Emmanuel

In Place of Joy

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“For many, Christmas is no longer the day to celebrate the mystery of the birth of God among us, the God hidden in the wounds of humanity. It is no longer the day of the child, awaited with prayer and repentance, contemplated with watchful attentiveness, and remembered in liturgical solemnity, joyful song, and peaceful family meals. Instead, Christmas has become a time when companies send elaborate gifts to their clients to thank them for their business, when post offices work overtime to process an overload of greeting cards, when immense amounts of money are spent on food and drink, and socializing becomes a full-time activity. There are trees, decorated streets, sweet tunes in the supermarkets, and children saying to their parents: ‘I want this and I want that.’ The shallow happiness of busy people often fills the place meant to experience the deep, lasting joy of Emmanuel, God-with-us” (Henri Nouwen).

It seems strange for me to be posting a Christmas blog on January 7, the day after the Epiphany. But if you think about it, it makes sense. At least to me it does.

When you focus on all the wrong parts of Christmas, like the buying and getting, the wrapping and decorating, the parties and the food, then at some point it has to end. But when Christmas becomes the arrival of Emmanuel, then it never ends because Emmanuel has not left us nor will He ever.

I love all the other stuff. But it gets weird if the Christmas tree is still up and decorated in July. But I think the idea of treating others with kindness or giving to the less fortunate or being Jesus with skin on never gets old. That can be 24/7/365.

Above all, the greatest gift of Christmas is one that we can give to anybody anytime we share the hope of salvation in Jesus with anyone who hasn’t heard it before or who needs to hear it again for the 300th time. That’s the only part that we get to take with us to heaven — those who will go with us because we were faithful to share the good news.

On the Fourth Day of Christmas

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I have to say I’m really digging the concept of 12 days of Christmas. It’s helping me to get through all my Christmas records and movies. Plus, I love still seeing all the Christmas decorations that haven’t been taken down and stored away for 2026.

My hot take of the day is that I prefer colored lights over white. I’ll never judge anyone else for white lights on a Christmas tree, but colored lights make me feel nostalgic and childlike, especially when they’re the big old-fashion outside lights.

I’m still having my mind blown over something I read in one of my Advent books. Basically, God orchestrated the census of the Roman world, putting it into the mind of Caesar Augustus for the sole purpose of moving two people 70 miles from Nazareth to Bethlehem. God also put a special celestial event in the sky to draw some foreigners to bring gifts to and worship the child Jesus.

All this to say that God will sometimes move heaven and earth for His children to accomplish His purposes for them. The saying goes that when you say impossible, you’re really saying “I’m possible.” Better yet, you can say, with God all things are possible.

This is a word to those who are waiting on God for a desire or a promise that they have not yet received. I’m speaking in faith to you tonight not to give up but to hold on to every single one of God’s promises to you that are Yes and Amen in Christ Jesus. Don’t let despair overtake you when you’re closer than you know to the hopes and desires of your heart.

Above all, remember that God is near. God is still Emmanuel and still with us. He had not left us and He never will. That’s also a promise you can count on.

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.

Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays?

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What’s really worse? Someone saying “Happy holidays” or someone who doesn’t follow Jesus saying “Merry Christmas” out of obligation and not really because they mean it or understand it? Maybe worst of all is those who claim Jesus as Lord speaking “Merry Christmas” but denying the spirit of it with lives that reflect greed, rudeness, impatience, consumerism, and anger. The best witness for Christ isn’t spoken; it’s lived out as Christ becomes incarnate in our hearts and lives.

That’s something I wrote a long time ago, but it seems to still fit. People still get bent out of shape when retail employees don’t say Merry Christmas. I think at one point I was one of those, but time has a way of softening those rough edges and growing older has given me a different perspective.

Most likely, those retail workers are exhausted. They’re usually overworked and underpaid. They’re wondering about how they’re going to pay all the bills and still provide a Christmas for their kids. The whole “Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays” debate is probably the last thing on their minds.

