This posting is a rework of a prior blog and sermon. It seemed appropriate for the time we were in. I am posting it on New Year’s Eve as we say goodbye to 2024 and look forward in hope to 2025.

My favorite carol is “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day,” written during the American Civil War, a time in some ways resembling our own. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote the lyrics, which were later put to music. By Christmas 1863, Wadsworth’s wife had tragically died, and his son had been seriously injured in the American Civil War. On Christmas Day, he wrote a poem capturing the conflict in his own heart and the world he observed around him that Christmas Day.  Here are the lyrics:

I heard the bells on Christmas day, /Their old familiar carols play; In music sweet, the tones repeat, / There’s peace on earth, good will to men.”

I thought how, as the day had come, /The belfries of all Christendom. Had rolled along the unbroken song/ Of peace on earth, goodwill to men.

And in despair, I bowed my head: “There is no peace on earth,” I said, “For hate is strong, and mocks the song, Of peace on earth, goodwill to men.” [1]

The poem and Christmas Carol point out the divergence between the peaceful world for which Christians and others long and the violent reality of human history.

Our War-Torn World

Jesus warned his followers that wars and rumors of wars would mark the time between his first and second coming (Matthew 28:6). This Christmas Season, for the second Christmas, there are wars in the Ukraine and Israel and Gaza that threaten to engulf the entire Middle East. The parties engage in physical, psychological, and emotional warfare. Around the world, nations and international bodies have interceded themselves into the conflicts. Peace seems often on the horizon but then recedes to a far horizon. Maybe next year will be different, but this year, we can say with the poet, “There is no peace on earth—for hate is strong and mocks the song of peace on earth goodwill to men.”

The World We Long For.

On Christmas Eve, we traditionally light the Christ Candle, a symbol that the One foretold by the prophets, the true Son of David, Wonderful Counselor, the Prince of Peace, the Wisdom and Love of God in human form, has come. His reign is not complete, but it has begun. It is represented imperfectly and sometimes unrecognizably in his Church, the gathering of his children by faith.

 In the Narnia books, the true King of Narnia, Aslan—a Christ figure—is coming. One indication that Aslan is coming is that the long Narnia winter is ending, and Spring is finally coming. Even Santa Claus appears to give the children gifts before Spring arrives. In Isaiah, the prophet also uses an image of nature being changed because of what the Messiah will do when he comes as a symbol of the spiritual healing of the land of his people. In Isaiah 11, after speaking of the supernatural justice of the expected Anointed One, the prophet has the following vision:

Righteousness will be his belt, and faithfulness will be the sash around his waist. The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together,and a little child will lead them. The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together,and the lion will eat straw like the ox. The infant will play near the cobra’s den, and the young child will put its hand into the viper’s nest. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain,for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea (Isaiah 11: 5-9).

The idea is that justice and injustice impact nature. When we seek justice and to live peacefully with others, humans and lives are changed for the better. [2] It is also a reminder that the hope for an entirely peaceful and just world is eschatological. In this world, wolves and lambs will never lie down together—and it is the foolish lamb that believes otherwise. This a lesson many in our culture need to learn.

Whether or not we visualize the future in poetic terms, we all long for a just world and believe that a just and harmonious world would be happier than the world we live in. Unfortunately, almost all of us also desire our favorite injustices to remain part of that world. We want the injustice that impacts us removed, but we do not feel so strongly about the injustice we inflict on others. God will not have it this way. God wants to get rid of all injustice, the injustice of the rich and the poor, of the powerful and the powerless, of the insiders and the outsiders. God desires a perfectly just world. There will not be peace until there is justice for all—and that goal escapes accomplishment by selfish, self-centered, and often immoral humans.

The One Hope We Have.

The cross reminds us that God suffers injustice with everyone who suffers injustice. Christ was arrested unjustly, tried unjustly, and crucified unjustly. God knows and understands the reality and power of injustice. The cross is where the mercy and justice of God meet—and it reminds us that God is with us when we suffer injustice. The resurrection is our reminder that God will ultimately win over injustice. Christmas is our reminder that the King has come. Winter may not be over, and it may get colder before spring, but spring is coming.

