1. Lord,
You’re the Father of Jesus,
The Christ:
And also our Father within.
2. Mary,
Christ’s Mother, the Lady of Grace:
You’re our Mother;
Your children: our kin.
3. Immanuel,
Brother, born here on the earth:
You share in our frail flesh
And blood.
4. Comforter,
Spirit in all humankind:
You make us all one
In your love.
References
1. All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort (2 Corinthians 1:3; NLT).
You are the temple of the living God (2 Corinthians 6:16; NLT).
2. God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a village in Galilee, to a virgin named Mary. Gabriel appeared to her and said, “Greetings favoured woman!” […] You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be very great and will be called the Son of the Most High” (Luke 1:28,31-2; NLT).
When Jesus saw his mother standing there beside the disciple he loved, he said to her, “Dear woman, here is your son.” And he said to this disciple, “Here is your mother.” And from then on this disciple took her into his home (John 19:26-7; NLT).
3. She will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel, which means ‘God is with us’ (Matthew 1:23; NLT).
Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother (Mark 3:35; NIV).
It was necessary for him to be made in every respect like us, his brothers and sisters (Hebrews 2:17; NLT).
4. The Comforter, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and remind you of all things I said to you (John 14:26; YLT).
“In the last days,” God says, “I will pour out my Spirit upon all people” (Acts 2:17; NLT).
The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you (Romans 8:11; NLT).
I have given them the glory you gave me, so they may be one as we are one (John 17:22; NLT).
This is beautiful, Ruth.
Just thinking about the last line … one day we’ll all have to stand side by side before him … beside those we love and those we love because we are commanded to, though, because of our human nature, we can’t like them. If only we could cut out all the nonsense in between. xxx
Ah, I understand – but the “nonsense” in between is life, our opportunity to learn, change, and grow more like Christ. Without that, we would have no chance of learning to love ourselves, those we find hard to love, and our enemies. This is the great challenge of human life, I think – it’s trial and goal xxxxxx
Thanks Ruth. I know this to be true. It just seems such a struggle sometimes. xxx