December 29 - Once in Royal David's City

If you have ever attended a Lessons and Carols service (like the one we had at GFBC on December 21), you heard this hymn begin the service. Cecil Francis Alexander wrote it and included it in her collection, Hymns for Little Children in 1848. The collection was based on the words of the Apostle's Creed and was meant to help form children in the faith. "Once in Royal" is a meditation on the line from the Creed, "Born of a Virgin Mary." The simplicity of the text, which is beautifully accented by the tune, is a beautiful expression of the way in which God chose to enter the world: as a poor and helpless baby. 

On Christmas Eve, we told the story of the real Nativity, one that was not sterile and domesticated, but messy, wild, and demanding. Alexander captures that reality by emphasizing the "lowly cattle shed," the manger, the oxen, the poverty of the scene. We often try to clean up the way that God entered the world and make it about us, make it look like us. But God did not come to dwell with the comfortable, but with the outcasts, so that through his sorrows we might be saved.  

What can we do this Christmas to live in to the reality of the Nativity? Incarnation is not just doctrine, it is also a practice. How can you personally more fully embrace the real Nativity this year? How can you practice Incarnation in the way that Jesus was made incarnate? How could our church, as the body of Christ, enter the world in the way that Jesus did? Perhaps we can start to listen to the people around us whose experiences more closely match those of our Savior while he walked the earth. The poor. The refugees. The weak and helpless. Perhaps we can relearn what it means to have faith like a child. Jesus often pointed to children as examples of the type of faith he wanted for his followers. "The kingdom of God is for such as these." If we want to be a part of the kingdom Jesus came to bring this Christmas, we have to live in solidarity with the poor, to know their tears and smiles, just like Christ did. We have to listen to God speaking to us through the least among us, and allow that voice to lead us on "to the place where he has gone." 

You are encouraged to enter into a time of silent confession and meditation followed by the closing prayer.

Closing Prayer

God of the little, weak, and helpless: give us new vision this Christmas. Help us to see the reality of your nativity more clearly, and to open our ears, our minds, and our hearts to your voice among the poor around us. Lead us on, Lord Jesus. Amen.

Once in Royal David's City

Once in royal David's city
Stood a lowly cattle shed,
Where a mother laid her baby
In a manger for his bed:
Mary was that mother mild,
Jesus Christ her little child.

He came down to earth from heaven,
Who is God and Lord of all,
And his shelter was a stable,
And his cradle was a stall;
With the poor, and mean, and lowly,
Lived on earth our Savior holy.

For he is our childhood's pattern;
Day by day, like us he grew;
He was little, weak and helpless,
Tears and smiles like us he knew;
And he feeleth for our sadness,
And he shareth in our gladness.

And our eyes at last shall see him,
Through his own redeeming love;
For that child so dear and gentle
Is our Lord in heaven above,
And he leads his children on
To the place where He is gone.

Not in that poor lowly stable,
With the oxen standing by,
We shall see him; but in heaven,
Set at God's right hand on high;
Where like stars his children crowned
All in white shall gather 'round.

Rev. Stephen Stacks

December 28 - O Come All Ye Faithful

There's no Christmas story at all in the gospel of Mark and the gospel of John has something more like a prologue instead of a narrative. Only Matthew and Luke give us a story about the birth of Christ. Interestingly, the details of those two stories are quite different. An angel comes only to Joseph in Matthew and an angel comes only to Mary in Luke. There are only Magi in Matthew and there are only Shepherds in Luke. In Matthew Mary and Joseph are forced to flee to Egypt to escape the infanticide of Herod and in Luke Mary and Joseph simply bring their baby to the temple for dedication. There are so many differences between these two stories it is hard to know how to read and understand them. Yet in spite of their differences there is a common theme that links the stories of the birth of Jesus in the gospel of Matthew and Luke and that common theme is worship. Worship is what the Magi do when they find Jesus in the gospel of Matthew and worship is what the Shepherds do when they find Jesus in the gospel of Luke. 

The Latin hymn Adeste Fideles, which we know as "O Come All Ye Faithful" perfectly captures the Christmas theme of worship by calling the faithful people [i.e. the Church] to come gather around the manger in Bethlehem with joyful hearts and triumphant voices to adore (worship) Christ the Lord. Of the first four verses that were written most likely by the English hymn writer John Francis Wade we almost never sing or hear the second verse that says:

True God of true God, Light from Light Eternal

Lo, He shuns not the Virgin's womb;

Son of the Father, begotten, not created

These verses were written as an encapsulation of early Christian creeds that the church developed to help Christians think, pray, sing, and worship more carefully. 

