Christmastide 2023-2024

Epiphany – The Glory and the Light

O God, by the leading of a star, you manifested your only Son
to the peoples of the earth: Lead us, who know you now by faith,
to your presence, where we may see your glory face to face,
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
One God, now and forever. Amen.
Preface to Epiphany, Book of Common Prayer

Years ago, I went to Hawaii with a dear friend. She had been given the opportunity to stay at a house right on the beach – a beautiful place to be, especially at night. We would sit out on the lanai late at night sometimes and watch the stars. It was incredible, like nothing I had ever seen before. I don’t think I had ever been anywhere that there wasn’t some form of man-powered light. I read something while we were there about the protests against adding more hotels, restaurants, etc.…which would bring more man-made light to the island (We were staying on the big island, Hawaii). They called it light pollution.

Perhaps you’ve had a similar experience. I imagine there are places especially in the Southwest, here in the States, where you can go out into the desert and never see a man-made light. How glorious that experience is!

We see in the Scriptures how often glory is associated with light.

Isa 60:1 – “Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. “

Rev. 21:23 – ” And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb.”

Heb. 1:3 – “He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power.”

We cannot plumb the mysteries of these scriptures (and others!) through mere study. Only through revelation will the truth go deep into our souls. Only through the manifestation of Christ to us through the Holy Spirit will we truly enter the story of God and our salvation. I became a Christian in college and had a genuine and devout faith. But ten years later, while attending my first Pastoral Care Ministries conference, I had a life-changing experience. I had faith. I knew God loved me, I knew the place of Christ’s death for me. But the only way I can describe what happened to me at that conference is that I woke up. C.S. Lewis says

It is waking that understands sleep, and not sleep that understands waking
C.S. Lewis, Perelandra

As from a deep sleep I woke to the knowledge that Christ loved and died for me. In French there are two words for knowledge (as there is in Greek): le savoir and la connaissance. The first is related to learning, scholarship… and the latter to an intimate knowledge – knowledge by experience. My knowledge of God moved from knowledge about Him to knowledge of Him. It was epiphany.

Epiphany means manifestation, or revelation. I love this definition: “a sudden manifestation or perception of the essential nature or meaning of something, or an intuitive grasp of reality through a simple or striking event; an illuminating discovery, realization, or disclosure or a revealing scene or moment” (compellingtruth.org).

Isaac Newton had an epiphany through an experience with an apple. The disciples who were with Jesus at the transfiguration had an epiphany. And look at Paul’s epiphany in Acts 9. Christ appeared to him, on his journey to have more Christians killed. Jesus revealed not only his glory, but the egregious sins he had committed against the Church. And he was made blind, in order to see. Every Christian who holds to the Scriptures as the Word of God has been changed as well.

I was having a discussion with a very good friend of mine about when she came to know Christ. And for her, it was very young. In many ways, she never knew a time when she was unaware of God’s love for her. She described sitting in church one day, as a young girl, and listening to the sermon. The children in her Sunday School class were sitting beside her and they were restless and bored. But she took the preacher’s words into her heart and cried out (silently!) – “why aren’t they hearing this”? She was captured not only by the words but by the wooing of Christ to come to Him. For her, this was one of many epiphanies throughout her life.

We had been talking about someone very close to her who had been making difficult and bad choices in her life. And I was thinking how best to pray for her. I was in the process of working on this reflection I thought – Oh Lord – she needs a revelation of You – of Your love for her, of the length to which You went to rescue her. Sometimes that’s the best prayer we can ever pray for others. They might need rescuing from the darkness of this world, or from sickness, or from evil. We may know their needs, but if it comes down to it – the prayer we all need is: “Lord reveal yourself.” Why not take these few weeks of Epiphany and do just that. Dietrick Bonhoeffer wrote in his book Life Together – “Better to speak to God about a brother, than to a brother about God.” (Now context here is a big help – if you’re confused by this, read Life Together!)

Ask God to show you who in your life needs to come present to their loving, gracious God. And then pray – “Lord, may they (along with us) wake up from the kind of slumber that numbs, that defends against love. Lord, let your favor rest on them, your shalom peace which of course is the countenance of your grace, your love.”

