Behold the Lamb

I want to close this Advent devotional with a scripture reading. Two actually. This whole little experiment in writing was titled “Behold the Lamb” and so I want end by going back to the two passages that I had running in my mind as I wrote this devotional.

First, John 1:29-34:

“The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said: ‘Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! This is he of whom I said, ‘after me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.’  I myself did not know him, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel.” And John bore witness: “I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ And I have seen and borne witness that this is the Son of God.”

John admonishes us.

Behold. Look. Pay attention. You don’t want to miss this!

Jesus is the Son of God, the Lamb who take away our sins.

Our second passage gives us a glimpse of how that happens. Isaiah 53 gives us Christ’s story hundreds of years in advance and couldn’t be a better way to close out our reflections on Christmas:

“Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had not form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces hew was despised and we esteemed him not.

            Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned- every one- to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

            He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.

            By oppression and judgment was he taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people? And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.

            Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he was put to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many and makes intercession for the transgressors.”

How beautiful it is to realize that from Mary’s womb to the empty tomb, God planned it all for your sake and mine.

Take a moment to reread the second passage and take account of two things: what Christ endured and what we received. The lists are astounding.

I often ask myself “when was the last time you were ‘undone’ by the power and beauty of Jesus and the gospel?” Today, behold the Lamb and reflect on that question. Perhaps it is pride that needs to be undone. Or comfort. Or bitterness and anger. Or an unrepentant heart.

Let Jesus the Lamb “undo” the sin, pride, and brokenness in your life and replace them with hope and joy and peace. That was the message of the first Christmas and remains the message today. Let this season point ahead to Easter where Isaiah 53 “undoes” all our sins and sorrows.

That's What Christmas is All About

For Christmas eve I want to borrow from “A Charlie Brown Christmas”. It still makes me cry and it still amazes me that it gets played on broadcast television.

The mishaps of the lovable Charlie Brown generally leave him in a state of melancholy. He can’t quite seem to keep up with the consumerism and traditions and pace and joy of those around him through the season. He comes to the point where he has pursued all that the world and others have tried to sell him for Christmas and he still isn’t satisfied. It is at this point where he asks a question:

“Isn’t there anyone who can tell me what Christmas is all about?”

Little Linus, thumb in mouth and security blanket close to his side, asks for the lights to be dimmed and steps up to the microphone:

“And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them:

Fear not: for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you: You shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.’

That’s what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.”

Linus, timid, meek little Linus steps forward in that moment to provide the clarity that Charlie Brown desired. Until last year I had never noticed a beautiful moment in that scene. As he quotes: “and the angel said unto them ‘fear not’” Linus drops his security blanket. With assurances from heaven and an understanding of who Christ is, Linus in that moment drops the very thing that has come to define him: a security blanket.

If you are in Christ you have no need to carry in your heart all sorts of security blankets: bank accounts, reputation, good schools, and so many other things. They are not bad things. They just don’t provide the security we need most.

To follow Christ is to be covered in an eternal security blanket. His blood covers and comforts and brings peace, joy, and hope. The security you may desire, the longing for stability in our fractured world, isn’t going to be found anywhere else. Jesus’ death and resurrection is not just a blanket for comfort. It is a rock and a fortress and an ever present help in need.

Let Linus’ example bring you peace this holiday season. You will open no better present than the one already given in the manger.

His Timeline or Yours?

I have the patience of a 5 year old which makes parenting a 3, 6, and 8 year old a bit interesting. Not a day goes by where I don’t find myself praying for God to give me more (patience, not children).

I wish I had the patience of Simeon. He spent a lifetime waiting for the first Christmas. To borrow from C.S. Lewis, it was “always winter, never Christmas” as Simeon waited for the promised Messiah. In Luke 2 we read get his backstory:

“Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.”

Simeon is such a good example to us. My typical, impatient response to long waits usually involves a retort of “finally” or “about time”. My expectations can turn in to entitlement which robs me of the chance to experience gratitude.

Simeon, in his waiting, never let entitlement slip into his longing. His response to seeing Jesus was one of joy and gratitude and worship. Simeon provides a perfect model of patience: being filled with the Holy Spirit and living a righteous and devout life.

