Christmas Isn't Done

Don't touch that tree! Don't move those lights! It's still Christmas!

I really hate that song, the twelve days of Christmas. It just repeats and repeats and repeats, and I can never remember anything past 'Five golden rings.' But did you ever wonder where the idea came from? Twelve days? Actually, there are twelve days of Christmas, most people just forgot. My favorite radio station is still playing Christmas music because it's still Christmas! Twelve days to celebrate Jesus, because you can't fit him into just one night.

I was surprised when I learned that there should be twelve days of Christmas. But if you think about it, Christmas really never ends. We celebrate the light and the nativity as if the birth in the stable was the whole point of Jesus coming. But Christmas wouldn't mean a thing if Jesus never left the stable. We wouldn't know anything about Mary and Joseph if their son hadn't gone on to live an extraordinary life.

Christmas isn't victory, although a lot of people treat it like it is. Christmas is about hope, and hope doesn't mean that the good stuff has happened yet. Hope means we're still waiting for the good to arrive, urgently, expectantly waiting.

Because Christmas work isn't done yet. Christmas was just the beginning. It's appropriate, then, that New Years falls during the Christmas holiday, because that's really what Christmas is about. The start of the start, the beginning of the new way, the end is in sight, it's just not here yet.

Jesus carried on to live his life, teach and preach and die. He had a lot of work to do, and so do we. As we exit the Christmas season, we should realize that it is only the start, a new start, a reminding of the work we have to do. We have to prepare ourselves for Jesus to return. We have to try to reshape the world according to his vision. We have to be his hands and feet. Our work isn't done until we're dead, when it really begins!

So celebrate the manger, but don't stay outside the inn. You've got to leave Bethlehem for Christmas to mean anything. Don't get stuck in silent night, rather go and tell it on the mountain. Jesus came! He's coming back!

Hip Hip Hooray! :)

Three Christmas Observations

Christmas Snow: Heaven Touches Earth

We rarely get a white Christmas, and when we do it is usually just a dusting that barely paints the grass white. This year was different. This year the snow fell fast and thick for twelve hours and we have a truly white Christmas.

Have you ever been out in the country right after the snow, when all you can see is white for miles around? The sky is white, too, and you can't see the horizon. It is like the earth has swallowed the sky, or the sky the earth. They are one.

This is what happened at Christmas. Heaven and earth became one when Christ entered our mortal world, so that you could not distinguish where God ended and man began inside this one person. When the snow covers the ground and fills the sky, earth is heaven. It is a wonderful foretaste of what will come. On the last day the earth will be remade and Christmas work will be finished, the barrier will the lifted, the horizon gone. We will be with God.

Christmas Light: Jesus' Work Goes On

People emphasize that Jesus is the light of the world, but at Christmas we don't light one huge light, we light millions of tiny ones. Small candles or bulbs that don't do much on their own but create something marvellous against the bitter darkness.

Standing at the end of Christmas Eve service singing Silent Night, we each held a light, be it a candle or a glow stick. Jesus brought the light, but even though He is gone the light is not. We are the light, each one of us ignited by the Savior to continue His work. The lights on the tree and our houses, the the candles we hold, represent Christ in us.

This is what Christmas is all about. The light came into the world and ignited it. We bear the legacy of that work, and continue the task. We are Jesus here and Christmas' work continues today in each one of us. We are the hope of the world, we are his hands and feet.

Christmas Quiet: Peace is Here

Christmas is known as such a busy holiday, with people getting ready and all sorts of events going on, last minute shopping and traveling. Yet Christmas day is the quietest time. I love to step out my door in the morning and soak in the silence.

Stores are closed. Roads are nearly empty. Everyone is tucked away inside enjoying family and presents. This is probably the quietest day of the year, the only holiday we have left where ninety percent of businesses close. The peace of Christmas is there for each of us to find, if we only pause for a moment.

Jesus' gift at Christmas was this chance at quiet, at stillness, at perfect peace. Every day we go out searching for it, but it is at Christmas that we get the best taste. So pause and be still and know that God is Good, Jesus came, His Spirit is in us. Heaven touched earth, the light carries on, and our victory is assured. Rest for a moment in God's perfect gift.

