IVP - Strangely Dim - To Us a Son Is Given

To Us a Son Is Given

It seems appropriate, on the day in which we join Joseph and Mary in welcoming the infant Jesus into the world, that we congratulate two Likewise authors and their wives, who got good family news this week. Adam Taylor (author of Mobilizing Hope) and his wife, Sharee, welcomed their son Joshua Russell Taylor into the world; and Jamie Arpin-Ricci (author of the forthcoming Cost of Community) and his wife, Kim, received the name (and picture) of their son, three-year-old Micah James Nigatu Arpin-Ricci, who will be coming home to them (from Ethiopia to Manitoba--two words that are fun to say) in the next six to nine months. 

The journey to (and through) parenthood can be fraught with moments of frustration and discouragement. It's easy to lose hope along the way and eventually give up the ghost. But blessed are those who wait, for hope defines our faith even as it anchors it--even as it is confronted with the scrutiny of all-too-common bitter disappointment. It was the hope of God that gave the universe its shape; it is the hope of God that endures betrayal after betrayal from God's people; it is the hope of God consummated in Christ that secures our salvation.

Today we celebrate the incarnation, a promised moment in history that emboldens us to hope in a promised future that, like Christmas, like Adam and Sharee, like Jamie and Kim and Micah, takes the shape of a family:

God's dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 'He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death' or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away. . . . 

I will be their God and they will be my children.

Congratulations, Adam and Sharee and Joshua. Congratulations, Jamie and Kim and Micah. Merry Christmas, everyone.

Posted by Dave Zimmerman at December 25, 2010 6:45 AM