Close to Me

1 John 4:18-19 – 18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. 19 We love because he first loved us.

God’s love for you is complete and all encompassing. God loves the parts of you that you love. God loves the parts you think you can hide. We can enter the presence of God as welcomed, well-loved children. We don’t need to cower in fearing like we’re waiting for a hammer to drop on our heads for the things we’ve done. Yes, some of the things we’ve done will have earthly consequences, some that might even involve earthly punishment. Thankfully, through Jesus’s sacrificial work on the cross our sins are wiped clean away and God will welcome us as his beloved.

God draws us into the kingdom because he wants to be with us. And through this we are able to love because he first loved us. Just about every word you have ever said is a word you heard (or read) someone else use first. Through the example of others, we are able to cobble together our first words and sentences. We grow and learn more and can put our thoughts and feelings into words we share with others. This is how we know how to love. God showed us how to do it first.

With this knowledge and experience of love we can show others what it’s like to have love and give love. With this knowledge and experience we can point people towards the source. The great preacher and theologian Charles Spurgeon once said that love without God is like fire without heat. It doesn’t make sense.

We know the love that we have received because we know for what we have been forgiven. This love should inspire us to share it with others. Go and show love to the world.

Holy Weak

This is the week we look forward to Easter. On Sunday we will celebrate with Christians across the world that the savior fulfilled his promise to save us from our sins through his sacrifice on the cross. Jesus’s death, burial, and resurrection are the hinges on which our faith hangs. Often however, we gloss over the first part in Jesus’s death. It’s like we’ve been given spoilers for a movie and the cliffhanger loses all its punch because we know the hero is going to pull through.

Sadly, we lose perspective when we don’t take in the whole story. Crucifixion is a horrible, tortuous way to die. Beyond that, in Jesus’s lead up to the cross he was beaten, mocked, and tortured. It was not as clean and tidy as all those renaissance paintings make it out to be. It was dark and sad and painful, but Jesus did it for us. He went through it because of the love he had for his children.

It's hard to wrap our minds around having that sacrifice made on our behalf. Most of us have lived such a blessed life that we’ve probably have never been close enough to danger to see that kind of choice made. And through all of the pain and agony Jesus had a singular focus.

As he hung on the cross between two criminals he had this seemingly final conversation. Luke 23:39-43

39 One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” 40 But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation?41 And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” 42 And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” 43 And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

Jesus forgave them then and he will forgive you now. He came so that you may have life eternal.

Back Then

I fell down a nostalgia hole recently, listening to some of the music I listened to in high school and college. It’s amazing how much more important that music feels than stuff I listen to now. I don’t think I’m unique in this experience. There is something about the media you consumed in that stage of life that just hits you differently no matter how far removed you are. Even if it objectively sounds bad (because it was a friend playing guitar and yelling into a tape recorder) it still taps into those feelings I had when I first listened to it as a teenager.

I heard one person describe this experience as feeling understood for the first time. When you’re growing up you encounter a lot of feelings that you don’t understand because it’s your first time feeling them. And then a song comes on and you immediately connect. Girls are confusing. Boys are weird. Parents don’t understand. Teachers are dumb. My friends are important. My current experience doesn’t define the rest of my life.

These may feel simplistic, but I’m sure there is something in that list that resonated then and might just resonate with you now. As we grow, we must work hard to keep hold of our childlike wonder.

Jesus tells us in Luke 18:17, “Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.” We place our full trust in Jesus to fulfill his promise. We listen to the call on our lives. It takes a lot more effort to act with this childlike faith than it takes to be an actual child.

When you were a kid, this came naturally. You followed your whims without analyzing the cost or wondering if it was a waste of time. Yes, sometimes this got you in trouble, but sometimes it took you on an adventure that you still talk about all these years later. You can still have the experience of awe and wonder and being understood that you had back then. You just need to seek it out.