So what is the most Christlike thing to do? Yell at them when they don’t use the correct terminology? Or maybe be kind to them? Maybe be a little more patient with them when they’re struggling because the place they’re working is understaffed?

If Jesus offered people a light burden and an easy yoke, maybe we would do better to not lay Pharisaical burdens on people. If Jesus said come to me all who are weary, who are we to drive people off because they don’t speak the magic words of Merry Christmas?

Dwight Moody (I think) once said that Christians are the only Bible most people will ever read. If that’s so, let’s make sure the message we’re sending is the message not of God far off and unattainable but God coming near to the lowly and crushed in spirit in the form of a baby in a manger who was born for all people.

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.

What Rocking Chair is This?

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I had a bit of a surreal, random moment earlier today. I was at one of my favorite places in Nashville, the Rabbit Room. I was sitting in a rocking chair on the wraparound porch, basking in the blazing sun on a wintry day.

Suddenly, I heard a sound as if it were coming from a distance. It took me a while to place the melody — Greensleeves, or as it is more commonly known, What Child is This. Whatever it was sounded like either a trumpet playing low or a trombone playing high. I sat there and let the words fill my mind as the music played:

“What Child is this who, laid to rest
On Mary’s lap is sleeping?
Whom angels greet with anthems sweet
While the good shepherds watch are keeping?

This, this is Christ the King
Whom shepherds guard and angels sing
Haste, haste, to bring Him laud
The Babe, the Son of Mary

So bring Him incense, gold and myrrh
Come peasant, king to own Him
The King of kings salvation brings
Let loving hearts enthrone Him

This, this is Christ the King
Whom shepherds guard and angels sing
Haste, haste, to bring Him laud
The Babe, the Son of Mary

Raise, oh raise, the song on high
His mother sings her lullaby
Joy, oh joy, for Christ is born
The Babe, the Son of Mary

What Child is this
What Child is this (what Child is this)

This, this is Christ the King
Whom shepherds guard and angels sing
Haste, haste, to bring Him laud
The Babe, the Son of Mary” (William Chatterton Dix).

Advent needs to be a time of reflection rather than a time of rushing around. I get that people are busy, but if there’s no margin for marveling at the mystery of the incarnation, then we’re too busy. We’ve let too many unimportant things get in the way of the main thing.

So let us come and adore the Christ child this Advent season in the midst of all the buying and wrapping and decorating and baking. Let us remember He’s why we’re celebrating.

Nothing Else Will Do

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I’m excited. My church is weeks away from moving to a permanent campus where everything will be brand new and shiny. I’m reminded of the metaphor Jesus used about believers being a city on a hill, because this new location is literally sitting on a hill over looking the intersection.

I’m super hyped, but I’m also smart enough to know that the honeymoon won’t last. More accurately, I’ve hopefully learned by now through lots of times where I got excited only to see the enthusiasm fade and normalcy fade in.

I can remember all those Christmas gifts that I was thrilled to get. I remember how I felt, but looking back, I can’t remember the specific gifts any more. They lost their luster and faded from my memory. Some of them even ended up in garage sales a few years later.

That’s how it goes with anything I set my heart on this side of eternity. Anything less than God won’t fill that God-shaped yearning in me. Or as C. S. Lewis put it, anything that isn’t eternal is eternally out of date and obsolete.

I look forward to our move-in date in late May. I hope I will always be grateful for this gracious gift on God’s part. But I know that at some point, it will be just a building. More than likely, it will require maintenance and updating and repairs. And at some point, it will be no more.

But what it represents and what our church is all about (and every true Bible-believing church is all about) won’t ever fade or get stolen or moth-eaten or rust. The hope of God-with-us revealed in Jesus will only get better and more wonderful and more glorious over time, past time, and into eternity.