I’m so grateful to theologians like Hans Urs Von Balthasar because they give birth to thoughts that I doubt would have come to me on their own. He writes: “Whatever could we say to God if he himself had not taken the first step in communicating and manifesting himself to us in his word, so that we have access to him and fellowship with him? For we have been permitted to glimpse his inner nature, to enter into it, into the inner core of eternal truth; bathed in the light which radiates upon us from God, we ourselves become light and transparent before him.” Von Balthasar

And it’s there that we find ourselves in 2 Corinthians 3:18 – “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.”

All glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost! Amen.

As you reflect (no pun intended!) on the revelation of Christ to His people, take a few minutes and listen to this song by Audrey Assad.

Christmastide Two – The Lord’s Prayer

Our Father, who art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come; thy will be done.
On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day, our daily bread,
And forgive us our sins,
As we forgive those who have sinned against us.
And lead us not into temptation.
But deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, and the power,
And the glory, forever. Amen.

Father, you have given us the honor of knowing You as Abba, dear Father, and for that we are eternally grateful. We bless Your holy name because at the sound of Your name, the earth rejoices, and the angels bow down. Dear Father, You have given us Your Son – to fulfill Your Kingdom here on earth as it is in heaven. You have given Him to us through His obedience on the Cross, and now through Your Spirit, He dwells in our hearts by faith. Where would we be, Lord, without the reality of Your indwelling grace? Give us what we need, that we might have courage to forgive others as You have forgiven us. Give us power, Lord, to rest and abide in You that we would be delivered from temptation and evil. And may we without ceasing, spend the rest of eternity praising You for Your kingdom, Your power, and Your glory. Amen.

Christmastide Two – Confessional Prayer

Psalm 139:23-24 – ²³ Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! ²⁴ And see if there be any grievous way in me and lead me in the way everlasting!

How do we practice incarnational reality when we struggle with sin? Or when we realize we have made poor choices, or when we know we have withheld grace or forgiveness? I think sometimes our shame over our wrongdoing or sin keeps us distant from God. He’s right there – and the way to affirm that reality is to bring to him all that we need to confess. Remember Paul’s prayer from Ephesians 3 – “that you may be rooted and grounded in love, [and that you] may… know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God!” (Eph. 3:17, 19).

Start by centering your heart in God’s presence… Give thanks to Him that you do not need to hide anything from him. Affirm that He is faithful and good, and his mercy and grace are “new every morning.” The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is thy faithfulness” (Lam. 3:22-23).

Now let Him begin the process of searching your heart. Are there ways you have not honored Christ this week? Where were your thoughts and desires not centered in Him? How have you failed in obedience to Christ?

Then, simply confess specifically what the Holy Spirit is showing you. Don’t rush through this process. Simply rest in God’s presence as He does this.

Now choose to let this go and receive the truth of this passage: “I delight to sit in his shade, and his fruit is sweet to my taste. Let him lead me to the banquet hall and let his banner over me be love”. If you have confessed a stronghold of fear or complacency receive Christ’s forgiveness for you. Remember – “He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).

And finally commit this confession to the Lord. As you rest in his grace and mercy ask Him how to walk this out. Ask for the supernatural power of His Spirit to give you what you need to move forward. Thank Him that you “have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer [you] who live, but Christ lives in [you]” (Gal. 2:20).

Psalm 103:1-5 – Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! ² Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, ³ who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, ⁴ who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, ⁵ who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

Christmastide Two Lectio Divina – Incarnational Reality

For as many of you were who were baptized in Christ, have put on Christ. (Gal 3:27 ESV)

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Gal 2:20 ESV)

To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. (Col 1:27 ESV)

Step One – Read these passages slowly, attentively. Allow yourself to be taken in by the words – pay attention to any word or phrase that strikes you in the passage. (If you haven’t studied these verses, you may find this first reading will stir observation questions in you – such as who, what when, where, how).

Step Two – Read it again. Meditate and reflect on the passage. What is it in your life that needs to hear that word or phrase? Sit in silence for a time, attending to the thoughts, images and impressions that begin to come to you. Turn that into prayer.

Step Three – What is God saying to you? What do you begin to feel called to?