Merry Christmas

Justice isn't Blind

She stands atop courthouses across the country, a woman with a blindfold holding a pair of scales in her hands. This is justice, a statement that the facts are weighed and the truth is discovered with complete objectivity. There is no room for favoritism, or persecution. Justice is blind, and can only weigh the facts one against the other to arrive at a clear, reasonable decision.

It seems like a good idea, but I have come to disagree with this perception of justice. God’s justice is far from blind. It sees everything more clearly than is humanly possible. It is clear-eyed justice that better serves the needs of mankind.

Jesus has a lot of famous moments, but one that really sticks out is the image of the adulteress and the crowd ready to stone her. Then Jesus says, let the person without sin cast the first stone. One by one the jury and executioners leave, because they all know that they have sinned. Jesus, who had not sinned, also left without throwing a stone.

Is this justice? According to the legal system of the time, it was not. The woman escaped the prescribed punishment for her crime.

Yet God is Just, and Jesus is God. Therefore, Jesus’ action toward the woman must also be just. But how? I believe Jesus was showing us a new kind of justice, true justice that sees clearly instead of blindly weighing facts. Yet somehow, two thousand years later, “Christian” nations still adhere to the old blind fallback because they cannot face the truth of justice.

Justice does what is best for all, it balances the scales to make the world right after wrong has been done. True justice is not about proportional retaliation or making sure that the wrong-doer is appropriately punished. In fact, justice has nothing to do with punishment. Justice sets things right.

This is why Jesus told us to love our enemies, to repay hatred with love, and to go further than is necessary in completing your tasks. Because he saw clearly what is needed to make the world right, and it is not punishment or proportional retaliation. These are our twisted attempt at justice, based on our blind stumbling through the dark. We need to lift the blindfold and see clearly.

The father of the prodigal son saw clearly that his son needed welcoming arms, not a lecture. He could have turned his prodigal son away and called it justice for the son turning his back on his father. Yet that would not have set things right; in fact, it would only have made things worse, and sent the son away to wander the world bitter and lonely and more likely to commit violent crime.

Most people, when they drag someone to the courthouse to face charges, are not truly seeking justice. They are seeking punishment, retribution, revenge disguised as a blind woman with scales. They have bought into the idea that punishment is justice, and that will set the world right.

But when we look through un-obscured eyes, like Jesus did, we see a different picture. We see men holding stones who need to admit their own faults. We see a woman, scared and sorry, get a second chance. We see a son, ready to return, welcomed with open arms. The only people Jesus yelled at, the only people he was harsh with, were the people who couldn’t see that what they were doing was wrong.

People need to see what they have done wrong, and acknowledge that it is wrong so that they can change. Whatever brings them to this point and this change is true justice. In order to execute justice and provide this change, we must see the person clearly, see what will shake them, shape them, remake them. This is how Jesus sees us, this is what God does for his children. He leads us in right paths, rebuking when necessary, forgiving when repentance is true.

This is justice, not to administer the prescribed punishment for the crime committed, but to offer that which is necessary to make things right again and to bring about change and healing.

Made Up

I do not put on make up, dye my hair or wear high heels. Hair care products, powders to turn my face different colors and uncomfortable shoes aren’t worth it. I would rather spend my time and money on something else, something better.

Do you ever stop to think about how much effort you put into your looks? Why do you do it? How many minutes of the day, how many dollars a month, do you spend on making yourself look good? What else could you do with that time and money that might be more productive, more worthwhile?

I don’t just take issue with make up on a function level, I also reject it on a spiritual level. God made me. He gave me this face and this body. He made it the way He wanted it to be. So why spend time trying to change it with blush, mascara, push-up bras and slimming underwear?

There is nothing wrong with the face that God made for me. But when we put on make up and fill our hair with gel, we attempt to change what God made. We say that who we are isn’t good enough, so we ‘make up’ a new face, a new look, a new person to fit ourselves into. We turn away from who we are and become made-up people with unnatural faces. Some women even call the act of applying make-up ‘putting my face on.’ You have a perfectly good face, and you don’t need a different one!

