The Power of Christmas Joy

      Well, Christmas is just around the corner and for many of us, it will be a time of joy. Our Christmases will be anchored in love. Family members will come in with smiles on their faces. Adults will affirm one another. Kids will play joyfully and the house will be filled with laughter. Good will, good food, and an air of excitement- it's almost as good as it gets! But there are other families- I didn't know this growing up- who keep Christ at the center of their activities. They may have presents galore, a banquet of food, perhaps a drink or two... but the Christ in Christmas- is never forgotten or minimized in their homes. They celebrate their blessings and their abundance with loved ones... because the author of joy has born unto them.
      These people are also a blessing, but there are many others who will not experience Christmas joy. Some of them don't have a relationship with Christ... and therefore their Christmas is just like any other gathering they might host or attend. Some people share Christmas with someone who is likely to get angry, drunk, or out of hand in some other way... and the air in their home is filled with tension instead of joy. And there are families, many of them, who will gather around an empty chair for the first time, knowing that they must go on, but believing things will never be the same. I know many of these people. You do too and I hope that we will keep them in our prayers. Many people will be alone this Christmas. They will feel isolated and forgotten, especially in light of what we're told we ought to experience at Christmas. Many people simply live alone, others can't get to their kin, still others are estranged from loved ones... but they are alone at a time when everything tells them they should not be. When Sherry and I were in Rock Island, the Thompson's invited us over to their home every Christmas Eve because they thought we would be alone otherwise. Since we have moved from church to church and work every Christmas Eve, Sherry and I are accustomed to quiet Christmases. We're not all that upset by it, but I must confess that it gave us considerable joy to spend time with a loving family who had reached out to us. Loneliness, grief, worry, dysfunctionality, lack of money, health issues- all of these things bring people low at Christmas!
      When people are caught up in worry and pain, Christ's coming will not bring them as much joy as it could otherwise. They won't see it, or if they do, they won't see it clearly. They won't hear the angels proclaim, "Unto you- yes, you- a Savior is born... who will lift up the lowly, feed the hungry, free those who are imprisoned in all the ways we imprison ourselves, and give you a joy that cannot be squelched. In and through Christ, God gives us a joy that is much bigger than our circumstances. We will still have troubles. There will still be struggles. We will still cry from time to time and sometimes wonder why things are the way they are. Our loved ones will still get sick and die, our teens will still test our patience, and we'll still have to wait in the express lane behind someone who has 123 items... but our joy comes from knowing that He is ours and we are His! People spend their lives trying to track down or buy "peace," but real peace comes from knowing Christ. The Hebrews call it shalom, which is a deep contentment in knowing that things are going to be okay. We will have shalom when our souls settle contently in Christ and we feel "complete"... and at one with God and our neighbors. I'm all for having a great time, but we will never find real joy in the things we do and the things we possess. The view from our deck, the awards on our wall, the titles we have- they may give us a feeling of pride, perhaps even gratitude... but they will never produce a change that lasts forever. We can't ultimately find deep peace and lasting joy in such things... because they are temporal and self-centered. No, the source of our joy is our relationship with Christ and it comes to fulness when we join hands and serve others in His name.
      On this 3rd Sunday of Advent, Paul reminds us that we have a joy that is deeper than our pain and wider than our worries. Christmas is coming. Unto us a child is born! This is not a magical thing that protects us from bad things and guarantees that we'll have good things- after all, the shepherds who first heard the words, "unto you a child is born," were still shepherds the following morning... but it does mean that we can claim joy in the good and the bad, when we're up and when we're down, because our joy comes from our relationship with Christ. It means that we have been given a gift upon which our souls can rest... but the joy that we've been been blessed with...needs to be claimed and nurtured, lest we lose sight of it in a sea of worries and wants. With this in mind, Paul advises us to prepare for Christ's coming by living gratefully and intentionally as Christians; 2) by helping one another minister to others in a positive and affirming way; 3) by getting involved and busy in God's business, which is feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, visiting the sick and the lonely, empowering the powerless, loving the unloved, and opening doors for those who are shut-in, shut-down, shut-away, and shut-up; 4) by putting our mirrors to the side and focusing on others; 5) by accepting the fact that joy comes from serving rather than acquiring; 6) by getting rid of thoughts that lead us to spend time comparing ourself to others; 7) and by taking our sorrows and our worries to God in prayer... and leaving them there! In the 3rd century a man wrote these words: "it's a bad world, incredibly bad. In the midst (of it) a holy people find joy a thousand times better than pleasure. They are despised and persecuted, but they don't care. They are masters of their souls. These people are the Christians- and I am one of them."
      He was right of course. Nothing will affect the peace that settles our souls or the joy that filled our hearts- not if it's anchored in Christ! If you find joy in Christ and in the work you do for Him, you will have joy every day of your life. Amen!
   

     

     

COME TO THE RIVER AND BEGIN AGAIN!

      In the year Elvis died, I experienced the pain of losing a father because my dad died as well. In the year John Kennedy was shot, I was walking the halls of Roosevelt High School in Des Moines. In the year King Uzziah died, Isaiah saw the glory of God and received his life-changing call… and in the 15^th year of the reign of Tiberius… the word of God came to John ben Zachariah, as he wandered in the wilderness. To make the record clear (as he noted in the first verse of his gospel), Luke anchored his story in the events of its time… and it was a time in which Tiberius was Emperor of Rome, Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod ruled over Galilee and Perea (which was east of the Jordan river), Philip reigned in Iturea and Trachonitis (both of which are small regions northeast of Galilee), and Lysanias ruled over Abilene. These men ruled the world that Jesus knew. They had all the power that any other autocrat would have had and they used it ruthlessly to keep people in line. But since Israel was a theocracy, Luke wants us to know that Annas (6-15AD) and Joseph Caiaphas (18-37AD) were High Priests during Jesus’ lifetime, and they also held considerable power over the Jews. 

      And so there we have it- the Big 7- Tiberius, Pilate, Herod, Philip, Annas, and Caiaphas.[i] It's akin to President, Governor,  Mayor, Senator, and Congressman (with autocratic powers) and the Moderator of the PCUSA and the Executive Presbyter of our Presbytery (with more control and less compassion). These were the decision-makers and power-brokers in Jesus’ time… and then there was John ben Zechariah, who was known as the Baptizer. He was an eccentric character and an unlikely hero. He dressed in a funny way and he had odd choices in food… but he had a powerful message and a popular ministry. I suspect that, if we wanted to change things and prepare the way for God, most of us would seek out one of these rulers. We would lobby men with power…and persuade them to change things. Men in power, however, don’t want to change things, and besides, the God of Naomi the widow, Rahab the prostitute, Jonah the man who ran from God, and Mary, the unwed and pregnant teenager… has always chosen unlikely vessels to accomplish his purpose! Instead of relying on those who were full of themselves, God chose a man who had a heart for him… and the Baptist began to prepare the way for Christ… by preaching a baptism of repentance… for the forgiveness of sin.

      The Jews had practiced a baptism of cleansing for new proselites for some time, and it seems that the Essenes who lived around the Dead Sea practiced a baptism of cleansing too, but a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins was a new thing.., which called the people to recognize their sins and undergo a baptism because they wanted to live for God. Do business with them, even the ones you enjoy; experience a deep desire for spiritual cleansing (and come humbly to God with something like, “Lord have mercy,” on your lips); and then turn away from your sins! Go in a different direction, embrace different values, live to please God- because changing behavior, rather than just feeling bad for what we’ve done- is the essence of metanoia (repentance),

      Many years ago an alcoholic conversed with the noted psychologist, Carl Jung, looking for a cure from a disease that had brought him to his knees. He had been in and out of jails and asylums and had tried to quit a hundred times. He had grown to resent the face he saw in the mirror … and he wanted to be free. In brief, Jung told him that alcoholics of his type were generally goners, but he said that every now and then, for reasons he didn't fully understand, some men experience a radical rearrangement of their values. They had a spiritual realignment and although Jung did not use the phrase, they were "reborn." They became new creations. They were less fearful and more loving, less deceitful and more authentic. If an alcoholic undergoes this sort of transformation, Jung noted, he or she may get free from their sickness... but otherwise, their prognosis is very bad. Of course the vast majority of us are not alcoholics, but we desperately need a spiritual realignment. We need to repent, surrender, change our direction, and prepare ourselves for God’s coming!

      Repentance- metanoia- is one part resolve, a bigger part surrender, and a bigger part yet, the work of the Holy Spirit. It is preparing for Christ’s coming by letting God have his way with us and surrendering to His will. It’s turning from those things that chain us down and turning to those things that build us up. History, both Biblical and secular- shows that John had a huge following as he invited the people of the land to come to the water and undergo a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. They came by the thousands- the tens of thousands-those who were weary and burdened, those who wanted to live fuller and freer lives, those who wanted to be ready when their Lord appeared! They came as they were, with their hearts willing, and when they came up from the water, John challenged them to bear the fruits of repentance when they returned to their daily lives. 

