The Gift

            Christmas day has come and gone. Some have already taken down decorations and neatly packed them away until next year. Their home is “back to normal” or whatever that means. For others, we have not picked up all of the wrapping paper carnage left from the morning’s melee. Presents are still stacked under the tree and the thought of taking it down needs another nap to consider the energy required. We are taking our time about “getting back to normal.” Can you tell from which ilk I hail?

            Sunday a friend said he wished we had the spirit of Christmas all year long. I agree. There is generally a kinder, sweeter spirit in the air and with people. Sure, there are Scrooge’s but in a broad general way people are quicker to help and kinder during the Christmas season. Unfortunately that mood gets packed up with all of the other seasonal decoration until sometime next year. It’s like we receive the greatest gift EVER given Jesus and do nothing with him. One ordinary night in the fields like countless before becomes this EXTRA-ordinary event when aliens (angels) show up inviting shepherds to come see Jesus and they do nothing. Nothing, they are like Chevy’s “like a rock” they just sit there or Ford’s found-on-the-road-dead. Now that is NOT what happened. The shepherds did something they went and saw and then returned to their flocks telling all who would listen and probably some who wouldn’t what they had seen and heard all the while praising God.
            Here are some suggestions for your POST-Christmas life to be sure you get the most out of this amazing gift. Jesus, God with us, moving into the neighborhood. So, since he is here will you:

·         Make room for Him. Our lives are so full that too often we fail to set aside the old and make a place for the new. There are some old habits and attitudes that need to be gotten rid of to make a place for Jesus.

·         Take Him. Have you ever been given a gift and then failed to take it home? I have. Sometimes it is simple forgetfulness but other times it is a blatant disregard for the gift given. If you are serious about Jesus, have made room for him, take him then make Him yours.

·         Hold Him. When my oldest Elizabeth was young it was my duty and privilege to rock her to sleep at night. We would get all warm and cozy in that rocker and more than once did I wake up to her staring me in the eyes. It was good work when you can get it a child asleep in your arms. Jesus desires to hold us. Just sit still and be held and hold on to Him.

·         Live in Him. If we make room, take Him and hold Him then it is a simple step to live like Him letting Him live in us. Make him Lord of your life not just Savior.

Jesus is an EXTRA-ORDINARY gift. Peter says of the gift of Jesus…let yourselves be pulled into a way of life shaped by God’s life, a life energetic and blazing with holiness. God said, “I am holy; you be holy.”” 1 Peter 16 The Message

In HIS Service and yours,

Bro G

The Commercialism of Christmas, Bah humbug!

Black Friday, Cyber Monday, store wide sales it never ceases does it? Buy, buy, buy those gifts and decorations. From one point on view, it seems crazy to:

·         Buy a dead tree to store in your house for a few weeks to throw away or burn just a short time later. Why not just light the cash on fire!

·         Hang lights from the roof edge increasing your electric bill only to burn out whereby you risk your very life to find that one lone broken bulb or strand to replace it.

·         Watch TV shows where the goal is to decorate every square inch of a property so that the glow can be seen from space.

Call me crazy because the above are exactly what I have done plus more time spent trying to program a timer for the outside lights.

As I was walking this very morning I was thinking about the lights and decorations (they were on of course, timer). Why do we go to all of that trouble and is that “commercialization” on my part? Sure, I am buying things on sale and for the season commerce for sure, new “Icicle” lights for the front of the house (Barbara posted a video on Facebook). When Barbara gets done inside we say “Christmas threw-up” at our house. We give her a hard time but we love it although we would never say it out loud. Why do we love it?

I think the answer is decorations are unusual set the familiar apart. They say now is a different time of year. It is special, unique. Scripture tells us all things in moderation and these homes that can be seen from space due to the glow, you know the ones that get thank you cards from Georgia Power, THET are NOT moderation. Lights and decorations are symbols that should point us to the Savior who is Christ the Lord. It is a celebration of life and light for all men, Christmas is. Due to our fallen nature we get that sideways and miss the target. Choosing to see what is right in front of us instead of what is at the center in the manger Immanuel Jesus.

I’ve got to go there is this one strand of lights that just won’t…STOP…step away from the ladder. It’ll be alright. Maybe I’ll go and clean up the boxes and wire ties, put them up for a while and sit and enjoy the light. This Christmas season take a lot of time to enjoy the light.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was with God in the beginning. ³ All things were created through Him, and apart from Him not one thing was created that has been created. ⁴ Life was in Him, and that life was the light of men. ⁵ That light shines in the darkness, yet the darkness did not overcome it. John 1:1-5 HCSB     

In HIS Service and yours,

Bro G 
                   merry christmas

Joy at Christmas? You must be CRA CRA!

