Sue O’Donnell. 29.12.20
“While in Bethlehem, Mary gave birth to her firstborn, a Son, who she wrapped in cloth and laid in a manger because no room in any inn was available.” (Luke 2 v 6, 7 The Truth)
The Birth of Mary’s Baby
Conceived by the Spirit who is holy,
The event is long past,
Yet holds a place in the narrative
Of history and mystery.
But the effect of the Nativity,
Is an ever present, everyday reality.
Jesus lives with us,
In the Kingdom He came to establish.
He lives amongst us by His Spirit,
He who shares the full holiness.
“...and we beheld His glory; the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1 v 14)
Jesus lives in us by union,
The Holy Communion for the Anglican congregation,
And the Holy Eucharist for the Catholic family.
Jesus as Lord, Saviour and Master
Is the central focus to our faith.
A life to be lived in faith looks to Jesus,
Calling on the Holy Spirit,
To make Him evident, apparent.
How? By ever merciful, loving kindness,
By compassion, consideration, concern for others.
By virtues which emulate the life of Jesus.
“ ‘I am the way, the truth and the life’.” (John 14 v 6)
Jesus is central to the mystery of Christmas,
A holy Baby born to Mary,
A graced revelation, realisation of love incarnate,
The Word made flesh came amongst us.
This wondrous mystery surrounds us.
At Christmas, it is the goodwill of the season,
Broadcasting the reason for Jesus’ birth.
Powerfully activated by our Father’s love and mercy.
Carried effectively by the Spirit who is holy,
The Lord Jesus comes to us divested of His majesty.
Imagine the humility entrusting Himself to Mary.
“By nature He is God, but He did not hold onto His divine status of being equal in heaven with the Father. He was prepared to make Himself nothing, taking the nature of a servant and becoming thoroughly human.” (Philippians 2 v 6, 7 The Truth)
Jesus became like us, vulnerable, open to all that afflicts us,
Challenge, change, poverty, humbleness, lack of identity.
But sharing the human condition fully,
He too, knew fun at a party, friendship, joy and laughter.
Christ Jesus does know what life is like for us,
The pain and sorrow, the hardships and the better times.
We celebrate at Christmas this gift of revelation,
Holy love’s dedication coming from the Trinity to humanity,
Making Christmas not merely a memorial to history,
But one of the greatest mysteries known to us,
The Christmas commemoration of the Nativity.
“ ‘For there is born to you...in the city of David, a Saviour who is Christ the Lord.” (Luke 2 v 11)
Christmas celebrates the incredible mystery of ‘Emmanuel’.
God is with us in Christ Jesus, sharing our human condition,
Granting us permission to hope that we, as family,
Will wisely learn how to live like the Lord Jesus.
This is to be an upright life of virtue,
Always but always reverent to God our Father,
Because we live to honour Him, emulating the Lord Jesus,
Open to the Holy Spirit’s impact and influence.
The Light of Christ has dawned upon us
To eventually obliterate all sins’ darkness.
In Christ Jesus, God is manifest by a life of love.
“Love is of God...In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him.” (1 John 4 v 7, 9)
Love manifest by devotion, by love in action, held up as a beacon.
In Jesus we are caught up in the love of the Trinity,
Enabled to see with the eyes of faith,
The God we cannot yet see, not in our mortality.
But we know one day we will, when safely home.
In the meantime, our best Friend and Companion,
All the way along life’s exciting journey of discovery.
All thanks to the Spirit who is ever active and effective,
We travel accompanied by Paul’s Word made flesh,
One we can recognise and respond to.
“When peaceful silence lay over all, and night had run the half of her swift course, down from the heavens, from the royal throne, leapt Your all powerful Word like a pitiless warrior into the heart of a land doomed to
destruction.” (Wisdom 18 v 14, 15 TNJB)
“He was a man in every respect, even though He retained His divinity. Even so, He humbled Himself to such an extent that He obeyed the Father’s will...” (Philippians 2 v 8 The Truth)
Surely we are called to be similarly humble and prepared to serve? When the Lord Jesus was born at Christmas it was “To seek and to save those who are lost.” (Luke 19 v 10 The Truth)
Father God, You know only too well how we become lost to You when we live for ourselves. Self-centredness is the foundation of sinfulness. I am truly sorry for my failures.
Thank You for the grace of Your love, which allows Your Son to divest Himself of His divinity so He can live like us. Jesus was subject to temptation, but unlike us, He did not fail.
