Jesus Beloved Child

Mother Basilea Schlenk, founder of the Evangelical Sisterhood of Mary and the Little Land of Canaan in Darmstadt, Germany, shares with us the Christmas joy. For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. This was prophesied by Isaiah. And when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth his Son. In the gospel according to Luke, we read about the nativity. And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and said unto them, Fear not, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. Great, great joy. Unto us a Savior is born. The Savior is born this day. This joy is something the sisters can bear witness to, having experienced it for themselves. One year they had a Christmas like none before. What had happened? Joy reigned in their mother house. God had done a new thing in their midst. Songs of rejoicing could be heard. The child Jesus has come from the Father's heart, born anew for us now. What great joy this has brought! No longer sophisticated and grown up are we. We are like happy children, from our stiffness set free. We are filled with the wonder of holy night here, for it's brought us the Christ child so very near. Mother Basilea's fervent prayers for this Christmas were answered. What a special Christmas this is. We have already celebrated many Christmas festivals, but never one like this. We have always known the child Jesus, who lay in the manger in Bethlehem two thousand years ago. But this time he is born among us. The child Jesus has really come alive for us, and he has kindled us with joy and thanksgiving. Yes, I must say, he has really brought heaven down to us. And how has it happened? Jesus has made us into children, and theirs is the kingdom of heaven. And so we have been granted a very real foretaste of it. O little Jesus child, he who has seen you cannot continue in sadness as he used to do. He's found his heart's delight at last. Here is indeed the place of joy immense. Here people are freed from all their sins. Here lies the Savior of the world. What do you think the child Jesus is expecting from us at Christmas? He has given us so much, but what are we to give him? He's a child of eternal love, and therefore he's expecting the response of love from us. He entreats us, love me, love me tenderly and deeply, with all your heart and with your whole life. Let's do that, and let worship him, for he truly evokes worship. You only need to think about his nature for a moment. Oh, what divine purity and loveliness the child Jesus has. What nobility and holiness, and how winsome and sweet he is as a child of the Father, the everlasting Father in heaven. Why don't we start at once to worship and sing to the child Jesus? That would be nice. O child of peerless beauty, whom angels glorify, bathed in God's light and splendor, in radiance from on high. O child, you make us children, that we henceforth may live as those beloved and loving. To you our lives we give. O child of peerless beauty, whom angels glorify. Christmas after Christmas, they discovered more of the never-ending riches of his loving heart, and of the greatness of his glory. This Christmas, Mother Vasileia and Mother Marturia happen to be with their spiritual daughters in America. In what way will the beloved child Jesus reveal himself this year? May he receive the love and adoration of many hearts all over the world. Jesus, beloved child, I long to love you. Never more, never more will it reprieve you. O sweet little child, beloved child. I think you are now very eager to know in which way the child Jesus wants to come to us this year. Yeah, Mother Vasileia, we are so excited, we can hardly wait. Yes, my children and our dear guests, this is a special Christmas. The Jesus child comes to us in another way than you perhaps think. All over the world this year he is slandered. Therefore, open your hearts wide so that he can come to us and reveal himself. O my children and our dear guests, listen. His name is the slandered Jesus child. Think what it means that the child Jesus is suffering from the sin of all men in all countries today and must endure the hatred of millions. Now he wants to share with us his loneliness and humiliation. O come and give him all your love and comfort this Jesus child as never before in his great suffering and be in disgrace today. This is just what you, Mother Vasileia, wrote in your Christmas letter. Stephen, would you please read it to us? I'd be happy to. We know that the little child Jesus was persecuted as hardly any newborn child has ever been. The humiliation, the disgrace, the crowning with thorns were a part of Jesus' life and this began when he was still a little baby. Satan fights against Jesus all the more fiercely today since the end times have begun and he wants to establish his rule over all the nations as never before. Satan even slanders the miracle of Christmas in films, television programs, and many other blasphemies. With the weapons of ridicule and mockery, he battles against this child. The fact that he lies in the manger as a little lamb prompts Satan to rage. And we, what does it prompt us to do? To love the little