Step Four – How does God want you to live this passage out? What are you resolved to do?

Lectio Quote – Incarnational Reality

In Him we become fully human. In Him, we begin to do His works. This involves incarnation, a descent of the Spirit into our deepest beings and lives. In Him, the will, the intellect, imagination, feeling and sensory being are hallowed and enlivened. We begin to fully live, to participate in the eternal, the immutable, the indestructible.
Leanne Payne, The Healing Presence, 11.

You can go through the same steps that we use for Lectio Divina for Scripture, or simply take some time and read this quote slowly and express your gratitude that we bear the Spirit of Christ in us. Christ is with us, and He is within us, by the power of the Holy Spirit. I highly recommend reading Leanne Payne here.

Christmastide Two- Incarnational Reality

…that they may all be one, just as you, Father are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me….I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, – and he repeats the phrase from verse 21 – so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. (John 17:21-23).

“The central miracle asserted by Christians, is the Incarnation” C. S. Lewis wrote in Miracles. “Every other miracle prepared for this, or exhibited this, or resulted from this” … This incarnation, this mystery is rooted in the belief that God assumed our nature, our human flesh in the form of Jesus Christ, the Son of God; and in so doing, He took on our nature, and then becoming like us in all things but sin. But even with this incredible miracle there is even yet a deeper truth and reality. This is what Jesus declared in the passage above. And this is what the apostle Paul captured in this passage: “Christ in us, the hope of glory.” (Col. 1:27).

“Incarnational Reality” is at the heart of the gospel. This is the language Leanne Payne used in writing about the Christian life. It’s difficult to write about – because it’s unlike any other tenet of faith held by other religions but more so, because it is not a mystery that we can ever really understand with our intellect. – It must be grasped with our hearts, our souls, our inward parts. This understanding of personhood is at the heart of everything Leanne Payne wrote about or ministered into.

The Incarnation itself, the coming of God in flesh expresses just how deeply we are loved by our God. But this? Words are inadequate as we stop and realize that it was not enough that Christ died for our sins – we are now in-dwelt by a Holy God. That life in us, the Spirit of God, is something we can now treasure as our greatest joy.

It is Christ in me which is the only hope I have of conquering my fears, or sins, or lies. This calls for highest praise. That praise is lifted up and out of our souls, spirits and mouths to a transcendent God who stooped down to take on not only our flesh, but our sin as well.

When you go on to read Paul’s letters you realize that he has radically changed the way we see and know “incarnation.” It wasn’t too long ago when I realized that Paul took the events of Christ’s life, and our lives in Him and made it theology. Actually, even more than that – he made it the language of our Christian formation. With this in mind, go back through his letters and realize this for yourself. “I have been crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.” (Gal. 2:20). Stop there. Think hard about that. Let that truth sink into your inward parts! What an awesome but somewhat terrifying truth. The Creator of all that is, lives in me. The One who died for me, lives in my soul, spirit, my everything. The proper response to this is awe, glory, gratitude. We can abide in him, remain in him, dwell with him, live in him. This is the Christian faith. This and no other.

Paul took the events of Christ’s life, and our lives in Him and made it the language of our Christian formation.

“When Christians say the Christ-life is in them, they do not mean simply something mental or moral. When they speak of being “in Christ”, this is not simply a way of saying that they are thinking about Christ or copying Him. They mean that Christ is actually operating through them; that the whole mass of Christians are the physical organism through which Christ acts – that we are His fingers and muscles, the cells of His body.” (Mere Christianity)

Leanne Payne called this incarnational reality. This is how she puts it: In Him we become fully human. In Him, we begin to do His works. This involves incarnation, a descent of the Spirit into our deepest beings and lives. In Him, the will, the intellect, imagination, feeling and sensory being are hallowed and enlivened. We begin to fully live, to participate in the eternal, the immutable, the indestructible. (The Healing Presence).

