“O Emmanuel”
Tuesday’s Verse:
From Isaiah 7:14 ESV
“Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.”
Today, on the last day of the O Antiphons, the Church proclaims a name that encompasses all the others: Emmanuel, God with us.
Isaiah first proclaimed this name to an anxious king and an endangered people. They wanted reassurance, rescue, and a way out. What God sent was not a strategy, but a baby. Not distance, but proximity. Not a plan, but himself.
This is how God is with us. He does not hover over the chaos, barking orders. He comes down into it. He takes on flesh, weakness, hunger, and tears. He enters our history and our suffering and does not flinch. In Jesus, God is not just empathetic. He is there.
This is vital for Lutherans. Our faith is built on the belief that God meets us where we actually are: in water and Word, in bread and wine, in a cross that looks like defeat. Emmanuel means that God does not wait for us to ascend to him. He comes to us, disguised in the ordinary, true to his word.
As Advent draws to a close, Emmanuel reminds us that Christmas is not about a mood or a memory. It is about a reality that abides when life feels like an emergency. God is with us in joy and in sorrow, in strong faith and in doubt, in life and in death.
✝️ A Prayer for Today:
O Emmanuel, our King and our Lawgiver, our hope and our salvation, come and save us, O Lord our God. Amen.
Apostles’ Creed:
I believe in God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth.
And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried. He descended into hell. The third day He rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. From thence He will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Christian Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.
The Lord’s Prayer:
Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven; give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen.
Luther’s Morning Prayer:
I thank You, my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, Your dear Son, that You have kept me this night from all harm and danger; and I pray that You would keep me this day also from sin and every evil, that all my doings and life may please You. For into Your hands, I commend myself, my body and soul, and all things. Let Your holy angel be with me, that the evil foe may have no power over me. Amen.
The photo above was created by Gemini (gemini.google.com)