The Second Noel – Part Two

Audrey Mieir was absorbed in what was happening in her little church. They were having a Christmas presentation of the birth of Jesus. Mary was a teenage girl. The angels were young boys. The baby was a doll. Bathrobes revealed rolled up jeans under them. This simple setting provided for an electrifying moment. Audrey looked at the little children in the audience sitting open mouthed and expectant. Elderly friends wiped away tears remembering Christmases past. The pastor stood, raised his hands and said, “His name is Wonderful.” The words gripped Audrey. Immediately she began to write in the back of her Bible. She remembered that as she wrote it seemed to her God had something He wanted said. That night she sang the simple chorus around the piano with a group of youth. The words were simple and they picked it up right away.  

“His name is Wonderful, His name is Wonderful…
Jesus my Lord.
He is the mighty king, Master of everything.
His name is Wonderful, Jesus my Lord.
He’s the great Shepherd,
The Rock of all ages. Almighty God is He;
Bow down before Him, Love and adore Him,
His name is Wonderful, Jesus my Lord.”

Though they said it, choirs and congregations have appropriately sung it through the years.  There is victory in that pronouncement.  In Latin it is “Gloria in Excelsus Deo!”

Under divine inspiration the Apostle Paul wrote: “All the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us.”

The angels said: “Glory to God.”

Jesus taught us to pray: “Thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory…” He already has the glory. We are blessed to be vessels through which His glory is seen and by whom it is acknowledged.

Jesus’ coming focuses on the glory of God because in Him the attributes and attitudes of God are pleasantly revealed.

In the act of Jesus’ coming, God revealed a bit more of His glory which had been concealed.

The fundamental way we can accent the glory of God is by giving ourselves in trust to Him as our Savior and yielding to Him in service as our Lord. Giving is becoming.

“Go break to the hungry sweet charity’s bread,
For giving is living the angel said.
But must I keep giving again and again,
The weary worn question came.
No, said the angel, piercing me through.
Just stop giving when God stops giving to you.”

An old man on the city bus sat across from a little girl who was apparently from a poor family.  As he sat holding a beautiful bouquet of flowers he noticed they had captured the attention of the little girl.  Every time he looked at her she was looking admiringly at the flowers but quickly looked away.

When the bus stopped at his place of getting off he reached out and gave the flowers to her saying, “I bought these for my wife, but I know she would want you to have them.”

The bus stop was a bit longer than usual and the little girl watched as the old man got off the bus and entered through an old gate into a little cemetery.

Give yourself and your best to the Master before it is too late to give.