 With just 13 days until Christmas, the push is at a dead run for the gifts and decorations to be finished and wrapped. The problem for us “task oriented people” is that causes us to focus on the task and not the time. So, Joy is not part of our vocabulary. It is probably far for our head and heart truth be told. Joy has been hijacked because you have run out of money before your list ran out or because this will be the first Christmas without that special someone with you. Might be due to school, or job or the hardest of all death, they just will not be with you and so you are thinking it can’t be Christmas.

When Barbara and I moved to Louisville, KY for me to go to seminary, Christmas was just days away and Barbara was not going to have Christmas. We could not afford to be off from work to go home (retail). So, Christmas was not going to happen because of what we could NOT do. Christmas Eve I came home from Lowe’s where I worked with a tree crammed in the hatchback of my MGB-GT, carried it upstairs to our 4 room apartment in a shotgun house and said, “Barbara its Christmas.” We decorated that tree and enjoyed that time. I/We chose Joy. Joy is a choice not an emotion of feeling. It is a willful decision. We can chose to wallow in resentment, anger and fear or we can chose to pursue the Joy of Christ at Christmas.

Matt Tullos (currently with Louisiana Baptist Convention) put together an advent devotional reading in 2011 on Joy. The following are his key points.

·         Joy is trusting when you want to doubt. That was the key to the shepherd’s response to the angel’s announcement. They said, “hey let’s go check out what he said.” It is that simple child-like faith that takes the shot and decides that no matter what Jesus has got our back and side and…well…all of us.

·         Joy is receiving what you want to reject. I enjoy finding gifts my family likes. It is much more delightful to watch them open a gift that is unexpected and wonderful. It is much better than anything I am given. We need to be open to the gifts of others fore to reject them is to deny them the blessing of giving. Giving is the only fitting response to God’s gift of himself, Jesus.

·         Joy is celebrating when you want to fear. The first things angels say to us humans is…”Fear NOT.” They must be scary to experience. The REAL scary is in what they are there to say. UNWED Mary hears she is going to have a baby (not her fiancé’s) Hum that’s a lot to be afraid of and yet she says OK whatever you say. Now that’s crazy! That whole Christmas adventure was not a Peanut’s Christmas play but REAL, SCARY LIFE.

The joy of Christmas is God showed up and “moved into the neighborhood,” Eugene Peterson says. He knows it is crazy scary. That’s why he came to be with us “Immanuel.”

 

That’s the GOOD NEWS the GREAT JOY.

 

That’s CRA CRA!  

In HIS Service and yours,

Bro G
(P.S. I use Cra Cra to mess with you! It’s Christmas!)

It’s a conspiracy of the seasons!

Wednesday I was at Guyton Elementary School selecting names from their giving tree. They started with 91 and as the deadline has approached too many names were still unclaimed on the tree. I spent a little bit collecting names and stopped at 10. I looked again and wanted to take all of the rest still hanging. I could not but I wanted too. The counselor was thrilled like I had done something. All I could think of was the names yet on the “tree.” In my mind I had not done enough. How do you think Jesus’ heart hurt seeing and knowing of the misery yet in this world and still leaving to return home to heaven? Yet, the rest of the day I was thrilled that we had 10 nameless-names that Crossroads could bless in small simple ways this Christmas.

There is a great blessing in the order of the season. Thanksgiving first followed by Christmas. That blessing is found in the word thanksgiving. First is Thanks. A day where we are grateful for the blessings found in any and every situation of life. A real opportunity to consider God’s provision and be overwhelmed and thankful for his expressions of love. If we do that gratitude wells up like a spring bursting from the ground and the only appropriate response is to share by “giving.” Christmas is giving. As God has given his only son Jesus. The greatest gift ever so we who are grateful at Thanksgiving have this incredible opportunity to let our overflowing gratitude become real tangible giving to family, friends and complete “nameless” strangers. It’s a conspiracy of the seasons! Isn’t it wonderful?

I admit it brings a smile to my face and energy to living when there is a need I can meet. Maybe that is the pastor in me or maybe not. That is probably more like the Jesus-follower in me. He looks at us with great compassion and caring for our situation and plight. We see that in the countless acts of healing and never more so than on the cross as witnessed in the Gospels.  To be part of the solution even in the simplest gesture or activity is to be like Jesus. He is the goal of our salvation and life process God began and is at work accomplishing. It’s hard to imagine I can participate in God’s great mission through “nameless-names.” I find it delightful and depressing at the same moment.

That’s enough of “word smith-ing” for today. I’ve got clothes and toys to buy for “nameless-names” to enjoy this Christmas. Gifts given in the name of Jesus even if the recipient may not know that.

 

God knows and applauds.

It’s a conspiracy indeed to transform the world through love!

 

It works best in small ways!

 

In HIS Service and yours,

Bro G