Source: Dennis the Menace calendar (2012)
You mean last year was yesterday?
Hail to God’s Son, the one & only Theanthropic One.
“The Incarnation,” a video spoken word piece from Odd Thomas:
(Video below)
“What good is the Christmas story if it’s void of God and His glory?
What’s the worth of the words ‘peace on earth’ if it’s not rooted in the Truth of Christ’s birth?
What benefit is it for us to discuss the joy of the season unless we fix our hearts and minds on the principal reason that Christ has atoned for us?
See Christmas is more than just a story of a baby born in a manger,
More than a poor fiancé engaged to a humble virgin teenager,
More than a Magi, more than gold, frankincense and myrrh.
It’s more than a narrative of a Nativity scene, it was so much more that occurred.
It’s the coming of the Messiah, the fulfillment of all Old Testament promises,
The prophecy of the suffering Servant and all of His accomplishments,
The second Person of the Trinity commissioned to abandon His position,
And literally set aside the independent exercise of His attributes in full submission,
The Word manifested in the flesh, the fullness of God expressed,
The self-emptying Jesus poured out at the Father’s request,
The image of the invisible God, the radiance of the Father’s fame,
Holy, but retained His humanness to empathize with our pain.
He was unjustly crushed, chastised, cursed and shamed,
Mocked and adorned with a crown of thorns, disgraced but He still faced the grave,
To fulfill the Father’s will, to come and die in the place of sinful men,
And receive the fully fury of God’s judgment upon Himself instead,
The most monumental mark for mankind made in human history,
Wretched sinners being made righteous only by the wounds of the risen King,
The condescending of a holy God made in the likeness of men,
A child born to be the Savior that would save the world from their sins,
The offspring of the virgin’s womb,
The Christ, God’s own Son, fully God, yet fully man, the only theanthropic One.
This is what we celebrate, Christ the newborn King, veiled in flesh, the Godhead seen,
Hailed incarnate Deity.”
Odd Thomas – The Incarnation (Spoken Word) from Humble Beast Records on Vimeo.
Closing quote: Continue reading
God with us: the end of fear.
Have you ever felt afraid? Even in the happiest of times, fear can haunt our hearts, nagging, keeping us from experiencing true joy and peace.
What if I lose my job? Did I get the present I hoped for? Why was my friend acting mean to me? Why wasn’t I invited to the party? Will I make the team? Will I get accepted? Will he always love me? Will we have enough? Will I be healed?
As you read the Christmas story in Luke 1 and 2, you’ll find angels appearing three times, messengers from God sent from heaven to give the world wonderful news about the Savior Jesus Christ. The angels appeared to a man named Zechariah, a girl named Mary, and a group of shepherds in Bethlehem. Each was occasion for celebration, for the angels brought the greatest news the world would ever hear. But do you know what happened each time the good news came?
Those who heard were afraid.
Zechariah was afraid (1:12). Mary was afraid (1:19). The shepherds were afraid (2:9).
And all three times the angels spoke these words:
“Do not be afraid.”
—
That night there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby, guarding their flocks of sheep. Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. They were terrified, but the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David! And you will recognize him by this sign: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger.” —Luke 2:8-12 (NLT)
—
These heavenly messengers were the first to declare the Message of Christmas — that God so loved us that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him will never die but will have eternal life.
Christ is the end of fear for all who believe. Why? Because Christ conquered the source of fear. He triumphed over sin and death, trampling Satan once and for all, delivering us from evil and delivering us into the God’s glorious Kingdom. But sometimes—just like Zechariah, Mary, and the shepherds—we can actually be afraid of the message of Christ. We can be afraid of really trusting Him. What will He make me do? we wonder. But Christianity isn’t primarily about what God asks us to do but what God has already done.
What has God done? He has loved us.
“This is how God showed His love among us: He sent His one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him…. There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear…” —1 John 4:9, 18 (NIV)
As you welcome Christ in your hearts and home this Christmas His perfect love will cast out all fear. (You know who wasn’t afraid in the story? The angels. Perfect love does cast our fear.)
