Marvelling

A Reflection on the Psalm for December 25, 2022:
​The Nativity of the Lord

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Psalm 98

R. All the ends of the earth have seen the victory of our God.

O sing to the Lord a new song,
for he has done marvellous things.
His right hand and his holy arm
have brought him victory.


R. All the ends of the earth have seen the victory of our God.

The Lord has made known his victory;
He has revealed his vindication in the sight of the nations.
He has remembered his steadfast love
and faithfulness to the house of Israel.


R. All the ends of the earth have seen the victory of our God.

All the ends of the earth have seen
the victory of our God.
Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth;
break forth into joyous song and sing praises.

R. All the ends of the earth have seen the victory of our God.

Sing praises to the Lord with the lyre,
with the lyre and the sound of melody.
With trumpets and the sound of the horn
make a joyful noise before the King, the Lord.

R. All the ends of the earth have seen the victory of our God. ​

He has done marvellous things!

Here we are, reflecting on the glorious day of hope, the day we commemorate the coming of God into the world we live in. He came, miraculously, through a gentle, spotless woman, as all creation stood in awe and wonder of how this could be.

Like all of humanity before me, I waver between questioning and trust. Now, I don’t want my melancholic nature to take you down the rabbit hole of suppositions that run through my mind each day, because this miracle we reflect on today is one of light. But I do want to pose this question to you: What if this didn’t happen?

As difficult as it is to wrap my mind around this miracle birth, I shudder to imagine the world without the Light that is Christ. Sure, God performed many miracles before He sent His son into the world, but in the offering of this vulnerable child as the hope of all humanity, my scrutinous thoughts are stopped in their tracks and my heart alights with flame.

I see myself in Him.

In the weakness of His humanity, I see my own faults. In the smallness of His body, I see my body in all its frailty. In His dependence on a young, first-time mother, I recognize my own dependency.

He cried. I cry. He hurt. I hurt. He loved. I love. He suffered loss. I have lost.

The gift of our faith as Christians lies in the shared understanding of our God, who embraced His chosen creation so completely that He humbly walked among us. This is the most awe-inspiring, the most extraordinary, the most breathtaking, the most marvellous thing! I could never fully conceptualize this gift from God, and although I desire understanding through intellectual knowing, I am too small to take it in. Instead, He embodies my knowing of this miracle birth, just as He embodied His own spirit. One more thing we share in common.

Without giving me an explicit God-written strategy on how all this works, He has made the picture clearer by being the borne fruit of Isaiah’s words; by fulfilling His promises to generations of His people; by personally endowing me with new life by His birth within my very soul.

He has brought forth life in divine humanity. He has honoured a woman’s body as a vessel of life-giving love. He has introduced this sacred union between God and man. “[H]e has done marvellous things … break forth into joyous song and sing praises!”

May the marvel of His love for you be the hope shining in your heart today.

Merry Christmas!




Lori MacDonald

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