I've talked about how I really hate chick flicks, mushy, soppy stories that make us think life is about finding Mr. Right. There is another type of movie that I think it equally shallow and detrimental. It’s the story of the ’ugly’ girl, the misfit who gets beautified and suddenly becomes popular, gets a boyfriend, and after a few rough struggles, fixes up her until now sad, lonely life.

These movies tell us that you can’t be an individual, and you can’t buck the status quo. They say that if you are going to find a fulfilling relationship, you have to first fit in. You have to have make-up to make it. If you don’t, you’re doomed to remain in the world of social cast-offs forever.

Yet in every single one of these movies there is a girl who is already popular and beautiful through careful use of makeup and fashion. This girl is always ruthless in her scheming and conniving to remain number one on the popularity charts and catch the cute guy. She is also miserable, with no real friends or deep relationships.

So why did our plucky, misfit heroine let herself be painted and dressed up to be like this unhappy, bratty but popular girl? It doesn’t make any sense.

I don’t need to change what I wear and how I do my hair in order to find friends, or catch a guy. If I did, those people wouldn’t be real friends, that guy couldn’t really love me, because they wouldn’t know me. I won’t make myself into something I’m not.

Stop and think tomorrow morning when you’re in the bathroom doing your cosmetic routine. What are you really doing? Why aren’t you comfortable in your own skin?

Trickle

During the frigid winter months, living in a mobile home comes with special concerns. You need something called heat tape for your water pipes, because in the crawlspace between the floor and the ground it tends to get rather cold. When water sits all night and the thermometer only reads in the teens or twenties (or lower), it can freeze solid pretty quick. When water freezes, it expands. Pipes can burst, water gets everywhere. After it melts, until then, you just can’t get any water, or flush the toilet (ick).

So this heat tape stuff is like an electric cord wrapped around the pipes that keeps them warm, so the water doesn’t freeze. But you never know how well its working. And you never know when it might short out. So on really cold days and most every cold night we leave a bit of water running in the sink.

It’s just a trickle, barely a dribble, sometimes just a drip. But it makes a huge difference. When water moves, it stays warmer. Pipes don’t freeze, and we don’t get dehydrated. Keeping the water flowing is the key.

Our relationship with God can be the same. If we just turn the water on and off, it can freeze up. If we only pray once in a while, if we only read our Bible now and again, our spiritual life can stagnate. If we are in constant contact with God, even just a little bit, it can keep us warm, set us on fire with love.

How many times a day do you pray? How often do you think of Biblical passages? Do you have any committed to memory?

I want to challenge you to keep God present during your entire day, even if it is just a trickle. Very small things can help reorient our minds and our attitudes to God, and that can have a huge impact on our entire lives.

Pray at every meal. Not a huge drawn out prayer where you mention everyone and everything you are concerned about. Just say ‘thank you’ and remember that God is the reason you have food to eat. Pray when you get into the car, ask God for safe travel and put your life in His hands. Pray when you get out, to thank Him for the journey. Thank Him for the sun, thank Him for the rain, and remember that each and every person you speak to was made by Him for a purpose. Put on new eyes and see the world with God at your side.

When you are frustrated, think of how a Biblical character handled similar frustrations. Remember how many annoying people Jesus was patient with. When you have to do an unpleasant task, think of all of the stuff Peter and Paul put up with while spreading the Word. There’s an example in the Bible for every situation, and they can all point you back to God.

See how many ways you can incorporate God into your day in small drips. Soon it will turn into a dribble, a trickle, a stream. Invite God into your soul constantly, to wash you clean and renew you in His image every single day, every hour, every minute. Make God the center of your life, but don’t make it a huge, impossible production. Use small steps, turn the faucet up to a trickle. See Jesus make the difference.

Incarnation: why the Christmas story matters to me.

I posed a question on Monday asking why, or even if, the Christmas story matters in the grand scope of Christianity. Jesus' birth is only told in two gospels, so one-half of the gospel writers didn't even include it! And, the story is different in each gospel, with different themes and different characters. Matthew tells us a story about Magi and massacre and fleeing to Egypt, a story that parallels the life of Moses and sets Jesus up as a new Moses here to renew and fulfill Mosaic law. Luke gives us a story with a manger, shepherds, and lots of angels, he focuses on Mary (a woman and therefore a minority/marginalized person in her time period) and the poor, telling us that Jesus came for all people, not just the rich.

