The soloist soars high above the massive, harmonizing choir: “O holy night, the stars are brightly shining.” But on that night, no soul on earth expected anything but normal. We drape the story of His birth with yards of gauze and billowy bright angels. We estimate a gentleness His weary parents never knew. We decorate the landscape of our Christmas with smiling sheep and camels trudging from the East. And we forget how hard it is to live beside—among—farm animals in fields or in stables. We ring a halo ‘round a birth that felt—that hurt—like any other birth, for there was nothing to relieve His mother’s pain except, perhaps, the wise words of a midwife and the prayers of worried Joseph. Truth is, the grace of God, the Word made Flesh, took pains to enter all our commonness, our struggle and our dirt, so all who live below the line would see Him as their Saviour, too. Grace never was afraid of dirt—not then, not now, not ever—whether in a musty stable or in a haggard heart. Our pain, our sin, our guilt, our shame—these are the things He gladly wore as surely as those swaddling clothes. He was, He is, Immanuel—God with us; God one of us; God for us. So come, let us adore Him. And stay in grace. -Bill Knott
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HELD BY GRACE (May 14, 2021)
WHAT CAN WASH AWAY MY SIN? (May 07, 2021)
FORGIVENESS ON A STRING (April 30, 2021)
THE GROWING SEASON (April 23, 2021)
THE CONFIDENCE OF GOD (April 16, 2021)
NO TRAVELING ALONE (April 09, 2021)
HAIL THE DAY (April 02, 2021)
UNBROKEN LOVE (March 26, 2021)
NOT FOR SALE (March 19, 2021)
THE HOUSE THAT GRACE BUILDS (March 12, 2021)
A NEW ECONOMY (March 05, 2021)
GETTING WHAT WE DON’T DESERVE (February 19, 2021)
MANNA IN OUR WILDERNESS (February12, 2021)
ASSUMED IDENTITY (February 05, 2021)
WHY GRACE MAKES US UNCOMFORTABLE (January 29, 2021)
REASSURING RHYTHMS (January 22. 2021)
RECLAIMING OUR IDENTITY (January 15, 2021)
LOVE THAT WON’T LET GO (January 08, 2021)
RENEWAL IN THE RUINS (January 01, 2021)
LOVE CAME DOWN (December 24, 2020)
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