Author: Ragamuffingospelfan

O Great Giver of All Good Gifts

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I ran across a liturgy from Wayne Garvey and Douglas McKelvey that was too good not to share. I pray that as you wrap your presents during this season of giving that you will remember the greatest gift ever given wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger:

“I sit amongst rolls of wrapping paper,
tissue, bags, and bows—presents spread before
me, ready to be concealed in shrouds of joyful
mystery, and nestled for a time beneath the tree.

This brief veiling of gifts from
the wondering eyes of those
who will receive them
is an act intended to heighten
excitement, and to kindle hopes—hopes
that might find fulfillment when these
festive secrets are finally revealed.

There is always in us that
which delights in surprise.

And while these gifts might provide a passing
happiness, I pray they would also stir the
hearts of their recipients in some deeper way,
as small echoes of a greater grace.

For you first lavished upon us your
astonishing love in the person of Jesus.
You wrapped your gift, O God,
in the form of a baby. And then,
in that baby-become-man, you
unveiled glory upon glory:
Miracles. Marvelous words.
Deeds of compassion and mercy.
Strong promises. Death defeated.
Life eternal.
The revelation of yourself as a dear father,
longing to adopt us orphans as daughters and
sons! Indeed “We love, because God first
loved us!” In our giving of Christmas gifts
we but seek to imitate your generosity.

So let our stumbling attempts
to mirror the eternal charities of
your own lavish heart, be undertaken
in a spirit of glad celebration
and as an act of worship.

Christ, you are the gift of God who gave all,
gives all, is all. So let these my small presents
be offered in great love, and received as
humble expressions of a holy hospitality, and
reminders of a divine kindness.

HERE THE READER MAY WISH TO PRAY SPECIFICALLY FOR EACH LOVED ONE AS THEIR GIFT IS WRAPPED.

Now may the lives of all your children be
ever more marked by a loving generosity
manifest in daily acts of practical service
to others, O Lord.

And may my own heart in particular
be kept less and less like a wrapped
and sealed mystery,
but be freely offered instead
as an open gift through which
the radiant love of Christ
is made ever more visible.

Amen.”

If I Win the Lottery . . .

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If I win the lottery, I won’t go around posting it all over social media. But there would be signs. Just perhaps a modest little cabin in the woods, right?

Truthfully, I do fantasize about owning a home like this. Even though the chances of me living here are about the same as me winning the lottery (or me getting struck by lightning), it’s still fun to picture myself in my red plaid robe walking down those front steps (that are hopefully not iced over like in the picture).

But then I remember Jesus said that in His Father’s house are many rooms, although I prefer the old King Jimmy version that calls them mansions. Whatever I can conjure up in my mind as being over the top ornate and opulent, heaven will be better. It will be a thousand times more incredible than any episode of Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous with all its champagne wishes and caviar dreams.

But the best part of all won’t be the streets of gold or all the gates with precious stones. It will be seeing Jesus there. The joy of every longing heart will be made sight and the hope of the world will wipe away every tear from our eyes in a place where there is no more need for grieving.

That’s what I look forward to more than anything else. I long for no more bad news. I long for no more reports of murder and bloodshed and war and hatred and unrest. I long for when the lion can lie down with the lamb in peace and safety.

But if it’s God’s will for me to live in the cabin pictured above, I’d do my best to suffer through it for the Lord and put on my best face in the attempt. One can dream, can’t one?

Cheekwood 2025

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Apparently when I was little I had an obsession with lights. As in one of the first words I ever spoke was “light.” According to local sources, i.e. my mom, I used to go into peoples’ homes uninvited and turn on all their lights. I was a bit odd as a kid.

So you’d understand why I love my annual trek to Cheekwood Estate & Gardens earlier today. It had all the festive lights I could ever hope for. It was festive. You might even say that it was joyful AND triumphant.

I have a few Christmas traditions centered around lights. For some reason, I’m drawn to lights still. Maybe it’s because that the moment a light switches on, the darkness vanishes. Instantly. Darkness cannot abide where light is present.

Jesus called Himself the light of the world. That’s because with Jesus, suddenly you see where you’re going. You’re not wandering around in confusion and darkness anymore. He has come to be the beacon of hope and to show us the way home.

Christmas is all about how the light came into the world and the world didn’t understand or receive it. They rejected it because they preferred the dark because their deeds were evil. But to those who understood, who “got it,” He made them sons and daughters of the living God. No more hopelessly lost in the dark with no way out, we have a lamp for our feet and a light for our path.

I’m thankful every single day that Jesus helps me understand God, the world, others, and myself better. Every day, I’m growing and learning more about who God made me to be and how to fulfill His purposes for me. One day, I and all those who are sons and daughters of God through faith in Christ will be complete and mature.

In the meantime, we have that same light that first entered the world on Christmas morning. It’s our job to let that light shine through us so that others can find their way to God through the same Christ who is God made flesh.

