Christmas Day. From the terrifying duration of contractions in a dark barn on a cold night for a young teenage girl and her even more terrified fiancé-cum-midwife, to the birthing of a little boy, the early hours of this day crept forward. In the meantime, terror came to shepherds with a blazing light in the night sky and the appearance of a hovering angel with an announcement and joined by a choir-loft-full of angels! To the exhausted new parents, the arrival, at 3 AM, of a group of shepherds not lost, but looking for them and their newborn, must have begun with a measure of fear, followed by wonder at their message. Merry first Christmas!
https://youtu.be/bXmfkFoX-PE?si=QTEpMHm8EbGgTjmz Mary, Did You Know?
We celebrate this day, not for the above paragraph’s details, but for what God has made known to us in His Word. We’ve been given the priceless gift of retrospect. Those earliest, darkness-obscured moments can now be viewed from history’s revealing span, a 2000-year sweep. We could offer solid assurances to Mary, and to Joseph. We could relay a comforting message to those scared witless shepherds, even telling them how blessed they were to be the first to hear such an amazing message.
https://youtu.be/7ruGHkSWX84?si=dRof_7YPZpF_faRf Go, Tell it on the Mountain
On and on through the centuries, we could be like that literary device, the omniscient third person, calming fears, correcting excesses, reprimanding sinful behavior, warning of consequences, celebrating periods of prayerfulness and holiness, encouraging missionary efforts, applauding generosity, and more. I’m certain future followers of Jesus will be armed with plenty to say about our 21stCentury world. But that will all be in retrospect.
Today, we celebrate God’s Plan ‘A’ for its veiled majesty, perfection, and timeliness. We celebrate our being included within it. We celebrate its continuing impact on societies and generations. We celebrate its miraculous, transforming, intimate, personal, power within us! We celebrate a love for which even I am at a loss for adjectives! We celebrate the confidence we’ve been given that this Plan will achieve its purposes, will accomplish all that God set out to do. That’s large enough to celebrate this Christmas Day!
https://youtu.be/1nziWgvOPj4?si=89Wl1jlmRO9Xaf8i Joy to the World!
Yes, we have much to celebrate this Christmas Day! If you’re reading this, you must know you are a part of my celebration because of the work of the Gospel in our collective hearts. PD