by Pastor Stephen Abraham
Click here to download your printable verse to carry with you today.
Sing a new song to the Lord! Sing to the Lord, all the world! (Psalm 96:1)
Read Psalm 96
I have a confession to make. Although I’m a classically trained pianist, I am also a bit of a metalhead! So, when Extreme (one of my favourite bands) was touring Australia recently, I bought tickets, queued up, got excited, head-banged and sang my lungs out at their gig with a good friend. And as a few thousand voices sang the last words of their ballad ‘More Than Words’ in unison, guitarist Nuno Bettencourt exclaimed in awe, ‘Wow, it’s like a church in here!’
Psalms 96 to 99 are a series of royal songs celebrating God as King. Part of Psalm 96 is the specific psalm sung as King David brought the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem, as recorded in 1 Chronicles 15 and 16. It is a psalm of excitement, victory and great joy. According to 1 Chronicles 16:5,6, the Levitical band rocked pretty hard with lyres, harps, percussion and brass. Even King David was dancing to the beat (1 Chronicles 15:29)!
Whether it is a rock concert, a stirring hymn or even a footy anthem, there is no denying that there is something powerful in communal singing – unifying psychology and a meditative quality of relaxed focus that is both uniquely human and even otherworldly. So, it’s no surprise that in this Epiphany season, we remember one of the biggest Old Testament worship festivals of all time, as God’s mobile throne – the Ark – appeared before the people and made its way to the tabernacle (the place of his holy presence on earth). As we read this psalm, knowing how things turned out, we harken back to the heart of the gospel message – the fullness of God’s power and glory are no longer in this gilded throne – they are revealed in the Word made flesh – the Son of God, Jesus Christ.
The psalm begins with a call to sing a new song to the Lord. This ‘new song’ is not one of novelty but renewal. In Christ, we have a new song of salvation that the world desperately needs to hear: Emmanuel – God with us.
Lord Jesus, we rejoice at your appearance on earth and your continuing presence with us. Holy Spirit, stir our hearts to sing, proclaim to the world boldly, and share the magnificent message that ‘God is with us’ with our neighbours, friends and all who need to hear. Amen.
Stephen Abraham is a musician and Lutheran pastor who retired early due to a spinal injury that leaves him largely housebound with chronic pain (documented by Lutheran Media on its Messages of hope YouTube channel and radio program). As his condition allows, Stephen still preaches, takes chapel and serves his local church and school. He also writes and records personal songs, worship songs and Christian meditations, which he shares on his YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/StephenAbrahamMusic
by Pastor Stephen Abraham
Click here to download your printable verse to carry with you today.
I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life (1 John 5:13).
Read 1 John 5:13–21
Yesterday, as we journeyed together in this Epiphany season, we explored the challenge of the erroneous teaching that threatened early church communities – namely, that ‘Jesus wasn’t really human’ and that countering this threat was the purpose behind John’s letters in the New Testament.
Here’s a question for you: What do you do when you hear a friend or family member say something they hold to be true that is completely and factually wrong? Are you game enough to pull them up on it? Do you just let it ride? Most of the time, I think of a great response – only long after the conversation happened! But, sometimes, the error is important enough that I feel the need to follow up either in writing or in person (especially if it’s a particularly egregious error that gets my dander up!). And John does this as well, in two of his three letters! Today, in our reading, we hear how John concludes his first letter, warning against false teachings about Jesus not being fully human.
To John, these questions about Jesus not being fully human were not just bad, but they were soul-destroyingly bad (‘sins that lead to death’). And yet couched around this rebuttal and calling out this bad theology, John gives such amazing hope to those who ‘know the truth’:
My purpose in writing is simply this: that you who believe in God’s Son will know beyond the shadow of a doubt that you have eternal life, the reality and not the illusion (1 John 5:13).
The Jesus the disciples met is truly God in person, but he’s also the sacrificial flesh and blood ‘lamb who takes away the sin of the world’ (John 1:29).
John points out that part of the eternal life we have means being in step with God’s will, being confident that as we pray in Martin Luther’s Morning and Evening Prayers, we can place into God’s hands our ‘body and soul and all that is mine’, knowing that they will be safe. We are spiritually safe from the evil one and the evils of this world. How about we pray that right now?
I thank you, Heavenly Father, through your dear Son, Jesus Christ, you have protected me through the night from all harm and danger. I ask you to keep me this day, too, from all sin and evil, so that in all my thoughts, words and deeds, I may please you. In your hands, I place my body and soul and all that is mine. Let your holy angel be with me, so that the evil one may have no power over me. Amen.
