Photo Credit: Immanuel, by Daniel Go, Flicker

On this Christmas Eve, my thoughts turn once again to the amazing reality we celebrate at Christmas. Incarnation — the reality that God came among us in human form. Immanuel — God with us. Christmas reminds us that God came near, that God cares, that God initiated a path to restore our brokenness. Here’s a poem I wrote in the early 1990s that helps me focus of the wonder and significance of what we celebrate at Christmas. Merry Christmas!

Immanuel — God with Us

It seems quite strange, that on this day
the Lord of heaven and earth would lay
Amidst the straw-filled stable stall
though He was sovereign over all.

For He was God, yet did not grasp
His rightful place before the mass
Of many laud-filled cherubim
and hosts of holy seraphim.

He rather made Himself to be
a humble servant of His King
And of His Father’s holy will
that offered Him upon the hill.

To pay for our iniquities
and take up our infirmities,
The Lord of hosts did lay on Him
the weight of all our crushing sin.

This is the reason that God gave
to Him the name above all names;
That at the name of Jesus bow
all heaven and earth, for this is how

It ought to be, and I now see
He is the one sure Majesty,
Who reigns forevermore—Adore
this one true King who is our Lord.

For unto us was born this day,
within the humble stall, in hay,
Our Mighty God and Prince of Peace—
the One whose rule will never cease.

And yet, it seems now so profound,
that King of All would cry a sound
Of humbleness, and need for rest—
to lay upon His mother’s chest.

We serve a Mighty God and King
whose humbleness did meet our need;
Through coming as a lowly man,
He met for us God’s just demands.

So worship God, and all He is,
from infant’s birth on up to His
Eternal reign and kingly might,
and live forever in His light.