Beginnings!

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There is an occasion for everything, and a time for every activity under heaven:

a time to give birth and a time to die;

a time to plant and a time to uproot;

a time to kill and a time to heal;

a time to tear down and a time to build;

a time to weep and a time to laugh;

a time to mourn and a time to dance;

a time to throw stones and a time to gather stones;

a time to embrace and a time to avoid embracing;

a time to search and a time to count as lost;

a time to keep and a time to throw away;

a time to tear and a time to sew;

a time to be silent and a time to speak;

a time to love and a time to hate;

a time for war and a time for peace. –Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 (CSB)

These haunting words from Solomon in the book of Ecclesiastes are so appropriate as we begin a new year. In welcoming 2023, we bid farewell to 2022 and for many, good riddance. The year brought various challenges as well as blessings. John Walton writes, “The message of Ecclesiastes is that the course of life to be pursued is a God-centered life. The pleasures of life are not intrinsically fulfilling and cannot offer lasting satisfaction, but they can be enjoyed as gifts from God. Life offers good times and bad and follows no pattern such as that proposed by the retribution principle. But all comes from the hand of God. Adversity may not be enjoyable, but it can help make us the people of faith we ought to be.”

I am not sure if Paulo Coelho ever read these verses but his thoughts seem to mirror Solomon’s understanding of time. “One day, you will wake up and there won’t be any more time to do the things you’ve always wanted. Do it now.”

For so many of us, 2022 began with good intentions, resolutions, and dreams. Yet as the days and weeks turned into months, it seemed impossible to keep many of those well-intentioned plans. The good intentions of losing weight didn’t happen, the daily routine of exercise sounded good, and trying to do something new was left on the table unfinished – yet we tried.

Edward Curtis writes, “Throughout the Old Testament, God’s people are encouraged to reflect on who God is, to study his works in creation and in history, and to meditate on the truth he has revealed about himself. They are instructed to carefully examine the world for examples of his steadfast love. Such disciplines keep before God’s people some of those “grounds for trusting.”

Happy New Year! Whether stranger or friend, you are greeted with these words. However, you may find yourself in a place that is neither “happy” nor “new”. The only thing you can resonate with that greeting is “year.” I will never forget Connie and my first New Year in Bophuthatswana, Africa. The country was in the midst of the worst drought in decades, the temperature was beyond hot, nothing was the same as what we left and we had lost our baby through a miscarriage. As the midnight hour struck, you could hear crowds of people walking up and down the road yelling: happy, happy, happy.

I realized that happy is simply an adjective. Though our lives had been uprooted, there would come a time to plant new roots. We had wept but there would come a time to laugh at the sound of a baby’s cry. We would learn to keep close to what was most important and throw away the other.

Much like pulling off the highway at a lookout point to take in the scenic beauty, the new year provides a similar “lookout point” for us to stop and meditate upon where we are in life. Solomon, in reflecting upon the state of his life wrote, “I applied my mind to examine and explore through wisdom all that is done under heaven.”

Where do you find yourself in these times?  Have you been in a time of mourning and now you are longing to dance again? Have you found yourself forced to be silent over some issue but now you know it is the time to speak out? Have you found yourself filled with anger and hatred over something and now your heart desires to love again?  Use these eight verses as questions for your soul. Find some time in the next few weeks to spiritually pull into a “lookout point” and prayerfully let God speak into your life.

I don’t know how people celebrated the new Year in Jesus’ days. Most likely the greeting would be the same as any day, Shalom. Jesus probably didn’t say Happy New Year but, “Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Don’t let your heart be troubled or fearful.”—John 14:27 (CSB)

Lord, thank you for never leaving us, nor forsaking us. As we begin this new calendar year, let us look completely to you in those times when you will need to provide comfort to those who mourn, strength to those rebuilding what is torn down, wisdom to know how to speak and celebrate with us in laughter and joy.  In this coming year, let us daily experience Your Shalom in our lives.

God is great!

Christmas, the climax of Advent

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And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn. Luke 2:7

Christmas – “For unto us a child is born…” Can you imagine what Mary was thinking that night as she cradled her newborn baby?  It had been a whirlwind of events since she first heard the angel Gabriel say, “Greetings, favored woman! The Lord is with you…Now listen: You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus.” On that dark, still night, she was holding her baby but instead of sitting in a palace where kings were normally born, she was laying her baby in a feed trough where the animals ate.

You might think obedience would take you on paved roads leading to the palace door instead of walking on a dusty, bumpy path leading to a barn. Yet when God asks you to do something even if it doesn’t make sense, you simply trust Him. Faith is more often found sitting on a hay bale in a stable than in a comfortable palace chair.

The advent season is a time of waiting, watching, and desiring. Christmas is the powerful climax of Advent as the waiting is over and Jesus the Messiah is celebrated. “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah, and he will reign for ever and ever.” –Rev 11:15 (NIV)

“Advent is a season of waiting and desiring and of hope-filled longing as I invite Christ to come again into my life and into our beautiful but broken world. I pause now to listen once again to that voice from heaven saying: “I am making everything new!” –Reading from Lectio365

This was an inconceivable, incredible, amazing story of Christmas when the Creator of all the universe, who knew no beginning nor end would come into the world as a baby. On Christmas morning, Mary would sing softly to comfort his sweet cry until the day would come when he would cry out in anguish, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” On Christmas morning, Mary would gently rub the smooth, soft skin until that day came when his skin would grow strong and tough to hold the nails of sin, injustice, and rejection as he cried out “It is completed!”