Used to Be

Once you’ve achieved something, it’s easy to forget the path that led you there. We reach the top of the mountain we’ve been climbing, and instead of thinking, “wow I’ve come so far,” we think, “now I’m where I was always supposed to be.” Or worse, “I’ve always been here.” And it’s in those times of false bravado that we look down with disdain on people who are still trying to climb the mountain we just finished.

In Titus 3, Paul is reminding Titus to teach people not to forget where they came from. Titus 3:1-3, “Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work, 2 to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people. 3 For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another.”

It's easy to forget that “we ourselves were once foolish.” You didn’t always have it all together the way you do now, and it’s crucial to remember that. It’s important for two reasons. First, it keeps you humble; you didn’t start at the top. There was a struggle along the way. There were times when you took two steps forward and three steps back. There were times that it was just steps back. Through it all you endured and persevered. Remembering where you’ve been helps you appreciate where you’ve made it.

And second, it lets you help people avoid the mistakes you made. The world is better when you offer people a hand up rather than slamming the door behind you. Paul continues, Titus 3:4-5 “4 But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit…”

We didn’t get here alone.

Spring Has Sprung

Winter is officially over. It remains to be seen if the weather actually agrees with that statement or not. But from where I’m sitting it looks like things are about to start getting green again very soon. There is something about the transitional seasons that feels so special. Coming out of winter, we are ready for it to be warm again in the spring. Coming out of summer, we are ready for it to be cool again in the fall. These perfect little cycles of life remind us that time is marching on.

There was a Greek philosopher, Heraclitus, who is credited with the phrase, “the only constant in life is change.” It is something that we all need to live into and accept: time is passing, you’re getting older, people come into and out of your life. If we take technology into account, then this constant change can feel like a whirlwind that we’re trying to keep up with.

As Christians however, we have an anchor point. In a world that feels like it’s whipping past us we can look to the creator of that world and take solace in the fact that God does not change. God’s love for us is the same day after day.

The writer of Hebrews put it this way in Hebrews 13:8-9, “8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. 9 Do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods, which have not benefited those devoted to them.”

We can resist the temptation to look to the heavens and say, “thanks for the salvation, but what have you done for me lately?” God’s love does not change. God’s love does not fail. God’s love for you won’t go away because of the things you’ve done.

God is our constant.

The Ides of March

If it weren’t for the assassination of Julius Caesar the word “ides” would probably be gone from any modern use. Ides, in the Roman calendar, simply refers to the middle part of the month. Interestingly, this year the middle of March also coincides with the (rough) middle of Lent. And whether you’ve chosen to fast or not it is an important time we can use in the lead up to Easter.

There’s such a temptation to treat holidays, like Christmas and Easter, as a list of tasks to rush through—as though we can win at Easter. When in truth these days have been set apart as a time of remembrance. We should spend intentional time pausing and meditating during Lent on the promises that were fulfilled through Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. This is why people fast during Lent.

We don’t do it to impress other people. It is not done to impress God. We do it as a reminder of our reliance on a savior. We do it so that anytime you have that pang of “I could really go for that thing I’m fasting from,” we can ask the question, “Do I want God as much as I want that?”

Isaiah 58:5-6 says,
5 Is such the fast that I choose,
    a day for a person to humble himself?
Is it to bow down his head like a reed,
    and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him?
Will you call this a fast,
    and a day acceptable to the Lord?

6 “Is not this the fast that I choose:
    to loose the bonds of wickedness,
    to undo the straps of the yoke,
to let the oppressed go free,
    and to break every yoke?

It is so rare for us to take time examining our lives. What do I truly need? What can I live without? What is getting in the way of my reliance on God? Even though we are halfway through Lent, it is never too late to ask these questions and try fasting.

Undone

At times, I can be a big procrastinator. And it can be counterintuitive because the things I procrastinate the most on are usually pretty important things to get done. I had friend in school who regularly had his assignments done a good three weeks before the due date if not before. We made fun of him and called him a nerd (mostly because we were envious, he was past the stress of the deadline). He explained it once, simply, as the way you feel one week out is how I feel three weeks out. In school we all had the same assignments; the stress and gravity of them just hit at different times.

