My fifth Christmastide reflection on that beautiful carol, O Come, O Come Emmanuel, focusses upon its third verse’s first two lines:
O come, Thou Day-Spring, come and cheer,
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Posted 19 hours 20 min ago
Posted 19 hours 20 min ago
On Monday, I submitted my back to a sharp blade. Thankfully, it was being wielded by a doctor who had the best of intentions (though I noted his dark humour when he remarked to a nurse that she might have to “pass him a chainsaw for this one”. I pretended to laugh as I lay face-down on the bed, peering at the floor through a breathing hole.)
Posted 1 day 19 hours ago
My fourth Christmastide reflection on that beautiful carol, O Come, O Come Emmanuel, focusses upon its second verse’s last two lines:
From depths of hell Thy people save,
And give them victory o'er the grave.
Posted 1 day 19 hours ago
St Peter’s Church in the middle of Hereford claims to be the oldest parish church in the city. Despite its age and collection of historical styles and features, its nave is populated by grey, plastic chairs and banners of a decidedly evangelical or charismatic provenance.
Posted 2 days 19 hours ago
My third Christmastide reflection on that beautiful carol, O Come, O Come Emmanuel, focusses upon its second verse’s first two lines:
O come, Thou Rod of Jesse, free
Thine own from Satan's tyranny
Rod of Jesse is a strange expression, and originates in the mysterious writings of Isaiah the prophet:
Posted 3 days 19 hours ago
My second Christmastide reflection on that beautiful carol, O Come, O Come Emmanuel, focusses upon its third and fourth lines:
That mourns in lonely exile here,
Until the Son of God appear.
Posted 4 days 19 hours ago
Sir Walter Scott based his 1831 Castle Dangerous on Douglas Castle, Lanarkshire. Once the fortified home of the powerful Earls of Douglas and then a seventeenth and eighteenth-century mansion. Coal mining in the 1930s damaged the foundations and it was demolished before the end of that decade, this forlorn tower its only surviving monument.
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