Dissolved In Perpetual Joy
the prophesy: a child to be born and be born of a virgin
For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Isaiah 9:6
The following was written and read aloud in 2019 at my church’s Christmas Eve service. It has been edited for length and clarity for Becoming (Child)Wise.
Scripture Reading from Luke 1:30-55
6 years ago today, I sat in the hospital with my newborn baby girl.
Hours earlier, days earlier, 9 months earlier I was gripped with fear:
How will we raise 3 children without the help of my mother?
She was so instrumental in helping with my first two boys.
I had been through a few traumatic experiences growing up,
But none had prepared me for
watching my mother slip away from life to death
But on that day, 6 years ago today,
in the quiet of the hospital,
on Christmas Eve,
I felt a peace.
As I stared down at my baby girl, I was reminded of another baby…
How Jesus Changed the World
A Yale historian, Jaroslav Pelikan in his book, Jesus Through the Centuries: His Place in the History of Culture, says,
“Regardless of what anyone may personally think or believe about him, Jesus of Nazareth has been the dominant figure in the history of Western Culture for almost 20 centuries. If it were possible, with some sort of super magnet, to pull up out of history every scrap of metal bearing at least a trace of his name, how much would be left?”
Christ’s birth and life set many things in motion.
Jesus was born into a world where children were mistreated, abandoned, abused, but he said, “let the little children come to me and do not hinder them.”
John Ortberg, a pastor of Menlo Presbyterian church share many other impacts Christ has had and continues to have in our world,
“Jesus had a universal concern for those who suffered that transcended the rules of the ancient world. His compassion for the poor and the sick led to institutions for lepers, the beginning of modern-day hospitals.”