Immanuel

My home congregation, growing up, was called Immanuel.  Sort of.

The original leaders thought 'Shiloh' would be a good name for the church, the place where God's people gathered (Joshua 18).  The German pronunciation was more like 'Silo' than 'Shiloh,' and this named seemed appropriate for a small church in a farming community.  But the official name is Immanuel.

Matthew said that the baby Savior should be called Immanuel (God with us) as well as Jesus (The Lord Saves).  Since no one in the Gospels ever called Jesus by the name 'Immanuel,' it seems that name holds more purpose in meaning than identification.  The miracle of the incarnation is that God came to us - the God of the universe became a helpless baby; the Word became flesh.

The "im" is the preposition "with."  "manu," the substance of the word, is an elongated pronoun meaning "us."  "El" is short of Elohiem or the Hebrew word for 'god,' here specifically referring the one and only God.  With-us-God = Immanuel.

This Christmas season the word struck me differently than before since I noticed the lack of a verb.  God-with-us is not really a complete thought, but it implies the verb "is" making the sentence "God is with us."  Implied words happen often, such as in nearly every imperative sentence, every command that is given.  "Pick up your room."  is a complete sentence and implies the subject 'You' at the beginning - "You, pick up your room."  The one word sentence "Listen." does the same - "You, listen."  Since there is no verb, we can imply the verb 'is.'

But since there is no explicit verb written, you might find that this Christmas you are better served by implying the past tense of the verb - was.  God was with us, this year.  There were some interesting times, some difficult challenges, some hard decisions, but God was indeed with us through them.  Maybe the same could be said about your future as you look ahead at the unknown.  Our country is in a war with the threat of other wars, on a 'fiscal cliff,' and falling behind as a world power, but God will be with us.  Families and jobs may look different in the coming year, but God will be with us.

However, at any given moment you must live in the present.  You can learn from the past and prepare for the future, but you must live in the present.  Therefore, maybe the most appropriate implied verb is the present form - God is with us.  God came down from heaven on Christmas and was with people here on earth for a time, and he will return to judge the world and take us to heaven in the future, but right now you need to know that God is with you.  Immanuel.

Merry Christmas.

Deliver Us From Evil

We pray this line, often, as we say the Lord's Prayer.  We ask that God would deliver us from evil, from the Evil One, from the one who would incite such awful acts as witnessed in Connecticut last week.  The pain and heartbreak this continues to cause is overwhelming from so many different aspects.

And the tragedy hits close to home.  The pain of this event is so hard because it happened to children, because it happened to children who were supposed to be in a 'safe place.'

One of the lines that stood out to me this past weekend was a quote from Mr. (Fred) Rogers.  It seems applicable to any crisis, but maybe more appropriate since this crisis involved children.  He said,
     "When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to  me, "Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.”"  

There were helpers in Sandy Hook.  There are helpers for us, as well.

I cannot imagine the pain of losing a child, and yet it seems like too many parents, do.  It is not natural to bury a child.  Many children die every day from many different causes: cancer, malnutrition, other diseases, car accidents, violence... We pray for deliverance from evil whether it applies to a whole country in mourning, or rather just one family or individual who is in pain.  I cannot imagine the pain of losing a child, but God can.  Jesus was his only son, and yet each of those twenty children where God's children, as well.  Every child.

The same prayer that contains "deliver us from evil" also contains "Thy will be done."  God did not want this event to happen, and He grieves the loss of every child.  Martin Luther wrote explanations to each part of the Lord's Prayer, and he says that praying the phrase "Thy will be done" is not a magic formula for causing God's will to be done - it's going to happen whether we pray or not.  Instead, when we pray, we are asking that we can be part of God's will being done here on Earth.

May God's will be done - through each one of us.

Concordia Publishing House

Light and Numbers

Light is a pretty cool thing.  From a science perspective, it is without rival.  Light and dark are not opposites, rather darkness is simply the absence of light.  If light and dark were to have a fight, light would win.  Every time.  Imagine an entire Edward Jones Dome full of darkness.  Light one candle in that dome and you could see it from anywhere in that enormous place.  Light makes itself present.  It takes effort to hide light.

Light is pretty is a pretty important part of the Christmas season.  Candle-light services are popular.  Advent wreaths progress with light until Christmas.  Christmas lights decorate many houses and businesses.  It's Biblical.  John wrote that about Jesus coming into the world at Christmas time and said, "The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world."  Isaiah said "The people walking in darkness have seen a great light."  A little while later in Isaiah chapter 9 we have the Christmas verses, "For unto us a child is born."

Jesus is the light.  By him being present in our lives, we shine forth, as well.  This is why Jesus says,

Matthew 5:16
In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

Jesus did not say that you might have the opportunity to be the light if you work really hard at it.  You are the light of the world, so let those lights shine for the right reasons.  Love shines bright.  Let it shine.

How do you shine?  By living differently than our dark world.  By looking to follow the heart of God and not just the letter of the law.  Jesus went on to say,

^{Matthew 5:43-44
43} “You Matthew 5:43-44have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ ⁴⁴ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you

Love shines bright.  Let it shine.

In addition, I want to share a little about numbers that have significance in the Bible.

There are some significant numbers in the Bible, so it might be a good idea to list a few of them.  They tend to appear from time to time, like the number 14 for David.  Most of them are more common than that one, though, so we'll run through a quick list of important numbers.

Three is a number that is usually associated with God or heaven or spiritual things.  Some important three's would include the 3 person of God in the Trinity and Jesus being in the tomb for three days.

Four, on the other had, is a very earthly number.  There are four directions (north, east, south, west), four seasons (spring, summer, fall, winter), four hemispheres, and four ancient elements (earth, wind, fire, water).  This brings significance to Jesus' heavenly resurrection (three days in the tomb) compared to Lazarus' earthly resurrection (four days in the tomb).

When you add three and four, you get the complete number 7.  Seven shows up a lot in the book of Revelation symbolizing completeness.  A week is complete with seven days, like the seven days of creation.  When Revelation was sent to the seven churches, it could be argued that it was sent to all the churches, the 'complete' number of churches.

One less than complete would be the devil's number of 6.  The devil tries to imitate God's completeness, but comes up short.

10 is a number that represents power.  Numbers are often multiplied by powers of ten.  The beast in Revelation having 10 horns is a symbol of power.

The church is represented by the number 12.  The people of God in the Old Testament were the twelve tribes of Israel.  The people of God in the New Testament followed the teachings of the twelve disciples.  All the people of God surround God's throne, represented by the twenty-four elders (12 + 12).

And 40 is a number for change.  The earth was changed in the forty days it rained during Noah's time.  The Israelites were changed during forty years of wandering in the desert.  Moses was changed after spending forty days on the mountain with God.  Jesus was changed during his temptations in the desert, being prepared for ministry.