A Collection of Nests
Marr Miller’s photographs capture different perspectives of “nest.”
This Guy by Wil Triggs
We were on a charter boat traveling all night to get to the place where we could all catch a mess load of fish. Problem was, the swells got so bad, we were going up and down, over and over, and we all started to feel really small, like this boat we were on was nothing compared with the big ocean we were in. The ocean was rolling, and it seemed that surely our boat would roll right over. The rain got really bad. You could see the sheets of it falling through the moonlight. People started to get sick, throwing up off the side of the boat, all of us. Some of us headed below deck to get out of the rain and there was this guy sleeping through the whole thing.
He woke up. He looked kind of annoyed (not sure with us or the weather) as he went up on deck. He looked away from the boat up at the storm and said, “Knock it off.”
Somehow, the water went all still and calm.
What? I mean, was that some kind of freak coincidence?
Imagine hearing about a group of people stuck in the middle of nowhere with no food. No phone service for UberEats or GrubHub. This guy with them says to sit down, so they do. After they sit, he says a prayer and opens one kid's lunchbox and starts passing food around like he has a truckload of catered sandwiches from Jason’s Deli. Everyone eats. Those sandwiches tasted like some incredible artisanal delight, more than good, the best deli ever.
OK, so, that’s just weird. Made up, right? Some kind of magic trick. The Amazing Kreskin or David Copperfield or David Blaine, just not on stage.
Did you hear the news about your neighbor or your co-worker and what happened? Her brother died. He was sick for just a few days. Or maybe it just hit him all at once. Maybe it was COVID. Maybe it was cancer. Maybe it was getting hit one too many times at a sports event. Or a heart attack just out of nowhere. Like the worst kind of defensive tackle. There was nothing the ambulance could do. He was gone. Off to the morgue they take him. People are just in shock.
Then this guy comes in from out of town. He looks at the corpse, the dead man, and this guy just says, “Get up.”
Imagine the unimaginable. Your co-worker’s brother sits up. He comes back from the dead. He is alive.
People are starting to get excited about this guy who seems so different from the rest of us. What he’s doing, well, it can’t all be some sleight of hand magic. I mean, there has to be something special about him, something amazing.
Yet, when you do at last see him, he looks, well, just like any other person, any other guy. There’s no halo, no heavenly voices, nothing crazy like that. This guy is not part of the marvel universe. He’s not bigger than us or stronger, he’s just one of us.
Some people want to make him president. Or more, whatever more might be. I mean, they’ve never been energized like this. They really think he needs to fix government, because if he can bring someone back from the dead and feed all those people and take care of the cataclysmic weather, he can surely take care of the border crisis and the financial debacle and the unbridled reach for power to people from the left and the right and the up and down, not to mention taxes, tsunamis, melting glaciers, corruption in government, fires, economic downturns and earthquakes and 1984-style Big Government and Pharma and, oh yeah, my sin.
He's wanted in another way, too; wanted like a criminal. Afghanistan’s most wanted. Post-modern Marxist classrooms. LGBTQ+ whatever. Mainland China, North Korea’s most wanted, or maybe hated would be a better word. Weird thing is, this guy doesn’t move away from it all. He runs toward the disaster, not away - he goes where he’s not wanted. He cannot leave the world and its people untouched.
He’s got a photographic memory. There are things and people he cannot forget. Those people, “remember me,” that’s where he is, right next to the man in jail, hanging there next to the thief, the woman beaten, the man who beat her, the shooting victim, the shooter, the homeless mental patient, the child orphaned. The wife cast out of her home, the broken mother, the desperate father, the pastor imprisoned, the prison warden, the blind man, the old man with no hope, the student denied entrance to university, the prosecutor and the defense, the crippled man on the stretcher who can’t fit through the door of the church, the lady who can’t remember her own name, the family swept away by a mudslide, the cancer patient, the hemophiliac reaching to touch his jacket or even just his shadow cast on the ground by the Mediterranean sun, a student swept out to sea in a riptide she can’t swim out of and all she can say is one word, one name, his. . .
We all long for a new heaven and a new earth. In the meantime, we get to make do with this guy.
Celebrity Sightings by Lorraine Triggs
I was in the gift shop at the Art Institute of Chicago when I spotted the film star. I grabbed some random Monet note cards and made my way to the register for a closer look. Okay, maybe shorter than he was in his films, older, too, but it had to be him.