      Bear the fruit of repentance, he said, treat others fairly, give one of your coats to someone who doesn’t have a coat, donate something to your church’s food ministry, put some money in the slot when you hear the bells ringing, find a reason to be generous, recognize someone by name, forgive another person, If we want to prepare for His coming, we need to repent and get to work. If we feed the hungry, clothe the naked, welcome the stranger, heal the sick, empower the weak, visit the lonely, and let our light shine on those who live in darkness, we will prepare the way for Him… and put the Christ in Christmas! Amen.

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[i] I was unable to find Luke’s reason for including Lysanias.

The Promise-maker is a Promise-keeper!

      Today is the first Sunday of Advent and our focus is on HOPE. In an ordinary sense of the word, "hope" conveys uncertainty (e.g.. I hope her lab results are negative, I hope that Lucas gets the job he wants, I hope that the Bears win)…but in a Biblical sense, hope is NOT related to doubt at all.  For Christians, "hope" is the assurance of things yet to come because we trust in the promises of God. Hope, to people of faith, is trusting that God is both a Promise-maker and a Promise-keeper. As Christians our hope rests on the promises of God and our faith enables us to live AS IF God’s promises true, despite the brokenness we see, the cries that we hear, and the sadness we experience. 
      If God’s promises are NOT true- if He hasn't raised up a Righteous Branch, if the boy lying in the manger is not God incarnate, if were not forgiven and accepted by grace, if death is still the victor- then we might as well play golf or go fly fishing. If we can't stand on God's promises, our faith would be in vain... but if the Promise-maker is a Promise-keeper, we can claim His promises for ourselves, trust in them, and live them out! 
      Christian hope is anchored in God's word... and it's trusting, regardless of circumstance, that our Promise-maker is a Promise-keeper. There are scores of promises in Scripture, but I will cite a few that give us reason to walk by faith from day to day: 

1. Let me begin with the 23rd Psalm because it promises us that, when we walk through the darkest valleys in our lives, God will be with us. We will never walk alone, and this means we can walk in confidence… even when our hearts are breaking and there are shattered dreams all around. I trust that God will always be with me because the Promise-maker is a Promise-keeper and this gives me great hope;

2. We are promised (Rom. 8) that neither angels nor demons, nor anything else in all of creation will ever separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. Nothing can separate us from God, not even our sin, because God has already ransomed us. We are God’s forever. I trust in this because the Promise-maker is a Promise-Keeper;

3. In Isaiah’s book, God promises us that, if we trust in God, if we don't take things into our own hands or wander off in our own ways, we will find new strength and soar like an eagle. This is a great hope. I may get tired, frustrated, disappointed... but I won't quit because my strength will be renewed by God. I will count on this and expect to soar... because my Promise-maker is a Promise-keeper;

4. In the book of Genesis, we're assured that we're all created in God’s image, which means that we're all worthy, all loved,  all accepted in Christ. If we are all children of God, then we are family. Knowing this gives me hope and believing it changes the way that I see and treat others; 

5. Scripture tells us that God didn’t send his Son to condemn the world, but to save it. This means that we're serving a God who is inviting us into a loving and saving relationship. It means that God is for us, that He's the one who's knocking at the door… and this should fill our hearts with great joy;

6. "For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in His shall NOT perish, but have everlasting life." Wow, what a promise this is! I will die, but I will NOT perish. I will die, but I will not be a nothing in a nowhere (to use Walter Wangerin’s words). I will not perish, and the day will surely come when He'll call my name and welcome me home. This hope gives me great joy... and I claim it because the Promise-maker is a Promise-keeper;

7. Did you hear about the zookeeper who kept a wolf and a lamb in the same cage? It was a wonder to behold and people came from miles around. Finally, someone asked the zookeeper how he did it... and he said, "It's easy. I just put a new lamb in the cage each morning." Well, that's pretty much the truth of it when it comes to what we see and experience in this world. Putting a new lamb in the cage is about as good as it gets in this world, but God promises that there's a great day coming... when the wolf will will lie down with the lamb (for real)... when there will be no more pain or death, no more tears, no more worries, no more poverty, no oppression either!

      The Promise-maker tells us that there will come a day when every knee shall bow to Christ as Lord... and my hope rests on this promise. There will be a time when we will praise God together, with all of our hearts. This is the promise for a day to come, but we can claim it today. We can hope for this day, live as if we believe in it… and work to bring it about by embracing, lifting, feeding, clothing, and caring for Jesus whenever he appears to us! Amen.