O come, O come, Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear
If this ball of hate and pain is headed for destruction, if almost everything we encounter here is irredeemable, if we have been rescued from a perpetual downward slide which still remains around us, if the only hope for anyone in this life is salvation when it's over—then we do our best to help others be rescued from sin. We serve the poor because Christ did. We spread the word so when Christ returns, there will be many to greet him. We are waiting on God.
O come, thou Rod of Jesse, free
Thine own from Satan’s tyranny
From depths of hell thy people save
And give them victory over the grave
If this ball of hope and promise is headed for redemption, if almost everything we encounter here is redeemable, if we have been called into a perpetual renewal which is all around us, if our hope in this life is to see God's kingdom come—then we do our best to remake the world. We serve those who are in need, we fight for justice, we battle oppression because God has instructed and enabled us to join his ongoing work. God is waiting on us.
O come, desire of nations, bind
In one the hearts of all mankind
Bid thou our sad divisions cease,
And be thyself our King of Peace
Rejoice, Rejoice
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel
Image: Pedro Moura Pinheiro
This post draws on a recent sermon by WCF senior pastor Del Glick and this previous post.
Amen. I like Del Glick. And, of course, I love Justin Scott.
ReplyDeleteAnd my deep hope is in the one creates and recreates life. Come.
Thanks, brother. You know, I didn't really mean for these posts to sound so much like I had chosen a particular interpretation. I'm in constant confusion about which story the Bible really tells.
ReplyDelete