Your redemption is drawing near!

                                   A little food for weekend Advent thought--
       "Now when these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near." (Lk 21:28)
       Bonhoeffer declared, in an Advent sermon given in London in December, 1933--
       "'Look up and raise your heads' (Lk 21:28 RsV).  Advent creates people, new people.  We too are supposed to become new people in Advent.  Look up, you whose gaze is fixed on the earth, who are spellbound by the little events and changes on the face of the earth.  Look up to these words, you who have turned away from heaven disappointed.  Look up, you whose eyes are heavy with tears...Look up, you who, burdened with guilt, cannot lift your eyes.  Look up, your redemption is drawing near...
        You know what a mine disaster is...The moment even the most courageous miner has dreaded his whole life long is here.  It is no use running into the walls; the silence all around him remains...The way out for him is blocked.  He knows the people up there are working feverishly to reach the miners who are buried alive.  Perhaps someone will be rescued, but here in the las shaft?  An agonizing period of waiting and dying is all that remains.
        But suddenly a noise that sounds like tapping and breaking in the rock can be heard.  Unexpectedly, voices cry out, 'Where are you, help is on the way!'  Then the disheartened miner picks himself up, his heart leaps, he shouts, 'Here I am, come on through and help me!  I'll hold out until you come!  Just come soon!'  A final, desperate hammer blow to his ear, now the rescue is near, just one more step and he is free.
        We have spoken of Advent itself.  That is how it is with the coming of Christ: 'Look up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.'"
        How thankful I am that Christ came...and that He is coming again.  Advent is a reminder and a celebration both of His first coming and of His second coming.  Only when He comes again, it will not be as a helpless infant or a humble, suffering servant giving His life as a ransom for many.  No, it will be as the conquering King of Glory, the mighty Lion of Judah come to claim His own, destroy the powers of darkness, and establish His everlasting kingdom of righteousness and peace.
        Sometimes, in the midst of a world so topsy turvy, we need to stop and remember to "Look up and raise our heads" for He has come...and He is coming again.  Death, destruction, despair, disappointment do not, not, not have the final word!
        Advent reminds us: don't lose heart.  He has come; He is coming again; and your redemption and rescue is drawing ever nearer.  Rejoice!  To God be the glory.

Glaring...or gazing

         So here's how life's going down around here lately--
         The other day, I had the joy of eating lunch with my wonderful sister, Mary Norris, and our dear friend, Ellen, for Mary Norris' birthday.  Now keep in mind that though I'm a terribly challenged organizer and plan-aheader, I had (semi-miraculously) managed to purchase, wrap, and load all their Christmas and birthday presents (including the ones for my other  wonderful sister, Jane and my equally fabulous niece) into our car the night before. Please notice I had done it a day ahead of time.  I'd even baked a home-made birthday cake...Martha Stewart's got nothing on yours truly.  I might even had begun feeling a bit smug and self-righteous that I'd been so on task and prepared.  Hmm.  I seem to recall a verse about "pride goeth before a fall."
         Yeah, well, like I said, the three of us had a ball at lunch, and afterward, we exchanged presents.           Wait.  Let me rephrase that.  My sister "exchanged" Christmas presents.
         Ms. Organization here took out the cake to put it in my sister's car...and left it sitting on top of a newspaper stand outside the restaurant.  And all those presents in my backseat?  In the mad rush to get things in our cars in the midst of a heavy rain, I left every blessed gift still sitting in my backseat.  A minor fact which I discovered when I arrived back into Raleigh.  So much for planning ahead.
         We (sort of) laughed about it later...well, at least they laughed. I wanted to scream.  Though to my sister's ever-loving credit, she did go back to the little strip center and found my cake still sitting there on the newspaper stand some 30 minutes later, so all was not lost.
        But seriously, what a picture of this stressed-out, crazy busy time of year when we're all overloaded and desperately trying to do, do, do from dawn to dusk...often resulting in mess-ups and blow-ups.
        By the way, I learned an incredibly valuable bit of information the other day.  Did you know that the word "stressed" is actually "desserts" spelled backward?  So there's your antidote for Christmas craziness.  Consider this your permission to stop reading this instant and go eat a cookie or a large slice of cake.
         Other than massive quantities of chocolate, what's the solution?
         Stop fixating on all the presents and start to focus on the The Present.
         Pause long enough to look to Jesus and worship...rather than rushing and fussing and worrying.          Because if we don't stop and come apart from the world and look to the Savior, well, we truly will come apart at the seams.  I'm ample proof of that.
        But here's the remarkable, wondrous thing: His grace truly is sufficient.  His grace is always available.  His grace is abundant. And His grace is oh-so glorious.  Because though we mess up time and again, when we simply come to the end of our silly selves and turn to Him, He forgives.  He refreshes.  He restores.  He reveals.  And He loves.
        Oh, how He loves.
        And so finally, finally, I stopped and listened.  Here I sit in our living room, drinking the Living Water and finding that thirst I didn't even know I had, completely satisfied and filled to overflowing.  Worship can happen right here, right now.