Christ child all the more, to comfort and please him. And to share the pathway of the cross with this little suffering child. We greet you, little child divine, in all your beauteous love. We love and praise and bless our God who sent you from above. Yet wounds already cover you, oh my beloved child. They bring to sinners hope and youth that we are reconciled. Oh, the poor Jesus child was mocked then. He is degraded today over the whole world. What can we do to comfort you? Today we should lavish his rejected Christ child with our love. We should, so to say, surround him with an abundance of flowers. That is, to bring joy to him with many acts of love and small sacrifices in our everyday lives. We want to bring him many flowers and stay with him all through the night. We want to kiss his hands and hold them, gazing at him, our joy and light. And from this child we'll never part, praying to him unceasingly. Oh, let us ask him with all our hearts, dreaming we'll win thus Jesus Christ. Oh, stay with us. Oh, stay with us, Lord Jesus Christ. We should do in spirit as Simeon did in the temple. He took the Jesus child on his arms and looked at him full of love. For now the Savior was born, our Savior. We have a Redeemer. We have somebody who brings us all bliss. Everything has come to us through this little child. And it was with great pain that he left his father. And yet today, all over the world, he is so despised and slandered. Therefore, we would like nothing more but present to all the world the Jesus child as he is. And call to everyone. Oh, love the Jesus child. He loves you so most dearly. That was the purpose he came upon this earth. Oh, see, he's such a meek little lamb. And so small. And so loving. Oh, words cannot tell what this little child holds in himself. An image of the Father. And you, little child, brought the Father to us so that we now can be his children. For our sake, you lay in that dark stable. For us, you came from heaven's glory. And for us, you went to the cross. For the sake of all of our sins. And yet you must now see how mankind sins and sins and grieves you and slanders you. And therefore, we all together love you all the more. Let us pray. My beloved Christ child, you are my treasure, golden crown. I, a sinner, love you, long to be with you, and humble too. So you are not alone. Now we are coming, oh little child Jesus, and want to sing to you. The little child of suffering lies here so unesteemed. And still today he's treated so despised and blasphemed. Despised and blasphemed. Shall I be treated differently? Lord, I will bear disgrace with thee. But you may receive much comfort. Let us begin now to do this in our daily lives, just as the Christ Jesus asked us to do. Mother Basilea, when things get hard, it is so true what you write in your Christmas letter. It says, come, love, oh love him. Soothe his suffering of disgrace. And let us do everything to give him honor. Also by standing up for him and confessing that he is God's son, full of glory. Stand up for him even if it costs you much in your family, school, or job. And you are mocked and made fun of. Even if people turn away from you and you have to bear the consequences. Now our Jesus child, as the child upon whom so much slander is heaped, he waits for our comfort. And we would go and ask him, our dear little Jesus child, what would be the greatest comfort for you? And the Jesus child would answer in a way you could already know. Then the Bible says, in heaven is great joy before the angels over one man who repents. Repents, that is my joy. If you have repentance, repentance is a wonderful word. Repentance, that opens the heart of Jesus. And inside a broken heart, Jesus will dwell. He wants to dwell in this heart. And if he dwells in our heart, then our heart is changed. And we become Jesus-like, a joy of Jesus. Jesus-like people, wonderful Jesus-like people. That is a joy for Jesus. Repentance makes happy. And opens heaven. Therefore we rejoice and sing. Jesus becomes comfort. A broken heart, the joy to Jesus. And such a broken heart, that is a place for adoration. Only a broken heart gives the right adoration. And the Jesus child now waits for this adoration from us. And therefore he calls to us, it is so simple this way to adore and worship. First repent. And adoration will just flow. And you will be like besides yourself in joy and worship and awe before the Lord. And then we will say something to the Jesus child. We do not wait until we worship to that moment when our Lord Jesus will come again and all knees will bow before him. And then all will worship and will call aloud, you are the king of all kings, you are the triumphant lamb. Oh Jesus, full of authority, dignity, honor and glory. This is in a way cheap at that time then to worship and adore. But today when Jesus and the Jesus child too is so degraded and despised. Today adoration is comfort for him. Then it is worth a lot. It is the adoration coming out of repentance. And the Jesus child says, this Christmas I will receive that worship and this evening shall not pass before I receive it. Let us adore him. Christ the Lord. Christ the King.