Variety: Psalm 139:6-14

    
The wonderful art of knitting  (Psalm 139:6-14)

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,  
   too lofty for me to attain.  
Where can I go from your Spirit?  
   Where can I flee from your presence?  
If I go up to the heavens, you are there;  
   if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.  
If I rise on the wings of the dawn,  
   if I settle on the far side of the sea,  
even there your hand will guide me,  
   your right hand will hold me fast.  
If I say, ‘Surely the darkness will hide me  
   and the light become night around me,’  
even the darkness will not be dark to you;  
   the night will shine like the day,  
   for darkness is as light to you.  
For you created my inmost being;  
   you knit me together in my mother’s womb.  
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;  
   your works are wonderful,  
   I know that full well.  

London Institute for Contemporary Christianity writes: 

My mum and dad have been trying to build a connection with the young couple next door to them. When their baby boy was born prematurely, mum knitted a beautiful little cardigan for him. That simple, thoughtful gift created a meaningful bond.  

Knitting is the art of looping one strand over and over until something beautiful takes shape. The psalmist uses this image to describe how we are ‘fearfully and wonderfully made’ (Psalm 139). Today, we understand even more of the complexity and wonder of that inner process – the delicate relationship between a forming child and its mother, one entirely dependent on the other.  

This tells us something profound about God’s plan. The child in the manger reveals a God who chose to enter the world through the vulnerability of childbirth. He submitted to a nine-month biological process, arriving at just the right time. Jesus, like us, was fearfully and wonderfully made.  

At Christmas we meet a God who is willing to make himself vulnerable so that he makes a connection with us – weaving his life into ours.  

    Prayer

Lord, like a neighbour reaching out in love to make connection, in Jesus you’ve become one of us. Your plan being revealed through one who serves us. May I be willing to make myself vulnerable as I reach out and share you with those around me. Amen.