Today, I am thinking about how we, along with the Church, celebrate the birth of Christ, God Incarnate, God with us. Very God of very God, yet incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary, he came to us to redeem us of our sins, which He did without a flaw. Of the same substance of God, and the same substance of Mary, not to be confused or conflated, these two substances in one - the hypostatic union.
I am also thinking about Joan Osborne, who back in 1995 sang a song called "What if God Were One of Us?" Hey Joan - He is one of us! and today we celebrate His birth. He willingly became one of us not because He had to, but because He was obedient to the Father and because He wanted to. He put on humanity in order to reach down to us and redeem us, because He was compelled by love. Now, He sits at the right hand of the Father, hardly alone.
I believe in God, the Father Almighty, the Creator of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord:
Who was conceived of the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried.
He descended into hell.
The third day He arose again from the dead.
He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty, whence He shall come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting.
Amen.
Merry Christmas.
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What if God Were One of Us?
If God had a name what would it be?
And would you call it to his face?
If you were faced with him In all his glory
What would you ask if you had just one question?
And yeah, yeah, God he is great
Yeah, yeah, God he is good
Yeah, yeah, yeah-yeah-yeah
What if God was one of us?
Just a slob like one of us
Just a stranger on the bus
Trying to make his way home
If God had a face what would it look like?
And would you wanna to see
If seeing meant that you would have to believe
in things like heaven
and in Jesus and the saints
and all the prophets
And yeah, yeah, God he is great
Yeah, yeah, God he is good
Yeah, yeah, yeah-yeah-yeah
What if God was one of us?
Just a slob like one of us
Just a stranger on the bus
Trying to make his way home
Trying to make his way home
Back up to heaven all alone
Nobody calling on the phone
except the Pope maybe in Rome
[Instrumental]
And yeah, yeah, God he is great
Yeah, yeah, God he is good
Yeah, yeah, yeah-yeah-yeah
What if God was one of us?
Just a slob like one of us
Just a stranger on the bus
Trying to make his way home
Just trying to make his way home
Like a holy rolling stone
Back up to heaven all alone
Just trying to make his way home
Nobody calling on the phone
except the Pope maybe in Rome.
We had a really productive time at the International Linguistic Center in Dallas. We were able to recruit one person on the spot with a potential of 5 more recruits yet possible. Every one comes on their own terms and God's timeframe. It was a fun time of getting to meet everyone and fellowshipping with them. Many got to know more about Wycliffe, the opportunities within the organization and we got to know the attendees personally a lot better. Please pray that there will be a great harvest from this effort of those who are called to further Bible translation using the IT skills God has given them!
Just arrived in Dallas at our International Linguistic Center (http://www.sil.org/sil/ilc.htm), home of SIL (sil.org) and Graduate Institute of Applied Linguistics (gial.edu). Heidi & I are staying here to host a CIO (www.jaars.org/checkitout) conference and meet IT professionals interested in becoming missionaries, possibly with Wycliffe. Please pray for this conference that God will give us many new recruits from these efforts!