Too often in our walks with God we allow entitlement to creep into our hopes and expectations. In my own life I can treat answered prayers as what is owed me. Or I can become petulant and whiny in my prayer life as I wait for God to remove a burden or obstacle. Perhaps I am alone in getting frustrated in the waiting, but I’d imagine there are others who experience the same thing.

This Christmas I want to encourage your heart to be grateful for the work God is doing in your life, even when it doesn’t happen according to your timelines. Waiting on God is tough business for sure but we can rest in God’s goodness and faithfulness, knowing that he will act in the fullness of time to bring about our salvation. 

Fullness of Time

Four hundred years pass between Old and New Testaments. I’m sure more than a few prayers went up to the Lord in those years wondering what was going on. They were probably similar to many of our prayers.

I need more patience?

What am I waiting for?

Are you listening Lord?

How long?

It would be really nice if…

Things have gotten pretty rough down here.

Do you care?

I’ve been praying!

If you…then I’ll…

It’s hard Lord to not get distracted or discouraged.

Couldn’t you do something to change this?

I’m so weary and exhausted…

You did it for …why can’t you do it for me?

What are you teaching me in this?

Can’t you see people laughing, mocking, scoffing?

And then in the fullness of time, Emmanuel, God with us, broke into those prayers providing the yes and amen to all of God’s promises. Jesus is still Emmanuel and still in the business of bringing his very person into the midst of our prayers.

Heartaches. Sorrows. Illness. Longings. Anxieties. Questions and doubts. Confusion. Weariness.

Whatever your concerns are this Christmas, know that Jesus Emmanuel is waiting and His timing is perfect. When he breaks into the world and into your life he brings light and life. He wants to proclaim peace and joy over your life as you learn to rest in him. 

The "Why?" of Christmas

There is so much about Jesus that doesn’t make sense. Ancient prophecies, virgin births, lowly stable, religious opposition, miracles and healings, God become man, power laid aside, an innocent death, and the resurrection. There are mysteries with each one. Wondrous things too great for our minds to make sense of.

Scripture has other mysteries, other things we debate and study and re-examine. The gospel itself has unknown depth and width and we keep exploring and surrendering to it.

Within all of these mysteries there is one thing that scripture makes absolutely clear. If you have trusted in Christ you can know without any second guessing that all of those other mysteries were for your sake. It was love that brought these things about.

The oaths, covenants, and promises of the old testament are about love for you. Guidance and direction and hope for you. The bread and the wine are a remembrance of that love for you. Baptism shows that we are covered by God’s love when we accept his death and resurrection as our own.

Jesus was not just a moral teacher or a good example. He is not just one among many wise people to whom we can look. He is singular in his power and righteousness. He alone offers salvation.

The clarity surrounding Jesus’ purpose of coming to redeem you is shouted from scriptures all over the place. You are bought, adopted, redeemed, transformed, given new life, justified, forgiven and so many more things.

So we come to the manger and we have some questions on how a virgin gave birth. And on how he ended up as a king in a stable. And on how it works for God to become a man. Or on what he was like as a child or how a watching and waiting Israel didn’t recognize him.

But none of those questions should ever obscure the “why?”

You. He wrapped up all those mysteries in the act of redemption for you. Compelled by love, mercy and justice. Brokenhearted over sin and brokenness. For the sake of the glory of his name. Jesus did it all, as confusing as some of it may be, for you.

Celebrate yourself this Christmas. Do it with humility and contrition and with great focus on your identity in Christ. Jesus thought the praise of his name and the presence of you in eternal worship as worth it all. 

Peace on Earth!

Take the last few days before Christmas to "prepare him room". Turn off your screens. Quit consuming "news" and instead be consumed by the Good News.

"The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it!"

Eager Anticipation

I have a co-worker who gets anxious every year to get Christmas decorations set up as soon as possible. His “acceptable” decoration time frame is at least a few weeks ahead of most people’s timelines. One year I started an office pool where everyone guessed on what day and at what time he would put out the request for decorations to go up. I lost but we had a lot of fun with it around the office. It was our own mini season of Advent waiting.