Stephen Abraham is a musician and Lutheran pastor who retired early due to a spinal injury that leaves him largely housebound with chronic pain (documented by Lutheran Media on its Messages of hope YouTube channel and radio program). As his condition allows, Stephen still preaches, takes chapel and serves his local church and school. He also writes and records personal songs, worship songs and Christian meditations, which he shares on his YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/StephenAbrahamMusic
by Pastor Stephen Abraham
Click here to download your printable verse to carry with you today.
This is the one who came by water and blood – Jesus Christ. He did not come by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth (1 John 5:6).
Read 1 John 5:1–12
Earlier this year, I was talking to some faithful Christian friends. They mentioned their next-door neighbours who deny one part of the Trinity being God but still fervently call themselves Christians. My theological ears pricked up when I heard that! What do you make of it? How would you respond? In our pluralistic society, these kinds of breakaway beliefs seem to be on the rise.
If the season of Epiphany celebrates the Son of God, God in human form coming and living among us, teaching, guiding and ultimately redeeming us, I find it fascinating that these subsequent two Bible readings are from 1 John. Why? Because John’s letters were written directly to combat a breakaway group in the early church that thought the Jesus who appeared wasn’t really a human being! As I learnt in seminary, this breakaway group were followers of Docetism (Greek for ‘appearance’ because to them, Jesus only appeared to be human. See 1 John 4:1–3).
In today’s reading, John doubles down on what makes a true Christian; it’s someone who believes in both Jesus’ divinity and Jesus’ humanity. In my youth, when I was teaching a confirmation course, and I read these verses out of context, I thought, ‘Wow, blood and water and Holy Spirit, what a great verse affirming the means of grace (baptism and holy communion)’. However, it’s not really our baptism and receiving communion that John is talking about here. It’s Jesus’ physical life, born of a human mother, the start of his ministry at his baptism in the muddy Jordan River, his actual human lifeblood flowing out at his crucifixion. That’s the point being made. For John, being a Christian means holding both that Jesus is fully human and fully God at the same time. And, as John shares, this is the winning formula that overcomes all that the world can throw at us, the formula that leads to eternal life.
Lord Jesus, we are grateful that you know what it is like to be truly human with its joys, hardships, aches and pains. Thank you for coming to experience our life and giving your life for us so that we may experience eternal life. Amen.
Stephen Abraham is a musician and Lutheran pastor who retired early due to a spinal injury that leaves him largely housebound with chronic pain (documented by Lutheran Media on its Messages of hope YouTube channel and radio program). As his condition allows, Stephen still preaches, takes chapel and serves his local church and school. He also writes and records personal songs, worship songs and Christian meditations, which he shares on his YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/StephenAbrahamMusic
Prayer
Heavenly Father, thank you for the wonder of music and song. For the gifts of so many who have written songs and music for the world to enjoy and celebrate over the Christmas season. I praise you for opening the story of your love for the world in sending your precious and Only Son into the world as a baby.
This gift ultimately has brought me salvation through this baby born to be Saviour of the world. Guide me through the coming year, bless my family, friends and those whom you place in my path to share your story of love.
Give me courage and strength of purpose to fulfill the commission you have for my life. I praise you daily for your goodness and love. In your Son’s precious name I pray, Amen
Read: Matthew 6:19-21 “On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshipped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh.” Matthew 2:11 (NIV) What do you treasure? Recently I reminisced with my mother about her wedding on the anniversary of her wedding day in 1952. I have her wedding picture hanging up with all the family history pictures in our passage. I treasure that I have a history and can follow my ancestry. I was able to talk with her about her dress, veil, people who attended and what my father was wearing. We talked about the ceremony, how my father walked my mother down the aisle, not my grandfather.
The cake made with all the beautiful lacing by a local lady from Keyneton, South Australia. We talked of the reception, photos, the cars and the games they played at the reception – cutting a block of chocolate with a knife and fork, balancing a balloon on a stick while walking and so on. The stories were treasures in themselves that my mother was passing on to me. We also spoke of her dress that I also wore on my wedding day 43 years later. Stories are treasures which is why it is so important to record them. God knew that we would need the written history of the world and the plan He had to bring His Son, Jesus into the world through a virgin birth. The Bible contains history, stories and intrigue, but mostly it contains God’s love for all the world.
