Christmas Day is Moving Day
- davidwperk
- Dec 25, 2023
- 4 min read
Daily Office Devotional, Monday, December 25, 2023
Christmas Day
The Rev. David W. Perkins, Th.D.
Daily Office Lectionary Readings (BCP, 941)
AM Psalm 2, 85; PM Psalm 110:1-5(6-7), 132
Micah 4:1-5; 5:2-4; 1 John 4:7-16; John 3:31-36
Daily Office Gospel Reading John 3:31-36 (NRSV)
3:31The one who comes from above is above all; the one who is of the earth belongs to the earth and speaks about earthly things. The one who comes from heaven is above all. 32He testifies to what he has seen and heard, yet no one accepts his testimony. 33Whoever has accepted his testimony has certified this, that God is true. 34He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for he gives the Spirit without measure. 35The Father loves the Son and has placed all things in his hands. 36Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever disobeys the Son will not see life, but must endure God's wrath.
David's Reflections
Christmas Day also is moving day, the day that God’s Son moved in among us in the person of Jesus, moved in to our human existence to experience firsthand the constraints and limitations of being human. In Jesus, God has gotten into our "skin." Today's text refers to Jesus as the one "from above." That one can speak of heavenly realities as no one else can because God "has placed all things in his hands."
So, there you have it. The unique claim of Christian faith. Jesus is able to save and deliver us because he has shared our existence in every way and has triumphed over all the evil powers within and outside us that have us caught, even death itself. He can empathize with our plight because he has been and remains a real human being.
Yet, his life also was a unique disclosure of God's reality as well. If we have any question about how God responds to disease, Jesus’ life and ministry answer that. God heals. If we have any question about how God responds to evil, Jesus’ death answers that. God overcomes evil with good, with love, rather than allowing evil to generate evil in Godself. If we have any question about how God responds to those caught in evil, Jesus’ delivering of people seized by demonic power answers that. God forgives and delivers. If we have any question about how God responds to those the culture casts out and rejects, Jesus’ eating and drinking with outcasts and receiving them answers that. God embraces and love those others deem untouchable, unvaluable, and unlovable.
Christmas Day. Moving day. God’s Son has moved into our existence in Jesus and chosen to remain there, sharing our experience. As this passage indicates, our only appropriate response must be faith. Can we bring ourselves to trust this Jesus, to open our hearts wide and ask him to settle more fully into our lives?
As an Episcopal New Testament scholar of a previous generation put it, "How could Christ have saved us if he were not a human being like ourselves? How could a human being like ourselves have saved us?"*
Poet Mary Karr put it so vividly in this poem.
Descending Theology: Christ Human
Such a short voyage for a god,
and you arrived in animal form so as not
to scorch us with your glory.
Your mask was an infant’s head on a limp stalk,
sticky eyes smeared blind,
limbs rendered useless in swaddle.
You came among beasts
as one, came into our care or its lack, came crying
as we all do, because the human frame
is a crucifix, each skeletos borne a lifetime.
Any wanting soul lain
prostate on a floor to receive a pouring of sunlight
might—if still enough,
feel your cross buried in the flesh.
One has only to surrender,
You preached, open both arms to the inner,
The ever-present hold,
out-reaching every want. It’s in the form
embedded, love adamant as bone.
In a breath, we can bloom and almost be you.+
(For Paul Goggi)
*John Knox, The Humanity and Divinity of Jesus Christ (Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1968), p. 52.
+Mary Karr, Sinners Welcome (New York: Harper, 2006), p. 31.
The Nativity of Our Lord: Christmas Day December 25
Almighty God, you have given your only-begotten Son to take our nature upon him, and to be born [this day] of a pure virgin: Grant that we, who have been born again and made your children by adoption and grace, may daily be renewed by your Holy Spirit; through our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom with you and the same Spirit be honor and glory, now and for ever. Amen. (BCP, 213)
Collect of the Day, The fourth Sunday of Advent
Purify our conscience, Almighty God, by your daily visitation, that your Son Jesus Christ, at his coming, may find in us a mansion prepared for himself; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (BCP, 212)
A Collect for Guidance
O God, whose Son Jesus is the good shepherd of your people; Grant that when we hear his voice we may know him who calls us each by name, and follow where he leads; who, with you and the Holy Spirit, lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (BCP 100)
For the Parish
Almighty and everliving God, ruler of all things in heaven and earth, hear our prayers for this parish family. Strengthen the faithful, arouse the careless, and restore the penitent. Grant us all things necessary for our common life, and bring us all to be of one heart and mind within your holy Church; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCP, 817)
A Prayer for Light
Almighty God, we give you thanks for surrounding us, as daylight fades, with the brightness of the vesper light; and we implore you of your great mercy that, as you enfold us with the radiance of this light, so you would shine into our hearts the brightness of your Holy Spirit; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCP, 110)
A Collect for Mission
O God and Father of all, whom the whole heavens adore: Let the whole earth also worship you, all nations obey you, all tongues confess and bless you, and men and women everywhere love you and serve you in peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCP, 124)
Daily Offices in The Book of Common Prayer
Morning Prayer, Rite 2, page 75, The Book of Common Prayer
Noonday Prayer, page 103, Book of Common Prayer
Order of Worship for Evening (Vespers), p 109, Book of Common Prayer
Evening Prayer, Rite 2, page 115, Book of Common Prayer
Compline (Night Prayer), page 127, Book of Common Prayer
Daily Devotionals, page 136, Book of Common Prayer
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