grace

It’s Christmas Day and Emmanuel is Here

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On Christmas Day, we celebrate Emmanuel, God with us. God for us, God on our side, God over us, and (thanks to Jesus’ final and finished work) God in us. That means

The Light of the world has come into our darkness and all the darkness in the world could not comprehend or conquer this Light. The way to God has forever been illuminated.

The glory of God has come and, as one pastor put it, He is the only one strong enough to take all the pieces of our lives and hold them together. Only He can fill the God-shaped void inside us when no one and nothing else will.

Perfect Love has come and that love casts out all fear. Doubts vanish as we have beheld this one and only Son of God who pitched His tent among us.

This Jesus has come to give us a hope and a future, as Jeremiah promised, and give us each a new name . . . Beloved. We have more than a chance at something better, we have been adopted as sons and daughters and given an eternal inheritance that will never be taken away.

This God in mortal form has come for the sick and lonely and scarred and (best of all) broken. All those broken relationships and hearts and dreams and psyches find healing and wholeness as we find a stronger Love inside us that can pour out through us to those we love.

Death no longer has the final word. The Word, Jesus, has spoken victory forever over death and hell and the grave. He holds the keys to all of the above and His love is stronger than anything we will ever face.

When we could not get to God or bridge the gap that separated us from Him, He came to us and not only showed us the way Home, he became the Way. He has reconciled us to God by His own blood and turned us from enemies and outcasts and strangers into sons and daughters of the King over Everything.

Celebrate Emmanuel, God with us. The God who will be with us on December 26, and on every day after that, too!

Tonight’s Theology Lessons from George Bailey

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If you have a pulse and you’re over 30, chances are extremely good that  you’ve seen It’s A Wonderful Life at some point in your life. Even if you’re one of those Undead Americans like the Cullens family, you’ve probably seen it, too. I personally lost count of how many times I’ve seen this holiday classic around 20.

There are some remarkably good theology lessons to be gleaned from this film:

1) The world would NOT be better off without you in it. The world would not have been better if you had never been born. Lots of lives are connected with yours and what you do DOES make a difference. You may not see it, but what you do and say affects so many others.

2) Sometimes the biggest changes in the world come from those nickels and dimes. You may feel like you’re stuck in a tiny corner of the world with a very small area of influence, but if you’re influencing one person, you’re influencing the world. At the very least you’re influencing that person’s world.

3) You are NOT a failure if you have friends. Notice, I did not say failure means having loads of money or power or influence or fame. You can have all those things and still fail miserably, missing the whole point of it all. Just ask Jacob Marley about that one. If you have friends, you have something infinitely more valuable than any amount of treasure or possessions you could ever own.

4) Sometimes, it DOES take a supernatural event to get you to see how much you matter. You may not get a visit from Clarence, Angel Second Class, but you will get something far better. You have God’s written Word, that says God so loved the world (which includes YOU) that He gave His one-of-a-kind, never to be duplicated, Son. You have the Community of Faith, that says, “We need you and we can’t function without you. It’s like we’re missing a limb or an eye without you.” You have the voice of Your Abba Father, saying, “This one’s Mine, the one whom I created and redeemed. The one I died for. This is my beloved child, in whom I am well-pleased because I see Jesus in that person.”

This Christmas Season, celebrate the fact that the world IS better with you in it. You may be the only Jesus some will ever see, the only Bible some will ever read, and the only Faith some will ever see lived out. How well you represent Jesus will determine if someone else will choose to follow Him or not. And those little random acts of kindness that seem so insignificant to you at the moment will live long after you’re gone.

So, thank you, George Bailey. And in those immortal words, “Atta boy, Clarence!”

Word Now Breaking Heaven’s Silence

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“Bring your peace into our violence
Bid our hungry souls be filled
Word now breaking Heaven’s silence
Welcome to our world
Welcome to our world” (Chris Rice)

Maybe you’ve experienced silence recently. The kind of silence that is almost deafening and that pervades every part of you.

The silence of a friend who deserted and abandoned you and you’re still wondering why.

The silence of a parent who cut you off and doesn’t want anything more to do with you.

The silence of a prodigal son or daughter who, despite all your pleas and prayers, still won’t come home.

The silence of a spouse who decided you weren’t worth the effort anymore and left you.

The silence of a loved one who left you too soon and you had to say your final goobyes to a marble headstone.

The silence you feel in the middle of the night that keeps you awake with the fear that all that you are and have and do will never be enough and you will never be good enough for anyone, not even yourself. Much less God.

This Advent season, we celebrate the end of Heaven’s silence. For 400 years, God didn’t speak through prophets. For 400 years, the people waited and waited. Some lost hope. Some were barely holding on.

