Monday, December 24, 2012

quod non assumptus, non redemptus






Christmas Eve + 2012



Emma drew this manger scene many years ago. She’s sleeping right now as I write this. There is quiet except for the furnace. It snowed 8 inches during the night. Utah powder. The world is indeed a wonderful, beautiful place. But not always and not for everyone. We all will experience brokenness, limits, evil and finally death. This is exactly what happens in the Christmas story.

A Roman Catholic priest once gave me this Latin phrase: quod non assumptus, non redemptus. The words come from the 4th CE and mean: that which is not assumed, is not redeemed.

This is the Incarnation, that somehow God takes on, assumes, all that we are, all that the world is and redeems it all, because Love takes on everything and finally redeems everything. No exceptions. No exclusions. This is the power of Christmas.

Pastor Jeffrey D. Louden
St. Matthew’s Lutheran + Taylorsville, UT + www.stmatthewsut.org + 801 965 8484 

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