        Yep, I still have about a zillion things to do.  And yep, I'm still pretty much a disorganized mess with a serious memory problem.  And yep, I've failed even just this very day in more ways than I can count...but I have a Savior who loves me so much that He relinquished the infinite joys and glories of heaven to come down--so, so far down--to this broken, dark world.  He came as a helpless infant to be born, to live, to die, to defeat sin and death, and to rise again to resurrection life.  Even for the likes of me.  And you.   And, by the way, for that annoying friend...or difficult family member...or selfish co-worker.
        Oh might we never, ever tire of hearing the beautiful words of His coming!  "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."(Lk 2:10-11)
       The Light has come into the darkness.  The Son has come to bring life.  The Savior has come that you might experience faith instead of fear, joy instead of sorrow, peace instead of restlessness, hope instead of despair, and strength instead of weakness.
        Or, as He explained so succinctly, "I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full."  (John 10:10)
       Can we just remind each other--stop listening to those lying voices of "Hurry!" "Worry!" "What if?" "What now?"  Instead, let's listen to Him.  Let's listen to Truth.  Let's listen to the Word made flesh.  He came to give you life--abundant, full, whole, joyful, restful, real life.
       Stop glaring at your to-do list or your worries, and gaze at Him.  Today.  Now.  And find Life.
       To God be the glory.  
       
       

George's CD and the familiar, yet wondrous!

        Right now Peter and I are listening to the music that accompanies the George C. Scott version of "A Christmas Carol."  This time of year, we have Christmas music playing pretty much continually...and, oh my, we never tire of it!  We've collected a fairly vast collection of Christmas CD's, ranging from classical to jazz to contemporary Christian to you-name-it.  So every day, we pull out four or five CD's and start enjoying this most joyous of music.  How thankful I am for the gift of singing and music, for as Martin Luther once declared, "As long as we live, there is never enough singing."  Amen!
     But of all our CD's the one playing right now might be our favorite--in fact, Peter specifically requested it to "help" him study for exams.  And why this particular CD?  Well, for one thing it's homemade--created by one of Richard's closest friends, George DeLoache.  You see George adores and appreciates Christmas as much as anyone you'll ever meet...which means he loves the lovely carols and songs from this most wonderful of seasons.  George knows how much we love this music (more on that in a moment),  so he personally contacted the composer--since these particular pieces are not available on any kind of CD--to get permission to record them.  Now that's a true friend--way to go, George!
        And we love this music that accompanies "A Christmas Carol" (only the George C. Scott version, mind you), because our family cherishes the tradition of watching it every Christmas Eve night.  Same routine every year--we attend our church's wonderful Christmas Eve service, eat dinner, and, of course, sing Happy Birthday to Jesus before eating a big slice of birthday cake.  And then, late on Christmas Eve, we watch old Scrooge once again rediscover the wonder and joy of Christmas.
        So as I sit here listening to George's CD, I'm transported to one of the sweetest times of my whole year--those happy minutes on Christmas Even of sitting in front of a warm fire and savoring every single moment of being with the people dearest to me in the whole world while watching, yet again, Charles Dickens beautiful tale of reclamation and redemption.  Just remembering and anticipating it brings such joy and gratitude!
        I also need to add that George's fabulous CD also includes selections from the good old Charlie Brown Christmas special (again--makes you smile with delight!  We love you, Charlie Brown, and thank you, Linus, for sharing directly from the Gospels,  the real story of Jesus' birth), the Christmas episode from Andy Griffin  (which will make you cry), and "Home Alone, " among others.  Did I mention this is one fine, fine CD?
       So how about you?  Have you thanked the Lord lately for the simple, but oh so meaningful, traditions of Christmas?  Yes, above all else, we celebrate anew the birth of our Savior.  That's why we're here!  But don't forget to rejoice in some of the other gifts of the season--the music, the food, the smells, the memories, the beloved ornaments, the old family nativity sets...all those familiar--yet never mundane or routine--wonders and blessings all around us.  Familiar...yet wondrous.  Familiar...yet joyous.  Familiar...yet supernatural.
       Happy Advent!  Happy Birthday!  Thank You for coming, Lord Jesus!
       To God be the glory.  
       

