incarnation

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.

We Cannot Wait

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The Bible says that in the fullness of time, or when the time was ripe, God sent Jesus into the world. From a purely human perspective, it would have made more sense to wait until the world was more advanced technologically. God could have waited until we had the ability to communicate instantly to any point on the globe, but He didn’t.

The moment God chose was the moment God chose. In a divine wisdom that is higher than our understanding, God chose that precise moment in history to take on flesh and blood and dwell with us. That was the point that has defined how we measure time, B.C. for Before Christ, and A.D. for Anno Domini or in the year of our Lord (after Christ).

I found this lovely poem by Madeleine L’Engle about God choosing the perfect time to be born into our world:

“He did not wait till the world was ready, 
till men and nations were at peace. 
He came when the Heavens were unsteady, 
and prisoners cried out for release. 

He did not wait for the perfect time. 
He came when the need was deep and great. 
He dined with sinners in all their grime, 
turned water into wine. 

He did not wait till hearts were pure. 
In joy he came to a tarnished world of sin and doubt. 
To a world like ours, of anguished shame 
he came, and his Light would not go out. 

He came to a world which did not mesh, 
to heal its tangles, shield its scorn. 
In the mystery of the Word made Flesh 
the Maker of the stars was born. 

We cannot wait till the world is sane 
to raise our songs with joyful voice, 
for to share our grief, to touch our pain, 
He came with Love: Rejoice! Rejoice!”

The Glorious Impossible

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“He by whom all time was made became Man in time; that He, in His eternity more ancient than the world, became inferior in age to many of His servants in the world; that He who made man became Man; that He was formed in the Mother whom He Himself formed, carried in the hands which He made, nourished at the breasts which He filled; that, in the manger in mute infancy, He the Word without whom all human eloquence is mute wailed?” (St Augustine of Hippo).

Somewhere out there on the interwebs is a much longer version of this homily. It goes into greater detail about how the creator of man became a man and He who formed life was born and died so that we could be made alive.

This begins to touch on what God did for us. He showed us through His incarnation that truly nothing is impossible to the one who believes. Christmas is proof that no darkness is too dark for light to overcome.

Philippians 2 says it best:

“In other words, adopt the mind-set of Jesus the Anointed. Live with His attitude in your hearts. Remember:

Though He was in the form of God,
    He chose not to cling to equality with God;
But He poured Himself out to fill a vessel brand new;
    a servant in form
    and a man indeed.
The very likeness of humanity,
He humbled Himself,
    obedient to death—
    a merciless death on the cross!
So God raised Him up to the highest place
    and gave Him the name above all.
So when His name is called,
    every knee will bow,
    in heaven, on earth, and below.
And every tongue will confess
    ‘Jesus, the Anointed One, is Lord,’
    to the glory of God our Father!” (Philippians 2:5-11, The Voice).

Finding the Blessing

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Tonight as usual, I served at Room in the Inn at Brentwood Baptist Church. We hosted 24 homeless men, all of whom were thankful to be out of the cold and the rain on the first Monday night in December.

Later, as we were getting ready to start our Bible study, I overheard one of the men say that he had spent the better part of last week attempting to sleep in a port-a-potty. That broke my heart. It also made me realize how blessed I am to have a bed and a roof, two things that I have been known to take for granted.

The old adage goes that the man with worn out shoes might not feel blessed, but to the man with no shoes, he is. And the man with no shoes is blessed in comparison to the man with no feet.

Obviously, the point is not comparison. I’m no better than anyone else because I sleep in a bed. I suppose that the takeaway is that all of us are blessed. It’s only when we stop the competition and the entitlement mentality that we realize what we have that so many others don’t.

Above all, I recall how the King of heaven gave it all up to be born to two peasants in a backwater Bethlehem village. I remember how this Son of God lowered Himself to being a slave so that we who have been enslaved to sin might be set free. I see Him on the cross willingly giving up His own life that I might live and have that life abundant.

Then who am I to complain? Who am I to think that my life would only be better if I had more possessions or money or power or fame? Is not what I have enough? Didn’t God give to me and all believers eternal life and everything needed for godliness?

That man who slept in the port-a-potty could have been bitter. But he chose to see himself as blessed because of God’s love for him. I think we’d all do well to remember how blessed we are at every moment we draw in a breath because of God’s grace.

1st Sunday in Advent

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“Almighty God, give us grace to cast away the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light, now in the time of this mortal life in which your Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the living and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.”

I sometimes forget that Advent is not a season only for looking back to the incarnation but also looking forward to the second coming. The first time, Jesus came meek and lowly as an infant. The second time, He will come as a conquering King. No one will miss His arrival this time.

The older I get and the more I see of this crazy world, the more ready I am for Jesus to come back. Lord, we have lost our minds down here. It’s getting nuttier by the minute. I find myself uttering the phrase “make it make sense” so often these days.

But one day it will all make sense. One day it will all be made right. One day, I will finally be able to ask all the questions I’ve been saving up. Only they won’t matter anymore. All the questions I ever had will die on my lips when I see the King of glory coming with the clouds. I won’t need to ask any more questions because I will be looking at the Answer to all of them.

But in the meantime, we wait. We wait with expectant hope. Not a wishful thinking, pie in the sky kind of hope, but a confident, sure thing kind of hope. It’s so certain that we can speak of it as if it’s already happened. Like the Kingdom of God being now and not yet.

