Read Isaiah 61:1-3; Luke 4:14-30

Okay, I’ll be the first to admit that the over-commercialization of Christmas can be sickening. I mean, there we were walking down the aisle of our local department store looking for costumes and goodies for Halloween and I saw workers ’round the corner setting up their Christmas displays…and this was the beginning of October!!! What is up with that!?!? Pretty soon it will be Christmas in July!

With that said, now that Halloween has passed I have started to feel those warm and fuzzy feelings that tend to come as the holidays (Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s) are approaching. Just this afternoon I was listening to my iPod while driving and I happened to see that I had David Phelps on it, so I went to his album and chose to listen to his rendition of my favorite Christmas song ever: “O Holy Night”.

If you have never heard David sing O Holy Night, let me tell you that you need to stop reading this now and listen to it. For those who are reading this devotional online, I have included a link to the video of David performing it live (go to about 1:14 in the video to skip the intro…and never mind the televangelist-esque feel to the video…his voice is totally worth it). As I was listening to this man belt out the song with heart and emotion and one of the best voices I have ever heard sing the song, I began to have a revelation of the true meaning of this song. While “O Holy Night” is certainly a Christmas song, there is no doubt that its message is one that should be sung in our hearts all year-long.

The third verse captures what I believe to be the heart of Christianity: “Truly He taught us to love one another; his law is love and His gospel is peace. Chains shall He break for the slave is our brother; and in His name all oppression shall cease. Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we, let all within us praise His holy name.” If we learned nothing else of Christianity, let it not be said that we did not learn this–that Christ’s law is love and his Gospel is peace. Let it not be said that we failed to  learn, as Christians, that in Christ’s name all oppression should cease!

In Luke 4:18-19, Jesus made it very clear that he was anointed by God “to bring good news to the poor…to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, [and] to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” If this was Jesus’ mission, and if we are his resurrected body carrying on his work and mission in the world, then doesn’t it go without saying that Luke 4:18-19 should be our manifesto, our mission, as well?

Christians have argued whether or not Jesus was focused on social or spiritual matters; however, I believe that Jesus was focused on both and that the two cannot be so easily disconnected. How can we be sound spiritually if we are not sound socially? How can we be sound socially if we are not sound spiritually. Too often the West has tried to compartmentalize the human being, and it has come at great peril. Rather than deny one for the other, let us embrace the fact that Christ has called us to live each moment of our lives with the same passion for God’s mission as David Phelps has in singing O Holy Night. Let us live our lives in a way that reflects the hope, the healing and the wholeness of God! Remember, Christ’s law is LOVE and his Gospel is peace…in Christ’s name all oppression (Spiritual, emotional, physical, social, and psychological) shall cease!