A tiny shoot

                                      A little food for an Advent weekend thought--

        "There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from His roots shall bear fruit.  And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord." (Isa.11:1-2)
        The second Sunday of Advent, and I sit in our quiet living room surrounded by twinkling lights on the tree, bright stockings of those I love hanging on the fireplace mantle, and the weathered, beautiful old nativity from my dear aunt Janie resting on the table.  Well, and truth be told, there's also a bit of the ever-present clutter from the piles of books on the desk and on the chair.  All reminders of God's perfect and utterly undeserved faithfulness in my life, in our world.
       Peace and thankfulness overwhelms me.  Peace that God is with me, even me.  Thankfulness for family, for friends, and most of all for my Heavenly Father and His wondrous gift of Jesus.  Peace and thankfulness for these small, still moments in life when we sit back for a few moments and, like Mary, ponder the things of God, treasuring them in our hearts.
       I loved these words from Henri Nouwen that I read just this morning on those verses from Isaiah:
       "These words from last night's liturgy [from Isaiah--"There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse"] have stayed with me during the day. Our salvation comes from something small, tender, and vulnerable, something hardly noticeable. God, who is the Creator of the Universe, comes to us in smallness, weakness, and hiddenness.  I find this a hopeful message. Somehow, I keep expecting loud and impressive events to convince me and others of God's saving power; but over and over again I am reminded that spectacles, power plays, and big events are the ways of the world. Our temptation is to be distracted by them and made blind to the "shoot that shall sprout from the stump."
       When I have no eyes for the small signs of God's presence - the smile of a baby, the carefree play of children, the words of encouragement and gestures of love offered by friends - I will always remain tempted to despair.  The small child of Bethlehem, the unknown young man of Nazareth, the rejected preacher, the naked man on the cross, he asks for my full attention. The work of our salvation takes place in the midst of a world that continues to shout, scream, and overwhelm us with its claims and promises. But the promise is hidden in the shoot that sprouts from the stump, a shoot that hardly anyone notices."
        Thank You, Jesus, for coming in the small, the hidden, as Dietrich Bonhoeffer puts it, "in the poverty of the manger."  Thank You for coming as a tiny, helpless baby to remind us that though You are the Almighty Lord of the heavens and the earth, You were willing to be made small, weak, and vulnerable out of Your amazing grace and love for those You came to save.  Give us eyes to see You in the small moments of our day and to share Your love and light with those who are feeling weak and hidden to the world...but not to You.
         Thank You for the gift of this day, this one, small, fleeting day, to love You and others...by Your grace, to Your glory.  To God--our tiny shoot, our wondrous Savior--be the glory.

An early Advent morning

        My favorite time of day...the wee early morning hours.  The house is still (well, except for Bingley roaming around and eventually settling down at my feet).  The darkness outside a peaceful prelude to a busy day.  Quiet, so blessedly quiet.  We forget the lovely, calming sound of true silence in our ever noisy world.  In the silence, you can feel your soul breathe deeply and fill with the Spirit's fullness.  Our Christmas tree stands proudly in the corner--unadorned as we just got it last night, but beautiful, deep green, and smelling of childhood Christmases and joy.  And I must say, I'm loving the simplicity of the pure evergreen.  After all, Jesus' birth was in a simple, unadorned stable.