I’m thankful that while I didn’t grow up celebrating Advent, I’ve discovered it and grown to love it later in life. All the waiting and counting down makes Christmas so much more meaningful. Plus, I get those extra 12 days to make it last even longer (although technically, the 12 days aren’t really a part of Advent).

Lord, give us grace to wait well this Advent season, knowing that our waiting is never in vain and our hope in You is never wasted. Amen.

Christmas Ain’t Over

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For years, I’d always get a little sad around this time, knowing that Christmas Day was drawing to a close and with it Christmas for another year. I’d always have a bit of a letdown, although New Year’s Eve helped a bit.

This year, I’m celebrating for as long as I can. I refuse to let go of Christmas even after all the decorations are taken down and put back into boxes destined for the attic until next November. Even when all the stores go back to business as usual and all the radio stations revert back to their regular rotation of music, I still hold on to Christmas.

I’m siding with the ancients who took 12 whole days to encapture fully all that Jesus our Emmanuel born on this day means. If you want to truly understand this concept, read the book Winter Fire: Christmas with G. K. Chesterton. It will change your thinking about Christmas for sure.

The 12 days of Christmas last from December 25 until January 6, the Epiphany which celebrates the circumcision of Jesus, the visit of the Wise Men, and the wedding at Cana, according to my internet sources. So that means that there are 11 more days to party.

But for me, Christmas isn’t a date on a calendar but a state of mind. I want to carry that mindset with me beyond January 6 into the new year and all the way up until it’s socially acceptable to celebrate Christmas again in 2025.

I will take down my tree and put away my decorations, but I won’t stop the spirit of Christmas. I might even listen to Christmas records and watch Christmas movies past January. The audacity! And as always, I will definitely be on the lookout for After Christmas Day Bargains for decorations for next Christmas.

But as one man said, Jesus doesn’t just live in our hearts one day out of the year but all the days of the year, and all the years of all our lives. So why should Christmas stop on December 25 or even January 6?

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.

The Mother of the Mother of God

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This is a borrowed post that speaks not about Mary, the mother of Jesus but about Mary’s mother. We know absolutely nothing about her other than she obviously existed — no name, no lineage, no story, no angel visit, no nothing. But yet her faithfulness led to Mary’s faithfulness, which led to the Incarnation.

It’s a post from December 20, so we’re not quite to the time of year to be talking about the nativity just yet. At least for most people. I think this is something that works all year round. What follows is amazing:

“This time of year, we talk about Mary a lot.
But what about Mary’s mother?
Someone had to raise Mary to find favor with God.
Someone had to raise Mary to treasure purity.
Someone had to raise Mary to honor Joseph.
Someone had to raise Mary to know the voice of the Lord, even though they were living in the silent years.

Mary’s mother, we don’t know her name.
We don’t know what her life looked like.
We don’t know who she was married to, or what he was like.
All we know is, she raised the mother of Christ.
She raised a daughter, highly favored of the Lord.
She raised a daughter to fear the Lord, when the Lord was silent.
This is what we know.

Mary’s mother didn’t have an encounter with Angel, telling her to raise Mary carefully because of how the Lord was going to use her.

Mary’s mother chose to raise Mary wisely so that the Lord could use her.

Mary’s mother didn’t have an encounter with Angel, telling her to honor her husband, because Mary would need to honor Joseph when he told her to travel to Bethlehem while she was great with child, when he told her to flee Herod’s wrath (before it came to pass) in the middle of the night, Mary’s mother just honored her husband, obeyed, and submitted to him because she knew that’s what she was called to do.

Mary’s mother didn’t have an encounter with an angel, giving her a word to cling to in those dark, silent years. But she clung to the word of God that she had. She trusted his word, even during his silence.

And her home shone with divine favor, because she made choices in the dark, that affected the whole world.

Mary did you know?

She knew some, she knew what the Angel told her.

But Mary’s mother?
She had no idea.
But she chose to raise a daughter that the Lord could use.
And that choice still affects us all today.
Who you raise can affect eternity.
The example you set in marriage, can affect eternity.
Your home can make the gates of Hell tremble.
But it starts with you” (Sarah Trent).

The Incarnation Is Everything

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“… without the incarnation, Christianity isn’t even a very good story, and most sadly, it means nothing. ‘Be nice to one another’ is not a message that can give my life meaning, assure me of love beyond brokenness, and break open the dark doors of death with the key of hope. The incarnation is an essential part of Jesus-shaped spirituality” (Michael Spencer).

These days, lots of people seem hell-bent on reinventing Christianity to be more socially acceptable. In the process, you end up losing everything that makes Christianity transformative and life-changing. Instead of being counter-cultural, this new version of faith ends up looking and sounding exactly like the culture it’s trying to influence. It ends up almost polar opposite to what Christianity and the Church looked like in the New Testament, particularly in the book of Acts.

Christianity is Christ. Christ is 100% man and 100% God. As a writer of old once said, Jesus is God spelling Himself out in a language humanity could understand. But when you take away the divinity and the incarnation, what you end up with is someone who meant well and tried very hard, not the Savior of the world.

This Advent season is all about how since we couldn’t get to God through religion or rules or right living, God came to us. God came near in the form of an infant born to a virgin teenager and a peasant carpenter. Jesus is the only one who lived the righteous live God requires that we couldn’t live and died the death that we deserved, taking the punishment our sins have earned upon Himself.

May the incarnation be the true reason for the season this Advent and Christmas season. The incarnation isn’t expendable. It’s essential. It’s everything.

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.