Weekend Words

 From Christmas: Quiet Moments for the Season...

Weighed Down at Christmas - Read Luke 4:14-21

During a December visit to New York City Metropolitan Museum of Art, I paused to admire the magnificent Christmas tree.  It was covered with angels and surrounded at its base by an elaborate eighteenth-century nativity scene.  Nearly two hundred figures, including shepherds, the Magi, and a crowd of townspeople, looked in anticipation towards the manger or gazed up in awe at the angels.

But one figure appeared different from the rest - a barefoot man, who carried a heavy load on his back and looked at the ground.  It stuck me that this man, like so many people today, was so weighed down that he couldn't see the Messiah.

Christmas can be a difficult time for those who carry the burden of hard work, stressful family situations, and personal loss.  But we should remember that Christ came into the world to lift up all those who are bowed down.  Jesus used the words of Isaiah to announce His God-given mission on earth: "To preach the gospel to the poor; ... to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed" (Luke 4:18 NKJV).

Jesus came to lift our burdens so we can raise our eyes to welcome Him at Christmas.

- David McCasland

From Our Daily Bread...

The Light of Christ - Read: Matthew 2:1-2, 9-12

"When they saw the star, they were overjoyed." - (Matthew 2:10)

My husband and I have always enjoyed attending the Christmas Eve service at our church.  In the early years of our marriage, we had a special tradition of bundling up in warm clothing after the service to hike up a nearby hill where 350 glowing lights were strung from tall poles in the shape of a star.  There - often in the snow - we'd whisper our reflections on Jesus' miraculous birth while we gazed out over the city.  Meanwhile, many people in the town were looking up at the bright, string-light star from the valley below.

That star is a reminder of the birth of our Savior.  The Bible tells of magi "from the east" who arrived in Jerusalem seeking "the one who [had] been born king of the Jews" (Matthew 2:1-2).  They'd been watching the skies and had seen the star "when it rose" (v. 2).  Their journey took them onward from Jerusalem to Bethlehem, the star going "ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was" (v. 9).  There, they "bowed down and worshiped him" (v. 11).

Christ is the source of light in our lives both figuratively (as the one who guides us) and literally as the one who created the sun, moon, and stars in the sky (Colossians 1:15-16).  Like the magi who "were overjoyed" when they saw His star (Matthew 2:10), our greatest delight is in knowing Him as the Savior who came down from the heavens to dwell among us.  "We have seen his glory" (John 1:14)!

- Kirsten Holmberg

How has Jesus brought light to your life?  With whom might you share that today?

Thank You, Jesus, for being the light of my life.