 
        The warmth and light of the fireplace beside me remind me of the true Light of the World whose birth we prepare to celebrate anew this Advent.  I keep coming back to John's remarkable words: "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....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." (John 1:4-5,14)
        The Word became flesh, and as one translation puts it, "moved into our neighborhood."  Don't you love that?  The Almighty, eternal, glorious Lord became flesh and blood and moved right into our neighborhood--yours and mine.
       And He is the Light.  He is our Light...His Light obliterates the darkness.  The darkness of our fears, our addictions, our sorrows, our failures.  When light comes, darkness flees.  If even one tiny, weak candle can dispel the dark around you, can you imagine what the omnipotent Light of the World can do?
        And here's the thing--He is with me right this moment.  As I sit here typing, the Light of the World sits beside me, shining and spilling out His grace, His love, His powerful yet peaceful presence all over me.  As you are reading these words, He is right there with you.  The Light of the World, the Savior, the Mighty God, the Wonderful Counselor, Emmanuel is with you, right this moment. How incredible is that?   How dare we take we take that lightly!  
       Oh Lord Jesus, forgive us for all too often forgetting who is with us.  Who is in us.  Who is for us.  Who fights for us.  Who empowers us.  Who forgives us.  Who loves us.   And Whose coming we now prepare to celebrate in this season of Advent.  
       Don't know what you might have going on right now--what losses you grieve, what challenges you face, what happinesses you celebrate, what chores you dread, what worries you carry--but can I remind you Who is with you right now?  His Light will overcome all darkness.  His love will conquer all fear.  His grace will overwhelm all weakness.  His joy will overpower all sorrow.
         He has come.  He is here.  He is able.  And He is with you. 
        Thank You, thank You, thank You, Lord Jesus.  Fill us afresh this day.  Fill us to overflowing that we might spill over into a lost and lonely world, shining Your Light into the darkness.
        To God--who came, who moved into our neighborhood and who promises to never, ever leave us--be all the glory.  

At the dawn of Advent: envy or grace?

                                    A little food for weekend thought--
        Well, we're right in between: just finishing up the last of the Thanksgiving turkey and dressing (praise God for dressing!) and just contemplating the first Sunday of Advent tomorrow.  Whew, like it or not, life continues at a breakneck pace, and so here we leap into yet another Christmas season.
        But before the start of Advent and all the excitement, joy, and yes, the exhausting frenzy (not this year, Lord, by your grace!) of Christmas, why don't we pause for a few words of wisdom from one of my favorite writers--Paul David Tripp--on envy versus grace.
       Because here's the thing: envy is the antithesis of thankfulness, don't you think?  If we are envying others, we are refusing to notice and acknowledge God's extravagant goodness to us.  We're rejecting all His many gifts in our lives, because we're too fixated on His gifts in the lives of others.  Oh my, what an inevitable path to misery and bitterness.
       We can even envy different seasons in our own lives.  We look back with longing and even regret at the "good old days" of those carefree college years...or of having young children in the home...or of having no children in the home!  Or we tragically wish away the days God has given us right now so that we forfeit the joy in our today while essentially envying some future time when we finally get married...or have children...or have grown children...or retire.  Geez what a sad waste.
        Here's what Paul David Tripp says: "when envy rules your heart, the love of God doesn't...Envy assumes that you deserve blessings that you don't deserve.  When your heart is ruled by envy, the attitude of 'I am blessed' gets replaced with the attitude of 'I deserve.'  Envy is selfish to the core.  Envy always puts you in the center of the world.  It makes everything all about you.  It causes you to examine life from the sole perspective of your wants, needs, and feelings.
        Sadly, envy causes you to question the goodness, faithfulness, and wisdom of God.  Envy accuses God of not knowing what He's doing or of not being faithful to what He's promised to do.  When you are convinced that a blessing that another person has ought to belong to you, you don't just have a problem with that person, you have a problem with God.  When you begin to question God's goodness, you quit going to Him for help. Why?  Because you don't seek the help of someone you've come to doubt.
        Envy does something else that is spiritually deadly.  It assumes understanding no one has.  Envy not only assumes that you know more about that other person's life than you could ever know, it assumes that you have a clearer understanding of what is best than God does.  Furthermore, envy causes you to forget God's amazing, rescuing, transforming, empowering, and delivering grace.  You become so occupied with accounting for what you do not have that the enormous blessings of God's grace--blessings we could not have earned, achieved, or deserved--go unrecognized and uncelebrated."
         Oh my, convicting words, are they not?  Especially right here on the cusp of this season of too much buying, decorating, consuming...and sadly, envying.  News flash: contrary to every magazine cover, there is no "perfect" Christmas.  There is no ideal of "Making this the best Christmas ever!" complete with decorations, homemade gifts, and culinary masterpieces that would put Martha Stewart to shame.  And there is no "most remarkable and meaningful Christmas devotions ever."
         But here's what there is: grace.  Extravagant, amazing grace showered upon us by a Savior who came to earth as a helpless infant, lived as a perfect man, died as the One condemned in our place and bearing our sins, and rose again to new, triumphant life to give us eternal life.
        Boy, we all struggle with envy, don't we?  But as Tripp says, "The only solution to envy is God's rescuing grace--grace that turns self-centered sinners into joyful and contented worshippers of God." Yes!
         Oh praise God for grace.  Praise God for Jesus.  Praise God for Christmas...where we celebrate the dawn of indestructible grace, joy, hope, peace, and love.  Here at the dawn of Advent, let's ask God to kill the sinful envy that all too often infects our souls and instead, by His grace, to turn us into joyful, thankful, contented worshippers.
         To God be the glory.

