Glory to God in the Lowest
Christianity is ultimately the story of one Grand Miracle. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Almighty God, the Eternal and Unchanging One, entering the world of change and turning, and taking on human nature for us and our salvation. It is the story of descent and re-ascent, of the Highest descending to the lowest, redeeming fallen man, and then returning in triumph to glory.
Christmas and Easter are the two great turns in that story. Christmas marks the descent, the coming down; Easter marks the rising, the return to glory. And so let us mark the movement of Christmas, the Christmas pattern. The Highest descends to the lowest. God becomes man. Born of woman. And not just any woman – a young peasant girl from the backwater town of Nazareth. The highest descends to the lowest, and is born in the little town of Bethlehem, small among the clans of Judah.
That’s why our Christmas songs are so filled with angels. At the first Christmas, the angels were the ones who really got it. They led the way. They set the tone. The humans in the story follow the angelic lead. The emotions of those on earth is tied to what is happening in the heavens. The magi rejoice with great joy when they see the star. The shepherds glorify and praise God because of what they had seen and heard from the angels.
That’s why angels are so prominent in our Christmas carols. Angels we have heard on high. Hark the herald angels sing. The First Noel. O Holy Night. O Come All Ye Faithful. Angels from the Realm of Glory. Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silent. God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen. What Child Is This? It Came Upon a Midnight Clear. Ding Dong Merrily on High (which has been on repeat at our house the last few days).
We sing what they sang:
“Glory to God in the highest.”
Sometimes we do it in Latin – Gloria, in excelsis deo. Christmas is about the Highest descending to the lowest, bringing joy and triumph with him. Thirty years before Jesus taught his disciples how to pray, we witness what it means to say,
“Hallowed by your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”
The Highest descends to the lowest.
My encouragement to you this morning is to remember that Christmas pattern. The Highest descends to the lowest. Join the angels in their joy. Join the triumph of the skies, and press it into the mundane. The highest descends to the lowest, and the blessing flows far as the curse is found. So sing with the angels, not only here at church in your Sunday best, but at home in the cleanup, when you’re taking out the trash, when you’re doing the dishes, in the monotonous mundane, in the small and insignificant.
Follow the Christmas pattern and sing, “Glory to God in the lowest.”
This reminds us of the need to confess our sins, so let’s seek God’s face together now.
Prayer of Confession
Our Father and God, we are a people of unclean lips and false hearts, and we dwell amidst a people of unclean lips and false hearts. Like Herod of old, our culture rejects the true king, and vainly attempts to retain the festivity and joy while minimizing and ignoring the Grand Miracle. In pride and arrogance, we have turned aside to our own ways and despised your name. This is a great evil.
Father, as your covenant people, we confess that we have not come faithful, joyful, and triumphant, but instead have come with grumbling, complaining, and ingratitude. Our souls have shriveled up in selfishness, and we have imprisoned ourselves in covetousness and idolatry. Forgive us, we pray, for we are miserable offenders.
We know that if we regard sin in our own midst, our prayers will be ineffectual, and so we confess our individual sins to you now.
Father, though our sins be as scarlet, you make them as white as the snow that blankets our city on this Christmas morning. We rejoice in your great mercy, and gladly receive the Savior, who is Christ the Lord. We humbly ask that you work in us that which is pleasing in your sight. Through Christ we pray, Amen.