What Child Is This?

​            Well, the Advent season is upon us full bore and my laptop, car radio, and Echo Dot at home remind me of this every day as they flood my ears nonstop with the tunes of Christmas. As I mentioned last Sunday, we will be taking a look together at some various Songs of the Season to remind us and have us revisit the promise of Christmas through the lyrics and Scripture references that helped to shape these songs. Each of these songs that many have heard and sung for years are chalk-full of the joy, expectancy, and hope that is delivered to us in Christmas. It is at Christmas that we remember, celebrate, and rejoice that God fulfilled His promise to the world to send One who would save us, set us free, and restore our relationship with Him. It is at Christmas that we remember, celebrate, and rejoice that God sent His Son to us to be born, live a perfect live, and die in our place so that we could look forward to new, true life with Him someday in paradise. And so, we sing…we hear the Songs of the Season in a new way that causes us to remember and rejoice.
            This Sunday, we will be looking at the song, “What Child is This” and we will not only be singing it as a congregation, but we will be having it sung to us by the children of Oak Hill. This Sunday is our annual Sunday School Christmas Program, which is always a favorite of mine, as we get to hear the message, hope, and joy of Christmas given to us in some creative ways by our younger family members.
It is when I watch the kids of Oak Hill sing their hearts out, deliver their lines, and smile away that I am reminded of my days as a young guy in programs like this at my home church. Maybe you can relate to my experience of being the kid in the back row that would be as stiff as a board, looking down at the floor, and not singing a word. I knew the songs and really enjoyed them, but I was too shy and nervous to join in the singing with my classmates and peers. But one particular year, I changed course. I opened my mouth and belted out the words. I looked up and gazed out at the congregation. My parents had these looks on their faces that were somewhere between shock and satisfaction. It was as if they were asking themselves: “What child is this? Ben is actually singing? It’s a Christmas miracle!”
         Now, no matter what your Sunday School Christmas Program experiences were, or were not for that matter, we get to focus on the Christ Child that sent shockwaves throughout history. This was no ordinary baby. This was the Promised One of God that was there at Creation. This was the One who helped establish the Earth and set the cosmos in place. This was the Son of God. And yet, He humbled Himself and took on human flesh. He traded in His heavenly robes for the swaddling cloth of earthly parents. He left the perfection of heaven and entered a sin-filled world in a stable. What child is this? This was no ordinary child. This was the King of Kings and Lord of Lords here to fulfill God’s plan to recuse humanity from their sin. What a wonderful reminder to rest in!