Week 1: Day 2

Scripture: Isaiah 7:10-24

My boys have a plastic nativity set. It has what feels like a thousand pieces and a battery operated star that shines and sings and announces the nearness of God. And it drives me crazy. My boys lose the pieces and they push the button to turn on the star at all of the wrong times. And the God of the plastic nativity seems to take on a trivial nearness.

“For those who claim his name, Christmas heralds this luminous truth: The God of Jesus Christ is our absolute future. Such is the deeply hopeful character of this sacred season. By God’s free doing in Bethlehem, nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. Light, life and love are on our side.”

-Brennan Manning

The song of the plastic nativity is the song of the scriptures. Yet, it is the song that for many of us has become too familiar, too easy to swallow. Though it has been gift wrapped and under-realized, it is truly the song of the ages, the luminous truth. The song declaring that

God would come to this world that nothing could separate us from him. He is near because the veil would be lifted and nothing would stand between. The nearness is not trivial. It is magical. The music will find its way to our ears at every turn this season, from the plastic nativity to the mall to the candle-lit service on Christmas Eve: God demands our response, over and over again.

This luminous truth will lead us to great adventures this season. It will take us to grand and terrifying places. But, the mountains and

the valleys will lead us toward a stable where a King will come. A king who is our future, our hope, our light and life and love.

Prayer: 

O God, our Luminous Truth, do not let us miss the

adventure. Do not let us miss your promise and your rescue in the regular and the trivial. May we find you near in the notes that feel familiar. May our ears burn with your truth over and over and over again until it becomes the very song of our heart. Amen.

”The King is Coming”

by Lindsay Mizell

Vineyard Springbrook Pastor and Vineyard Area Leader