I heard the Bells on Christmas Day ends on this word of Hope:

“Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:/ “God is not dead, nor does He sleep, / For Christ is here; His Spirit near/ Brings peace on earth, goodwill to men.” [3]

Our hope is not in a political party or an army. It is in the one who is the true King of Kings and Lord of Lords–one who is not just a better human king, but the kind of ruler we humans can only wish to be.

I wish all my readers a very Merry Christmas this warm and rainy Texas Christmas Day (the day it was written) and this New Year’s Eve (the day it was published.

Copyright 2024, G. Christopher Scruggs, All Rights Reserved

[1] Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day (I864).

[2] I have noted more than once that we modern people too often discount and fail to recognize the impact of sin on the world we inhabit and its consequences, even upon those with whom we have no direct impact. Just as in the physical world, there can be “spooky action at a distance” in the subatomic world, in the macro world, I am convinced that spiritual realities “act at a distance.” I have seen the phenomena with my own eyes.

[3] “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day,” previously cited.

When I was a child, our family always attended the midnight Christmas Eve service at our church in Missouri. Our duty was to arrive around 10:30, light the luminarias, and help prepare the sanctuary for the service. The service was scheduled to end at midnight, with the final song being “Joy to the World.” As a pastor for 25 years, I led midnight communion services on Christmas Eve, once again, always timed so that shortly after midnight, we sang “Joy to the World” as a congregation. This week, our mediation is on Joy.

Christian Joy

Several years ago, I began underlining “joy “ in my Bible in orange. How often the word appears in the Old and New Testaments is incredible. In secular life, joy can be defined as an emotion evoked by well-being, success, good fortune, or the prospect of possessing what one desires. From a biblical perspective, the meaning is more profound. In the Bible, joy is always connected with God’s presence and favor.

Joy involves the presence of God. Jesus is “God with us,” and the Spirit of Christ today is God with us. This is why in Galatians we read, “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (Gal. 5:22-23). Christian joy is not a human feeling; it is a divine gift.

Joy in the Old Testament

The prophets often compare the current situation of Israel with the joy it will experience when God sends his salvation on the land. In Isaiah, especially, the theme of divine joy is explored. For example, when God sends his salvation,

The desert and the parched land will be glad; the wilderness will rejoice and blossom. Like the crocus, it will burst into bloom, rejoice greatly, and shout for joy.

…
Strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way; say to those with fearful hearts, “Be strong, do not fear; your God will come, he will come with vengeance; with divine retribution, he will come to save you.” Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped.Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy. Water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert (Isaiah 34:1-6).

The coming of the savior of God’s people is a cause for joy—a divine, not human, joy. This is a joy in which the oppressed, the sick, the emotionally wounded, the elderly, and all those denied justice and peace will find a joy frequently missing in our fallen and broken world.

Joy in the New Testament

If in the Old Testament, joy is a gift of God showing his favor to his people, in the New Testament, another feature is added: it is a joy that withstands difficult circumstances. The author of Hebrews puts it this way:

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder, and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. (Heb 12:1-2).

The joy Christ gives is a joy that overcomes suffering and trouble—even enduring a cross and defeating its suffering and shame.

On the night before he was crucified, Jesus promised his disciples a wholeness that was utterly different from what the world could give (John 14:27). In James, the author puts it this way:

Count it all joy, my brothers and sisters, when you meet all kinds of trials, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. Let steadfastness have its full impact so that you may be perfect, lacking in nothing (James 1:2-4).

In other words, the trials and testings of this life can and will be overcome in Christ—and are a source of a more profound joy than mere physical, emotional, or mental well-being.

Conclusion

This Christmas Eve, I will not be leading a worship service. I am now retired. Likely, I will not even attend a service at midnight because of circumstances beyond our control. Nevertheless, we will sing or remember the words of Isaac Watt’s carol:

Joy to the world, the Lord is come! Let Earth receive her King! Let every heart prepare Him room, and heaven and nature sing, and heaven and nature sing, and heaven and heaven and nature sing.

Joy to the world, the Savior reigns. Let men their songs employ while fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains repeat the sounding joy repeat the sounding joy, repeat, repeat the sounding joy.

He rules the world with truth and grace, and makes the nations prove the glories of His righteousness, and wonders of His love, and wonders of His love, and wonders, wonders, of His love.

Amen

The early Jews might be forgiven for doubting the “steadfast love” of God. For centuries, they were a conquered, defeated, and enslaved people. Their hopes and dreams of restoring the worldly kingdom of David was a constant dream that seemed more like an illusion, which in part it was. If Israel had been restored as simply one earthly kingdom among many earthly kingdoms, they could not possibly have fulfilled their calling to be a blessing to all the nations of the earth. Even today, this misunderstanding is a constant danger for the Christian church. We presume that we can somehow be a blessing to a broken, violent, and unstable world by being one among the many players for position, power, and influence.

The Steadfast Love of God

For all the centuries of their captivity, enslavement, and domination by foreign powers, the prophets and wise men continued to proclaim the steadfast love of their God. The utter faithfulness of God is repeated over and over again to the Jewish people as an encouragement for faithfulness and righteous living. Even today, when we baptize children, one of the most familiar verses to recite, verses that were recited at each of our children’s baptisms and at nearly every baptism I ever performed, comes from Psalms:

For the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him, and his righteousness to children’s children, to those who keep his covenant and remember to do his commandments (Psalm 103:17).

The steadfast love of the LORD God is eternal—it never ends. However, our experience of that love requires that we respect God, keep his covenant of love, which has implications for our behavior, and remember and obey his commandments in times of temptation. The Jewish people recognized these requirements, which is why the prophets continually reminded them that they had failed in faithfulness, in keeping God’s commands, and in remembering them in times of forgetfulness. The same is true for us.

What Steadfast Love is and is Not

We live in a romantic society filled with silly and impossible ideas for human happiness and fulfillment. In such a society, it is easy to think of love as a feeling. Steadfast Love is not an emotion; it is an action. For example, no marriage can endure without some degree of temptation, forgetfulness, and weariness. What characterizes successful marriages is not a lack of temptation, a perfect memory of first love, or a constant feeling of passion. What characterizes successful marriages is faithfulness and endurance through the difficulties of life. What characterizes a successful marriage is a commitment to the other, which the Jews called steadfast love.

In addition to being a romantic society, contemporary America is also pathologically individualistic, which makes any kind of relationship unstable. This leads to another observation about the steadfast love of God:  while it is true that the Bible contains personal references to the steadfast love of God, particularly respecting God’s love for individuals, such as David in the Psalms, the vast majority of all of the references to steadfast love involves the promises of God, not individuals, but to the people of Israel. In other words, steadfast love is not just a personal virtue. It is a political and social virtue without which a stable society cannot exist. [1] The steadfast love of God for Israel must be mirrored in our steadfast love for the institutions that make for a stable, prosperous, and just life.

Steadfast Love on a Cross

Christ defines a Christian understanding of the nature of Steadfast Love. As a friend put it, Christ’s revelation discloses that “Love is the most rational act of all.” [2] Christians believe that in Jesus, God’s Light (wisdom) and Love (self-sacrificing relationality) were joined in indissoluble unity. God’s steadfast love is visibly seen and experienced in Jesus Christ.

As the Apostles, New Testament writers, and early Christians meditated on Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection, they understood Jesus as the Christ and God’s image in human form—the form of Divine Love. The first name for Christians was “People of the Way” (Acts 9:2). Jesus showed his disciples both a way to fellowship with God and a way of life. This Way of Jesus involves serving and leading others with a gentle, other-centered, steadfast, sacrificial love.

There is a technical word theologians use for the willingness of God to serve his creation at its deepest point of need. The word is “kenosis,” which means “to empty.” It comes from the words of Paul in Philippians:

Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross! (Philippians 2:5-8).

In the older translations, the phrase “made himself nothing” (ekenosen) is translated as “emptied himself.” This is the classic testimony to God’s self-giving nature shown in Christ.

The God Christ reveals serves the greatest need of his creation and his people by emptying himself of overt power so that the human race might see and experience the deep, unfathomable power of God’s loving nature. Christ reveals the limitless, vulnerable, self-giving love of God. The message of the Cross is that God is the One who gives himself without limit, without restriction, and without any holding back for the sake of his creation and his people. [3] This is what we mean when we say, “God is love” (1 John 4:8).