In the least likely place, with the least likely couple and the least likely circumstances, a story is told of the Savior who is making everything new. Christmas is the life-changing story of a Savior who broke the chain of death to give us salvation.

Joseph and Mary’s ordinary, day-to-day life may not have changed but their world was never the same. “So when Joseph and Mary had performed everything according to the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth. And the child grew and become strong, filled with wisdom, and the favor of God was upon him.” –Luke 2:39-40

 

All who are weary

 All who are weak

All those who come with no words left to speak

Come let the Son wash the dust from your feet

Come into the light

All who are mourning

All who have pain.

All those who come who are burdened with shame

Come let the Son take the weight of your chains

Come into the light

Ours is the God of the lost and the broken

His is the home with doors flung wide open

Ours is the Savior who welcomes us in.

Come into the light (words from the song, Into the Light, Emmaus Rd Church, Surrey, UK)

 

I wish you a blessed and wonderful Christmas as you enjoy the hope and life that Jesus brings daily. Christmas, as a day on the calendar may be over, but not the life-changing coming of Jesus. The best is yet to come!

Come Lord Jesus, enter our broken world ravaged by sin, selfishness, and turning our backs on you. Forgive us. Restore us. Renew us. Only you can change the face of this brokenness to reflect the beauty of your creation again. Fall fresh on us this Christmas and each day after. Give us ears to hear you say, “I am making everything new!” Yes, come Lord Jesus come.

God is great!

Peace, Week Four of Advent

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For a child will be born to us, a Son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. Isaiah 9:6 (NASB)

As we enter the fourth week of Advent, I am sure the exchange between world-renowned philosophers and social influencers Charlie Brown and Lucy may resonate with some folks. Lucy says to Charlie Brown, “I hate everything. I hate everybody. I hate the whole wide world!” Charlie Brown in his most thoughtful response said, “but I thought you had inner peace.” Lucy replies, “I do have inner peace. But I still have outer obnoxiousness.”

Unlike Lucy, many people during Christmas will put on a mask of outer peace yet will harbor inner obnoxiousness. Unfortunately, this supposedly joyous time of celebration with family and friends will be filled with anxiety and stress for way too many people. According to the American Psychological Association, 44% of women and 31% of men report increased stress around the holidays.

Just as inner peace is challenging, so is global peace. Chris Hedges writes “Of the past 3,400 years, humans have been entirely at peace for 268 of them, or just 8 percent of recorded history.” I am not sure if the 268 years could be classified as peace since he defined war as an active conflict that claimed more than 1,000 lives. Since Cain picked up a rock against Abel, war and conflict have been a staple of human history.

Peace, whether inner or global, seems to be a fleeting hope. Yet Advent moves us to the hope we have in the fulfillment of Isaiah when the Messiah will come as Prince of Peace. This week, Advent calls us to focus on peace as we join with “the heavenly army of angels praising God and saying, glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among people with whom He is pleased.” –Luke 2:13b-14 (NASB)

The English word peace that is used to translate the Hebrew word shalom is good but it lacks the depth and wholeness of shalom. Carolyn Arends writes of shalom “It’s a beautiful word that conveys wholeness, harmony, and health. Where we might settle for uneasy truces and Band-Aid fixes as proxies for peace, shalom represents something much more robust. Beyond the cessation of war, shalom is a transformation of the conditions that lead to war in the first place. When there is shalom, everything gets to function the way it was created to.”

Eugene Peterson wrote, “Shalom, “peace,” is one of the richest words in the Bible. You can no more define it by looking in the dictionary than you can define a person by his or her social security number. It gathers all aspects of wholeness that result from God’s will being completed in us. It is the work of God that, when complete, releases streams of living water in us and pulsates with eternal life. Every time Jesus healed, forgave, or called someone, we have a demonstration of shalom.” (A Long Obedience in the Same Direction: Discipleship in an Instant Society)

Jesus understood that if we looked to the world for peace, we would quickly drown in despair. History is filled with brokered peace agreements that only temporarily stopped conflict. Doctors try to give peace by prescribing medications that only mask the pain and hopelessness. People turn to alcohol and drugs seeking to find inner peace only to be pulled deeper into addiction and problems.

During this week’s Advent focus on peace, meditate on Jesus’ words as the true Prince of Peace. “Peace I leave with you; My (own) peace I now give and bequeath to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. (Stop allowing yourselves to be agitated and disturbed, and do not permit yourselves to be fearful and intimidated and cowardly and unsettled.) –John 14:27 (Amplified)

I like what Mark Buchanan, pastor and author said about the Advent season. “Advent was my least favorite season for preaching. Then it became my favorite. And here’s why “I abandoned creativity.” Buchanan writes that he came to understand the Christmas story is alive and real without trying to make it more than it is. He goes on to say, “It turns out, I don’t need to make the story, any of it, snazzier, sexier, funkier. I just need to recapture its aliveness and realness. I don’t need to make it more relevant or interesting. I just have to let it dwell richly within me, and to dwell richly in it, and then bear witness to what I had seen and heard and touched.”

