2017 Worship Guide

Page 28 2017 WORSHIP GUIDE Wednesday, December 6, 2017 LINCOLN DAILY NEWS PUBLICATION “The Star Spangled Banner” like, “thus be it ever when free men shall stand between loved homes and the wars desolation…” The same feelings come over me when I read the great poets who have placed the human condition into verse. What, then, is the difference? If the heart is moved by one as well as the other what can one say about the emotions of Christmas? Well, they’re not bad and they are real. But my emotions rise and fall. We all have them but we should not look to them to confirm the blessedness of Christmas. Christmas is an objective fact, a truth claim made by Christianity of the nativity of our Lord. The Holy perfect Son of the True and Living God took on human flesh and became a human being. Though it might happen, the Son of God did not do this so that our heart might go pit-a-pat. The Son of God came to us in Bethlehem to reunite our estranged humanity to God the Father. Jesus came to obey where our first parent Adam disobeyed, and where we have all disobeyed. Jesus came to be righteous for the unrighteous. The baby in the manger came to die on a cross so that we who dwell in the valley of the shadow of death would be given the gift of eternal life. Does any of the work of Jesus depend on how I feel today or tomorrow? No. Jesus birth, life, death, and resurrection are good, right, true, and valuable no matter how we feel at any given moment. Dear readers, your feelings will rise and fall. The truth of God’s Word and the work of His Son Jesus stand constant and unchanging forever. So yes, go ahead and feel warm and gushy over Scripture readings and hymns, it’s ok. But, always remember it’s truth, the real objective truth of Jesus Christ’s incarnation that makes Christmas merry. Pastor Mark Thompson Zion Lutheran, Lincoln