Following the Star

Pause

We have waited long;
Waited in Hope,
Peace,
Joy,
Love.

We celebrate Light,
God’s arrival,
the Nativity.

And still we pray:
Come, Jesus, Come!

Listen

Let heaven celebrate! Let the earth rejoice! Let the sea and everything in it roar! Let the countryside and everything in it celebrate! Then all the trees of the forest too will shout out joyfully before the Lord because he is coming!

He is coming to establish justice on the earth! He will establish justice in the world rightly. He will establish justice among all people fairly.

Psalm 96:11-13

Think

I love how Eugene Peterson interprets the poetic words of Psalm 96:11-13 in The Message:

“Let’s hear it from Sky, / With Earth joining in, / And a huge round of applause from Sea.

Let Wilderness turn cartwheels, / Animals, come dance, / Put every tree of the forest in the choir—

An extravaganza before God as he comes, / As he comes to set everything right on earth, / Set everything right, treat everyone fair.”

The Psalm anticipates that God’s coming will set everything right on earth. Do you have that hope as well? This reality is already but also not yet. It is a present and future reality. Jesus has come and is coming still. Do you have eyes to see this reality all around you? God’s reign is breaking in to our world. Join with the Psalmist and with all creation and shout out: “He is coming to establish justice on earth; he will set things right!” O come, Jesus, come!

David Loleng

Pray

Come, Lord Jesus, Come. Amen.

Go

“Could it be true, this Bethlehem story of a Creator descending to be born on one small planet? If so, it is a story like no other. Never again need we wonder whether what happens on this dirty little tennis ball of a planet matters to the rest of the universe. Little wonder a choir of angels broke out in spontaneous song, disturbing not only a few shepherds but the entire universe.”

Philip Yancey, The Jesus I Never Knew, 2002

Jesus’ coming has changed everything. Because of Jesus we are transformed. As changed people we are called to join with Jesus Christ in the transformation of lives, families, communities, and the world.

Go now into your world; go in Christ Jesus!