Fifth Day of Advent: Proclaim

Pastors, preachers, priests, must have a difficult time every year between Thanksgiving and New Year's. How does one teach a lesson that they've already taught before to the same crowd? I was a teacher, but at least I had a new crowd each year. However, I have written Advent posts before, and it was tempting today to just leave proclaiming to the picture below and resurrect an old post. 

What impelled me to write was Facebook. Yes, there's lots to dislike about social media, but, thus far, the Facebook organization allows the pages of deceased people to stay in circulation. (Stick with me here.) As I write this, I'm not deceased obviously. Yet a time will come when I am not here and it could be that my post will touch someone's life, just as saints of old made a difference in my life from an early age. 

Through stories of St. Teresa and St. Therese, the stories of St. Augustine and St. Francis, and many more, I learned how to have a relationship with God. I suppose some people cast off the relationship with God of their younger years as some friendship with an imaginary friend. I did not. The relationship was too real. And, I wasn't the only one who knew God existed. 

I did, however, like young Goodman Brown of Nathaniel Hawthorne short story fame, want to check out the wild side. I've learned that the wild side of God is quite an adventure, but back then, the world's wild side killed some of my friends and usually found me throwing up in a toilet bowl. Frankly, it just was not enjoyable. 

I cast my lot with the Christians. Now there are Christians, and there are Christians. One group follows rules and one group follows Christ. I'm trying to keep this proclaiming short, so let me just say that I know now what it is like to be in a community of those who follow Christ and his commandments: Love God; love others. 

When I ask myself, "Would you ever not believe in God?" I end up asking myself: "What do I do with situations that just can not be explained? One example: I had a dream, a detailed dream. The heart and soul of the dream was about an acquaintance (I didn't even know where he lived anymore) who I later found out was despondent, despairing, desperate, hopeless. God wanted him to know that he was loved by God and that he was not a failure.  I thought this is crazy: I can't contact this person. I don't even know if this email address is correct. Still, what if I wasn't crazy? I wrote out the entire dream (along with "please, please, please don't think I'm insane"). I received a long email back telling me the devastating failure that the young man had faced, a failure in his work that if it had not been caught by another could have led to tragedy. He was at the lowest point ever in his life. I can take no credit for reaching out to this person. Some of my teachers have rightly said that sometimes the only way God can get through to us is through dreams. If I were stronger in my hearing of God, perhaps God could have just flat out told me and I would have known what to do. Nonetheless, this was a situation that I can not explain away, and there have been others like it. 

My belief is also more than something I just proclaim or speak out. I trust Jesus not as my "get out of hell free" card, but as my friend and God whose salvation is for me daily. I was never one to think about a "life verse" but I guess I ended up with one anyway through a rather odd story that I won't tell here. 

"Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ; by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God" Romans 5:1-2.  

Our Joy is Daily; Our Joy is Full -- The Third Day of Christmas

Our wise men / kings / Magi travel after Christmas to symbolize that their journey happened after Jesus was born and Mary and Joseph were in some sort of housing. Sometimes there are presents on "Little Christmas" -- the grandchildren always hope so.

This one apparently has to deal with a horse…and, ahem, dust. I could write that it represents desert sands, but basically it tells the story of a woman who would rather read the books on her bookshelves than dust said shelves.

Yes, we have three. Not because we know there were three (we do not, but we know there were at least two), but because the set came with three. :D And, all of them are currently traveling past many words. Wise men throughout the centuries have traveled through many words. Only one was THE WORD.

A man wrote of the Word and his name was John. Today is the the Feast Day of John. I don't want to lead you into thinking I necessarily celebrate feast days of the saints, but I have family and friends who do. Since I have my own feast days (two as a matter of fact: Birthday and Mother's Day), I think it rather cool (no one says "cool" anymore, do they?) to celebrate John's day.

John preached a Christmas sermon; although, it's not titled that in my Bible.

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men"  (John 1:1-4).

"And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. John bore witness of Him and cried out, saying, "This was He of whom I said, 'He who comes after me is preferred before me, for He was before me.'" And of His fullness we have all received and grace for grace. For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ" (John 1:14-17).

Boom! (As my granddaughter would say…I think it means "Super cool" or "There! Beat that!")

Jesus: there from the beginning, God, all things made through Him, life, light, the Word became flesh. He came as a baby, grew up, dwelt among us and John and the rest beheld His glory, full of grace and truth. Grace and truth, beautiful words; beautiful Word.

John wanted us to know how they saw Him, how they heard Him.

"That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life -- the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us -- that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. And these things we write to you that your joy may be full" (1 John 1: 1-4).

They saw Jesus, fully human, fully God, and John writes so that our joy may be full. Our joy doesn't end on Christmas Day. Our joy is daily; our joy is full.

In the beginning of this blogging adventure, I intended to connect with Frank Laubach's letters -- sometimes that has worked out, sometimes not. But, today, I will end with comments from the twelfth of October and the twenty-second of September:

"How I wish, wish, wish that a dozen or more persons who are trying the experiment of holding God endlessly in mind would all write their experiences so that each would know what the other was finding as a result! The results, I think, would astound the world." 

"We have got to saturate ourselves with the rainbows and the sunset marvels in order to radiate them. It is as much our duty to live in the beauty of the presence of God on some mount of transfiguration until we become [bright] with Christ as it is for us to go down where they grope, and grovel, and groan and lift them to new life. After all the deepest truth is that the Christlike life is glorious, undefeatably glorious." 

Empty Stable, Now Filled -- The First Day of Christmas

Mary and Joseph have finally made it to the stable. 

Happy Birthday, Jesus! 

The angel has made his announcement; the shepherds are on their way (in our case, the shepherd is).

Little is much when God is in it. 

The "Heart-melting, Here-ness" of Hope -- Day 4 of Advent

I mentioned in a previous post that my granddaughters carry Mary and Joseph on their journey to Bethlehem (aka the living room) throughout Advent. Yesterday, the youngest granddaughter placed them on the window sill. I'm happy with her choice because windows enable those within to look out and those outside to look in. This post offers a small window view into the difficulties of thinking of God all the time, and yet also a look into the hope God provides for us.

"This conscious, incessant submission to God has proven extremely difficult, and I have surrendered for the past few days. and today and yesterday I saw evidences of the result. In a effort to be witty, I have said biting things which have hurt the feelings of others, and have been short and impatient. I tremble, for I have told at least one of these men of this experiment, and he will think this is the result. It is very dangerous to tell people, and yet, I must tell and I must start over now and succeed. This philosophy that one can begin all over instantly at any moment is proving of great help" (Laubach 19 April 1930).

How this paragraph resonates with me! I have revealed in this blog that I, too, am trying to keep Jesus ever before me in my mind, and often times, I find myself thinking (worrying!) about whether I will have anything to write! But, oh how those words: "one can begin all over instantly at any moment" fill me with hope. I can come again and again in boldness to His throne of grace, not because of anything I have done, but because of Jesus.

I also join Laubach in writing that one must reveal the struggles along with the victories; otherwise, we will paint a false picture.

"If this record of a soul struggle to find God is to be complete, it must not omit the story of difficulty and failure. I have not succeeded very well so far. This week, for example, has not been one of the finest in my life, though it has been above the average. I have to make a greater effort next week. I have undertaken something which, at my age at least, is hard, harder than I had anticipated. But I resolve not to give up the effort. Yet strain does not seem to do any good."[underlining mine]

"At this moment I feel something 'LET GO' inside and lo, GOD is here! It is a HEART-MELTING 'HERE-NESS,' a lovely whispering of father to child, and the reason I did not have it before was because I failed to let go." [underlining and caps mine]

Let go, and let God.

Psalm 31:24 -- "Be strong, and  let your heart take courage, all you who hope in the Lord." Some translations finish with "all you who wait for the Lord." Hoping, waiting, trusting, letting go to God. Our hearts can take courage because our hope for good will be fulfilled by our good and loving God. 

Today's Message Brought To You By Hope -- Advent Day 3

Today's message is brought to you by Hope. Hope is the thread running through each element even though these paragraphs (and photo) will seem like a strange collection at first.

From Frank Laubach, 18 April 1930 -- "Everywhere people are beautiful -- or at least they have a beautiful side. On the boat from Manila last week was a painted woman, alone. I spoke to her because she was lonesome. Three of the ship's officers nearby tittered as thought they thought a scandal was brewing, so I talked loud enough for them to hear. I told her I was looking for God. As naturally as a preacher she replied, 'God is everywhere around us and in us if we only open our eyes. All the world is beautiful if we have eyes to see the beauty, for the world is packed with God.' 'Thank you for that,' I said."

From Matthew 1:18-24 -- "Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: After His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit. Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not wanting to make her a public example, was minded to put her away secretly. But while he thought about these thing, behold, and angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, 'Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. and she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins.'

"So this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying: 'Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,' which is translated, 'God with us.'

"Then Joseph, being aroused from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord commanded him and took to him his wife, and did not know her till she had brought forth her firstborn Son. And he called His name JESUS."

From Luke 6:35-36 -- "But love your enemies, do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High. For He is kind to the unthankful and evil. Therefore be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful." 

I mentioned in my last post that our nativity set stays up year round in a back bedroom. On the first day of Advent, the stable is moved to the fireplace mantle, the shepherds are set up on green grass (a green placemat :D) on the piano, the kings stay where they are until Epiphany, and Mary and Joseph start their journey to Bethlehem (aka out of the bedroom, down the hallway, to the front of the house). The granddaughters move them each time they are over. This year the oldest granddaughter looked for a different first spot: nestled among the books on the shelf. Mary is kneeling, a position we can not change since this little plastic figurine kneels while in the stable with her Son; still, Joseph looks protective. The verse that popped into my mind was the one where God places Moses in the cleft of the rock so that Moses can live when God's glory shines forth. The Lord does pass before Moses and He reveals Himself as "The LORD, the LORD God, merciful, gracious, longsuffering, abounding in goodness and truth, forgiving of iniquity, transgression, and sin..." (Exodus 33:18-34:9).

Hope -- Joseph places his hope in God and believes Mary carries Immanuel within her. Laubach has such a hope in his God as Savior that he is able to see the painted woman as a potential carrier of Christ within. No, Mary and the painted woman are not the same, but certainly the townspeople would have been thinking such thoughts about Mary had not Joseph chosen to trust, hope, and believe. Mary literally, physically carried Jesus, but the painted woman is a human being made in the image of God, possibly a future sister-in-Christ which would make her a woman in whom Christ dwells.

Hoping for something in return, hoping for what we want, hoping for fame and fortune, hoping for power and praise -- these hopes are tenuous at best. The only sure hope we have is in Jesus. And, that hope, causes me to walk out the door, into the world, with great joy, ready to see Jesus and beauty all around me.

Where Are You Christmas? Day 2 of Advent

Eleven months out of the year, our nativity set sits on the top of the bookshelf in the back bedroom. It is a constant reminder that the hope of the Messiah was fulfilled. A constant reminder that Christmas is for more than just one day each year. On this second day of Advent, in my hometown, it does not feel like Christmas. Snow does not cover the ground as it does in Christmas cards. In fact, when I took my granddaughter to the park, we threw off our jackets immediately. I google'd the weather in Bethlehem and it is the exact same temperature as where I live! There is one difference -- it is 10 hours later. My 65 degrees came at noon, and their temperature was still that high at 10 in the evening. They are even warmer -- no snow for them. More than likely (as in 100% likely), Jesus' birth did not look like my nativity set nor my Christmas cards. Reading the biblical accounts we realize Jesus was probably born in a month like September, not December. The kings did not come to the stable, and the stable in those days was a cave. Still, this precious nativity, chosen for how much wear and tear it could endure when handled by children, can re-focus my vision on those days when I am running around mindlessly.

On March 23, 1930, Frank Laubach wrote: "You and you and you and I do experience fine fresh contact with God sometimes, and do carry out His will sometimes. One question now to be put to the test is this: Can we have that contact with God all the time? All the time awake, fall asleep in His arms, and awaken in his presence, can we attain that?....Or are there periods when business, and pleasures, and crowding companions must necessarily push God out of our thoughts?"

No, Frank was not out Christmas shopping when he wrote this. :D

He writes the usual answer to this question: "If one thinks of God all the time, he will never get anything else done."  But, he follows with what he learned: "So I thought too, until now, but I am changing my view. We can keep two things in mind at once. Indeed we cannot keep one thing in mind more than half a second. Mind is a flowing something. It oscillates. Concentration is merely the continuous return to the same problem from a million angles. We do not think of one thing. We always think of the relationship of at least two things, and more often of three or more things simultaneously." 

"If our religious premises are correct at all, then this oneness with God is the most normal condition one can have. It is what made Christ, Christ. It is what St. Augustine meant when he said, 'Thou hast made us for Thyself, and our souls are restless until they find their rest in Thee.'"

Frank Laubach called this continual attempt to rest in God, to come back to God minute by minute, an experiment. What better time to start an experiment such as this -- continually looking for Jesus -- than during the Christmas season?

"Can a laboring man successfully attain this continuous surrender to God?"

"Can a merchant do business, can an accountant keep books, ceaselessly surrendered to God? Can a mother wash dishes, care for the babies, continuously talking to God?Can little children be taught to talk and listen to God inwardly all day long, and what is the effect upon them?" 

"Can a politician keep in a state of continuous contact with God, and not lose the following of the crowds?" Yes, Laubach wrote that in 1930. Well, this is the week of Advent where we remember hope. Hope in Jesus. I hope in vain that my Christmas celebrations will always look like a Christmas card. I hope in vain that anything or anyone other than Jesus will fill me with joy. But, my flesh rests in hope when I set the Lord always before me.

"I will bless the Lord who has given me counsel; my heart also instructs me in the night seasons.
I have set the Lord always before me; Because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved.
Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices; My flesh also will rest in hope....
You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is the fullness of joy;
At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore" Psalm 16:7-9,11.

Happy Holidays! Merry Christmas! Welcome to the First Day of Advent!

Words. They have such incredible power. Power to bless and power to hurt. I have spent the last fifteen minutes just trying to write this first paragraph -- trying to arrange the words in such a way that they truly express words in my heart, words of blessing. I meant my last post to be one of thankfulness, and, as far as I know that is how the post was read: no one expressed a critical word. It was only the composition teacher in me that saw how I should have rearranged certain paragraphs. On this first day of Advent when we light the candle of hope, I hope that my readers heard a voice of thankfulness even with sorrows that remain a mystery. It is the hope I have in Jesus that preserves my soul during days of sorrows that can not be easily explained. I am not currently in those dark days...but people I love are going through tough times. I would not trivialize what they are going through by writing as though thankfulness comes easy. Knowing that life can be a struggle, why then do we fall so easily into a critical spirit during this season for which Jesus is the reason?

Most of life does not look like a Christmas card; nonetheless, cards express a hope that all is well with family and friends. The person sending this Season's Greeting card sees beauty and peace. She is not thinking about raising the ire of folks who prefer to be greeted with "Merry Christmas." I know because  the card came out of my Christmas box along with two more cards shown below.

Not all of my cards look this way. I am searching high and low for beautiful cards that express the hope I have in my Savior as we celebrate His birth prophesied so long ago in the book of Isaiah.

"The people who have walked in darkness have seen a great light."

"For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given."

The cards are out there, I know. I will find them (soon I hope). But, the cards here are lovely, and I will bless my friends and family as I write inside of them. Jesus is indeed the reason for this season and for these holy days. Jesus wants me to love not only my brethren but also my enemies. So when I am greeted with "Happy Holidays!" I am going to take it as a blessing. My bashing a Happy Holiday-er will never cause them to have a "Merry Christmas!" It is the love of our Abba Father (Daddy!); Christ, our hope of glory; and the joy of the Holy Spirit shining forth as light through our lives that God can use to woo people.

On this first day of Advent when we are reminded of the hope we have in Jesus, may you and I live and move and have our beings in Jesus so much so that His love, grace, mercy, peace, and all fruit of the Spirit overflows to all that we meet.  

Come let us adore Him! Shepherd, Sacrifice, Salvation!

Come let us adore Him!

Resurrection, Refiner, Refuge, Righteous,

Radiant, Renewer, Ransom, Refresher, Receiver,

Road, Rewarder, Restorer, Rock, Rest,

Son, Servant,

Savior!

Come let us adore Him!

Maker, Most High, Meek, Merciful,

Majesty, Nigh, Nourisher,

Omniscient, Omnipresent, Omnipotent, Only-Begotten,

Overcomer, Prince of Peace, Patient, Protector, Provider,

Praise-Worthy, Precious, Pardoning, Pure, Prayer-Hearing,

Queller of Storms, Redeemer!

Dec. 19, 2010

Come let us adore Him!

King, Kinsman, Keeper, Kind, Key,

Lamb of God, LORD,

Light, Life, Love, Leader,

Long-suffering, Lowly, Mighty,

Messiah!

Dec. 18, 2010

Come let us adore Him!

Our Guide, Guardian

Good, Great, Glorious, Gracious,

Gift and Giver, Gatherer, Gardener, Goal,

Holy, Hallowed, Humble, Habitation, Hiding-Place,

Hope, Healer, Hand, Home, the I AM!

Incarnate Word, Instructor, Immortal, Incomprehensible,

Incomparable, Infinite, Invisible, Infallible, Invincible, Intercessor,

Joy, Jesus!

Celebrate Jesus -- December 17, 2010

Come let us adore Him!

Counselor -- "For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace." (Isaiah 9:6)

Creator, Carpenter, Captain, Conqueror, Chosen One, Companion, Cornerstone,

Compassionate, Comforter, Dayspring,

Dwelling Place, Deliverer, Defender, Delight,

Desire, Door, Emmanuel, Everlasting, Eternal,

Expert, Encourager, Example, Exalted,

Friend, Faithful,

God.

O Come Let Us Adore HIM!

Alpha -- Alpha and Omega, the first and last, the beginning and end (Rev. 22:13)

Almighty, Awesome, Adored, Advocate -- "And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous." (1 John 2:16)

Ancient of Days, Anchor of our souls, the Answer and the Answerer,

The Amen -- "Jesus is the great 'Yes' to all God's promises to us...Come to Me so that you can see yourself as you really are...Yes, you can be glad to die to self for My love has more for you than you can see or think..." (At the Name of Jesus)

The Anointed, the Author and Finisher (Perfecter) of our faith

Our All in All, Atonement, Abounding Authority, Bread of life,

Breath, Brother, Bridegroom, Blessed and Blesser, Beloved

Burden-Bearer, Barrier-Breaker, Boundless, Bountiful, Christ.