Brennan Manning

My Christmas Miracle

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“Hey Soul? Slow down and breathe. Let the goodness and mercy that follows you every. single. day. of. your. life. — no. matter. what. — why not slow down and see how the goodness catches up to you? Let’s remember this gentle hope today:

“I don’t have to work
for the coming of the Lord –
I don’t have to work for Christmas.
The miracle is always that
God is gracious.
I always get my Christmas miracle.
I get God with me.
That’s really all I have to get for Christmas –
my heart.
So I will just come to Him just as I am.
God gives Himself as the greatest Gift this Christmas,
and He doesn’t keep any truly good thing from me.
Because the greatest things aren’t things!
Jesus is all good, and He is all mine,
and this is always my miracle –
my greatest Gift!”
*God longs to be with you today* —

~ excerpt from #TheGreatestGift -> bit.ly/GreatestGiftforyou
#Day20www.TheGreatestChristmas.com” (Ann Voskamp, The Greatest Gift).

I’m thankful that even while the world is rushing about during this season, I can be still and know that God is God. I can be still and know that when we couldn’t get to God, God in Jesus has come to us in the form of a baby. I can rest in the fact that the shadow of the cross that looms over the manger because the work that started in Bethlehem wouldn’t stop until Golgotha.

I can rest.

Spinning the Christmas Classics

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I think music has always been an essential part of my life for as long as I can remember. Some of my first memories involve hearing my grandmother sing or listening to the old Elvis records.

It made sense when I got a turntable for Christmas two years ago that I’d start stockpiling a collection of Christmas records, especially the classic recordings from the likes of Bing Crosby, Nat King Cole, and Ella Fitzgerald.

It’s not like I wasn’t listening to Christmas music before 2022. I had (and still have) my massive collection of Christmas CDs that will one day all be compiled into a massive playlist somewhere. But dropping the needle on a record is like turning back the calendar to 1979 when I could hardly contain my excitement for Santa and presents.

Christmas music was actually my introduction to a lot of great music from the 40s and 50s. Pretty much all the standard versions of the holiday classics are from that era. To risk sounding like an old fart, to me the music from that era was from real singers and real musicians who didn’t need autotune or pitch correction or and kind of computer software to make indelible musical memories.

I don’t even mind having to get up every 20 minutes or so to flip the records over. The physical act makes the nostalgia so much more potent. And all those great songs are basically the soundtrack for all my Decembers for as far back as I can remember. Wrapping presents and decorating the tree isn’t quite the same without a little White Christmas from Bing or a Blue Christmas from Elvis.

And of course all those carols remind me of the real reason for the season, especially O Little Town of Bethlehem and Silent Night. There’s a reason why we still sing lyrics penned centuries ago. There’s a reason why people are still recording those hymns from the 1800s. The message is still as true and powerful now as it was 2,000 years ago on the first Christmas night.

So I guess I’ll keep playing the records and adding to my collection for as long as there are Christmases to celebrate. Christ the Lord is born today. Hallelujah!

The Difference

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Lord, many of us are not where we thought we’d be at this point. Some of us are without jobs. Some are grieving the death of a loved one. Some are barely hanging on and doing their best to put one foot in front of the other.

We don’t know what the next hour will bring, much next the next day or month or year. We don’t know what to do next, but our eyes are on You. Our response is similar to Mary’s — “How will this be?” (Luke 1:43a, ESV) We have no clue how You will act, but we’re praying and believing in faith that You will.

We believe, only help our unbelief. Help us to go from “Lord, I don’t know how I’m going to do this” to “Lord, I can’t wait to see how you do this” with the emphasis not on our circumstances or even on ourselves but on You.

We can truly say with Job that you give and you take away, but blessed be Your name. We only know that You alone are enough, no matter what happens tomorrow or the next day. You will always be enough.

Thank you in advance for however You choose to meet our needs. Though we can’t see or hear You or make sense of what You’re doing — and even if You slay us — still we will choose to trust in You, now and forever. Amen.

