e-vo for week of December 26

Dearest e-votees-

Blessed Christmas to you all. I hope and pray you are surrounded by friends and family sharing laughter and joy and making memories to savor for the days to come. There is something rich and memorable and deeply life-sustaining about being present among loved ones. The memories of those times carry us through the times when we are not together or the laughter doesn’t come so easily or the joy is a little less palpable.

Our Old Testament text suggests that God also is in the business of creating rich and lasting memories through God’s own saving presence. Let us join with Isaiah in offering praise to the Lord.

Peace and Christmas joy,

Karl

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I will recount the gracious deeds of the Lord, the praiseworthy acts of the Lord, because of all that the Lord has done for us, and the great favor to the house of Israel that he has shown them according to his mercy, according to the abundance of his steadfast love. For he said, “Surely they are my people, children who will not deal falsely"; and he became their savior in all their distress. It was no messenger or angel but his presence that saved them; in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old.

Isaiah 63:7-9, NRSV

Clearly this verse is part of our Christmas lectionary readings since it talks about God becoming our savior. No messenger or angel will do but God’s own very presence comes to bring salvation. That is the summary of the child in the manger.

God comes and redeems us. He lifts us up and carries us. For many the words of the poem Footprints have communicated God’s love. That image of one set of footprints while God is carrying the one through the hardest times of life resonates with this Isaiah text. It is not hard to connect this sense of God carrying our burdens to Jesus taking his cross up to Golgotha in the ultimate example of God bearing our burdens. We are still God’s people. God still lifts us and carries us in new days and challenges as well as in days of old. For that we should praise and honor God.

God showers us with mercy and grace and steadfast love. That release and acceptance is life-giving. Perhaps we can be instances of that same release and acceptance as we encounter people—friend and family; stranger and visitor; those easy to love and those more curmudgeonly. (Grinches and Scrooges and, truth be told, some of us need some extra love and patience). Life is found in the restoration and the forgiveness.

Lest we get swept away by the tinsel and the egg nog and the new stuff we found under the tree--this is also the week the church commemorates the slaughter of the innocents. The babies that were snuffed out as part of Herod’s rage are a reminder to us all that Christmas looks at least as much like a cold and mean stable with all the very real threats as it does the images that often capture our imaginations. There is a powerful distress in the world. We still need God’s saving touch. Don’t forget that Jesus’ name means “he saves”.

God, thank you for the many joys and mirthful times of the holidays. Help us to drink of them deeply that we might be sustained and be sustainers for others during the lean times. Help us to love all, forgive readily and praise you often. Continue to bring your loving and saving presence into our lives. Thank you for the one born in the manger. Help Jesus be born in our hearts this day. Bring your saving work to bear on us. Amen.