ONE AUDACIOUS CLAIM

In Advent the Church of Jesus revisits the story of God in human history.  We begin at the end of history and work our way back to the incarnational activity of God in Jewish history, all the way up into the life of God’s Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth, and into the birth of the Church in the manifested gift of the Holy Spirit, the Advocate, Counselor, and Helper of whom Jesus spoke so highly.

The Church doesn’t celebrate Christmas except that it marks the birthday of the King.  Christmas is a one day event, a birthday.  The Church, however, journeys through a season comprised of the four Sundays, and the days around them, leading up to Christmas.  The Eastern Church journeys all the way up to January 6, Epiphany , making room in the Advent story for the presence of the Wisemen who followed a star from the East to Bethlehem.

The journey to Christmas, however, isn’t even the story.  The story is the audacious claim that God has come into history, and is present in the most profound mission of redemption imaginable.  God comes into His very own creation and lives as one of us. Why? Why in the world would God do this?  “For God so loved the world” (John 3:16). This is the only explanation.

Our Advent journey to Christmas and Epiphany, is saturated in the love of God for His creation, all of His creation.  God loves you and me.  God loves us so much that He came to us in Jesus to live out just how much He loves us.  One of His first followers wrote, “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God … This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us” (I John. 3:1, 16).

As we journey forward in Jesus, learning to embrace the fact that “God’s will is … good, pleasing and perfect” (Romans 12:2), my prayer is that each one of us would be overwhelmed by the Father’s love for us.    As the old song says, written long before word processors and the easy availability of writing tools,

Could we with ink the ocean fill

And were the skies of parchment made

Were every stalk on earth a quill

And every man a scribe by trade

To write the love of God above

Would drain the ocean dry

Nor could the scroll contain the whole

Though stretched from sky to sky

            - Frederick M. Lehman 1917

Let’s go out and make God look good.

WHEN LEFT TO OURSELVES WE ARE AN ENDANGERED SPECIES

I don’t know who said it but someone said about us human beings, “When left to ourselves we are an endangered species.”History and current events around the world prove this.  

Human beings don’t know how to share the planet with others.  Ideologies, worldviews, self-preservation seem to be the all consuming passion.  Everywhere we look we see anger, hatred, resentment, name-calling, character assassination (if not outright murder), and countless stories of man’s inhumanity to man.  As Pogo said, “We have met the enemy and he is us” (Walt Kelly, 1970).

There is good news, however.  Into the mess comes the wonders of God.  Instead of writing off humanity as a lost cause, God comes to us as Savior.  He comes not to condemn us but to save us (John 3:17).  He comes to change the human heart so that people “may have life and have it to the full” (John 10:10).  He comes not to shake His Sovereign finger in our face but to die for us on a skull-shaped hill called Golgotha, just outside Jerusalem.

In a world filled with divisions and complications of a thousand kinds, there is One who in His very life is the peace the world so much needs.  Whether or not the world is ready for Him, is another issue.  That the world need peace is beyond debate.  How to get there?  The debate goes on and on and on.  May I personalize Pete Seeger’s words (1955) and ask, “When will we ever learn?  When will we ever learn?”  

So the words comes - When left to ourselves we are an endangered species.  Is this too negative, too pessimistic, too defeatist, too fatalistic, too cynical?  Maybe.  Maybe not.  "Where have all the graveyards gone ... Covered with flowers every one …  When will we ever learn?”

When will we ever learn?

REFLECTIONS ON NOVEMBER 5, 2024 BY ONE FOLLOWER OF JESUS

Attention all political parties, worldviews, theological understandings, races, creeds, and colors, Jesus is still Lord in every way, shape, and form.  Rest assured whether or not your candidate won or lost yesterday, at every level along the way, all the way up to the White House, Jesus is not shocked, stunned, bewildered, confused, angry, or in despair today.  He is not wringing His hands at the right hand side of the Father, fretting over the results of November 5.  The republicans are not lord.  The democrats are not lord.  The independents are not Lord.  The House of Representatives is not Lord.  The Senate is not Lord.  

Half of the country is mourning and the other half is celebrating and, apparently, never the twain shall meet.  What to do?  What to do?  Here is a suggestion: If you are a Republican, climb up on the cross alongside Jesus, and die.  If you are a Democrat, climb up on the cross alongside Jesus, and die.  If the one you voted for won, climb up on the cross alongside Jesus, and die.  If the one you voted for lost, climb up on the cross alongside Jesus, and die.  

Then, get back in the saddle and be the Church of Jesus.  Feed the hungry. Give a drink of water to the thirsty. Take in the stranger.  Clothe those in need of clothing. Look after the sick.  Visit the prisoner.  Invite your neighbor to Jesus.  Embrace the hurting.  Strive for justice for the disenfranchised.  Find a need in your neighborhood, and do what you can do to meet that need.  Help the jobless find jobs.  Be a giver of grace and mercy.  Forgive where needed.  

