Sunday we attended Buckhead Church in Atlanta. Rodney Anderson, singles pastor, mentioned that his favorite Christmas carol lyric was from O Little Town of Bethlehem. Specifically, he quoted the portion that says, "The hopes and fears of all the years are met in Thee tonight."
That phrase seems to capture the magic of Christmas for Believers. The hope that the baby Jesus represents is what our souls still crave today--that our deepest fears can be comforted and our heartfelt hopes we be met.
This world can weigh heavily on our hearts. We are burdened by our sin, the sin of others, trials we face or watch those we care about go through. We bring those things to Jesus...our hopes and fears, our hurts and dreams.
The beauty of the coming of this long expected Jesus is that He came. In coming to us rather than requiring us to come to Him He has demonstrated His willingness and His ability to enter in to our world with humility and with hope.
In researching this hymn tonight I came across an old legend from the early church. The legend is that when Jesus was a baby, whenever the people of His little village felt tired, worried, or fearful they would say to each other, "Let us go and look at Mary’s child." And they would go and look at Jesus and somehow all their troubles rolled away.
In the next few days leading up to Christmas, I pray that I will pause to follow the lead of the villagers in the legend. "Let us go and look at Mary's child."
1 comment:
Thank you
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