Brennan Manning

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.

The Cross, the Manger, and the Tomb

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“How proper it is that Christians should look toward the future…for the manger is situated on Golgotha and the Cross has already been raised in Bethlehem” (attributed to Dag Hammarskjold).

I heard a sermon once where the pastor drew a parallel between the stone manger that Mary and Joseph laid Jesus in as a baby and the stone tomb that Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea laid Jesus’ body in after He was crucified. Note: the manger was more likely made of stone because the animals would have destroyed a wooden feeding trough.

When we see a sweet little Jesus baby in the manger of our nativity, we can forget that the purpose of Him being born into this world was to die for our sins. Simeon even prophesied to Mary that a sword would pierce her heart, pointing to the moment she would witness her own Son on the cross.

Really, Christmas and Easter aren’t two different events. They are the beginning and ending of one event. God planned before the foundation of the world that Jesus would die for us in our place. Before sin even existed, a remedy was already in place. Jesus slain from the foundation of the world is how the Bible puts it.

It’s just as important to remind people (including ourselves) of our need for the gospel just as much on Christmas as on Easter. While it might seem more appropriate to preach an evangelistic sermon after we celebrate the empty tomb, it works just as well when we bow before the manger with the child born to be a sacrifice.

I hope this Christmas we don’t just celebrate part of the story of the incarnation. While it’s more pleasant to focus only on Jesus as a tiny infant during this Advent season, we must remember that that infant became the man who perfectly obeyed God’s law at every point and fulfilled God’s righteous requirements in our place. He then took the punishment for our sin that we deserved and died in our place. That’s the whole Christmas story just as much as it is the whole Easter story.

Thank You, Jesus, that you were born to die so that we who have died in our sin might be born again and have eternal and abundant life forever. Amen.

The Glorious Impossible

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“He by whom all time was made became Man in time; that He, in His eternity more ancient than the world, became inferior in age to many of His servants in the world; that He who made man became Man; that He was formed in the Mother whom He Himself formed, carried in the hands which He made, nourished at the breasts which He filled; that, in the manger in mute infancy, He the Word without whom all human eloquence is mute wailed?” (St Augustine of Hippo).

Somewhere out there on the interwebs is a much longer version of this homily. It goes into greater detail about how the creator of man became a man and He who formed life was born and died so that we could be made alive.

This begins to touch on what God did for us. He showed us through His incarnation that truly nothing is impossible to the one who believes. Christmas is proof that no darkness is too dark for light to overcome.

Philippians 2 says it best:

“In other words, adopt the mind-set of Jesus the Anointed. Live with His attitude in your hearts. Remember:

Though He was in the form of God,
    He chose not to cling to equality with God;
But He poured Himself out to fill a vessel brand new;
    a servant in form
    and a man indeed.
The very likeness of humanity,
He humbled Himself,
    obedient to death—
    a merciless death on the cross!
So God raised Him up to the highest place
    and gave Him the name above all.
So when His name is called,
    every knee will bow,
    in heaven, on earth, and below.
And every tongue will confess
    ‘Jesus, the Anointed One, is Lord,’
    to the glory of God our Father!” (Philippians 2:5-11, The Voice).

Christmas Night of Worship

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It’s been a while since I attended a night of worship, but I think tonight qualifies as my first ever Christmas Night of Worship. There’s something powerful about declaring the might and majesty of God out loud with a multitude of other believers, especially in the season where we celebrate the arrival of Emmanuel who forever altered and changed the course of history.

There was a good mix of old and new with songs that were overtly Christmas-themed and songs that weren’t but felt very appropriate in the context of Christmas worship. It was the first but I believe not the last as I hope that this will be the new tradition at The Church at Avenue South going forward.

This is why gathering as believers is so vital. It’s one thing to praise God by yourself, but something almost miraculous happens when we stir each other in worship and community. Hearing all the other voices emboldened me to want to sing louder and more passionately.

I’m so thankful for such an amazing staff and worship ministry at my church. Not only to come up with the idea but to pull it off in the midst of a crazy and hectic December schedule blows my Baptist mind. I feel so blessed to call Ave South my church home.

I hope and pray that you belong to a community that doesn’t shy away from singing Scriptural worship music. I hope that you will be intentional this season about singing as loud as you can, whether you consider yourself a good singer or not. After all, the Bible tells us to make a joyful noise.

Being able to sing on key and in tempo is not a requirement to make a joyful noise. You don’t need a music degree or even any musical knowledge at all. All it takes is a heart full of gratitude and a reckless boldness to open your mouth and let your praises pour forth. The sweet aroma to God isn’t from the perfect pitch or the beautiful melodies but from hearts so captivated by grace that they can’t help but sing.