In addition to this wonderful verse there were other verses to "O Come All Ye Faithful" that were written later about the Magi and the Shepherds that both point toward their worship at the manger of Christ. The Shepherds run with haste to gaze upon the child in awe and wonder and then they leave to tell the story. The Magi bring offerings of incense, gold, and myrrh and reject the powers that be by going home by another way. The actions of these two groups of people who came to the manger form a basic foundation for how we should approach the worship of Christ during the 12 celebratory days of the Christmas season. We should run with haste excitedly toward every opportunity we have to worship Christ. We should spend time meditating on the mystery of the incarnation of God with awe and wonder. We should tell everyone we encounter about this incredible thing that God has done. We should offer the best of what we have to the Lord-our time, our talents, and especially our treasure since the Magi brought expensive gifts to the poor holy family. 

Each day during the 12 days of Christmas we should seek to find ways that we can worship the one who was born in Bethlehem. Let our hearts be filled with excitement, awe, and wonder. Let our mouths be filled with praise and every aspect of our lives be given in gratitude to the King of angels. 

As you come to behold him I leave you with this other forgotten verse as a prayer that is much needed in this day and age of Christmas riches and excess:

Child, for us sinners poor and in the manger,
We would embrace Thee, with love and awe;
Who would not love Thee, loving us so dearly?

O Come All Ye Faithful (Celebrating Grace #103)

O come, all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant,
O come ye, O come ye, to Bethlehem.
Come and behold Him, born the King of angels;

O come, let us adore Him,

O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him,
Christ the Lord.

True God of true God, Light from Light Eternal,
Lo, He shuns not the Virgin’s womb;
Son of the Father, begotten, not created;

Sing, choirs of angels, sing in exultation;
O sing, all ye citizens of heaven above!
Glory to God, all glory in the highest;

Yea, Lord, we greet Thee, born this happy morning;
Jesus, to Thee be glory given;
Word of the Father, now in flesh appearing.

See how the shepherds, summoned to His cradle,
Leaving their flocks, draw nigh to gaze;
We too will thither bend our joyful footsteps;

Lo! star led chieftains, Magi, Christ adoring,
Offer Him incense, gold, and myrrh;
We to the Christ Child bring our hearts’ oblations.

Child, for us sinners poor and in the manger,
We would embrace Thee, with love and awe;
Who would not love Thee, loving us so dearly?

Rev. Benjamin Boswell

December 27 - Joy to the World

A couple of weeks ago, on the third Sunday of Advent, Pastor Ben Boswell preached a sermon from Isaiah 61 entitled, "We cry out in joy for the One who is to come." If you missed it, you are encouraged to listen to it here. In it, Ben separated the kind of joy that Isaiah and later Jesus himself proclaim with the "joy" we are often inundated with during the holiday season in America. Ad after ad proclaim to us the gospel of the shopping mall: that the more we buy, the more joy we will have.

Of course, this is not good news for all people like the coming of the Christ child was. It is especially bad news for the poor, for whom the wealth to buy joy is in short supply. It just so happens, that the poor are exactly who Jesus says he came to proclaim good news to (see Luke 4:16-21)! In Luke 2, the angel tells the shepherds, "I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people. To you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord." The gospel's version of good news for all people is that to the lowly shepherds is born a Savior, God's presence and saving power for those whom society neglects and about whom powerful people forget. The joy of the gospel is that the "wonders of God's love" are for the least among us, and that through them, all of us have a chance at being saved from ourselves.

Isaac Watt's first line may seem grammatically incorrect to us (shouldn't it be "The Lord has come?"), but despite being correct grammar for the time in which it was written, the use of "is come" rather than "has come" allows modern Christians to meditate on what it might mean for us to receive an ever-coming Christ. Christ is always coming into our world and if we want to be his followers, we must be ready to make room! It is especially important during Christmas for us to focus on what it might mean for us to make room for the Incarnate Christ, so that the curse may be eradicated and the glories of God's righteousness made known to all the earth. What kind of renovating to we need to do to make room for Christ this year? How can we bring good news of great joy to the poor, the people God came to bless and wants to bless through us?

To quote Pastor Boswell, "the world does not need more reindeer, more bows, more cookies, more tinsel, more presents, more sentimental and fleeting emotions like happiness or cheer this Christmas. What the world needs more of is justice for the poor, food for the hungry, freedom for the oppressed, and healing for the brokenhearted." If we can bring this type of good news to the world, then not only will we rejoice God's heart, but we will also be given the gift of the Spirit about which this famous hymn sings: the true joy of the inauguration of Christ's kingdom on earth.

