Tuesday, December 21, 2010

a thrill of hope.

Christmas.

I've always been more of an Easter gUrl...more celebration in the redemption and the life that came through Jesus' death than blowing out candles on a birthday cake. Not that his birth isn't just as important, but I've just never been as pumped about it. After all, it's his death and his resurrection that makes Him different. But, lately I've been thinking about it...thinking about the Hope it brought, the peace He came with, the story of His father's ever-lasting love He was going to tell. And yeah, His death made Him different, but...so did his freakin' birth.

I mean, an angel came to Mary, said, "Yo! You're pretty high up on God's list, so you're going to have His son...I know, I know, you're a virgin, but don't be scared. The spirit of the Lord will be with you. Just trust me, ok? Oh yeah, I know you've always wanted to name a son Aiden Francis, but go with Jesus. PEACE."

LIKE, WHAT?!

I mean, that's a pretty different way to be born...and He lived a much different life than I do. There's cause for celebration in that. Celebration in the fact that His life gives us life. His words give us life. He is life. That makes me want to have one heck of a burrday par-tay.

These lyris from "O Holy Night" ring so true today...

Long lay the world in sin and error pining.
Till He appeared and the Spirit felt its worth.
A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices,
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.


A thrill of hope, indeed. A thrill of hope in something other than ourselves and this ugly world around us. The hope of a Savior. The hope of redemption.

Merry Christmas internetS, you're getting life and freedom from sin.
Happy Burrday Jesus, you're the living example of "giving is better than receiving."


2 comments:

Jill said...

I'm right there with you. I always thought Easter was the one we should make a bigger deal about.. and we should make a huge deal about it. This year, though, I learned from Craig, who learned from a guy named Dr/Rev Purves, who learned from another scholar/theologian named TF Torrence, that:"incarnation and atonement must be thought together...revelation and reconciliation are inseparable." Basically, that "Jesus IS our human response to God."

Anyway, for good measure- here's the link to where I read that, and the quote is from page 6.http://www.tftorrance.org/meetings/purveslecture11-05.pdf

I may have just gotten to serious/theological, like when moms and other adults comment something serious on someone's sarcastic or otherwise less than serious facebook status... but there ya have it. I just like it a lot.

Dianne said...

Love you LC....truer words have not been spoke!

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