Be Born In Us Today
O holy Child of Bethlehem, descend to us we pray;
cast out our sin, and enter in; be born in us today.
That’s a strange line from the popular Christmas carol O Little Town of Bethlehem. This time of year (for many Christians, at least) is Advent. Advent is a time of preparation for the arrival of Jesus Christ.
People sing the carol at a time they're remembering the stories of Jesus’ birth. It's also sung at a time Christians are called to anticipate that Jesus will someday arrive again and finish the job of setting the world right.
But there is a third way that the song hits us, and it's stressed in the lines above.
We look to the past arrival of the Christ, and we look forward to a future return, but we also look to the present moment.
We look to how we can get to know Jesus better, to how we can let his Spirit and values guide us, to how Jesus can emerge into the world through what we do with our lives.
In John chapter 13 Jesus washes feet; he uses great power to serve. So, it makes sense when people say, “How can we serve so the poor have enough? So parents feel more equipped to raise children? How can we serve people who may never show up to worship Sunday morning?”
In John 17 Jesus prays that his followers be united as one in God. So it makes sense when people say, “How can we connect more deeply to one another? How can we make time to really share the joys and sorrows of life?”
Those are the sorts of questions this carol's weird lines put to us. Pursuing them is holy work.
cast out our sin, and enter in; be born in us today.
That’s a strange line from the popular Christmas carol O Little Town of Bethlehem. This time of year (for many Christians, at least) is Advent. Advent is a time of preparation for the arrival of Jesus Christ.
People sing the carol at a time they're remembering the stories of Jesus’ birth. It's also sung at a time Christians are called to anticipate that Jesus will someday arrive again and finish the job of setting the world right.
But there is a third way that the song hits us, and it's stressed in the lines above.
We look to the past arrival of the Christ, and we look forward to a future return, but we also look to the present moment.
We look to how we can get to know Jesus better, to how we can let his Spirit and values guide us, to how Jesus can emerge into the world through what we do with our lives.
In John chapter 13 Jesus washes feet; he uses great power to serve. So, it makes sense when people say, “How can we serve so the poor have enough? So parents feel more equipped to raise children? How can we serve people who may never show up to worship Sunday morning?”
In John 17 Jesus prays that his followers be united as one in God. So it makes sense when people say, “How can we connect more deeply to one another? How can we make time to really share the joys and sorrows of life?”
Those are the sorts of questions this carol's weird lines put to us. Pursuing them is holy work.