What is this coming up from the desert, like a column of smoke laden with myrrh, with frankincense, and with the perfume of every exotic dust? Daughters of Jerusalem, come forth . . .
We have waited for so long. We crane our necks and stand on tiptoe. We exhaust ourselves with preparation and waiting. And like a pillar of smoke bearing the scent of incense that delights and comforts us, our God comes into our view. With this first sighting, we quite suddenly realize that God has always been with us; we quite suddenly understand what it means to be Christmas people.
Daughters of Jerusalem, come forth . . . and see that the desert blooms in God’s presence.
Daughters of Jerusalem, come forth . . . and see that your God rises like a pillar of frankincense and myrrh.
Daughters of Jerusalem, come forth . . . and see that your God is among you.
Daughters of Jerusalem, come forth . . . the king is here . . .
Then they opened their treasures and offered him gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.
Gold for the king of kings. Frankincense for the priest of priests. Myrrh for the death that is life, for the child who brings life eternal. This is our proof of God’s love. Knowing this truth, we live confidently now and forever. Living this truth, we become radiant in Christ.
This is the gift of being Christmas people.
Then you shall be radiant at what you see, your heart shall throb and overflow, for the riches of the sea shall be emptied out before you, the wealth of nations shall be brought to you. Caravans of camels shall fill you, dromedaries from Midian and Ephah; all from Sheba shall come bearing gold and frankincense, and proclaiming the praises of the Lord. (Isaiah 60:5-6)
Click on Midian, Ephahand Sheba to learn more about these places.
Now this is how we shall know that we belong to the truth and reassure our hearts before him in whatever our hearts condemn, for God is greater than our hearts and knows everything. Beloved, if [our] hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence in God and receive from God whatever we ask, because we keep God’s commandments and do what pleases God.
Where we condemn, God forgives. Where we exclude, God embraces. Where we shun, God loves. Let us remain in the truth God brings to us, live by the commandment of love Christ has shown to us, and live in the confidence the spirit has bestowed on us.
On this twelfth day of Christmas, enter the word Confidenceinto the blog search bar and consider how we might be confident in God as Christmas people.
For this is the message you have heard from the beginning: we should love one another . . .
The ancient Shematells us how we are to live as children of God. The Apostle John reminds us that we already have the answers we seek. The Gospels describe how God has come to live among us, entering the world as a vulnerable child. The message is always the same . . . we are to love one another, even those whom we do not wish to love.
On this eleventh day of Christmas, enter the words Love One Another into the blog search bar and consider what this message means for us as Christmas people.
Traditional observance of the arrival of the Three Magi, or Wise Ones, who bring gifts to the Christ Child is the sixth of January. This year the church celebrates today, the third. In many parts of the world, this is the time when families exchange gifts to observe this Feast of the Three Kings who bear gifts of frankincense, gold, and myrrh. For another reflection, or for more about this special day when we are surprised by God’s goodness and abundance, visit the “Who Are the Three Magi” or the “Background Image” pages on this blog.
See what love the Father has bestowed on us that we may be called the children of God. Yet so we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now . . .
We cannot earn God’s love for it is a gift freely given. We are misunderstood by many for we live in a world that does not know God. We need not fear any one or any thing for we are children of God. We are never alone or abandoned for we are loved now . . .
On this tenth day of Christmas, enter the words Children of God into the blog search bar and consider how we are Christmas children now . . .
The New Testament Letters bring us the good news that the risen Christ still walks with us each day. Paul, Peter, James, John and Jude remind the faithful that although much has been asked of Christ’s followers, much is also given.
With them, we remember that there is always hope when we sink into doubt, always light when we walk in darkness, and always joy, even when we suffer sorrow. Today Peter encourages us to move beyond the pain of our suffering to rely on the Risen Christ who constantly surprises us with joy.