But you can see these two messages elsewhere in the gospels. Everything in the birth stories is told in another way in another place. So why bother?

I think that the very fact that Jesus was BORN is important. It makes the Incarnation complete.

Think about it. God didn't have to send Jesus as a baby. He could have appeared as a fully-grown man and just walked out of the desert and started preaching. He still would have been able to teach, die and rise again, and fulfill his mission on earth without any of the other messy details.

Yet I am extremely glad that Jesus was born. Not simply that he chose to become a baby, fully dependent on mother and father for care, and be laid in a lowly manger. This is all part of the message, but not the key to Jesus birth.

Jesus was born and lived a full life. He had parents to care for and to respect and obey. He had brothers and sisters and cousins and friends to hang out with, get into mischief with, laugh and cry with. He worked at his father's trade, he participated in the daily life of every day people.

Jesus was totally and fully human not just because he took on flesh but because he experienced human life with all of its joy, sorrow, hardship and toil. His parables are colored with imagery from Galilee--he didn't just teach out of divine wisdom but also out of personal experience!!

Jesus can empathize with us because he is one of us. Before he died, he lived. Isn't that amazing? God lived a normal life. He participated in funerals and parties, he went to weddings and circumcisions. When I think of Jesus sacrifice I don't just think of the cross, I think of his life.

So no matter what the details of the Christmas story, each version tells us this: Jesus was born, grew up, and lived.

He is a better savior because of it, because he didn't take the easy road and just incarnate as an adult. He learned how we feel, how we act, how life works and fully understood the struggles we go through. It is this willingness to simply be with us for thirty years before taking up his ministry that amazes me.

So when you're hearing about silent night and away in a manger and shepherds watching their flocks and little drummer boys, remember. It's not just that he was born, but that he lived. Just like you, just like me. This is how Jesus became fully human, so that he could bring humanity back to God.

Merry Christmas!

Dangerous Beauty

I love snow. I love to watch the big fat flakes drift gently through the sky and cover the world in a blanket of white. I love the way every sound in muffled in the snow, it makes the world feel peaceful and warm. I love to play in the snow, to fall backwards in a mound of it and swish my arms and legs to make an angel. I love snow.

I really hate snow. I hate that it gets everywhere and I have to shove, I hate trying to keep my feet dry when I go out the door in the morning. I hate the slush that is brown and slippery on the roads, and the salt stains that seem to follow me everywhere. I hate being stuck inside, and I really hate the cold. Snow is dangerous, especially when it's fresh and you pass ten cars in the ditch on the way home while praying you won't be number eleven.

Snow claims lives every year, yet it also stuns be with its beauty every time it falls.

It seems strange that something we love can also be something that causes so much pain and trouble? Yet it isn't strange at all. Most things in the world are like that. Most good things, the things really worth having, come with a mound of troubles, too.

Like children. So many people want children, yet every parent will tell you it's a tough, thankless job. Then they go and get pregnant again.

Or mountain climbing, working so hard to reach a place where the world is spread out beneath you, a picture of peace and beauty. Even after losing friends to the dangerous climb.

I think that the world is this way because God is this way, and creation reflects Him.

How many times have you wanted to scream at God, wonder what is He doing and why? How many times have you fallen into His arms to drink of amazing grace or belted out worship songs for hours on end?

God is good, but he is also dangerous. He is a passionate, zealous being with very strong emotions and the ability to do whatever He wants. Yet I feel perfectly safe in His presence, it is the safest place to be--in the lion's mouth. We sometimes forget that God is powerful, that He can squash mountains with his little finger and level great kingdoms without batting an eye. We are safe, though, because He always chooses to do what is right.

Aslan, the Jesus character from the Chronicles of Narnia, first helped me truly see this truth about God. I think it is one of the most moving and essential parts of the story. "He isn't a tame lion, but he is good." He is a warrior and a lover. Aslan told Jill, a spoiled little girl who was super thirsty, that she had to turn her back on him to take a drink. She asked if he was safe. Aslan replied with a list of terrible, powerful things that he could do. If she wanted a drink, Jill had to trust that Aslan would not harm her. Not that she could have defended herself even if she was facing him!

