Christmas Musings Day 25

Everything For Him

John 1:3 (ESV) ³ All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.

               If you watch my Facebook feed, aside from finding out that I’m quite boring, you will come to know that I enjoy astronomical phenomena. I greet each new image from either the Webb or Hubble Space-Based telescopes with great joy. I find the vast panorama of stars, galaxies, and dust-clouds entrancing. I spend too much time gazing and imagining. I like to think of creation, not the argument between the old and new earth crowds. No, I like to think of incomprehensible intellect that conceived of such grandeur and beauty and then breathed it into existence from nothing. Imagine the might that brought our reality into existence deciding to enter into it as a participant.

               He planned and executed the very star that heralded His birth, making sure it started shining at just the right time. He conceived of hay, knowing that His first bed would be lined with it. I do not know if the swaddling cloths were wool, cotton, or linen, but He thought of those weavable materials, understanding that they would warm against the chill of that first night. He envisioned and then fashioned pregnancy and then spent nine months, or so, of His life in a womb. He placed a hill outside Jerusalem, knowing that He would die there. He orchestrated all of it, understanding that one day He would alter Himself to participate in it. The one who flung the stars into space and set up the orbits of the sun, earth, moon, and other planets would one day crane His neck to gaze in wonder at the beauty He created. 

Christmas Musings Day 24

Rascal Rehabilitation

Genesis 28:4-5, 14 (ESV) ⁴ May he give the blessing of Abraham to you and to your offspring with you, that you may take possession of the land of your sojournings that God gave to Abraham!” ⁵ Thus Isaac sent Jacob away. And he went to Paddan-aram, to Laban, the son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah, Jacob's and Esau's mother…¹⁴ Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and in you and your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.

               Normally, we do not recount the story of Jacob as part of Advent. I understand why. Jacob does not play a pivotal role in the birth of the Messiah. He does hold a place in the lineage of Jesus, making an appearance in both genealogies. But we do not read about him in any of the Advent accounts; consequently, you will not find a Jacob figurine in any Nativity set. Perhaps we should reconsider. Jacob starts off as a bit of a rascal. He’s not the kind of guy you want to hang out with, or if you do, keep your hand on your wallet. In fact, when God extends His promise to Jacob, he is fleeing his brother. Despite his character flaws, God extends the promise to him and Jacob responds positively. God works with him, rehabilitating him, making him something new. So new, that God changes his name from Jacob, “supplanter,” interpreted as someone who seizes, circumvents, or usurps to Israel, meaning “contended with God.” Israel emerges from the ashes of Jacob and takes his place as part of God’s great Advent story, which gives me great hope.

               You see, those who know me most intimately know that I’m a failed person. Oh, I’m better than I used to be. Life has a way of scuffing off rough edges; but, I still have foibles, some grievous ones. But these weaknesses do not keep me out of God’s plan. As He worked with Jacob, turning him into Israel, He works with me, weaving me into the tapestry of His plan. He takes me as I am but is unwilling to let me remain a rascal. He bends with the remover to remove. So in those dark moments of self-examination when I realize the true depth of my personal failure, I can rest assured that He still has a plan to redeem my life. That is what Advent is all about, redeeming the rascals. 

Christmas Musings Day 23

Empty, Away

Luke 1:53 (ESV) ⁵³ he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty.

               I like to think of myself as average American Middle-Class, neither too poor nor too rich. In some ways, there is a certain amount of intellectual snobbery involved in this. Whenever the conversation turns to what “the rich” ought to do, I am talking about someone else; however, that is not reality. If look worldwide, I’m among the elite wealthy. Depending upon which calculator I use, I fall somewhere in the upper ten percent of the world’s population. That puts me closer to the Donald Trumps and Bill Gates of this world than most of the rest of the teeming masses that populate our globe. I do not like thinking of myself this way and it bothers me to type these words. But if you are reading this missive, the same would be true for you. As citizens of the U.S. “middle-class,” we enjoy a historically unprecedented affluent lifestyle. No matter how you parse the data, we are rich. Through Advent, God says some challenging things to us.