With all my heart I think this is the key to Christian formation. We talk a lot about Christlikeness and how certain practices or disciplines help us to do that – to become like Christ. There is truth here, without doubt. But I wonder if it’s going about it the wrong way round. We pick the slow lane in traffic to build a habit that helps us be more patient. (This is probably not the best example for me, because I cannot even imagine doing this!) Good habits though, may well indeed produce good character, which hopefully leads us to become more like Christ. Yet I think there is a better way. I think that Christlikeness emerges from our “inward parts” as we abide in Him, as we make room in our hearts for this incredible reality. Christ invites us to join Him into the life, the unity he shared with his Father. (John 17:21-23)

Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
Romans 6:3-4

Many of you probably remember Corrie Ten Boom. She was a Christian who was captured during World War II and spent the remaining years of the war in a prisoner of war camp. She was there with her sister, and her sister was relentlessly hounded by and finally killed by the guards of that camp. Corrie survived. She spent many years after the way, writing and speaking about forgiveness. On one such occasion, she had finished speaking about forgiveness and a man approached her. He stepped up onto the stage and told her he had been one of those guards. He asked her for her forgiveness. She froze and was overtaken by hate. This man had been one of her sister’s torturers. There was absolutely no way she could forgive him. But she stopped, prayed a prayer that went like this, “Lord, you know there is no way I can forgive this man. If he is to be forgiven it must be You forgiving him through me.” She felt a deep peace as she reached her hands out to this man. The only way to describe this is to say that it was through Christ in her that gave her the power to forgive.

This is incarnational reality, and it can only really occur as a result of our union with Christ. And by trusting in the work of the Holy Spirit in us that reality becomes more and more a part of our lives – not just our faith or our Christian life – but the whole of who we are – mind, soul, body, and strength! This becomes the cry of our hearts then – Another lives in me!

I think a good way to look at our becoming in Christ is this: it is the incarnational forming of our whole beings into the image of God effecting the full scope of Christ’s birth, life, death, and resurrection through the work of the Holy Spirit. Another lives in me.

* Sigh. Not an easy process though, is it? Discipleship is hard –being transformed is not for the faint of heart. Our life in him is certainly a life we must cultivate – through the power of the Holy Spirit in and through us. All of God is readily available to us in the midst of our pain or sin or temptation. In the grip of fear, or anger, or any temptation, we can pause, take a moment, and remember this reality – that Christ lives in me – and then as C.S. Lewis said –“we listen to that other voice (not the voice of our sinful desires…) and we take that other point of view; we let that other larger, stronger, quieter life come flowing in.” (Mere Christianity)

Leanne used the term hamewith to describe this life in Christ. It is an old Scottish word that means “home within.” What an incredible picture this paints of incarnational reality. Where would we be without that life within? We might still be forgiven, we might still become good people, we might still do what Jesus did (WDJD), but nothing compares to the knowledge that it is Christ in us, who is our hope of glory. It is Christ within that cries out in praise and worship. Hallelujah!

Christmastide One – Confessional Prayer – The Incarnation

Almighty, eternal God! forgive us our sin and lead us to eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Ulrich Zwingli

Almighty, eternal God! Forgive us our sin and lead us to eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Ulrich Zwingli

Begin by centering your heart in God’s presence… Give thanks to Him that you do not need to hide anything from him. Affirm that He is faithful and good, and his mercy and grace are “new every morning.” The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is thy faithfulness” (Lam. 3:22-23).

Then, simply confess in as specific a way you can the sins that trouble you. Don’t rush through this process. Simply rest in God’s presence as He does this.

Now choose to let this go and receive Christ’s forgiveness for you. Remember – “He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9)

Receive His assurance of pardon – ⁷ In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, ⁸ which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight ⁹ making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ . (Eph 1:7-9 ESV)

And finally commit this confession to the Lord. As you rest in His forgiveness ask Him how to walk this out. Ask for the supernatural power of His Spirit to give you what you need to move forward. Thank Him that you “have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer [you] who live, but Christ lives in [you]” (Gal. 2:20).

Who is like a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance? He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in steadfast love. He will again have compassion on us; he will tread our iniquities underfoot. You will cast all our sins Into the depths of the sea. You will show faithfulness to Jacob and steadfast love to Abraham, as you have sworn to our fathers From the days of old. Micah 7:18-20

The Lord’s Prayer – The Incarnation

Our Father, who art in heaven,
Hallowed by thy name.
Thy kingdom come; thy will be done.
On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day, our daily bread,
And forgive us our sins,
As we forgive those who have sinned against us.
And lead us not into temptation.
But deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, and the power,
And the glory, forever. Amen.