This year has been chaotic in so many ways: political turmoil in Washington D.C, Russia invading Ukraine, hyperinflation, stock market volatility and the list goes on. We don’t have to make Christmas more than it is, it is already everything the world needs. Jesus is the Wonderful Counselor for those struggling with life issues. Jesus is the Mighty God who is fully aware of global conflicts and is fully in control. Jesus is the Eternal Father that is interceding for us daily. Jesus is the Prince of Peace who brings shalom to every aspect of our lives.

“Rejoice in the Lord always; again, I will say, rejoice! Let your gentle spirit be known to all people. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and pleading with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” –Philippians 4:4-7 (NASB)

Shalom.  Jesus brought the word to life and He is the best gift that anyone can receive!

Merry Christmas, God is great!

Week Three of Advent – Joy – The Shepherd’s Candle

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When the angels left them and went back to heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, that the Lord has made known to us. So they hurried off and located Mary and Joseph, and found the baby lying in a manger. When they saw him, they related what they had been told about this child, and all who heard it were astonished at what the shepherds said. But Mary treasured up all these words, pondering in her heart what they might mean. So the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen; everything was just as they had been told. –Luke 2:15-20 (NET)

We are getting closer to Christmas! Store owners have their count-down clocks going, only 13 more shopping days till Christmas (as of today). Hallmark Christmas movies are in full swing with their feel-good predictable outcome. Houses are decorated inside and out. We focus on joy as the third week of Advent begins.

Anticipation! Merriam-Webster defines it as “a prior action that takes into account or forestalls a later action, the act of looking forward, visualization of a future event or state.” As an 8-year-old boy, I knew I needed to act to “forestall” a potential problem. The problem: there was no present under the Christmas tree for me. Granted it was probably two or three weeks until Christmas, but in case my parents had forgotten, I took matters into my own hands. I had a little money saved up, so the first time we drove into town, I went directly (yes, an 8-year-old could go by himself) to the Five & Dime store in our little town and bought myself a Christmas present, a Tiddlywinks game. Mrs. Skaggs wrapped it up and I took it home and put it under the tree. Problem solved! Now I had a present under the Christmas tree!

In a couple of weeks, homes around the world will find children and adults excitedly unwrapping gifts. You will get to open the brightly wrapped presents that have been tempting you for weeks – the gifts that you secretly picked up, turned over and over, maybe giving a gentle shake trying to see if you could guess what’s in the box. Finally, the moment arrives for you to rip off the paper and open the box. Now just imagine though that one after another of the brightly covered packages contained nothing but empty boxes. Your excitement would quickly give way to despair, maybe a little anger, and definitely a lot of disappointment.

I just imagine this is how the people of Israel must have felt. They have been opening empty boxes for almost 400 years since Malachi’s final words to wait. “See, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before the great and dreadful day of the LORD comes. He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children, and the hearts of the children to their parents; or else I will come and strike the land with total destruction.” Malachi 4:5-6 (NIV). Generation after generation would hold these verses close to their hearts waiting for the coming Messiah. Finally, the day arrives with the words, “I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.” –Luke 2:10b-11 (NIV) This angelic birth announcement ends the 400 years of empty boxes for all who have been waiting for the Messiah’s coming.

Mark’s Christmas story is brief and to the point, “The beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God.” Peter Adams writes, “Like the people in Malachi’s day, we are called to look back and look forward. We look back to the coming of Christ, and to his incarnation, life, death, resurrection, and ascension; and we look forward to the coming of Christ in glory, when he will save his people, judge all people, and restore all things.”

God could have sent ten thousand angels to restore His creation and destroy the sinfulness of the world. God had the right as Creator and this would have made political and strategic sense, yet He chose the strategy of love. God came into the world as a baby. Holding my newest granddaughter and looking at her vulnerability, tenderness, and dependence, I marvel at the power of a baby to bring such joy and hope.

God’s incarnation as a baby allows us to touch and hold the sacred and it was in the gentleness of Jesus’ cry that night that a hurting, hopeless, and rejected world could again have hope and life. In that tender cry, we hear the life-giving words “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” –John 3:16 (NIV)

Hebrews 4:14-16 is not a classic Christmas verse but it is worth reading and reflecting upon during this Advent season.  This passage allows us to wait and live with hope, encouragement, courage, and confidence.  “Since, then, we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

Christmas is the amazing story of a Savior; wrapped in ordinary clothes, born in humble circumstances, and marked with a destiny that will change lives forever. Jesus broke the silence of 400 years and is still breaking the silence of brokenness today! Paul David Tripp says it well, “No one knows you more deeply and fully than your Savior, so no one offers you help form fitted for your deepest needs like he does.”

Christmas is coming!

God is great!

