OzThoughts Monday 1st January 2010

OzThoughts Monday 1st January 2010


For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
... And he will be called
…Mighty God…
(Isaiah 9: 6 New International Version).

If Christmas is the season of joy and excitement then what of the New Year? How would you describe its meaning for you?

(Although our attention to New Year swamps it, we are still in the Twelve Days of Christmas and Orthodox Christians are still looking forward to their Christmas which comes at the end of our Twelve Days).

It is certainly a time for looking back over a year past. In all that has happened there is a hymn that comes readily to my mind:

[Listen: http://www.salvoaudio.com/audio/music/mus_3469.mp3 ]

Now thank we all our God
With hearts and hands and voices,
Who wondrous things hath done,
In whom his world rejoices;
Who from our mothers' arms
Hath blessed on our way
With countless gifts of love,
And still is ours today.
(SA Song Book Song Number 12)

It is a time of thanksgiving and also time for looking forward with prayerful expectation to a year when we can seize the God given opportunities. I remember that Jesus, the babe of Bethlehem is indeed “Mighty God”. I think of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians where he says:

16 I couldn't stop thanking God for you--every time I prayed, I'd think of you and give thanks.
17 But I do more than thank. I ask--ask the God of our Master, Jesus Christ, the God of glory--to make you intelligent and discerning in knowing him personally,
18 your eyes focused and clear, so that you can see exactly what it is he is calling you to do, grasp the immensity of this glorious way of life he has for Christians,
19 oh, the utter extravagance of his work in us who trust him--endless energy, boundless strength!
20 All this energy issues from Christ: God raised him from death and set him on a throne in deep heaven,
21 in charge of running the universe, everything from galaxies to governments, no name and no power exempt from his rule. And not just for the time being, but forever.
22 He is in charge of it all, has the final word on everything. At the center of all this, Christ rules the church.
23 The church, you see, is not peripheral to the world; the world is peripheral to the church. The church is Christ's body, in which he speaks and acts, by which he fills everything with his presence. (Ephesians 1: The Message).

Yes the mighty God we serve is there for us in this year.

PRAYER:

[Listen: Band and Chorus: http://www.salvoaudio.com/audio/music/mus_766.mp3 ]

O may this bounteous God
Through all our life be near us,
With ever-joyful hearts
And blessed peace to cheer us,
And keep us in his grace,
And guide us when perplexed,
And free us from all ills
In this world and the next.

All praise and thanks to God
The Father now be given,
The Son and him who reigns
With them in highest Heaven.
The one eternal God,
Whom earth and Heaven adore;
For thus it was, is now,
And shall be evermore.
The Salvation Army Song Book: Song Number:12
Author: Martin Rinkart (1588-1649)
Translated by : Catherine Winkworth (1827-78)



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