From the Study of Pastor Jakob - December 2025
Recently I received a prayerbook (as a loan) from one of our members, an heirloom from their mother’s grandmother (hope I got that right). And for once, I have to chime in the chorus and say, “they just don’t make ‘em like they used to!” The little book is artfully crafted, a golden edge to the pages, faint with age, an ornate clasp to hold it together, some prayer cards tucked in special spots – in short, a precious treasure that speaks of a lifetime of prayer if not more than one. Only the lettering is not only German, but in the old German font called Fraktur that even Germans today struggle to read. Of course, being yours truly, I am a hopeless nerd and took archivist classes back in the day, so I can read it quite effortlessly.
What really draws the eye to it, though, more than all these other features, is the cover, depicting an endearing scene of mother and child, Mary and Jesus. The child Jesus looks at the viewer with a blessing gesture, while his mother appears behind him, one hand on his shoulder, the other holding his hand, kissing it ever so gently.
Friends, as we approach Advent and Christmas it is that time of year where we get to embrace those tender stories given to us through generations of Christians – Christians like this grandmother and ancestor that lived faithfully and committedly. Not everybody has the same connection to “the ever-blessed virgin and mother of God, Mary” as this tiny book calls her throughout – yet during Christmas time we are reminded nonetheless of her courage, her tenderness, the great sign that God deigned to lift up opposite all posturing of the world: the gentle mother offering her child as life for all God’s people.
It is in that tender and vulnerable space where we encounter the secret of Christ’s birth, its meaning for the salvation of all peoples: the coming of the light in a small child – imbued with divinity, he is destined to engage us as the Son of God, and in his coming of age, Mary gets to be his protector, teacher, and disciple, charging us: “Do whatever he tells you.” (John 2:5)
One of my favorite German Christmas hymns is called “Maria durch ein Dornwald ging” (Mary went through a thick of thorns) and tells us, almost like a fairy tale: “Once upon a time, Mary wandered through a thick of thorns…”, and going on to tell how in her pregnant presence, the thorns around her blossomed into roses, heralding the coming of the King, interrupted only by the swelling choruses: “Kyrie eleison” (Lord, have mercy) and “Jesus und Maria” (Jesus and Mary). Go look it up on YouTube, the ensemble Voces8 does a great job with it!
I want to close with a prayer from that precious heirloom booklet (1902):
Holy Mary, bearer of God,
like a rose in the garden, so your virtue offered beauty and fragrance,
like a firm and stalwart tower was your devotion and faithfulness to God,
like a golden house, God chose your body to be his Son’s dwelling,
becoming to us the ark of the new covenant.
Through your Son you proclaim to us salvation;
with your compassion you melt our hearts of ice.
Accompanying your Son to the cross,
you know of our sorrow and suffering.
Help us to see the dawn of that brightly shining sun of righteousness,
let us anchor in the safe haven of hope.
Friends, as we allow some quiet moments to sink into our lives this Advent, let us all become like Mary – bearers of God, shining forth that light of hope into a hopeless world, that love that we share in our Christian fellowship and beyond, that faith that connects us to those before and those to come.
Blessings, Pastor Jakob