I don't want a tame, timid God bound up in a catechism and perfectly defined by religious practice. I don't want a God who is only cuddly and happy and never takes a stand against what is wrong. I love God because He is dangerous and strong, because He does not make exceptions or give evil a centimeter of breathing space. I love God not because I always know what He will do or how things will happen. Just the opposite. I love an unpredictable and amazing being who created me to join in His wild existence.

Is the God you know both dangerous and beautiful? If you think God is safe, tame, predictable or controlled, take another look at the Bible. You'll find an amazing person with a frighteningly strong passionate love for you.

Princess or fly?

I heard a song the other day on the radio that sums up a problem I often see in young women It's called Princes and Frogs by Superchik.

All princes start as frogs and all gentlemen as dogs
Just wait till its plain to see
What we're growing up to be
Cause Some frogs will still be frogs
And Some dogs will still be dogs
Some boys could become men
Just don't kiss us 'til then.

You hate men is what you say and I understand how you feel that way
All girls dream of a fairy tale
But what you've got's like a used car salesman
Trying to conceal what's wrong behind a smile and the song
And I'm not saying that boys are not like that
But I think you should know (you should)
That some of us will grow
Because. . . [CHORUS]

You found him is what you say
And we all want you to feel that way
But the frog you've got seems cute enough to kiss
And maybe frogs seem like that's all their is
But just because you haven't found your prince yet
Doesn't mean you're still not a princess
And what if if your prince comes riding in
While you're kissin' a frog what's he gonna think then
So look into his eyes
Are you a princess or a fly?

I have never understood why so many women allow themsevles to be flies. My first inclination is to blame the media.

I hate chick flicks, romantic movies that make it seem like life will be perfect as soon as you find the perfect person. They send a horrible message to young girls, a message that says you aren’t complete until you find your soul mate.

That is a big, fat, ugly lie that I see ruining women’s lives time and time again. So many girls think that they need a man. They wrap their lives around the idea of a romantic relationship and blind themselves to all else. There are even a few movies that speak to this fact, like Runaway Bride. The main character, played by Julia Roberts, kept leaving men at the altar because she knew deep down that she had really didn’t know herself. She took on aspects of her boyfriends lives and became the perfect woman for each of them, but she was never her own person.

As Walter told his mother in Secondhand Lions, “You always think a new boyfriend solves everything, but you always pick losers.” This movie was about a boy breaking free from the cycle of lies his mother fed him, a mother who went from man to man looking for happiness in romance and the idea of a strong protector and breadwinner.

Blaming chick flicks is too simplistic an answer. This idea is a myth created by our culture, a false ideal that has never, ever rang true for the majority of women. Even the fifties sitcom stay-at-home mom did not reflect the reality of the times. Most women worked, few women could actually stay home and be nothing but a homemaker and mother.

Women need to learn to stand on their own two feet, to be self sufficient and confident in their own strength before they even consider entering a romantic relationship with a man. If you don’t know who you are, like the Runaway Bride, an intimate relationship can damage your integrity and you find that you have slowly given away pieces of yourself.

I do not understand why women constantly do it. I have even heard modern women say that a good man only beats a woman when she deserves it.

WHAT? NONSENSE.

The fact that anyone believes this seriously disturbs me. There is never any excuse for a man to beat a woman. Yet it happens again and again. And you know what? It’s our fault, women’s fault. Yes, the guy is guilty, too, but it is women who allow them to do it. Abuse won’t stop until the abused stand up and say “Enough!” Men will not stop preying on weak women until women realize that they can stand alone, and live full, fulfilling lives without depending on any man.

Not that there aren’t great guys. Not that there aren’t great marriages. But a woman can’t tie her identity to a man, can’t submit her emotions and body for abuse. When she does, she tells him that she is worthless and should be treated as such. Is that the message you want to send?

Women allow bad men into their lives because they are desperate for a relationship. They start kissing frogs instead of waiting for the Prince.

Another song puts it, “You need that boy like a bowling ball dropped on your head, which means not at all.”

