The title of this post is a literal translation of how we wish someone a Merry Christmas in Russia. While the same grammatical form is used on all sorts of occasions ("With the New Year!" "With your birthday!" "With the Day of Air Force Paratroopers!"), I think that it works best on Christmas; there would be no real reason to celebrate this day were it not for faith that Christ's nativity is "with" us now, that it is present in and among us despite a separation of 2000 years and many miles.
In the season when we celebrate the birth of Emmanuel, I pray that all of us might be encouraged again to be "with" this holiday; it is my convinction that we will then experience the peace and joy of knowing that we are never alone.
S Rozhestvom Khristovym!
Bradn
* * *
Not long ago I was asked to write a very short Christmas meditation for “Loza” (“The Vine”), the magazine of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Urals, Siberia, and Far East. I share it with you (below) in order to give a small insight into the the life of the church where I am serving. Despite the fact that their lives differ in many ways from yours, throughout the world we are united by the common need to see the incarnate Word embracing the world.
“And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us.” John 1:14a (Verse of the day. Dec. 24)
“And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us.” John 1:14a (Verse of the day. Dec. 25)
No, the repetition above is not a typo, it is an exceptional situation – as you will notice later this month when you open up your “Daily Readings,” the verse (rather, half-verse) is the same on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. The words are well-known, simple and beautiful. Is that the reason why we read them twice in a row?
It would be easy to accept these words simply as a“theological formula,” as the way of correctly expressing the church's teaching. But it seems to me that we come back to this verse again and again not in order to memorize it, but in order to over and over again dive into its mystery and meaning for us.
In these few short words many questions about the Incarnation are raised. How could a small, helpless child be the Ever-eternal Logos? Can the Divine really become that which it earlier was not? Would the All-Holy and Perfect God really find our dirty and sinful world worthy of a visit, let alone come to “dwell” here?
Throughout the centuries many theologians and pious believers have tried to “save” God
from real contact with this world, have tried to show how “the Word became flesh” actually
has nothing to do with matter. But John 1:14 shows that God decided to truly embrace the
world precisely through contact with it. By taking on living, human flesh God found a way
to our hearts, strove to convince us that we are understood and we are accepted.
Two days in a row we think about this mystery and pray about it, with the hope that we
would feel new birth here and now. As the Russian poet Zinaida Gippius wrote during the
dark days of World War I: “Be born, Eternal Word! / Ignite the earth's silence / Embrace
our native land.” (“Our Christmas”)
Warmed by such love, don't we wish to response to it through service for the sake of our
neighbor? In such a way we can witness in our lives to the fact that the Word continues to
dwell with us today.
Merry Christmas to you, brothers and sisters in Christ!
In the season when we celebrate the birth of Emmanuel, I pray that all of us might be encouraged again to be "with" this holiday; it is my convinction that we will then experience the peace and joy of knowing that we are never alone.
S Rozhestvom Khristovym!
Bradn
* * *
Not long ago I was asked to write a very short Christmas meditation for “Loza” (“The Vine”), the magazine of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Urals, Siberia, and Far East. I share it with you (below) in order to give a small insight into the the life of the church where I am serving. Despite the fact that their lives differ in many ways from yours, throughout the world we are united by the common need to see the incarnate Word embracing the world.
“And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us.” John 1:14a (Verse of the day. Dec. 24)
“And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us.” John 1:14a (Verse of the day. Dec. 25)
No, the repetition above is not a typo, it is an exceptional situation – as you will notice later this month when you open up your “Daily Readings,” the verse (rather, half-verse) is the same on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. The words are well-known, simple and beautiful. Is that the reason why we read them twice in a row?
It would be easy to accept these words simply as a“theological formula,” as the way of correctly expressing the church's teaching. But it seems to me that we come back to this verse again and again not in order to memorize it, but in order to over and over again dive into its mystery and meaning for us.
In these few short words many questions about the Incarnation are raised. How could a small, helpless child be the Ever-eternal Logos? Can the Divine really become that which it earlier was not? Would the All-Holy and Perfect God really find our dirty and sinful world worthy of a visit, let alone come to “dwell” here?
Throughout the centuries many theologians and pious believers have tried to “save” God
from real contact with this world, have tried to show how “the Word became flesh” actually
has nothing to do with matter. But John 1:14 shows that God decided to truly embrace the
world precisely through contact with it. By taking on living, human flesh God found a way
to our hearts, strove to convince us that we are understood and we are accepted.
Two days in a row we think about this mystery and pray about it, with the hope that we
would feel new birth here and now. As the Russian poet Zinaida Gippius wrote during the
dark days of World War I: “Be born, Eternal Word! / Ignite the earth's silence / Embrace
our native land.” (“Our Christmas”)
Warmed by such love, don't we wish to response to it through service for the sake of our
neighbor? In such a way we can witness in our lives to the fact that the Word continues to
dwell with us today.
Merry Christmas to you, brothers and sisters in Christ!
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