How beautiful on the mountains
are the feet of those who bring good news,
who proclaim peace,
who bring good tidings,
who proclaim salvation,
who say to Zion,
“Your God reigns!”
Listen! Your watchmen lift up their voices;
together they shout for joy.
When the Lord returns to Zion,
they will see it with their own eyes.
Burst into songs of joy together,
you ruins of Jerusalem,
for the Lord has comforted his people,
he has redeemed Jerusalem.
The Lord will lay bare his holy arm
in the sight of all the nations,
and all the ends of the earth will see
the salvation of our God.
— Isaiah 52:7-10
A movie director would surely begin where Isaiah begins: by concentrating on the feet. Feet, running along a mountain path. Accustomed to such terrain they are practiced, swift, and deft. They are also dirty, dusty, calloused, perhaps even bleeding. What makes them beautiful is the message we hear when the focus widens to the runner’s mouth: good tidings, peace, and good news that God reigns! The message itself, shouted aloud and borne on the mountain air, arrives before the messenger.
— Nancy S. Taylor from Daily Feast
God Is Revealed As Love
And then, just when everything is bearing down on us to such an extent that we can scarcely withstand it, the Christmas message comes to tell us that all our ideas are wrong, and that what we take to be evil and dark is really good and light because it comes from God. Our eyes are at fault, that is all. God is in the manger, wealth in poverty, light in darkness, succor in abandonment. No evil can befall us; whatever men may do to us, they cannot but serve the God who is secretly revealed as love and rules the world and our lives.
— Dietrich Bonhoeffer from God Is in the Manger
A Christmas Promise
Joy to the world our Saviour comes
Not in power, not in might
But in the tenderness of love
He comes as the promise of life
Hidden in a mother’s womb
Sing aloud and dance with the angels
God has sent his son to save the world
Love and faithfulness meet together
Righteousness and peace kiss each other
Faithfulness springs forth from the earth
Shout halleluias of praise, inheritors of Christ’s light
God’s righteousness looks down from heaven
The Lord will indeed give what is good
And bring wholeness and abundance to all people.
— Christine Sine from Godspace Blog
Where the Light Begins
For Christmas Day
The light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness did not overcome it.
—John 1:5
Perhaps it does not begin.
Perhaps it is always.
Perhaps it takes
a lifetime
to open our eyes,
to learn to see
what has forever
shimmered in front of us—
the luminous line
of the map
in the dark,
the vigil flame
in the house
of the heart,
the love
so searing
we cannot keep
from singing,
from crying out
in testimony
and praise.
Perhaps this day
will be the mountain
over which
the dawn breaks.
Perhaps we
will turn our face
toward it,
toward what has been
always.
Perhaps
our eyes
will finally open
in ancient recognition,
willingly dazzled,
illuminated at last.
Perhaps this day
the light begins
in us.
— Jan Richardson from Circle of Grace
See Also:
- 2018 Advent Daily Meditations
- Eternal Now
- God With Us
- Love in Action
- A Christmas Blessing
- Christmas Prayer
