Tag Archives: Trinity

πŸŽ„ #20 The Glorious Incarnation ~ Theology

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Β β€œNo priest, no theologian stood at the manger of Bethlehem. And yet all Christian theology has its origin in the wonder of all wonders: that God became human. Holy theology arises from knees bent before the mystery of the divine child in the stable. Without the holy night, there is no theology. β€œGod is revealed in flesh,” the God-human Jesus Christ β€” that is the holy mystery that theology came into being to protect and preserve. How we fail to understand when we think that the task of theology is to solve the mystery of God, to drag it down to the flat, ordinary wisdom of human experience and reason! Its sole office is to preserve the miracle as miracle, to comprehend, defend, and glorify God’s mystery precisely as mystery. This and nothing else, therefore, is what the early church meant when, with never flagging zeal, it dealt with the mystery of the Trinity and the person of Jesus Christ…. If Christmas time cannot ignite within us again something like a love for holy theology, so that weβ€”captured and compelled by the wonder of the manger of the son of Godβ€”must reverently reflect on the mysteries of God, then it must be that the glow of the divine mysteries has also been extinguished in our heart and has died out.”

Dietrich Bonhoeffer,Β God Is In the Manger

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There is one stable rock amidst the billows of the sea of life!

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There is one stable rock amidst the billows of the sea of life!

(Charles Spurgeon)Β 

“Be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age!” Matthew 28:20Β 

It is well that there is One who is ever the same, and who is ever with us. It is well thatΒ there is one stable rock amidst the billows of the sea of life. O my soul, do not set your affections upon rusting, moth-eaten, decaying treasures–but set your heart upon Him who abides forever faithful to you. Do not build your house upon the moving quicksands of a deceitful world–but found your hopes upon this rock, which, amid descending rain and roaring floods, shall stand immovably secure!

My soul, I charge you–lay up yourΒ treasureΒ in the only secure cabinet; store yourΒ jewelsΒ where you can never lose them. Put yourΒ allΒ in Christ; set . . .
Β  all yourΒ affectionsΒ on His person,
Β  all yourΒ hopeΒ in His merit,
Β  all yourΒ trustΒ in His efficacious blood,
Β  all yourΒ joyΒ in His presence,
and so you may laugh at loss and defy difficulties.Β 

Remember thatΒ all the flowers in the world’s garden wither and die–and the day is coming when nothing will be left but the black, cold earth.Β Death’s black extinguisherΒ must soon put out your candle. Oh! how sweet to haveΒ sunlight–when theΒ candleΒ is gone! TheΒ dark floodΒ must soon roll between you and all you have!Β 

So wed your heart to Him who will never leave you. Trust yourself with Him who will go with you through the black and surging current of death’s stream, and who will land you safely on the celestial shore, and make you sit with Him in heavenly places forever!Β 

Go, sorrowing son of affliction–tell your secret troubles to the Friend who sticks closer than a brother. Trust all your concerns with Him . . .
Β  who never can be taken from you,
Β  who will never leave you, and
Β  who will never let you leave Him, even “Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, and today, and forever.”Β 

“I am with you always,”Β is enough for my soul to live upon–though all others forsake me!

πŸŽ„ The Glorious Incarnation #20 ~ Theology

β€œNo priest, no theologian stood at the manger of Bethlehem. And yet all Christian theology has its origin in the wonder of all wonders: that God became human. Holy theology arises from knees bent before the mystery of the divine child in the stable. Without the holy night, there is no theology. β€œGod is revealed in flesh,” the God-human Jesus Christ β€” that is the holy mystery that theology came into being to protect and preserve. How we fail to understand when we think that the task of theology is to solve the mystery of God, to drag it down to the flat, ordinary wisdom of human experience and reason! Its sole office is to preserve the miracle as miracle, to comprehend, defend, and glorify God’s mystery precisely as mystery. This and nothing else, therefore, is what the early church meant when, with never flagging zeal, it dealt with the mystery of the Trinity and the person of Jesus Christ…. If Christmas time cannot ignite within us again something like a love for holy theology, so that weβ€”captured and compelled by the wonder of the manger of the son of Godβ€”must reverently reflect on the mysteries of God, then it must be that the glow of the divine mysteries has also been extinguished in our heart and has died out.”

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, God Is In the Manger