Our Newborn King

Psalm 45, 46 • Isa. 29:13-24 • Rev. 21:22-22:5 • Luke 1:39-48a(48b-56)

Christmas Eve
Psalm 89:1-29 • Isa. 59:15b-21 • Phil. 2:5-11

Several of the readings appointed for today describe God in terms of power and might: God as “our refuge and strength” (Psalm 46); God clothed in “garments of vengeance” (Isaiah 59:17); and God as “the Alpha and the Omega” (Revelations 22:13).

It is Christmas Eve and I was expecting to read the “Linus passage” from Luke today – not descriptions of the “desolations he has brought on the earth” (Ps. 46), but the Nativity story that tells of a babe, wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.

As we celebrate the manifestation of God in the infant Jesus, we read passages about the God who created us and who has protected us throughout the ages. Today, when we proclaim the birth of our Savior, is just another day in the eternity of God’s kingdom. That story began before the Star of Bethlehem shone its light and does not end at the cross on Calvary. God’s love, embodied in Jesus, has no beginning nor end.

In the letter to the Philippians, it is Christ’s humility and obedience that God chooses to exalt “so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth….” We are reminded that it was Jesus, living as a humble servant among us, to whom so many came seeking refuge and strength.

Embracing this concept of God as all-powerful and God as most humble is one of the great paradoxes of Christianity. Even as the Nativity story includes angels proclaiming glory to God and announcing the divine birth and wise men traveling from afar to honor the child – it is still a challenge to reconcile the image of a helpless infant with the one most highly exalted. As we celebrate the coming of the Light to the world, we should remember to “be still, and know that I am God!” on this most holy and silent night.

Written by Shannon Dillard Mitchell

...who will be humbly celebrating this Christmastide.