The waiting was for something silly and the stakes were inconsequential: I had offered a gift card to a local bakery. But something about the experience of collective anticipation was enjoyable and created a different kind of energy around the office. From that time I learned that there are two kinds of waiting that most people experience. The first is tiresome and leaves you asking “how long?” which is another version of kid's dreaded "are we there yet?" The second kind of waiting is hopeful, joyful, and eager. It watches and listens attentively with joy hiding just under the surface.

Israel’s waiting for Jesus had probably turned mostly into the first type: wearying, lonesome at times, and full of “how long” questions. This makes sense and is a perfectly acceptable way to wait on the Lord. Sin in and around us makes our hearts beg for God to show up.At the same time, I think we always ought to hold onto the second type of waiting even in our “how long” moments. I’d imagine the angels spent untold ages waiting for Jesus. In 1 Peter 2:12 we learn that indeed angels were longing to look into the mysteries of Christ’s coming.

Theirs was a waiting carried out in the presence of God. Knowing they would at one point in time be able to share their joy in knowing him with humans in the midst of our brokenness must have created tremendous joyful waiting. Imagine the happy, adrenaline-filled moment before the big group “SURPRISE!” at a surprise birthday extended out for ages. That was the angels waiting.

In our world we mingle both kinds of waiting. We know Jesus in a very real sense and do experience joy. We also struggle with sin, both our own and the world’s, and ask “how long oh Lord?”  The season of Advent is about waiting to celebrate the infant Jesus even as we await his glorious return. With Christmas coming, find some balance so that your “how long” weariness is mixed with the joyful “surprise party” anticipation. Luke 2:9-14 have been helpful for me:

“And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heaving host praising God and saying,

            “Glory to God in the Highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”

I hope you experience the “joy bubbling just beneath the surface” kind of waiting this Christmas.

This Little Light of Mine

Arise, shine, for your light has come,

And the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.

For behold, darkness shall cover the earth,

And thick darkness the peoples;

But the Lord will arise upon you,

And his glory will be seen upon you.

God who spoke light and space and flesh and blood into being has shone light upon us in Jesus Christ. He has re-created our hearts and souls in the glorious knowledge of Jesus.

The shepherds saw that light and went away praising and proclaiming His glory. The wise men saw that light and traveled vast distances with extravagant gifts. The jealous Herod heard of that light and ordered genocide.

The light of God shining upon us from the manger and in Jesus Christ is a terrible and wonderful thing to behold.

And yet, it is so easy to fear showing that light too brightly. What timid lives we so often live.

We don’t want to offend. We don’t want to create conflict. We don’t want to become uncomfortable. We keep our voices silent and our actions timid and our generosity calculated.

We allow gift giving and cookie baking and house decorating to consume our hearts and minds. We let family feuds lead to icy Christmas meals. We bemoan the consumerism and commercialism and spectacle that has been made of this most holy occasion but do nothing ourselves to change the tide.

At Christmas, when the light of God poured into the world and into that stable there was no hiding. Angels, waiting for untold ages screamed it forth in a blaze of reflected glory.

“In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”

This Christmas may we reflect and refract the light of Jesus in a multitude of splendid ways. Let our generosity and hospitality be uncommon. Let our joy be effusive. Let our forgiveness and patience and gentleness be evident in bright and beautiful ways. Let our lights shine as lamps on lampstands.

Misplaced Desires

I love looking to the future and imagining what might be. I dream about things that are sometimes impossibly far off. Allowing my thoughts to wander in this way is not always a pleasant experience. I get frustrated seeing the difference between reality and my imagined future. My struggles with anxiety stem in part from this gap in my life and in the world. Nothing is ever quite where I would like it to be.

Generation after generation of people in Israel were subjected to such anxiety. They longed for a promised Messiah who would establish their kingdom once and for all. In reading the prophets we don’t see a nostalgic people looking back to the good ole days of David and Solomon. Instead we usually see them looking forward to the coming King.

You’d think a couple hundred years of watching and waiting for this one thing would have helped them recognize Jesus when he finally came on the scene. I know when I finally get what I want I usually notice! Yet we read in John “He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.”

