“Let Your goodness Lord appear to us, that we
made in your image, conform ourselves to it.
In our own strength
we cannot imitate Your majesty, power, and wonder
nor is it fitting for us to try.
But Your mercy reaches from the heavens
through the clouds to the earth below.
You have come to us as a small child,
but you have brought us the greatest of all gifts,
the gift of eternal love
Caress us with Your tiny hands,
embrace us with Your tiny arms
and pierce our hearts with Your soft, sweet cries.”
St. Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153)

In case 2020 wasn’t surreal enough already, I woke this morning to the news that someone deliberately set off an explosion in downtown Nashville that devastated several buildings in and around 2nd Avenue and Church Street.

Thankfully, the police were able to evacuate just about everybody in the area before the bombs detonated. But who does something like that on Christmas Day? Seriously?

It was a sharp reminder that we live in a beautiful but broken world. Nothing here below is as it should be. Tornadoes, pandemics, social injustices, hate, indifference, poverty, neglect, and death are all the result of free will choosing poorly.

But Christmas is a reminder that hope is born again. That infant in the manger in every nativity set is still God breaking through into our world to set things right again. Even now, we see glimpses of how everything should be and one day will be.

As much as I love Christmas, I think I’m ready for this year to be over and for the new year to start. Every day that I live and get older, I’m more and more ready to see God’s kingdom come and His will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. I’m ready for Jesus to come back, not in the way of a helpless infant but as conquering King and Hero to all who have longed for His appearing.

Even so, come, Lord Jesus.

I’m a fan of traditions, especially around the Advent/Christmas season. I’ve always been a fan of traditions like the reading of the Christmas story out of Luke 2 every Christmas Eve or having egg nog at midnight every Christmas.

For me, I have a few:

1. I always like to visit the Opryland Hotel at some point in December to see all the halls decked out and all the festive decorations in full glory.
2. I make a point to watch White Christmas in all its technicolor glory on Christmas Eve.
3. Although it’s not every year, most years we have lasagna on Christmas Eve. That one goes back as far as I can remember to my days on Fox Meadows Road in Memphis, Tennessee.
4. I guess this counts, but the Christmas tree has a lot of “vintage” ornaments and tinsel and other decorations that go back to ye olden days– some even before my time, believe it or not. A lot of them are homemade and looking a little worn and weary, but they still have a place on the tree.

What are some of your favorite Christmas traditions? What do you look forward to most about this most wonderful time of the year? I’d love to see them here and possibly steal . . . I mean borrow one or two to have a new tradition of my own one day down the road.

Whatever the case, I wish you and yours a very merry Christmas and a blessed and happy new year!

Oh, c’mon. You know it’s funny.

I don’t even dislike the song. I do find it gets a bit repetitive after a while, but I like the overall message. I even like the 70s holiday special with the drummer boy and the cute little pet lamb.

At this point in the year with all the extra craziness on top of the usual holiday madness, I thought you might could use a respite from everything COVID. Hopefully, this made you smile– even if you groaned first.

Oh, and you’re welcome.

“Just like the promised Messiah didn’t come in the way most people expected, so God’s promises often come in ways other than what we expect. Just like Jesus didn’t look or sound like most people’s idea of a Messiah, so God’s answers often look and sound different from what we thought they should be. But God always has a higher and better purpose and mind and He alway, always, always gives His children the very best!”

I didn’t put quotes around that last paragraph because I like to quote myself, which would be as awkward as liking your own social media posts, but because I wanted to distinguish what I wrote 10 years ago from what is current.

God’s promises remain true. Even when they don’t look or sound or feel like we expect. Especially in a year where nothing went as expected.

For certain, God’s arrival didn’t look anything remotely close to what people expected.

They expected pomp and circumstance; instead, they got swaddling clothes and a manger.

They expected royalty; instead, they got poverty.

They expected a majestic King; instead, they got a helpless infant.

They expected heralds announcing the news to all the elite; instead, they got smelly shepherds telling whoever they could find that the Messiah had come.

They expected a conquering hero who was to deliver them from Rome; instead, they got a suffering servant who was a man of sorrows acquainted with grief who was to deliver them from sin and shame.

The good news in this season of thwarted expectations is that the promises of God are still yes and amen. They are still true. And this Emmanuel, God with us? He’s still with us — yesterday, today, and forever.

I’ve had a few alterations to my plans for 2020. To put it mildly. I think most of you have. I’m fairly certain that every single one of us in 2015 got the question wrong of “Where do you see yourself in five years?”

I think about Joseph from the Bible. The one engaged to Mary, not the one with all the jealous brothers. He had plans. He probably wanted to live a respectable and quiet life with his wife. He probably wanted to honor God and to leave a legacy behind for his children and their children to follow.g

Little did he know that God had other plans. To say that Joseph experienced a few alterations to his plans is also putting it mildly. Both Joseph and Mary saw their plans for the future wrecked and demolished into oblivion. Every dream they had for their own futures got destroyed.

