Love will not be denied, will not be shut out.
Love overcomes every barrier.
Love is here for you now. Drop your defenses and open now your heart.
Love is here.
Love is HERE!
SATURDAY, December 29
"Hit the Road, Jack!"
Isaiah 62:10-12 (The Message)
Walk out of the gates. Get going!
Get the road ready for the people.
Build the highway. Get at it!
Clear the debris,
hoist high a flag, a signal to all peoples!
Yes! God has broadcast to all the world:
“Tell daughter Zion, ‘Look! Your Savior comes,
Ready to do what he said he’d do,
prepared to complete what he promised.’”
Zion will be called new names: Holy People, God-Redeemed,
Sought-Out, City-Not-Forsaken.
As the Saturday after Christmas, today will be a choice day for travel - people heading back to their everyday lives after a break time for family and celebration. Highways and sky-ways will be busy, hopefully cleared of snow and storm. Will the manger be traveling as well, carefully placed in suitcase or car trunk, ready for use? Will all the travelers be taking the best gift they received home with them? Will they freely let the straw fall along the way, spreading a bit of Christmas hope wherever they go?
As we 'hit the road' of our lives, may we take the manger with us, openly and expansively sharing the message of Christmas. Safe travels for all!
d365.org BENEDICTION (Amy Butler)
Live into the love God is bringing.
Love in ways that test the vast expanse of God's gift,
Limit yourself only to sharing God's gift with profusion.
Love is here.
Love is HERE!
FRIDAY, December 28
"Now What?"
Titus 2:11-12 (The Message)
God’s readiness to give and forgive is now public. Salvation’s available for everyone! We’re being shown how to turn our backs on a godless, indulgent life, and how to take on a God-filled, God-honoring life. This new life is starting right now...
Christmas is over. Presents are unwrapped. Leftovers are eaten. Company departed. Pack up the Santas and snowmen. Toss the needle-dropping tree out on the sidewalk. Write thank you notes. Take down the lights and the dried, brittle wreaths. Box up the nativity scenes, carefully wrapping every baby Jesus gently in tissue. Get the house back in order. Whew!Now what? What do we DO with the amazing gift we have been given? Do we REALLY put God away with the manger scene? What difference does Christmas make anyway? We celebrate EVERY year. Surely something great comes from this annual ritual.
Ritual - going through the motions without any real change. Is that how we treat Christmas? Is that how we welcome God into our world?
"This new life is starting right now..." writes Eugene Peterson in The Message. Today. This moment is the beginning of the Christmas transformation for our world. We can't pack God away, we can't put our life in 'order'. God means change. God means constant life-altering upheaval. We live in constant "Christmas chaos"! May we pick one small action to get started in the Christmas change; one small act of sharing the Good News, of extending gospel love to another in need.
Don't pack God away with the Christmas decorations. Don't allow God to become an annual ritual. DAILY unwrap and bless another with the most precious gift under the tree.
THURSDAY, December 27
"Fear Not!"
Luke 2:8-12 (The Message)
There were sheepherders camping in the neighborhood. They had set night watches over their sheep. Suddenly, God’s angel stood among them and God’s glory blazed around them. They were terrified. The angel said, “Don’t be afraid. I’m here to announce a great and joyful event that is meant for everybody, worldwide: A Savior has just been born in David’s town, a Savior who is Messiah and Master. This is what you’re to look for: a baby wrapped in a blanket and lying in a manger.”
And Change usually brings Fear along as its sidekick. Sometimes we are so willing to stick with the status-quo, even when it is less than desirable, because the fear of the 'unknown' is too strong. What would the Christmas story be if the shepherds had given in to their fears and stayed on the hillside, silent and trembling? What if the magi had let fear prevent them from traveling to a strange and distant land? What would be left of the greatest event the world has seen if Joseph had allowed his fears concerning Mary's strange pregnancy alter his actions?
God has come. God is among us. A Savior is born. Change is in the air. Change is in our hearts. Change can be scary! Let us 'Fear not!' Let us open ourselves to the miracle of change that God can work within and through us. Let us open ourselves fearlessly to God living among us.
WEDNESDAY, December 26
"CHRIST-LIGHT!"
Isaiah 9:2-3 (The Message)
The people who walked in darkness
have seen a great light.
For those who lived in a land of deep shadows—
light! sunbursts of light!
You repopulated the nation,
you expanded its joy.
Oh, they’re so glad in your presence!
Festival joy!
The joy of a great celebration,
sharing rich gifts and warm greetings.
Winter darkness.
Short days. Long nights.
Storm clouds of strife and conflict.
Thick fogs of confusion and misunderstanding
Darkness of despair within our world,
Within our hearts. And then.....a tiny light.
A pinprick glow from a humble birth.
And it changes everything.
We put lights on a tree.
Lights rim our windows.
Lights mark our homes
To pierce the darkness
And remind us of that birth.
Christmas! A festival celebration!
Sharing gifts among family and friends.
Sharing greetings with strangers.
A sharing of the Light within the darkness.
Peace of the Light!
Hope from the Light!
Joy within the Light!
Love through the Light
For the world of winter darkness -
Christmas!
Christ-Light is born!
Christ-Light has come!
Last Friday I wrote of family gatherings and Christmas celebrations and how to keep the newborn baby as the central focus. Today I share the following poem, written as a response to our Christmas day 'plan of action'. As background information, there are over 30 nativity scenes scattered throughout our home. Thirteen of them have "removable" infant Jesus figurines and/or mangers. All thirteen have been sans the 'star of the show' until Christmas Eve.