Almost Thanksgiving...one more reminder!

        It's almost Thanksgiving Day!  Yahoo!  So one more reminder of thankfulness--
        "And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body.  And be thankful.  Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.  And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him." (Col.3:15-17)
        That's a hat-trick of thankfulness!  Christ's peace ruling in our hearts...and be thankful.  Reading God's Word, teaching and encouraging one another, singing hymns...with thankfulness.  And then, to cover any and every possibility--doing everything in Jesus' name...giving thanks.  Don't see much wiggle room in there for grumbling, fretting, complaining, and worrying, do you?
        John Henry Jowett put it this way: "Life without thankfulness is devoid of love and passion.  Hope without thankfulness is lacking in fine perception.  Faith without thankfulness lacks strength and fortitude. Every virtue divorced from thankfulness is maimed and limps along the spiritual road."         Thanksgiving day is tomorrow, but oh how I pray we can daily, consistently, joyfully give thanks to God in all things.  All I know is that I'm a mighty good forgetter.  One moment I'm reading about gratitude...and the next, I find myself fussing about the traffic (not that anything like that happened to me today as I rushed from Whole Foods to Target.  Sigh).
         You know, it's not that we need to hear all these radical new truths.  There really aren't any shocking new truths--and if it's new, it's almost certainly not true!  Instead, we need to be reminded afresh of the great old things we know to be true and important, but that we forget in the hustle and bustle of life or the big or little disappointments that come our way.
        Staying in God's Word.  Obedience.  Love.  By faith, not by feelings.  Forgive.  Receive grace, give grace. Seeking first His kingdom.  Living by faith, not by sight.  Giving thanks in all things.  
        The Lord Jesus is always the answer.  And gratitude is always the path to peace and joy in Him.  Not just thankfulness on Thanksgiving day, but every day.
        So thank You, Father, for sending Jesus, our greatest Treasure.  Thank You for the gift of eternal life.  Thank You for forgiveness and grace, wonderful grace.  Thank You for your Word. Thank You for the wondrous gifts of family and friends.  Thank You for your magnificent world.  Thank You for our senses to see, hear, smell, taste, and touch all the gifts of your planet.  Thank You for our nation, our freedom, and all those who have made the ultimate sacrifice to give us that freedom.  Thank you for the consolations of home, books, dogs, gardens, music, food, laughter, and on and on.
        Keep us faithful and thankful, Lord.  Keep us mindful that we live this day before your face, under your authority, and to your glory...with hearts overflowing with gratitude.
        To God be the glory.