What a tragedy that in all of their waiting and longing they missed it! They had attached all sorts of longings and desires and hopes to the Messiah that they shouldn’t have. When He finally shows up, their primary concerns were these extras desires that fell outside of what they should have truly been looking for.

This has me wondering what works of God I miss in my life because of misplaced desires. Do I long for God himself or simply for benefits that I see him bringing in my life? In my impatience in waiting for God to bring change do I miss seeing God at work in significant ways?

The Advent season is about waiting. It marks Israel’s ancient longing for a Messiah but also our current longing for His return. We are reminded in many places in scripture to be alert and attentive as we wait for the Lord. We have a sure and hopeful expectation for God to fulfill all his promises in and through Jesus Christ. So we, too, continue to wait.

This year, take an inventory of what hopes you have for God’s work in your life. Like Israel, are political, financial, or social desires of first importance? Or is your heart like Simeon’s who, after many long years of waiting, looked upon the baby Jesus with joy. Just seeing and being with Jesus was enough for him and so it should be for us. May your praise this Christmas be like that of Simeon’s in the temple those many years ago:

            “Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel.”

Longing and Desire

Most marriages have ongoing arguments that last years. They are usually pretty petty in nature. In our house, Christmas music is behind one of our longest running disagreements.

My wife is of the type that thinks Christmas music is for a very narrow and specific time and space. I, on the other hand, think our Savior is worth celebrating year round. I realize there are probably more people in my wife’s camp than in mine but that won’t change anything for me.

What I love about Christmas hymns is that many of them capture a big window of history. There are lots of things I love about Christmas music but most important to me, they beautifully express longing and hopeful expectation. Better than any other Christian music these songs express the longings of faithful followers living in a fallen world.

Advent season is meant to commemorate the coming of Jesus as a baby while also pointing to his second coming. From the Latin (and its Greek predecessor) Advent literally means “arrival” or “the coming”. Israel waited and hoped for a coming Messiah. We know that Messiah and now we wait and hope for when he comes again in full glory and power.

Israel endured maniacal leaders, international warfare, social decline, and natural disaster which only heightened their sense of longing for their Messiah. Exchange “Israel” for “Christians today” and it is easy to feel the weight of “O Come, O Come Emmanuel” in a new way. A quick scan of the news shows that not much has changed in this world. It is still fallen and in need of a Savior.

Christmas is made beautiful when we recognize the weightiness of sin in our world and our lives. Jesus only makes sense when we do. The hope and longing found in Christmas hymns helps us see that sin and then helps us look to Jesus as the solution.

This Christmas I pray that you are waiting and longing for Jesus to return in the same way that Israel waited and longed. Not just because the world is so bad but mostly because Jesus is that good.

Come, thou long expected Jesus,

Born to set thy people free;

From our fears and sins release us,

Let us find our rest in thee.

Israel’s strength and consolation,

Hope of all the earth thou art;

Dear desire of every nation,

Joy of every longing heart

Christmas Bruise

Genesis 3 is often seen as the first scriptural glimpse we have of a promised Messiah. In His curse of the serpent, God promises “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” God promises that, at some point in time, an offspring will rise up to deal with the serpent.

The idea conveyed is that the serpent will strike a blow but one of far less severity than what he will receive. I personally would rather have my heel bruised than my head. Of course, on the cross we see an apparent win for the serpent as Jesus dies. Then Sunday comes and we see that the bruised heel lasts only three days while the bruised head means the final and ultimate demise of Satan and death and sin.

The passage of time between the promise in Genesis and the arrival of Jesus is significant. There is plenty of time for doubts to build, for lies and untruth to fester, for hearts to grow fickle and for wayward sheep to wander. For me any wait beyond a few days is difficult. I can’t imagine living in that waiting where time was not measured in years or decades or centuries but ages.

And yet God always gives reason for hope. He is always seen to be at work in providing for and protecting his people. There always is a ‘remnant’ that is faithfully watching and waiting for the Messiah.

In an age of immediacy, I don’t think we fully appreciate that waiting and longing. When the Old Testament writers cry out “how long oh Lord” I don’t think we understand. We can place our waiting within our own short time frames but that waiting is never placed against a backdrop of generations and generations of waiting.

