Friday, December 29, 2023  

---

Today’s Hymn

Of the Father's love begotten,
ere the worlds began to be,
he is Alpha and Omega;
he the source, the ending he,
of the things that are, that have been,
and that future years shall see,
evermore and evermore!

By his Word was all created;
he commanded; it was done:
heaven and earth and depths of ocean,
universe of three in one,
all that sees the moon’s soft shining,
all that breathes beneath the sun,
evermore and evermore!

O, that birth forever blessed
when the Virgin, full of grace,
by the Holy Ghost conceiving,
bore the Savior of our race,
and the babe, the world’s Redeemer,
first revealed his sacred face,
evermore and evermore!

Aurelius Clemens Prudentius’s “Of the Father’s Love Begotten”
(tune: Divinum Mysterium)
trans. John Mason Neale and Henry Williams Baker
from Glory to God: The Presbyterian Hymnal

---

Reflection

“With every breath, we inhale the story of our planet.” This byline precedes a BBC interview transcript featuring scientist Sam Kean, author of the book, Caesar’s Last Breath. Kean asserts that, with his last breath, Julius Caesar expelled 25 sextillion air molecules that would’ve spread around the globe within a few years and, “if you do the math, you’ll find that roughly one molecule of Caesar’s air will appear in your next breath.” He goes on to observe that “it doesn’t stop there. In the same way, you might currently be inhaling Cleopatra’s perfume, German mustard, and even particles exhaled by dinosaurs.”

Given this phenomenon, that means that with each breath that we take, we inhale a molecule of the Christ child’s first cry into the starry night. We take in a piece of Jesus’ final exhalation “it is finished,” on the cross. We receive his commission to the disciples and his blessed assurance to them from Matthew 28:20 — “And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

What a wonderful God we serve! We celebrate Emmanuel, “God with us,” this season, a God who took on flesh and bone and breath to live, serve, heal, and save us. Such is the miracle of Christmas!

---

Prayer
Ever-present God, as near to us as our very breath, we give thanks that you came to us as one of us, that we might know you more deeply and behold the promise of your saving grace. Amen.

---

Written by Nancy Benson-Nicol, Associate Pastor for Caring Ministries and Spiritual Formation

Reflection and Prayer © Fourth Presbyterian Church

Devotion index by date | I’d like to receive daily devotions by email