Happy New Year!
Regular daily devotions will begin anew on January 4th, in the meantime, during this blessed season of Christmas, here is a devotion for the 6th day of the season, the halfway point of our celebration, as we prepare for the onset of a new calendar year. Leaving 2020 behind will be the easiest thing I have done in a long while. I leave behind very few regrets and too many bad memories. But moving ahead to 2021 is not as simple as turning the calendar page! The New Year presents more challenges than I, or you, would choose to face! I begin with a verse from John's Gospel, part of the Gospel text for this coming Sunday:
"And the word became flesh and dwelt among us...full of truth and grace."
John 1:14
We Christians call this the Doctrine of the Incarnation, (from the Latin, en carnos..."in the meat.") The Incarnation as a doctrine is "counterintuitive" ( a $25 word that means "contrary to common-sense but nevertheless true") This teaches that a vulnerable baby was God incarnate and, if true, demonstrates that God operates differently than we think makes sense . But then Jesus was also, by our human definition, a failure!
What does this mean for us as we enter 2021? Well ponder the words of Paul in Romans 12:14-21…Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser than you are. Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. ...Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
The song of angels at Christmas, "Peace on earth, goodwill to all" will not turn this world into the Kingdom of God if we continue to ignore the practical advice from Paul to "overcome evil with good". Regardless of all the great “us vs. them” debates that marked 2020 - even within the walls of Christ's Church - how we treat each other every day in 2021 will demonstrate more about what kind of people we are than what kind of people they are. If we react against intolerance with intolerance, we are intolerant and throw gasoline on the proverbial fire. We are called to be fire extinguishers!
As Jesus Himself once taught, You have heard that it was said, “You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.” But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
Matthew 5:43-48
So, we turn a calendar page, but it will be in how we live each day that the Gospel is proclaimed . You can't come to church? Okay, you can live like a Christian, every day, and so proclaim the Gospel as loudly and powerfully as the most beautiful angelic song ever sung. This is the incarnate Christ "in the meat", this is the promise and power of Christmas.
Prayer: Incarnate God, may your presence embolden and empower us to live as though our lives are redeemed, and may such living be redemption to others, and to the world you died to save. Amen.