Hesed

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A very astute Bible teacher recently opened my eyes to the biblical word hesed. Basically, he said that there’s really no English word that truly captures all the essense of this Hebrew word.

It’s often translated as lovingkindness or stedfast love and is used in reference to God’s faithful love to His people in regard to His promises and His covenant toward them.

This teacher defined hesed in a way that made it come alive for me: “When the person from whom I have a right to expect nothing gives me everything” (Michael Card, Luke: The Gospel of Amazement).

That’s it.

I have no right to expect anything from God. Actually, if anything, I can expect what the wages of my sin have earned– death and hell.

Yet God has given me everything. His everything. Not only did God in Jesus save me from the wages of those sins, He has given me everything for life and godliness.

The best part of the promise is Emmanuel, God with us. That means God with you and God with me. Even in the valley of the deepest darkest shadow of death, God has promised that He will be with us.

“Certainly Your faithful protection and loving provision will pursue me
    where I go, always, everywhere.
I will always be with the Eternal,
    in Your house forever” (Psalm 23:6, The Voice).

This is Still the Time God Chooses

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“For this is still the time God chooses.”

It still amazes me the way God broke into the world, not as a powerful ruler but as a helpless infant born to a peasant couple in backwoods Bethlehem.

It still amazes me how the first evangelists weren’t the highly trained religious scholars who had spent their entire lives searching the Scriptures but some smelly illiterate shepherds guarding their flocks on some remote hill out in the middle of nowhere.

It still amazes me that the place God chose to lay His head that first night wasn’t on some soft downy pillow but among the straw in a feeding trough.

It still amazes me that God chose to come on the darkest night at the bleakest moment in history and become Emmanuel, God with us.

It amazes me even more that God looked into the darkness of my own heart and said, “For this one, I’m willing to be born in order to die on a rugged cross.”

I’m most amazed that I’m not more astonished at this marvelous event. Most of the time, I take it for granted and presume on God’s mercies like I’m entitled to them, when in reality I’m the least deserving of but most overwhelmed by the grace of God.

Christmas reminds me of what a pastor once said about how heaven isn’t a reward for the righteous but a gift for the guilty. Emmanuel didn’t come for those who are confident in their own abilities and righteousness but for those who know how desperately they need a Savior. He came to seek and save those who know they are lost.

“When the time was right, the Anointed One died for all of us who were far from God, powerless, and weak. Now it is rare to find someone willing to die for an upright person, although it’s possible that someone may give up his life for one who is truly good. But think about this: while we were wasting our lives in sin, God revealed His powerful love to us in a tangible display—the Anointed One died for us” (Romans 5:6-8, The Voice).

The True Meaning of Christmas 

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“O God, you have caused this holy night to shine with the
brightness of the true Light: Grant that we, who have known
the mystery of that Light on earth, may also enjoy him
perfectly in heaven; where with you and the Holy Spirit he
lives and reigns, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen” (from The Book of Common Prayer).

It seem like the old adage is true. The older you get, the faster time goes. As a kid, I thought Christmas would never arrive. Now, I feel like if I blink, I might miss it.

This year, I’ve barely had time to revel in the season of Advent and Christmas, and tomorrow is Christmas Day. If only I had a remote control for life with a big pause button to slow everything down for a bit just so I could savor all of the sights and sounds and scents.

But the true meaning of Christmas is for more than just December 25. Its still good after all those ornaments have been taken down and the tree put away for another year. It goes beyond December and into the new year and follows all the days of every year.

God has come near. As my pastor says often, Christianity isn’t that we can get to god but that God in Jesus has come to us. He didn’t wait until you and I got our acts cleaned up and made ourselves ready to receive the Incarnate. He came when we were in the middle of our biggest messes. He came when we needed a Savior the most.

Even after the shine wears off of those gifts, the best gift will still be that Emmanuel is still here. He has not left us and He never will. The hope of Christmas is the hope that will sustain us always.