Therefore You have sent us a Saviour to show us how to live to delight and honour You. Then finally, to give up His actual life for us so forgiveness could be justified.
The entirety of both the Lord Jesus’ life of service and teaching in all wisdom and truth, His sacrificial death as He accepted the † uncomplainingly, then His resurrection, all of this is most wondrous.
Thank You for the thrill of learning we have a Saviour who is a Brother and close Friend, Someone we can relate to. And Jesus sends us His very own Spirit, Your Spirit, Father, so we can learn what it means to be
holy and practise this.
Jesus wants to accompany us through life and His closeness to us means so much in the way of help and encouragement as we invited to tune into the movement of the Holy Spirit and learn the act of discernment.
To echo Paul’s prayer for the Philippian church is a good starting point. “This is what I pray: that our love for You, Lord God, and for one another will become stronger and stronger,” (based on Philippians 1 v
9) for this is essential.
We need please to “Grow to know you better and have great depth of insight into the truth.” (Cont) Well, we can gain this if we focus upon the life of Jesus as our example to live up to, and heed the Holy Spirit
regularly.
“For then we will be able to discern Your best purposes, and we will live in a pure and blameless love until Christ calls us home.” (based on v 10) This is the highest standard of life and its result is glorious.
“We will bear much fruit because of the right relationship we have with You, Father God, realising this is only possible through Jesus Christ,” (based on v 11) and that is why He is born amongst us.
Father, we praise and glorify You for the Nativity. For the fine example of Mary and Joseph’s faithfulness to Your plan as announced to them by an angel. May this alert us to the need to keep the eyes and ears of our
faith wide open and alerted at all times. We do not want to encounter a spiritual message and be unaware.
We have learned about the shepherds the night Jesus was born, and how they hurried to Bethlehem to see for themselves. We each have to meet the Lord Jesus personally. I pray that this Christmas season awakens the
inquisitiveness of non-believers as all Christians celebrate.
Dearest Father, I am sure “You will show me the path of life,” (Psalm 16 v 11) what you want me to do with my time, efforts and resources. I thank You for the Holy Spirit’s call to me to become an active believer,
devoted to Christ Jesus.
“In Your presence is fullness of joy” (Cont) because the Lord Jesus as Saviour, makes this possible for us. Thank You for considering us to be a redeemed people, cleansed and claimed by the blood our Brother shed for us at the †.
“At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore” (v 11 concl) as the Lord Jesus accompanies us home to heaven and pushes open the gate so we can enter our eternal home. What peace and joy await us.
In the meantime, I ask for the Holy Spirit to be a very firm influence upon us, helping us please, to choose the good, the holy, the upright and to resist the evil, to follow the way of light which Jesus reveals to us and no
longer to live in the darkness of sin.
It is not always easy to know the motives and desires of our own heart. Sometimes decisions and actions appear to be good and they are in themselves, but beneath the surface we may have a hidden agenda which is self-seeking, self-pleasing. May the Holy Spirit guard us from this.
May the Holy Spirit guard and guide all our plans, ambitions, intentions, words and actions done in the name of serving the Lord Jesus. For to give our faith a bad press is serious and can be disastrous in outcome.
Without the active input of the Holy Spirit, we are easily deceived, deluded and led astray We can even deceive ourselves when the motive seems to be worthwhile. How we need the wisdom of the Lord Jesus.
‘What would Jesus do?’ is a helpful mantra to act upon. Please teach us how to discern wisely, what we are to do, and just as important, what we are not to do. Then, if we meet with success, what next?
I ask for all believers to develop through continuous prayer, the practice of discernment or, put another way, becoming wiser not in a worldly way, but in the way the Lord Jesus shows us.
“As Jesus continued to grow, He increased in wisdom and in the esteem of God and of all who knew Him.” (Luke 2 v 52 The Truth) We must work “...for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed in His full majesty and glory,” (1 Corinthians 1 v 7) this is what we are gifted life for.
Dearest Father, You have called us to live at one with Your Son, our Redeemer Saviour. You send us the Holy Spirit through the Lord Jesus, for this purpose. May we not disappoint You.
Please let this season of Christmas be blessed as we are all called to be believers and followers of Your beloved Son, the perfectly holy One, our inspiration and dedication. Thank You for gifting us Your Son and Your
Spirit, Lord God. Amen.
Images by Artist Christine Garwood
http://www.christinegarwoodartist.co.uk/
Season
CHRISTMAS
Key Themes
DEVOTION
NATIVITY