I don’t plan to wait for my prince. But I don’t plan to hit myself on the head with bowling balls, either. I plan to live my life for God and myself, and if a prince finds me, great. If not, fine. I would welcome romance, but I am also content alone because I know I am loved by God and highly valued in His kingdom.

Ladies, that goes for you, too. Romance is nice, but it can never fully fulfill, especially if you allow yourself to become a fly. You are loved by God. You are a Princess in the kingdom and God wants you to be his Bride.

Does the Christmas story matter?

I don't mean, does Christmas need to have Jesus in it. I don't mean, when you're sitting around the presents in the morning, that you need to remember the greatest present God ever gave. No, I mean, in the story of Jesus and the New Testament, does the Christmas story really matter? Forget the secular part of the holiday, is the manger, angles, shepherds, Herod, Magi, Mary and Joseph, important to Christianity or just a neat story we blew way out of proportion?

Stop and think about it.

Of four gospels, only two mention the story of Jesus' birth. Of those two gospels, very few details are the same. There are only Magi in one story, only shepherds in the other, in one Jesus is born in a stable and laid in a manger, the other doesn't really specify. In one, they run away to Egypt, in the other, they head to temple to dedicate the new baby. The few similar details are the names Mary, Joseph, the appearance of angels and the fact that Mary was a virgin.

Seriously, if only 1/2 of the gospel writer's even mention it, does the story of Jesus' birth actually matter? Does it add to our understanding of Him, help us see things more clearly? Can we be perfectly good Christians if we don't know anything about His birth, if we only have Mark and John to read?

When I posed this question at Sunday school, everyone had something to say. One woman was mad that I could even consider such a thing. To her, the virgin birth proved Jesus was God's son, so it is VERY important. But John makes the same point without ever mentioning Mary. So does it matter?

It doesn't change the most important tenants of our faith, that Jesus died for our sins and rose again on the third day. It doesn't change His teachings or their implications for our lives.

So why all the fuss? Is knowing how Jesus was born important? Why or why not?

Think about it. I will too, and give you my answer on Friday.

Dig Another Well

One of my favorite movies is Finding Nemo, and I love it mostly because of one character, Dory. This little blue fish can’t remember what happened in the last five minutes, but she never lets anything worry her. At one point she sings to her friend when he is about to give up, “Just keep swimming, just keep swimming.”

It does matter if you get stuck in a patch of jellyfish, dive into the pitch black depths of the ocean, or nearly get eaten by would-be-vegetarian sharks. If you just keep swimming, you can get anywhere.

My youth minister made the same point when I was in high school, only he said, “Dig another well.” In Genesis, when Isaac was looking for a place to settle in Cannan, the land he had been promised through is father Abraham, he kept running into trouble. He would find a nice place, pitch his tents, and dig a well. Then someone would come along and tell him he couldn’t stay, and Isaac had to move along, find another place, and dig another well.

Doesn’t sound quite right, if that land was promised to him and his offspring. Yet Isaac didn’t complain, didn’t bicker at God or at the people who told him to move on. Instead he picked up his things, got out his shovel, and dug yet another well. He knew that somehow, eventually, things would work out. It might take ten or twenty wells, but if he kept digging, eventually he would find a place he could stay.

It is the same in all our lives. When things work out, we just need to keep going. Give it another try. Keep on swimming. Dig another well. If we trust in God, that doesn’t mean that things are going to be easy or fall into place smoothly. It probably won’t. But God admires persistence. Remember the parable of the widow and the dishonest judge? Jesus told us, basically, to keep hounding Him and show Him we mean business. If you aren’t willing to pursue something through whatever obstacles may come, why should God bother giving it His attention? He’s got more important things to do.

So if at first you don’t succeed, dig another well. I have found this especially to be true in my current job hunt. I have filled out application after application, been to businesses and called on the phone. After a long dry spell, suddenly opportunity rained down. Three different employment opportunities finally lay open before me. But I would never have found them if I didn’t keep at it.

So dig, swim, persevere, and remember that in whatever you are trying to do, continually check to make sure your will lines up with God’s will. Learn the lesson presented to you in every experience, good or bad. Trust that all will be well. Because it will.