kingdom travelin'

When the son of God obeyed the plan of the Father he left glory and came to earth in the form of a humble, helpless baby.

Today, this 10th day of Christmas (like the leaping lord’s perhaps?), I want to rejoice in the immediate effect of His coming for me (and maybe you). To do so I wish to paraphrase the end of Romans seven in the beginning of Romans eight.What follows is, for me, a reminder of my state and how I got here.

*Oh wretched man I am, who can rescue me, will rescue me from myself, from this body of death?

But thanks be to God, for the Lord Jesus Christ, the plan of God Almighty, the Father, who sent the Son, the Incarnate One, to rescue me.

Now, in Christ, I am no longer condemned, I am free to love, free to serve, and free from shame.

Glory to God in the highest!

How vast the Father’s love for us.

_________

* This is a prayer I use in my daily time of confession following my meditation on the 10 Commandments. Credit to M. Luther for the idea.

In some traditions the 12 days of Christmas are called Christmastide. It is called such because it is a time of festival and celebration. To indicate such, we add the suffix -tide.

Today is the 9th day of the festival. On this 9th day of Christmas let’s return to John’s early descriptions of Jesus.

“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John‬ ‭1:14‬ ‭ESV‬‬)

We could dwell upon this text for a long, long time exploring the many deep theological concepts within, but we won’t. I simply want to dwell on one statement “became flesh”.

See, at Christmastide, we do well to pause and reconsider the Incarnation.

God himself, the Son, left the glory of heaven, left his Father’s house, his place at the right hand of God. Why?

Because he treasures you.

You and I are the reason he came. His love for us, in the context of the great plan of God, was so great that he came to be born just as we are. Because he values us.

For many people Christmas isn’t a festival at all. It is a time of tension, stress and even loss. It is hard to celebrate when that is the reality one lives in. But that’s just why he came. Because he gets it.

We have such a great high priest and advocate sitting at the right hand of the Father. He understands our struggle so that he can perfectly beg the Father for us. Thanks to his Incarnation he gets the struggle.

He made us.

He loves us.

He came to us.

He died for us.

He rose for us.

For us.

Glory to God.

Even when it’s so difficult that you just sit there and sigh.

So take that deep breath and remember that YOU are loved – perfectly.

Sigh…

On the 1st day of the new year, we keep our attention on the celebration of the Incarnation of the Son of God. Luke records the event…

“And at the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.” (Luke‬ ‭2:21‬ ‭ESV‬‬)

This is in keeping with the instructions God gave to Moses.

“And on the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised.” (Leviticus‬ ‭12:3‬ ‭ESV‬‬)

Joseph was described as a righteous man, he would have faithfully followed pertinent OT laws. We will see how important that becomes as time goes by.

And Happy New Year… don’t forget the black-eyed peas and the New Year’s concert from Vienna!

On this 7th day of Christmas let’s glance at Paul’s wonderful tome to the letter to the churches in Galatia. It is his first letter and quite early as letters go (only James precedes it). In it is the clear explanation of the gospel to people who had become confused. In it he talks about and gives glory to the plan of God! Note the phrase “the fullness of time”.

“But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.” (Galatians‬ ‭4:4-5‬ ‭ESV‬‬)

Now THAT is Christmas!

In our linear time consideration of the Christian Year (a.k.a. The Liturgical Year*) we’re half way through the 12 day celebration of the Incarnation. The other day we spoke about the Magi’s journey (from Babylon?) being triggered by the great glow to the glory of God as the heavenly host sang alleluia!

What journey has each of us begun because of the glory of God? Perhaps you might profit from looking back, liking in and looking forward? Click here to learn more.

The psalmist clarifies. “Not to us, oh Lord, not to us but unto your name be all the glory!” Psalm 115:1

The Magi were likely under way and about 50-60 days from their encounter with Herod. They had learned and planned their journey using the texts of Jewish prophets as they awaited the signal. In recent decades Herod the Great’s building plans had created a sort of Jewish Renaissance (now under Roman authority) in Palestine. These Gentile travelers were bound for the renewed glory of the rebuilt Jewish capital city of Jerusalem.

Meanwhile the family more than likely remained in Bethlehem. Mary was recovering from the birth and Joseph saw to the needs of the family. We hope that by now, they had acquired more suitable accommodations.

We should not forget that there was still a required Roman ordered census taking place. The birth of Jesus would have not prevented Joseph from completing his duty of registration. But another preparation was also taking place to give glory to God, that of his circumcision and formal naming, to which we shall return on the 8th day.

* an interesting and helpful site to learn more is: http://anglicancompass.com/what-time-is-it-an-overview-of-the-church-calendar-and-liturgical-year/