Christmas with the King

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I ran across a Christmas poem that resonated with me deeply. This year, I have known people who have lost loved ones. I was blessed to be a part of a crew of deacons that went caroling Sunday at the homes of a couple of our widows.

This poem speaks to the Christmas experience of those who are no longer here with us. I think they’re probably having their best Christmas season ever. And the good news is that for them it never ends.

“Martha Bennett sent us this encouraging poem in a Christmas Card. Thanks Martha, Thanks for your encouragement.

I’m spending Christmas with Jesus this Year

I see the countless Christmas trees
Around the world below
With tiny lights like heavens stars
Reflecting on the snow

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

I hear the many Christmas songs,
That people hold so dear.
But the sound 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 an angel sing.

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?

Please let your hearts be joyful,
And let your spirit sing.
For I am spending Christmas in heaven,
And walking with the King!”

As Billy Graham said that when you hear he had died, it was not true. He had simply changed his address. That’s true for all those we love who aren’t here this year. They’ve simply changed their address, and their faith has been made sight.

The Story Behind the Song

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I always love reading about classic hymns and carols and the stories of their inspiration and origins. Hymns like It Is Well with My Soul come out of tragedy and heartbreak, but the message they bring has lived on long after the writers have gone to glory.

The carol I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day has a similar story that I found recently. I’ve copied and pasted it and included the link to the original post:

“On Christmas Day in 1863, the American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow listened to the bells from a nearby church, overwhelmed by loss.

Two years earlier, his wife had burned to death in a fire, and he had also been badly burned trying to save her. At times, his grief was so great that he feared that he would be sent to an asylum.

His son had also been wounded in the Civil War and was temporarily paralyzed. As he listened to the church bells, Longfellow wrote a poem that reflected his grief:

‘In despair,’ he wrote, ‘I bowed my head. There is no peace on earth, I said.’

But he ended the poem, which was later put to music, on a note of triumph.

‘Then rang the bells more loud and deep
God is not dead, nor doth He sleep
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail
With peace on Earth, good will to men’

This Christmas Day will be 161 years….and the song still brings the same sense of settledness and confident hope to millions across the globe!

Do you hear the bells!! Open up your heart and hear them this Christmas!!”

An Advent Prayer Repeat

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Lord Jesus, Master of both the light and the darkness,

send your Holy Spirit upon our preparations for Christmas.

We who have so much to do seek quiet spaces to hear your voice each day.

We who are anxious over many things look forward to your coming among us.

We who are blessed in so many ways long for the complete joy of your kingdom.

We whose hearts are heavy seek the joy of your presence.

We are your people, walking in darkness, yet seeking the light.

To you we say,

“Come Lord Jesus!” (Henri Nouwen)

I’m sure I posted this previously at some point, but I needed to read it again. We all need reminding that ultimately it’s not about all the gifts or decorations. It’s not about getting the house just right for the holidays when friends and family come over.

It’s about preparing our hearts to receive the Christ-child. It’s remembering that Jesus didn’t wait until our homes were spotless and our lives were together before He came. He didn’t make sure that we had cleaned up from all our addictions and struggles before He entered the world on that night.

He came to us to love us as we are but to show us how He can transform us to be just like Him, just like He called people when they were prostitutes and tax collectors and reprobates but when He was finished with them they were disciples.

Even now, Christ comes to those who are weakest, who are the least put together, whose need is greatest. He comes not for those who help themselves but for those who know beyond all doubt that they can’t. He comes for the unfaithful, the unworthy, and the undeserving. He comes for you and me.

Joy Is Coming

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“Joys are always on their way to us. They are always travelling to us through the darkness of the night. There is never a night when they are not coming” (Amy Carmichael).

That’s the whole point of Advent, I think. It’s to remind us that there was a time before Christ, a world before God broke through into history and humanity and became a baby. There was a time of waiting and anticipation of the prophecies that foretold of a coming joy that would be for all the people.

That’s what Advent is all about. We wait with joy. On this side of the manger, we wait for the second coming when Jesus arrives not in a cradle but as a king, not as a lamb to be slain but as a lion to conquer.

