Glory to the Newborn King!
by Rev. Brian Johnson
It’s finally here! It’s Christmas Eve! Tonight is the night – this evening we will gather together as a church, hold up candles in the darkness, and tell the story of the Light of the World who was born to light our path through the darkness of this world. Even if you can’t worship with Haymarket Church this evening (you can find more details about worship today at this link), I hope that, wherever you are, that you’ll make time to worship God and give thanks for the Good News of Christmas.
I love Christmas Eve. It’s one of my favorite days of the year. I particularly love the Christmas carols that we get to sing today – some of those traditional carols have amazingly rich and vivid lyrics. They do a great job of describing who Jesus is and what his birth means. For me, “Hark the Herald Angels Sing” stands out as having particularly meaningful lyrics. When we sing that song, we say,
“Christ, by highest heaven adored:
Christ, the everlasting Lord;
Late in time behold him come,
Offspring of the virgin’s womb.
Veiled in flesh, the Godhead see;
Hail, the incarnate Deity:
Pleased, as man, with us to dwell,
Jesus, our Emmanuel!
Hark! the herald angels sing,
‘Glory to the new-born King!’”
Those lyrics tell the whole story – they get the real point of Christmas. Today, we celebrate that God has taken on flesh – God has become a human being like us. God hasn’t left us alone in this world, but has instead chosen to save us by becoming one of us. Jesus is fully God and fully human – and that’s a mystery that we can’t really understand. All we can do is say “thank you” – all we can do is sing songs of praise in response to God’s goodness and generosity.
So, as you sing Christmas carols today, listen for the words. Pay attention for the story they’re telling. Because they’re telling the story of God’s love – the greatest story ever told.
It’s Christmas Eve! Today we tell the story of the birth of Jesus! Let’s sing songs and celebrate, because God is with us! Jesus Christ is our Emmanuel! Glory to the newborn King!
Looking for previous entries?
Find our ’22 Advent devotional archive online. haymarketchurch.org/advent