Faith, Week Two of Advent

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This all happened so that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet would be fulfilled: “Look!” The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will name him Emmanuel,” which means “God with us. –Matthew 1:22-23 (NET)

Gaslighting!  This is Merriam-Webster’s 2022 annual word of the year. It is probably a very good choice considering 2022 was the mid-term elections in the United States and gaslighting has been rampant. According to the Newport Institute, “gaslighting is a form of manipulation where the manipulator attempts to make their victim believe what’s happening to them isn’t actually happening and their reality is untrue.” The term comes from the 1938 play “Angel Street.” Alfred Hitchcock then turned the play into the 1944 film “Gaslight.” The story goes that the husband attempts to convince his wife she is crazy so he can steal from her. According to the Newport Institute, “when he turns on the lights in the attic to look for his wife’s jewels, the gas light downstairs starts to dim. He tells his wife it’s all in her imagination, gaslighting her into believing the lights were not dimming.” (USA Today)

Examples of Gaslighting given by the Newport Institute include:

  • Lying about or denying something and refusing to admit the lie even when you show them proof
  • Insisting that an event or behavior you witnessed never happened
  • Spreading rumors and gossip about you, or telling you that other people are gossiping about you
  • Telling you that you’re overreacting when you call them out

Gaslighting may be Merriam-Webster’s word of the year but the concept is as old as time. The Servant gaslighted Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” –Gen 3:4 (NIV)

As we enter week two of the advent season, what does gaslighting have to do with Advent?  Just like the husband in Hitchcock’s movie tries to convince his wife the lie is the truth, the same has been done with Satan throughout human history. He seeks to manipulate and convince the world that God’s truth and love are not true. Paul wrote “The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” (2 Corinthians 4:4 NIV)

Since the first deception, humans have been deceived into believing what wasn’t true. Advent is a time of waiting and reflecting on the promised coming of the Messiah. What makes waiting bearable is the fact we are waiting based on the rock-solid promises given by God.  Over the years much of our culture has been gaslighted into believing another story and only seeing the glitter and glamour of a holiday instead of the true meaning of Christmas. Advent is a time when we wait in faith for the coming Messiah simply because God is faithful to His word and has never broken a promise.

Luke records the incredible faith in Simeon’s story as he waited a lifetime for the coming Messiah. “Now there was a man in Jerusalem named Simeon who was righteous and devout, looking for the restoration of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. So Simeon, directed by the Spirit, came into the temple courts, and when the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what was customary according to the law, Simeon took him in his arms and blessed God.” (2:25-28 NET)

Simeon was able to wait because he knew God would be faithful in his promise to send a Savior. “For my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples: a light, for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel.” –Luke 2:30-32 (NET)

“Unfulfilled and fulfilled promise are related to each other, as are dawn and sunrise. Both promise and in fact the same promise. If anywhere at all, then it is precisely in the light of the coming of Christ that faith has become Advent faith, the expectation of future revelation. But faith knows for whom and for what it is waiting. It is fulfilled faith because it lays hold on the fulfilled promise.” – Karl Barth

December is probably the busiest month of the year. We struggle with questions about what to buy the children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, and everyone else. We are trying to schedule all the parties, church events, and shopping until we realize we forgot Christmas. It is quite possible the Advent season can work much like a check engine light in our car, alerting us that something needs our attention.

Advent beautifully reminds us that God doesn’t have a word of the year, He has a Word for eternity.

“A voice of one calling: “In the wilderness prepare the way for the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level,” the rugged places a plain. And the glory of the LORD will be revealed, and all people will see it together.

                               For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.” –Isaiah 40:3-5

God is great!

Hope, Week One of Advent

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“There was also a prophetess, Anna the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was very old, having been married to her husband for seven years until his death. She had lived as a widow since then for eighty-four years. She never left the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day. –Luke 2:36-37 (NET)

Angela Alvarez knows a few things about waiting in hope. At 95, Alvarez is finally fulfilling a lifelong dream that began in her native Cuba. Life events prevented her from following her dream of being a singer. She said in an interview, “When I was a child, I had two aunts that played the piano and taught me how to sing. Whenever there was a family gathering, I was the artist; they made dresses for me and I always liked to perform.”

Sigal Ratner-Arias in an article about Mrs. Alvarez wrote that amid life’s hardships “music was always there for her, as it helped her cope with the ups and downs of life: from love and motherhood, to a near-two-year separation from her children after the Cuban Revolution triumph, when she was supposed to travel to the U.S. with them but was not allowed to board the plane; to her relentless efforts to reunite her family and the eventual loss of her beloved husband and, years later, of her only daughter—both to cancer.”

Yet her hope of being a singer didn’t die and thanks to her grandson’s effort in recording her music, Alvarez became the eldest nominee for a Latin Grammy. It was a dream that became a reality this month as she shared a win with Silvana Estrada as the best new artist. Alvarez, after years of performing only for family and friends, says “it’s never too late.”

Waiting is never easy, often testing our limits of endurance. Yet scripture records countless stories of those who waited and waited. Times of waiting became extraordinary stories of trust, patience, and discipline. Luke records the stories of Simeon and Anna, two examples of those waiting in hope for the fulfillment of God’s promise of a Messiah. Anna was best known among the temple faithful as a prophetess and daughter of Phanuel. However, she was probably better known in heaven as a person of faith and trust, a faithful prayer warrior and encourager. Her brief mention in scripture paints a powerful and beautiful story of love, hope, perseverance, and faith. Day after day, night after night, Anna could be found fasting and praying in worship. She lived out Micah 7:7, “But as for me, I watch in hope for the LORD, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me.”

Sunday, November 27 marks the beginning of Advent, the first week’s focus is on hope. We can attest that hope can sometimes be fragile, yet hope allows us to keep moving forward. Scott Erickson writes “Advent is about Christ coming into the world through human vulnerability.” Lighting the prophecy candle on your advent wreath this week signifies the hope we have in the promise of the coming Messiah.

