Dawn

It dawned on me in worship as we were singing, “Silent Night,” how meaningful and yet eloquent is the word “dawn.” In the third stanza of Joseph Mohr’s lyrics it proclaims, “…love’s pure light, radiant beams from Thy holy face, with the dawn of redeeming grace…” The Christmas gleam was not from a guiding star or angelic chorus but the Christ-child’s countenance, an innocence announcing the dawn of redeeming grace! This inauguration of the Kingdom realized, was the joyous reality of Immanuel, God with us, issuing a new day, a new age that was illuminating the world with grace and truth! As 2010 stands waiting in the dawn of a second decade in this new millennium its radiance will once again be found and founded in the face of Jesus. The Savior of the world as John’s gospel proclaims is, “The true light that gives light to every man who comes into the world (John 1:9).” David had earlier understood, “For with you is the fountain of life, in your light we see light (Psalm 36:9).” Yes, Jesus was and continues to be our dawn.

In the competition for most dramatic or colorful skies people usually speak of great sunsets that have saturated the horizon with postcard moments. I don’t think any of us would deny being moved beyond words by a great sunset but there is something reviving and subtly stirring about a sunrise at the dawn of a new day. The crisp morning air and the yawning joy of a sleepy world roused to greet a new day. Hope revisited, energy renewed and the pristine landscape of life ready for us to blaze new trails. Wait, wait, wait there a minute, Mr. butterfly chaser… how about a dose of reality and a rousing chorus of, “You load sixteen tons, what do you get, Another day older and deeper in debt, Saint Peter don't you call me 'cause I can't go, I owe my soul to the company store.”

I won’t say that life doesn’t have cloudy days that make it hard to see the dawn, or for a moment forecast that 2010 will be a year without repeated tragedy and failed endeavors but I won’t back down for a moment from the joyous realization that in Jesus is the daily dawning of redeeming grace! Faith is a foundation that provides solid ground for hope for every day –for every day is filled with the love of Jesus! That’s why Paul reminds us that there now abides three: “faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love (1 Corinthians 13:13). A love that rises with every dawn! –DAN