We can order our Christmas presents on Amazon and have them delivered in as short as a few hours, even wrapped if we want. We turn on Netflix or TiVo or YouTube and access whatever it is that we may have missed out on. With our sense of patience and waiting often measured in hours or days it is no wonder that we have a hard time being patience with God in prayer.

Our persistence is pitiable. We multiply our sorrows with our impatience. Rather than resting in God’s goodness and faithfulness, we let our hearts be pulled along by what is seen or touched and felt. We often fail to pray simply because God’s answers to prayers don’t fit our short timelines.

The time between Genesis and Jesus is known in Galatians 4:4 as “the fullness of time”. God’s wisdom chose that huge number of years to pass before an ‘offspring’ was born to finally take care of that serpent.

May the patience of God’s people for all those generations be an encouragement to us. May we pray harder and longer. May we grow in patience. May our hearts rest in the goodness and surety of God’s promises, all the more so because we know that those promises have their yes and amen in Jesus Christ.

The jubilant scenes captured in advent celebration of shepherds, Simeon, angels, wise men, and many others is the fruit of hopeful, expectant waiting. I’m sure you have prayer requests you are carrying with you this season. I can guarantee that you have not yet held out hope for so long as those we witness in Jesus birth.

Hold out hope. Keep fighting in prayer. Keep trusting in God’s goodness. In the fullness of time you will see His wisdom revealed.

Are You Ready?

I went into Target on September 7th. Weird for me. Who likes shopping? Ugh. Even weirder is that they had a display of winter coats and snow pants. On SEPTEMBER 7^TH!  Minnesota is Minnesota but that is straight up crazy. Usually that means that Christmas stuff isn’t too far behind.

To me the early arrival of Christmas stuff leaves me confused in how I should feel. I listen to Christmas music year round so the presence of Christmas things isn’t the primary concern. I know some people think that Christmas decorations and cookies have a pretty small window of time that is acceptable, but I am fairly generous with that window. Ironically, some of the same short-window-for-Christmas people would be happy with a four month pumpkin spice season.

I suppose a part of my confusion over how to handle the early arrival of Christmas stuff is the negative reminder of how materialistic and consumer driven the holiday can become. It is a yearly lament by many Christians that the season has lost a lot of its sacredness to sales pitches for the latest and greatest toys, technology, or cars. This is certainly true.

Some deeper reflection on the early arrival of Christmas stuff reveals that my angst and confusion comes from a sense of not being prepared. We feel such pressure to give the right gifts, deal with family appropriately, honor the right traditions, and so many other things. In the midst of that, as a believer in Christ, I am supposed to prepare my head and heart for what should be a beautiful season of drawing close to God.

That first Christmas display each season, while a sign of consumerism, is also a trigger to my heart that I’m not ready. Not ready to worship. Not ready to wait on the Lord. Not ready to lay aside my to-do list for the sake of time with Him.

With so much to do, with so many people to see, with so many good and fun and worthwhile opportunities in front of me I find my heart unready to truly appreciate Christmas. I often come out the other side of the season having had just that experience.

Christmas is about one thing: Jesus, Emmanuel. It is a celebration of God with us. How much of our time and energy during this season is actually set aside for us to be with God? He has come, has dwelt among us and we often simply carry along choosing the part of Martha rather than the part of Mary.

Choose the good portion this year, like Mary sitting at Jesus' feet, or his mother Mary, treasuring up things in her heart. Get out your calendar if you must and set aside time to be with Emmanuel. He is there and he is waiting. Don’t let the panic or anxiety or frustration that is triggered by all the other Christmas chaos steal from you an opportunity to be with Jesus.

A Simple Christmas

The image of Jesus, our King who holds all things together in his hand, hanging on the cross is hard to really understand. So too, is the thought of him lying in a manger surrounded by animal stench. This is our King?

It is not just some quaint, cute children’s story to talk about baby Jesus in the manger. It is a powerful image of some of the things God values most: humility, meekness, using the “least of these”, and the upside-down values of His kingdom. The only “kingly” thing marking Jesus’ entrance to the world was worship and adoration and praise.

There wasn’t a whole lot to that first Christmas:

Mary’s quieted heart that treasured things up.

Shepherds’ songs of worship and adoration.