Erickson goes on to write that “We may have learned that the word advent means coming or arrival, but it’s interesting that it’s root word in Latin, adventus, also has some thought-provoking implications. It can connote the rise of a military power. It can mean incursion, ripening, and also appearance and invasion. So fascinating considering the meekness of the Savior who rode into Jerusalem on a donkey and was the sacrificed Lamb who took away the sins of the world!”

Jesus is the powerful King who delivers and brings security, the powerful king that brought hope, salvation, and redemption. The late British biblical scholar Peter Craigie says “And that is the essence of the Christmas message: God makes a gift to a besieged world through whom deliverance may come.”

Anna lived and breathed the hope that the long-awaited Messiah would come in her lifetime. However, she also trusted God’s promise of the coming Messiah even though she knew He might not come in her lifetime. Can you imagine her excitement and joy when Jesus was revealed as the One she has been waiting for all these years? “Coming up to them at that very moment, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem.”—Luke 2: 38 (NIV)

Anna’s ordinary day-to-day activities probably didn’t change all that much. She would still be found in the temple, fasting and praying. Her aging body still felt the pains and discomforts of the years. Yet she would never be the same when she stood and heard the priest read these words from the book of Isaiah: “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned. For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this.” (9:2,6-7 NIV)

You can’t help but picture a big smile coming over her face as she heard these words read in the temple. A smile of hope that only came because she saw Jesus. Jesus is the reason we can smile!

“God of hope, I look to you with an open heart and yearning spirit. During this Advent season, I will keep alert and awake, listening for your word and keeping to your precepts. My hope is in you.” –Matthew Kelly

God is great!

Can you hear me?

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As Jesus approached Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the road begging. When he heard a crowd going by, he asked what was going on. They told him, “Jesus the Nazarene is passing by.” Luke 18:35-37

“To be a follower of the crucified means, sooner or later, a personal encounter with the cross. And the cross always entails loss.” –Elisabeth Elliott

Life can seem to be unfair depending on your outlook. Dallas Wiens, a painter in Fort Worth, went to work as usual.   As he worked on a painting job outside Ridglea Baptist Church the lift he was working on accidentally hit a power line. After waking up three months later from his medically induced coma, he discovered he no longer had a face. The accident destroyed his nose, lips, and facial muscles. Now blind with no feeling from his neck up, it would seem life wasn’t fair.

Dallas could have given up hope and purpose to live but he didn’t. He doesn’t call the experience an accident but rather a “gift from God.” He became the first full facial transplant in the United States. Speaking at a local school before the transplant, Dallas told the students “how God has given him strength, purpose, and hope and encouraged them to make a commitment to God in the middle of their own circumstances.”

“There’s a difference between living and surviving,” he said in an interview. When asked if he mourns his losses he replied, “I’ve never really thought about it. In life, in my mind, this is who I am today, and whoever I was then died when I hit that power line. I had a chance to become a better person, and I have.”

Jesus never had an uneventful day! Something would happen but more importantly, that something was always someone. As Jesus approached Jericho, a blind beggar asked about all the commotion he was hearing. The noise was overwhelming, the man could feel people rushing past him as he sat on the edge of the road. He kept shouting, what is happening? Finally, someone yelled back at him, Jesus! Jesus the Nazarene is coming into town.

The beggar had heard about this strange man, the one whom people were always talking about, the one that performed miracles. He was the one the religious leaders called a heretic. Could this Jesus be his one chance for healing?

He started shouting, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me.” “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me.” Be quiet, you are bothering us shouted the people around him. No way would he keep quiet if there was a chance he might be able to see. “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”

He knew he had only one chance, only one chance. The odds were stacked against him but he had to take the risk. He couldn’t go to Jesus. He couldn’t see him. He was a nobody in the eyes of those around him. How could Jesus possibly see or hear him hidden by rows and rows of people all shouting? Pushed out of the way to make room for the crowd, he did the one thing he could do, cry out to Jesus.

How could Jesus hear him? Why would the King of Kings, the promised Messiah bother with a nobody? One voice crying out among thousands of other voices. Jesus, Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me. Do you hear me? He had lived his life with no one caring. Religious leaders who were anointed to care for people, couldn’t or wouldn’t help him. Government-appointed leaders didn’t help him, he was just another nobody among scores of nobodies. Why would Jesus hear him?

Amazing grace! How sweet the sound

That saved a wretch like me.

I once was lost, but now am found,

Was blind, but now I see.

‘Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,

And grace my fears relieved.

Did his ears hear right? What are they saying to me? Get up!  Jesus heard your cry. He wants you to come to him. Get up! Jesus heard a nobody. Dirty from all the dust of the road, mocked by the crowd. People looked at him with pity. When was the last time he had a bath? His clothes were torn and tattered, he didn’t have time to change into something better, even if he had something.

Jesus had heard his cry for help. Now Jesus looked at him, not as a nobody but as a somebody. Jesus didn’t wince from his smell. Jesus didn’t judge him by his appearance. Jesus didn’t patronize him. Just looking at the man you would have thought he needed food, maybe some better clothes, and a place to live. Not, Jesus, he dignified the man by asking “what do you want me to do for you?”

The beggar could easily have voiced his complaint on how he had been mistreated in life, how his situation had been so unfair. Yet in this life of begging and blindness, he could have stayed bitter, forgotten hope, and stayed in his misery. To answer Jesus’ question, he would have to give up the only thing he had ever known, being an outcast and beggar.

