by Sal Huckel
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… and the Holy Spirit descended on [Jesus] in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: ‘You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased’ (Luke 3:22).
Read Luke 3:15–17,21,22
A month ago, I had a rare Sunday away from my own congregation and attended the baptism of a friend’s baby and the baptism of a large group of teens and young adults at another church. Neither church was Lutheran, and I felt the disconnect during both services.
Originally an outsider to Lutheran teaching, it took me a long time to understand what Lutherans mean when we discuss remembering our baptism or living out our baptism daily.
As we ponder the difference between John’s baptism (merely the water) and Jesus’ baptism, we must remember what we believe as Lutherans. If it’s a while since you read the Large Catechism on baptism, or if you haven’t read it before, it’s a valuable thing to do to understand how we differ from other theology in the sacrament of baptism. Martin Luther reminds us that the water and word should:
… by no means be separated from each other and parted. For if the word is separated from it, the water is the same as the water that the servant cooks with. It may indeed be called a bath-keeper’s baptism. But when the word is added, as God ordained it, it is a sacrament, and it is called Christ’s baptism.
It is reassuring and encouraging to me as I ponder the fact that I cannot ‘remember’ my own infant baptism and that in the sacrament, I was indeed baptised into Christ’s death and resurrection – despite the lack of any believers to raise me in the faith. While I cannot point to a ‘believer’s baptism’ where I made a declaration of my faith like the young people I witnessed only weeks ago, I have the assurances of Scripture that God did the work in my baptism– and I did not need to. His grace is not dependent on my level of belief or efforts. Further, Luther reminds us to value our baptism as a daily dress (Galatians 3:27 – we are clothed with Christ) and walk in it constantly (Large Catechism). We start to realise what it is to walk in (and wear) our baptism daily.
Father God, you descended on your Son Jesus like a dove and declared your love for him for all to hear. Thank you that I am also baptised into Jesus’ baptism and have received the Holy Spirit. Increase my faith as I remember my baptism daily, and help me to nurture the faith of others in my care as you work in their lives, too. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Sal is married to Pastor Matthew Huckel, and they live in Victoria with their six children, enjoying their ministry with Moorabbin–Dandenong Lutheran Church. Their two eldest children are excited to study at undergraduate and postgraduate levels during term time in Sydney. Theology, music, philosophy, literature and history are passions the family shares and explores together. Sal loves writing, speaking and walking to the beach at every opportunity.
by Pastor Stephen Abraham
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Honour the Lord, you heavenly beings; honour the Lord for his glory and strength. Honour the Lord for the glory of his name. Worship the Lord in the splendour of his holiness (Psalm 29:1,2).
Read Psalm 29
Have you ever looked back on the story of your life and sensed that God was at work? Looking back now on those pivotal moments or difficulties that seem so insurmountable at the time, and now they are signposts that the Sovereign Lord has been steering your destiny?
Our last psalm for this first week of the Epiphany season is Psalm 29 – an enthronement psalm celebrating God’s sovereignty over the world: ‘The Lord reigns as king forever’ (Psalm 29:10b). It is a powerful hymn of praise to God, emphasising his supreme majesty and sovereign power over all creation. But as we read it with the Epiphany season in mind, we suddenly see a glimpse of God’s greater plan at work.
Twice in this psalm, we are reminded of things that happen centuries later in Jesus’ life and ministry. Firstly, we hear of these of the ‘heavenly beings giving honour to God’ in verse one and remember the Nativity with the angelic hosts singing the Great Gloria at Jesus’ birth: ‘Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favour rests’ (Luke 2:14).
Then, we hear the voice of the Lord, commanding all of creation (seven times, indicating perfection). We are reminded of the events of Jesus’ baptism (which we celebrate tomorrow), where we hear the commanding voice of the Lord from the heavens in Luke 3:22b, declaring: ‘You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.’
God was at work in the life of the psalmist. God was at work preparing the way for the coming of Jesus. And God is at work in your life, too – even if, at times, it feels like a chaotic torrent of painful events pulling you under. Remember the last words of this psalm:
The Lord sits enthroned over the flood;
the Lord is enthroned as king forever.
The Lord gives strength to his people;
the Lord blesses his people with peace!
Heavenly Father, we praise you for your great power and majesty. You rule over all creation, and your voice is mighty in judgement and mercy. Help us to trust in your sovereign care and find comfort in your eternal kingship. In Jesus’ name, 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
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The Lord reigns, let the earth be glad; let the distant shores rejoice. Clouds and thick darkness surround him; righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne (Psalm 97:1,2).
Read Psalm 97
Have you noticed how modern TV shows try to draw us in using the psychology of the ‘big reveal’? It’s usually a cliffhanger that baits us into watching the next episode because we long to know how the story ends!
Today’s Epiphany reading sets the scene for God’s reign as king. The Theophany (appearance of God) in the first half of Psalm 97 is full of earth-shattering cosmic power, drawing on the imagery of the ‘Shekinah’ – the cloud of God’s almighty presence from Exodus and the final reign of justice and righteousness, and this sense of finally ‘setting things right’.
As time goes by in this 21st century, and as I watch tragic world events unfold, I sometimes feel like I’m in a cosmic reality TV show, waiting desperately for the innocent to be freed and restored and for the villains to be defeated and locked away for eternity. As the exiled people of God scattered among the Babylonian Empire sang this psalm, they, too, longed for the Messianic era – their restoration, God’s kingdom to finally come, and for things to be set right.
As I write this, I’m lying here bedridden, so tired of fighting the debilitating chronic pain that has robbed me of so much in this life. I long for restoration! For the new era to come. For God to restore me and set things right. But although I’m weary and broken, I’m not giving up. I will keep singing and longing for the final Epiphany: the Son of God coming again in glory and setting things right in this world.
So, to you who are in Christ’s righteousness and are suffering hardship, grief or loss, may these words be your song for today:
Light shines on the righteous and joy on the upright in heart. Rejoice in the Lord, you who are righteous, and praise his holy name (Psalm 97:11,12).
Almighty God, Lord of the heavens and the earth, we long for things to be made right. Lord Jesus, we long for you to come again in glory to restore our world and restore our lives. Stir our hearts, Holy Spirit, to sing praise and bring your light to the dark places of this world. Come, Lord Jesus, come. 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.
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.