Born Thy People to Deliver…
In the stillness, before I am in the swirl of family, presents, and food...I am here, Christmas Eve, present with Jesus, grateful for what he has done and what he is doing--seen and unseen.
We live in the Borough of Downingtown, Pennsylvania. Old buildings, lots of history. Stories tucked into houses longstanding. We live in a twin from the late 1800s and I don't know how many Christmases have been celebrated in this room. All the stories of grief and sorrow under this roof for generations. It is holy and human. We share a thin wall with our precious neighbors who will also celebrate Jesus' birth tomorrow. As I sit here and write, music from their piano makes its way through...I hear them sing with their three little ones…
Come, Thou long expected Jesus,
Born to set Thy people free;
From our fears and sins release us;
Let us find our rest in Thee.
Israel's strength and consolation,
Hope of all the earth Thou art;
Dear Desire of ev'ry nation,
Joy of every longing heart.
Born Thy people to deliver,
Born a child, and yet a King,
Born to reign in us for ever,
Now Thy gracious kingdom bring.
By Thine own eternal Spirit
Rule in all our hearts alone;
By Thine all-sufficient merit
Raise us to Thy glorious throne.
Come, thou long expected Jesus…
We are a waiting people. We are people of hope, even when despair blankets us. As my favorite, Eugene Peterson says, we are being led. A grand story is unfolding; something is happening to us. Day by day, night after night. And yet, none of us would deny, the waiting is uncomfortable, even terrifying at points. It is essential that we take off work, gather with those we love, and be reminded—God said he would come and he came.
O Zion, messenger of good news,
shout from the mountaintops!
Shout it louder, O Jerusalem.
Shout, and do not be afraid.
Tell the towns of Judah,
“Your God is coming!” (Isaiah 40:9)
What we sincerely need is to fix on Him. We need some quiet moments alone to center on his love. To be still and know that HE IS GOD. Oh, the turbulence we feel when we unhook ourselves from this fundamental truth. We have many blessings, and we carry many sorrows; He is our source of hope. Love that surpasses every fear, that absorbs our longings, that comes barreling through our rigid independence and self-sufficiency in order to melt our hearts. This God has come to you.
He is always moving in the direction of his people; Christmas is a banner that tell us this is so.
Advent means coming or arrival. The "Good News" was an announcement of a King, a new reign. And this King would change everything. Like nothing the world has ever known, this King loves. Love as we have never known. Deep and wide. Sturdy and strong. Love that covers a multitude of sin. He loves the ones who fall behind, lose their way, and make a mess of things…he comes to the lonely, insecure, and resigned. This King sets his table, not for the rich and powerful, but for the ones who have nothing, the weary and weak. He is not looking for the list of things we’ve accomplished or the moral code we’ve kept. “He welcomes sinners and eats with them…”
Scott and I are reading a book together, Surrender to Love, by David Brenner. To say it mildly, it is doing a work on me. He challenges the self-made faith we subtly adopt. Faith that looks like control and perfection birthed from a fear of failure. The result is disconnection. Not only from God, but from ourselves and others. Here is a quote I have been sitting with:
“The Christian God wants the intimacy of our friendship, not our fear. The Christian God comes to us with gestures of breathtaking love, hoping to eliminate our fear, not manipulate us through it. And he offers his love as the one thing in the universe capable of making an otherwise hostile cosmos into a friendly home. He offers his love as the one thing in the universe capable of freeing us from our fears.”
Freedom from fear. We need this.
Scott and I took our books and went to an old tavern, we sat around the fire and mused over our takeaways from our reading.
Scott repeated a number times…”What if this is true?”
What if this story of God’s love is really real?
This love is revolutionary. The author talks about the story of the two sons. We typically think of this as a story about the younger, rebellious son. But in fact, it is a story about the enduring and abundant love of a Father for two sons who both push their Father away—one by indulgence and rebellion, and one by SELF-righteousness, and pride—-both believe they must earn the Father’s love.
David Brenner makes his point clear,
“Responsible behavior does not increase the Father’s love, nor does irresponsible behavior decrease it. How much we need to believe this. Our Christ-following would be quite different if we did.”
“What is this is true? What would my life look like?” Scott repeated. Brenner caught my attention when he described how our belief in the love of God would look like being relaxed in the love of the Father in the same way Jesus was relaxed in his Father’s love.
Jesus came as the ultimate message of love. Not prove-yourself-so-I’ll-finally-accept-you. We don’t cry out, “Come, Thou long expected Jesus,” only to die from exhaustion and anxiety over trying to retain his commitment to us. We cry “Come” because we are in need of this free and full love. There is no other place, there is no other person who will love us this way.
“Perfect love casts out ALL FEAR.” (I John 4:18)
Merry Christmas, my friends. You no longer need to fear, no longer need to grasp, no longer need to wonder…this is true.
Jesus loves you.