“Lord, let me see again.” Are you sure that is all? You do know who you are talking to? Jesus, didn’t have to ask him, are you sure that is all you want? No, I only want to see again. Jesus looked at him and simply said, “Receive your sight; your faith has healed you. And immediately he regained his sight and followed Jesus.”

“The reason you are inside the gate for such a time as this—is to risk your life for those outside the gate.”—Ann Voskamp. This once blind, hopeless beggar now found himself inside the gate. Jesus not only gave him physical sight but he gave this nobody a new life as a somebody. “And immediately he regained his sight and followed Jesus, praising God.”  No longer did he have to sit in the dust but because of his faith Jesus did something amazing in his life then “all the people saw it, they too gave praise to God.”

I am thankful Jesus hears our cry in the distance. We know we have a Savior who listens and responds to our deepest needs. Jesus invites us to follow Him. We no longer live on the outskirts but are brought into Jesus’ life-changing love.

This week a good friend and encourager of my blog, Prayer Safari, died suddenly. Pray for the family of Julie Thomas who is now living in the final stanza of Amazing Grace: “When we’ve been there ten thousand years, bright shining as the sun, We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise, Than when we’ve first begun.”

God is great!

Jesus Amazed

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When Jesus had finished saying all this to the people who were listening, he entered Capernaum. There a centurion’s servant, whom his master valued highly, was sick and about to die. The centurion heard of Jesus and sent some elders of the Jews to him, asking him to come and heal his servant. When they came to Jesus, they pleaded earnestly with him, “This man deserves to have you do this, because he loves our nation and has built our synagogue.” So Jesus went with them. He was not far from the house when the centurion sent friends to say to him”: Lord, don’t trouble yourself, for I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. That is why I did not even consider myself worthy to come to you. But say the word, and my servant will be healed… When Jesus heard this, he was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd following him, he said, “I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel.” Then the men who had been sent returned to the house and found the servant well. Luke 7:1-10

Mourners stood in line for more than 24 hours stretching up to 10 miles to pay their respects as Queen Elizabeth II lay in state in Westminster Hall in the Palace of Westminster. Commoners and aristocrats all stood together in a line. Manchester United F.C. legend David Beckham was no exception. He could have played his “fame card” but he chose to walk with everyone else. “We all want to be here together, we all want to experience something where we celebrate the amazing life of our Queen. We all go through this pain to be here today.”

The closest I have come standing for hours waiting on “royalty” was when we lived in Johannesburg and our family drove out to Alberton with literally thousands of others to wait. Yet, the time was worth it for Matthew and Katelyn as their excitement became ecstatic when they heard the sound of the helicopter and upon landing, outstepped the world-famous Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles; Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello, and Raphael. True royalty to a mob of children!

Luke captures a fantastic story of a Roman Centurion who could have met Jesus yet refused because he was not worthy to have Jesus in his home.  He was a man of power, prestige, and influence simply because of his rank and position. Since he had a top-notch intelligence service at his command, he knew what was taking place in his region and one of the major developments was a man named Jesus. Out of curiosity and political security, Jesus was on his radar of interest but more importantly, he had a major crisis in his household.  A beloved servant he valued highly was sick, maybe dying.  Maybe this Jesus could help.

The centurion decided Jesus was the only solution and sent a group of Jewish leaders to ask him to come. The religious leaders, who were sent to ask Jesus for help, focused on the influence of the sender, not the servant’s need.  Instead of mercy for the sick servant, they pleaded for Jesus to come because this man was a major donor to their synagogue and therefore in their eyes, deserved special attention.

I can’t help but wonder if Jesus used these Jewish leaders as an example later on when He was a guest in a prominent religious leader’s house. Jesus observed how the “guests picked the places of honor at the table” so they could be seen by the crowd. These leaders knew how important it was, politically and socially to be seen with those who have real power. Jesus looked and said, no you are doing it wrong.  “When you are invited, take the lowest place” because someone more important might show up and you get relegated to the back row. “For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” (Luke 14:7-14)

Unlike the religious leaders, this seasoned army officer understood what true authority and humility looked like. Rethinking his original request, he sent a second message but this time he entrusted it to friends who would better confer the message. These friends understood his heart for his servant’s well-being. The other group wanted Jesus to come because of what they could get. This group brought a message of the heart.

This Gentile, part of the hated Roman government, despised by the religious elite had the opportunity to meet Jesus yet in humility said, “Lord, don’t trouble yourself, for I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. That is why I did not even consider myself worthy to come to you.”  A Roman Centurion was never in a position of begging for help. What would others think of him? That he was weak? He should have commanded Jesus to be brought to him. “The only way to care for the disadvantaged is to disadvantage yourself, which is guaranteed to turn out to your advantage.”—Ann Voskamp

This centurion understood he was not worthy to have the only one who could heal his servant come into his house.  “Hearts are broken in ten thousand ways, for this is a heart-breaking world; and Christ is good at healing all manner of heart-breaks.” –Charles Spurgeon

Yet this unworthy centurion knew the chain of authority and the One coming to his house had the authority and power to answer his “prayer.” Though I am unworthy, I need your help, “say the word, and my servant will be healed.” Jesus probably wanted to shout: Yes, someone finally gets it! It is not about influence, position, or power. It is not about how much wealth a person may have at his disposal. It is not about where you are from or what you can do.  It is about who you turn to!

“I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel.”

