Emmanuel Lutheran Church

December 18, 2011

My heart is steadfast, O God; I will sing and make music with all my soul. Psalm 108:1

Music fills the Christmas season more than any other time of the year. We barely have time to clear the Thanksgiving table before the Songs of the Season fill the airwaves. Sadly, much of the music is secularized and simply leads to the emptiness of discarded Christmas wrappings as it abruptly ends on Christmas night. However, long after the glitter is boxed away, the songs of God’s people continue to spring, as the psalmist declares, from the steadfast heart. Just what is a steadfast heart? Some define it as an enduring heart, a confident heart, or a fixed heart. But these terms fall short of explaining why a steadfast heart is inexorably tied to music that fills the soul. The answer to understanding a steadfast heart begins with its first reference in Psalm 57. The psalmist pleads for God’s mercy; and then, as if with a growing awareness, he cries out: “My heart is steadfast, O God, My heart is steadfast!” (Psalm 57:7 ESV) Clearly, then, the steadfast heart is the work of God’s enduring love on our hearts for our eternal rescue. It is a gift so overwhelming that it compels us to sing, to laugh in harmony, and to melodically shout for joy. The hymn Now the Silence beautifully captures our awareness of this gift. (LSB 910)

A steadfast heart is God’s gift of peace that passes all understanding. It comes to us when we are in fear, burdened with anxiety or grief, or so crestfallen that we can only cling to the knowledge that the Holy Spirit intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. (Romans 8:26) It is this Spirit-given steadfast heart that enables us to softly sing and hold the hand of a loved one as she is taken into God’s eternal care. (The King of Love My Shepherd Is, LSB 709) It is the immeasurable joy we receive while kneeling at the communion rail, knowing that we are in the presence of all of the company of heaven—departed parents, children, family, and friends—in celebration of sins forgiven and life eternal. (This is the Feast, LSB 171) It is the comfort and joy that compelled Mary to sing out, “My soul doth magnify the Lord.” (Luke 1:46) It is the gift that caused the shepherds to leave their fields to worship the newborn King. (It Came Upon the Midnight Clear, LSB 366)

The steadfast heart is the richness and confidence that comes through the gift of faith. It is the overwhelming Spirit-filled understanding that God is with us. This gift, this steadfast heart, compels us to sing and serve in harmony with one another for the glory of our Savior, Jesus Christ. The steadfast heart is God’s wondrous love—a love that causes his people to sing, not just for a season, but for eternity: “And when from death I’m free, I’ll sing His love for me,/And through eternity I’ll sing on, I’ll sing on.” (What Wondrous Love Is This?, LSB 543)

Charlie Pratt

The Angels’ Candle of Love

Today and throughout this final week before Christmas, light all the candles of Advent. The fourth candle—The Angels’ Candle—reminds us of the good news announced to shepherds on the hills  of Bethlehem. It is sometimes called the Candle of Love, for the angels’ message is one of love—God’s enormous love for all the world. That message of love and hope is clearly echoed in the  carol, “It Came upon the Midnight Clear.” Sing or read its words aloud. Look at the comfort, hope, and promise in verse 3:

And you, beneath life’s crushing load,
Whose forms are bending low,
Who toil along the climbing way
With painful steps and slow:
Look now, for glad and golden hours
Come swiftly on the wing;
Oh, rest beside the weary road
And hear the angels sing!