A Faith Walk With Immanuel
Christmas is commemorated and celebrated globally. On every continent devotees pause to reflect on the birth heralded by a natal star, the birth of Jesus Christ.
For those not of the Christian faith the following is shared in order to help understand what it is Christians are solemnizing. For Christians it is an opportunity to reflect on a distinction of their faith. This account encapsulates history and faith. It recalls an event and shares a revelation of who Christians conceive Christ to be.
The cast on earth and in heaven was assembled. Let the drama begin. The curtain call was about to be given by Gabriel. It was a sermon, not a song that came from the angels, but it has put a song in the hearts of devotees ever since.
Mary and Joseph, a nonpareil young couple from Nazareth were about to have their faith stretched.
Jesus Christ’s birth defied possibilities and marched just inside the realm of reality.
With a heart full of love with resolve He quietly walked into Time. As with the virgin waiting on earth, His time had come. It was His moment to be born of Mary. The heartbeat of heaven was soon to be heard in an infant’s small chest.
In Eden God produced a motherless woman from the body of a man named Adam. In Bethlehem He produces a fatherless man from the body of a woman named Mary. In Him were combined the greatest of all possibilities. He was the God/man-man/God, as much man as though He were not God, and as much God as though He were not man. He was conceived by and born of a woman, but not begotten by man. Don’t wait until you fully understand that; we can’t even fully understand human beings’ birth.
Christmas is the occasion when Christians celebrate the moment the foreshadowed Prince of Peace stepped on history’s stage with the floodlight of prophecy focused on Him. Immanuel came to be temporarily domiciled in flesh in Bethlehem.
Little wonder that Mary “pondered” these things as it is noted by Dr.
Luke. It means to put together things in light of circumstance.
Great choirs sing of the joy it brought to the world. The peace promised on earth is still possible. The declaration of peace on earth was not a prophecy, but a prescription for individual peace as personalized in Bethlehem’s babe.
The renewed Scrooge in Dickens’ Christmas Carol said, “It is good to be children sometimes, and never better than at Christmas, when the Mighty Founder was a child Himself.”
Let the little girl within you ladies and the little boy who still lives in you, fellows, come out and enjoy Christmas.
As with Mary and Joseph Christmas is a grand time to start a faith walk with Immanuel.
During this season may you make time to reflect on this miracle of love, and how it affects you. Doing so can result in a Merry Christmas.