This centurion may not have fully understood who Jesus was at the time but he knew enough. He joined an elite group of folks who didn’t fully understand, but they knew enough. A destitute widow grieving the death of her son heard the words, “Young man, I say to you, get up!” (Luke 7:14) A broken and rejected woman heard the words, “Your sins are forgiven.” (Luke 7:48) A beaten down and physically worn-out woman heard the words,” Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace.” (Luke 8:48) A condemned man with no hope heard the words, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.” (Luke 23:43)

LORD, though I was unworthy to have you in my house, you made me worthy because of your love for me on the cross. No longer unworthy but now a joint heir with you. No longer living in the past tense but the present tense of forgiven with the future tense of eternity. “And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”

God is great!

Sunday Mornings – More than just another day

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Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts. Acts 2:46

What gets you up on Sunday mornings for church? If you are a child, probably your Mom or Dad. If you are a teenager, hopefully, Mom or Dad takes you to church, but it could be a friend. If you are more mature in life, maybe it is an obligation, but hopefully, it is excitement. Excuses abound for not going to church: the music is loud, the people are all hypocrites, the preacher preaches too long, or the building is too hot or cold. C.S. Lewis was asked the question, “Is attendance at a place of worship or membership with a Christian community necessary to a Christian way of life?” Lewis beautifully captured what it means to go to church:

“My own experience is that when I first became a Christian, about fourteen years ago, I thought that I could do it on my own, by retiring to my rooms and reading theology, and I wouldn’t go to the churches and Gospel Halls, and then later I found that it was the only way of flying your flag; and, of course, I found that this meant being a target. It is extraordinary how inconvenient to your family it becomes for you to get up early to go to Church. It doesn’t matter so much if you get up early for anything else, but if you get up early to go to Church it’s very selfish of you and you upset the house. If there is anything in the teaching of the New Testament which is in the nature of a command, it is that you are obliged to take the Sacrament, and you can’t do it without going to Church. I disliked very much their hymns, which I considered to be fifth-rate poems set to sixth-rate music. But as I went on I saw the great merit of it. I came up against different people of quite different outlooks and different education, and then gradually my conceit just began peeling off. I realized that the hymns (which were just sixth-rate music) were, nevertheless, being sung with devotion and benefit by an old saint in elastic-side boots in the opposite pew, and then you realize that you aren’t fit to clean those boots. It gets you out of your solitary conceit.” – from Answers to Questions on Christianity, God in the Dock

It could be that a few of you may have a long-forgotten treasure tucked away in your keepsake box: a perfect attendance pin from years ago!  God never intended for church going to be about pins, certificates, public recognition, or trying to gain God’s favor.  Rhonda Stoppe writes “Church is not a place to go, rather it is a living body where God wants you to become a part—for your good and His glory.”

You probably have your reasons for going to church but here are a few of my reasons:

I get to celebrate with others. I love my morning prayer times but I need those times together with others in worship to strengthen and encourage me. The times of corporate worship remind me that I am not alone in my faith journey. As I look around on Sunday mornings and worship with others, I realize we are all on the same journey of faith.  Corporate worship is an important part of that “great encouragement we give each other” in Hebrews 10:24-25 “And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”

Amy Carmichael writes in Candles in the Dark to her colleagues of this vital unity, “I depend on you to carry on whatever happens. There may be difficult days ahead, but if you all stand together and go on together, nothing can overwhelm you. There may be attacks upon the pattern shown, and upon your vital unity which is founded upon loyal love. Be it so. I cannot fear. He who has called will hold you fast, and He will lead you on.”

I get to hear the preaching of God’s Word. Yes, I could easily sit in my recliner at home and listen to a smorgasbord of preachers. There are times when sitting at home is unavoidable and necessary and I am thankful for modern technology that connects us to the church. However, in an age of relationship isolation, solo worship fails to meet the need for togetherness. The early church realized the importance of coming together as “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.” Acts 2:42

I get to model what it means to be a follower of Jesus. My kids know I am not perfect but they did see me worshipping a perfect Savior. I may not be a perfect neighbor but my going to church serves as a witness every Sunday morning. I may not be perfect but as I gather with other imperfect people, together we worship a perfect Savior. “The very moment of my salvation in Christ made my union with Christ an objective fact, but it’s not until the moment of realization of communion with Christ that there’s experiential joy.”—Ann Voskamp, The Broken Way

I get to be part of the global church. Long before I get to church on Sunday mornings, literally millions of fellow worshippers have already been to church and then by the time I leave, millions more will be attending church. In some places globally, members gather in secret due to government persecution, other believers gather under trees for church facilities, others gather in century-old sanctuaries, and many more will gather in store-front church plants. Regardless of the location where the gatherings take place, the beauty of these gatherings is “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. “(Gal 3:28) How awesome to know that I am not isolated but part of something far more significant. I am part of a living body of believers scattered throughout the world.

I get to worship God. If for no other reason I go to church because God is worthy to be worshipped. The One who created me in His image, the One who came to rescue me, the One who has prepared a place for all of eternity for me. This is the reason I go to church! “Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; come into his presence with singing.” (Psalm 100:1)

There may be a multitude of reasons to worship together. Whatever the reasons, all are simply a preamble to the greatest worship event of all times when “a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands, And they cried out in a loud voice: “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.” (Rev 7:9-10)

As followers of Jesus gather together weekly “from every nation, tribe, people and language” it is the most amazing answer we can give to a world drowning in disunity, divisiveness, hatred, and disillusion!