Look to Him and hear His words, “Do not fear, only believe.” No need to fear; God is with us.
Merry Christmas.
For a Child is born to us, a Son is given to us.
The government will rest on His shoulders.
And He will be called:
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
His government and its peace will never end.
He will rule with fairness and justice from the throne of his ancestor David for all eternity.
The passionate commitment of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies will make this happen!
—Isaiah 9:6-7 (NLT)
Reflection questions for discussion:
- When were you afraid this year? How did you respond when overcome with fear?
- What are you afraid of today?
- Is there any aspect of that coming year that makes you feel afraid?
- How does Christ’s presence remove that fear?
The end of the world as we know it. (And the boy and I feel fine.)
Take hope: even if the predictions aren’t true, it won’t be the end of the world.
It will be either mass hysteria or mass sarcasm today as the End of the World comes or passes on 12/21/12.
Whether it’s your last day or simply the first day of winter, let me be the first to mention Kari’s new ebook Plenty is free today for Kindle.
As for our family, 12/21/12 means celebrating the end of the world as we knew it six years ago.
That day The Dutcher entered our lives, the boy with the Christmas Day due-date who showed his true colors in arriving four days early. Every since he’s been ahead of the curve. Until today 2012 has been marked by using fractions:
He was five-and-a-quarter by Spring…
became five-and-a-half in the Summer …
then five-and-three-quarters on the first day of Fall…
(and five-and-seven-eighths sometime in there…)
Is a full integer Six today.
Our justice-loving boy has been hoping, waiting and asking all year to get the LEGO Police Station #7498. For ages 6-12. Did you read that? Six-to-Twelve!
Thankfully the boy has grandparents who listen well and give generously.
I haven’t had the talk with our son about the significance our society (and the ancient Mayans) placed on this date. He’s simply been learning to count in fractions on the way to whole numbers. No more decimals (for a day), no more fractions (for a season). The boy is an integer whole. Which, as he and I are both learning by experience, is like putting together the pieces of our brokenness on the way to integration — wholeness.
Sometime today this justice-loving father and son will talk about why his wanting to restore order and justice to the LEGO universe is a metaphor for the true Integral One, the Law-Giver and Mercy-Maker who personally came to right all wrongs. He will set everything right on the real Last Day. Everything sad will become untrue.
For starters he and I will busy ourselves building a three-story police station. Hauling off crooks to a holding cell, so they can consider the errors of their ways. Each will be treated with dignity, given a space to repent, and in the LEGO jail anthems of heaven will be happily pounded into their heads. Let’s start with the one our kids call “that whistle song.” Continue reading
Life before and after cell phones.
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There are all kinds of benefits to having a mobile phone, the best of which is for safety reasons. Help is only a call away.
Yet as you wait in line to see The Hobbit this weekend, or partake in any routine daily activity, consider some of the subtle and not-so-subtle by products of being a mobile society. Here’s a fun depiction of “then” (life before cellphones) and “now” as digitally-connected ones.
(Via Tastefully Offensive)
Kids first.
The notion that we are children of God, his own sons and daughters, lies at the heart of all Christian theology, and is the mainspring of all Christian living.”
— Sinclair Ferguson
Children of the Living God
(Carlisle, Pa.: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1998), 5
Speeding ahead, finding confidence, being protected.
Last week Kari and I finished writing a letter to send to friends and family, including a little bit of an update on church planting with RENEW. Re-reading it yesterday caused me to pause and thank God, while considering the rapid change in our lives. This is a season of dynamic change, while other seasons are more like plodding or trudging through the mud. (Which season are you in? Are things moving fast, or really slow?)
I sat there and thought: “Who is up for this challenge? How can we not lose heart? We’re clearly not doing everything ‘right.’ No wonder most church plants ‘fail’ (on a human level). How can we gain the wisdom, generosity, courage we need for this journey?”
That’s a moment of searching for confidence.
