Day 308: Jeremiah 36-37; Philemon

Placide Cappeau wrote a Christmas Carol I dearly love and I am glad that John Sullivan Dwight took the time to translate it. Just the other day, I was referencing the majestic music (which makes the song unsingable as a congregation). My follow-up comment was how delighted I am that the guitar-driven song makes it singable. It's the best of both worlds! Among the great truths are these two couplets:
Truly He taught us to love one another;
His law is Love and His gospel is Peace;
Chains shall he break, for the slave is our brother,
And in his name all oppression shall cease,
Paul writes to slave owner, Philemon, telling him that his once useless, runaway slave, Onesimus, is now useful (he does a play on the slave's name). He has encountered Christ and all is changed. Now he calls the slave his 'heart' and reminds Philemon that God, in Christ, has removed every human barrier that causes separation and demeans personhood. "For perhaps this is why he was separated from you for a brief time, so that you might get him back permanently, no longer as a slave, but more than a slave—as a dearly loved brother. He is especially so to me, but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord." (Philemon 15-16, CSB) Philemon, change your attitude! Prejudice has no place in our hearts! So should we welcome our brother, our sister, they are first and foremost family!

O God, break down every dividing wall and make us one!