The shepherds’ departure and announcement of God’s faithfulness and goodness.

Over it all hung a simple, beautiful, and honest humility that rested in gratitude towards God.

I wonder if in all of our Christmas celebrating we lose out on that simple beauty. Do we really honor God with our gift giving and eating, our busyness and to-do lists? Do we leave time in our lives for things that the first celebration of our King involved?

Fight hard this year for margin, for time off. What have we added to our celebrations that robs us of those opportunities? What do we cling to for the sake of tradition, family, or keeping others happy?

My encouragement to you this Christmas is to simplify: sing some songs, quietly ponder in your heart, share words of God’s goodness, and rest in gratitude. It was enough for Jesus’ birth. 

I'm Fine With Second Place

“Behold, I send my messenger before your face,

Who will prepare your way,

The voice of one crying in the wilderness;

‘Prepare the way of the Lord,

Make his paths straight.’”

I have always thought that John the Baptist got a pretty raw deal in the whole “prepare the way of the Lord” thing.

Now, he is rightly remembered as a hero of the faith, someone whom all believers can point to as a wonderful servant of God. In fact he is an absolutely amazing figure that plays into all four gospel accounts of the birth of Jesus. The story of the birth of Jesus doesn’t get told without mention of John which reveals the esteem with which God holds him.

John was promised centuries before in prophecy. As much as anything else, John himself and his ministry was the sign for Israel that indeed the Messiah had come…truly a remarkable calling and ministry.

And then Jesus shows up on the scene. John spends years living a hippie life of homemade clothing and scavenged food and Jesus visits him to be baptized before going on to start his own ministry, seemingly leaving John in his dust.

Jesus begins calling disciples to his side and certainly John had to be wondering “when is my turn”. John the Baptist, by calling and the empowering of God, should have been the number one draft pick. Instead Jesus picks bumbling idiots like Peter, James, and John.

If I were putting together a team of kingdom builders, John the Baptist would have been at the top of my list. He was a ready-made #2 with years of experience and a clear track record of deep commitment (locusts? really?).

But God’s ways are not our own. There is something to be learned in looking at John the Baptist. You see, John was never motivated by pride or place of privilege. He wasn’t concerned (like the other disciples) about who would be greatest. He simply wanted to make Jesus known.

In John 3:28-30 we see the fullness of John’s humility and joy in making Jesus known:

“You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, ‘I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him.’ The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is now complete. He must increase, but I must decrease.”

Oh that I would be so humble in my life! When Jesus shows up to do what only he can do I pray that I am not clamoring for position but instead simply rejoicing that Jesus has shown up. At the end of the day (and of all time) it’s not about us.

As Christmas comes and we check our busy calendars, our long shopping lists, and deal with our often unrestful hearts I pray that we will be humbled enough to celebrate that Jesus has indeed shown up. This Christmas season, with each cookie we bake, each present we wrap, each card we send, and each “Merry Christmas” we speak may we in our hearts also say “he must increase, I must decrease.”

Christmas Through the Generations

Christmas music, the good and real stuff at least, has a way of lifting weary hearts. If you take a look at Christmas hymns, especially the lesser known ones with old English and odd or off-putting names (Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silent!) they are deeply stirring in the way they capture heartache and sorrow along with hope and joy.

They take you from the joy of creation to the depths of despair in our sin and again to the hope and promise of new life in Jesus. For example, take just the first verse from “The Race That Long In Darkness Pined”. Likely new to you but actually written in 1781, it covers a remarkable sweep of scripture:

“The race that long in darkness pined,

Have seen a glorious light;

The people dwell in day, who dwelt

In death’s surrounding night.”

One of my favorite things to do the past few advent seasons has been to search online for old Christmas hymns. Some are still in circulation, others vaguely familiar, but many others are tragically forgotten.

There is something beautiful to finding words penned long ago about our Savior that still stir up the heart and mind all these years later. Joining in a chorus of praise that spreads across centuries helps us bear witness to the continued goodness and faithfulness of God.

Take some time and do a Google search for “Christmas hymns” and dig around for a while to immerse yourself in words of praise that have honored Christ’s birth for generations. I think that the cloud of witnesses that surrounds us is waiting for us to join them in this little way.  

