December 25: Salvation
♫ Music:
WEEK FIVE
December 25 - December 31
The Feasts & Events of Christmastide (Part 1)
Just as Advent is a season of deep reflection when believers recount the events leading up to the birth of our savior, so likewise the twelve days following Christmas (known as Christmastide) are days set aside to commemorate the Incarnation of our Lord. Dating back to the fifth century, three feast days immediately follow Christmas. The church remembers its first martyr on December 26th, the Feast of Stephen. On December 27th, John the Evangelist is celebrated. This disciple is acknowledged for his beloved gospel with its familiar “Word made flesh” passage. On December 28th, the story of the baby boys killed by King Herod is recounted. It is a time to remember that innocent children are often the victims of atrocities committed by selfish adults. Indeed, this coming week is an appropriate time to renew our belief that Christ’s Incarnation brings hope to an otherwise hopeless world.
The Feast of Christmas
The Supremacy of God's Son
Hebrews 1:1-6
Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs. For to which of the angels did God ever say, “You are my Son, today I have begotten you”? Or again, “I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son”? And again, when he brings the firstborn into the world, he says, “Let all God's angels worship him.”
Christ
by Andrew Q. Holzschuh
How can it be that all of mankind's deliverance
is wrapped in this sweet child of innocence?
resting in the poorest of sections in
a town amongst a people
that have been scarred by slavery and oppression but then
here is our Light
here is our Christ
onlookers guided to his side by dreams and stars in the night
visions
if I could see just a spec
a glimpse
the hairs stand on my neck
intense
spine tingle mind boggle
ogle in awe at the majesty
beyond imagining and fathoming
He shall be called the Nazarene
the Holy One of Israel
the Prince of Peace
with the strength to make armies yield
and his Words are the arms He wields
power radiates
even His garments heal
Love
His Words on scrolls and parchments reveal
Love
Who was, and is, and is to come
the Word made flesh
the Logos
the Conqueror of death
the fullness of grace and truth
manifest in this babe, this youth
glory to the newborn King!
join the chorus in the sky
where the angels sing
He will live
He will die
He will rise
see the fire in His eyes
see the wounds in His side
hear the compassion of His cries
He knows no sin yet for our sin He dies
I don't know that I will ever fully grasp a love so deep
but let's be quiet now
and let the baby sleep
........................
He is the ocean drops to us
So vast to me and curious
Up to the sky above my head
The clouds they part above the dead
They bring to life the love in me
He rains and lives I cannot flee
Do nothing says the falling rain
I’m here to wash you of your stain
I bring you life. For what I am
Is holy love. Blood of the lamb.
SALVATION
The theme of salvation runs through the entire Bible, from Genesis to Revelation. The Old Testament understanding of salvation is land focused, that of being rescued from a place of bondage and delivered to one of freedom. Picture the Exodus, God liberating his people from a place of Egyptian enslavement to the land he had promised Abraham. God saved his people through judges (Judges 2:16; 3:9), a king (2Kings 14:27), and even a shepherd boy (1Samuel 17:1-58). God reveals that salvation is grounded in a relationship with the Rescuer.
In the New Testament, the salvation theme moves from land to Kingdom, from ethnic divides between Jew and Gentile to a relationship that transcends any division. God’s offer of a change in relationship between himself and a person is made available when one responds in repentance and faith in Jesus Christ.
God’s offer of salvation and its connection with his love is seen in the first book of the Bible. Genesis 2:22 states, “Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.” In this first instance of the word “love” in the Bible, God establishes how his people were to understand love; it would be pictured in the willingness of the father to sacrifice his son, and the son’s willingness to be sacrificed. Love and sacrifice are interwoven and ultimately found in the act of God giving his Son.
Amid questions about Jesus and the temptation to abandon their faith due to persecution, the writer of Hebrews skillfully describes the Son. God is said to have spoken finally and fully in his Son, who is the heir of all things, creator of the universe, the radiance of God’s glory, the exact expression of God’s nature, creator and sustainer of the world, and the One who purifies our sin.