I stepped out of line to find my husband—any good Californian would know a film star when he saw one. My husband glanced at the man. “No, it’s not him.”
Seriously? You could tell from one look? I forced him to walk around the register a couple more times to be sure. “No, it’s not him.”
Another occasion, we were outside a theater in London, trying to decide which performance of Shakespeare’sThe Winter’s Taleto attend. With neither watch nor device, we asked a man standing near us for the time. We chatted about the play—one of my husband’s favorites—and then brought our tickets.
Talk about a celebrity sighting that evening. The man we had talked to turned out to be one of the major characters in the play, and we were totally clueless that we had spoken with a real live celebrity.
Wil told me of a time when he was in college. At a park in Los Angeles, a family on vacation, probably from the midwest, sheepishly approached him. and asked for an autograph.
"What?" he asked.
"We know who you are," the mother said, her voice trembling slightly. Wil asked her who they thought he was and she said, "You're Kenny Loggins." [a popular singer at the time.]
He told the family that he wasn't Kenny Loggins. They lingered. The children looked at him, awestruck. They followed him. They approached him again. The mother broke away from the family and came up to him. "We understand that you want your privacy," she said. "We respect that, but we're just thrilled that we got to see a real celebrity. So thank you."
We live in a celebrity culture--Hollywood, Capitol Hill, the church. Merriam-Webster defines a celebrity as a famous or celebrated person.
So no one has ever confused my husband with Jesus, but one family was sure that he was Kenny Loggins.
As Christians, though more conscientious about morals and values than Hollywood and Capitol Hill, we celebrate trendy pastors, authors, speakers, musicians, athletes, actors turned Christian. And when they prove true the blunt assessment of the Apostle Paul in Romans 3:23, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” we find it easier to ignore Paul and coddle the celebrated ones who really didn’t mean to mess up.
When the prophet Nathan confronted David about his sin, David clearly stated, “I have sinned against the Lord.” That was it. He didn’t step down as king for a season of retreat and reflection, but he did write a prayer of contrition. “For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight.” (Psalm 51:3, 4). When he confessed, David wasn’t looking for a standing ovation from God’s people. He had his eyes on something, no, someone who was abundant in mercy and steadfast love. Someone worth celebrating.
Perhaps that’s my problem with our Christian celebrity culture. We so easily look at each other and see oversized versions of ourselves. I think of the most lauded preacher, the best-selling author, people I admire in one way or another. But honestly, none of us are really that special. We need to be more like Job when he said to God, "Behold, I am of small account. . . " (Job 40:4, ASV) As my small account self takes in the Savior, the worthy Lamb, my soul increases in its love and awe of Jesus, who exceeds our expectations, meets our every need and never lets us down.
Let's shake the "star"dust from our eyes, and gaze on the beauty, grace and light of Jesus. May people see more of him and less of us in 2023.
New Year's Resolution: See More Theater by Wil Triggs
In the land of Narnia, at the beginning of the Chronicles, the creatures and the land faced a situation described as always winter, but never Christmas. A cold and dark world it was.
But what about when it’s winter and then it’s Christmas and then it’s . . . what?
When I was a kid, the week after Christmas and before New Year’s was pretty great. No school, new toys, flannel pajamas, fudge and See’s candy and other good foods lingering from Christmas.
All seemed well. People headed home for where they gathered with family and friends. It might have been across town or across the country or even some other part of the world. The newborn King was safe and sound in the manger. The family goes back to Nazareth, and everybody lives happily ever after. For us, New Year’s follows Christmas. The tree comes down. We pack up our ornaments and lights and put them in the basement or the garage for another year. Think football games, and parades and finger foods. Life begins again with resolutions and resolves to live a better life in the year to come than in the year just ended.
But after Christmas in the Gospels, that’s not the way it worked out.
The Magi had told Herod of the good news of the birth from the line of David, and he encouraged them on their way. Eventually the Magi show up with their gifts—that’s where the 12 days of Christmas come from, so they got to see Jesus. I think it probably took them a lot longer than 12 days. Afterwards, the dreams and warnings came, and they opted to avoid the Herod expressway and take back roads back home for fear of Herod’s wrath.
