two kingdoms, hundreds of thousands of miles
Twin 1 figured it out.
We’ve maintained the practice of the Easter Bunny, Santa Claus, and even the Tooth Fairy, but today she asked us point blank if that were us, and we could not lie.
She was heartbroken for a bit there, but she is over it now, and happy that she got those extra gifts even if they did come from more related people than St. Nicholas.
But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. — Galatians 4:4-5
Adoption. The church may be joined to Christ as his bride, but we are brought into the kingdom of God as sons and daughters, receiving an inheritance delivered by death and resurrection.
And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God. — vv. 6-7
The true Spirit of Christmas isn’t initially a mere feeling of joy, thankfulness, or even generosity. The Disney Channel, try as it might with all of its shows, can’t explain it other than simply stating, “It’s Christmas.” It is the cry of “Hosanna,” the “save us now,” coupled with the knowledge and belief that his work is accomplished.
You are no longer a slave, but a son (or daughter). An heir through God. If you don’t feel any love for Christmas, find your Christmas spirit in what Christ has done for you.
He came without ribbons. He came without tags. He came without packages, boxes, or bags.
He came to die. To atone. To save. To redeem. To redeem you.
Whether or not you can give, receive. Merry Christmas.
There is never a neatly-wrapped, magic wand way to make everything all better. We never know when our souls or the souls of our families and friends are required. This world has unspeakable evil in it, and yet it is overcome by the One who has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. We have the hope of the resurrection, where we will see our loved ones, God Himself will wipe away every tear from our eyes, and death will be no more.
Prayers for those who remain, that they hear the Gospel and receive mercy from their neighbors.
Bob Costas on NBC’s Sunday Night Football read some of KC sportswriter Jason Whitlock’s opinion that gun control would have prevented Kansas City Chief Jovan Belcher from murdering his girlfriend and committing suicide.
Does anyone really think that legislation would have prevented a professional athlete with no small sum of money from purchasing and using a firearm, or for killing someone else and then himself? Whitlock and Costas do; I disagree.
We have a much bigger problem than gun proliferation.
For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. — Ephesians 6:12
We are a sanctimonious bunch. There are some sins we can’t ever picture ourselves doing, and so we are better than someone else. We might say, “I could never do that; that’s just so wrong.”
Normally the debate we hear about regarding religion and government involves whether we apply religiously-informed principles in the voting booth and in legislation. This last election, though, political desires have trickled into religious confessions, especially in the case of Mitt Romney. CNN reported that Billy Graham’s web site removed its statement that Mormonism was an example of a cult. Working the school fair, I came across some co-workers who actually stated that Mormons were Christian. Since I had a job to do, it wasn’t my place to refute that misinformation.
It is as if Robertson and said school fair workers — Christians, I presume — couldn’t justify voting for Romney, the non-Christian, so they make him in their mind to be Christian and thus acceptable.
I’ll admit it. I voted for Romney in the general election — I voted for someone else in the primary. I live in Ohio and considered the situation. I thought he espoused policies that were better than what Obama had put into place and is promising to push even further. But Romney did not need to be a Christian in order for me to vote for him.
I’m currently about a half-inch into Matthew C. Harrison’s At Home in the House of My Fathers: Presidential Sermons, Essays, Letters, and Addresses from the Missouri Synod’s Great Era of Unity and Growth. It has been a slow but rewarding nightly slog, one that has provided great material for the Confessional Lutherans page on Google Plus.
I had finished C.F.W. Walther’s “Sermon on John 20:19-31: Regarding Absolution,” the other evening. I’m trying to weigh the criticism some make that Walther preaches a universal objective justification, a belief that one is justified, heaven-bound, regardless of whether one has faith, solely because Christ paid for everything with his death and resurrection.
I admit I’m wading into some murky and technical waters of religious discussion. I do think there is some confusion as to how we speak of Christ’s righteousness and how he gives that to us, and as a Lutheran I’m quite aware that paradoxes exist, we can only know what is revealed, and what remains is merely pious speculation at best.
