We asked your District Vice-Presidents to share a short Christmas devotion with you in the December Reporter.
You can read the full Reporter, and subscribe to it by email, here on our website.
First Vice-President, Rev. Michael Awe, Hope, South Sioux City
O come, O come, Immanuel,
and ransom captive Israel
that mourns in lonely exile here
until the Son of God appear.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Immanuel shall come to you, O Israel. (Isaiah 7)
I have been so incredibly blessed! I just had my third surgery on my foot and ankle. The health of my family has been—to put it simply— not the greatest; actually quite poor. I’ve been closely working with people who are hurting and broken in their bodies, minds, and spirits. I’ve been so incredibly blessed!
I know what you’re thinking: Really? Blessed? Incredibly blessed?
If I were to be completely honest with you, there have been so many times that I do not feel blessed. From a purely worldly perspective, I see nothing but the pain and the torment and the agony that constantly surrounds me and can consume me. But…
I am so incredibly blessed! The words of the prophet Isaiah truly take on flesh this Advent season. “The Lord Himself will give you…a Son and call His name Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:14). That is, God WITH us!
It has been one thing to simply believe these words in faith. However, it truly is a reality to be in a position in life that desperately relies upon them. We are celebrating the fact that our Savior and God comes to us and is with us. He weeps with us (John 11:35). He strengthens us (2 Corinthians 12:9). He is Immanuel; God WITH us!
The beautiful hymn highlights the agony of the Israelites in Isaiah’s day and our pain and suffering today. And we sing it boldly from the depths of our very souls in the certainty that as surely as Isaiah’s words came true for God’s people of old, they are as living and true for us today. God is WITH us! And there is not a better place to see Him with us than from the depths of our despair.
You and I are incredibly blessed! God is WITH us always for all eternity (Matthew 28:20).
Second Vice-President, Rev. James Moshier, Trinity, Arapahoe
In preparing for Christmas, the Incarnation of our Lord, we easily lose track of why Jesus took on human flesh, and that is to save us from sin, death, and the power of the devil. Of the many seasonal distractions, a lot of them are movies. So-called “Christmas movies” rarely bring home the work of the Savior. Yet, one of the greatest films made—a non-Christmas movie—was the John Wayne film Stagecoach.
In that film, sinful people seek redemption, bringing their sins into the stagecoach to be tempted. One of the characters is Claire Trevor’s Dallas, the fallen woman. Perceived as the greatest sinner, Dallas is yet the one who shows contrition, humility, kindness, and a servant heart. Seeing that repentance and not her sin, Wayne’s character Ringo falls in love with her and asks her to marry him.
Reaching their destination, Dallas tries to send Ringo away so he won’t see the life to which she returns. Refusing to leave her, they walk through bawdy bars and places of sin. Dallas tries to run from Ringo, telling him she will always remember his promise to marry her. Wayne’s character does take her for his bride, for “He remembered her sins no more.”
That kind of love, looking past former sins, is exactly the love Christ has for us. Every one of us could make, not a Christmas wish list of gifts we want, but an endless list of our sins. Sins known or hidden, all hanging in the back of our minds and like bricks…breaking our hearts. But you need not remain in total despair of those sins, because God made a promise to be with us, to see us as we should be, as His bride—the Church, which is, us clothed in Christ.
The message that the Savior came and is returning remains for us. For all who believe in Christ and are washed in the blood of the Lamb are clothed completely in Him. Therefore, in Christ, God sees us just as Ringo saw Dallas, as the innocent bride He promised to return for and be with for all time. In Advent, we, the Christian Church, the bride of Christ in the world, refocus to await His triumphant return.
Third Vice-President, Rev. Scott Bruick, St. John, Seward
Go ahead! Stop! Step up closer and take a look! Go ahead! There is room for you! There is. There is room for you at the manger of Jesus, our newborn King. Matter of fact, God the Father, the Father of the One in the manger, has made sure that there is room for all who would gather at His manger.
