2020 Worship Guide

2020 Worship Guide LINCOLN DAILY NEWS December 2, 2020 Page 23 promises to make the world great again — tremble in fear, because the reign of God is one that rules with love, mercy and moves us towards justice and peace. The Incarnation declares God is Lord, not Caesar or any president. The Incarnate One’s agenda was countercultural; it went against status quo. From the beginning of his campaign the Incarnate One said, “I’ve come to proclaim good news to the poor…proclaim release to the captives…recovery of the sight of the blind…to let the oppressed go free.” That’s more than a yard sign. It is a statement about the politics of God in Christ, the Incarnate One. Status quo and niceness aren’t good news. The declaration of the Incarnation is good news, for it means liberation from the suffering of this world. It means salvation here and now. Salvation is liberation. Until all are free—truly free—then salvation has not yet come. The Incarnate One told his disciples (and tells us) to “pay attention—now. Stay awake—now. Keep alert—now.” Salvation is here, now. If our work in salvation is not tied up with the liberation of the poor, oppressed, and imprisoned—then it’s no salvation at all. The Divine didn’t come to the powerful, but to the lowly. The Divine is found in the least of these. The Incarnation points towards God’s liberation of a people. It focuses our attention on what God has done, is doing, and will do to defeat the principalities and powers of evil. Incarnation. Liberation. Salvation. The Incarnation proves the Divine isn’t a spectator to the suffering of humanity. The Divine’s self-disclosure in the Christ is to liberate the oppressed from social and political bondage. Just as the Divine did with the exodus. Just as the Divine is doing now… if only we would have eyes to see and ears to hear. Christmas demands we prepare for the arrival of the Divine. Our preparation must lead us to struggle for the liberation of the little ones. To welcome the Christ child is to welcome the call to struggle for justice — social and political, both of which are spiritual — a part of that moral arc that bends towards fairness, inclusivity, equity. According to the New Testament, God became human in Jesus Christ, and defeated decisively the powers of sin, death, and CONTINUE