Jesus is Lord, world. He loves you so very much, and you can’t get out of it.  The purpose and will of God are not set back because of an election.  The crucified and now risen Lord reigns, today as He did yesterday and the day before and the day before.  

On a day when many people are happy and many people are sad, “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Romans 15:13)

WHEN YOU FINALLY SEE THEM

 In Harper Lee's novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus Finch is speaking to his young daughter, Scout, about some crucial issues facing her in life and says to her, "You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view--until you climb into his skin and walk around in it” (Part 1 chapter three, p. 33). This crucial piece of moral advice by her father takes root in her heart and it governs her development for the rest of the novel.

I resist making an attempt at pontification here because Atticus' statement stands alone and doesn't need either clarification or defense.  I only say his counsel is truthful and if taken to heart could be the means of much interpersonal and relational healing, not to mention spiritual healing that would eliminate a judgementalism that has historically served and perpetuated indescribable and despicable acts of man's inhumanity to man.  

Drawing near someone so closely that you feel their heartbeat, smell their sweat, look into their eyes, and experience what they are experiencing is a closeness that not everyone seeks.  Staying at a distance can keep things simple, dishonest, but simple.  Getting too close can cut too deeply because it might just lead to caring, and caring can be too painful.

Boo Radley had his issues and no one cared much.  No one got close to him.  They just judged him, marginalized him, and put up with him, from a distance.  It’s a lengthy story but through a long and painful and bloody and evil journey of misunderstandings and false accusations Scout Finch came to know Boo.  In fact, a few others did, too.  So when Scout said to her father, “When they finally saw him, why he hadn’t done any of those things . . . Atticus, he was real nice…" her father responded, “Most people are, Scout, when you finally see them.” Then Harper Lee says, "He turned out the light and went into Jem’s room. He would be there all night, and he would be there when Jem waked up in the morning."

"When you finally see them.”  Therein lies the rub.  Seeing takes time and effort and silence and involvement and participation.  It can be costly, time consuming, and demanding.  

Seeing demands patience, faithfulness, and even gentleness. It involves self-forgetfulness, the laying aside of one's own agenda, and the taking up of another's conversation, hopes and dreams, brokenness, wounded-ness, and story.  Seeing is up close and personal, the very stuff of which relationships are born and thrive. 

"You never really understand a person until 

you consider things from his point of view — 

until you climb into his skin and walk around in it”

YOUR GOODNESS IS RUNNING AFTER ME

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

If I were a singer (and I am not) this song would be my musical testimony.  I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and everyday, I celebrate His life, death, and resurrection.  I am an old man now and as I look back over my life I bear witness to the truth of the following words.  

Oh Your mercy never fails me
All my days
I’ve been held in Your hands
From the moment that I wake up
Until I lay my head
I will sing of the goodness of God

All my life You have been faithful
All my life You have been so, so good
With every breath that I am able
I will sing of the goodness of God

You have led me through the fire
In darkest nights
You are close like no other
I’ve known You as a father
I’ve known You as a friend
I have lived in the goodness of God

Your goodness is running after, 

it’s running after me
Your goodness is running after, 

it’s running after me
With my life laid down, 

I’m surrendered now, 

I give You everything
Your goodness is running after,

 it’s running after me

“Goodness of God”

© 2018 Bethel Music Publishing, Released in 2019

Written by Ed Cash, Ben Fielding, Brian Johnson, Jenn Johnson, Jason Ingram

THE MASK

 Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Years ago I discovered a poem that haunted me then and haunts me now.  I think it  speaks more meaningfully to our age than we want to admit.  What do you think?  I’m not sure who wrote it.  Everywhere it is attributed to “unknown author.”  It is called, “The Mask.”

Always a mask

Held in the slim hand, whitely,

Always she had a mask before her face –

Smiling and sprightly,

The mask.

Truly the wrist

Holding it lightly

Fitted the task;

Sometimes however

Was there a shiver,

Fingertip quiver.

Ever so slightly, -

Holding the mask?

For years and years I wondered

But dared not ask

And then -

I blundered,

I looked behind the mask,

To find - - Nothing.

She had no face.

She had become

Merely a hand

Holding the mask

With grace.

Haunting, isn’t it?  

Masks.  How easy it is to wear a mask.   How easy it is to hide behind our masks.  How easy it is to lose our identity as the mask becomes us. Maybe we should lose the masks and take our chances with the real thing.

DOES GOD REALLY CARE?

In a fallen world tragedies happen; good things happen to the good and the bad, and bad things happen to the good and the bad.  This leads some people to conclude that God cannot possibly be love.  A loving God, they say, could never let tragedies happen to anybody.