God’s steadfast love patiently bears with us, even as we presume upon his mercy. God’s love endures our sins, shortcomings, and brokenness as the Spirit works patiently and in love to redeem and restore us. The Way of Christ begins in trusting this revelation, as Christians follow Christ’s example daily.

Steadfast Love at Christmas

This week, we celebrate the love of God shown to us by the birth of a child in a small and insignificant city at the edge of the Roman Empire. His parents were ordinary people. Although through the eyes of faith, some recognized that this birth was unique, the birth was ignored by the wealthy, the powerful, the crowd, the influencers, the media, the elite, academics, and anyone else of importance. Nevertheless, this birth was the beginning of revealing what steadfast love really is.

Copyright 2024, Gl Christopher Scruggs, All Rights Reserved

[1] See G. Christopher Scruggs, Illumined by Wisdom and Love: Essays on a Sophio-Agapic Constructive  Postmodern Political Philosophy(Forthcoming late this year or early next year).

[2] Rev. Dr. Warner Davis, pastor of the Collierville Presbyterian Church in Collierville, Tennessee, in a private conversation, May 24, 2007. This meditation section comes from Centered Living/Centered Leading: The Way of Life for Christ-Followers Rev. Ed. (Cordova, TN: Permisio Por Favor, 2017).

[3] W. H. Vanstone, Love’s Endeavor, Love’s Expense: the Response of Being to the Love of God (London, UK: Darton, Longman and Todd, 1977). See also John Polkinghorne, ed, The Work of Love: Creation as Kenosis (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans 2001) for a deep analysis of how creation reflects the One who is love and became love incarnate to redeem and restore his handiwork.

We have family and friends in Israel. For most of the past year, I have checked the news daily following the conflicts in Gaza and, more recently, Lebanon. One of the more frightening graphics I followed showed the air attack siren locations, many of which covered areas where we know people. We were, of course, happy for the people of Israel and Lebanon when a cease-fire was announced in the north, and we look forward to the day when there is a cease-fire in Gaza. Then, this weekend, we saw hopeful and frightening events in Syria. One of the sources I use for information also publishes a daily review of the war in Ukraine and the suffering there. We live in a conflicted world.

Watching for a Prince of Peace

One of the most familiar Christmas passages is from Isaiah:

For to us a child is born, unto us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace, there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore (Isaiah 9:6-7)

At Christmas, we celebrate the arrival of that Prince of Peace and anticipate the final victory of that peace over the forces that limit and destroy human flourishing. As we can see, the arrival of the Prince of Peace did not bring the kind of “power-peace” we humans often desire.

The Peace We Seek

Old Testament scholars helpfully remind us that the passage from Isaiah was not written in a time of peace but in a time of war. Isaiah probably thought that the new-born child of the current Israeli king was to be the anticipated Messiah/Savior. One meaning of peace in the Old Testament (and today) is the absence of conflict based on the victory of one side.

Scholars also helpfully remind us that the meaning of “shalom,” the Hebrew word for peace, ultimately connotes much more than a mere absence of conflict. It connotes “wholeness and completeness,” a situation where all the aspects of human flourishing, physical, mental, moral, spiritual, and social are in balance. In ancient Hebrew, if a person asked, “Is your family Shalom?’ (a phrase we would translate as, “Is your family well?”) they meant to say, “Is your family doing OK?” Just as today, they would not mean, “Has your family stopped fighting?” They would mean, “Is your family doing well?” Thus, shalom includes well-being in every area of life. [1]

Personal and Social Shalom

We need the Shalom (Peace) more than the absence of conflict. It is a sense of personal wholeness and well-being. Social scientists tell us that human flourishing has several components, such as:

• A feeling of well-being
• A sense of meaning and purpose in life
• Economic security
• Mental and physical health
• A sense of integrity and virtue
• Close and meaningful social relationships
• An absence of personal and social conflict. [2]

