December 15: God With Us
♫ Music:
Day 19 - Thursday, December 15
Title: GOD WITH US
Scripture #1: Isaiah 7:14
Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.
Scripture #2: Matthew 1:22–23
So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying: “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.”
Poetry & Poet:
“Sharon’s Prayer”
by John Shea
She was five,
sure of the facts,
and recited them
with slow solemnity
convinced every word
was revelation.
She said
they were so poor
they had only peanut butter and jelly
sandwiches to eat
and they went a long way from home
without getting lost. The lady rode
a donkey, the man walked, and the baby
was inside the lady.
They had to stay in a stable
with an ox and an ass (hee hee)
but the Three Rich Men found them
because a star lited the roof.
Shepherds came and you could
pet the sheep but not feed them.
Then the baby was borned.
And do you know who he was?
Her quarter eyes inflated
to silver dollars.
The baby was God!
And she jumped in the air
whirled round, dove into the sofa
and buried her head
under the cushion
which is the only proper response
to the Good News
of the Incarnation.
The Hope of Immanuel
Relationally, I’ve long been a runner. Anyone who has loved me knows the signs. The heavy quiet. The absence in my eyes. The searching to slip away. When the fear of being rejected in my neediness, the shame of my insecurity, or the pain of old wounds grazed unknowingly grows too steep, my instinct whispers urgently to flee. I know why our first parents hid.
I’ve known, too, aching loneliness. I know about seasons of life written in the minor key, about the absence echoing in words like “hunger,” and “thirst,” and “exile.” I know the inward yearning to be soothed and safe. I’ve traced fractures within that cry out for communion while defying communication. I’ve longed for all to be well and wept because it isn’t. Not yet.
I make these confessions because the act of writing must be cruciform to battle the idolatry within my heart. I make them for those who need to find solidarity. But I make them mostly so you can receive what follows. For only those who know about need can know about hope.
If someone demanded I give a reason for hope, I’d answer with a single word. Immanuel. God with us.
God. The all-knowing, all-powerful, all-wise, all-creating, all-holy God. The completely faithful, relentlessly merciful, utterly good God. The Triune Community who was, is, and will always be Love. The Ruler who loves righteousness and justice. The Deliverer who takes up the cause of the widow and orphan, the sojourner, the captive, and the poor. That God has come close.
He comes to be with. I learned recently that, neurobiologically, the person awash in shame is incapable of seeking the very connection that can bring them relief. Someone must come looking for them and teach them the joy of tenderly being found. Likewise, those who have been truly lonely know comfort only comes when another slows, listens, and weeps. They also know the inexplicable power in being finally held, enjoyed, and regarded with curiosity and delight. God comes close like that.
And he comes close to us. Not to us as we should be, but as we are. He welcomes us into the righteous robes of heaven by first robing himself in tenuous flesh, in a body that got sore, tired, and hungry. He is born among animals to a people under the boot of an empire and a family shunned for his conception. He comes for them, for you, for me. He counts every tossing and catches every tear. It cost him to come that close to us. It cost him dearly.
Immanuel is the reason I rejoice while it seems I yet walk in darkness. I have seen a Great Light. The baby was God. In and through his Spirit, he is still near. He is still making all things new. I will see his goodness in the land of the living if I can receive the faith to remain in the waiting and glimpse his work in unlikely places.
I have yet one last confession to make. I am exhausted this Advent. I am wrung out. I feel my weakness and neediness and sinfulness so keenly it is, in some moments, unbearable. I can only collapse into arms strong enough to bear the full weight of my groaning. I gaze into the eyes of the one who knows me better than I know myself. I listen to the heart that beats with the compassion of a Father who remembers that I am dust. I rest until I can haltingly allow him to undress my shame and trace the wounds I cannot put to words.
Here, I learn anew the hope of Immanuel. He is with me. He is with you, too.
Prayer:
El Roi, thank you for bearing witness to our pain. Immanuel, thank you for entering it. Good Shepherd, give us the grace to be found. Let us drink deeply of the peace found in coming undone within the safety of your arms. And teach our hearts to rejoice even while we yet work and wait for all to be made new.
