{"id":26275,"date":"2025-12-24T10:35:02","date_gmt":"2025-12-24T15:35:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=26275"},"modified":"2025-12-24T10:52:57","modified_gmt":"2025-12-24T15:52:57","slug":"26275","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=26275","title":{"rendered":"Light in the World, Light in Us"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Immanuel ~ Michael Card ~ lyric video\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/O7DG3N6rYqk?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\">\n<p>To be alive in the adventure of Jesus is to kneel at the manger and gaze upon that little baby who is radiant with so much promise for our world today.<br>\u2014Brian McLaren,&nbsp;<em>We Make the Road by Walking<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Brian McLaren invites us to see the birth of Jesus as the dawning of divine life and aliveness in creation:&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Do you remember how the whole biblical story begins? \u201cIn the\u2026\u201d And do you remember the first creation that is spoken into being? \u201cLet there be\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On Christmas Eve, we celebrate a new&nbsp;<em>beginning.&nbsp;<\/em>We welcome the dawning of a new&nbsp;<em>light.&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A new day begins with sunrise. A new year begins with lengthening days. A new life begins with infant eyes taking in their first view of a world bathed in light. And a new era in human history began when God\u2019s light came shining into our world through Jesus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Fourth Gospel tells us that what came into being through Jesus was not merely a new religion, a new theology, or a new set of principles or teachings\u2014although all of these things did indeed happen. The real point of it all, according to John, was&nbsp;<em>life<\/em>, vitality,&nbsp;<em>aliveness<\/em>\u2014and <strong>now that Jesus has come, that radiant aliveness is here to enlighten all people everywhere.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Some people don\u2019t see it yet. Some don\u2019t want to see it. They\u2019ve got some shady plans that they want to preserve undercover, in darkness\u2026. They don\u2019t welcome the light, because transparency exposes their plans and deeds for what they are: evil. So they prefer darkness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But others <strong>welcome the light. They receive it as a gift, and in that receiving, they let God\u2019s holy, radiant aliveness stream into their lives. They become portals of light in our world\u2026<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What do we mean when we say Jesus is the light? Just as a glow on the eastern horizon tells us that a long night is almost over, Jesus\u2019 birth signals the beginning of the end for the dark night of fear, hostility, violence, and greed that has descended on our world. Jesus\u2019 birth signals the start of a new day, <strong>a new way, a new understanding of what it means to be alive.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Aliveness, he will teach, is <strong>a gift available to all by God\u2019s grace.<\/strong> It flows not from taking, but giving, not from fear but from faith, not from conflict but from reconciliation, not from domination but from service. It isn\u2019t found in the outward trappings of religion\u2014rules and rituals, controversies and scruples, temples and traditions. No, it springs up from our innermost being like a fountain of living water. <strong>It intoxicates us like the best wine ever and so turns life from a disappointment into a banquet.<\/strong> This new light of aliveness and love <strong>opens us up to rethink everything\u2014to go back and become like little children again.<\/strong> Then we can rediscover the world with a fresh, childlike wonder\u2014seeing the world in a new light, the light of Christ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>====================<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><tbody><tr><td>DEC 24, 2025<br>Ps 22: Never Abandoned by God<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><tbody><tr><td><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"auto\" height=\"15\" src=\"https:\/\/mcusercontent.com\/87188c8737bc50c1a2fb8e2c9\/images\/b66516eb-1f2d-8d90-0e02-d4223f78f6f7.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"auto\" height=\"35\" src=\"https:\/\/mcusercontent.com\/87188c8737bc50c1a2fb8e2c9\/images\/b66516eb-1f2d-8d90-0e02-d4223f78f6f7.png\">In Jesus\u2019 final moments of suffering on the cross, he quoted Psalm 22. \u201cMy God, my God, why have you forsaken me?\u201d Although the gospels only record Jesus saying the opening verse, it is fair to read the entire psalm as messianic, as it captures both the agony (vs. 1-21) <strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">and glory (vs. 22-31) of the Christ. <\/span><\/strong><br><br>If we only see Psalm 22 as referring to the messiah, however, we may miss how it applies to each one of us. The fact that Jesus speaks these words as his own simultaneously emphasizes their divine meaning as well as Jesus\u2019 profound humanity because moments of feeling abandoned by God are an undeniable part of every person\u2019s experience in our fallen world.The struggle articulated in Psalm 22 is not a doubt about God\u2019s presence or existence, but a questioning of his goodness. When Jesus prays, \u201cWhy have you forsaken me?\u201d it\u2019s not because he thinks God isn\u2019t present. It\u2019s precisely the opposite. He prays knowing God can hear his cry. As John Goldingay says, \u201cGod\u2019s abandonment lies not in going away but in being present and yet doing nothing.\u201d<em>Why would God not intervene to help an innocent victim? Why does God allow terrible evil to rampage through his world when he has the power to stop it? Why would he watch passively as his people suffer?<\/em><br><br>These are the honest questions that every person of faith must wrestle with, and Psalm 22 is not afraid to acknowledge them. The fact that Jesus himself felt the pain of these questions\u2014and felt it more acutely than we can ever imagine\u2014validates their legitimacy. And yet Psalm 22 lifts our eyes beyond our momentary suffering and reaffirms the goodness of the Lord. \u201cFor he has not despised or abhorred the afflictions of the afflicted, and he has not hidden his face from him, but has heard\u2026 The afflicted shall eat and be satisfied; those who seek him shall praise the Lord!\u201d<br><br>This Psalm, perhaps more than any other, articulates the weariness of God\u2019s people at the time of Jesus\u2019 birth. For hundreds of years, they had lived under foreign oppression, and with no word from the Lord or his prophets. They felt abandoned and forgotten. Some had given up hope and turned from God\u2019s covenant. Others turned to violence and trusted in their own power for deliverance.But the birth of Jesus proved God had not abandoned them, and he was not silent. At Christmas, we remember and celebrate our Lord, who is the opposite of indifferent. <br><br>So many today are wondering if God hears them. Does he see their pain? Does he care enough to intervene in his world and in our lives? The message of Psalm 22 and the message of this night is this\u2014God has not hidden his face from the afflicted.<br><br>DAILY SCRIPTURE<br><br><a href=\"https:\/\/withgoddaily.us2.list-manage.com\/track\/click?u=87188c8737bc50c1a2fb8e2c9&amp;id=b4a2c69e30&amp;e=f52fc38132\">PSALM 22:1-31<br>LUKE 2:25-35<\/a><br><br>WEEKLY PRAYER.  From Robert Lewis Stevenson (1850 &#8211; 1894)<br>O God, our loving Father, help us rightly to remember the birth of Jesus, that we may share in the song of the angels, the gladness of the shepherds and the worship of the wise men. May Christmas morning make us happy to be your children and Christmas evening bring us to our beds with grateful thoughts, forgiving and forgiven, for Jesus&#8217;s sake.<br>Amen.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>To be alive in the adventure of Jesus is to kneel at the manger and gaze upon that little baby who is radiant with so much promise for our world today.\u2014Brian McLaren,&nbsp;We Make the Road by Walking Brian McLaren invites us to see the birth of Jesus as the dawning of divine life and aliveness [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26275"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=26275"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26275\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26280,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26275\/revisions\/26280"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=26275"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=26275"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=26275"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}