December 7: God Made Us His Children
♫ Music:
Day 6 - Friday, December 7
God Made Us His Children
Scripture: Galatians 4:4-5
But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, that he might redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.
Poetry:
What We Heard on Christmas Day
with a line from Longfellow
by Julie L. Moore
Silence like early morning, like indigo
deepening at the bottom of the sea.
For hundreds of years.
No voice to say this is the way.
Or tomorrow, he comes. They raised
their questions, rose each morning, found
no answers. Unless you count
Wait. But after the hush
of prophecy, the long line of law,
exile centuries ago just a bitter aftertaste
in their empty mouths, sting
of dust on their ribs dulled, almost imperceptible,
a baby wailed. And if you listened close,
you knew your ears did not deceive you.
He had entered the ebony tomb
of Earth, loosening at last his long-held tongue,
the star a halo of song blaring overhead,
God is not dead, nor doth He sleep.
GOD MADE US HIS CHILDREN
God sent his Son that we might be redeemed and rescued, transferred from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of his glorious Son. Luke says that because of Jesus being sent we would experience times of refreshing that only come from the presence of the Lord. What an amazing gift, to be adopted as his children, receiving all of the blessings associated with being known by his name—redeemed as a cherished possession, forgiven and not forsaken, refreshed with a new family name and a new identity. We are who he says we are.
On that very first Christmas night the fullness of time had finally come:
A baby wailed.
And if you listened close,
you knew your ears did not deceive you.
… loosening at last his long-held tongue,
…God is not dead, nor doth He sleep.
No one ever slept in our household when the babies wailed (not even God, apparently) though I was not above trying. I was so grateful that my wife was a lighter sleeper than me, and much quicker on her feet. We used to marvel at one of our kids, when on more than one occasion she awoke us in the middle of the night with her singing (while still fast asleep). It brought to life Psalm 42:8: “At night his song is with me, a prayer to the God of my life.”
And isn’t that what this season is about—songs of his love, a heart full of prayers, reminders of who we are in him, and the giving and receiving of tokens of our love for one another? We receive so much when we are adopted by God and become His cherished possession, taking his family name as our own.
And what a powerful family name that is. An identity by which others know us, and by which we can know ourselves, decided once and for all by the Supreme Court of the Universe—giving us full legal rights and privilege. We are who he says we are.
I love the image from by the artist Sandra Bowden called Law and Grace. The line of grace runs horizontal, turning the law into a cross. And by that cross, we are now called his children. We are of the family of Christ—redeemed, refreshed, fully forgiven, fully loved. I am known personally by name. God is my Father, and he loves it when I call out to him, and sing songs to him.
During this season of refreshing, if you are awoken by the wail of a baby, or by the quieter cries of your own heart, how sweet to know that it is our Father who visits us in the watches of the night. And if you listen closely enough, may you hear him say, “I am not dead, and I do not sleep.” What joy it brings to know that it is he who determines our identity as his children. We are who he says we are.
Prayer:
My Dear Father,
Lord in heaven, King over all.
Thank you for sending your Son, to redeem, and to adopt.
I ask that your song never leave me, whether in the day or in the night.
As I sing help me to remember your deep, deep love,
And to never forget my identity in you—adopted, loved and cherished.
I am who you say I am.
Chris Grace, Ph.D.
Director of the Center for Marriage and Relationships
Professor of Psychology
Biola University
About the Artwork:
Law and Gospel (formerly titled Law and Grace), 1994
(3 views - overall and detail of each panel)
Sandra Bowden
Collagraph mixed media with gold leaf on paper
18 in x 14 in each
This work is made of four panels of the Ten Commandments in embossed Hebrew letters that are expanded so that the letters merge, impossible to decipher, gilded to signify them as the word of God. Like the two tablets Moses brought down from Mount Sinai, the two panels in Law are intact, but in Gospel (formerly Grace) they have been cut straight through the middle creating the image of the cross. The vertical line separating the panels in Law emphasize the separation between God and his creatures while the cross cuts through the Law firmly cancelling its killing effect in an act of grace. The four smaller panels that result recall the Gospel writers whose words bear witness to the salvific work of Christ to every generation to follow.
About the Artist:
Sandra Bowden (b. 1943) is one of the most prolific and influential contemporary Christian artists working today with over 100 one-person shows to her credit and is based in Massachusetts. Working primarily in printmaking and mixed media, her work has been inspired by her interest in archaeology, ancient Biblical languages and texts, geology, music, ancient illuminations and the history of art. She is also an inspirational and sought-after speaker on art and faith, an avid collector of religious art dating from the early fifteenth century to the present which she also makes available for loan for exhibition, and a strong advocate for the role of art in the life of the Church. She served President of CIVA (Christians in the Visual Arts) from 1993-2007, a period of remarkable growth and development. Her work is held in many collections including the Vatican Museum of Contemporary Religious Art, Brauer Museum, Atwood Museum, and the Haifa Museum. She studied at Massachusetts College of Art and received her B.A. from the State University of New York. The Art of Sandra Bowden was published by Square Halo Books in 2005.
About the Music:
“Garden of Ice” from the album Planet Earth II (Original Television Soundtrack)
About the Composers and Performers:
Jacob Shea graduated with a degree in Music Composition form the University of California. His film scores have won him two BMI awards for Mountain Men and two BMI awards for Alaskan Bush People. Composer Jasha Klebe worked on music for films such as The Dark Knight Rises and Man of Steel and arranged the music for the 84th Academy Awards. Both composers work for Bleeding Fingers Music, the leading custom scoring company in the film and television industry, co-founded by Academy Award-winning composer Hans Zimmer. In 2016, Bleeding Fingers was selected to score the BBC docu-series Planet Earth II. The theme was written by Zimmer, and Shea and Klebe wrote the score. The duo incorporated sounds from nature into their music by layering them with electronic effects to make them an integral part of the recording. More than a year was spent composing the score for the series, which was recorded by an 80-piece orchestra at Air Studios in London. Zimmer, Shea, and Klebe were nominated for a British Academy of Television Craft award in the Best Original Television Music category, and Shea and Klebe were nominated for the Emmy in Outstanding Music Composition for a Series (Original Dramatic Score).
About the Poet:
Julie L. Moore is an Associate Professor of English and the Writing Center Director at Taylor University in Indiana. She is the author of three books of poetry including Full Worm Moon and Particular Scandals, both of which are part of Cascade Book’s Poiema Poetry Series and Slipping out of Bloom. Moore says of her poetry: “My work thus far explores ‘place’ in its broadest sense: Some poems revel in the wonder of creation or bemoan the damages it’s sustained, both here in southwest Ohio and across the globe. Other poems discover connections between the natural world and the spiritual and emotional realms. Still other poems explore the place of faith amid great pain–and the necessary place of pain amid faith. The poetic exploration of such places yields an abundance of questions and an abundance of discovery, even if that discovery is merely a reminder of the mysteries inherent in truth and beauty.”
About the Devotional Writer:
Christopher R. Grace
Director, Center for Marriage and Relationships
Professor of Psychology
Biola University
Chris Grace serves full-time as the director of Biola University’s Center for Marriage and Relationships and is also a professor of psychology at Rosemead School of Psychology. Grace graduated from the University of Northern Colorado with a B.A. in psychology. He earned his Master of Science and his Doctor of Philosophy degrees in Experimental Social Psychology from Colorado State University. Grace has numerous publications and presentations in the field of psychology, and speaks regularly at conference centers, churches and colleges, and universities on the topics of dating, marriage, and relationships. He writes a popular blog on relationships and co-hosts the podcast The Art of Relationships.