Amen.
Hannah Williamson
Alumna of Biola University
Torrey Honors College
Content Creation Specialist at Michael Hyatt & Co.
About the Artwork:
Heaven and Earth
Grace Carol Bomer
2014
Oil on paper on panel
60 x 32 in.
Artist Grace Carol Bomer’s paintings have been called “a silent form of poetry” that explore “the extravagant mystery of God’s grace.” Her work Heaven and Earth represents atonement and redemption, “...a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth” (Ephesians 1:10). Here the blood of Christ, symbolized by a red ribbon, brings heaven and earth together by lifting up an egg, a symbol of new life, from the earth and the dark nest with its thorny crown. This crown belongs to the one who came to earth to suffer and die—to be atonement by bringing heaven and earth together. The white robe is a symbol of his righteousness.
About the Artist:
Grace Carol Bomer was born in Alberta, Canada, and pursued a career in teaching before she became a professional painter. Bomer’s art career began after moving to Kansas, where she worked professionally as a painter from 1976 to 1981. She studied art in Kansas and then continued to study at UNC Asheville after moving to North Carolina in 1981. She has also studied art in Amsterdam, Italy, and Ukraine, and teaches workshops. She is inspired by words, especially God’s Word, which is powerful and relevant to her work, and she also is inspired by poetry and the classics. Bomer explains that, “In my work I attempt to bring together the word/image dichotomy, which was truly brought together by Jesus, the Incarnate Word of God and the image of God.” The juxtaposition of image and text creates connections and metaphors that may not be predictable or seen immediately, but her aesthetic language of parable, storytelling, and analogy stirs the imagination to consider the eternal drama of God’s grace and love for a broken and fallen world. She calls her work “metaphorical abstraction” as she paints to make the invisible–visible. She views her work as “a form of play rejoicing before the face of God” (Rookmaaker). This is reflected in the name of her Asheville studio, Soli Deo Gloria Studio. She is the recipient of numerous awards and recognitions for her art. Her work has been featured in numerous solo and juried exhibitions, and is held in many public, private, and corporate collections, including Wachovia Bank, Westinghouse, Holiday Inns, Inc., and Cessna Corp.
www.gracecarolbomer.com
About the Music:
“O Come, O Come Emmanuel” from the album Tower of David - Live
Lyrics:
Joshua Aaron sings "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel" in English and Hebrew, live at the Tower of David.
Verse 1
O come, O come, Emmanuel
And ransom captive Israel
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear
Chorus
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel
Verse 2
O come, Thou Rod of Jesse, free
Thine own from Satan's tyranny
From depths of hell Thy people save
And give them victory o'er the grave
Chorus 2
Simchu, Simchu, Emmanuel
Yavo lachem b’nei Yisrael
Verse 3
O come, Thou Key of David, come
And open wide our heavenly home
Make safe the way that leads on high
And close the path to misery
Chorus 2
Simchu, simchu, Emmanuel
Yavo lachem b’nei Yisrael
Tag
Has come to you O Israel
About the Performer/Arranger/Translator:
Arrangement and Hebrew translation by Jamie Hilsden and Joshua Aaron
Joshua Aaron is an award-winning American Israeli independent singer and songwriter who resides near the Sea of Galilee with his wife and five children. In 2012 Aaron won two Independent Music Awards for his original songs “Hoshiana“ and “You Are Holy.” Joshua's 2016 studio album entitled Every Tribe reached number one on iTunes for the "world" genre and number one on Amazon in three categories. The brand new live album LIVE at the Tower of David was recorded and filmed in the Old City of Jerusalem to commemorate ten years of Aaron’s music and Israel's seventy-first year of independence.
https://www.youtube.com/c/JoshuaAaron/about
https://www.joshuaaaron.tv/
James Wesley Hilsden is an Israeli Canadian singer/songwriter. Hilsden sings acoustic country/folk music. He has already finished recording his first solo album, which has yet to be released. He is also the lead singer of punk-rock band Man Alive and a member of the new Christmas punk group, The Myrrhderers.
