That’s just it. That’s the real reason and hope for the season we’re in.
That’s the hope of all the days of the year that the Christ born in a manger may yet be born in us and save us from us.
Emmanuel. God with us. He has not left us and He never will.
“While he was trying to figure a way out, he had a dream. God’s angel spoke in the dream: ‘Joseph, son of David, don’t hesitate to get married. Mary’s pregnancy is Spirit-conceived. God’s Holy Spirit has made her pregnant. She will bring a son to birth, and when she does, you, Joseph, will name him Jesus—‘God saves’—because he will save his people from their sins.’ This would bring the prophet’s embryonic sermon to full term: Watch for this—a virgin will get pregnant and bear a son; They will name him Immanuel (Hebrew for ‘God is with us’)” (Matthew 1:20-21 MSG).
Not everybody gets to be in the spotlight. Not everybody wants to be.
Some of us will be thrust into the spotlight where our faith will shine brightly, as Mary’s did through her faithful obedience to God’s command– though at times it must have seemed overwhelming and impossible.
Some of us will play the part of Joseph, who was just as faithful and obedient in the shadows and behind the scenes. His part was no less important though he has fewer verses dedicated to his story.
No matter how great or small your part seems in the story of God, your faithfulness and obedience matter. You may feel unimportant- and sometimes ignored– but you never know who is watching you to see if this God of yours is real or not.
You may never know the far-reaching impact caused by the ripples of casting your small stone into that great ocean. And it may not be you but the child you raise or the spouse you support who makes the greatest impact. Even then your own steps of faith still count.
At the end of the day, it’s God who sees your good deeds and rewards your long-suffering faith. That’s the audience that really matters.
“But the baby in her womb
He was the maker of the moon
He was the Author of the faith
That could make the mountains move” (Labor of Love, Andrew Peterson).
Christmas is the season when we celebrate the Glorious Impossible, remembering that for God, truly nothing is impossible.
This holds true not just in December but 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year (even on that weird day that comes around every four years).
That faith that can make the mountain move can move that mountain inside of you if needs be, whatever that mountain might be.
That’s all. The end.
“Jesus continued from there toward Jerusalem and came to another village. Martha, a resident of that village, welcomed Jesus into her home. Her sister, Mary, went and sat at Jesus’ feet, listening to Him teach. Meanwhile Martha was anxious about all the hospitality arrangements.
Martha (interrupting Jesus): Lord, why don’t You care that my sister is leaving me to do all the work by myself? Tell her to get over here and help me.
Jesus: Oh Martha, Martha, you are so anxious and concerned about a million details, but really, only one thing matters. Mary has chosen that one thing, and I won’t take it away from her” (Luke 10:38-42, The Voice).
This Advent season may find you stretched too thin. You might feel like you’re being pulled in a hundred different directions toward a hundred different destinations, each one seemingly as important as the rest.
I believe the word from God for this season is this: the best place to be is at the feet of Jesus. Only one thing matters as we approach Christmas– creating margins and spaces in your life and heart to be able to hear the voice of your Good Shepherd.
Only one thing matters– seeing the Christ in Christmas an adoring the infant King, wrapped snugly and laying in a manger. As the worship song says, everything else can wait. Some of those to-do list tasks can even be left undone.
If you achieve all your holiday goals and purchase every last present and miss Jesus, you’ve missed Advent.
The best witness you can give this Advent season is to say no to the excess spending and the tyranny of the urgent while being still before the presence of God, wherever you are and whatever you’re doing.
You don’t have to be idle to be still. You can go about your daily life with a sense of urgent expectancy and waiting with hope. You can adore the Christ by your Christlike attitude in the midst of all the hustle and bustle, by your kindness and patience toward others, remembering that the one thing that matters most is not in your wallet or in your shopping bags or in your day planner but rather in the middle of your Nativity scene, laying in that manger.
“Can you forgive a pig-headed old fool with no eyes to see with and no ears to hear with all these years?” (Ebenezer Scrooge, A Christmas Carol).
I love this line from the 1951 Alastair Sims adaptation of A Christmas Carol. I very much doubt it’s from the Charles Dicken’s novel, but I think it echoes the sentiment of his original work.
It also echoes the sentiment that many of us have felt when we discover wisdom in our later years.
I’ve found lately that wisdom is found in appreciating what you have and not taking the people in your life for granted. At this time of year, it’s easy to look back at people — especially relatives– who are no longer living– and see how many missed opportunities you had to spend time with them.
Wisdom is knowing that while you may have learned a lot over your lifetime, there is still so much yet to discover and experience, so much out there that you don’t know, that your knowledge compared to the total sum of knowledge and wisdom is a drop in the ocean.
For me this year, wisdom has been learning to slow down and savor the Advent season and not be in such a hurry to get to Christmas. It’s been seeing the holiday as more than just what’s underneath all the shiny wrapping papered boxes under the tree.
Advent and Christmas celebrate that God saw that we could never hope to comprehend Him where He was, so He came to where we were and became one of us so that we might truly know Wisdom Incarnate.God became a man so that man could know God and see that He is infinitely loving and trustworthy.
So far, so good. I’ve made a small dent in my required holiday movie watching. I’m also learning to wait well in this Advent season. So it’s all good.
“Come, long-expected Jesus. Excite in me a wonder at the wisdom and power of Your Father and ours. Receive my prayer as part of my service of the Lord who enlists me in God’s own work for justice.
Come, long-expected Jesus. Excite in me a hunger for peace: peace in the world, peace in my home, peace in myself.
