We Love God!

God: "I looked for someone to take a stand for me, and stand in the gap" (Ezekiel 22:30)

Displaying a Christmas nativity scene is a long-standing tradition, but it can also present a bit of a skewed view of the actual events of Jesus’ birth. While each person depicted in a traditional nativity scene is a part of the Christmas story, not all the characters were present in one place on the night Jesus was born. Mary, Joseph, and Jesus were in a stable that night due to the overcrowding in Bethlehem’s inn (Luke 2:7), but the Bible never mentions whether or not animals were present—in fact, it never even mentions a stable. The shepherds, once told of Jesus’ arrival, left their flocks to worship the newborn King (Luke 2:16). However, the angels, which are often part of nativity scenes, bore the good news to the shepherds in the fields (Luke 2:8–14). As far as we know, there were no angels flying visibly over the place where Jesus was when the shepherds arrived. In addition, the wise men (the Bible never says how many there were) were also probably not present that first night. The magi visited Jesus some time later, when He was in a house (Matthew 2:1–11).
Unknown Author

Penal substitution does not turn God into a cosmic child abuser. It does not reduce Christ to the passive victim of some divine injustice. It does not pit the Trinity against itself. No, in the God-forsakenness of Christ on the cross, the love of God and the justice of God are revealed on our behalf. United in purpose, Father and Son act in concert to save God’s people. The sinless Son of God bears our sin, and then God pours out the wrath that our sin deserves, and Jesus the Son endures it so that we, who deserve that wrath, might never encounter it. This is the gospel, the good news of the cross, and it calls us to forsake our sin, to turn away from it and embrace Christ, the forsaken one, so that we may not be forsaken.
Michael Lawrence

    • jh9404

    Posted on
    This entry is part 8 of 9 in the series JOHANNINE HOURS - from the Taize Community

    JOHANNINE HOURS - from the Taize Community

    jh9404 Document: pub/resources/text/taize/johannine: johannine.94.04.TXT

    April 1994 – Johannine Hour – 1 Peter 1,3-9 – Taize-Community.

    For believers rooted in the hope of the Bible, the resurrection cannot be an individualistic matter; it is a collective event that marks the beginning of a new age (cf. Dan 12,2-3). What meaning can there be, then, in proclaiming that “Christ is risen” in a world that seems to go its own way with no apparent change?

    At the beginning of his first letter, Saint Peter helps believers to see their way clear in this matter. By the resurrection of Christ, he tells them, God has brought you to birth anew; the object of your hope, what God has promised from the beginning, is now a reality (vv.3-4). True, you are still undergoing all kinds of hardships: evil and suffering have not disappeared by magic. And yet something has indeed changed; the very fact that you can believe in and love Christ “without seeing him” is already the proof that the life of resurrection is at work transforming the world.

    In other words, the existence in the present time of women and men who support the difficulties of daily life with the cheerfulness and the constancy of faith prepares the universe to welcome and to recognize the Risen Lord when he is revealed in fullness (vv.6-7). The meaning of the Christian life can be summed up in joy, a joy beyond all attempts at explanation because it is rooted in the life of God, a joy that is already a real communion with the Christ who is not yet visible to the eye (v.8).

    Do I find in my faith in the Risen Christ a serene force that enables me to cope with the difficulties of daily life?

    Have I ever experienced, in the midst of the trials of life, a spark of joy that came from elsewhere? When and how? What can such experiences teach us about the mystery of the death and resurrection of Christ?

    [For additions or changes to the Taize mailing list which sends out the “Johannine Hour” each month as well as other news items concerning Taize from time to time, please send a mail to: taize@cpe.ipl.fr or taize@dkauni2.bitnet]

    Series NavigationPrevious in Series: jh9403Next in Series: taize

    Related Articles: