Christmas ramblings

This is the deal. I am sick of Christmas getting the shaft. If you look around at how we celebrate Christmas, not only does it have little to do with Christ, but the little that DOES have to do with Christ often skims over the whole "birth of Christ, the God-child" like it is no big deal and moves on to talk about subjects that are more or less centered around the events of Easter. This is an even bigger blunder when we are talking about the framework of Presbyterians (one of which I am) and some other Protestant denominations that celebrate not only Christmas day but place a great deal of emphasis on the "Advent" season, which lasts for 5 weeks (take that, Jews). This gives us MORE than enough time to slow down and talk about the things that actually happen during CHRISTMAS itself.
Now...every year we read the Christmas story at one point or another, however we do it often times as a matter of course, without giving it a whole lot of thought or even superficial engagement. So, the other day I read the passage to our senior highers and told them to really think about what Luke was saying when he was writing this passage. "Mary said to the angel, 'How can this be, since I am a virgin? ³⁵The angel said to her, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy He will be called Son of God." So...an angel just said that God was going to impregnate some woman. Of course, the totally insanity of this passage is all covered up nicely in euphemisms like "the power of the Most High will overshadow you" but the fact remains that right in the middle of these euphemisms lies Mary getting knocked up by GOD! When you tear away all the niceties this Immaculate Conception conjures up the memory of the Nephilim, who are mentioned briefly in the Pentateuch as the offspring of the "sons of God" and are credited to have been "men of renown." Now we have a bigger, better, New Testament version of these men of renown in a little baby who is born in a feeding trough. What happens in the moment of conception is something incredible. In some incomprehensible way, heaven and earth, God and mankind, come together, and when they come together the world is changed forever. Jesus Christ, the God-man, ushers in the kingdom of God to the present world. I believe the kingdom of God in this instance is the collapsing of the categories of heaven and earth. Jesus walks around as an adult (and maybe even a child, who knows...but if he did work miracles as a child, it probably didnt happen like this...check out the story of Jesus and his childhood friends making clay figures in the Infancy Gospel of Thomas, the Messiah is a little brat) and performs miracles, making the blind to see and deaf to hear, the dead come to life, and needs great and small are met. While performing this miracles, often referred to as signs, Jesus says things like "the kingdom of heaven is near (or here)." These signs are pointing to the Messiah who has brought the kingdom of heaven to earth. This is the great hope and draw of this God-man, Jesus Christ...that some day our longings for redemption and recreation will be satiated. I think Romans 8 puts it quite nicely..."^20212223for the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labour pains until now; and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies." Jesus' coming to earth in the from of a man is far more important that your personal "salvation," it's about God's kingdom coming to earth. It's about God initiating something brand new. It's about God beginning the wholesale recreation of the heavens and the earth. It's about God's plan, God's plan just so happens to include you and I. Let's raise a glass for the redemption of our bodies.

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mixed emotions

I Corinthians 3:7 goes like this..."So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth."

This has come to be my anthem. It plays out every time I see God working in my life. It did so last weekend, and became both an encouragement and a disappointment to me at the same time. I took a number of high schoolers to a retreat. The people who put them on cater them to be evangelical (and by that I mean they present the good news of Jesus Christ, not that they try to hasten back the dead days of Christendom). Here students are presented with the most basic message there is...we are sinners, we are unable to do anything about that, we need Jesus, you should probably get to know him, here is basically how to get that process started. Our times of discussion were awesome...we talked about the Lazarus story, a bunch of other really deep theological issues, and it seemed like the kids were really getting it. Then we came to the discussion time where they are presented with the fact that this matters for "you" personally and "you" NEED to accept Jesus and start a relationship with him. It was as though someone duct taped their mouths shut. I was shocked. It really seemed as though they got it. But then, when push came to shove, I realized they had no idea. The message literally could not have been laid out in simpler terms. They just didn't get it. I was making all kinds of compelling arguments and analogies...but none of it was sticking, none of it was convincing them that they had to have this relationship with Jesus. Then this verse rushed to the forefront of my mind. I was hit with the reality that just as I am helpless in my own sin, they are helpless in theirs. I am not the good doctor that will save them. I am not the shepherd that will lead them. That doctor and shepherd is none other than Christ. The moment that I start believing that I can convince someone into a relationship with Christ is a sad sad moment in history. At that moment I will have exalted myself above Christ and made myself into an idol. I was, and am continually, encouraged by the fact that it is not about me at all. I am grateful beyond words that it is not my job to notch my belt every time I convince someone of Jesus' importance. All I am called to be is a faithful signpost to the One whose work does not fail and whose Word will not return to Him void. The disappointment comes because I want these kids to get it, but I can't make that happen. But that is the great disappointment and encouragement all in one. May we all come to the realization that the work of God in and around us is not our own doing, but rather the doing of the One in whom we have placed our hope.

I, the one who sows, and even waters, am nothing...but God, who gives the growth, is everything and all in all.

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lift off

so...I have tried this blog thing before...and failed. let's see how it goes this time around. if im honest, i really dont have very high expectations, and if i am really honest, i am doing this more for me to word vomit publicly than for the general encouragement of all mankind. my hope and prayer is that this will become something that is good for me and for those who waste their time reading my ramblings. expect alot of questions and few answers. lets do it.

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