Over the weekend we joined Cancer with Compassion at a boutique to benefit cancer awareness, where we heard moving testimonies of cancer survivors who have suffered greatly yet have hope for the future to minister to others who are hurting. Then, on the second Sunday of Advent, we sang Lo, How A Rose E'er Blooming at two services, with these beautiful words written in the 15th century: 

Lo, how a Rose e'er blooming from tender stem hath sprung! 
Of Jesse's lineage coming as seers of old have sung. 
It came, a blossom bright, amid the cold of the winter, when half spent was the night. 

These enduring words remind us that Christ comes to each one of us in the cold of our winter in a very personal way. Our sorrow turns to rejoicing, for in celebrating Christmas we look to Easter, knowing that our Rose comes to "dispel in glorious splendor the darkness everywhere." 

Our hope and prayer is that the music of Sonbranch Music would bring hope, healing and comfort to a hurting world, pointing to the Rose who makes all things new.