The carol ‘We Three Kings’ is a story of the coming of Gentiles to worship baby Jesus – God was opening His Kingdom to the whole world. John Henry Hopkins Jr. wrote both the lyrics and the music for this well-loved carol in 1857. He wrote it for a Christmas pageant and uncovered the motivation and the significance of the Wise Men’s gifts. It was a treasure that he has left the world which is sung every year at Christmas. As we end this Christmas season on Epiphany Day, resist the urge to focus only on the manger, rather give your full attention to the treasure that God has in store for us through the sending of His Son Jesus to be our Saviour. He is the perfect Light! Sing or listen to: We Three Kings
PRAYER V1: We three Kings of Orient are, Bearing gifts we traverse afar, Field and fountain, Moor and mountain, Following Yonder star.
CHORUS: O Star of Wonder, Star of Night, Star with Royal Beauty bright, Westward leading, Still proceeding, Guide us to thy perfect Light. Amen.
As With Gladness Men of Old 5th January Read: Matthew 2:1-12 “Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, ‘Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.’” Matthew 2:1b-2 (NIV) William Chatterton Dix was ill. He had been suffering for months and was restricted to bed. On the 6th January 1859, being unable to attend the Epiphany service at church, he decided to start writing a poem. He often wrote Christian poetry; and he was also the son of a poet – John Ross Dix. As he read the Gospel, Matthew 2:1-12, he was inspired and reflected on the text eventually resulting in ‘As With Gladness Men of Old’.
In 1861, William Henry Monk adapted the tune which became popular, and Monk named the tune ‘Dix’ after the author. Dix personally did not like the tune. This hymn is often sung at Christmas even though it is an Epiphany hymn. It is a prayer asking for God to be with us every day in every way that we may be drawn ever closer to our Lord. The Wise Men travelled in faith, and with sacrifice to see this little Christ-child. Following this example, we pray that we can also follow with such faith as we look forward to the day when we shall see Jesus face-to-face. The Wise Men took the trouble to bring costly treasures.
They must have been aware of who this child they were searching for was. He was the Son of God. So also, what treasures can we offer this baby, the Son of God? We are encouraged to live our lives as an offering to our Lord and King. The hymn points to the promises of Revelation 21-22 which describes the full life we will have with God in the new heaven and new earth. Then we will no longer need ‘created light’ because Jesus, the light of the world, will be our light. Read through the verses of this hymn/prayer again. There is so much in them and so much to ponder about our lives. God has given us so much in sending His Son Jesus to be our Saviour, He wants us to also share in the Heavenly glory that has been prepared for us. Sing or listen to: As With Gladness Men of Old.
PRAYER As with gladness men of old did the guiding star behold; As with joy they hailed its light, leading onward, beaming bright; So, most gracious God, may we evermore be led to Thee. Amen.
by Jo Corney
Click here to download your printable verse to carry with you today.
This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins (1 John 4:10).
Read 1 John 4:7–21
Here we are at the end of our devotional time together – I trust the daily devotions over recent days have encouraged you in God’s love for you, for us and for all.
This verse is a personal treasure in my faith journey. My intention in sharing this is to encourage you and gently remind you of the liberation and certainty we have in faith because of what God first did for us – he loved us first and made the way for us to have a restored relationship with him for always through Jesus. From this space of being so uniquely and completely loved, we respond to him by wanting to know, please and serve him in our lives.
Coming into the Lutheran expression of Christian faith when I married from another conservative Christian religion, I grappled for some time with the classic Lutheran summary of faith ‘by grace, for Christ’s sake, through faith’. By grace was my issue. Works had been a real part of my previous faith journey where I had to do something or be something better endlessly to feel I could continue in my relationship with God and the church community. I was so disheartened and exhausted from trying. There was no rest or gentleness in my faith – it was rules to keep and works to do to be in relationship with God. How do you think I went? I failed ongoingly, so I tried harder – it proved confusing as I would read or hear the ministry of God’s love and forgiveness, but both seemed unattainable. As a result, God seemed lofty and hard. Despite my various efforts (which were many), it didn’t feel like it came together – the older I got, the more difficult and isolating my understanding of the Christian faith became.
Coming into the Lutheran tradition was transformative for my faith journey, identity, peace, freedom and, subsequently, my service and worldviews. I am not saying it has been perfect or easy. But in a balanced and real way, I would share that over time (particularly through the shaping and influence of our worship liturgy, inquiry and informal study of Lutheran theology and engaging in my local and wider Lutheran church community), I’ve come to understand what this verse says – God loved us first, and it’s from there that we respond. Loving humankind first and showing how he values us by sending Jesus for all, God shows no-one is spare, but all are precious always.