Then on a dark night in a remote village, a sound broke through the silence once and for all. It was the cry of an infant born to an infant virgin teenager in a backwoods village just south of Nowhere.

In that tiny cry, God was speaking to you, saying, “I’m here. I will be your God and you will be my people. I will never ever leave you or forsake you. I have set my affections on you and I will never take them away.”

It is the still small voice that speaks good things about you, that says that you are more than good enough– you are worth dying for. The voice that calls you Beloved. The voice of your Abba Father.

Remember this Christmas, we celebrate more than just a day. We celebrate the one event in history that changed absolutely everything. We celebrate the birth of hope that never dies, of joy that no one can take away, of peace nothing can shake, and of love that never lets you go or leaves you. We celebrate Jesus, the Word breaking Heaven’s silence.

Of All the Gifts You Get This Christmas . . . . .

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Out of all the many Christmas presents you receive this year, I pray that most of all you get Jesus. I pray you get as much of Jesus as you can possibly stand — and then some — until He’s running out your ears and eyes and pouring out of your conversations and eminating from your actions.

I pray you get His peace that can’t be understood, but only experienced. I pray this peace will guard your hearts and minds tonight so that fear and doubt can’t creep in.

I pray you get His love that is wider than your imagination, deeper than your experience, longer than your history, and wilder than any love you have ever known before. I pray this love fills you up and spills out on to every single person you meet.

I pray you get the Everlasting Arms underneath and above and all around you. I pray you know that there is never a moment where you are outside of the Father’s watchful providential care. Not one sparrow lands without Him knowing it, so you can rest assured He knows where you are, even when you don’t.

I pray you get the same joy you first had on the first Christmas you can remember. I pray for the joy that overwhelmed you in those first moments of your salvation. I pray that uncontainable, unexplainable, unlimited joy will be yours.

I pray you can love yourself as your Abba loves you and love others the same. I pray you love God most of all, with every cell you have in your body. Mostly, I pray you can receive the Love that won’t let you go and let that Love flow through you to those who need it most.

I pray you cherish each moment as the gift it really is and the people in your life. Never take anything or anyone for granted and may your life be one big THANK YOU back to Jesus for all He’s done for you, not only this Christmas, but every single day of your life.

Amen.

The O Antiphons (With Much Thanks to Wikipedia)

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99.9% of what you are about to read I got from Wikipedia or from other sources. You are reading the .1% that is mine right now. Just for the record.

The O Antiphons are used in the more liturgical denominations in their services in the week leading up to Christmas Day. They are as follows (and I copy and paste):

  • December 17: O Sapientia (O Wisdom)
  • December 18: O Adonai (O Lord)
  • December 19: O Radix Jesse (O Root of Jesse)
  • December 20: O Clavis David (O Key of David)
  • December 21: O Oriens (O Dayspring)
  • December 22: O Rex Gentium (O King of the nations)
  • December 23: O Emmanuel (O With Us is God)

Each is a name and attribute of Christ. The best part is that if you take the first letter of each and spell it out backwards, you get “Ero cras,” which means “Tomorrow, I will come.”

How fitting is it that on December 23, you get Emmanuel, God with us. For truly we celebrate the fact that in Jesus, God took on flesh and blood and moved into the neighborhood (to borrow from The Message this time).

It’s easy to get caught up in the periphery of Christmas and lose the meaning and focus and purpose of it all. Sometimes, you have to step outside your denominational comfort zone and find the truth in other religious traditions.

For me, being a born and raised Baptist, that meant looking to Catholicism and Anglicanism and other liturgical traditions to find Advent and the O Antiphons to remember that Christmas isn’t just a one day event, but a season of waiting and anticipation that culminated in the arrival of God in infant form.

Don’t get so caught up in the glitzy packaging and fancy wrappings that you forget the gift itself. As I saw on a church sign recently, the first gift of Christmas wasn’t from the wise men. Mary wrapped the first gift herself in strips of rags and laid Him in a feeding trough.

Emmanuel. God with us, on ourside, and for us. Forever. Amen.

 

 

An Advent Plea: The Final Day

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“Oh, come, Desire of nations, bind
In one the hearts of all mankind;
Oh, bid our sad divisions cease,
And be yourself our King of Peace.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to you, O Israel!”

For us who see a broken world filled with broken homes and broken families, come to us, Emmanuel.

For us who see wars and rumors of more wars and neverending strife and conflict in every corner of the globe, come to us, Emmanuel.

For us who can’t seem to quiet the inner chaose and noise inside and are drowning in a sea of voices telling us who and what we are, come to us, Emmanuel.

For us who have lost nearly all hope and are hanging on to our faith by a very slim thread, come to us, Emmanuel.