Abba, Father – You inhabit the whole of heaven, and Your name is forever made holy. In this season of Christmastide, we long for Your kingdom to come now in all its fullness. Rule us by Your word and Your Spirit that we might delight in Your will; which came about through the obedience of Your Son. “It was He who gave His life as a ransom for many.” (Mat 20:28). While we celebrate His birth in this season – we know that the Cross awaits him. He died that we might live. And that is food enough. We are eternally grateful that Christ died for our sins. Make us eager then to forgive others their sins against us. Protect us Lord, from temptation and from evil – because it is your kingdom and your power and your glory forever. Amen.

Christmastide One: Lectio Divina The Incarnation

John 1:9-14 – ⁹ The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. ¹⁰ He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. ¹¹ He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. ¹² But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, ¹³ who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. ¹⁴ And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Step One – Read the passage slowly, attentively. Allow yourself to be taken in by the words – pay attention to any word or phrase that strikes you in the passage. (If you haven’t studied this passage, you may find this first reading will stir observation questions in you – such as who, what when, where, and how).

Step Three – What is God saying to you? What do you begin to feel called to?

Step Four – How does God want you to live this passage out? What are you resolved to do?

Lectio Quote – The Incarnation

When God spoke and brought the world into existence, Christmas was on His heart. Christmas is all about Jesus, the Lamb of God slain from the foundation of the world! It’s about Jesus, God’s gift of redemption –born to die in my place and your place, for my sins and your sins, because the wages of sin is death. Write it down; post it on the refrigerator or the bathroom mirror: “Jesus–born to die that I might live!” No matter who you are, what you have done, you were pre-loved by God! Kay Arthur

You can go through the same steps that we use for Lectio Divina for Scripture, or simply take some time and read this quote slowly and seek the Spirit’s help to take deep into your soul the way this author captures the deep truth of the Incarnation.

Christmastide One – Glory in the Highest

“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:14).

I wish I knew more about glory – or maybe it’s that I want to see what it must have been like to have been there at his birth and to see His glory. I wish I had seen Moses behind the rock, or the pillar of fire or cloud, or the ark of the covenant. And then to have seen that glory fully concentrated in Christ’s body, his very being. Very God of Very God.

I’m reminded of something Annie Dillard wrote – “On the whole, I do not find Christians, outside of the catacombs, sufficiently sensible of conditions. Does anyone have the foggiest idea what sort of power we so blithely invoke? Or, as I suspect, does no one believe a word of it? The churches are children playing on the floor with their chemistry sets, mixing up a batch of TNT to kill a Sunday morning. It is madness to wear ladies’ straw hats and velvet hats to church; we should all be wearing crash helmets. Ushers should issue life preservers and signal flares; they should lash us to our pews. For the sleeping god may wake someday and take offense, or the waking god may draw us out to where we can never return.” (Annie Dillard, Teaching a Stone to Talk)

“The glory has departed from Israel, for the ark of God has been captured.”
1 Samuel 4:22

I don’t have to tell you that we live in a world utterly stripped of glory. We don’t even have words for it. Can you imagine the national grief captured by Phinehas’ wife after hearing the ark of the covenant had been captured? (and her husband and son dead). “…she said, ‘The glory has departed from Israel, for the ark of God has been captured.’” (1Sa 4:22 ESV) Glory, as we see it in the Old Testament is always manifested from a distance, for it is the unabated, unfiltered presence of God. Under the old dispensation, just like Moses, we would not have been able to come near it and live. This was Moses’ experience:

¹⁸ Moses said, “Please show me your glory.” ¹⁹ And he [God] said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The LORD.’ And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. ²⁰ But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.” ²¹ And the LORD said, “Behold, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock, ²² and while my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by. ²³ Then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen.” (Exo. 33:18-23)

And yet, shepherds and prophets from the east, and Joseph, and even Mary, especially Mary, gazed at the face of this new-born babe and lived. What would it have been like to kneel there, by the cradle, laying down all power, all wealth, all of all, to worship him and to know his glory?

