Christmas Presence

Over the past many years I’ve had my share of Christmas presents.  It seems like they fall into 3 broad groups.

The first group is the largest – these are the gifts that I thought I really, really, really, wanted (or needed) only to have their novelty wear off after a short time.  I wish I could say that this occurred only when I was a child but that isn’t so.  These gifts end up in closets, or garage sales, or garbage cans within a few years or months.  The pleasure and satisfaction associated with these gifts is even more fleeting than they are and they were cast aside as I grew bored with them.

The second group is the present, often from a distant relative, that is useful but certainly not exciting.  I remember these gifts in my childhood as consisting of clothes – sweaters, socks, and so on.  For a young boy, these were anything but fun.  Although I wanted these gifts to “disappear”, they usually stayed around because of their practicality.  But certainly there was no pleasure or satisfaction associated with them, and I would get rid of them as soon as I could.

I have only had about two gifts that fit into the last group. These are the gifts that have continued to give me joy over many years of use.  While I don’t use them daily, I use them at least once a week on average.  They are the “Best Gifts Ever”.  I would never give them away.

Advent is now over, and Christmas is here.  It is the time when we celebrate God’s “Best Gift Ever” to us.  That gift is, of course, Jesus Christ.  But I think the miracle of Christmas – the miracle of the gift – is best summed up in one word – Immanuel.  God promised this gift through his prophets in the Old Testament…”Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:14).  Immanuel means “God with us”.  This is the scandalous gift of Christmas.  It is not just that God freed us from our bondage.  It is not just that God found a way for us to be with Him in heaven.  It is that God came down to be with us while we were still sinners.  God set aside everything He is entitled to and dwelt among us as a baby in a barn.  Born to lowly parents, not Kings.  Greeted by shepherds, not priests.  Sought out by foreigners, not by the people He came to.  This is the Christmas present that God gave to us 2000 years ago.  This is what separates Christianity from all other religions, for no other religion’s god sets aside his godhead to enter into relationship with his creation.  Allah does not do this.  Vishna does not do this.  Buddha does not do this.  Only Jesus does this.

So, what to do with this gift?  How to treat it?  We could initially accept it with joy, but not grow into it, eventually casting it off like so many presents of Christmases past.  We could accept it as a “necessity” without finding any joy in it and getting rid of it at the first opportunity.  Or, we could accept it as the Best Gift Ever and use it monthly, weekly, daily – even minute by minute. 

The gift has been given.  God give me the grace to accept it with the excitement, joy, honor, and reverence it is due.

Anticipation part 2

At a recent church planting conference, one statement that really got me thinking was this:  “God doesn’t have a people with a mission.  He has a mission with a people”.  This has several implications:

1)      This takes the focus off of you, and puts it on God.  It’s not about what you want, or what God can do for you.  It’s about what God wants, and what you can do for God.  This is the vertical relationship in our lives.  This means focusing on God, and directing others toward God.  The Bible is full of details about how we should approach God – with fear, with reverence, with worship, with love.

2)      This takes the focus off of you, and puts it on the people that are God’s mission field.  It’s not about you, it’s about others.  This is the horizontal relationship in our lives.  The Bible is full of details about who God’s mission field is.  It seems to deal a lot with widows, orphans, the poor, the sick, the lame, the prisoners – the “lost, the least, and the last”.

3)      You’re not really God’s person unless you’re on God’s mission.  And that mission is crystallized in the junction of a vertical relationship and a horizontal relationship – represented by the cross.

4)      So, the cross should be the center of our focus.  When our eyes are focused on the cross, we are drawn into God’s mission.

