An English professor wrote the words: A woman without her man is nothing on the chalkboard and asked his students to punctuate it correctly.

All of the males in the class wrote: A woman, without her man, is nothing.

All the females in the class wrote: A woman: without her, man is nothing.

Punctuation is everything.

So it is with the Christmas carol, 'God Rest Ye Merry, Gentleman'. When it is sung, most people hear the caroler singing a blessing for God [to give] Rest [to] Merry Gentlemen, as if addressing a pub full of gentlemen making merry with a pint or two of ale and bidding them to go home and sleep it off.

Remember Christ our savior / Was born on Christmas day / To save us all from Satan's power / When we were gone astray / Oh tidings of comfort and joy.

In fact, it is rather a blessing for God to grant and keep (the Olde English meaning of rest) them merry, in other words to give a cheery heart to gentlemen who may be dismayed (let nothing you dismay) at the unrest and sadness of this fallen world. That cheerfulness and peacefulness of heart comes when we Remember Christ our savior / Was born on Christmas day / To save us all from Satan's power / When we were gone astray / Oh tidings of comfort and joy.

May our loving and gracious God and Father rest ye merry this coming Advent and Christmas season. And may our Lord prosper and bless you in the coming New Year.

In Jesus, the blessed Savior born on Christmas Day,

Pastor and Cindy Gleason