Lord, help each and every one of Your children always be ready to give an answer for the hope and light that we have because of You. May we be disciples who make disciples, and may our legacy be those who will be in heaven because we shared the gift of Your light with others. Amen.

Let the Stable Still Astonish (for 2025)

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This is more than likely a repeat of something I’ve posted before, but it’s such a good read. It’s worth reading again (or for the 100th time). The same God who said to let Jesus be born into squalor and poverty says that we who are just as filthy inside and hopeless can be born again because of Jesus. This is the promise of Emmanuel and Christmas:

“Let the stable still astonish:
Straw-dirt floor, dull eyes,
Dusty flanks of donkeys, oxen;
Crumbling, crooked walls;
No bed to carry that pain,
And then, the child,
Rag-wrapped, laid to cry
In a trough.
Who would have chosen this?
Who would have said: “Yes,
Let the God of all the heavens and earth
Be born here, in this place”?
Who but the same God
Who stands in the darker, fouler rooms
of our hearts and says, “Yes,
let the God of Heaven and Earth
be born here–
in this place” (Leslie Leyland Fields (from Let the Stable Still Astonish).

A Beautiful Prayer by Gregory of Nyssa

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“You have released us, O Lord, from the fear of death. You have made the end of life here on earth a beginning of true life for us. You let our bodies rest in sleep in due season and you awaken them again at the sound of the last trumpet. You entrust to the earth our bodies of earth which you fashioned with your own hands and you restore again what you have given, transforming with incorruptibility and grace what is mortal and deformed in us. You redeemed us from the curse and from sin, having become both on our behalf. You have crushed the heads of the serpent who had seized man in his jaws because of the abyss of our disobedience. You have opened up for us a path to the resurrection, having broken down the gates of hell and reduced to impotence the one who had power over deaths. You have given to those who fear you a visible token, the sign of the holy cross, for the destruction of the Adversary and for the protection of our life.

God eternal, Upon whom I have cast myself from my mother’s womb, Whom my soul has loved with all its strength, To whom I have consecrated flesh and soul from my infancy up to this moment, Put down beside me a shining angel to lead me by the hand to the place of refreshment where is the water of repose near the lap of the holy fathers. You who have cut through the flame of the fiery sword and brought to paradise the man who was crucified with you, who entreated your pity, remember me also in your kingdom, for I too have been crucified with you, for I have nailed my flesh out of reverence for you and have feared your judgements. Let not eh dreadful abyss separate me from your chosen ones. Let not the Slanderer stand against me on my journey. Let no my sin be discovered before your eyes if I have been overcome in any way because of our nature’s weakness and have sinned in word or deed or thought. You who have on earth the power to forgive sins, forgive me, so that I may draw breath again and may be found before you in the stripping off of my body without strain or blemish in the beauty of my soul, but may my soul be received blameless and immaculate into your hands as an incense offering before your face.”

Flat Tires and Small Graces

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I’ve had a bit of time to think this one over, and I really do believe it was an answer to prayer. It started off when I was pumping gas into my Jeep. I just happened to look over and notice one of my tires was extremely low. I managed to put some air in it and drive it to a nearby tire store to see if there was some kind of leak or nail in the tire.

They told me I needed new tires. I was able to talk them into installing my full-size spare. But the only problem with that is that the spare had a lock that required a key that I didn’t have.

So I drove over to the Jeep dealership in Franklin. Not only were they able to remove the lug-nut with the lock from my spare tire, but they were able to patch my tire instead of having to replace it.

I’d like to be able to say all this was in answer to a prayer of faith, but I honestly can’t remember if I prayed about it or not. I believe that God through the Holy Spirit can sometimes answer prayers that we haven’t figured out how to ask yet. He can interpret the sighs and groans of our hearts that are too deep for words.

I think He knew that I wasn’t in a position to be able to afford four new tires at that particular moment. I also know that it wasn’t a case of me being super spiritual or extra faithful. It was simply a case of God’s grace, period.

Maybe He did it to increase my faith. Maybe He did it to remind me that He hasn’t forgotten me. Either way, I’m thankful for the grace I’ve seen in my life every single day, whether I recognize or acknowledge it or not.

I suspect I will be getting new tired some time sooner rather than later, but I also know that God will provide for my need when that time comes as He has provided for me in every case up until now. God is faithful, God is good, I am blessed.

Spending Christmas with Jesus This Year

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I know right now that Christmas isn’t always a joyous occasion, especially if you’ve recently lost a loved one. I found this poem from a lady who lost her 13-year old daughter to a seizure back in 1997. I hope it will bring joy and comfort to your heart this season:

“I see the countless Christmas trees,
Around the world below.
With tiny lights, like heaven’s stars,
Reflecting on the snow.

The sight is so spectacular,
Please wipe away that tear.
For I’m spending Christmas,
With Jesus Christ this year.

