“The virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel, which is translated, ‘God with us.’” Matthew 1:23
“O magnum mysterium” – “O great mystery!” the Church has sung with adoration, wonder, and praise for centuries.
That the Second Person of the Trinity, the eternal Son of God, should, by the presence and power of the Holy Spirit, come into Mary’s womb and be joined to human flesh, taking on our nature forever – Who can comprehend this?
Like the Magi and countless others, including heaven’s angelic hosts, we can only bow down in worship, stand up to sing, and offer to him all that we have in grateful service.
“The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” John 1:14
This God-man entered a world of war and conquest; cruel and wicked rulers; apostate, hypocritical, and corrupt religious leaders; liars, thieves, adulterers, and greedy people; fractured families and sick societies; and multitudes wandering in darkness without God while God’s people allowed themselves to be distracted by the pleasures and problems of this life.
In short, he came to a world very much like our own, and to people very much like us. That this Son of God and son of Mary should live among us, teaching, healing, delivering from demons, and finally dying and rising to save us from our sins – Isn’t this, too, a tremendous mystery?
"Full of grace and truth.” John 1:14
Since my letter to you in December 2018, God’s kindness and tenderness in Christ toward us have been on abundant display.
Our daughter has seen some reduction of pain since she went on a mostly gluten-free diet this fall. She still experiences painful “flares” of fibromyalgia, but she is able to do more than before. She has recently launched a newsletter, which you can read at http://sarahcozart@substack.com. The first few issues have been beautiful.
Dori flew to the East Coast in January, visiting friends in Northern Virginia and Charlottesville. She and Sarah took Blaise to Vermont for a marvelous week of cooler weather and lovely scenery in July. In October, she traveled to California, where she stayed with several old friends and then attended a family wedding.
She greatly enjoyed singing a Christmas cantata with the choir in church on December 1st; they will join with other choirs for a community Christmas concert on the 20th.
Wright: After a seven-month sabbatical, I resumed working full time in March, concentrating, as before, on writing, prayer, and relating to people by email, phone, and video chats. With increasing strength, I’ve been able to compose book reviews for the Global China Center website, stories for the Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Christianity, and other articles. I’ve also edited two books for others and three collections of my own writings, which are available as free downloadable PDF files.
All of us have watched with delight as our grandson enters into this season with wonder and joy.
In these ways and many more that space will not allow me to share, we have experienced God’s grace and truth to us in Christ Jesus, whose birth we celebrate again this month.