You are encouraged to enter into a time of silent confession and meditation followed by the closing prayer.

Closing Prayer
Lord God, our King and Savior: Come again to us this Christmas. Make room in our hearts for the things that give you joy: justice for the poor, freedom for the oppressed, and healing for the brokenhearted. As we learn how to be your joy in a world full of pain, let us never lose sight of the wonders of your love and the glories of your righteousness. Amen.

Joy to the World (Celebrating Grace #102)

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 earth! 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.

No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make his blessings flow
Far as the curse is found,
Far as the curse is found,
Far as, far as, the curse is found.

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.


Rev. Stephen Stacks

December 26 - Hark! the Herald Angels Sing

Charles Wesley's famous hymn, "Hark! the Herald Angels Sing," is perhaps the most well-known and widely used of the hymns we will ponder this Christmas. What is less well known, however, is that the original text's first line was not "Hark! the Herald Angels Sing" but "Hark how all the welkin rings!" and contained two additional verses that are no longer in use. The archaic word "welkin," meaning heavens or firmament, gave the text more cosmic implications than the current reference to the narrative from Luke's gospel. We are not just joining with Luke's angels to sing "Glory to the newborn King" but with the heavens themselves. Rather than "with the angelic host proclaim: Christ is born in Bethlehem," Wesley originally penned, "universal nature say: Christ the Lord is born today" again emphasizing the universe-altering importance of the birth of the Messiah.

As Christians, we believe that Christ changed everything, that all of history must now be interpreted through his life, death, and resurrection. We strive to live lives that only make sense through the lens of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The question for us as we enter this Christmas season is: are we ready and willing to mirror that radical change in our own lives? Do we really want the "second birth" Christ offers?

My favorite four lines of this hymn are:

Hail the heav'n-born Prince of Peace!
Hail the Sun of Righteousness!
Light and life to all he brings,
Ris'n with healing in his wings.

These lines will be challenging for me to sing this year, however. After recent events, I am left wondering if we really believe that Christ is the Prince of Peace. Christ showed us by his life and death how we are to live at peace with God and with one another. In order to live in peace we must be able to speak truth to one another in love and reject all forms of violence, as he did. In a world full of violence and no peace, Christians have our work cut out for us. Do we long for the Sun of Righteousness to rise? The prophet Malachi, whom Wesley quotes when he says that Christ is the "Sun of Righteousness, risen with healing in his wings" explains that God's version of righteousness is refusing to oppress the hired workers in their wages, caring for the orphans and the widows, and not thrusting aside the immigrant. Can we honestly say that we have been Christ's righteousness for the world, bringing light and life and healing to all? Recent studies done since the Congressional report on torture was released a couple weeks ago have shown that Christians support torture in higher percentages than non-religious people. Does that sound like something the "Prince of Peace, risen with healing" would condone?

Here are the two verses Charles Wesley wrote that we no longer sing:

Come, Desire of nations, come,
fix in us thy humble home;
rise, the woman's conquering seed,
bruise in us the serpent's head.
Now display thy saving power,
ruined nature now restore,
now in mystic union join
thine to ours, and ours to thine.

Adam's likeness, Lord efface;
stamp thy image in its place;
second Adam from above,
reinstate us in thy love.
Let us thee, though lost, regain,
thee, the life, the inner man.
O! to all thyself impart,
formed in each believing heart.

Too often, we Christians have been complicit in forms of oppression and violence that simply cannot be harmonized with the life Jesus our Emmanuel lived. We tend to focus on the comforting aspect of "God with us" but there is another side to that equation: when God comes to dwell with us, God destroys the image of sin that we have made and stamps the likeness of God in its place. This Christmas, let our prayer be that God will come and "bruise in us the serpent's head." Let our prayer be that God will impart all of Godself to us, not just the parts with which we are comfortable.

You are encouraged to enter into a time of silent confession and meditation followed by the closing prayer.

Closing Prayer
Prince of Peace and Sun of Righteousness: Come once again to us this Christmas. Save us from our sin and reconcile us to your way of love that we might more fully join the triumph of the skies and proclaim your birth to a world in need of second birth. Amen.

Hark! the Herald Angels Sing* (Celebrating Grace #127)

Hark the herald angels sing
"Glory to the newborn King;
Peace on earth, and mercy mild,
God and sinners reconciled!"
Joyful, all ye nations rise
Join the triumph of the skies;
With the angelic host proclaim:
"Christ is born in Bethlehem!"
Hark! The herald angels sing,
"Glory to the newborn King!"