The apostle John captures this poetically in the first chapter of his gospel. ” And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:14). This is the incarnation – This is God made man. – C.S. Lewis called this the central miracle of all miracles. But how can we even talk about the fact that while Christ took on flesh, he remained God. It was never a blending of the two, and not an uneasy union of the two. This is how one Pilgrim preacher wrote of it:

“What a wonder that two natures infinitely distant should be more intimately united than anything in the world…That the same person should have both a glory and a grief; an infinite joy in the Deity, and an inexpressible sorrow in the humanity! That a God upon a throne should be an infant in a cradle; the thundering Creator be a weeping babe and a suffering man; the incarnation astonishes men upon earth, and angels in heaven.” (Stephen Charnook).

When we bless God for giving us the best parking space but neglect doing the hard, obedient things He has called us to, where is His glory?

The denial of the incarnation was one way the early church could identify a false prophet. In 1 John 4 John says to test the spirits by this one criterion: “By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God…” (1 John 4:2 ESV).

Paul echoes this thought in 1 Tim. 3:16 – “Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness: He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory.”

The shepherds were given a foretaste of that glory – “and in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear” (Luke 2:8-10).

What have we done with that glory? By that I don’t mean that we can ever do anything to diminish the glory that is Christ’s. What I mean is have we banished it? Have we forgotten it? Have we become inured to even the idea of glory? When we reduce our God to be an extension of our desires and not the God we are called to by Holy Scripture to worship, what have we done? When we bless God for giving us the best parking space but neglect doing the hard, obedient things he has called us to, where is his glory?

I think we would all say, after pausing and reflecting on this – that we want the reflection of Christ to be on our faces. We want to turn our faces to Him, unveiled, transparent, (our sins, our secrets settled by the glory of the Cross) so that we can behold the glory of the Lord. And oh, don’t you want to be transformed into the image of Christ – from one degree of glory to another? (2 Cor. 3:18) Let this be the cry of our hearts, and may “light shine out of darkness, the light which has shown in our hearts… to give the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Cor. 4:6) Amen.

Week Four Confessional Prayer – Immanuel

Immanuel Confessional Prayer

“The grace of God prepares the way for the confession of sin, is present in the confession, and even before the confession has been made, has already worked the restoration of which the confession is not the cause but the sign”.

Fleming Rutledge

Start by centering your heart in God’s presence… Give thanks to Him that He sent His Son to grant us fullness of life. His love is so deep for us; and for that we now know that God is indeed with us throughout eternity. Are there ways that you don’t live that out? Have the noise and chaos of this broken world crowded His voice out? You do not need to hide anything from him. Affirm that He is faithful and good, and his mercy and grace are “new every morning.” The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is thy faithfulness” (Lam. 3:22-23).

Then, simply confess specifically what the Holy Spirit is showing you. Don’t rush through this process. Simply rest in God’s presence as He does this.

And finally commit this confession to the Lord. As you rest in His grace and mercy ask Him how to walk this out. Ask for the supernatural power of His Spirit to give you what you need to move forward. Thank him that you “have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer [you] who live, but Christ lives in [you]” (Gal. 2:20).

“In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace. Ephesians 1:7

The Lord’s Prayer in Advent, Week Four- Immanuel

The Lord’s Prayer in Advent: Immanuel

Abba, Father, we come to this prayer praising You, that You make your home in heaven, the rightful place for you, and for Your Son Jesus. And yet, You sent Him into our broken, sinful world. He is truly “Immanuel, God with us.” Your name is holy, sacred, set apart – and thus is Your Son’s. We pray that Your kingdom would come, that Your will would be done – and we rejoice because Your will was to send Jesus to take the wrath meant for us. This is Your will, here on earth as it is in heaven. Give us Lord, all that we need to walk through our day, and forgive us for all the ways we have not honored this reality – that Christ is truly with us. And help us, Lord to forgive others who have sinned against us. May we live as those who know that our Christ is Immanuel, God with us. We pray that You would keep us from temptation and deliver us from evil. For yours is the kingdom, and the power and the glory, forever! Amen.