Skip to main content

O Come Let Us Adore Him


Ask a small child to arrange a nativity scene and you might get something like this…

My daughter did something similar to this during her first “active” Christmas Holiday season.  That's the 1.5 year old Christmas where she was making meaning and learning faith stories as fast as her church family and I could tell them to her. She helped me set up our family nativity set minus Jesus; we did this  because we wait until Dec. 24th after church to find Jesus in the manger.  She looked at each piece and named them.  Explaining the story as she went through the box of precious figures, she placed each one with care.  When she finished all I could see were the backs of the shepherds, sheep and camels.  I couldn’t see Mary AT ALL!  It was all wrong. 

As a young mother is want to do, I explained gently that the set should be set up in a “V” so we could see each individual piece. As an almost two year old/who thinks she is an adult will invariably do, my daughter  explained with exasperation that they are not important.  They are looking for/at the manger where Baby Jesus goes. That's the important part.

Yep, she got it.  The child whose lullabies were “Amazing Grace” and “What Child is This”  reminded me of what is important during this holiday season.  It is not about us, how we look, whether the stable is clean, nor how many lights are on the tree; it is the expectation and the gift.   What is important is remembering that at Christmas we humbly, joyfully, and reverently sing
"O come, let us adore him.
O come, let us adore him.
O come, let us adore him, Christ the Lord." 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

And on the seventh day...

Figure 1 http://www.montreat.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Mountains-2-400x250-300x187.jpg We think of “Sabbath” as a time to NOT DO something.  We stop.  We wait.  We rest.  We sit.  However, that is a lot of work!  I think of Sabbath as “making a space.”  It is an active choosing, remembering, and prioritizing a holy space for God.  It is less about “letting go” and more about “leaning in” to the Breath of the Holy Spirit.  In this context Sabbath is a return to our making.  You see, in the beginning “the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being” (Genesis 2:7). It is the breath of the Lord God that stirs dust into human.  It is the breath of the Lord God that makes us living and gives us a life.  Therefore, “Sabbath” – a time for rest and renewal, is an opportunity to reach for that breath of God which gives u...

Churching where we are: We are ALL able around God’s table!

I sat in the sanctuary Sunday, and it felt VAST.   Some might think of it as “empty…” but there was a huge sense of space and a connection to beyond the walls.   I realized that Our Church circle is SO WIDE! We were gathered, in our own homes, but each of us was there standing, kneeling, sitting,and  praying together before our God.   Your home is a “room” in the House of God if we gather in the name of Jesus Christ.   Kid’s club has been talking a lot about how we do not do “random” acts of kindness.   We do them on purpose!   We do INTENTIONAL acts of kindness in the name of Jesus Christ.   We do them because Jesus asked us to do them! God helps us to do them! It is part of who we are and WHOSE we are as God’s beloved children. One activity from Kids Club is the “I CAN” cube .   It helps to remind us that, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" (Philippians 4:13).  You can do this at home.   Take an em...

“For a time such as this…”

The book of Esther is a difficult one, but it is important.  It speaks of power! There is personal power, royal power, and providential power.  It is a book that can be difficult to discuss with children and anyone who has been voiceless; however, it is not a book exhaulting the victim.  Esther is not a submissive girl who gives up.  She has inner strength and power.  She lives her life and draws on her community.  When the time comes, she uses her wisdom to be a vessel for the will of God.  Her uncle tells her, “perhaps you have been made royal for a time such as this.”  We often skip the “royal,” in our attempt to make the message universal.  However, we forget that we are children of "the king of all creation" and therefore “royal.”  I cannot help wondering how the Rev. Becca Stevens hears the book of Esther? Rev. Stevens works with women who have been commercialized and abused.  She teaches that "#LoveHeals." ...