Lord, what an overwhelming celebration of oneness each week as we come together from every nation, tribe, people and language. You are the reason we can gather together as one. May You find us faithful.

God is great!

Would America be better off without the church?

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But as for me, I watch in hope for the LORD, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me. Micah 7:7

Hurricane Ian has rightly dominated the news the last several days. My heart goes out to the people in the path of this destructive and chaotic event. It will not be easy for those who lost family members and for the challenges of rebuilding a life. In this tragic event, as well as the countless others that have occurred in the last year, we often voice our prayer support as well as our financial and physical support. Many will help out of civic duty, but for Christians, it is or should be, out of a Christ-centered heart and obedience to help the poor, the widows, the orphans, the hurting, and the lost. As Jesus simply said, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matt 22:39)

It is never easy answering an unbelieving world’s question about why bad things happen. We may give the right theological answer but few are looking for such an answer when their world has fallen apart. What they are looking for will be the warm blanket given on a cold night without electricity, a hot meal to satisfy their hunger pains, and a word of encouragement that it will be ok. So, does a Christian have the inside track on helping? Not really when either skeptics or saints can provide the material things.

This brings me to my question for you. Would America or any nation be better off without the church? Voices such as Christopher Hitchens, Richard Dawkins, and A. C. Grayling would say the world would be better off without religion. Emory University’s Frans de Waal said, “I’m struggling with whether we need religion…Personally I think we can be moral without religion because we probably had morality long before the current religions came along…so I am optimistic that religion is not strictly needed. But I cannot be a hundred percent sure because we’ve never really tried—there is no human society where religion is totally absent so we really have never tried this experiment.”

We need to be able to tell the world that no, it will not be better off. “Faithful Christ followers must work with urgency for moral and spiritual awakening not only for the sake of unrepentant sinners facing judgment but for our sake as well.” –Jim Denison

Part of the answer will be in the economic impact. In a study conducted by The Religious Freedom and Business Foundation, religion contributes about $1.2 trillion of socioeconomic value annually to the U.S. economy. This would be equivalent to being the world’s 15th-largest national economy. Brian Grim in response to the study said, “Do we need to know (religion’s socio-economic value) in order to appreciate the value of faith? Of course not, but in an age where fewer people are raised in religious congregations, we need to show a more balanced perspective on faith than might come through in daily headlines.”

Part of the answer will be in the moral impact. Micah gives a vivid description of a nation that rejects God. Though written generations ago, it is not a pretty picture. The moral vacuum would be chaotic without the strong foundation of God’s church. “What misery is mine! The godly have been swept from the land; not one upright man remains. All men lie in wait to shed blood; each hunts his brother with a net. Both hands are skilled in doing evil; the ruler demands gifts, the judge accepts bribes, the powerful dictate what they desire—they all conspire together. The best of them is like a brier, the most upright worse than a thorn hedge. The day of your watchmen has come, the day God visits you. Now is the time of their confusion. Do not trust a neighbor; put no confidence in a friend. Even with her who lies in your embrace be careful of your words. For a son dishonors his father, a daughter rises up against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law—a man’s enemies are the members of his own household.” (Micah 7:1-6) These verses out of Micah sound familiar in our modern age. Just think how many laws and regulations in the United States it already takes to replace the Ten Commandments and the Beatitudes.

Part of the answer will be in the prayer impact. After any natural or man-made disaster, the first words offered are to pray for those impacted. So, who will pray? 1 Peter 3:12 says, “For the eyes of the LORD are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the LORD is against those who do evil.” Followers of Jesus offer the needed prayers “because of Christ and our faith in him, we can now come boldly and confidently into God’s presence.” (Eph 3:12). John captures a powerful and beautiful picture when he writes in Revelation, “the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.” (Rev 5:8)

The most important part of the answer will be found in our message about Jesus. Numerous studies show that the Millennials and Gen Z generations have the highest level of loneliness and isolation. Other studies reflect that these same generations have the most significant percentage of moving away from the church. Coincidence? I don’t think so. “But how can people call for help if they don’t know who to trust? And how can they know who to trust if they haven’t heard of the One who can be trusted? And how can they hear if nobody tells them? And how is anyone going to tell them, unless someone is sent to do it?” (Romans 10:14-15 The Message) Our singular message of hope in Jesus becomes the fragrance of life for those who receive it.

The church has had its fair share of jerks, malcontents, and false teachers and unfortunately will have until the end. However, it has had a greater choir of those like Mother Teresa serving in the slums of the world, Billy Graham articulating the simple invitation to follow Jesus, William Wilberforce fighting the surge of slavery, Martin Luther pushing back against false church doctrine, Martin Luther King, Jr. protesting the injustice of racism, and Dietrich Bonhoeffer standing against the complacency of the church.  Joining this great army through the ages are the unnamed, out of the spotlight, overlooked saints who taught mischievous little boys and girls in VBS, went to the mission field, served in small churches, fed the hungry, ministered to the sick, interceded on behalf of the lost and simply lived a Christ-centered life.

Would America or any nation be better off without the church? The answer will always be no when we “Put away… all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice, and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you. Therefore, be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” –Ephesians 4:31-5:2

Lord, let us be the fragrant of Christ that attracts a hurting, frustrated, messed up world to offer the hope we have found in Christ.

God is great!