How extraordinary and complete. As I grasped that God reached out to me in his love, I wanted to respond to him, and it became natural to respond to that in joy, gratitude, gentleness, assuredness, service and much more.
I offer you this verse, and I trust your experience of it blesses your faith journey. ‘This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins’ (1 John 4:10).
Every blessing to you this day and for the days to come.
Gracious and loving God, thank you for loving us first. In times of hardship in our lives, please help us know this. May we be held deep in your love for us always, no matter the life space. In the name of Christ, Amen.
Jo is a wife and mum who serves in various roles in her local Lutheran church community and as a chaplain within Lutheran Services.
Read: 1 Corinthians 1:20-31 “The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” 1 Samuel 16:7 (NIV) Caleb, a little boy in the town of Bethlehem, heard that a special baby had been born in a stable. He used to go out into the fields and play his little drum to any who would listen – mostly animals. He had heard his parents scoffing as they told of the baby Jesus’ birth. These people, Mary and Joseph, were so poor they couldn’t even afford to stay in a hotel. How special can a baby be who is born and put in the feeding trough of animals?
Nevertheless, little Caleb set out in search of finding this baby, taking with him his little drum. He went in, out and around the streets of Bethlehem searching for a stable. But which stable, there were so many. In his search he came across these beautifully dressed men leading camels. Thinking they might know where this little ‘king’ was, Caleb followed at a distance. Finally, on the other edge of town, was a popular inn and a stable for the inn’s patrons. The men with camels went into the stable and knelt down in front of a manger. “What were they doing?”, Caleb thought.
The parents, Mary and Joseph were there as well as lots of animals and a couple shepherds. Not much of a place for a king! The important men took out some gifts – they looked so expensive and put them by the manger telling Mary that they were for her little ‘king’. Caleb crept closer and saw this baby – there was a radiance that shone around him. Caleb started playing his drum. He wanted to give the baby something, like the important people had, but he had nothing but his drum. He played quietly and the baby turned and looked straight at Caleb. The baby smiled. Little Caleb had nothing, all he had was himself and he laid it before the baby Jesus. God loves you so much. He doesn’t want riches or a portion of what you can give. He desires all of you and the gifts you give from the heart! Sing or listen to: Little Drummer Boy
PRAYER V3: Mary nodded Pa-rum-pum-pum-pum. The ox and lamb kept time Pa-rum-pum pum-pum. I played my drum for him Pa-rum-pum-pum-pum. I played my best for him Pa-rum-pum-pum-pum. Rum-pum-pum-pum, Rum-pum-pum-pum. Then he smiled at me Pa-rum-pum-pum-pum. Me and my drum. Amen
Read: Isaiah 40:1-11 “Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain.” Isaiah 40:4 (NIV) This song was written to originally welcome the New Year as a Ukrainian Folk song called ‘Shchedryk’, translated as ‘The Little Swallow’. It tells of a swallow who flies into a household to proclaim the plentiful year that will come the following spring. Mykola Leontovych arranged the song in 1916 and in 1922 Peter J. Wilhousky wrote the English lyrics, giving it more of a Christmas focus.
Listening to the song, especially an acapella version with 5-part harmonies, one can hear the bells welcoming the new year and bringing good cheer to a cold European winter. During the Christmas season we share love and peace and hope with each other. We join in the festivities of the seasons – parties, dinners, BBQs, fellowship and family time. There can be though, after all have gone home and the Christmas festivities are over, some post-Christmas blues. We look to another year, but what does it hold for each of us? Sometimes I am actually overwhelmed during Christmas and look forward to some down time in January, but then I look back and wish I had done more. I can get despondent and wonder when the family will be together again and share the fun times again.
That is where HOPE comes in. You cannot have Christmas and Jesus without hope. The hope of a new-born and all the things He will do and achieve through His life. This song reminds us of the hope and joy of Christmas. The bells and running tune can’t help but bring a smile to the heart. During difficult times, I listen to songs with hopeful lyrics to bolster my soul. The original version of this song was composed during the most hopeless time – the first World War. ‘Carol of the Bells’ was written to bring hope to a despairing people. God gave his only Son to bring us hope at Christmas. The world can easily get us down or bring us despair, but Jesus came so that we can live. As we go through this year, keep hope alive in your hearts. Sing or listen to: Carol of the Bells
PRAYER V1: Hark! How the bells Sweet silver bells All seem to say ‘throw cares away’. Christmas is here Bringing good cheer to young and old Meek and the bold. V2; Ding, dong, ding dong That is their song with joyful ring All carolling One seems to hear Words of good cheer. From ev’rywhere Filling the air. Amen.