I think it’s only natural to try and avoid things that cause stress in our lives. Unfortunately, if you tried to avoid EVERYTHING that caused you stress, you wouldn’t have much of a life. There are things that must get done. There are things that God is calling you to do. Not Christians, not people, not someone. You! You specifically have a call on your life, something that God has taught you through your experience or has gifted you naturally to do.

In Jeremiah 1, we see Jeremiah receive his call the way we would like to receive ours. Jeremiah 1:4-5, “4 Now the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
and before you were born I consecrated you;
I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”

We think we would like to hear a voice from the heavens saying, “Hey you! Go do this.” But like Jeremiah, when you read the rest of the chapter, we would all immediately come up with reasons why we can’t. Offering up excuses doesn’t change your responsibility. You have a call to further the kingdom of heaven in a way that no one else can. The call can be scary. The call can be something that we want to put off until later. When the truth is, you know that God has called you to move.

You just need to start.

Plans

Last week, on my God blessed day off, I wake up to one of those emails you never want to see. It was the bank saying, “hey, we think there might be some fraud going on with your credit card.” I’ve received these in the past, most often when I’ve been travelling. “Your card got used in New Jersey, Colorado, and California all in one day is everything cool?” You say, “yes that was me,” and that’s it. This time however, things were undeniably not cool. Instead of enjoying my day off some jerk dumped a bunch of chores in my lap.

Thankfully, it was all caught early, and it wasn’t as nearly as bad as it could have been. Things were about 90% solved after a few hours of bouncing between websites and phone support. Still, that was not how I wanted to spend my day. There are times in our lives when the day we were expecting gets thrown off the rails immediately. Any number of things can take a day from normal to zero in a flash.

Days like this that remind us that, try as we might, we are not in control. There’s a famous prayer that most of us would benefit spending some time thinking about. Usually associated with recovery programs the serenity prayer says, “God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”

It's that last line that gets so many people caught up: “The wisdom to know the difference.” Psalm 19:21 tells us, “Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.” Maybe one small intrusion in my life is a wake-up call to do an assessment of my on-line security. Maybe I’m supposed to pay closer attention. Once you get safely to the other side of whatever you’re going through take one small moment to look back and ask, “What could I learn from this?”

And maybe go change some passwords.

Ash Wednesday

Today is Ash Wednesday which marks the beginning of the Lenten Season. Lent is a time of preparation and repentance as we remember Jesus’s path towards his death on the cross for our salvation. Traditionally, Ash Wednesday is a solemn day spent reflecting on our own mortality and need for a savior. Unlike the big Christian holidays like Christmas and Easter, Ash Wednesday and Lent as a whole haven’t picked up much widespread popularity outside of the most traditional churches. It’s almost like dwelling on the fact that one day you won’t be here anymore is kind of a downer, and willfully going without (fasting) is hard.

Even if you don’t put ashes on your forehead or start a forty day fast you can still take time to remember and appreciate the gift of salvation that Jesus gave us. Salvation is something we all needed. Salvation is something we cannot create for ourselves.

Romans 3:21-24 tells us, “…now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— 22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,”

Try as we might to be our own salvation, we fall short because we are unable to live a sinless perfect life. How hard is it to admit that we don’t have it all together? Actually living really gets in the way of having the perfectly manicured life we’d like to portray. But in this season, we can reflect and remember that we were never asked to live that perfect life. While we were (and are) sinners Jesus died so that we may be forgiven.

In the next forty days I hope you take some time to consider the reason we celebrate Easter.

Love, Obviously

How do you picture Jesus during his last supper with his disciples? In the chapters of John leading up to his arrest in the garden he clearly had a lot to say. Yes, he gave them a head’s up about what was about to happen, but he also spent time reminding them of his most important lessons. If you need a primer on how to treat people, on how to start living the Christian life, then John, chapters 13-17, is a great place to start.

Knowing that he was headed for the cross, he says the following, John 15:12-13 “12 This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.13 Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down their life for their friends.” He wants the disciples (and us) to know that he is walking down a path, knowing it leads to death, willingly because of the love he has. Loving another human being will almost always involve some sort of sacrifice.

Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice out of the love he had for us, giving his own life. By the fact that you’re reading this now, I think it’s safe to assume that you haven’t had to sacrifice your own life for a friend. However, I’m sure there are sacrifices big and small you have made for the people that you love. “I don’t really enjoy that restaurant, but I’ll go because I know you do.” “I know you hate doing (household task), so I will take care of it.” “I never thought I’d live there, but I love you enough to trust the call on your life.”

Big or small, we show the love we have for others by the sacrifices we are willing to make for them. And when we combine this with our call to be a force of love for everyone, we learn more about our place in the world. We can focus on building others up. We can choose to put ourselves second. We can live into to the love we have been called to give.

Crisis Averted

I saw a tweet one time that said, “I used to think adulthood was one crisis after another. I was wrong. It’s multiple crises, concurrently, all at once, all the time. Forever.” I would guess that this is a sentiment we could all relate to from time to time. It doesn’t even need to be one giant problem that is crushing you. Sometimes it feels like a death of a thousand cuts; a lot of small problems start stacking up until you’re feeling a little overwhelmed. Then a lot overwhelmed. And all your efforts make it seem like you’re just fighting the tide or running in a dream.

I wish there was an easy way for me to say, “Just do XYZ and you’ll never feel stress again.” There are other people who will try and tell you that, but they are usually trying to sell you something. As the old saying goes the only way out is through. Meaning that, try as we might, the issues that we face in our lives won’t go away by ignoring them. To live into the fullness of who we are called to be we are going to need to learn how to face the tough stuff.

Thankfully for Christians we have assurance that whatever we might need to face we don’t need to face it alone. Isaiah 41 reminds us that God is with us.

Isaiah 41:9-10     
9 you whom I took from the ends of the earth,
    and called from its farthest corners,
saying to you, “You are my servant,
    I have chosen you and not cast you off”;
10 fear not, for I am with you;
    be not dismayed, for I am your God;
I will strengthen you, I will help you,
    I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

The hardest part of the problems or crises we face is that it can feel like we are lost and alone. Like we must do everything solo. While you will need to face some hard things head on, God wants you to know that he is with you and supporting you in the midst of them.

Clean Out

If you know one thing about me, it’s probably that I’m tall. But if you know two things about me it’s that I’m tall and I’ve moved a lot and lived a lot of places. Southeast, Northwest, Mountains, SoCal, Middle America, been there, done that, lived there. If you have ever moved then you know, moving is stressful. Did everything get packed right? Will those things I hold precious make the journey safely? Then after the truck is unloaded, I know everything is here, but I don’t know where anything is.

Moving also forces you to evaluate. You need to go through all your stuff and decide, “am I going to move this box that hasn’t been opened in nearly a decade, one more time?” (For me I always want to answer yes). Getting rid of the things you don’t need is important, especially when it’s something that slows you down. And as much as we could all use a deep dive of spring cleaning to evaluate the stuff in our attics and basements, I know the same could be said about our hearts, minds, and spirits.

I wish it was as easy to get rid of our mental and emotional baggage as it is to get rid of your ill-fitting clothes or that old CD tower. Unfortunately, it takes a great deal more effort. David in Psalm 51 demonstrates for us the agony and relief that comes with facing the issues you need to deal with. He starts by recognizing his need for help, admitting to his faults, and asking to be forgiven. Each step in the process can take monumental effort, we live in a world where we’re never supposed to admit fault for anything.

Once we can acknowledge our need for change, we can start to do something about it. If it’s safe to do so, reach out and seek or offer forgiveness. Remembering that forgiveness doesn’t need to wait for an apology.

David sums up what we want perfectly in Psalm 50:10-12,
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God,
    and renew a right spirit within me.
11 Cast me not away from your presence,
    and take not your Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
    and uphold me with a willing spirit.

Evaluating what you want to keep and what you want to get rid of is never an easy proposition. But we can take solace in the fact that we have a patient God who will walk with you through the entire process. You just need to be willing to start.

Moving Forward

There’s a worship song from the early 2000s with a refrain that says, “Strength will rise as we wait upon the Lord.” The song probably draws from Isaiah 40 which is all about the comfort, blessing, and full glory of God. It’s all about how God will bring peace to the people. God’s promises are good and will stand true forever. God is great and he will tend to us the way sheep are cared for by a shepherd. Isaiah sometimes writes like he knows that you already know what he's telling you. Isaiah knows he’s not telling you anything new, but he’s going to say it anyway.

Unfortunately, there are many times that we need to be reminded of all the things that we already know. Around this time of year, a bunch of people are starting a new fitness journey. We all know that you should have more green food in your diet than brown food. We all know that we should move a little more and sit a little less. This doesn’t change the fact that we can fall into unhealthy patterns and need to be reminded of those things we already know.

Isaiah inspires the aforementioned song in 40:30-31,
30 Even youths shall faint and be weary,
    and young people shall fall exhausted;
31 but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;
    they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
    they shall walk and not faint.

I hope we can all remember those days of childhood where you felt like you could run and play forever. Even if now, you only feel it vicariously through the children you are around, that energy is something we all want. When we trust in God’s provision, we can find a new way to experience that energy again.

We can grow, even when growing feels like it takes forever.

Peaceably

Romans 12 is one of those chapters in the New Testament that is so densely packed with goodness that many volumes could be filled by thoroughly exploring just about any single verse. It talks about the gifts of grace. It talks about our call to be different in this world and not lost in unhealthy patterns. It calls us to be filled with love for our neighbor. It isn’t always stuff that is easy to do, but it’s all stuff that we would agree is right.

The verse that stood out to me today was Romans 12:18, “If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.” Even at a face value, surface level reading, I think most people would agree that living peaceably is a good idea. No one wants to live in constant fear of conflict or walk on eggshells around their friends and neighbors. We want to have the freedom to be open and honest. We want to share our ideas in a way that leads to discussions not arguments.

We know that we don’t always live in a world like that, so let’s back up a step in the verse. It says, “so far as it depends on you.” This puts the responsibility on Christians to be the ones who take the hard road of kindness. We can’t control how other people react. It’s hard enough to control how we react and sometimes we don’t do that either. However, we can be the ones trying to bring peace into the world.

Now we make it all the way back to the beginning of the verse, “if possible.” This is a hugely conditional statement that expresses to us that living peaceably with absolutely everyone might not be possible. There are people that, for whatever reason, just don’t like you (for the record I think they’re wrong, and you’re great). There are people that need to work through their own inner turmoil. This doesn’t remove our responsibility to put forth the effort of living peaceably.

We can only control how we treat people. So, let’s be the people that bring peace.

Attention

My mug is kind of super gross and dirty right now. My daily cup of tea has turned the normally white mug a solid brown on the inside. This didn’t happen all at once, this is the build-up of several days of thinking, “eh clean enough,” and refilling it once again. Once I wash it (which I promise I’ll do as soon as I finish writing this) it will be pristine and white once again, but until then it’s just going to sit tea stained.

There are things in our life that are easy to neglect. Whether you are taking a principled stand of not solving someone else’s problem or you’re just focused on bigger issues there are things that can fall by the wayside and not get accomplished. Unfortunately, those things still need to get done. You need to have that conversation. You need address that repair. I need to wash my mug.

I’m sure many of us have an answer that pops into our heads when asked, “what have you been neglecting/forgetting/overlooking?” It’s easy to have a knee-jerk answer and think that we have everything covered, there is nowhere in our lives that needs work. However, 1 John 1:8-9 tells us, “8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

We can all find an area in our life that could use a little work. Some may be sinful and must be addressed while others are more benign. But just because something isn’t a priority now doesn’t mean we can ignore it forever. Take some time and examine the aspects of your life that you may have been neglecting. Ask God to open your eyes to the things you need to see about yourself or about your life.