I hear the many Christmas songs,
That people hold so dear.
But the sounds of music can’t compare,
With the Christmas choir up here.

For I have no words to tell you,
The joy their voices bring.
For it is beyond description,
To hear the angels sing

I know how much you miss me,
Trust God and have no fear
For I’m spending Christmas
With Jesus Christ this year..

I can’t tell you of the splendor,
Or the peace here in this place.
Can you just imagine Christmas,
With our Savior, face to face?

I’ll ask Him to light your spirit,
As I tell Him of your love.
So then pray one for another,
As you lift your eyes above.

Please let your hearts be joyful,
And let your spirit sing.
For I’m Spending Christmas in Heaven,
And I’m walking with the King.”

Shadows and Light

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“Suppose a child gets separated from his mom in the grocery store. He panics and runs to the end of an aisle, not knowing where to go. But just before he starts to cry, he sees her shadow at the end of the aisle. He starts to feel hope. But what is better? The happiness of seeing the shadow, or having his mom step around the corner and seeing that it’s really her? That’s what Christmas is. Christmas is the replacement of shadows with the real thing” (Mercy Multiplied Facebook page).

I love that. Whenever I see a shadow, it can only mean that there’s light nearby. So much of the Old Testament is filled with the shadows of things to come. The sacrificial system pointed to an ultimate and final sacrifice. The Law pointed to a coming one who would fulfill all its righteous requirements. So many archetypes in the Old Testament are shadows of the Savior yet to come.

That’s what I love about reading through the Bible. All the stories in the Old Testament point forward to Emmanuel who is coming. So much of the New Testament points back to the birth, life, death, and resurrection of this Christ. In between are the Gospels that demonstrate that this is the Christ, the fulfillment of all the prophecies past and guaranteer of the prophecies yet to be fulfilled.

C. S. Lewis called this world the Shadowlands, where so much of the fleeting joy we find are shadows of the more real joy yet to come. That’s why so much of what we love doesn’t seem to last. Because the shadows fade when the true light has come. And one day, the Light of the World will return and the shadows will vanish and the real joy, hope, peace, and love will be revealed and never fade away.

3rd Sunday of Advent 2025

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“O Lord Jesus Christ,
who at your first coming sent your messenger
to prepare your way before you:
grant that the ministers and stewards of your mysteries
may likewise so prepare and make ready your way
by turning the hearts of the disobedient to the wisdom of the just,
that at your second coming to judge the world
we may be found an acceptable people in your sight;
for you are alive and reign with the Father
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.”

Today, I’m thankful for faithful ministers and stewards of God’s word who are proclaiming the true gospel of Jesus Christ. In the age where many no longer tolerate the truth but want their itching ears tickled, I’m grateful that my pastor still preaches about sin and hell and the need for forgiveness.

After all, the whole gospel start off with bad news first that we are all sinners who have turned away from God and the wages of those sins we have done is death and hell. But the good part comes next. God so loved the world, including and especially sinners, that He gave us Jesus, so that whoever believes in Him might not be eternally separated from God in hell but might have true eternal life.

My prayer is that everyone who name Jesus as Lord and Savior will be diligent to make their salvation sure and not assume that because they prayed a prayer a long time ago that they don’t need to worry about how much they love and obey God presently. If we’re truly saved and of God, then we should be different from the world. We should speak and act and think and live different from the world so that they can see our good works and glorify God in heaven.

So thanks to Aaron and Jay and Mike and Michael and all the others who continue to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ through a variety of media and methods. I know that one day you will hear the very words from Jesus Himself “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

Something’s Stirring

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I can’t believe Christmas is only 12 days away. I know I’ll blink a couple of times and it will be over. Unless you’re one of those people who believe in the 12 days of Christmas through January 6. The older I get, the more I’m inclined to the old-school way of seeing Christmas beyond December 25. It makes sense that people back in ye olden days would make it a two-week feast because one day is just not enough to celebrate the birth of Emmanuel, God with us.

But still, the older I get, the more I see how time flies by. Part of me misses being a kid and having to wait for what seemed like an eternity for December to creep by and Christmas to arrive. These days, I sneeze and 30 minutes have gone by.

The older I get, the more I appreciate the quiet moments of the season and the less Christmas is about stuff. I mean I still have full-on Obsessive Christmas Disorder and will continue to buy Christmas movies, music, shirts, and anything else festive. But I also love the gathering together of believers to celebrate the Advent season more and more (and especially the Christmas night of worship my church did recently).

Christmas means that the promises of God are always right on time and never late. Christmas means that God in Jesus has come into our world and is with us still, even when the nights seem darkest and hope seems most remote. It’s fitting that we celebrate the birth of Christ close to the winter equinox when the days are shortest and the night are the longest. After December 21, the days get longer again and after December 25, the light shines in the darkness and the darkness has never put it out.