Christ by highest heaven adored;
Christ the everlasting Lord;
Late in time behold him come
Offspring of a virgin's womb.
Veiled in flesh the Godhead see;
Hail the incarnate Deity,
Pleased as man with us to dwell,
Jesus, our Emmanuel.
Hark! The herald angels sing,
"Glory to the newborn King!"

Hail the heav'n-born Prince of Peace!
Hail the Sun of Righteousness!
Light and life to all he brings,
Ris'n with healing in his wings.
Mild He lays his glory by,
Born that we no more may die,
Born to raise us from the earth,
Born to give us second birth.
Hark! The herald angels sing
"Glory to the newborn King!"

* Each day, we will link a recording of the hymn we are studying. You are encouraged to listen and/or sing the hymn to close your devotional time.

Rev. Stephen Stacks

Christmas Devotional

I read an interesting article recently about the movement among many Protestant churches to more faithfully and fully observe the Christian season of Advent. The most compelling point the author made was that while we may be doing a better job at observing Advent, we sometimes forget to fully celebrate the season of Christmas afterwards, which defeats the purpose of the penitential waiting we have done in the four weeks leading up to Christmas. If we are going to recapture the spirit of Advent (which I believe is an extremely necessary and counter-cultural act), then we must also recapture the festivity of the Christian season of Christmas, which begins on Christmas Eve and runs through Epiphany on January 6.

Part of the problem is that our culture—driven by the consumerism that has built up around the American celebration of "Christmas"—tells us that Christmas begins on Black Friday (sometimes before that...) and ends on Christmas Day. For those whose churches who are trying to faithfully enter into Advent while the surrounding culture is already in full-on Christmas bonanza, the all-too-common tendency is to feel all the tension of not celebrating Christmas with the outside world during Advent, but then to give up with everyone else after Christmas Day, leaving no time for the meaning of the Incarnation to unfold and for the celebrating of God with us to occur "in the fullness of time." This is the genius of the liturgical year as handed down to us by the Church. When we try to reinvent the wheel and reject the wisdom of our forebears, we often end up settling for something less than what God wants for us. If we believe that both Advent and Christmas are important, we have to learn to do both and ignore the attempts of our money-driven culture to tell us when our holy seasons should be celebrated. It will feel strange to wait to sing the Church's wonderful hymns about the newborn Christ until Christmas Eve, and then to continue singing them until Epiphany Sunday long after the radio stations have gone back to their typical playlists. But we Christians were never meant to feel comfortable with our surroundings. We are a peculiar people...

In order to help with your meditation on the meaning of the Incarnation during Christmas this year, the ministerial staff at Greenwood Forest will be posting a devotional for each day beginning with the first day of Christmas, December 26 until Epiphany on January 6. Since we have been resisting the temptation to sing many of the church's carols during Advent, we will focus on a well-known Christmas hymn each day so that we may more fully experience the theology these beloved hymns of the faith offer us in this special season. We hope that you will use these meditations to allow God to be born in you this Christmas. The wait is over. Merry Christmas! Stay tuned for the first devotional meditation on the morning of December 26.

O Emmanuel

The final O Antiphon prays to Christ as Emmanuel, God with us. The day before we finally celebrate the Incarnate God, the God who was not ashamed to enter into our humanity and inaugurate the upside down kingdom of God. On the day before Christmas Eve, we cry out for God's kingdom to come near once again, to make the last first, to bring good news to the poor and the oppressed, liberty to the captives, and God's Jubilee for all people.

O Emmanuel

O Emmanuel, Rex et legifer noster,

exspectatio Gentium, et Salvator earum:

veni ad salvandum nos, Domine, Deus noster.

O Emmanuel, our king and our lawgiver,

the hope of the nations and their Savior:

Come and save us, O Lord our God.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AytO3ymk7Kk&spfreload=10

O Rex Gentium

Two days before Christmas Eve, the antiphon reflects on Christ as the king and desire of the nations (see Isaiah 9:6 and Isaiah 2:4). This text was the impetus for the familiar "O Come Desire of Nations" verse in "O Come, O Come Emmanuel." Christ as "Rex Gentium" testifies to the Lordship of Christ and to his goal of reconciling the Gentiles to the people of Israel and saving the whole of humanity from its lostness. 

O Rex Gentium

O Rex Gentium, et desideratus earum,

lapisque angularis, qui facis utraque unum:

veni, et salva hominem,

quem de limo formasti.

O King of the nations, and their desire,

the cornerstone making both one:

Come and save the human race,

which you fashioned from clay.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqdlOgQ9yS8