Peter’s words “both inspire and admonish these ‘chosen sojourners’ who, in seeking to live as God’s people, feel an alienation from their previous religious roots and the society around them. Appeal is made to Christ’s resurrection and the future hope it provides and to the experience of baptism as new birth. The suffering and death of Christ serve as both a source of salvation and example. What Christians are in Christ, as a people who have received mercy and are to proclaim and live according to God’s call, is repeatedly spelled out for all sorts of situations in society, work, the home, and general conduct. But over all hangs the possibility of suffering as a Christian”. (Senior 375) Peter is acutely aware of the joy that surprises us in anguish as he describes how we might find God’s comfort when we suffer great pain. He reminds us that our salvation always arrives in the person of Jesus . . . whom he knows so well. Peter gives us the opportunity to find Christ’s friendship through the subtle and overt persecutions that plague our lives.
1 Peter 1:8-9:Although you have not seen [Jesus Christ] you love him; even though you do not see him now yet believe in him, you rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy,as you attain the goal of [your] faith, the salvation of your souls.
Spend time with the letters of Peter today and decide for yourselves how and why they speak to you.
Whether this first Petrine letter is written by Peter himself, penned by the secretary Silvanus or by a later follower, Peter’s encouragement to await the risen Christ through suffering is both read and felt. And if we doubt Peter’s witness, we have only to look to the accounts of his life by his contemporaries and later scholars to understand the authenticity – and importance – of today’s message. After reflecting on Peter’s promise of salvation through Christ, let us determine how and when we see Christ. And let us decide how and why we might witness to Christ’s presence in our own lives.
If this week’s Noontimes call you to search for more ways to encounter Joy or urges you to investigate the New Testament, click on the word Joy in the categories cloud in the blog’s right-hand sidebar and choose a reflection, or enter those words in the blog search bar.
I write to you not because you do not know the truth but because you do . . . Let what you have heard from the beginning remain in you . . . then you will remain in the Son and in the Father.
What we have heard we know to be true. What we have seen we know to be authentic. What we have witnessed we know to be God’s gift of light and hope and peace and joy to the world.
On this ninth day of Christmas, enter the word truth into the blog search bar and consider how the truth John writes about is essential to us as Christmas people.
When the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to ransom those under the law, so that we might receive adoption. As proof that you are children, God sent the spirit of his Son into your hearts crying out, “Abba, Father!” So you are no longer a slave but a child, and if a child than also an heir, through God.
We struggle to realize a kind of independence from any being – natural or supernatural. We strive to gain control of our own destiny – earthly or spiritual. We tussle with time and attempt to govern the passing of minutes, hours and years – looking back into the past and forward into the future while neglecting the precious present. We have need of none of these desires and indeed we expend our energy and creativity uselessly on these false battles . . . for we already have all that we could hope for. We are rescued from darkness. We are ransomed through the love of God. And we are already heirs of a kingdom and fortune too vast to be measured or counted. We have our proof in this small, tiny child.
On this eighth day of Christmas as we stand at the threshold of a new day that marks a new year, let us live in this prized gift of the present that the Father has given to us. Let us give thanks to the Father for all that we have and all that we are. On this day when we begin a new year that we so eagerly await, let us cease our search for the proof of God’s love and let us be convinced – as Christmas people – that what we seek we already possess.
Gerrit van Honthorst: Adoration of the Christ Child
Even if this should seem impossible in the eyes of the remnant of this people, shall it be impossible in my eyes also? I will rescue my people . . . and I will bring them back to dwell within Jerusalem.
The faithful have seen great destruction; we have suffered much and long. The remnant hears an impossible pronouncement; we cannot believe what we hear. God comes to rescue and save not as a warrior but as a child. And this child becomes the new Jerusalem.
We long to be safe inside the city walls, and yet we are already there . . . within Jerusalem, in this child, in Christ. For Christ this day is in us.
Enter the words possibleor impossibleinto the blog search bar and explore what it means to be Christmas people.
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