Come, long-expected Jesus. Excite in me a joy responsive to the Father’s joy. I seek His will so I can serve with gladness, singing and love.
Come, long-expected Jesus. Excite in me the joy and love and peace it is right to bring to the manger of my Lord. Raise in me, too, sober reverence for the God who acted there, hearty gratitude for the life begun there, and spirited resolution to serve the Father and Son.
I pray in the name of Jesus Christ, whose advent I hail. Amen” (A Catholic Advent Prayer).
At this time of year, I’m always on the lookout for prayers and quotations that reflect the true heart of the Advent season. I found one just now.
The incarnation of Immanuel means so much more than my world getting put right. It’s about the entire world getting put right. It’s about God inviting me to be a part of the revolution that started not from a throne room and a king or a battlefield and a general but from a manger and an infant.
The question this advent: how can we show tangible love to those around us with whom we live and work and play? How can we be the visible body of Christ to those who have never seen or heard this gospel (or who have seen and heard a very distorted version of it)?
I’m praying that this Advent is about more than just me and my own serenity and fulfillment. I want it to be about more than buying and receiving presents. I want to see change in the world and I want it to start in me.
I overheard someone say that this time of year can be the most difficult and depressing time for a lot of people.
The holidays, Christmas and New Year’s, are over and the real world has started back up in earnest.
Maybe you’re one of those feeling blue. Maybe you feel like everyone else has gone back to their lives and forgotten about you. Or maybe you feel like no one has ever noticed you.
Maybe you’re fretting about where you are in life and wondering if you’ll always be stuck there.
You spend a lot of time, maybe too much time, thinking about yourself and your problems.
The solution? Is it to get over yourself?
I think not.
I think the solution is to get out of yourself. Go and serve others who are in a worse position than you.
I volunteer at Room in the Inn, a ministry that gives homeless men a place to sleep and a warm meal on bitterly cold nights.
I don’t say that because I’m so sanctimonious and holy. I say it because I’ve often been the one who needed an adjustment in my perspective.
Here are men who have way less than me, who are dealing with struggles and issues that I’ve never even dreamed of, yet many of whom have a way better outlook on life than I do (most of the time).
Often in serving, you seek to bless only to find yourself the one being blessed. You seek to minister and find that you are the one being ministered to instead.
Those who complain and who are bitter are usually the ones who aren’t serving. The ones who are serving find they have little time to spare for griping and cynicism. They also find that you can never outgive God or bless more than you are blessed, and that has a way of changing your outlook.
Also, sometimes depression can be more than just being discouraged. Sometimes, it’s a chemical imbalance issue. Never be ashamed to get help. Never be ashamed to confess what you’re going through to trusted friends.
Remember that God is with you in this to the very end. And beyond.
I had a Godwink moment today. For those who don’t know what that means, it’s a seemingly random moment when something really neat or good happens that you didn’t ask for or expect. It’s kinda like when you go to get one bag of Funyons out of the vending machine and you get two instead.
Tonight, I had one of those.
I went with my family to Old Chicago to eat, thanks to a very generous Christmas gift from a relative in the form of a $200 Visa Giftcard expressly for the purpose of the whole family being able to go out and eat together.
That was awesome, but that wasn’t the Godwink.
I had a very good Margherita pizza with an Ale crust that made me thankful that God inspired someone to invent pizzas. But that was also not the Godwink.
I had a friend from Union University that I hadn’t seen in 20 years approach me after recognizing me. That was the Godwink.
A Godwink moment for me has been seeing people that I really like that I haven’t seen in a while. It could be receiving a very generous gift from friends in time of need. It could be simply the overwhelming joy that comes from no discernible source other than God being present in the moment.
You can’t really plan a Godwink moment. You can’t wish for them or expect them. You can only recognize them when they happen and be grateful for them, because you can never be sure when or where they will happen.
Another smaller Godwink moment was me finding the I Am Second bracelet that I thought was forever lost. It turns out it was just hiding in plain sight in the bottom of my closet.
The truth of the matter is that God remains good and faithful whether I feel blessed or not, whether I feel Him at all or not. As a great line from a Christmas movie goes, seeing isn’t believing. Believing is seeing. And true faith is about looking with a different set of eyes at your circumstances and seeing God in everything, working all things together for good. It’s about looking for and finding thanksgiving and joy in every moment in life, both the good and bad moments.
So, thanks God for that Godwink moment to remind me that everything will indeed be fine in the end, and if it’s not fine, it’s not yet the end.
“You are Father
of the fatherless
Friend
to the outcast
Restorer
of the broken
Liberator
of the captive
Rescuer
of the fallen
Lover
of creation.
You are the One
Whose Name we praise
Whose truth we proclaim
Whose life we live
You are our God
and we thank You.
Spirit of life
breathe on us
Spirit of truth
speak to us
Spirit of hope
inspire us
Spirit of power
work through us
today and all days.
Amen” (John Birch).
Here’s what I did on my Boxing Day.
I think that wraps up this Boxing Day rather nicely. Note: there was no actual boxing (or watching of boxing) involved, so you can rest easy.
“Let the just rejoice,for their justifier is born.
Let the sick and infirm rejoice,
For their saviour is born.
Let the captives rejoice,
For their Redeemer is born.
Let slaves rejoice,
for their Master is born.
Let free men rejoice,
For their Liberator is born.
Let All Christians rejoice,
For Jesus Christ is born” (St. Augustine of Hippo (AD 354-440).
I think this sums it up nicely, don’t you?
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