Sunday, 24 December 2023

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. – Isaiah 9:6

Today's Scripture Reading (December 24, 2023): Isaiah 9

I don't want to pretend to have all of the answers. For me, pretending that we know all of the answers just adds to the trouble that we suffer through in our world, and the cause of much of our suffering is an unwillingness to have the conversation in which we need to participate. Therefore, we never learn the lesson we need to come to understand. I do believe in the sanctity of life, every life. And one of the reasons is that we have no idea at the point of birth who the difference makers are among us. But maybe even more importantly, I think we are all pieces of the puzzle; I may not have all the answers, but together, we have many more of them than we might think. Every life on this planet that we share has the potential to make a difference. I might even assert that every life has the potential to become a world changer, but whether we do is often up to us.

And that is part of the power of Christmas. A child has been born, and the world has changed. God has come to dwell among us, beginning that life of change as a child. The birth in Bethlehem wasn't how we expected God to come, but it is how he came. And now, every time a child is born, we are reminded of God's miracle and the potential for even a child to change our world.

What God did on a significant scale we repeat on a minor scale regularly in our everyday lives. Part of the Christmas miracle was that God didn't do anything unusual; he has used the same mechanism to change the world since the beginning of time: For unto us a child is born.

Christmas is about the child in all of us. And about the potential for change that exists even among the smallest of those who walk with us. The time has come to honor the child in all of us, and the one who came that changed everything.

Welcome to Christmas Eve.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Isaiah 52

Originally Published on December 24, 2010

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