There’s a strange word in the opening verse of the Christmas carol “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day.“这也许是你从未注意到的.
Penned in the midst of the Civil War by the great poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, the song has a backstory of personal loss and tragedy. And though the poet hinted at the age-old question of God’s sovereignty and human frailty, the song ends on a positive note with a rousing affirmation that evil cannot win.
仍然, Longfellow slips in a description at the beginning that gives one pause, 一个如此不恰当的词, 似乎, that at least one contemporary musician has changed it. 在很久以前的那个圣诞节, Longfellow described the bells’ tolling of Peace on Earth as “wild and sweet.”
“Sweet,” when referring to peace, is understandable, but “wild?朗费罗是什么意思? Perhaps it is troubling because deep-down, we understand.
Dr. 肯•泰勒, 教会教授，长期担任牧师, has walked beside countless people on the path of grief and heartache.
“生活是艰难的，”泰勒说. “我们认识和爱的人都会死去. 犯罪和不公正围绕着我们. 和平似乎如此遥远. Some days 似乎 that there is no hope for us, those we love, our society, and our world.”
Could it be that peace truly is wild, something we chase after but can never catch? Is peace something so powerful that humans can neither forge it nor grasp it in our hands?
更多的 importantly, in the midst of life-shattering pain, is it even possible to know peace?
Longfellow ended his poem with a resounding Yes—peace is found in the knowledge that the ever-watching God never sleeps. While an ever-watching God is a tremendous and scriptural promise, 在化身中发现了更大的承诺, 这是, 耶稣是以马内利, 上帝与我们同在.
化身的承诺是狂野的, 因为我们不能完全理解它, 因为上帝与我们同在，无论在欢乐或痛苦中. 他的名字是伊曼纽尔. 这里有和平.
“史上最伟大的作品”
Dr. 亚当·哈伍德, 神学副教授, noted some important points about the incarnation that should guide believers in understanding what God has done.
First, Harwood pointed out, Jesus coming in the flesh reveals who God is.
“Because of the incarnation of the eternal Son, God the Father can be known,哈伍德说. 从约翰福音1:18和歌罗西书. 1:15a, Harwood added, “If you want to know about God, then learn about Jesus.”
而有些人则在思考耶稣是否, 上帝之子, 理解人类的痛苦, 这种想法源于一种误解, 哈伍德说, adding that Jesus instead is the “prototype” for humanity, the model for what humans would be if not for the scars of sin.
“Because the eternal Son became truly human and was truly tempted, he can genuinely sympathize with the human condition and intercede for us with the Father (Hebrew 4:14-16),哈伍德说.
For those facing grief and heartache this Christmas, this is good news. Because Jesus was fully human, he understood human pain and heartache.
Billy Graham once wrote of what the incarnation means for human suffering and how it can transform pain.
“The doctrine of the incarnation means that God came right down amid the sin and confusion of this world,格雷厄姆说. “It means that God was capable of participating in our pain, 我们的痛苦, 我们的冲突和悲伤. It proves to us that His love was not just a vague theory sung in ancient sonnets or proclaimed by shepherd mystics of the backcountry. 它是真实的、充满活力的、可实现的.”
The incarnation also shows that God is a personal God who wants to be known, who came “to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10), 彰显他的圣洁和公义, 哈伍德说. 耶稣是“唯一完美的献祭”,"他是唯一能为人类赎罪的人, 来满足圣洁的神, 哈伍德解释说, 因为他既是真正的人，也是真正的神.
The child in the Bethlehem manger was God breaking into human history and setting the world right. It is the message and promise of the incarnation, of Christmas.
“In the middle of a corrupt and fallen world Jesus did the greatest work ever done,” Taylor said. “In this darkness that sometimes seems so deep that we can never escape, the Light of the World shines forth with love and power so strong the darkest night can be swept away by just the presence of the one born in Bethlehem.”
处理圣诞节的悲伤
Dr. 珍妮勃兹曼, 杰出的社会工作教授, prepares NOBTS students to care for those who are grieving through a course she teaches, “死亡, 失去和悲伤,，深受宝盈APP登录们的喜爱. The course is enriched by Bozeman’s own experience with grief and the loss of her beloved husband, Welby, 八年前. One student told Bozeman at the end of the course, “I never had compassion until I took your class. 这门课把我的头脑和心灵联系在一起.”
对于那些面临悲伤和失去亲人的人，Dr. Bozeman的建议如下:
