IMMANUEL MAKES LIFE WORTH THE LIVING

      Isaiah said it first... then Matthew chimed in: "A virgin will bear a son and he will be called Immanuel, which means 'God with us'" Immanuel. God with us. It's almost unbelievable if we think about it. It's something that we long for, but it can be challenging, even disturbing, to have God with us. Ask the Pharisees who rejected his grace and the law of love that he taught. Ask Herod or Pilate, how they felt about having God with them. One of them tried to kill him and the other one... did. Ask Peter, who rebuked him and denied him three times, or the people in Nazareth, who attempted to shove him over a cliff. Ask the mob who cried out, "give us Barabbas," how they felt about Immanuel, or the demoniac, who put it succinctly when he shouted, "Jesus, what do you have to do with me?" Ask the one who is being called right now- sinner follow me- and yourself, when you consider what sort of person you would be... if you trusted enough to surrender.
      Jesus may have been a sweet baby, but he was (and is) a most demanding sort of man. He breaks into our lives and overturns the way we've arranged things. He challenges us to see things and people in a totally new way, and if we're not careful, he will have his way with us... and give us a new identity entirely. He breaks into our homes when someone in the family gets religion, and he breaks into our ballgames when someone holds up a sign that reads, "John 3:16." All may have been calm when he was born, but having God with us can be anything but calming. Mary struggled to understand the "good news" of Jesus' birth, and Joseph initially planned to divorce her when he heard that she was pregnant. He resolved to quietly put the whole matter behind him, but God had other plans for him- plans that called him to believe in things that he couldn't understand. And believing in things that we don't understand is part of what it means to have God with us. Immanuel. Mary and Joseph were nice people, I'm sure, but they weren't inclined to color outside the lines. But God is,,, and accepting this is part of what it means to have God with us.
      The lowly shepherds were near the bottom of the social hierarchy in Jesus' time, and they weren't even trying to find God, but God found them... and serenaded them with a heavenly anthem. Being found by God in the ordinariness, the dreariness, even the dirtiness, of our days- being surprised with startling good news in the darkest of nights- feeling that you- lowly shepherd that you are- have been personally blessed is part of what it means to have God with us. Even if He disrupts and changes everything we've known, and prompts us to run around and tell others about it, as if we don't have any sense at all. The wise men- the astrologers from the East- were looking and looking for a sign. Then, suddenly, there it was... and they did what men must do when God appears- they gathered their gifts and journeyed to worship him... because going, and bowing down and worshiping and giving is a big part of what it means to have God with us. The child was God with us, and he grew to show us that... His being with us... is a challenging, sacrificial, and life-changing reality- the price... and glory of which can never be captured in any manger scene or Hallmark card.
      What child is this... so tender and mild? A child, they say, who didn't cry at all in his manger... but as he lived among us, he cried over Jerusalem, and over Lazarus' tomb, and from Golgotha's hill. What child is this? A child who crawled out of his crib and onto Calvary's cross- that's who. A child whose name is scrawled on our bridge abutments- JESUS SAVES. From the animal shed to the cross, Immanuel fed the hungry, touched the lepers, gave sight to the blind, spoke to the women, embraced the kids, dined with sinners, and told all who would listen... that the kingdom of God had arrived in him... because that's what God does when He is with us. Believing that God is found in barns... and on crosses is part of what it means to have God with us. Immanuel.      
      Christmas has never existed in a vacuum. We cannot talk about Immanuel as if He is just a well-behaved baby, because Christmas is inextricably connected with Jesus' decision to empty himself of divinity and come down, down to this planet... and to hang on Golgotha's cross until his work was finished! Non-believers can pretend that Christmas is just a snowy night, or a good meal, or a shopping binge, but they are wrong. Christmas is the day when God appeared in the flesh... and changed our world forever- not by making it sweeter- but by filling it with hope and salvation. The world would have us believe that Christmas is either a party or a sentiment or just another holiday... but we know that it is God with us. Immanuel. This alone makes life worth living! Merry Christmas.

MARY SAID LET IT BE!!!

