Devotion for December 27, Year B (ELCA Daily Lectionary)

Above:  Madonna and Child

Image in the Public Domain

God With Us

DECEMBER 27, 2023

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The Collect:

All-powerful and unseen God, the coming of your light

into our world has brightened weary hearts with peace.

Call us out of darkness, and empower us to proclaim the birth of your Son,

Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns

with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.  Amen.

–Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), page 20

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The Assigned Readings:

Exodus 33:18-23

Psalm 148

1 John 1:1-9

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Praise the LORD.

Praise the LORD from the heavens;

praise him in the heights above.

Praise him, all his angels;

praise him, all his hosts.

Praise him, sun and moon;

praise him, all you shining stars;

praise him, you highest heavens,

and you waters above the heavens.

Let them praise the name of the LORD,

by his command they were created;

he established them for ever and ever

by an ordinance which shall never pass away.

–Psalm 148:1-6, Revised English Bible (1989)

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Psalm 148:1-6 uses mythological language to praise God, the Creator.  (One cannot be an intellectually honest Creationist unless one thinks that the world is a flat, with water below, a dome above, and water above that, for such is the description of the world in Genesis 1:1-2:4a.)  The majesty of that deity is evident also in Exodus 33:18-23, where nobody may see God’s face and live.  Yet, as 1 John 1:1-9 reminds us, God (the Second Person of the Trinity, actually) took human form and became fully human.

We repeat, we really saw and heard what we are now writing to you about.   We want you to be with us in this–in this fellowship with the Father, and Jesus Christ his Son.  We write and tell you about it, so that our joy may be complete.

–1 John 1:3-4, J. B. Phillips, The New Testament in Modern English–Revised Edition (1972)

I have concluded that the first important statement about Jesus of Nazareth is that he lived among people, had contact with them, and ate and drank with them.  He was no Gnostic phantom.  Many of the Christian claims about Jesus echo statements about other supposed saviors of the world.  Those alleged saviors, however, never existed.  A figment of human imaginations cannot save anyone from anything.  The physical reality of Christ helps provide credibility to other vital statements about him.

December 27 is the third day of Christmas, a celebration of our Lord and Savior’s physicality.  As 1 John 1:1 says, people had opportunities to observe and hold in their hands “something of the Word of life”–J. B. Phillips, The New Testament in Modern English–Revised Edition (1972).  God has drawn near to us.  May we draw nearer to God and remain there.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

NOVEMBER 6, 2014 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF WILLIAM TEMPLE, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY

THE FEAST OF TE WHITI O RONGOMAI, MAORI PROPHET

THE FEAST OF THEOPHANE VENARD, ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST, MISSIONARY, AND MARTYR IN VIETNAM

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http://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2014/11/06/god-with-us-4/

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