They weren’t the only ones with a king-sized problem. Mary and Joseph didn’t just leave Bethlehem and head home to Nazareth like I imagined. Instead, Herod began killing babies to make sure his reign was safe from whatever kind of king he feared had come. Instead of going back to their home, Joseph, Mary and Jesus opted to go to Egypt. Mothers started to wail tears of grief. It was brutal. Did Herod think he had succeeded in killing Jesus when all those boys died?
The people who lost their sons, grandsons, nephews, is it any wonder that they were looking for some kind of release from the rule under which they lived? I’m sure that kind of grief didn’t just fade away. The government could do anything it wanted to them and did.
The brutal tyranny of man at war with the humble way of God’s love. In hymn speak, “This is My Father’s World” was having a little tussle with “This World is Not My Home.” Roman rule did not just go away. But there is a different world at work. Then and now, and not only the present and the past, but also future.
In his book The Heart in Pilgrimage, in the chapter “The World as Theater of God’s Glory,” Lee Ryken writes of John Calvin and the wonders of the created world. “God’s glory is on display,” he writes. “We are spectators of it. It is in the nature of a theatrical performance that a dynamic interaction exists between the audience and the performers.”
This is a celebration of faith observing the natural world and all its creative wonder. But I can’t help but misapply it. First to see more theater and more nature in 2023 and second to think of Calvin’s words not in relation to the natural world, but the fallen world and its connection or disconnection to the world to come. As things seem to be in decline, we know who will prevail and rule and make new. This is the ultimate theater where Satan is vanquished and a new acts begins.
I can see Nigerian people of the church emerging from their hiding places in the bush to go back to their villages, the church that was burned down in Nigeria rebuilt, and I can hear the beautiful African voices singing of the love better than all other loves combined.
The Christian man in another country whose work partners were martyred finding new office space in a different town, working with them together on a new project, a magazine celebrating the peace of God in every language of the universe.
The men who used to kidnap, torture, even kill, now serving those they once held captive, their eyes open to the loving and forgiving God who became the object of their repentance and worship. There they sit, side by side, in joy and fraternal fellowship.
The lion lies down with the lamb. Happy new year.
Books We Loved 2022
BEST BOOKS 2022
We asked ministry staff and elected leaders to share favorite books they read in 2022. Here is the complete list.
Josue Alvarado, pastoral resident
The Cross of Christ by John Stott
Stott helps us to see how the cross is central to the gospel in a profound but simple way.
Cheryce Berg, director of children’s ministries
Holier Than Thou by Jackie Hill Perry
Jackie writes, “[B]ecause God is holy, all that He says is true and all that He does is good....Hear this: God’s words and works can be trusted because it is impossible for God to sin against you.”
Mark Berg, elder
Beyond Entrepreneurship 2.0 by Jim Collins
Classic business book—profound concepts made accessible and applicable
O Jerusalem by Laurie King
Fiction, 1920s, Sherlock Homes & Mary Russell
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
Science fiction—very creative
No Little People by Francis Schaeffer
A collection of Schaeffer sermons—a classic
Jay Cunningham, deacon
Created to Flourish by Peter Greer
This book opened my eyes even more to the amazing impact that Hope International (and other micro finance organizations) have had by helping the poorest of the poor to get lifted out of poverty by creating very small businesses. Trust groups, populated mostly by women, serve to not only teach simple skills like saving and investing, but also are the central place where the gospel is shared and lives are changed. This is a strongly hopeful book.
This Land of Snow: A Journey Across the North in Winter by Anders Morley
This memoir of a young man’s cross-country ski trip from the Pacific Coast of British Columbia to Central Canada was a fascinating read. The writing is strong, and the use of language and analogy is captivating. I was excited to read a book by a fellow Taylor University grad...but I was disappointed in the end to learn that Morley no longer believes in God and much of the book’s introspective nature tended toward selfishness and how others had disappointed him in his life. He also had a patronizing view of women. But if you like snow or skiing or nature...there’s a lot in here that is beautiful.
Affirming the Apostles’ Creed by J.I. Packer
This delightful, short book is well worth a read. Packer provides the history of this central Christian creed, breaking each line into a jam-packed theological package of the wonders
of God. This book helped really appreciate what we recite at College Church on a Sunday morning, and taught me how creeds are one key way to pass down theological truths from generation to generation.
Patrick Fallon, deacon
You Can Trust God to Write Your Story: Embracing the Mysteries of Providence by Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth and Robert Wolgemuth
Wonderfully moving stories of how God can and does work through the biggest challenges of live.