Jesus Comes For You

Jesus came to a world

Full of groans and sorrows

And anger and division

Which only he could fully know

And only he could fully carry

Jesus came to a people

Broken, all of them

Surrounded by a darkness

also found within themselves

and their wandering hearts

Jesus came to a manger

In a sleepy-eyed town

with hay and fur around

and strangers for guests

all unnoticed by a waiting world

Jesus came for you

Considering your needs foremost

When his sacrifice was needed

For healing and hope to come

and wipe away your sins

Jesus comes still for you

Knocking and waiting and longing

For a humble, contrite heart

And simple, childlike faith

So he can bring new life

The Horror of Christmas

I sometimes get into the mindset that the evil in our present time is of a different sort and magnitude than other ages. It’s not just the “normal” tragedies of life that fill the news: cancer, broken relationships, miscarriages, or even ‘first world problems’. Instead our news is often filled with  pretty wretched stuff that makes us question where we are at in history.

Hidden, and often overlooked, in the birth of Christ is a reminder that there have always been tyrants and terrorists. We live in a world of death and, even in celebrating Christ’s birth, the scriptures don’t let us look past the acts of Herod as he killed all males under a certain age in the region of Bethlehem.

It was ISIS and state sponsored abortion all wrapped into one.

Had Jesus grown up in Bethlehem, had his parents settled and he attended school there he would have been without peers. EVERY male near his age was killed.

As we know, God warned Joseph and Jesus was spared, fleeing with his parents as refugees.

How do you explain such loss and bloodshed? How torn Jesus’ heart must have been as an adult when he looked into the eyes of women his mother’s age, knowing their sons were killed because of him. What sense can be made of the evil of Herod?

The only way to make any sense of it is to look to the cross. Without redemption and hope for resurrection, without an ultimate hope, the birth of Christ only seems to bring sorrow and suffering.

The cross is that crucial for us. Our evil is that big. Not just the world’s evil but our own.

Those little boys’ lives snuffed out by unspeakable evil make no sense apart from the other end of Jesus life. The cross shows us a world where judgement and justice are fully meted out and the wrath of God is absorbed by Jesus Christ.

Without the cross, it makes no difference whether we or those boys lived to a ripe old age or not. Sin has us and them dead in judgment with no Jesus. If we can’t see the line from Mary’s womb to the empty tomb we will never be able to live, as Paul says, “as sorrowful yet always rejoicing.”

We rightly celebrate Jesus birth. However, Herod’s atrocities are just one reminder of the horrible evil in this world that required Christ’s birth in the first place. We as Christians live in the land between horror and hope. It is the work of faith to see that our lives are more defined by the hope than by the horror.

At the same time, sin and death and the horror they create are real and heavy upon our lives.This Christmas, don’t let festivities force you to pretend the world, including your own, isn’t hurting. It’s ok for things to be hard. Lament and sorrow can be very appropriate parts of Advent waiting.

In the midst of that let the manger point you to that far greater celebration of resurrection. We are not without hope, least of all when we are celebrating the One who gives new life, and second life to all of us who trust in Him.

Gift Giving and a Gift Given

I have a Christmas cookie named after me in our family. I have no clue what its actual name is. Seriously no clue. It was dubbed the “Aaron cookie” when at the age of two I crawled up on the counter in the blink of an eye and ate nearly an entire pan. Truth be told I only ate half the pan as only half of each cookie was dipped in chocolate and sprinkles. The boring ends got placed back in the cookie tin. Who wants the plain, boring, undressed nubs of those cookies anyways?

Aaron cookies are one of the things I look forward to most at Christmas time. Music doesn’t count because I listen to that pretty much year round so these wonderful little delicacies are at the top of my “I can’t wait for Christmas” items. My mother is an exceptional hostess and decorator and our home was always full of Christmas cheer but as I spent much of my childhood in my own universe, these cookies were and remain the things that stand out as exclusively Christmas things.

We all carry traditions into the holidays and seem to add to them each year, further complicating our lives. Some traditions like Aaron cookies are silly (hello tree in the house, watching a burning log and the fire hazard stockings hung with care!) but other traditions carry greater importance.