Come in the midst of the conflicts among nations and bring peace on earth, good will to men. Come in the midst of broken homes and bring wholeness and healing and restoration. Come in the midst of inner chaos and bring Your calm to the midst of our raging storms within.

For us who know that we don’t work right and never will until You come with healing wings, come to us Emmanuel.

“Bring Your peace into our violence Bid our hungry souls be filled

Word now breaking Heaven’s silence Welcome to our world, Welcome to our World”

(Chris Rice).

An Advent Plea Day 5

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“Oh, come, O Key of David, come,
And open wide our heav’nly home;
Make safe the way that leads on high,
And close the path to misery.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to you, O Israel!”

For us who often lose our way in a world that is pulling us in every direction except the one You call us to walk in, come to us, Emmanuel.

For us who are so easily distracted by any and every little thing and so often forget You and Your promise to guide and keep us safe, come to us, Emmanuel.

For us who are so prone to giving up and sitting on the side of the road in self-pity and despair, come to us, Emmanuel.

For us who need one more reminder of Your goodness, one more sign of Your faithfulness, and one more rememberance of Your saving deeds of the past, come to us, Emmanuel.

Come to us who are weary and heavy-laden and be our Rest. Come to us who grow weary and faint and renew us to rise up as eagles. Come to us who lose the way and lose our true selves amid the cacophony of voices telling us who we should be and what we should do and where we should go and be our Way Home.

Be our Wisdom, our Courage, our Purpose, our Direction, our Promise, our Strength, our Joy, and our Salvation Song.

Come, Lord Jesus, come.

An Advent Plea Day 4

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“Oh, come O Rod of Jesse’s stem,
From ev’ry foe deliver them
That trust your mighty pow’r to save;
Bring them in vict’ry through the grave.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to you, O Israel!”

For us who have listened to our fears and doubts yet again when we should have listened to You, come to us, Emmanuel.

For us who trusted in friends and family who are just as frail and human and we are when we should have trusted in You and You alone, come to us, Emmanuel.

For us who have felt abandoned and alone in our greatest hour of need, come to us, Emmanuel.

For us who failed to see You in the person who spoke encouragement to us or gave us a helping hand or comfort, come to us, Emmauel.

For us who fear too much the grave and do not fear the One who overcame the grave (for a reverent fear of You is the beginning of wisdom), come to us, Emmanuel.

For us who too easily forget that You have already won the victory and overcome any foe we will ever face and that Your victory is our victory, come to us, Emmanuel.

Come to our fears and transform them into faith by your perfect love. Come to our doubts and transform them into wonder and awe by Your steadfast love and faithfulness. Come to our needs and be the God who is enough.

Come, Lord Jesus, come.

An Advent Plea Day 3

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“Oh, come, oh, come, our Lord of might,
Who to your tribes on Sinai’s height
In ancient times gave holy law,
In cloud and majesty and awe.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to you, O Israel!”

For us who are weak and frail, come to us, Emmanuel, in Your power and might.

For us who keep making promises that we fail to keep and vows that we never fulfill, come to us, Emmanuel, who fulfilled both Your end and our end of the Law.

For us who struggle through bad days where everything goes wrong and nothing goes as planned, where it is all we can do to survive through the next moment, come to us, Emmanuel.

For us who have come to realize that we will never change or break old habits or start new godly ones without Your indwelling Life lived inside us, come to us, Emmanuel.

For us who have a path littered with little golden calves and homemade idols of power, success, fame, popularity and all the other gods we’ve tried to replace you with, come to us, Emmanuel.

We who stumble in the dark need Your Light. We who are drowning in a sea of voices all around us that confuse us and cause us to lose our own identity need to hear Your still small voice that can silence all the other voices and remind us of our true selves, who we are in You. Only You can bid the chaotic waves in our hearts and minds be still and bring peace to our inner world.

Come, Lord Jesus, come to us.

An Advent Plea Day 2

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“Oh, come, our Wisdom from on high,
Who ordered all things mightily;
To us the path of knowledge show,
and teach us in her ways to go.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to you, O Israel!”

For us who have lost our way again and again and need once more to be taught the way in which we should walk, come to us, Emmanuel.

For us who feel crowded and bombarded by all the voices telling us a myriad of different things, telling us who they think we are and who they think we should be, come to us, Emmanuel.

For us who lack wisdom and understanding, who often feel more like victims than victors, come to us, Emmanuel.

For us who just need to hear once more the Voice that says good things about us and calls us Beloved and can drown out all the other voices with a whisper, come to us, Emmanuel.

Come be our Wisdom. Come be our Strength. Come be our Confidence and Security. Come show us the way to go and guide us in it, for You Yourself are the way. Come reveal truth to us, for You Yourself are the truth. Come and make our lives full and abundant and overflowing, for You Yourself are the life. Our life.

Come, Jesus, Come.