https://www.last.fm/music/Jamie+Hilsden/+wiki
https://asthestorygrows.com/episodes/jamie-hilsden-from-man-alive-iEhjy8HR
About the Composers:
Thomas Helmore (music) and John Neale (words)
"O Come, O Come, Emmanuel" (Latin: "Veni, Veni, Emmanuel") is a Christian hymn for Advent and Christmas. The text was originally written in Latin. “O Come, O Come Emmanuel” is a mid-nineteenth-century translation by John Mason Neale and Henry Sloane Coffin of the original Latin text, which dates from the eighth century. The text is based on the biblical prophecy from Isaiah 7:14. The 1851 translation by John Mason Neale from Hymns Ancient and Modern is the most prominent version in the English-speaking world, but other English translations also exist.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O_Come,_O_Come,_Emmanuel
John Mason Neale (1818–1866) was an English Anglican priest, scholar, and hymn writer. He notably worked and wrote on a wide range of holy Christian texts, including obscure medieval Western and Eastern hymns. He was educated at Sherborne School, Dorset, and Trinity College, Cambridge. At the age of twenty-two Neale was the chaplain of Downing College, Cambridge, and in 1842 was ordained. Neale translated the Eastern liturgies into English, and wrote a mystical and devotional commentary on the Psalms. However, he is best known as a hymn writer and, especially, a translator, having enriched English hymnody with many ancient and medieval hymns translated from Latin and Greek. More than anyone else, he made English-speaking congregations aware of the centuries-old traditions of Latin, Greek, Russian, and Syrian hymns. His translations include "All Glory, Laud and Honour," "A Great and Mighty Wonder," "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel," "Of the Father's Heart Begotten," "To Thee Before the Close of Day," and "Ye Sons and Daughters of the King."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Mason_Neale
http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bio/220.html
Thomas Helmore (1811–1890) was a choirmaster, writer, and author/editor of hymns and carols. In 1837, he began his studies at Magdalen Hall, Oxford, graduating in 1840. In 1842, he was appointed as precentor and vice principal at St. Mark's College, Chelsea, where he trained the students to sing a daily unaccompanied choral service in the college chapel. In 1853, the British ambassador to Sweden, G. J. R. Gordon, returned to England with a copy of the sixteenth-century song book Piae Cantiones, which he presented to John Mason Neale. Neale, in turn, passed it on to Helmore, whom he knew to be expert in the interpretation of the mensural notation in which the tunes were given. Neale translated the texts into English or, in a few cases, wrote completely new texts. He and Helmore published twelve of these songs in that same year as Carols for Christmastide, and the following year twelve more were published as Carols for Eastertide.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Helmore
About the Poetry & Poet:
John (Jack) Shea (b. 1941) is a theologian and storyteller who lectures nationally and internationally on storytelling in world religions, faith-based health care, and contemporary spirituality. Formerly, he was a professor of systematic theology and the director of the doctor of ministry program at the University of St. Mary of the Lake; a research professor at the Institute of Pastoral Studies at Loyola University of Chicago; and the Advocate Healthcare senior scholar-in-residence at the Park Ridge Center for the Study of Health, Faith and Ethics. He has published thirteen books of theology and spirituality, and two books of poetry. His latest three books are Gospel Light: Jesus Stories for Spiritual Consciousness (1997), Elijah at the Wedding Feast and Other Tales (1999), and Spirituality and Health Care: Reaching Toward a Holistic Future (2000). He is presently at work on a four-volume series that will provide literary and spiritual interpretations of the Sunday gospels.
https://actapublications.com/authors/john-shea/
https://www.johnshea.org/more-about-me
About the Devotion Author:
Hannah Williamson
Alumna of Biola University
Torrey Honors College
Content Creation Specialist at Michael Hyatt & Co.
Hannah Williamson is a follower of Jesus, aspiring pediatric occupational therapist, and temporary freelance writer learning to walk uncertain paths and practice the daily discipline of defiant hope. She is forever indebted to the formative communities of Torrey Honors College, Redeemer Church in La Mirada, Koinonia Nashville, and to all the friends who have come looking for her.