Deliver Me

Happy New Year and Merry Christmas! May the joyful hope and everlasting peace of the birth of Christ fill this new calendar year with renewed missionary purpose and visionary anticipation!

During prayer and reflection at the conclusion of Advent and throughout the Christmas season thus far, the message "deliver me" has surfaced over and over.

It really hit home when this song - one that I had never heard before - popped up on my feed. 

Deliver Him. To the world. To my family. To my friends. At my work. Throughout my life. 

Deliver the Gospel message.

Deliver Christ so that Emmanuel - God with us - truly comes.  

Especially now that Christmas for most is neatly sealed and put away until November 1, 2024, deliver Him. Like the theologian Howard Thurman notes in his poem, "The Work of Christmas" this is when the work of Christmas begins: 

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 flock,

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 others,

To make music in the heart. 

John the Baptist declared, "Make straight the way of the Lord." Mother Mary received the angel Gabriel's invitation, "Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus." Angels sang glory to God declaring the birth of our Savior. The shepherds returned to their flocks glorifying and praising God. Mary and Joseph presented the infant Christ in the temple. Joseph, being warned in a dream, led the Holy Family to Egypt.

John delivered the news that the Messiah's coming was imminent. Mary delivered Christ into the world. The angels and shepherds delivered the Good News of Christ's birth beyond the stable. Mary and Joseph delivered Jesus to the temple, dedicating Him back to His Heavenly Father. Joseph delivered the Holy Family from the dangers of remaining in Israel.

These scriptural messages, coupled with the tasks of the season - delivering Christmas cards, delivering presents, delivering cookies, delivering lights and trees and ornaments and Christmas music and Christmas sweaters - have inspired me to take up this invitation from God this year:

"Deliver Me."

Let us deliver the hope, peace, joy and love of Christ's birth, life, death, resurrection and ascension to our communities, our cities, our states, our countries, and our world this year and always.

And, as we deliver Christ to a world in desperate need of rediscovering itself, may our Deliverer deliver us. 

May my Deliverer - Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God - deliver me.