Dear Family and Friends,

As we continue through the season celebrating the birth of our Lord Jesus, let’s focus on another person in the Christmas story. One who was mentioned almost as much as Jesus – John the Baptist.

I have an affinity for John at a deep personal level. Let me explain.

It all began when I was asked to lead the church. My first reaction was to run like Jonah – – in the opposite direction.

But days later, in the wee hours of a morning, God reminded me of the following passage.

“I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me.” Malachi 3:1 NIV

The ‘messenger’ was John the Baptist.

God was telling me that just as He sent John to prepare the way for Jesus, He was sending me to prepare young pastors for the ministry.

The assignment changed the course of my life and filled my soul. And in case you’re wondering, it continues to fill my soul today.

With that, let’s look at one of my favorite passages of the Christmas story. These verses from Luke 1 were spoken by Zechariah at the circumcision of his son, John the Baptist.

It’s a beautiful prophecy made by a father for his son. These words of blessing and hope is called the Song of Zechariah.

The song begins with a remembrance of the goodness of our faithful Father towards His Chosen People.

“Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David, as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old, that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us; to show the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant, the oath that he swore to our father Abraham, to grant us that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.”  Verses 68-75 ESV

Before we go much further, look again at these few key words: redeemed, saved, mercy, oath, delivered. Then put these words into the context of your own life.

Do these words of Zechariah resonate with you as it did for me?

This last section of the song begins with a prophecy on John’s life, but then ends where it should, on our Lord Jesus.

“And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise [Jesus] shall visit us from on high to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”  Verses 76-79 ESV

I’ve learned over the years that when my faith walk starts to slow, acknowledging the blessings of Jesus and His Father gets me going again.

Regardless of the pace of our faith walk, let’s spend this month making this song of blessing and hope the song of our hearts. To help us to always remember that there is so much more to life than what the world offers.

That we worship a merciful God who gave us the way back to Him – His Son.

That the light of the Son means we don’t have to live in the darkness of this world.

That we have hope and need not fear death.

And that despite all that’s going on around us, we can live in peace.

In love always,