The Love of God

"The whole life of Christ was a continual passion; others die martyrs, but Christ was born a martyr.  He found a Golgotha even in Bethlehem; for, to his tenderness then, the straws were almost as sharp as the thorns after; and the manger as uneasy at first, as his cross at last.  His birth and his death were but one continual act, and his Christmas Day and his Good Friday are but the evening and morning of one and the same day."   ~ John Donne, from a sermon preached at St. Paul's Cathedral in London on Christmas Day, 1626

For Christ came once to die that we might live with Him eternally (Hebrews 9), so "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.  In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.  In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins."  1 John 4: 7, 9-10 

A most blessed and tender Merry Christmas from all of us at High Meadow Farm.