               Mary, in her beautiful outpouring of adoration, speaks to the purpose of Advent. God engaged in the Advent story to radically alter how our world functions. We place great emphasis on power and the acquisition of wealth and influence. It is hard to escape this mindset. But the Lord wants to shake things up. In the Magnificat, Mary provides the details. Later Jesus would say similar things in the Sermon on the Mount. Those of us who are proud can expect to be humbled. Those of us who enjoy positions of power can expect to lose our place. Those who endure lowly place can expect to be lifted up. The poor and destitute can expect to find fulfillment. Those of us who are rich can expect to be sent, empty away. Empty away. That is the antithesis of what I expect at Christmas, but Mary, and the prophets of old, cry out with this sobering message. But if I fear the Lord, His mercy is great. Perhaps if I let Him have His way, I can be part of His reorganization of this world, helping those I meet that have great need.

Christmas Musings Day 22

In the Fullness of Time

Galatians 4:4 (AKJV) ⁴ but when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, … You might note that the ESV uses the same phrasing,

               As an English teacher, I love scripture. The writers, under the unction of the Holy Spirit, penned some of the best texts ever. While I normally read from the English Standard Version, I do love the full resonate words in the King James Version. They very carefully crafted that version to read well, and it does. They labored to find the exact words, even inventing new words and phrases to try and carry the meaning. This scripture demonstrates the good effect of their care exceptionally.

               “When the fulness of time was come.” One of the great mysteries of Advent is this idea of the time being exactly right. All the lines of history, spiritual and human, and all the physical components of the universe aligned properly. Then came the pregnant pause. All creation holds its breath as the Creator readies Himself for His grand entrance, but when the fulness of time was come, He appeared. And the vast majority of His creation missed it. A few shepherds showed up because they got a special invite. Some time later, perhaps three years later, a wandering band of magi showed up, but the rest of the world simply continued to turn unaware of the magnitude of Advent, and not much has changed.

               Each year we must fight the temptation to give in to the crush of the holiday season. All the hurry distracts from the contemplative side of Christmas. Advent calls us to slow down. The fulness of time has passed. We can take a few moments to consider the impact of Advent, historically and within our hearts. What things are ripe for enacting? Are there words of contrition or encouragement that I need to speak? Are there weak and halt near me that need some help at this time? What fulness of time has come for me?

               

Christmas Musings Day 21

Dependence

Luke 2:7 (ESV) ⁷ And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.

               I enjoy teaching high school students…most of the time. When motivated, they engage in near-adult conversations, often developing thoughts that surprise and teach me; however, they bring their own special challenges to the classroom. Chief among these challenges is a burning desire for independence. All my students make the casual assumption that they do not need any help with anything. With all the seriousness that they can muster, they will look me in the face and tell me that I do not know what I am talking about, or that what I am teaching them has no real application in their future. They find it impossible to conceive of a problem that they cannot answer. They yearn for independence. Every year I have students that connive and plot to graduate early, thinking they have nothing left to learn. Sometimes I must bite my lip to avoid laughing in their serious faces. I was just the same, though not as vocally rude about it. There is something about our makeup that rebels against depending upon anyone; but, the creator of the universe gladly made himself dependent upon a very young, inexperienced woman.

               If you can, imagine what that jarring experience was like. One moment you’re managing the universe, ensuring that the planets move in their appointed path, that the sun continues to burn at the right temperature, and that the tides rise and fall appropriately. The next you’re a drooly baby that cannot feed itself or change a poopy diaper. All you can really do is cry when you want something and coo or gurgle happily when your teenage mother meets your needs. This is a major exercise in dependence. The voice that spoke our universe into existence, can only wail hopefully when it needs burping. The hands that crafted woman from a rib can only flail aimlessly. The feet that strode across the stars, and soon a small sea, will have to learn how to crawl, stand, toddle, and then run. The true master of the universe agreed to be so helpless and powerless that a mere teenager was more powerful and wiser. If the Son of God could submit to that kind of humiliation, what keeps me from bending my knee to help the helpless?  

