-Dennis Kresier, Lay Person, Last Mountain Anglican Parish
It is well over 200 years old and originally came from England. It reminded me of a poem I heard a few years ago.
The Anvil of God’s word
Last eve I passed beside a blacksmith’s door
And heard the anvil ring the vesper chime;
When looking in, I saw upon the floor,
Old hammers worn with beating years of time.
“How many anvils have you had,” said I,
“To wear and batter these hammers so?”
“Just one,” said he; then with a twinkling eye,
“The anvil wears the hammers out, you know.”
And so, I thought, the anvil of God’s Word,
For ages, skeptics blows have beat upon;
Yet, though the noise of falling blows was heard,
The anvil is unharmed - the hammers gone.
As I thought of this poem and my old anvil, I wondered about the stories it could tell if it could talk. But it can’t talk. It is only a tool, a heavy old piece of iron, made by man to help man. It is an inanimate piece of metal that can’t talk and needs someone to tell its story. BUT—the anvil of God’s Word can talk. It has been talking to us for centuries.
Back in the Book of Genesis, God “kicked” our first parents out of the Garden of Eden. Also, in Genesis, God promised the world a Redeemer to come and restore His human creation back to Himself. For centuries prophets, priests and kings have prayed, preached and longed for the fulfillment of this promise.
Well, about 2022 years ago, God fulfilled His promise and sent us His Redeemer. He came as a Babe in a manger. Christmas was God’s idea, not ours. We can give without loving, but we cannot love without giving. God so loved the world that He gave us the Baby in a manger who, some 33 years later, died on a Roman cross to fulfill our redemption.
We cannot separate Bethlehem and Calvary, nor can we separate the Babe in the manger from the Man on the cross. They are one and the same. This is what Christmas is all about. Before Jesus was crucified, He told His Disciples, “In My Fathers house are many rooms, if it were not so, I would have told you. If I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto Myself.”
Ironically, at the time of His birth, Bethlehem had “no room” for Jesus, but now, He is preparing a room for each of us. This is another promise that He will fulfill, as sure as He made little green apples! We all believe that this will happen—that’s why we gather at Christmas to remember and celebrate. Thanks be to God for the anvil of His living word, for His enduring promises and for the blessed hope we share in His coming soon.
Have a Merry and blessed Christmas everyone.