The carols of Christmas echo what God has spoken through His Word. One of those carols, “Where Shepherds Lately Knelt” (Hymn 369 in the Lutheran Service Book), echoes out the truth of God’s love for the world from John 3 and the angel’s proclamation of a Savior being born for you from Luke 2. In that carol, the hymn writer Jaroslav Vajda wrote:
Where shepherds lately knelt and kept the angel’s word,
I come in half-belief, a pilgrim strangely stirred;
But there is room and welcome there for me,
But there is room and welcome there for me.
Though Christmas is to be a festive time of the year, a season filled with gatherings and celebrations, and a time for gift giving and receiving, Christmas has also been a time for me to struggle with the reality of how desperately I need a Savior. In the midst of the festive celebrations, I come carrying the knowledge of the darkness that surrounds me, not of a winter’s evening but of my own guilt, shame, and sin. I come with the knowledge of my often-diminished love for others and for God. I also come with the frailty of my faith that is repeatedly tested by the harshness of this world and the temptations of the evil one.
Therefore, I do come in half-belief, half belief that there is room for me at the manger of Jesus. Moreover, I often come in half-belief that there is also a welcome there for me.
Cutting through my half-belief are the carol’s lyrics that echo Jesus’ words from John 3: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.”
Cutting through my half-belief are the carol’s lyrics that echo the angel’s proclamation from Luke 2: “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”
I pray that maybe “Where Shepherds Lately Knelt” might become a new favorite Christmas carol for you for the assuring fact of the Gospel that we simply sing in the first stanza…that there is room for you at the manger of Jesus, the Savior who has been born for you.
Come as a pilgrim! Come in half-belief! Come in the midst of festivities! Come in the midst of your own darkness! And step up close to the manger, for there is room there for you because the One in the manger was sent to die, to live, and not just for others but also for you.
Fourth Vice-President, Rev. Cory Burma, Peace, Columbus
But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. Luke 2:19
It was my first year in ministry, and after the Christmas Day service, we packed up the minivan and started the seven-hour drive to my parents’ home. We thought that we would eat Christmas dinner on the road at some fast-food place. The one thing we didn’t consider was that most fast-food places are closed on Christmas Day. We took some detours trying to find anything open, and finally ended up having our Christmas dinner at a gas station, enjoying microwaved burritos and cold sandwiches. But our kids thought it was an adventure. We hopped in the van for the rest of the drive laughing about our wonderful Christmas dinner! When we were about an hour from my parents’ home, we were having a wonderful family discussion when I saw blue lights in my rearview mirror. I was being pulled over for speeding on Christmas Eve day on the South Dakota interstate. The patrolman gave me a warning, told me to drive safely, and we were on our way driving the speed limit and showing up to the house an hour late. A longer than expected drive, eating gas station food, and getting pulled over, yet 20 years later, this is one of the best Christmas memories for our family.
Mary had been through a lot! From the appearing of the angel giving her the life changing news that she would give birth to God’s own Son, to the shame that was placed on her by others when they learned she was pregnant before she was married, to the long travel from Nazareth to Bethlehem while in her last trimester because of some government mandate, to not having a place to stay in Bethlehem, to having unexpected guests show up to see the new baby shortly after it was born. It had been a long, difficult nine months. “But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.” She pondered that God was up to something great. She pondered that this Child she gave birth to was sent from God and was God in the flesh. She pondered that God’s promise of salvation had come into the world!
Sometime during the busyness of this Christmas season, I encourage you to take some time to ponder. Ponder what God did for the world 2000 years ago. Ponder what God has done for you in Christ through the waters of baptism bringing you into His family. Ponder what God will do through you as you raise your family, live in your community, at your job. Ponder even the difficulties you face and how He is at work through them to reveal His goodness and glory to you and others.
My daughter, a DCE serving in Colorado, and her family are making their first Christmas day drive to our place with her family. I pray that it all goes well, that they don’t have to eat gas station burritos or get pulled over for speeding. Most of all, I pray that during the drive, they ponder together the great things our God has done for them through Jesus, our Savior!