Fikos Antonios (Painter) and Simon Silaidis (Calligrapher) comment on Salvation: “The first step in a person’s salvation is the knowledge (of) his sin.”
In those sometimes too infrequent moments, we catch a glimpse of our own hearts and get a whiff of the stench of pride and carelessness that outweighs the concerns and needs of another human being. We exalt our own agendas and platforms and we sigh in disappointment with ourselves. In some seasons of life, we want nothing to do with God. Absolutely nothing. What do you do with what you deeply know about yourself, the issues that get in the way of living a reconciled relationship with God and with others? What do you do with sin? It’s our deepest and greatest problem. No one is exempt.
The grace of the matter is that because God loves and is the One who offers salvation, no one is excluded. God’s offer of salvation meets a universal human need. Whereas sin is life-denying, salvation is life-empowering. And you can tell how much God hates sin by what it cost him to conquer it. He gave as a gift the God-man Jesus Christ to save us from our sin and its consequences, so that we might live out our new creation identity.
Salvation is a person: Jesus. He came to save, so that we might have life, abundant life.
Prayer
O Lord Jesus Christ, make me worthy to understand the profound mystery of your holy incarnation, which you have worked for our sake and for our salvation. Truly there is nothing so great and wonderful as this, that you, my God, who are the creator of all things, should become a creature, so that we should become like God. You have humbled yourself and made yourself small that we might be made mighty. You have taken the form of a servant, so that you might confer upon us a royal and divine beauty.
You, who are beyond our understanding, have made yourself understandable to us in Jesus Christ. You, who are the uncreated God, have made yourself a creature for us. You, who are the untouchable One, have made yourself touchable to us. You, who are most high, make us capable of understanding your amazing love and the wonderful things you have done for us. Make us able to understand the mystery of your incarnation, the mystery of your life, example and doctrine, the mystery of your cross and passion, the mystery of your resurrection and ascension.
Blessed are you, O Lord, for coming to earth as a man. You were born that you might die, and in dying that you might procure our salvation. O marvellous and indescribable love! In you is all sweetness and joy! To contemplate your love is to exalt the soul above the world and to enable it to abide alone in joy and rest and tranquillity.
Amen!
---Angela of Foligno (1248-1309)
Joanne Jung
Associate Professor of Biblical and Theological Studies
Talbot School of Theology
Video: Advent, Part #5, Christ
About the Video Editor and Poet:
Andrew Q. Holzschuch is a Dallas-based filmmaker whose goal is to make films that drive conversation and spark ideas. As an independent filmmaker he is “continually creating films that inspire personal growth in his audiences.” Holzschuch has created a set of five contemplative videos to accompany the five weeks of Advent. These videos focus on the themes of Advent: Love, Joy, Peace, Hope and on the Sunday closest to Christmas, Christ. All of the videos are filmed in black and white to heighten our awareness of both imagery and text.
http://www.andrewqholzschuh.com/
Artwork
Salvation
Fikos in collaboration with Simon Silaidis, Calligrapher
Acrylics on wall
Abandoned textile factory, North Philadelphia, Athens, Greece
About the Artist and Artwork:
Fikos (b.1987) lives and works in Athens, Greece. Fikos started from a very early age to paint and draw all that he saw around him, including comic book strips, landscapes and icons. This eventually led, at the early age of 13, to his apprenticeship under the renowned iconographer George Kordis. While collaborating with Kordis on his Church commissions, Fikos honed what would become the main stylistic features of his work. To this day he continues the pictorial development of his work by painting murals in public places. However, he doesn’t consider his painting to be “just another artist’s ‘self-expression’, but social events of true ‘creation’ (‘demiurgia’ = demos ‘citizens’ + ergon ‘work’) – work for the citizens-society.” Thus in this sense Fikos’ understanding of “street art” also parallels the liturgical function of the icon ? a work by and for the people, the society of the faithful.