      Listen... to a story that of a young girl's faith... and ponder what our world would be like if she had said, "no."
      According to Luke (who wrote his gospel to set things straight), God sent the angel, Gabriel, to a virgin who lived in the town of Nazareth, which is in a region of Israel called Galilee. Why God chose to conduct such important  business in such an unimportant place with an unknown teenager is hard to figure. But he did, and in the 6th month of Elizabeth's pregnancy with John the Baptist, Gabriel came to Mary with a startling message. "Greetings," he said, "favored one! The Lord is with you." Greetings... favored one,,, the Lord is with you, He sounded positive and seemed excited, but Mary was confused... and pondered what sort of a greeting she had received. What was going on?What was going to happen to her? Why me, she may have thought. Looking around to see if she was alone, she may have thought, is he talking to me? I've never been "favored," never won anything , and no one outside of my neighborhood even knows my name. What's going on here?
      Don't be afraid, the angel said, you really have found favor with God... and that may well be an understatement because you will conceive and bear a son (for God)- a boy whom you will call "Yeshua," (Jesus) and he will be known forever as God's son. He will be great,and he will rule over the house of Jacob. It was a great proclamation indeed, but we can almost hear her stammering...well, uh, well... how can this be since I'm a virgin? It's not as if I'm too busy to serve on a ministry team or don't sing well enough to be in the choir, I'm a virgin and cannot bear a son." Yes," Gabriel said, "I know... but with God all things are possible, The Holy Spirit will come upon you... and the child you bear will be God's!" Mary, you have been chosen to give birth to the Son of God. What do you say?
      What do you say, Mary? Well, she might have said any number of things. Can I talk it over with my parents? Can I find out what Joseph thinks about the idea? How will I ever convince anyone- especially my husband- that this boy is God's son? I will be condemned and my son will be ridiculed throughout his life. My family will be shamed, my marriage will be called off, and Joe and I were planning to wait a year or so before we started a family. Can I think about this for a day or so? Many of us would've bargained for time, but time doesn't necessarily make it easier to take steps of faith. And the question remained: what do you say, Mary? Consider this, Mary: is anything impossible for God? If it is, faith is just another word for fantasy, but if nothing is impossible for God, then faith opens the door to miracles. What do you say, Mary? Will you trust and obey? And the unmarried teenage girl from Nazareth said, "Let it be! Let it be with me according to your word!" 
      Your will is my will. Your purpose, my purpose, I am the pottery, you are the potter. I am the hearer, you are the promise-maker; I am the servant, you are the promise-keeper! Lord, I don't know how you're going to do this. I can't explain it, and I don't really even comprehend what I just heard,,, but I believe, and believing, I say, "Let it be." Wow. What a powerful statement of faith! I'm not a Catholic and I not very knowledgeable about Marialogy. I don't think of Mary as the Mother of the Church, and I'm not an advocate of either her own virgin birth or her perpetual virginity... but I will give her this: she said "Let it be." Praise God- she said, "Let it be with me according to your word!" Amen.  Let Mary's words roll around in your mind and ponder this: what would our world be like if we all said, "Let it be?"

What Christmas Means to Me

      Some people… dream of Christmases past, when toys were wooden and trees were real. They long for the simple joy that they experienced. or at least the joy that the want to recall. But Christmas has never been a thing of the past. Nor has it ever been a sentimental thing. Indeed, it is anything but sentimental. What is sentimental about walking to Bethlehem, with a pregnant fiancée in her middle teens? What is sentimental about not finding a room, or lying a newborn baby down in a feeding trough?

      Some people… think that Christmas should fit snugly into the ways of the world. They insist that it be every bit as commercial & grandiose as our holiday parades and TV specials are. But the first Christmas was unimaginably modest, and it didn’t fit into the ways of the world at all! Indeed, the good news was first proclaimed to lowly shepherds, who hadn’t heard good news in years, and then it was seen by some astrologers in Iran, who were wise enough to go and worship, and finally, as if the good news was working it way from the bottom up, it reached the ears of King Herod, who didn’t think it was good news at all!

Herod was mad as a hatter. He was crazier than a loon. He was a deceiver and a murderer, who killed his own family… and all the toddlers in Bethlehem. He was a fool, but even he knew that Christmas is neither a sentimental journey nor a moment of escape from the real world. Even he knew that a new King would be the end of him. If we were all wise enough worship and serve the King of Kings, it would be a sad day for the gods of money, pleasure, power…and it would spell the end of the “Baby king within,” (who demands that we worship ourselves and the things we think of, create, and desire). Herod was as mad as a hatter, but he was sane enough to take Christmas seriously, and he knew that unless it was squashed entirely, he and all other petty tyrants, would be dragged from their thrones- just as Mother Mary had prophesied.

