Month: December 2016

TRADITIONS Part 2

I don’t know why certain Christmas songs stick in our memory the way they do. Hopefully your favorites go beyond Mariah Carey singing “All I Want for Christmas is You.” But I’m not judging. I have Christmas favorites that have the power to evoke memories of past experiences still today.

One of my favorite carols is a song titled “O Come, O Come Emmanuel.” It spoke to me first, I think, while a student at Southern Seminary in Louisville in the early 80’s. While there the church Pam and I served sang that song. I had personally never heard it before. The context of this inner-city church and wrestling as I was in that period with God’s call came together to embed this song into my heart.

It is not Christmas for me until I hear it! The melody and words of this song transport me back to Christmases when we didn’t have a lot; early days in our marriage before we became parents, but were “parenting” hundreds of inner-city kids through our ministry. Our gifts to each other in that season were small… and our love was great.

And when I heard that song, and sang the words of the chorus it reminded me that God was bringing something greater to pass in us as we had trusted and followed Him by faith to a strange place called Louisville. And that the promise He had made to us is He would see us through.

He did. God always keeps His Word. He promised through prophecy after prophecy that “Immanuel” would come. And Immanuel came. And He has promised that He will come again.

And Immanuel… will come!

Rejoice.

FOR MEDITATION:  The Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and bring forth a son and you will call Him Immanuel.     Isaiah 7:14

FOR REFLECTION:  What promise has God made to you? Don’t grow discouraged as you wait for Him to keep it. He always will.

When I think of Christmas’ past, I often think back to a period of time in my family when we went “high tech.” The American era was a period described as a celebration of accomplishments. We had put a man on the moon. The MOON! Technology was just finding its footing in America and we lived between the eras of transistors and circuit boards.

In the midst of this celebration in the days before anyone knew what a computer was came… tada… the ALUMINUM Christmas tree! What an amazing, modern thing. Complete with branches that were stored inside paper tubes, the “realistic,” shiny, aluminum branches shimmered like a new box of Reynolds wrap!

And we’re not done! At the foot of this modern, metallic, glimmering tree was a rotating color wheel that… get this… changed the COLOR of the tree to four different hues. Yes, friends, it was a technological marvel and WE had one in our home… for a few years if I remember. At least until the Christmas when the color wheel got stuck on green and melted down onto the white, hot, flood light underneath.

I remember, though, laying quietly on the floor looking up into the shiny, aluminum, silver branches as this tree became part of my memories of Christmas.

Tradition is a part of this celebration called Christmas. We like things done the way they’ve always been done… even if we’re not sure why we do them this way. If you’re a parent with small children, take care with your activities at Christmas. Your kids will remember them… no matter how odd they may be!

These traditions hook us to a larger story across the timelines of history. Which is exactly what the Christmas story does. In the earliest days as the Gospel began to spread across the known world, it was a tradition told from person to person. It connected them to the greater story of redemption that we celebrate at Christmas.

And it is a story we must keep telling! Tell it. Read it. Sing it. Remember it. It’s a story that must continue to be passed down… and lived out.

FOR MEDITATION: For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.     John 3:16

FOR REFLECTION: One evening talk to your spouse, your children, your parents or your friends about the Christmas memory that means the most to you. It is a part of your story now and needs to be shared.

COMING

“He came unto His own, but His own did not receive Him.” (John 1:11) If we could capture all of the meaning of Christmas in two words, what two words would you select? “Many gifts?” “Much chaos?” “Happy children?” “Stockings hung?” “Too busy?”

The Bible has already summed up Christmas and its meaning for us in two words. They are found in John 1:11, in the magnificent prologue to the Gospel of John. The words are these:
He came….

That’s Christmas. “He came.” Two words. Seven printed spaces. But in those words, and in between those spaces lay an infinity of meaning and an ocean of grace. “He came.” Who came? God did. At Christmas, GOD CAME.

He came as an infant. As a cooing, crying, helpless babe. Laid in straw. Entrusted to a small town, teen-aged girl from Nazareth and her carpenter husband. He came in our flesh.

Why did He come? To redeem us. He came “unto His own….” Those who should have rejoiced to welcome Him. Those who should have stopped in the midst of their lives to kneel in worship before His crude, wooden throne as He lay wrapped in swaddling clothes.

He came to save us. His given name was Jesus. His title was Christ. He was the Chosen One, anointed to save us from our sin, from God’s wrath. He came. That’s Christmas. That is why. He came. He came unto His own. But His own rejected Him… “they did not receive Him.” They did not welcome Him. They did not rejoice in Him.

But He came anyway. And because He came we can live. Because He came we know new life. Because He came….

There is Christmas.

FOR MEDITATION: For God did not send His son to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.    John 3:17

FOR REFLECTION: Have you personally said thank you for the gift God gave in His Son? Have you gladly received that freely, offered gift? If not, will you pray now: “Lord, thank you that You came. You came to me. You came for me. And as You have come, I now receive You as the sacrifice, the price of payment for my sins. You have loved me, sought me and purchased me. And now and forever, I will follow You. Amen.”

Incarnation Part 2

Yesterday we began to unpack the mystery of incarnation. That the godhead was “veiled in flesh.” That, as we read in Colossians, “the fullness of the godhead dwelt bodily in Christ.” This fact alone was scandalous in the early days of the Christian faith. The world that Christianity was born in rejected all flesh, any flesh or matter, as fundamentally evil. It was something either to be beaten into submission, or indulged in every way since it will simply be discarded like a locust shell at death anyway.

