Happy Christmas Eve!
Warm Goudge Wishes from Havenwood & Wells Cathedral
“We think lovingly of the baby in the manger, once a visible gift to us, and the marvel of his beauty and innocence blind us to the fact that he is not any baby but one who ‘looks us through the lattice of our flesh and speaks us fair’, bringing to us the supremely hidden gift of ‘God with us’, the very meaning of existence since the dawn of light first brought life to the earth.
‘Thou shalt light me a candle,’ said the psalmist. ‘Thou shalt turn my darkness into light.’”
🌟 Elizabeth Goudge, January 1967 from the preface to A Christmas Book
“The love of God is with man… That, Nicolas knew suddenly, is the news of the far country, the mystery like a nugget of gold that men travel so far to seek, the fact that is stated but not explained but all the pictures that have been painted and by all the music and the poetry that has been written since the dawn of the world. It was as easy as that, and as difficult.”
🌟 Elizabeth Goudge, Towers in the Mist, excerpt from A Christmas Book
“‘How shall this be?’ she cried out to Gabriel. And we can picture her no longer standing but crouched down on the ground with her face buried in her hands. This is how humble men and women always feel when God calls them to do some great thing for him. How can I do it? How can I possibly do it?
The answer is always the same answer, the one that Gabriel gave to Mary: ‘The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee.’
Not in their own strength, Mary, do the servants of God do the work to which he calls them, but in His.”
🌟 Elizabeth Goudge, God So Loved the World, excerpt from A Christmas Book
Wells Cathedral Choir: Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
Wells Cathedral Choir: Hark the Herald Angels Sing
Merriest Christmas, Goudge friends! Hope you have a wonderful twelve days!
Thank you so much for joining and supporting me here on Substack in 2024. I have so enjoyed all that we have shared together here in comments, as well as in our live book club discussions. Goudge draws the loveliest people to her books, and it has been such a joy to get to know more of you in a deeper way here.
I am looking forward to reading many more Goudge books with you all next year!
Much love, Julie
Related posts:
The Well of the Star
“Suddenly there came to David’s mind the thought of the wishing well far down below the road to Bethlehem.
Getting ready for January!
“Stella had not drawn the curtains, and outside the window was the deep blue of a winter dusk seen from a candle-lit room—"gentian blue," she said to herself. She could not see Bowerly Hill, but she could picture the old yew tree, the fallen stones, and the sheep lying in the blue dusk as though folded in Ou…
Thank you for the lovely posts this year. Merry Christmas! 🎄
Thanks, Julie, for your wonderful posts. Loved the Boy Choir (plus some adult males) in Wells Cathedral doing Hark the Herald Angels Sing. My son sang in a boy choir and then the church choir and I have such fond memories of it. Merry Christmas!