Buerkle Christmas Greetings
Sing aloud, O daughter Zion; shout, O Israel! Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter Jerusalem!
The Lord has taken away the judgments against you...
The king of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst;...
The Lord, your God, is in your midst... he will rejoice over you with gladness, he will renew you in his love; he will exult over you with loud singing as on a day of festival.
Пой, дочь Сиона, ликуй, Израиль, радуйся и веселись всем сердцем, дочь Иерусалима!
Отменил Господь приговор тебе...
Господь, царь Израилев, — в тебе!
Господь, Бог твой, — в тебе...! Будет торжествовать Он, глядя на тебя, и возрадуется, обновит тебя Своей любовью, возликует, глядя на тебя, с радостным пением, словно в день праздничный!
Even in Moscow, even many weeks before the majority of the country's residents celebrates (Eastern Orthodox) Christmas, the sounds of
the season are everywhere. Mariah Carey is ubiquitous (perhaps not surprisingly), but I do find it rather odd that the infectious “All I
Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth” is for some reason more popular here than back home. Mixed in to this secular fare is,
thankfully, a healthy serving of some of the most wonderful, joyous hymns that Christian authors have ever written. Even with my far-
from-ideal singing voice, I cannot help but at least try to hum along.
While writing my sermon on the given preaching text for Christmas Eve (a selection of which, from Zephaniah 3, you see above) for
congregations of the Russian Far East, I was reminded that people of faith throughout the centuries have held on to the hope that they
will have a new reason to sing for joy. But the prophet here adds another aspect to the celebration. In his vision (or whatever the audio
version of a vision is) God sings to and with us.
We would not be too far off base, it seems to me, to think of the Incarnate Word as the song of God among us. In Jesus, God uses words
(though not only words) to express Divine love for humanity and to infect us with a new tune, one that will work its way into our heads
and our hearts, both for this season and for all the other seasons to come. None of us, even the most talented musicians, can sing along
perfectly with the deep and complex tune the Lord sings for us. But we can try to hum along. Why not? Perhaps we will experience joy
when we do so. And perhaps we will even find ways to spread that joy to others.
Merry Christmas to you!
Yours in Christ,
The Buerkle family
Bradn, Natasha, Matvey, Martin and Lukas
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