Jesus disagrees.  To drive His point home He died on the cruel cross of Calvary in a redemptive act that ultimately and finally will restore all creation to its original and intended purpose.  In the mean time God loves so much that He lets His very creation, created in His image, wander away from grace because that's really what they wanted to do.  He let them go but He never gave up on them and, in the fullness of time, Jesus was birthed into the human situation to do for us what so desperately needed to happen.

     

The truth is that we are all sinners in desperate need of facing the truth about our broken lives (Luke 13:5).  The issue is not why do bad things happen.  The issue is how far God will go to restore a hurting world to Himself.  We must never forget that God is aware of all that happens and that His grace brings His very life into all it means for us to live in a very dangerous world.   

Once upon a time God showed up in a bush that was not consumed and promised Moses that He had heard the cries of His people and that He was going to act on their behalf (Exodus 3:4, 7-8).  And, act He did.  He delivered them, called them to Himself, and began a journey with them that took Him to a hill just outside the city of Jerusalem where Jesus “emptied Himself of all but love and bled for Adam’s helpless race” (Charles Wesley).

       

Does God really care?  Yes, God does.  All the way to the cross God cares.  Let that truthful story be lived out in the world for which Jesus died.

Let’s go out and make God look good.

NOTICE THE DIRT

 Dear Brothers and Sisters,

I Think in was in a letter to a Mary Neylan (January 20, 1942), C.S. Lewis says an insightful and liberating things.  He wrote, 

I know all about the despair of overcoming chronic temptations. It is not serious, provided self-offended petulance, annoyance at breaking records, impatience etc. don’t get the upper hand. No amount of falls will really undo us if we keep picking ourselves up each time. We shall of course be very muddy and tattered children by the time we reach home. But the bathrooms are all ready, the towels put out, and the clean clothes are in the airing cupboard. The only fatal thing is to lose one’s temper and give it up. It is when we notice the dirt that God is most present in us; it is the very sign of His presence.  - From  The Collected Letters of C. S. Lewis, Volume II

Is this not an amazing thought?  “It is when we notice the dirt that God is most present in us;  it is the very sign of His presence.”  I love these words.  I have always thought that it is those who are closest to God who feel the most unclean.  Sinfulness in the presence of holiness, should make us squirm.  Sadly, at least in my circles, I was taught that the closer you walk with God the more aware of your holiness you would be.  However, in my life at least, I have not found this to be true.  I have found that the closer I walk to utter holiness the more aware of my unholiness I become.  Also, and because of the unbelievable grace of God, standing in His presence fully aware of my unholiness, He does not write me off.  He embraces me and draws me to Himself.

God does not demand perfection of character but humility of character.  He invites us who do not deserve to be in His presence, to live in His presence.  “The very sign of His presence,” as Lewis says is that our “dirt” drives us closer and closer to Him, and in His presence, we are more self aware than at any other moment in our lives.  

So, in Christ, we don’t give up.  We keep on bringing our lives to God who keeps on Bringing His life to us.  In Him we find the place of grace, the place of growth, the place of renewal, the place of redemption, the place of forgiving love.  We bring our broken lives to His holy love, and we are healed.

Let's go out today and make God look good.

SAYING YES TO JESUS

 Dear Brothers and Sisters,

The missionary, Hudson Taylor, once said, "God isn't looking for people of great faith, but for individuals ready to follow Him."  Isn’t this a very good word for those of us who are pretty much regular folks seeking to be faithful to God in our times.

Sometimes the enemy whispers into our ear that our faith is weak and that we are not capable of offering significant ministries for Christ.  I don't agree with the enemy too often, but I do on this.  In ourselves we are incapable of doing anything for God, but, then, it's not about us.  It's about God.  Somebody once said that God doesn't call the qualified, He qualifies the called.  

When God shows up, ill prepared fishermen become "fishers of men" (Matt. 4:19).  When God shows up, the gates of hell tremble and fall (Matt. 16:18).  When God shows up, Jesus builds His Church and gives His Church "the keys of the kingdom of heaven," and then commissions that church to bind and loose in His name throughout the earth (Matt. 16:19).  When God shows up the words goes forth, "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come" (2 Cor. 5:17).

Perhaps the question of this age to the regular folks is, "Are we ready to follow Him?"  If the answer is "Yes," then go for it.  Let's put our life together into the sovereign care of Almighty God, and "immediately" follow Jesus (Matt. 4:20, 22).  Just go for it.  As we walk in obedience, God will qualify us.  As we keep saying yes to Jesus, God will keep opening and closing all necessary doors.  As we live for the One who is the Lord of life, God will take care of outcomes.  We are free to abide in Christ and share the fruit of that abiding relationship.  We are free to love like Jesus loves.

As we follow Him He might even roll away from some nearby tomb a boulder that is in the way. That would be something, wouldn't it?  But then He's already done that, hasn't He?  

                                          -  Rick