So, what does this have to do with being still?  ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!  Because sometimes we’re NOT called to be still.  Last time we talked about the anticipation that comes with being pregnant, and how it is a time of expectation.  It is not really a time of “being still” because there is a lot going on.  That includes telling the world about the pregnancy!  “We’re gonna have a baby!”  Family is told, friends are told, co-workers are told, face-book is told….anyone and everyone is told.  It is also a time of celebration – baby showers with games and gifts and laughter.  So it is a time of anticipation, of proclamation, and of celebration.  Sounds kind of like how we should be approaching the whole “focus on God” thing, doesn’t it?  This advent season, as we celebrate God’s work already done, and anticipate His work yet to come, shouldn’t we also be proclaiming this?  I’m not talking about the “Jesus is the reason for the season” buttons, or the “Let’s put Christ back in CHRISTmas”.  I’m talking about actually sitting down and telling a family member, a friend, a co-worker about what Jesus has done in your life and what Jesus could do in theirs.  I’m talking about inviting someone to join you in relationship with Jesus.  I’m talking about getting out this season and actually touching some of those people that Jesus talks about in Matthew 11:2-5.  Touch them by meeting their needs – money, food, clothing, shelter, freedom from drugs or human trafficking.  And LOVE them.  Hold their hand.  Brush their hair.  Wash their feet.  Hug them.  Walk alongside them.  And most of all, tell them about Jesus as you do it.

There is one more implication in our saying about God’s people and God’s mission…

            5)  If you don’t do the mission, God will find someone else.  In Luke 19:39-40 God makes this abundantly clear – God’s mission (both proclamation and action) will be done.  The fact is, God doesn’t need us to do it…but He does invite us.  That is the wonder of the Christian God – that He invites us into relationship with Him.  Let’s take some time this advent season to anticipate, celebrate, and proclaim that wonder.

God bless,

John

Anticipation

If you’re my age, you probably remember the old Heinz ketchup commercials that dealt with waiting?  First there was the song “Anticipation is making me wait”, but my favorite was this one.  Or, if you’re not my age, you may remember one of the best lines from the Rocky Horror Picture Show:  “I see you shiver with antici…………………………………………………………………pation. (Tim Curry did a great job on that line!)  Anyway, anticipation is definitely the word of the season.  What season you ask?  Glad you asked.  Advent.  Occurring between Thanksgiving and Christmas, it lasts only 4 weeks making it the shortest season of the Christian calendar.  Unfortunately, because of the timing, it is also one of the most overlooked seasons as well.  Between the rush of cooking Thanksgiving dinner, black Friday, Cyber Monday, all the other Christmas shopping, cleaning the house, getting ready for relatives, studying for finals (put that one in there just for you, Becky) and who knows what else, there is little time left to….anticipate.  Yup, that’s what advent is all about.  Anticipation.  Some would say it’s about waiting, but it’s more than that.  It’s about waiting with hope.  But it’s more than that, it’s waiting with a hope of certainty.  Hebrews 11:1 says “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see”.  THAT’S the kind of anticipation I’m talkin’ about!

So what does that anticipation look like?  Well, I’ve seen something like it several times in my life, but I think one of the best examples is pregnancy (no wonder we say the mother is “expecting”!)  The thing about pregnancy is we all know it’s going to end – it is just a brief time before “the big event”.  There are several characteristics of that time:  first (as most moms will tell you) even though it’s a “short time”, it doesn’t always seem that way.  In fact, it can seem to go on forever!  Second, this isn’t just a time of waiting.  Parents spend the time of pregnancy getting ready for the baby.  Building a nursery, choosing a name, buying clothes, etc.  That time also involves keeping the mother healthy – eating a good diet, taking prenatal vitamins, and so on.

This brings us back to Advent, at several levels.  First, Advent sets our minds back to the time “between” the Old and New Testament – the time of waiting for the Messiah, Jesus.  Second, it sets our minds forward to Jesus’ second coming.  In the first instance, we know it was a limited time.  In the second instance, we must rely on that faith mentioned in Hebrews 11.  In the first instance, the Israelites weren’t ready for Jesus.  In the second….?

So…..here’s my question about this advent.  How do I practice the discipline of anticipation?  What can I do over the next 3 weeks (yup, already one week behind!) to anticipate Christmas and everything it represents (past and present)?  I’m still working on that, but I suspect (looking at past blog entries) it has something to do with 1) being deliberate, 2) focusing on Jesus, 3) spending time in God’s presence, and 4) being still (not just physically, but mentally and emotionally).

shivering with anticipation,

John