On the second day of Christmas, Yahweh gave to us: Redemption.
On the second day of Christmas, Yahweh gave to us redemption. It’s a fancy theology word we toss around in church circles but do we ever stop to consider what it actually means that God “redeems” us. Outside of theology circles, I bet most folks think of coupons.
But our God is relational not transactional. God doesn’t trade one thing for another, or look for the best deal, or purchase us at a discounted price. God says we are an invaluable treasure.
God came as Jesus the Messiah, another big word we toss around in Church circles which is an ancient title designating someone as the promised deliverer, to fulfill the divine promise to re-set all things in proper order.
You see, we humans broke the deal with God, our creator and divine parent, by choosing our own way instead of God’s way. We tell the story of The Fall, the story of Adam and Eve, to explain how our ancient earthly ancestors, decided what God had given them wasn’t enough and that they deserved more and so they took it, regardless of the consequences God had outlined for them.
No matter what our egos try to tell us, it is only God who can set things right. Jesus came, fully God and fully human, and lived on the earth to give us the ultimate example of how to live in God’s kingdom now, and to eliminate the distance we had created between God and us. Jesus came to remind us we are God’s beloved children, that we don’t have to earn the a title. Our adoption as God’s children is a gift freely given. This is how God designed this world to work – God’s children working with God to care for and tend to all of creation, especially each other.
Each time we choose kindness over anger, love over selfishness, compassion over hate, we are living on earth as it is in heaven. We are showing the world what it means to be redeemed. So on this second day of Christmas, I invite you to make time to consider God’s gift of redemption and how it changes everything.
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