Even in the darkest night, joy is still on the way. Even when hope seems lost and God seems furthest away, joy is getting closer and closer. In the midst of despair and death, joy is practically knocking on the door.

In this hurry up culture, we’ve relegated Christmas to one day out of the calendar year, but in ye olden days they made it into a 12 day celebration where people opened their gifts slowly, one per day, and savored the meaning of the incarnation and Emmanuel, God with us. I wish we could get back to that pace.

But even if all the decorations come down on December 26 or January 1, we can still hold on to the joy that Christmas brings. The hope doesn’t go away with the new year, but gets bigger and stronger and better as time passes. Just as the child born in the manger doesn’t live in our hearts only one day of the year but all the days of the year (from my favorite adaptation of A Christmas Carol).

Let’s not lose sight of joy in the midst of buying and wrapping and baking and decorating. The reason is that joy is almost here. God is with us. Jesus is coming soon.

Dropping the Needle

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There’s really nothing like dropping the needle on a record to bring back instant memories of Christmas childhood days for me, especially when it’s something the family listened to back in the ye olden days referred to as the late 1900s.

It’s the physical act of positioning the record arm in just the right spot and letting it fall that does so much more than simply pressing play on a CD or cassette player. And don’t get me wrong. I still have CDs (but not really any cassettes).

For me, there are essentials when it comes to the Christmas experience. Seeing Behold the Lamb of God at the Ryman has to be one. Also, experiencing the lights at Opryland Hotel, as well as walking through the decorations at Cheekwood.

But I have my own list of movies and music that is essential to any proper Advent/Christmas season. Movies like It’s a Wonderful Life or White Christmas are always required viewing. Musically speaking, it’s not Christmas without Nat King Cole, A Charlie Brown Christmas soundtrack, or Bing Crosby. There are more, but it would take too long to list everything.

I understand that you can just go to Spotify or Apple Music for a playlist, but it’s not the same. It doesn’t give me the nostalgia the way playing a record and then having to flip it over to get to the second side does.

As always, I welcome your favorite Christmas movies or albums, so please comment and list your essentials. And thanks again for being faithful readers of these posts. That means the world to me.

Nothing Shall Be Impossible

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“And, behold, thy cousin Elisabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren. For with God nothing shall be impossible” (Luke 1:36-37, KJV).

I went to check out the Ice! exhibit and to see the lights at the Opryland Hotel. It hit me in all the right feels as it does every year. I always love seeing the grand old hotel decked up in festive lights and decorations.

On my bucket list is to stay a night in that hotel, preferably in a room overlooking the Delta atrium and ideally around Christmas time. After that, I think I could just about die and go to heaven. But maybe not right away.

But anyway, back to the story. There’s a nativity setup outside the front of the hotel that I always visit. There’s a narrator over a loudspeaker reading from the Christmas story in Luke 1-2. Probably because of public domain, it’s in the ye old King James. Plus, I’m sure everybody over a certain age remembers Linus reciting the passage in A Charlie Brown Christmas.

This year, the line that hit me was about how Mary’s cousin Elizabeth was in her sixth month. She had previously been unable to conceive or bear children, and back in those days it was shameful to not have children.

So I love where it says that she who was previously known by her shame was now known by being the miraculous mother of a boy who would be the forerunner of the Messiah. I mean how cool is that?

Somehow, the ol’ KJV rendering hit me more forcefully this time: nothing shall be impossible with God. Any promise He’s ever made is as good as done. Any dream He’s put in your heart or desire He’s planted in you will come to pass because there’s no such thing as impossible to God.

I always love what I heard a pastor say once that what seems impossible to us isn’t even remotely difficult for God. You might say He specializes in making the impossible possible.

So I snapped my usual 1,000 photos, ate my pizza from Paisano’s, got in my 10,000 steps, and a good time was had by all. Even the weather cooperated.

And I was reminded yet again of the faithfulness of God. How many more times will it take, Lord, before I finally get it? Maybe just one more.