December 2020
Hope, Peace, and Joy be to you through faith in the descended Word: Emmanuel,
The Introit assigned for Christmas Midnight service begins with these ancient words:
When all was still and it was midnight, Your almighty Word, 0 Lord, descended from the royal throne.
This liturgical text was written before the birth of Christ. It is taken from the apocryphal book known as "Wisdom." For us who know our Savior as the eternal, almighty Word of God who took on flesh in the womb of His blessed virgin mother Mary, these words may evoke thoughts of a beloved Christmas carol:
Silent night, holy night! All is calm, all is bright.
Round yon virgin mother and Child.
Holy Infant, so tender and mild
Sleep in heavenly peace, Sleep in heavenly peace.
Our salvation from sin, death and hell was conceived and born into the world through scandal, stress, and suffering. With scandal comes doubt. With stress comes doubt. With suffering comes doubt. This doubt can be daunting when we are trying to deal with all of the troubles and trials of life in this crazy, broken world.
But the Almighty Word of the Lord has descended from His heavenly royal throne for a purpose. God sent His Word into our world in the midst of scandal, stress and suffering in order to replace our doubt with something far greater. Yes, the result of God's Word coming to us is nothing short of heaven-sent; scandal, stress and suffering are met with hope, peace, and joy.
Where do these heavenly gifts come from? Hope springs forth from faith. Peace flows out of faith. Joy abounds in faith. This faith is not just some warm nostalgia, or self-help form of positive thinking. No, the Christian faith is nothing more, and nothing less than faith in Christ.
Jesus Christ - the Word made flesh - came to save His people from their sins. Who are His people? All who look to Him, and trust in Him for their salvation. Throughout His earthly life, Jesus was the center of scandal. Yet, He became the center of scandal so that we might center our hope in Him.
From His infancy all the way to the Cross of Calvary, Jesus was repeatedly the target of stressful attacks. Everyone from kings and neighbors, to religious leaders and the devil himself added stress upon stress in order to try to eliminate the power and presence of the Almighty Word. But Jesus endured these constant stresses so that we might abide and find comfort in the peace He brings.
Jesus was no stranger to suffering. He experienced thirst and hunger, weariness and tiredness, pain and loss the same as you and me. But He endured all of the suffering willingly- even faithfully suffering for our sins on the Cross - so that we might abide in the joy of Salvation even during our times of greatest suffering.
I pray that the Almighty Word of God would continue to dwell with you richly, that the Lord's joy would be made complete in you. The Lord's joy is made complete when His Word lives in us. For when His Word lives in us then faith in Christ fills us. When faith in Christ fills us, then we are strengthened by the Spirit to live by faith: hope springing eternal, peace overflowing, and joy abounding in all circumstances.
When all was still and it was midnight,
Your almighty Word, 0 Lord, descended from the royal throne.
I'll leave you with some words from another hymn of which these lines remind me.
0 come, Thou Wisdom from on high,
Who orderest all things mightily;
To us the of knowledge show,
And teach us in her ways to go.
0 come, Thou Branch of Jesse's tree,
Free them from Satan's tyranny
That trust Thy mighty power to save
And give them victory over the grave
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, 0 Israel!
Living Forever, Now,
Pastor Michael James Grannis