GOD AMONG US
Christmas Eve.
A gathering of our faith family.
Especially those alone this night.
The flame of Christmas Eve service candles
still warm in our hearts.
What do we find?
Baby Jesus in the nut dish!
Baby Jesus tucked among the napkins.
Baby Jesus on a tray of sweet desserts or
among warm drinks on this cold night.
God among us.
God within us.
God surrounding us.
God surrounding us.
Welcoming the lonely.
Welcoming friends.
Welcoming family.
Welcoming family.
We put Baby Jesus into the mangers.
Christ is born!
Hallelujah!
Christmas morning.
Packages under the tree.
Gifts from the magi
for the newborn King.
Gift for Jed of music and art
for a struggling child lost in despair.
God among us. A baby Jesus is
tucked inside.
Gift for Luke of mosquito nets
for a family fighting malaria.
God among us. Put Jesus into the
manger.
Gift for Jack of medical supplies
for a world weakened with
disease.
God among us.
Fill the mangers with the baby.
More gifts for the family…
More packages to open.
All with the baby waiting to come
to his manger,
All with a gift of love for another on his behalf,
God among us.
Christmas dinner.
A festive meal!
A birthday cake!
Whose birthday is it?
The question is asked!
Happy Birthday, Jesus!
Celebrate!
God among us!
What is Christmas REALLY?
Not the tinsel or sparkling lights,
Not Santa or elves, eggnog or mistletoe.
Christmas is Christ –
God among us!
Celebrate!
TUESDAY, December 25"Welcome Neighbor"
John 1:14 (The Message)
The Word became flesh and blood,
and moved into the neighborhood.
We saw the glory with our own eyes,
the one-of-a-kind glory,
like Father, like Son,
Generous inside and out,
true from start to finish.
No long message this morning. Not necessary. God has said it all. In flesh and blood. One of us. God has moved in to live among us. God has moved in next door. Welcome neighbor, Lord! Welcome!
Just one verse describes the BIRTH of our Lord: She gave birth to her first born son, wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger because there was no room in the inn. Just ONE verse.
Swaddling a baby provides a comfort and connection from the womb to the world. It is a transition. Is Christ our swaddling cloths - our connection between heaven and earth? Perhaps this one verse is all we need.
MONDAY, December 24
"Reversals"
Luke 1:46-55 (Selections from The Message)
I’m bursting with God-news;
I’m dancing the song of my Savior God.
God took one good look at me, and look what happened—
I’m the most fortunate woman on earth!.....
His mercy flows in wave after waveon those who are in awe before him......
He knocked tyrants off their high horses,
pulled victims out of the mud.
The starving poor sat down to a banquet;
the callous rich were left out in the cold.
Tiny Bethlehem, poor and lowly,
God chose you to birth a king.
Young Mary, scared and shamed,
God chose for you a Savior.
Israel fallen, rebellious and seeking
God chose you for his family.
Sinners all, wandering alone.
God chooses us still today.
God looks not for the powerful,
The wealthy or strong.
He works to reverse the standard
For the imperfect, the oppressed, and lowly.
He comes for us!He comes as a blessing in our imperfection.
Come, Lord Jesus, come!
Do we live with the joy and hope that Jesus brings to us? Do we live, as Mary, with a song of praise on our lips? Do we live with the same sense of reversal, of unity with God in our service among the poor and oppressed, the imperfect of the world? Do we live remembering God is working through our OWN imperfections as well!??
Merry Christmas!
(Since yesterday's sermon was on the same scripture passage, I will include the Sermon Scribble here as well!)
SUNDAY, December 23
"Insignificant Heroes"
Micah 5:2, 4 (Good News Translation)
The Lord says, “Bethlehem Ephrathah, you are one of the smallest towns in Judah, but out of you I will bring a ruler for Israel, whose family line goes back to ancient times.....When he comes, he will rule his people with the strength that comes from the Lord and with the majesty of the Lord God himself.”
Bethlehem was such a town. Tiny and insignificant in the politics and history of Israel. Except for one event, one world-changing event. And isn't this how God chooses to operate time and time again? Not through the powerful. Not through the important. But through insignificant and flawed people and lives. In small, forgotten corners of the world. In unlikely and surprising ways. But always with LOVE.
Could you or I hold a Bethlehem within us? Is God working to make us an insignificant hero of love somehow? What is our Christmas GOD calling us to DO?
d365.org BENEDICTION (Amy Butler)
Live into the love God is bringing.
Love in ways that test the vast expanse of God's gift,
Limit yourself only to sharing God's gift with profusion.
Love is here.
Love is HERE!
For Thursday 12-27-12
ReplyDelete"Fear not!? The angels have to be kidding! We are standing around in our job and suddenly the skies erupt in song and ethereal beings shout out news, and we aren't to shake a little in apprehension and alarm? Anyone would tremble with terror! This is coming from angels to blue-collar workers! And Change usually brings Fear along as its sidekick."
Well said, we are fearful beings. Everything causes us to "be afraid". Visits from beings who dwell in our shared Kingdom, change from the way we want to the way we need, letting go of our perceived control. Yet we are created to be beings who live with the opposite attitude! We are created to live in LOVE not FEAR! That really is "GOOD NEWS".
God Bless,
Jim