This list reminds us that there is much more to shalom than an end to fighting. We human beings are social animals. We need close, healthy, non-conflicted social relationships; without them, we wither on the vine of life. As a parent, I have observed that healthy relationships characterize happy families. On the other hand, dysfunctional families are often characterized by unhealthy relationships.  People who grow up in unhealthy families are wounded by the dysfunction they experience as children. These wounds can take decades to cure—and sometimes, they are never cured. Where there are not such healthy relationships, children often grow up wounded. [3]

As a pastor, I have often noted that healthy relationships among and between members characterize happy, growing churches. The same phenomenon is true in business and other organizations. When human relationships among people are or become dysfunctional, there is a lack of health and wholeness, and everyone suffers. Fortunately, the Holy Spirit can work within our spirit to restore the wholeness for which we were intended—which is one of the primary roles of the Christian church.

When Jesus says, “Blessed are the peacemakers” (Shalom-makers), he means a lot more than “Blessed are those who engage in. transnational peacemaking.” He means, “Blessed are all those who enter any situation, personal or social, in which human beings are not experiencing the wholeness for which they were created and work to restore health and wholeness.” This blessedness of true shalom is one of the primary fruits of faith in Christ, the forgiveness of sins, and the healing and restoring power of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus as our Peace

Near the end of John, Jesus warns his disciples about the peace or shalom he came to provide. “Peace I give you, my peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let your hearts not be troubled nor be afraid” (John 14:27). Jesus warns his disciples that the peace, shalom, wholeness and flourishing that he will provide is not the “personal peace, pleasure, and affluence” that the secular world seeks and its apostles promise. It is a more profound, richer, and more lasting peace that sickness, age, disease, and death cannot take away. It is finally faith in God, forgiveness of past misdeeds, peace with God, and a sense that one is within the will of God. This is the Shalom we celebrate on Christmas Eve when we hear the voice of angels singing, “Peace on earth, Goodwill to men.”

Copyright 2024, G. Christopher Scruggs, All Rights Reserved

[1] See, Donald E. Gowan, Shalom: A Study of the Biblical Concept of Peace (Pittsburg, PA: Creative Edge, 1984). This helpful study was a part of the Kerygma Bible study program sponsored by the Presbyterian church some years ago. This study was central in preparing this blog.

[2] This particular section of the blog is dependent upon research done by the so-called “flourishing initiative” being led by researchers out of Harvard. The Human Flourishing Program at Harvard’s Institute for Quantitative Social Science (IQSS) seeks to carry out research and teaching to bridge the empirical social sciences with the humanities on topics related to human flourishing. See, for example, the Flourish Initiative at https://hfh.fas.harvard.edu/.

[3] I do not want to indicate at all that every emotional scar indicates a dysfunctional family, as all families have some dysfunction. Nor do I want to suggest that these emotional scars from childhood cannot be cured. They can. See, Peter Scazzero, Emotionally Healthy Spirituality updated ed (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2017). Today, the Emotionally Healthy Spirituality and Relationship Courses are available as the “Emotionally Healthy Disciples Course,” which includes books, study guides, teaching videos, devotional guides, and teaching helps. Finally, for leaders, the following can be helpful. Peter Scazzero, The Emotionally Healthy Leader: How Transforming your Inner Life Will Deeply Transform your Church, Team, and World (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2017).

 

This weekend, we celebrated Thanksgiving with four of our five grandchildren. It was a wonderful family time together. We were in the hotel where one of our children was staying on Friday evening. It was the day that this particular hotel lit its Christmas tree and had Santa Claus attend the lighting. All four grandchildren raced from where we were sitting to the Christmas tree. I held the three-year-old on my shoulder so that he could see over other people. On each one of their faces was the biggest smile you can imagine. Thanksgiving was over, and now they were anticipating Christmas!

There’s no question that Christmas is my favorite time of the year. I have long memories of Christmases past. Perhaps, unfortunately, it’s been many years since I felt the supreme joy of anticipation that my grandchildren experienced last Friday. Christmas should be a time of anticipation, but for too many of us, it’s a time of running around purchasing gifts (many entirely unneeded) and getting ready for the big day. At this stage of life, my job is not so much to enjoy Christmas as to help other people enjoy Christmas and build the memories my parents gave to my brother and me. Frankly, that’s fine with me.

