Less presents, more presence

As we enter into Advent, anticipating the birth of our Saviour at Christmas and knowing that He will return, it’s critical to remind ourselves what this season is and is not about…
 

   
Prayer of confession
Lord God, we honestly admit that when it comes to Christmas, we do a lot more shopping, spending and stressing than worshipping.  Please give us not another present, but rather Your presence, Your Holy Spirit to help us to make good choices this year.  …Choices that free us to give of ourselves – our time, our abilities, our resources, our love.  And in that way, may we reflect Your love, shown so amazingly through Your Son, born of the virgin Mary, who was crucified, dead and buried, but on the third day rose again for us and our salvation.  It’s in His name we pray. Amen.
  

Assurance of God’s salvation
”…When the set time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship.  Because you are His sons, God sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.”  So you are no longer slaves, but God’s children; and since you are His children, He has made you also heirs.” – Galatians 4

“Shine, Jesus, Shine”
  

Rededicating our lives to Godly living
“God’s gift to us [is] a relationship built on love. So it’s no wonder why we’re drawn to the idea that Christmas should be a time to love our friends and family in the most memorable ways possible. Time is the real gift Christmas offers us, and no matter how hard we look, it can’t be found at the mall. Time to make a gift that turns into the next family heirloom. Time to write mom a letter. Time to take the kids sledding. Time to bake really good cookies and sing really bad Christmas carols. Time to make love visible through relational giving. Sounds a lot better than getting a sweater two sizes too big, right?”*

Let’s follow God’s example and learn to give.  This Advent and Christmas, let’s reflect our God and give of ourselves – our time, our abilities, our resources, our love.  It might mean a few less presents, but a whole lot more presence – with each other and in worship to our loving God.
    

Notes:
*This paragraph comes from the Advent Conspiracy website.
All of the above was part of today’s 11am worship service at Telkwa Christian Reformed Church.
 

A church-goer meets a worshipper

Virtually everyone’s seen those highly successful (though endlessly ongoing) Apple ads.  The Bill Gates look-alike says, “Hi, I’m a PC.”  And the cool, young guy says, “And I’m a Mac.”  By the end of the ad, the Mac looks a lot better than the PC!

Here’s a Mac-ad-inspired clip that reminds me of how worship is not just “going to church,” but “a condition of the heart” as I mentioned last week…

I found it (and more like it) at ThinkChristian.net.

“Honey! Quick! Help me clean up the place… Jesus is going to be here in 8 minutes!”

Jesus called the other day to say he was passing through and wondered if he could spend a day or two with us.

I said, “Sure. Love to see you. When will you hit town?”

I mean, it’s Jesus, you know, and it’s not every day you get the chance to visit with him.  It’s not like it’s your in-laws and you have to stop and decide whether the advantages outweigh your having to move to the sleeper sofa.

That’s when Jesus told me he was actually at the convenience store along the highway.

I must have gotten that Bambi-in-headlights look, because my wife hissed, “What is it? What’s wrong? Who is that?”

So I covered the receiver and told her Jesus was going to arrive in 8 minutes, and she ran out of the room and started giving guidance to the kids in that effective way that Marine drill instructors give guidance to recruits.

My mind was already racing with what needed to be done in the next 8 – no, 7 – minutes so Jesus wouldn’t think we were reprobate loser slobs.

I turned off the TV in the den, which was blaring some weird scary movie I’d been half watching. But I could still hear screams from our bedroom, so I turned off the reality show it was tuned to. Plus, I turned off the kids’ set out on the sun porch, because I didn’t want to have to explain Jon & Kate Plus Eight to Jesus, either, 6 minutes from now.

My wife had already thinned out the magazines that had been accumulating on the coffee table. She put Christianity Today on top for a good first impression. 5 minutes to go.

I looked out the front window, but the yard actually looked great thanks to my long, hard work, so I let it go. What could I improve in 4 minutes anyway?

I did notice the mail had come, so I ran out to grab it. Mostly it was Netflix envelopes and a bunch of catalogues tied into recent purchases, so I stuffed it back in the box. Jesus doesn’t need to get the wrong idea – 3 minutes from now – about how much on-line shopping we do.