Christmas Musings Day 20

The Word Became Flesh

John 1:14 (ESV) ¹⁴ And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

               Advent awakens wonder in me, childlike wonder. As a little boy growing up in West-Texas, I loved the Christmas season, lights, decorations, carols, movies, food, and the presents combined to create a sense of wonder and enchantment which made the Holiday Season special. As I aged, my understanding of Advent deepened. Christmas took on a more nuanced meaning. Do not misunderstand me, all the Christmas traditions still thrill me. Sometime in the next few days, I will drive around Lubbock enjoying all the lights. My scale reminds me that I still love holiday foods. Each evening Christy and I still enjoy our traditional favorite Christmas movies…and some new ones. But now, Advent introspections push me in a different, hopefully, deeper, direction.

               During Advent, the miracle of the Incarnation, and all its attendant implications, consumes my thought-life. During the past two millennia, theologians have struggled mightily to understand the Incarnation with varying degrees of success. I cannot expect to add anything new to the mighty pile, but the marvelous wonder of Advent compels me to try. That God would send His son, stripping Him of His might, glory, and incandescence, to live as one of us, His creation, amazes me. As a soldier, I lived and moved in a rank-conscious world. We worked hard for every promotion and cherished the honors that came with them. Freely setting them aside never entered our minds, not for a moment. But Jesus willingly set them aside and entered His creation as one of the created to rub shoulders and truly get His hands, now that He had them, dirty. Most of us would not willingly give up our parking spaces, much less transcendent creative power. Jesus endured time’s greatest downgrade to save me. He traveled from the palaces of heaven to a straw-lined manger so that I might live. 

Christmas Musings Day 19

A Personal Cost

Luke 1:38 (ESV) ³⁸ And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.

               We live in an age of self-gratification, ease, and comfort. I struggle to get my students to read difficult novels. If I do not administer a quiz over reading assignments, they will not do them. Even with the threat of a poor quiz grade, many students accept a lower course average rather than complete an onerous task. When I ask them why they fight me so, they settle on one of two answers, “it’s boring,” or “it takes too much time.” They struggle with complex readings that require multiple passes to apprehend. They want everything in bullets with the bottom line up front. They consider personal comfort a prime motivator, and I’m not any better.

               We recently purchased some new furniture and I spent a lot of time in the store testing out the comfort level of many recliners…not a bad gig if you ask me. I too find myself measuring goodness in either time saved or personal comfort. I chafe when a business takes too long to get back to me. When I’m working with a computer, I want lightning-fast download speeds. Latency drives me nuts! Like the rest of my culture, I want things done my way and I want my comfort. I disdain things that bother me. In Advent, God shows a shocking disregard for the comfort level of those He called.

               All of the prime players in Advent found their lives disrupted, significantly disrupted. In some ways, it seems like God sought to make their lives uncomfortable as if participating in Advent entailed a commitment to suffer. Joseph endured whispers of either indiscretion or being cuckolded, neither a good thing. Yet, he agreed to serve the Lord as requested. He endured an additional nine months of celibacy, followed by a long trek with a pregnant mother to Bethlehem. Then, as if that were not enough, just as things settled down, he uprooted his family, fleeing to Egypt. Being the father of a newborn is difficult when things go well. Then Joseph found himself serving as the earthly father of the Messiah, a truly monumental task. To walk as Joseph did, by faith, implies acceptance of disruption to our daily schedule or even life plan. Advent makes me consider how seriously I take God’s call on my life. Advent plunged Joseph’s life into turmoil and is quite likely to have the same effect on mine. What areas of my life do I withhold from God’s continuing celebration of Advent?