A Dozen Things God Did with Your Sin and Three Things He’ll Never Do by Sam Storms
Do you ever question your salvation? Read this book to learn more deeply what God has done for you!
Randy Jahns, elder
Strange New World by Carl R. Trueman
The Lord’s Work in the Lord’s Way and No Little People by Francis A Schaeffer
Ken Heulitt
Galatians by Martin Luther
This is central to Luther’s transformative understanding of grace in Christ. Theodore Graebner’s translation/abridgement (GLH Publishing) is
powerful and lively.
My Name is Asher Lev by Chaim Potok
Potok has many superb stories of orthodox Jewish young men coming to adulthood. Asher Lev is an artistic genius who is conflicted between his artistic passions and his orthodox faith.
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
I’m thankful to return to this delightful story after many years. It truly is a classic.
Amy Kruis, deaconess
The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936
Berlin Olympics by Daniel James Brown
Everything Sad Is Untrue: (a true story) by Daniel Nayeri
Blessed: Experiencing the Promise of the Book of Revelation by Nancy Guthrie
Elizabeth Larsen, evangelism and culture impact committee
Faithfully Different by Natasha Crain
Ann Lawrenz, deaconess
Ten Words To Live by Jen Wilkin
An in-depth look at the Ten Commandments by one of my favorite Christian writers. As Jen states lawfulness is Christlikeness.
Jesus the King: Understanding the Life and Death of the Son of God by Tim Keller
I read this book as an accompaniment to my reading of the gospel of Mark this summer.
Jack by Marilynne Robinson
The fourth book in Robinson’s Gilead series addresses racism and inequality and its effect on the lives of Jack Boughton and Della Miles.
A Week In the Life of a Roman Centurion by Gary Burge
First century Capernaum is the setting for this historical depiction of the life of a Roman centurion, his slave Tullus and his encounter with Jesus.
Sarah Lindquist, evangelism & culture impact committee
What to Say When: The Complete New Guide to Discussing Abortion by Shawn Carney and Steve Karlen
Very clear, easy read. Appreciated listening to authors answer audience questions https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCg0nz61NLs
A Church Called TOV: Forming a Goodness Culture by Laura Barringer and Scot McKnight
Josh Maurer, pastor of discipleship
The Genesis of Gender: A Christian Theory by Abigail Favale
Embodied: Transgender Identities, the Church, and What the Bible Has to Say by Preston Sprinkle
Evangelism as Exiles: Life on Mission as Strangers in Our Own Land by Elliot Clark
A Theology of Paul and His Letters: The Gift of the New Realm in Christ by Douglas Moo
Richard Moomjian, pastoral resident
The God of the Garden by Andrew Peterson
Sarah Nelson, deaconess
The Word Is Murder by Anthony Horowitz
I enjoy this author. He gives clues to the murder that give him humor, and entertains and helps me be part of solving who the killer is.
The Wright Brothers by David McCullough
I enjoy this author. When he passed away, I wanted to enjoy one of his books. McCullough knows how to tell
a good story.
Jeff Oslund, elder
Letters to My Students by Charles Hadden Spurgeon
Spiritual Leadership by J. Oswald Sanders
Everyday Holiness: Becoming Who You Were Made to Be by Josh Moody
Born Again This Way by Rachel Gilson
Harry Robinson, board of missions
Amazed by Jesus by Simon Ponsonby
After 30 years in ministry, Simon Ponsonby found himself asking the question, “Do I love Jesus, or do I just work for him?” Somehow in the midst of faithful and busy ministry he reflects that his awe for the Savior became blurred. This book points us to Jesus in a refreshing way, and certainly led me to once again be “Amazed by Jesus.”
Melinda Rynbrandt, director of women’s ministries
The End of the Christian Life: How Embracing our Mortality Frees us To Truly Live by J. Todd Billings
David Setran, elder
Suffering: Gospel Hope When Life Doesn’t Make Sense by Paul Tripp
An Infinite Journey: Growing Toward Christlikeness by Andrew Davis
Simple Discipleship: Grow Your Faith, Transform Your Community by Dana Allin
With All Your Heart: Orienting Your Mind, Desires, and Will Toward Christ by A. Craig Troxel
Suzanne Shirley, midweek morning superintendent (Kids Korner)
Made for More by Hannah Anderson
You’re Not Enough (and that’s ok) by Allie Beth Stuckey
When the Day Comes by Gabrielle Meyer
Tanglewood Secrets by Patricia St. John
Nancy Singer, director of administration and finance
Faith Based Fraud by Warren Cole Smith
Fraud happens all around us, but as Christians, we generally think that it won’t happen in the world of Christ followers. Time and time again, Christian leaders all around us perpetrate fraud against the Christ-followers in their churches as well as in the general public. Reading what has happened in the past can help us prevent such frauds in the future.