http://www.orthodoxartsjournal.org/contemporary-byzantine-painting/
Designer Simon Silaidis is the man behind the urban calligraphy movement. Silaidis places his calligraphy in rural, urban and suburban surroundings across Asia and Europe. His work can be viewed in and on abandoned buildings, streets and other non-traditional surfaces. Led by his love for letters, Silaidis has travelled the world to study calligraphy.
http://www.urbancalligraphy.com/
About the Music #1:
“Mary’s Boy Child”
Lyrics:
Long time ago in Bethlehem, so the Holy Bible say,
Mary's boy child Jesus Christ, was born on Christmas Day.
Hark, now hear the angels sing, a new king born today,
And man will live for evermore, because of Christmas Day.
While shepherds watch their flocks by night,
them see a bright new shining star,
them hear a choir sing, the music seemed to come from afar.
Now Joseph and his wife, Mary, came to Bethlehem that night,
them found no place to bear her child, not a single room was in sight.
Hark, now hear the angels sing, a new king born today,
And man will live for evermore, because of Christmas Day.
By and by they found a little nook in a stable all forlorn,
and in a manger cold and dark, Mary's little boy was born.
Hark, now hear the angels sing, a new king’s born today,
And man will live for evermore, because of Christmas Day.
Trumpets sound and angels sing, Listen to what they say,
That man will live for evermore, because of Christmas Day.
About the Composer
Jester Hairston (1901-2000) was an American composer, songwriter, arranger, choral conductor, and actor. He was regarded as a leading expert on spirituals and choral music. His notable compositions include "Amen," a gospel-tinged theme from the film, Lilies of the Field, and the Christmas song "Mary's Boy Child.” Musician Walter Schumann asked Hairston to write a new Christmas song for his choir. Hairston used the calypso melody from another song he had recently composed for Schumann, adding Christmas lyrics to it.
About the Performer:
Charlotte Church (b. 1986) is a Welsh soprano, actress and television performer. She rose to fame in childhood as a classical singer before branching into pop music in 2005. By 2007, she had sold more than 10 million records worldwide, including over 5 million in the United States. Church continues to perform to this day.
http://charlottechurchmusic.com/
About the Music #2:
“Carol of The Bells”
Lyrics:
Hark how the bells,
Sweet silver bells,
All seem to say
Throw cares away.
Christmas is here,
Bringing good cheer,
To young and old,
Meek and the bold.
Ding dong ding dong,
That is their song,
With joyful ring,
All caroling.
One seems to hear,
Words of good cheer,
From everywhere,
Filling the air.
Oh how they pound,
Raising the sound,
O'er hill and dale,
Telling their tale.
Gloria in excelsis deo! Gloria!
Gaily they ring
While people sing,
Songs of good cheer,
Christmas is here.
Merry, Merry, Merry, Merry Christmas,
Merry, Merry, Merry, Merry Christmas.
On on they send,
On without end,
Their joyful tone,
To every home.
Hark how the bells,
Sweet silver bells,
All seem to say,
Throw cares away.
About the Performers:
Libera is an all-boy English vocal group directed by Robert Prizeman. Most members come from the parish choir of St. Philip's Norbury in South London. The group usually consists of approximately 40 members between the ages of seven and sixteen, including new members who are not yet ready to fully participate in albums or tours. The group recruits from a variety of backgrounds in the London area, and does not require its members to belong to any specific denomination. In addition to recording albums, touring and, making regular TV appearances as Libera, the group sings on a weekly basis as part of the full choir of men and boys at parish choral services. Libera is run as a not-for-profit registered UK charity, "providing the opportunity for suitable boys to train as vocalists from any background.” Members are not paid for their work within Libera, but their expenses are covered when touring. The group's name comes from its signature song, "Libera," which is based on the Libera Me portion of the Requiem Mass. “Libera" is the Latin word for "free.”
www.libera.org.uk