Gift giving, as much maligned as it is in our consumer driven, materialistic culture, is one of those traditions. However, when done right, gifts carry deep significance.

Don’t worry. I don’t want to add any pressure to your gift giving. Instead I want to help you think more about your gift getting.

The reason we give gifts is partly because the wise men gave them. Remember the weird things (apart from gold) that we all would be disappointed to get? They really only represent part of why we give gifts. The deeper reason behind our gift giving is because Christmas is about a Gift given.

In that manger was the most precious gift ever given. It is actually laughable that gold, frankincense, and myrrh were the best that the rich and wise and benevolent men from the east could manage to give in exchange for the gift they were given in Jesus Christ.

Elsewhere scripture points us to a better picture of worthy gifts given to Jesus: kingdoms, thrones, crowns, nations, and indeed all of creation. But way to go with the stinky perfume, wise men.

In the whole nativity scene there is one person who captures the right sentiment in relation to the gift of Jesus. “But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart.” The right response to the gift given in Jesus is treasuring.

As you give, give joyfully. More important this year, as you receive gifts treasure them for the love and care they show. Most of all take time to ponder in your heart and to treasure that Gift which you will carry with you forever.

A Precious Boy

Joy Upon Joy A Precious Boy

Israel hopes and trusts in His word;

In promises veiled in mystery.

400 years and now Gabriel is heard

Our awaited Savior we finally see!

Mary delivers, with radiant face,

The Deliverer of our sinful race.

Our “God-With-Us”, perfect and holy

His life begins in condescension

In a bed of hay and stable lowly

While sheep and cows give their attention

Hope upon Hope and Joy upon Joy

Our Savior is born as a precious boy

Now grown, now groaning, blood in his sweat

Betrayed, condemned amidst sinners’ jeers

Hung high on a cross and paying our debt

His suffering helps to dry all our tears

Undeserved death; a man of sorrow

He opens the way for our joy tomorrow.

Death has no claim where there is no sin

Satan be damned, our Savior still lives!

Killed on the cross, He then rose again

Triumphant now, forgiveness He gives.

Rejoice and be glad this Christmas day

The Christ-child will take our sins away.

A Stinky Mess

I sometimes wonder what the lives of the shepherds looked like before the fateful night the sky lit up with angels. They were 3^rd shift workers in manual labor. Honest enough work but smelly and not too glamorous. Probably not the kind of work we would encourage our kids to get into these days.

It was the kind of work that disappeared into the background of a community. Most people probably went to a market to get wool, milk, or meat and never had to deal with long hours and achy joints and rancid smells that are a part of raising sheep. The shepherds probably didn’t get much thanks for their hard work. They were ordinary men with rather ordinary lives.

And then…

And then God decided they were going to be the first ones to know about Jesus. I’m sure Mary would rather have had her parents there or at least the wise men who had the sense to bring some nice gifts. I know when my daughters were born and folks came to visit us in the hospital we had no strangers and no stench brought into the room.

But Mary got the shepherds who made great haste in going straight from the fields to the stable. The stink and filth from the sheep lingered in the air everywhere they went. Any concept of “visiting hours” was thrown out. Complete strangers to Mary and Joseph, they come unbidden to worship Jesus.

The shepherds can teach us something about how we should come before God. Luke tells us that they “went with haste” to find their Savior. To make it clear, that means they show up at the manger out of breath, sweating, and still stinking like sheep. 

They show us that there is no time to clean up when you have a chance to meet Jesus. Give up all pretense of appearing decent and respectable before God. Just make sure you get to see him.

Often our hearts feed us lies about needing to look a certain way to be acceptable with others and before God. The truth is that God knows us fully and completely and no amount of washing can clean the stench of our sin. It is also true that in Christ, God sees us as being washed and cleansed and purified in a way that we could never accomplish on our own.

The shepherds teach us that we can bring all of our stinky selves to Jesus. Like the shepherds, we wait for a Savior and not for the time when we can get ourselves cleaned up. The cleaning we need is found only in Him. In this Advent season rejoice with the shepherds that our waiting is over. 

This Christmas go "with haste" to Jesus just as those shepherds did so many years ago.