Category: Holiday

Born is the King

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born-is-the-kingThe people walking in darkness
have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of deep darkness
a light has dawned.
You have enlarged the nation
and increased their joy;
they rejoice before you
as people rejoice at the harvest,
….
For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the greatness of his government and peace
there will be no end.
He will reign on David’s throne
and over his kingdom,
establishing and upholding it
with justice and righteousness
from that time on and forever.

spoken by the prophet Isaiah around 700 BC

Christmas Thoughts

The incongruity of the festive, popular trappings and the dark, lonely struggles makes this time of year especially difficult for many people.

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This time of year is a joyful, festive time of year filled with family time, days off from work, presents given and received and celebration. At least, that is how this time of year is billed to be; and I often it is, for most of us, for the most part, a joyful time of year. But, life does not live up to the billing or expectations.

I checked Facebook this morning when I awoke. A high school classmate reports that his wife, mother of his daughters, went to “be with the angels” last night. A friend I met in college said goodbye to his mother yesterday, and she is no longer with us today. An acquaintance I know through wrestling described a colleague, only a few months past 50, who passed yesterday. Another high school friend asked for prayers for his daughter, going on two weeks in the hospital. Another friend from high school started chemo again this week.

These are only a few examples of the people I know who are struggling with loss, sickness and other difficulties right now. I am painfully aware that this joyful time of year is anything but happy for people dealing with financial difficulties, health problems and other struggles.

The incongruity of the festive, popular trappings and the dark, lonely struggles makes this time of year especially difficult for many people.

In quiet reflection, we know that the reason for celebration is not in the popular trappings. We celebrate the birth of Christ and the hope He brings.

Implicit in the story of God shedding his omnipresence and exchanging an eternal, omnipotent position for the humble circumstance of a dependent, newborn baby is that God is not unaware or unable to identify with us in our humanity and our struggles. He is not unaccustomed to our suffering.

Jesus Christ became Emmanuel, God with us, as foretold many centuries before. He lived as we live and suffered as we suffer. Jesus felt the weight of depression and the sorrow of loss. He intimately knows our struggles.

As we consider and celebrate the birth of Christ this time of year, we should focus our attention on the context and the purpose for which He was born – to bear in Himself the sin of mankind, to carry that burden to the cross, to die and to bury the sin he carried; and to rise, conquering both sin and death.

The hope that Jesus gives us is not the promise of no suffering, but the promise of redemption and new life on the other side of the suffering.

We have a God who is not distant. He, even is now, poised at the door to each of our hearts. He is still Emmanuel – God with us. He is also now God in us – if we are willing to receive Him. I pray that you would open the door to Him today and receive the hope He has to give.

Though life is often marked by loss, sorrow and suffering, we have hope. I wish and pray for God to fill each person this Christmas Season with that hope and, with it, peace and comfort and, yes, even joy.

In the midst of the difficulties and struggles, we can have joy. Our hope is not in the things of this world. Our hope is anchored in something deeper and more substantial.

In that vein, have a Merry Christmas everyone!

 

A Message in a Manger

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“God put eternity into the hearts of men”, said the writer of Ecclesiastes, and Jesus is the answer to that longing that is built into us.

We live imperfect, flawed lives, and then we die. We came from dust and to dust we return, and “all is meaningless”, according to the writer of Ecclesiastes. When Jesus Christ was born, however, all of that changed.

The sins and wrongs of fathers and mothers pass down to their sons and daughters and have done so from the beginning. In Jesus, God introduced a new lineage and a new possibility. Born a man, but also born of God, through Jesus comes the answer to the finite frailty of humankind.

The birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is the core of the Gospel. If Jesus did not rise from the dead, all of our hope is in vain. If miracles are not real, then the atheists are right that we are to be despised. If Jesus did not rise from the dead, there is no escape from injustices, and they will never be righted in this life or by the oblivion to follow.

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Finding Quiet in the Holiday Noise

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The Christian world rushes head long into another holiday season. The horses were straining at the gate weeks ago. Christmas sales were advertised before we threw out the pumpkins. The turkey population has experienced a significant decline. The holiday season has been in full-on assault. It will climax at midnight on New Year’s Eve.

How many holiday seasons have I experienced that came at me like a garish parade and left me with nothing but the sound of ringing in my ears? Too many!

My sincere hope is not to miss the deep meaning of our celebration this time around as the clamor fades into the cold, quiet night of winter. The trite but true “meaning of Christmas” is not found in the holiday rush, but in warm quiet reflection on what hope arose with the birth of the baby Jesus.

The Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed One, Wonderful Counselor, Prince of Peace, Lord of Lords and King of Kings!

Jesus did not come with fanfare. Wise men had to seek him out, and they found him in a humble, quiet manager. They found him away from the bustle of the world.

He might be easily missed under the glare of neon lights in streets filled with frantic shoppers. He is easily forgotten in crowded shopping malls where rudeness often trumps good will. He is often ignored in the festivities of loud holiday parties.

Those things come at us like an assault on our senses. If we are not prepared for the onslaught, we will be swept up in the raucous current and deposited in the backwater at the end of another holiday season. Wishing we had done things differently languishes in the regret of the good intentions that haunt us when the lights and noise dim, leaving us emptier for the unrequited desire of wishing we had done better.

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