Christmas Eve

Merry Christmas everyone once again. This is my (Micah's) first post since exactly one year ago.

`

Isaiah performed in the Christmas Eve service at Hope Church this evening. It was a mediocre performance on his part. Most of the time, he was looking at his classmates, seeking clues for what gestures should be made next while they navigated the lyrics to Away in a Manger.

`

However, I was listening to those lyrics. One of the stanzas in that song is:

`

The cattle are lowing

The poor Baby wakes

But little Lord Jesus

No crying He makes

`

Jamie mentioned to me after we got home that no one has any way to know whether Jesus cried or not. The author of Away in a Manger took some fairly liberal artistic license when he assumed that the Lord Jesus wouldn't have cried if and when the cattle woke him up.

`

You know what though? My bet is that he DID cry. Know why I say that? Because he was a baby . . . . and I've found that babies cry. They also vomit, shiver, flop their heads around, and feed from thier mothers' breast. I have to assume that Jesus did all of those things, because he was a baby -- a human being. The same God who created the universe with a breath had become a baby. A helpless, crying, vomiting, shivering, limp-necked baby. But also God. Ever think about that?

`

Why did it have happen this way? I'm not sure I'm qualified to say. But for reasons that I'm sure make perfect sense, God knew that something had to be done. He knew that the human race was helplessly broken. The mankind that he had created in his image had rejected him, chosen their own path, followed other gods, and had even attempted to become God in his place. Because of who God is, this was unacceptable. Someone had to pay a price for this. It was either us . . . . . . or it would be him.

`

Because that God who breathed the universe into existence is also a loving, graceful God, he apparently decided that it would be him. He would pay the price. He would make the sacrifice. And the redemption plan was launched when Jesus was born.

`

Tomorrow, we celebrate once again this plan having been launched. He really took on the form of humanity in order to set in motion the rescue plan required. All of these Christmas carols refer to an event to which I may have become mostly immune. But on nights like these, it's helpful to remember how dramatic a story it really is.

`

Merry Christmas, everyone. Hopefully, you'll thank God with me for the plan he had to rescue us -- in the person of Jesus Christ.