But, you know what? God had something better. Way better.

What could be better than giving birth to the Messiah, the very God incarnate? What could possibly be better than raising the Savior of the world?

On a side note, it’s interesting that Joseph says yes to God’s plans based on nothing more than a dream and a promise he made to Mary. He didn’t get the angel. He didn’t get the proclamations and heralding. He got one dream and a reminder of the vows he had made to Mary.

What happened was that all those dreams of respectability got dashed to pieces. He would always be known as the father to a son that wasn’t biologically his. There would always be whispers about where that baby had come from.

Nothing that either Joseph or Mary could have ever dreamed of came close to the dreams God had for them. Nothing in their wildest imaginings could prepare them for the reality of God’s plan for their lives.

And so it is with us. God never takes away from us simply to take away. He always takes to give something better, something bigger, something bolder than we could ever ask or imagine or think or dream up.

One day, we will look back at it all and see that it could not have possibly worked out any better than it did. We will understand that the disappointments and dashed dreams were nothing compared to the glorious reality that unfolded before us.

One day, it will all be worth it. And if it’s from God, He will also make it worth it along the way.

I believe this originated with Ravi Zacharius Ministries:

“A lament is a prayer searching for understanding and peace in the midst of suffering or disheartening circumstances. The Old Testament psalmists and prophets wove many such prayers of lament into their writings. Below is a prayer of lament over the coronavirus pandemic. 

Hear our cry, Almighty God. Listen to our prayer. How long will we have to hide in our homes from this invisible enemy? Where will it strike next? And whom? And what if…? Our screens relay a continuous escalation of suffering and death around the world. Panic and anxiety abounds. Our souls are weary from the strain of the life-altering unknowns. 

Heavenly Father, from the depths of our pain and confusion, we cry out to You. From fear-filled hearts and anxious minds, we plead with You. Rescue us, Father of compassion and grace. We lift up our eyes to You, Lord God, the One who sits enthroned in heaven. 

On all who have contracted the virus

Lord have mercy 

On all who have lost loved ones to this sickness and are in mourning and anguish 

Lord have mercy 

On all who are unable to earn an income because their jobs have been suspended 

Lord have mercy 

We cry out for healing and needed resources

We cry out for comfort and peace

On all medical professionals and caretakers attending to those infected with the virus

Christ have mercy

On all scientists and technologists striving to find a vaccine and to make it available 

Christ have mercy 

On all leaders of institutions and governments as they make decisions to try and contain the virus

Christ have mercy

We pray for strength in the long and exhausting hours of labor 

We pray for wisdom in the research and difficult decisions

On all who have not yet contracted the virus

Lord have mercy

On the most vulnerable of our society who are unable to buy extra food or get proper medical attention

Lord have mercy 

On all disciples of Jesus Christ discerning how to reflect His love to others within this crisis

Lord have mercy 

We plead for protection of health

We plead for all to remain calm and kind

The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the expanse of the universe. And yet this earth is no longer as You created it to be. Holy Father, our earth groans from the devastation caused by the curse of the Fall. My God, Your Word is true. One day You will liberate creation from its bondage to decay and death. 

Life is sacred and precious in your sight. You are the God Who sees us and sustains us. Nothing can separate us from the Father’s unfailing love and kindness, not even sickness or the fear of tomorrow. You are our Light as we walk in this darkness. We will remember to celebrate the beautiful gifts You have given us in this present moment. 

Almighty God, You are our Rock, our Refuge from the enemy, our hiding place.

You calm our frantic thoughts and fill our despairing hearts with joy and strength. 

In Your Presence living water springs forth in the wilderness.

You restore our souls.”

“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)

That still amazes me. That God would choose the dark, foul rooms of my own heart to be born in blows my mind just as much as God coming to a poor teenage girl wedded to a poor carpenter who chose a stable for the delivery of their firstborn.

That is the ultimate gift of Christmas. Nothing under the tree compares to what’s in your and my hearts in the form of Emmanuel, God with us.

That is the ultimate offer. God wants to be born in you. Jesus wants to dwell in you and live through you and make you like Him.

He doesn’t require you to get your rooms in order, perfectly clean, to move in. All He needs is your availability. All He needs is your Yes to move in. Then He will change everything.

I watched A Charlie Brown Christmas again this year. It’s one of those that you have to watch every year around the Christmas season if you have any amount of yuletide spirit at all.

One thing I wanted to look for was the part where Linus recites the Christmas story for Charlie Brown. When he gets to the part where the angel says, “Fear not!” he drops his blanket.

That’s something I never noticed before. That blanket is Linus’ security. It’s what he carries around with him all the time everywhere he goes. He’s never without his trusty blanket. Until that one scene.

He picks it back up again, but lays it down for a second and final time around Charlie Brown’s Christmas tree, after the gang decorates it and makes it pretty.