Anticipating Christ

The Babylonians conquered Israel sometime between 587 and 6 BC. Four hundred years passed before Jesus was born in Bethlehem, Judea—four hundred years of waiting. To put this into perspective, the United States of America is only about 250 years old. Imagine if we had been dreaming and anticipating freedom from the British Empire for 400 years. How many of us would remain hopeful that God would enable our nation to regain its independence?

One of my favorite passages in the Old Testament is quoted by Peter in the New Testament: “A thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night” (Psalm 90:4; 2 Peter 3:8). Last Sunday, the preacher in the worship service we attended decided to preach on the Second Coming of Christ. I thought it was an odd choice, mainly since he spent his time defending a dispensational interpretation of the New Testament text from Thessalonians. It seemed to me that the first Sunday of Advent ought to be about anticipating the First Coming of Christ. Nevertheless, the sermon made a point: Just as the Jews had to anticipate the coming of Christ for a long time, and just as children have to anticipate Christmas, sometimes we have to wait and anticipate the coming of Christ into our own lives.

I’ve mentioned before that I wouldn’t say I like waiting. I rarely go to any restaurant where I must wait in line. It takes a family member insisting we go there to make me stand in line. I wouldn’t say I like standing in checkout lines at the supermarket, which I often do. I wouldn’t say I like standing in lines buying Christmas presents, something I’ve had to do recently. I haven’t had to wait 400 years for anything, but I’m sure I would find it stressful!

No matter how little we enjoy it, we all must wait for God from time to time. There are prayer requests that need to be answered, opportunities that never seem to arise, conflicts that seem never resolved, and problems that never seem to be solved. When this happens, and we have to wait, often we lose hope and the joy of anticipation. We lose the faithful anticipation that God will act on our behalf.

Christmas and Waiting

Christmas reminds us that this is a short-sighted mistake. It is part of our fallen human nature and our inevitable human anxiety about our future. We can’t know when God will solve the problems we are concerned about. We suspect that it may not even be in our lifetime. And, our fears are justified. Nevertheless, scripture reminds us that God hears our prayers and is in the business of answering all our prayers sooner or later.

When you get to be 70 or older, many of your worries are about your family and its future. I know most of mine are. No one can look at the condition of our world and not suspect that difficult times lie ahead. On the other hand, there’s no point in human history in which this was not true. There have always been wars and rumors of wars (Matthew 24:6-7). There have always been times of economic dislocation, bad government, oppression, and other human suffering. Most nations, unlike the United States, have suffered times in which they were invaded and held hostage.

As a college student many years ago, I was on a train from Luxemburg to Switzerland. Sitting beside me was an elderly gentleman, a French schoolteacher. Twice in his lifetime, the German army crossed the border and entered into his country. As we talked, he reminded me that we Americans often cannot understand our world because we have not had to suffer some of the problems other nations have suffered. Before recent years, the vast expanse of the Pacific and Atlantic oceans protected our country from invasion or war. The nuclear age has ended our geographic safety, but we have not yet suffered an attack, conquest, and servitude. Those nations who have, and those people who have suffered as the ancient Jews suffered, look at the world differently. They look at the world much more the way the ancient Jews looked at the world.

Waiting Like the Ancients

Perhaps this Christmas, as we wait for our annual celebration of the coming of the Messiah, it would be a good idea for us to practice Holy Anticipation. Holy Anticipation is not a naïve anticipation. It is not the anticipation of a child that believes their parent will solve all their problems. It is not the anticipation of an immature person who believes things will be OK without me doing anything. Holy Anticipation is that anticipation that allows us to go about the business of living wisely and loving others, in the name of Christ, not knowing exactly what the future will bring, but anticipating that in the end, everything will turn out as God wishes to turn out, and therefore for good.

It is that anticipation that Paul speaks about in Romans:

I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.

We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the first-fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.

In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.

And we know that in all things, God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified(Romans 8:18-30).

There are just a few weeks until Christmas. Let us begin by anticipating Christ’s special entrance into our lives.

Copyright 2024, G. Christopher Scruggs, All Rights Reserved