Bittersweet Farm

Bittersweet Farm

Hope is Alive

Filed Under: Christmas Stories, Current Thoughts, Read Aloud Stories

Jeswin Thomas

Hope is alive in the world tonight
It’s Christmas time again.
The bell tower rings
The organ sings
And hope takes wings
It’s Christmas time again.

Hope is alive in the world tonight
It’s Christmas time again.
The home-fires glow
Joys overflow
And hope can grow
It’s Christmas time again.

Hope is alive in the world tonight
It’s Christmas time again.
Though much is wrong
We have a song
And hope is strong
It’s Christmas time again.

Hope is alive in the world tonight
It’s Christmas time again.
When heartaches wane
The King will reign
Hope will remain
It’s Christmas time again.

by Ken Pierpont

Christmas in the “Forest”

Filed Under: Christmas Stories

Last weekend here in Michigan the sky was clear and the temperatures were almost balmy. The neighborhood around Granville Cottage is called the Forest of Riverview because when they developed the subdivision they built the homes among the mature trees. Our small lot has over nine trees. All the streets are tree-lined. So Saturday and Sunday was a flourish of leaf-gathering and yard-tending.

I’m leaving before dawn for my commute to Bethel in Jackson and arriving back home after dark these days while we are waiting for the house-sale to close. Last night I made a few phone calls on the way home enjoyed some Christmas music. Lois called to remind me to pick up some corn chips to go with a black bean and corn soup she had made for dinner. I stopped by the European Market for them and spent a couple minutes encouraging the woman who waited on me. She was burdened about her young daughter. I listened and encouraged her to connect with a local church.

When I finally pulled into the Forest of Riverview I realized that the neighbors all around me had been doing more than yard work on the golden, sunny weekend… Many of them were getting their Christmas lights and displays into place. I instinctively slowed down to enjoy the beautiful sight and remembered with a bittersweet pang the sound of eight children in the car sing-songing “Ooooh-Ahhhh.” With the memory my heart was tender again with the beauty of Christmas.

“God,” I thought, “Make yourself known to the families that live in these homes, that the light of faith would glow in every hearth all through the year and the people would know the Christ of Christmas.”

As I walked into Granville Cottage Lois was busy with dinner and Hazard greeted me with his usual enthusiasm and I was freshly aware of how much our lives have been graced by the presence of Christ incarnate.

Ken Pierpont
Granville Cottage
Riverview, Michigan
December 2017

Christmas in Genesis (Video)

Filed Under: Videos

Last Christmas I preached three Christmas messages based on Messianic Promises from the Old Testament. You can watch them here.

Bruised But Not Crushed

Keeping Hope Alive

Why Would God Bless You?

Pastor Sears Christmas Gift

Filed Under: Christmas Stories, Current Thoughts

When I look into the eyes of our grand children my soul longs for peace on earth.

Edmund Hamilton Sears was a New-England pastor who lived through the Civil War. As the horrifying conflict approached he used a phrase from the angelic announcement of Christ’s birth to appeal for peace among humankind. The theme is especially clear when you read the second verse, which is usually not included in our hymnals.

Once again in America, a land blessed with a powerful Christian heritage, blood flows in the streets and bitter hatred darkens the hearts of many. Like never before we need to rest beside the weary road and hear the angels sing their song of peace on the earth, goodwill to men. Enlightened souls crave the age of gold that will come with the ever-circling years in the reign of Christ on earth one day.

Quietly meditate on the beautiful poetry of this poignant Christmas carol. It was pastor Sears enduring Christmas gift to millions.

It came upon the midnight clear,
That glorious song of old,
From angels bending near the earth,
To touch their harps of gold:
‘Peace on the earth, good will to men,’
From heav’n’s all-gracious King.
The world in solemn stillness lay,
To hear the angels sing!

Yet with the woes of sin and strife
The world has suffered long,
Beneath the angel strain have rolled
Two thousand years of wrong;
And man, at war with man, hears not
The love song which they bring:
O hush the noise, ye men of strife,
And hear the angels sing!

Still thro’ the cloven skies they come,
With peaceful wings unfurl’d;
And still their heav’nly music floats
O’er all the weary world:
Above its sad and lowly plains
They bend on hov’ring wing,
And ever o’er its Babel sounds
The blessed angels sing.

All ye, beneath life’s crushing load,
Whose forms are bending low,
Who toil along the climbing way
With painful steps and slow,
Look, now! for glad and golden hours
Come swiftly on the wing:
O rest beside the weary road,
And hear the angels sing!

For lo! the days are hast’ning on,
By prophet bards foretold,
When with the ever-circling years
Comes round the age of gold;
When peace shall over all the earth
Its ancient splendors fling,
And the whole world give back the song
Which now the angels sing!

Ken Pierpont
Granville Cottage
Riverview, Michigan
December 2017

A Warm Memory of a Cold Morning

Filed Under: Virtues and Values

Last night was cold and clear. I was driving alone through the night. Driving down an old familiar stretch of road I remembered a frigid morning along that same stretch of road a few years ago. I was driving a car that was new to me. It was very early in the morning and I was eager for the car to warm up and looking forward to wrapping my hands around the free cup of coffee they would give me when I gassed up out on the Interstate. It was unusually cold the kind of morning you feel like getting to work is a struggle for survival against the elements.

Suddenly the engine sputtered and died. Out of gas. “Deceptive gauge,” I thought. I coasted to the side of the read and braced myself for a very cold walk. I wished I had brought a warmer coat, hat and gloves. Then I smiled. My younger brothers, Kevin and Nathan commuted to work along this same stretch of road. They would have to pass this spot within fifteen minutes riding to work together. The thought warmed and relieved me.

In a few minutes their little car came purring down the road and I stuck out my thumb. They pulled alongside and rolled down the window. “Did you forget to buy gas,” Nate teased, “for twenty bucks we’ll take you to get some.”

In a little while I waved good-bye to my dear little brothers and was warm and secure feeling the heat warm my feet, listening to news on the radio.

It’s nice to know that because of Jesus, no matter how dark and cold the night is, no matter how lonely or frightened or vulnerable we become, no matter what bad things happen to us, if we trust the Lord and wait patiently, help is on the way.

We have brothers out there somewhere in the darkness and we are traveling the same road. We have the same Father. That is a warm thought on a cold winter night.

Ken Pierpont
Granville Cottage
Riverview, Michigan
December 1, 2017

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