Rejoice!
Grace to you and
peace from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Christ is born. God
has come to dwell among us in flesh as a Man.
The angels sing. The shepherds wonder at such mercy. Heaven praises God for
this incalculable love, beholding the mystery of Love in the flesh. God’s will
is always good, and it is His will to redeem men. For our salvation He chooses
to dwell among us, to endure suffering, pain, and death. He does this so that
we who were humbled by our sin would be lifted up.
This mystery is
beyond all of creation’s understanding. The angels cannot comprehend it.
Shepherds quake. Mary ponders. God’s ways are far beyond our understanding. Do
not ask how this can be. Where God wills, the order of nature is overturned. He
who parts the Red Sea, who multiplies the loaves, who calms the wind and
waves—it was His will to become Man.
And so Christ is born of a virgin. He becomes a Man, yet He never gives up His
divinity. He is now and ever will be Man, even as He was, is now, and ever will
be God. The Man who was crucified and died, who rose and ascended, sits at His
Father’s right hand. This is our exaltation and our hope.
His Incarnation
did not cause Him to forsake the angels. He has not deprived them of His care.
Though He is a Man, He has not ceased to be God. He still loves what He created.
He never stops sustaining and caring for all of it, which He did even while on
cross. He is God and Man, one Christ, perfectly united in will and desire with
His Father and the Spirit.
So come and adore
Him, for He is Christ the Lord. He saves us from our sins. He delivers us from
death. He is our God and our Brother. He lifts fallen humanity. He makes us
free. God has become a Man! He has picked up His cross. He has taken the bitter
cup of wrath. He has endured the worst that Hell could do. He has quenched all
its hatred in His holy blood. Rejoice!
But “rejoice”
seems too weak to convey the praise that bursts out of us whose consciences
have been cleansed by His Word, whose guilt and shame is gone. We are forgiven.
The Light has shined in our darkness. He has rescued us from eternal torture
for the sake of His grace. What words, what music can contain our joy? Rejoice!
Give thanks! Adore Him!
Are you struggling
with grief? Come and adore Him. Grace will not make you forget what you have
lost. You are still allowed to miss and mourn your loved ones. The joy of
Christ is meant to give you comfort. We have God with us in the flesh, who
knows our suffering and grief, for He felt it Himself. And so we do not mourn
as the world mourns. We have hope.
Our feasting
tables will not be the same this year as they were last year. Death and
divorce, arguments and betrayal have altered them. And they will not be the
same next year as they are today. Even so, rejoice! Adore Him! God is Man in
Christ, and He is good. His mercy endures forever. Our dead will not stay dead.
Because Jesus lives, they live. We trust even now that God will work good in
everything, even in our grief.
Your pain will not
endure. Your loneliness and sorrow will pass. Even heaven and earth will pass
away. Nothing lasts forever…nothing, except for the mercy of our God in Christ.
The trumpet will sound. The dead will be raised. We will be changed. We will be
as we were meant to be. All sadness will end. For our God is a Man! Christ is
cradled in the Holy Scriptures. He is cradled in the bread and the wine by
which He gives us His body and blood. We are joined to Him by faith through
grace.
Rejoice, O
Christian! Sing with the angels. Whatever burdens might be yours, rejoice that
Christ is born. He brings peace on earth and goodwill between God and man. He
will never leave you nor forsake you. Rejoice! Adore Him! Christ the Savior is
born. In the name of the Father and of the Son (†) and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
The peace of God which passes all understanding
will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus always. Amen.
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