To me, that says that I can lay down my own security blankets, those things that I look to for comfort when I get anxious or scared. The Prince of Peace has come in the form of a helpless baby crying in a feeding trough. He’s my security now.

In the year where nothing seems stable or secure, it’s good to know that this Prince of Peace is still around. He still offers His peace and rest for those who are weary and troubled who will but come to Him.

By the way, I got the idea for Linus and his blanket by something I read on a website called crosswalk.com. Here’s the original link:

https://www.crosswalk.com/special-coverage/christmas-and-advent/just-drop-the-blanket-the-moment-you-never-noticed-in-a-charlie-brown-christmas.html

“You are our eternal salvation,
The unfailing light of the world.
Light everlasting,
You are truly our redemption.
Grieving that the human race was perishing
through the tempter’s power,
without leaving the heights
You came to the depths in your loving kindness.
Readily taking our humanity by Your gracious will,
You saved all earthly creatures, long since lost,
Restoring joy to the world.
Redeem our souls and bodies, O Christ,
and so possess us as Your shining dwellings.
By Your first coming, make us righteous;
At your second coming, set us free:
So that, when the world is filled with light
and you judge all things,
We may be clad in spotless robes
and follow in Your steps, O King,
Into the heavenly hall.” (Unknown Author, 10th century)

That blows my mind that this was written nearly 1,000 years ago. It goes to show that truth is timeless and always relevant to whatever circumstances and cultures you’re in. The truth of Advent remains as true and trustworthy today as it was on that very first Christmas morn.

Lord, may we be found in You at this and every Christmas and know the true meaning of the season. May Christmas not just be one day a year but all the days of all the years in our hearts and minds and deeds.

I ran across this gem of a post from a friend of mine from Union University days. I think it speaks to where so many of us are these days in the joy mixed with sadness, in the now and not yet. I hope it will speak to you as it did to me when I first read it:

“Melancholy.

That’s the most accurate word I can muster to describe how this holiday season feels to me. Do you, too, recently find yourself experiencing the paradox of emotional numbness against the backdrop of Andy Williams singing ‘It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year’? Have you and/or your loved ones’ hardships left you lost in a pensive sadness, wandering around in your blasé thoughts?

Man, that sure is where I’ve been lately. Not just because of the recent losses I’ve experienced myself, but I can’t even tell you how many people I know right now who are hurting and experiencing life-altering difficulties. And on some level, the cheer usually associated with Christmas seems to emphasize the ‘blahs’ even more.

And yet, I find that it’s these times that test the mettle of my faith. I mean, if what I believe about God is only true when I’m ‘feeling it’ – then that’s a rather paper-thin orthodoxy, is it not?

So, I’ve decided to do something this season, and I wanted to encourage some of you to do it, too, if you feel so inclined:

Embrace the melancholy.

That’s right. Embrace it.

Before I unpack what I mean by that, let me be clear what I don’t mean. I’m not talking about wallowing in sadness, nor do I mean following it into a downward spiral of hopelessness and depression. If you are at that level, then by all means reach out and get help from a loved one or a professional counselor.

I’m speaking rather to those who feel like a train that has stopped too quickly. The weight of your circumstances and this dumpster fire of a year are gaining momentum and shifting forward. You’ve got an emotional migraine. Your feeler seems to be broken from feeling too much all at once.

I want you to know that God, in His sovereignty, gave us a wide range of emotions to experience, and He did it on purpose. He created them for us. Sadness isn’t a sin. It doesn’t make you ‘less than.’

While the apostle Paul said he had found a way to be content in every circumstance, he never said he was giddy all the time. Hardships are, well. . .hard – and God gave us the pressure valve of our emotions (some pleasant, others not as pleasant) so that our heads wouldn’t explode every time something extreme happens.

Perhaps our best cue for embracing the melancholy is found in the Psalms. As a musician, it’s always been my favorite book of the Bible. I often find myself strolling through the Psalms, especially when something seems off in my life. I’ve come to realize that David wrote some of his best stuff when things were personally falling apart for him.

Amazingly, the psalmist’s difficult circumstances often drove him towards God, not away from Him. So it stands to reason that God is in fact willing to sit with us in our sadness. Whether we ‘feel Him’ on our end or not, God is both gentle and relentless in being with us when we are hurting.So, do I crave hard times? No, of course not. They stink.

But after my nearly 50 years of living, I’m just now discovering that whatever path I’m on – God still wants to be near me and He’s strewn things along that path for me to pick up and carry with me for future reference.

So, friends, if you feel like I do this Christmas — let sadness and hope jostle in the balance. Be okay with the messiness of how that feels. Simultaneously embrace God and the feeling of melancholy. He’ll sit with you in the midst of it. Do what might feel counter-intuitive – go towards Him. There is something to be gleaned here in this strange place. After all, one of the miracles of ‘God with us’ is that it’s not circumstantial. He is still Emmanuel no matter where you are” (Carey Dyer).