Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is living and active,

Patrick Henry Reardon wrote recently in Touchstone magazine, as he so frequently does. Here he provided for me an illustration of Isaiah 55, where God has written: “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, 11 so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.”

Reardon: I have a theory that God can use anybody, “in a pinch.”

I cite an example from my time of teaching in a certain seminary. It concerns two very frivolous seminarians, who made a game, of sorts, in their preaching.

These two fellows were assigned to do a service each Sunday afternoon at a nursing home. You may know the sort of service; it involved very old, frail people in wheelchairs, gathered in the common room, singing “Rock of Ages,” “Nearer, My God, to Thee,” and the like, the high point of the service being the sermon.

Well, here’s the story, if you can believe it. These two meatheads took turns, Sunday by Sunday, doing the preaching. The problem was that they were preaching only for their own entertainment. They crafted their sermons as a kind of entre nous joke.

On this particular Sunday, it was the intent of the preacher to mention as many “animals” as possible in his sermon, to see if he could outnumber the “plants” that the other guy mentioned in his sermon on the previous Sunday.

Well, here’s what happened. About halfway through the sermon, one of the old men in a wheelchair suddenly flung himself onto his knees, raised his arms to heaven, and gave his life to God, repenting of his sins and making a full confession of faith.

The game was over! The two seminarians suddenly realized they had been playing with fire.

I love Annie Dillard’s assessment of what we should be doing on Sunday mornings: “we should all be wearing crash helmets. Ushers should issue life preservers and signal flares; they should lash us to our pews. For the sleeping god may wake someday and take offense, or the waking god may draw us out to where we can never return.”

While part of society may view what we do in our worship as something childish and naïve, with our loving and gracious God in attendance it is never child’s play.

The importance of home

In her article, “Giorgia on My Mind,” from the November/December 2022 issue of Gilbert, Susan Sucher (who identifies herself as a domestic empress) shared these thoughts we would all do well to keep in mind. She begins with a generous quote from G. K. Chesterton.

In his collection of essays, The Apostle and the Wild Ducks, Chesterton points out, “For at present we all tend to one mistake; we tend to make politics too important. We tend to forget how huge a part of a man’s life is the same under a Sultan and a Senate, under Nero or St. Louis. Daybreak is a never-ending glory, getting out of bed is a never-ending nuisance; food and friends will be welcomed; work and strangers must be accepted and endured; birds will go bedwards and children won’t, to the end of the last evening.” For all of us, the domestic sphere is the preeminent one. We would do well to remember that what we do in the home has significantly more effect on us and those we love than any political forces. Our hope lies in fulfilling the call to be what God intended – to fulfill his plan for us in our state in life.

I know I can get wrapped up in what is happening in Washington, D.C., as well as Springfield, Illinois, to the point that I growl/groan watching the news. When I reflect, instead, on what my favorite domestic empress has done in sharing her faith in Christ Jesus, our Lord, raising our kids and managing our household, I cannot imagine how I could have been any better blessed. God bless your household as you serve our crucified and risen Lord Jesus.

From her perspective

Dear friend Gerry Coleman shared this on Facebook the other day – a reflection on the blessed Virgin Mary and the phrase used by the angel Gabriel in the annunciation.

She was "highly favored" but was almost put away by the man she loved the most.

"Highly favored" but she was rejected by every person in Bethlehem.

"Highly Favored" but she laid on the dirt floor of a barn and gave birth to a baby she carried nine months.

"Highly Favored" but in the middle of the night had to leave all she knew and move to a strange town because God said so.

Favor never looks like favor at first. Favor sometimes takes you through frustration, failure, and fear. You want to be favored of God? It may be in darkest night or deepest valley. But there in that place where no one sees you and you feel like no one understands whisper to yourself, "this is only the beginning not the end. This will turn out for my good and His glory. This is because...I'm Favored."

~ Evangelist Brent Carr

You are highly favored. As the writer to the Hebrews wrote of the sacrifice of Christ Jesus for you, “14 Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, 15 and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. 16 For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham” (Hebrews 2:14-15).

Through Christ Jesus - God incarnate, God with us - you can be assured that by the Holy Spirit our God is indeed at work in all things for your good and His glory (Romans 8:28). As you are perhaps transiting the darkest night or the deepest of valleys it is my fervent prayer that God’s richest blessings grace your life as we celebrate the nativity of our Lord.