      Christmas is the beginning of a new world order! It is not a pacifier for the status quo, but rather, a moment that changed our world forever. Christmas was the first step to Calvary; the first step toward Easter; the first step toward Pentecost; and it beckons each one of us to take our first step of discipleship. Christmas invites us to accept the Christ-child, to dream new dreams, to see our neighbors and ourselves in new ways, and to join the throng of believers who no longer march to the world’s drum beat. I love Christmas! I love its energy, I love its joy, I love to see the little ones in line for Santa, I love to see families gather, people being a bit kinder, people dropping in the Salvation Army kettles… and fruitcakes.
      I love Christmas, but I do NOT believe for a second- not for a single second- that Christmas is a sentimental moment, or a commercial orgy, or that it’s all about families, or kids, or make-believe, or even giving. Christmas is all about Christ! It is all about God Incarnate… and that is mind-boggling! If God was born in Bethlehem, our world can never be the same… because God came to turn things upside down! If you like things as they are, Christmas may not be for you…but if you long for a day when… every two-bit despot is disposed, and all of the so-called “little people” stand tall, and all of those who are lost and broken… are healed and saved…and when smiles break out in the most unexpected places…if you long for this day… if you’re tickled by the thought of it… and you’re excited about embracing it…then I must say, “Merry Christmas!” Merry Christmas indeed!

HAVING CHRISTMAS WITHOUT CHRIST

      When I was growing up, our holidays were occasions for drinking and fellowship. We often had fun... until the drinks took over, and we couldn't fathom a holiday without alcohol. This was especially true of Christmas, and as I grew older, my anxiety overwhelmed by my anticipation. Every Christmas was pretty much the same. Our parents were generous enough and they tried to be festive. Mother made sure that they spent exactly the same amount of money on me and each of my two brothers. Christmases were meant to be fair and festive, and they very well might have been if it weren't for the drinking.
      The drinking, however, always dampened the evening and sometimes ruined it altogether. I lament as one who must have learned a lesson, but I didn't, and when my wife and I had our own Christmases, I drank as much as I could. It was the only way I knew to have fun and I couldn't envision a holiday without it. In fact, when I traveled to Fredericksburg, Iowa to spend my first Christmas with my wife's family, I waited politely for a while... before I asked for a drink. "Oh," they said, "There's no alcohol in the house. We don't drink at Christmas." What? I must have heard it wrong. I quietly asked my wife, "Is there a place 'up town' (that's what they called the downtown area) where I can buy some alcohol?"' "No," she said, and you don't need any, which was wrong... because I did. Thankfully, it turned out that Everett had a little swig of whiskey each morning and the bottle was in the cupboard. With his permission, I found it and my spirit came to rest for a moment.
      I've never forgotten how surprised I was to discover that some families were celebrating Christmas without alcohol, and now we do the same of course. In fact, I haven't had a Christmas drink since Christmas of 1975, but it wasn't alcohol that was killing our Christmases. It didn't help, that's for sure, especially in my hands, but the real problem was that we were having Christmas... without Christ. There was no Christ in our Christmases- none at all. From the late 40s to the late mid 70s, we celebrated Christmases without Christ. No church service. No prayers. No sacred music, No mention of the "reason for the season." No moment of silence. Just fellowship and drinking... until the drinking won out. Our Christmases were empty... because we didn't invite Christ, and I've learned since then, that inviting Christ in NOT an option,,, because there can be no Christmas with Him,
      Friends, Christ is not a choice when it comes to Christmas because, as Christians, we believe that He barged into history to save our souls and to make our lives worth living. We insist that He gave up divinity and took on vulnerability so that we might share in His glory. It's a wild thing to believe- that God came to earth and died on a cross to set us free- and no one has to believe it, of course. No one ever has to believe it, but His coming to earth IS what Christmas is about... and your Christmases will be emptier if you leave Him out. My parents drank too much at Christmas, but the bigger problem was that they left Christ out of Christmas! Indeed, if He had been there, I suspect that the excessive drinking would not have been. Amen.

