Psalm 89:1-4
David A. Davis
December 24, 2023
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During our journey to Bethlehem this Advent, we have been stopping along the way to ponder God’s glory. The First Sunday of Advent it was “Restored by God’s Glory”. The next week it was “Seeing the Glory That Isn’t There”. Last Sunday, “Shouting Glory”. Tonight, at the 5:00 Christmas Eve Service we will finish with the telling of the birth of Jesus in Matthew’s gospel; “Glory Unadorned”. This morning on the 4th Sunday of Advent, we stop to think together about “The Poetry of God’s Glory”. The poetry of God’s glory.
The first scripture lesson this morning will be the first four verses of Psalm 89.
I will sing of your steadfast love, O Lord, forever;
with my mouth I will proclaim your faithfulness to all generations.
I declare that your steadfast love is established forever;
your faithfulness is as firm as the heavens.
You said, “I have made a covenant with my chosen one;
I have sworn to my servant David:
‘I will establish your descendants forever
and build your throne for all generations.
Your steadfast love is established forever. God’s glory
The Gospel of John, chapter one, verse one. Hear the Word of God.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overtake it.
There was a man sent from God whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.
He was in the world, and the world came into being through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.
And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.
This is the Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
The Word became flesh and lived among us. God’s glory.
The people who walked in darkness
have seen a great light;
those who lived in a land of deep darkness—
on them light has shined.
You have multiplied exultation;
you have increased its joy;
they rejoice before you
as with joy at the harvest,
as people exult when dividing plunder.
For the yoke of their burden
and the bar across their shoulders,
the rod of their oppressor,
you have broken as on the day of Midian.
For all the boots of the tramping warriors
and all the garments rolled in blood
shall be burned as fuel for the fire.
For a child has been born for us,
a son given to us;
authority rests upon his shoulders,
and he is named
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Great will be his authority,
and there shall be endless peace
for the throne of David and his kingdom.
He will establish and uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
from this time onward and forevermore.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.
The prophet Isaiah. For a child has been born for us, a son given to us. God’s glory for us.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer writing from his prison cell in Germany 1943. Bonhoeffer on God becoming a child:
“Mighty God” is the name of this Child. The child in the manger is none other than God….God became a child. In the Jesus child of Mary lives the Almighty God. Wait a minute! Don’t speak; stop thinking! Stand still before this statement! God became a child! Here he is, poor like us, miserable and helpless like us, a person of flesh and blood like us…yet he is God and God is might. Where is the divinity, where is the might of this child? In the divine love in which God became like us. His poverty in the manger is his might. In the might of love he overcomes the chasm between God and humankind. He overcomes sin and death, he forgives sin and awakens from the dead. Kneel down before this miserable manger, before this child of poor people, and repeat in faith the stammering words of the of the prophet: “Mighty God!”
The might of love. God’s glory.
Helen Kromer on the Word.
I open my mouth to speak and the Word is there–
form by lips, the tongue, the organ of voice,
Formed by the brain, transmitting the word by breath.
I open my mouth to speak and the word is there,
traveling between us– caught by the organ of hearing, the ear
transmitting the thought to the brain, through the word.
Just so do we communicate, you and I–
the thought leaping from one mind to the other,
given shape and form and substance
so that we know and are known through the word.
But let me speak to a very small child and the words mean nothing
for she does not know my language.
And so I must show her;
“This is your foot”, I say, “and it is meant for walking”
Or I help her up
“This is how you walk”
Until one day, “walking” shapes in her brain,
through the Word.
God has something to say to us,
but the words mean nothing,
for we do not know God’s language.
And so we are shown, “behold the man.”
God says, “this is the image, the thought in my mind
humanity as I mean it, loving and serving.
I have put him in flesh. Now the Word has shape and form and substance
to travel between us.
Let the Christ Child show forth love, until one day loving shapes in your brain
through the Word.
Shape and form and substance. God’s glory.
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to set free those who are oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
Jesus quoting Isaiah in the gospel of Luke. God’s glory.
Howard Thurman
When the song of the angels is stilled,
when the star in the sky is gone,
when the kings and princes are home,
when the shepherds are back with their flocks,
the work of Christmas begins:
to find the lost,
to heal the broken,
to feed the hungry,
to release the prisoner,
to rebuild the nations,
to bring peace among the people,
to make music in the heart.
God’s glory. God’s glory. God’s glory.