Then this morning this Scripture leapt of the page:
“Finally, brothers, pray for us, that the word of the Lord [the Gospel] may speed ahead and be honored, as happened among you, and that we may be delivered from wicked and evil men. For not all have faith. But the Lord is faithful. He will establish you and guard you against the evil one. And we have confidence in the Lord about you, that you are doing and will do the things that we command. May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ.”
—2 Thessalonians 3:1-5 (ESV)
All those verbs Paul uses jump off the page (or screen): pray … speed ahead … delivered … establish you … guard you …
It’s remarkable how a passage meant to encourage it’s first readers can also encourage us, while not really being about them or us. It’s centered on Jesus, the Hero. We gain our significance from being minor characters in His big Story.
Will you pray that for us, as we pray the same for you?
If you are curious about RENEW, there are three main ways to support this pioneering church plant, described briefly here. One way is to give financially at the close of this year. We’ve simplified the process, adding online giving to snail mail to the PO Box. You can also sign up to receive not-more-than-monthly updates.
Most of all we ask for your prayers personally, that the Gospel would race ahead of us, and this would clearly be God’s work and not merely ours.
11 ways to be unremarkably average.
There are many ways to waste one’s life, even while appearing to be “successful.” One way is to reach one’s full “potential” in terms of talents and abilities, yet not cultivate godly character (true generosity, courage and wisdom). Another is to meet all the benchmarks of society where we’re told to “make something of ourselves.” This generally comes in the form of using society (and specific people) to cater to our preferences while carving out a comfortable life. It’s part of the reason why there is so much disconnection and poverty (especially relational poverty) in our nation, even though we are a land of “opportunity.” Too many of us are content to aim for “average,” getting in where one can fit in.
A little parody of this reality:
Continue reading
Sounding cool.
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Have you noticed this trend?
Happy Black Friday. May you find yourself more satisfied with Jesus that you need less “things” to make you look cool.
Family first?
Quote
“If our highest love is our family, we will ultimately choose our family’s good over the good of other families. If our highest love is our nation, we will choose our nation’s interests and ignore those of other countries. If our highest love is our own individual comfort and happiness, we will choose to serve ourselves over the needs of others. Only if our highest love is God himself can we love and serve all people, families, classes, and races.”
—Jonathan Edwards, quoted in Center Church: doing balanced, gospel-centered ministry in your city, by Timothy Keller
(reminded by Kris Zyp)
Solving everyone’s problems.
“My job is not to solve people’s problems or to make them happy, but to help them see the grace of God operating in their lives.”
–Eugene Peterson, The Pastor
Whatever you do: finding God in our work.
In the past week I’ve spoken personally with at least five men — good men who work hard — about their jobs. That doesn’t seem like a lot, given that many more than a handful of conversations take place in a given week. Yet, as the lead pastor of a church plant with about twenty-five adults these days, sitting down to talk with just about half the men in a congregation is significant.
These men have confided in me many of their hopes, dreams, fears, longings, frustrations, and prayers about what it means personally for them to be men at work. Some are at a crossroads in their career path, while others are seeking additional schooling and training to go further in their career or launch into a new field. While each situation is unique, there are some common threads:
- Men wonder if their work matters;
- they wonder if they’re in the “right” job, working for the best company or for the best cause;
- they feel unsupported and lack the tools to get all the work that’s expected of them;
- they find that few of their “higher-ups” adequately model a work-life balance they want to emulate, so if one wants to advance it’s implied families are sacrificed on the altar of the company;
- some men feel more confident and “appreciated” at work, so they might linger there rather than hurry home to do things they don’t know how to do (like be a present father);
- they feel guilty for working long hours (especially as overtime-exempt salaried workers);
- they don’t see their workplace as a “mission field” very often, and when they do there’s a lack of confidence and drive to act like a “missionary” in the workplace; and
- they wrestle with whether their job does more than merely provide for the material needs of their families.
What surprises to me is that these men would look to their pastor for wisdom and encouragement. That shouldn’t surprise me, except for two observations: Continue reading