WHOSE TO BLAME (IN BLACK AND WHITE)

      NOBODY thinks that a teenager should die because he stole a handful of cigars. It's insane. No one believes that a 12 year-old boy should die because he is scaring people with a "toy" rifle. Such a thing seems impossible. Ditto for the 43 year-old black man in NYC. It's hard to believe that he was choked to death because he was selling individual cigarettes on the street. It is unfathomable that citizens could be shot (or choked) for these things in America... and yet they were. In Ferguson, Mo., Michael Brown was shot several times by a white policeman and laid dead on a town street for hours before his body was picked up. In Cleveland, Tamir Rice was shot within seconds after a policeman arrived on the scene. Evidently the office who wasn't sure whether the boy's gun was real or not, and didn't know how to find out. Finally, in NYC, Eric Garner died in a choke hold, even though he said that he couldn't breathe was well under control at the point. All three of these black males are dead, and virtually everyone would agree that justice was not served. Indeed, it was mocked in each of these cases... but to suggest that these incidents were "modern day lynchings" (as some have done) is absurd and unjust as well.  Like others, I think that excessive force was used in these cases. Poor judgment as well. However, this doesn't mean that the policemen involved are racists, that there actions were racially motivated... or that they committed a crime in the line of duty. Justice was not served in these encounters, and it was not served in the rioting that followed. No doubt- change is needed, and I applaud the public debate that has been ignited. Still, it is shortsighted to blame those who are caught up in a scenario that is much deeper than their actions. The scenario itself- the fears, prejudices, hopelessness, and reliance on violence must give way to mutual respect and cooperation, This will take time. Until then, I will close with these thoughts:
1) Policemen are scary. I'm a 68 year-old white man- a pastor in a small community... and I am afraid of the police! I think they want it that way. There's been a little bit of Barney Fife in many of them, and I've always had the feeling that joking or casual conversation would not play well;
2) Policemen have a very tough job! They deal with the worst possible people. They are harassed, insulted, and threatened on a steady basis, and a single mistake could cost them their lives. I wouldn't do their job for twice their salary;
3) There have been 3 police officers in the churches that I've served... and they were (and are) honest, kind, and honorable men. Two of them went to Israel with me, and after we returned, I told one of them- a police sergeant- how much I respected him. "Thanks," he said, "but you might change your mind if you worked with me for a week or two... because the language we use and the way that we handle things are hardly Christian. The people we deal with don't respond to Bible stories or group prayer." I was reminded that serving others is often a dirty and bloody business;
4) Rioting is a very dysfunctional response to injustice because it draws attention away from the perceived injustice and puts it on the rioters, who were unjust themselves. It destroys property, livelihoods, and even lives. I can't help believing that the rioters- not the protesters, but the rioters- are just thugs looking for an excuse to riot;
5) Officials are, in my view, rightly reticent to indict a police officer in the line of duty... because it could open up a can of worms that we might all regret. It's a tough job in the first place, and it would be very difficult to recruit someone if he or she could be tried for murder;
6) However, we do not live in a police state, and no one should be permitted to shoot people without accountability. Indicting officers for murder is not the answer, but greater training, new regulations, cameras, and transparency (even in face of the blue-line) would go along way toward alleviating the tension that seems to be building;
7) Communities are composed of families, and both justice and righteousness start at home. Teachers and policemen cannot fix what the families themselves continue to break. It is the parents who must instill a sense of worth and accountability in their children, and if they don't- whether they're black or white- we will all reap the whirlwind. Amen!

CRYING PEACE... WHEN THERE IS NO PEACE!