Carol Taylor, deaconess
Still Life and the entire Inspector Gamache series by Louise Penny
I am one book away from listening to the entire soon to be 18 book series, having just starred in July. I’m hooked!
Wil Triggs director of communications
Do You Pray? by J. C. Ryle
This is the book my small group is studying now—really enjoy our discussion.
Wisdom of the Ancients by Bryan Liftin
Another title I read in community—this time with the summer book group.
The Heart in Pilgrimage by Leland Ryken
A Christmas Heretic by Lorraine Triggs
Fairly confident that our choice of preschool for our four-year-old would never appear on his résumé, we landed on the park district preschool. Our choice was bolstered by the teachers, Miss Jan and Miss Karen, who were friends from church. We knew he would be in good hands.
As Christmas came, Jan and Karen invited me to talk to the children about one of our Christmas traditions—one that was especially meaningful to our family. I got the hint. As park district employees, Miss Jan and Miss Karen had to exercise caution in what they said. As a parent, I could throw caution to the wind, and I did, packing up our Nativity set to show the children.
Our crèche was beautiful and to scale—five inches to be exact, with Mary, Joseph, the baby in the manger, a shepherd, two lambs and an angel hanging above the serene scene. At one point, we purchased a shepherdess carrying a lamb. Unfortunately, she was 7.5 inches tall and loomed large over the Holy Family, so she didn’t come to preschool with me that afternoon.
As I pulled out the Nativity set, piece by piece, I asked the children if they knew what each figure was. Fortunately, I had “plants” in the audience—my son and another four-year-old from College Church, who were eager to tell their clueless friends who was who.
Once the scene was set, I asked the children what they liked best about Christmas. Presents. Cookies. Candy Canes. Presents. Santa. Christmas trees. Presents. Even my plants got caught up in the frenzy. When things calmed down, I said, “Did you know that we don’t need any of that stuff to have Christmas?”
Silence as 15 or so sweet faces looked at the heretic in their midst. I quickly assured them that I love all that about Christmas, but Christmas would still come even if we didn’t have presents or Santa or Christmas trees. As I talked, I removed all the pieces except for Baby Jesus, and said, “Christmas comes because of Jesus, the newborn king. We only need him.”
Christmas comes with attachments for most of us. We ask, “How are your Christmas plans coming?” or “Are you done shopping for everyone on your list?” or “Are you traveling for Christmas?” Christmas cards are cheerful recaps of accomplishments. And I won’t even mention the Christmas posts.
We know we don’t need any of that stuff to celebrate Christmas, but it’s hard to let it go. It’s hard not to fill December with, well, with everything Christmas.
The shepherds in the fields that night didn't have any plans other than watching their sheep. Mary and Joseph's travel plans went awry, and they couldn't get a room. The only ones who brought presents were still traveling. Yet they had everything and then some because the Savior, the Christ, had been born.
Jesus, the one who emptied himself and was born in the likeness of men, filled the empty ones with grace and truth and living water. He didn’t come for those who were already filled, mostly with themselves. He came to the humble, the poor in spirit, the lost, the sick, and perhaps to an awkward shepherdess, who took a few steps closer to the baby as his mother and father made room for her and her lamb around that baby’s manger.
Foot Pain by Wil Triggs
When a person walks through a day, his feet get dirty. It doesn’t matter. Shoes or no shoes. Walking through the day. It just happens. Dirt gets on our feet.
We don’t walk nearly as much as people used to. We have cars. If you don't have a car, there’s always public transportation. Uber. That kind of thing. Or you can always get a ride from a neighbor or co-worker. People are nice that way.
And then there's work. Think about people in the service industry. They have it hard. They’re on their feet all day.
At a restaurant, servers bring you your breakfast. Eggs and meat, your choice. Potatoes and toast. Butter and jam on the side. Or the gluten-free alternatives. Would you like a refill on that coffee? All the time on their feet.