In the modern world, there are millions of things that clamor for your attention. Be sure to focus on what really matters.

Resolute

Just like that it is 2023. Feels like only 1 to 8 years ago it was 2019, and the world was full of the usual promise. There are times that we wake up and start wondering where the time all went. You have memories and experiences and feelings about your history. It definitely happened. You were definitely there. Unless you pass through an inflection point (think big change: a birth, death, marriage, move, etc.) it’s easy to just cruise through checking the boxes of existing. I went to work. I paid my bills. I sent that birthday card.

In our lives, nothing ever changes unless we decide to make a change. Certain things might be written into your genetic code like your height, your eye color, or your risk for certain diseases, but in everything else you have a say. It may not be easy; in fact, some changes will take a monumental effort on your part. In the end though, every day you put in the effort puts you one day closer to reaching your goal.

The joy and inspiration we have is that we don’t need to put in this effort alone. The writer of Hebrews 13:8-9 tells us, “8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. 9 Do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods, which have not benefited those devoted to them.” We have a God who wants to see you be successful in the places where you put your effort.

We can grow and succeed, but we are also allowed to have bad days. We are allowed to fall short because we have God whose love is unchanging. When you take five steps towards your goal, God loves you. When you take two steps forward and three steps back, God loves you. When you feel like you’ve failed completely and need to start from scratch again, God loves you.

God’s love for you is unchanging. Since God is unchanging that means you can change. Pick a goal for 2023 change yourself for the better, even if it is hard.

Become resolute.

291,600 Seconds

The week between Christmas Day and New Year’s Day is weird. Many people use it to take a break from work to go visit family or friends. Some people desperately try to go back to work to avoid all the family and friends that came to visit. Maybe you spend it feeling thankful for the gifts you’ve been given. Maybe you spend it cruising the internet to buy yourself the gifts you “should” have been given. However, you spend your week, one thing is certain. The countdown clock for the new year is winding down to zero very soon.

What will you do? How will you spend the waning seconds of 2022? Too often we wait for the change of the calendar to be our impetus for change. As though one morning we will wake up with perfect drive and discipline. When I was in college, I would fall into the procrastination trap of “needing” to start a project right on the hour. “I will start this project at exactly 2:00pm,” but when I looked at the clock and it said, 2:07pm I’d throw up my hands and think, “Well I guess I have to wait until 3:00pm.” Or else (or else what I don’t know, I just didn’t want to start the project).

The truth is I should have probably started the project a week ago. It is never too early to do what you know is right. As followers of Christ, we have been made new. Paul in 2 Corinthians 5:16-17 says, 16 From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, they are a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 

From now on! Paul doesn’t say when you’re ready to start at the top of the hour. Paul doesn’t say at the stroke of midnight on the first day of January. It can start today. New Year’s Resolutions are great, but you can have New Month Resolutions. New Week Resolutions. New Day Resolutions. If you need it make a New Hour Resolution. Trust that God has called you to be a new creation whenever you start.

Happy New Year!

ADVENT 28 - Wrapping Up

(Originally Posted December 29, 2021)

Well, it looks like we made it. It’s the last week of the year, Christmas festivities are winding down, and we have one more party holiday to close out the season in New Year’s Eve. This year, 2021, has flown by faster than any year I can remember. It’s usually busyness and too much activity that makes time fly by; I never thought sameness could make that happen too. Trying to pin down when things happened, especially during the times we all stayed home, can be tricky. You need to use some memory context clues. Was it hot or cold outside? Was it sunny or rainy? Was it before or after I watched Tiger King? 

