Lutheran Witness: December 2018

What does it mean to say that “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us”? This great mystery and “miracle supreme” of Christ’s incarnation is the thread that runs through the December issue of The Lutheran Witness.

Contents

From the President: A meditation for Christmas

Features:

The miracle supreme

When Jesus ruins Christmas — Merritt Demski

And the Word became flesh — a coloring page by Jamie Truwe

O great mystery and wondrous sacrament — Arthur A. Just

O wonder great! — a poetic hymn translation by Stephen P. Starke

Gift guide for Lutherans

A well-wrapped gift — John Kleinig

Perfect — Tim Pauls

Departments:

world views: A monthly news column from Gene Edward Veith

bene+diction: Made perfect through suffering — Heidi Sias

From the editor

What part of Christmas do you love best? The presents? The caroling? The children’s Christmas pageant? Christmas dinner with family?

My favorite seasonal accoutrement may be our Christmas tree — fragrant and piney, glowing with colored lights, hung with beloved keepsake ornaments. It’s so beautiful that I could (and sometimes do) sit and stare at it for hours.

Deep down, though, I know that the tree is not the point. With or without the tree, I’ll be just fine. Whether or not I celebrate Christmas at all, I’ll be just fine.

No matter what comes, I’ll be just fine, because Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, “came down from heaven and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary and was made man.” Knit together in His mother’s womb, our Lord became a full-fledged member of the human race — flesh and blood, mind and body, eyelashes and fingernails — for our salvation.

This “miracle supreme” of the Incarnation is the golden thread that runs through our 2018 Christmas issue. Some articles celebrate Christmas and the birth of Christ; others explore the theological mystery of human embodiment. Many do both at once, providing a rich feast of reflection on what exactly it means for us that God’s Son has a body.

May the eternal Word who “became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14) dwell in you richly, at Christmastime and always.

Rachel Bomberger
Managing Editor, The Lutheran Witness
lutheran.witness@lcms.org