just including them for those who are interested.)
- Lying in a manger: Luke 2:12
- Shepherd: John 10: 11 / Lamb: John 1:29
- King: Revelation 19:16 / Servant: Mark 10:43-45, Philippians 2:7
- Prophet: Luke 7:16 / Prophecy: Matthew 1:22, Luke 4:16-21, Isaiah 61:1-3
- Physician: Matthew 15:30 / Wounded: Isaiah 53:4-6
- Priest: Hebrews 7:23-28 / Sacrifice: Hebrews 9:11-14, 10:19-22
- Counselor: Isaiah 9:6 / Rejected: Isaiah 53:3, John 10:22-33
- Builder: Hebrews 3:3, Matthew 16:18 / Foundation: 1 Peter 2:4-9
- Judge: John 8:1-11, Acts 10:42-43 & 17:30-31 / Prisoner: Mark 14:60-65
- Ancient: Daniel 7:13-14 / Newborn: Luke 2:8-20
- God: John 1:1-5, Hebrews 1:3, Colossians 1:19-20 / Man: 1 Timothy 2:5, Romans 1:1-4