      "From the least of them to the greatest... everyone is greedy for gain, from the prophet to the priest, everyone deals falsely. They dress the wound of my people as if it were not serious. 'Peace, peace,' they say when there is no peace." (Jer. 6) "So my hand will be against the prophets... because they've misled my people, saying, 'Peace,' when there is no peace, and when anyone builds a wall, they plaster it over with whitewash." (Ezekiel 13). Indeed, the prophets had it right. We can't have peace simply by claiming it or by denying our struggles anymore than we can cure cancer with a band-aid. Some wounds are superficial. Some are life-threatening... and it's important to know the difference. Likewise, covering things over doesn't make them go away, and whitewashing a wall... doesn't change its character. Peace demands truth, and truth often demands a painful struggle with oneself, and with one's God... even as Jakob found his identity... when he wrestled with God through the night.
      Peace, real peace, demands honesty, and to be honest, there is no peace in our time. Surely, you've seen the headlines. Undoubtedly, you've watched the reports on TV, about the protests taking place in many parts of our country. Sometimes I think that the tension between black and white is just as thick today as it was 50 years ago. Laws have increased opportunities and leveled the playing field a bit, but they have not changed the human heart, or calmed the fears and prejudices that find root in most of us. The war on poverty was a failure, it seems, and the tension between the haves and have-nots is even greater than it was 50 years ago. The war on drugs was a failure too, and the gang-related killings in our cities... ought to make every Christian cringe. The country is divided on every significant issue, which makes it nearly impossible to govern, and while political correctness has reduced public name-calling, it may have elevated the anger that people nurture in their hearts. People are tempted, persuaded and driven... to want more and more, and like rats in a maze, we keep running, and running, and running... chasing a peace that cannot be cornered and tackled. Many people don't fit in. They're lonely, and weary, from putting on and taking off the masks they wear, none of which gives them peace. Marriages are often little more than agreements that collapse when one of them feels slighted... because there never was a commitment to see things through, let alone a surrender to the union. Look, there's no point in denying it- we live in a broken and war-torn world. Nations war against nations, gangs war against gangs. Church fights tear families of faith apart, domestic violence tears families apart, blacks don't trust whites, and whites are afraid of blacks. School shootings are so common that they don't even raise eyebrows, young black men have a better chance of going to prison than college, many of our older citizens are hidden away in shoddy nursing homes (they would die if they could), and bullying is actually taking lives. People neither know nor trust their neighbors, and there's a line of people, more than a mile long, taking off their shoes as they go through security at Midway Airport... so that they can have peace around a Thanksgiving table- unless, of course, an argument breaks out. A boy in Cleveland gets shot by a policeman... and he has a toy gun. Hardworking people in Ferguson, MO. had their businesses destroyed by angry mobs, and there are hordes of people at war with addictions.
      Friends, there is no peace... and there never will be without God...because God is the author of peace. He's the giver of the serenity we all so badly want. Augustine noted that our hearts will never rest until they rest in God, and we'll never feel quite good enough about ourselves... until we accept the fact that Christ died for us. Friends, there's no greater peace than being forgiven- and in Christ, we are completely, fully, and forever forgiven. On our own and in ourselves, we can never fully get out from under the burdens of the past, or the anxiety of the future... but Christ is the giver of new names and new beginnings. Our journey is filled with hills, sometimes mountains, unexpected turns, obstacles, pain, and a thousand little deaths... anyone of which will tear us apart... unless we are in the hands of the man from Galilee. Life is difficult, and we will never be at peace unless we are in Christ... because peace demands surrender. Peace is a gift from God, and it comes to us in a three-step process: 1) we admit that we have no peace, 2) we come face-to-face with the fact that we cannot manufacture peace on our own (not the deep shalom that the Bible speaks of)... and 3) embrace Christ as our only source of peace.
      Peace is a gift from God, and it is found in Christ. Over the years I've tried everything I could... to get peace. I covered my ears so that I wouldn't hear my mother's screams; I stayed away from home as much as I could; I drank a fifth of whiskey and a handful of beers every day; I went out on the town; I lied when the truth would've served me better; I worked furiously to be important... and still, I had no peace. Indeed, I feared the nights because I felt so empty. For a long time I made excuses for myself, but I came to hate the man in the mirror. Finally, as if it was God's plan, I hit bottom, and at last, I did business with the living God. "Kenn," Pastor Lu asked, "do you accept Christ as your Lord and Savior, and will you trust in Him from this day forward? Will you let him have his way with you and count it all good? Will you accept the fact that you are accepted? Will you lay your sins at the cross and dance away as a man forgiven? Will you share the peace that I have given you with everyone you can?" Yes, yes, yes, I said. I'm free at least. My soul is finally... at peace. Amen.