You go into a store. You don’t think about it, but those people are standing up and walking around all day long. They go through the produce that comes off the trucks. They get rid of the overripe avocadoes, and line all the other ones just right, to be sure they look magically boxed up on display so you can get a good look at them and make the best choice for you. And when the avocadoes are finished, these workers move to another box just off the truck. The nicely arranged apples or pears are no accident, all of them the handiwork of someone working while on his feet.
The woman in the food truck not only has to stand, but also has restricted movement—just a few feet to move from window to grill and back for hours. All the while, standing. Standing on her feet.
I never really thought much about my feet until my right foot began to hurt. People noticed. “Why are you walking like that?” was a question I heard a lot. The doctor gave me the answer: I haveplantar fasciitisin my right foot. Standing isn’t the problem, putting weight on the foot is where the pain comes. I’ve become familiar with insets and exercises to ease the pain. When I’ve mentioned this to others, I’ve been surprised how many other people are in the same place or have recovered from this malady.
But even if we have no foot issues, it is a good thing to finally get home and take off our shoes and put on slippers or thick wool socks.
A friend of mine from college used to wash his feet every night. He said he couldn’t stand the smell otherwise. He was a big guy who could easily put each foot into one of the dorm bathroom sinks and would stand there carefully washing them with Ivory soap - every toe, top and bottom, ankles too. He faithfully did this every night.
The footcare industry offers us salves, softeners and soothers to help with our feet once we get home and take off our shoes.
In Jesus’s time, foot washing was a normal part of culture. How much more dirty would feet have gotten when Jesus walked through a day like we do.
Unless you work in podiatry or shoe sales, you probably don’t spend much time looking at your or anyone else’s feet. I’m thinking more about feet because of my own foot pain, but as it gets better I’ll soon stop thinking about them.
Yes, Jesus washed the feet of his disciples, but for now I’m thinking about the feet of Jesus and pain.
How many tears does it take to wash a person’s feet?
Consider a tear, not that much water in one or two. The woman who used her own tears to wash Jesus' feet had to have had quite a cry. There was no towel but her hair, no soap but the tears that fell from her eyes. It had to have been a lot of tears.
Psalm 56:8 says “You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book.”
When her sorrows collided with the feet of the man of sorrows, God noticed every one. It’s true, too, for the tears we shed.
When we stand and walk, our feet take our full weight on themselves. But those two feet, the ones the woman cleaned with her own tears, they took the weight not only of Jesus, but the immense weight of all our sins, as he walked to and then was nailed to the cross.
I know the tears the woman shed were nothing compared with the blood that Jesus shed, but there is a connection, our tears and his, his feet and ours.
We don’t usually pay much attention to feet, with the exception of the feet of newborns. We marvel at the details, so small and perfectly shaped and new. Those two newborn incarnated feet found rest in swaddling cloths bound up in the manger of Bethlehem, coming to walk this earth for us, he walked into the wilderness, walking on mount and valley and water, then wrapped in the herbs of grief, rising to walk anew in the garden and on the road and by the sea, now sitting at the throne of heaven.
An Advent Prayer from Wendell C. Hawley
This prayer is from A Pastor Prays for His People by Wendell C. Hawley.
God of glory, God of light,
God of involvement in our predicament,
we praise you for your invasion into this fallen world—
this place of deep darkness,
this place of inexcusable rejection and unbelief.
You came, and you were not welcomed.
But the darkness can never extinguish the Light!
Praise your mighty name.
The light of the gospel has penetrated our darkened minds.
And now we see with holy appreciation some things surrounding your incarnation.
Father God, we see your presence overshadowing
the arrival of the wise men to worship Jesus.
We see your presence with the angelic chorus,
in the joyful shepherds,
in the contemplative parents,
in the beautiful baby.
But it is difficult to imagine your overshadowing presence in the soldiers’ appearance at Bethlehem.
It is in the midst of tragedy, pain, and heartache that we imagine you are absent.
This is really self-centeredness, shortsightedness,
to think that you don’t care—
that you have left us in the tough spots of life.
Isaiah makes it clear: the promised Savior will
bind up the brokenhearted,
comfort those who mourn,
give a crown of beauty for ashes
give the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness.
That is your promise for each of us today.
Help us to grasp it,
appreciate it,
be changed by it,
praise God for it.
We do praise you that what you have promised you have fulfilled.
Thank you, Father, gracious Savior, blessed Holy Spirit.