In this week, where the collective urge is to say, “That is now January me’s problem to deal with,” I hope you take some time to pause and reflect on the year—even if it feels like it barely happened. When I worked with students, we used to do an exercise called High/Low. You simple reflected on your day, your week, your month, or even your year and asked what a low point of your year was and what was a high point. You don’t need make a fancy chart and rank everything that happened you just take whatever comes to mind.

Most of us will have varying degrees of each experience, which can determine whether we view 2021 as an overall positive or negative year. If you’ve had a great year, praise God, use that joy to help encourage other people. If you’ve had a not-so-great year, that’s okay to admit also. All of us need to lean on the hope that we have that God wants to bless us and draw us closer to his glory.

1 Peter 1:2-9

May grace and peace be multiplied to you.

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, 9 obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

We have hope for the future! Our current circumstances test us, but we know our futures will be filled with glory. Celebrate when you can, and hold strong when you can’t.

May grace and peace be multiplied to you.

ADVENT 27 - Crash

(Originally Posted December 2, 2020)

I heard a story the other day about a couple, sleeping soundly in their bed, who were awakened by the terrifying crash of their neighbor’s tree tearing through the roof of their bedroom. Through no fault of their own, their night and their house were ruined. If this isn’t a metaphor for 2020, I don’t know what is. In January/February we heard about this nasty bug that was going around in Italy, and by March were all in lockdown. 

Out of nowhere this thing came along and ruined our year. Thankfully we are the people of hope, and we have someone to turn in these times of trouble. Psalm 147 says,

1 Praise the Lord. 
How good it is to sing praises to our God,
    how pleasant and fitting to praise him!
2 The Lord builds up Jerusalem;
    he gathers the exiles of Israel.
3 He heals the brokenhearted
    and binds up their wounds.
4 He determines the number of the stars
    and calls them each by name.
5 Great is our Lord and mighty in power;
    his understanding has no limit.

Though we are scattered, exiled if you will, we know and can find comfort that the Lord will gather us together in the future. Though our heart breaks from cancelled plans and opportunities that feel lost, we know that our wounds can be healed. We worship a God who has counted the uncountable, and if God can know them so well how much more does God know us?

When this current trouble passes (and it will). You are not required to look back at this time fondly. The year 2020 doesn’t need to be celebrated as a time we all hunkered down to watch too many hours of television and assemble more puzzles than we have done in the previous decade. We can grieve it and grieve it together. However, in that grief we know that there is a God that will gather us from this in-home exile to be together once again.

How good it is to sing praises to our God!

ADVENT 26 - Remember, It's Christmas

(Originally Posted December 25, 2019)

Matthew 28:18-20 - “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

It’s Christmas afternoon. The presents have been opened. Food has been eaten or is being prepared. Someone you know is realizing that their kid is more interested in the box than the expensive toy that came inside it. Extended family is commenting on how much someone has grown, and the weird uncle turns it into a self-deprecating fat joke. And today is the day to really settle in for a long winters nap.

Or maybe your day has been different. Maybe you’ve been so caught up in preparing for Christmas you forgot to celebrate it. Today is the day we celebrate the birth of our savior. An unimportant family had a baby in a cave and set Him in a feeding trough (if you had the same nativity set I had as a kid then you know that this made the donkey look very concerned). This birth that should be trivial, another kid to throw on the pile that is humanity, instead sent a shockwave through time. This is the point where everything changed.

An angel told some shepherds who were working in the nearby fields to come check out the big event that just happened. Shepherds who were pretty low on the social hierarchy ladder got to be the first witness to a turning point in history. Then a few months/years later some smart dudes came from far away to meet Him because they understood how important He was and would be.

Now 2019 is almost done. The next time you get another one of these emails we will be 1/5th into the 21stcentury. Time is flying and we are busier and more distracted than ever before. So, if you have spent too much time preparing this year take a minute for yourself (60 literal seconds), and just reflect on all the great things that God has done this year. Sure, you’ve faced challenges but for now what has gone right? Even if it is just for you, just for now, take a moment to celebrate.

“…behold, I am with you always…”

Merry Christmas