Kiwi Konexions: Another Christmas
Glen Taylor, as she celebrates in sunny New Zealand, invites us to remember the gentle man who was born on this day.
Barbecues on Christmas day,
On shining silver sand.
Warm blue sea and rippling wave
And tall red rata stand.
Kids all wet and chasing waves,
Dad's on the rocks, still fishing.
Mum's sitting smiling at her brood
And gran's beside her, knitting.
Useless presents cast aside,
Broken, smashed, forgotten.
But smiles the parcels first untied,
Anticipation sharpened.
Yes here we are, with whole lots more,
Relaxing in the sun,
With friends and food and jollity,
And all that makes life fun.
But long ago and far away,
Beside another sea,
A man cooked fish to feed his friends,
Just like you and me.
Nail marks he bore upon his hands.
Nail marks upon his feet.
He broke the bread and poured the wine
And said, "Remember me."
O'er thirty years he walked this earth,
This man from Galilee.
We cast him out rejected him
And nailed him to a tree.
Yet he was sent to show us love,
So all men could be free.
The only way is through his love,
Which we must learn to see.
Who was this man, this gentle man,
This man who died for us?
God's only son. Yes God's own son.
We nailed him to that cross.
Born in a humble stable.
Born on a cold dark night.
Today's the day we celebrate
The coming of his might.
For there's a time for parties,
And there's a time for fun.
And it's a birthday party
To which we all have come.
But now it's time to leave this place.
To pick up plates and tins,
Pile them into plastic bags
And dump in wheelie bins.
Another Christmas over.
Another year gone.
Why do we gather every year,
This one big happy throng?
So take time to remember,
As you gaze at silver sea,
That lonely man who broke his bread
And died for you and me.
.