But Christianity came on the scene with a new thought… a new idea: that God does not see the flesh in that way. Yes, the image of God in humanity has been twisted and distorted by sin. But even though the mirror is cracked, it still reflects something of the Creator’s original intent.

Christ came to earth to redeem, not just the internal and invisible spirit of people, but even the very flesh and blood that are part of humanity. It was the teaching of the early church… and of our Bible… that God’s intent is to eternally redeem and forever transform even the skin and bone we walk in.

So, as A.W. Tozer said, “When the ancient Word stood up in human flesh, he felt at home.” He was not out of His element. After all He was the One who said, “Let us make man in our image and after our likeness.”

Jesus did not come to earth as an exile. He “came unto His own.” He called Himself “the Son of Man.” He wore our flesh, but not as “Saul’s armor;” something awkward or uncomfortable. He came as One with us:

Immanuel.

FOR MEDITATION: He came unto His own, but His own did not receive Him.   John 1:11

FOR REFLECTION: How does the incarnation of Jesus change the way you see your own body… and every other human being made in God’s image?

Incarnation

As we move closer to Christmas day, our thoughts need to move continually toward the “why” of Christmas. Not “why” do we decorate our homes or “why” must we purchase presents for each other, but why is this really happening?

Sometimes we need to separate ourselves from the noise and distractions of Christmas celebrations and revel in the mystery of Christmas. We read in 1 Timothy 3:16, “Beyond all question, the mystery from which godliness springs is great: He appeared in the flesh.” The “mystery of godliness” is a God who chose to come to us… not as deity only, but “veiled in flesh.”

Our thinking about God becomes fuzzy at times. We see Him as someone so beyond who we are or where we live that His reality never intersects with our own. Our theology of God is sometimes too “out there.” God is a God who is “in here” with us. That’s what “the mystery of godliness” points to… and that’s what Christmas reminds us of.

Don’t forget, in the midst of all that Christmas has come to mean in our culture today, that we are celebrating a God who came near at Christmas. “He appeared in the flesh.”

FOR MEDITATION:

Let all mortal flesh keep silence,
and with fear and trembling stand;
ponder nothing earthly-minded,
for with blessing in his hand,
Christ our God to earth descendeth,
our full homage to demand.

HOPE (Day 2)

When we are younger, Christmas seems to take FOREVER to get here. The decorations and early Christmas supplies appearing in October only seem to TEASE us as to how far away Christmas seems. But when we’re older… we can’t BELIEVE Christmas has come around already… again. And so soon!

What is it about Christmas that makes us eager for its arrival? The promise of new toys? Of delicious once-a-year foods? Celebrations with family? The Christmas music? I think, underneath it all, it is our innate longing for hope. Christmas brings people some sense of that hope, even if it seems limited to a few days once a year.

We all need hope. When I was a child, I remember my parents taking me to see the movie Pinocchio and hearing the little character, Jiminy Cricket singing the wistful “When You Wish Upon a Star.” It was a hopeful song. But the voice behind the song and Jiminy Cricket was Cliff Edwards, a vaudeville performer back in the day who had quite a following. Sadly, his life ended tragically because of alcohol abuse. Though he voiced a song of hope for generations of children courtesy of Walt Disney, his life ended without the hope he sang about.

Wouldn’t it be great if we could hang on to the hope that Christmas promises every year? If it means more to you than the tinsel and presents and greenery and goodies, it can. These things are packed away every year. But we don’t have to pack our hope away.

Jesus came to bring hope to every heart and joy to every life. His promise was of “life, and life abundantly” and that is the gift He brings… not just at Christmas.

But even to your today.

FOR MEDITATION: “The hopes and fears of all the years are met in Thee tonight.” (Phillip Brooks) In Jesus, every fear can be vanquished in hope. In Jesus, every promise is fulfilled. In Jesus, every hopeful prophecy finds its fulfillment. Have you found a hope that will never leave you?

FOR REFLECTION: This Christmas season, tune your ears to the hope being sung about in the carols of Christmas. We need to be reminded that hope is here in Jesus!

LIGHT (Day 1)

The world began in darkness. “Darkness (chaos) was over the face of the deep,” the Scriptures tell us. I always hear that statement with James Earl Jones’ voice speaking it. Deep darkness. Dark dark. But the Presence of the Lord, the Spirit of God, brooding over the face of earth’s chaos and darkness, brought light. Day 1, the Lord spoke it: “Let there be light. And there was light.”

Christmas is a time of light. The prophet Isaiah spoke an encouraging word to the people of Israel: “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.” (Isaiah 9:2) God always brings light. Light to our confusion… our chaos. Light when we have lost our way. Light when we don’t know where our hope will come from. Light has come.

This is why we untangle the endless strings of Christmas lights and climb up on our rooftops or wrap our landscaping; to celebrate light. Even when we’re not sure why we’re doing it… we do it. We instinctively know that light is important. To live without it is to live… in chaos and fear, uncertainty and despair.

“Life and light to all He brings, risen with healing in His wings…” the carol says. Jesus said, “I am the light of the world.” John, the longest-living apostle, wrote, “God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all.”(1 John 1:5)

Light came at Christmas. Spiritual light. Soul light. Vibrant light. Truth-telling light. And when the light began to shine, the darkness fled and one day will be forever vanquished.

So untangle the lights. Brighten up the night sky and your neighborhood. Christmas is about light… so let it shine!

FOR MEDITATION:  I am the light of the world.     John 8:12

FOR REFLECTION: How can you share the light of Jesus with someone this season… a single Mom… a lonely senior… a stressed-out neighbor? Perhaps the greatest gift we have to give… is light.