I plumped up sofa pillows, my wife tossed dishes into the sink, I scolded the kids, and she shooed the dog. With 1 minute left I realized something important: Getting ready for a visit from Jesus is not an 8-minute job.

Then the doorbell rang.

  
Written by Doug Mendenhall.  Doug is an instructor of journalism at Abilene (TX) Christian University and the author of How Jesus Ended Up in the Food Court.  He writes a column for the Abilene Reporter News and the Huntsville (AL) Times.  Reposted from the Abilene Reporter News with the author’s kind permission.

But then what happens?

I’m always a little disappointed when I finish reading the fast-paced, Spirit-driven book of Acts.  In one way it’s like reading a great novel – you get to the end, but then wish you had never read it so you can read it again for the first time.  But I’m also disappointed that the Bible does not record what happens next.  I’d like to know what would have been written in Acts 29.  And 30.  And 31!

I’d love to know…

• What did Paul say (preach!) to Caesar when his case was finally heard at the highest levels of Rome’s courts?
• Was Paul able to return to any of the churches he planted or visited during his prior journeys?
• Did Paul ever make it to Spain as he hoped and planned?
• And where did the other apostles end up all going?  Did Peter meet up with Paul in Rome and eventually become the bishop there as Catholics believe?  How far did Andrew make it – Romania? Ukraine? Russia, even?  Were Matthew and Bartholomew ever in Africa?  Did Thomas really go all the way to India as tradition suggests?

Perhaps Luke concludes Acts where he does because he’s actually writing the events recorded in the final chapter as they are happening; he doesn’t know what’s coming next because it hasn’t happened yet!

On the other hand, maybe Luke wrote Acts years later, knowing what happened next, but intentionally ending his account at chapter 28.  He may have carefully chosen his conclusion, highlighting how Paul “proclaimed the Kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ – with all boldness and without hindrance!”  In other words, “the Gospel of God’s kingly rule [is] irrepressibly surging ahead without let-up or hindrance in spite of human opposition or nature’s storms” (David Gooding, True to the Faith, p. 376).  With these words, Luke helps us realize how Paul’s work has gone on through the centuries with others picking up where he left off.  Indeed, in ending Acts this way, Luke inspires us to see ourselves as continuing the story of Jesus’ mission to the ends of the earth!

Recommended reading:
Closing pages of William H. Willimon’s commentary on Acts

Worship is not a spectator sport

How was your worship experience today?  Were you moved?  Were you fed?

Common questions.  And I’m not saying they are bad questions.  But I will say that they should not be the only questions we ask after we worship with other disciples of Jesus.  These questions focus only on us.  And worship is not first of all about us!  What’s more, it doesn’t end with the final song.

Here is a fresh reminder of what worship is (and is not) from Kevin G. Harney’s book Seismic Shifts:

Worship is not a spectator sport.  We don’t come to sit in an audience while a group of people perform for us.  There is an audience in worship, but it is not the congregation; it is God.  We, the people of God, are all on the stage, and God alone is the recipient of the praise we express.

Worship is about giving ourselves to God.  …Our worship does not end with the closing prayer or benediction.  Worship is a condition of our heart.

We can’t confine worship to a set time of the week in a certain place.  We are God’s worshippers at all times and in all places. (pp. 66-67, 68)

Related:
I’ve quoted Kevin Harney a couple times before…
::  17 Sep 2009: ”Falling Asleep While Praying”
::  19 Sep 2009: “Sword Fighting”

Revolutionaries who remember

 

I doubt anyone came to the Telkwa Cenotaph for today’s Remembrance Day observation thinking they were radicals or revolutionaries.  But in at least one way, everyone there was just that by the very fact that we were taking time to remember.

Remembering is not an activity that is held in high regard in our society and culture; anything over a month (a week?) old is irrelevant.  How far back does your Facebook newsfeed go by default?  A few hours?  A kid who’s part of the same church as I am told me the other day that my 2-year-old computer is an antique!  In general, if we’re not preoccupied by the present moment, we’re thinking about the future – our own personal future, or what the world or technology or the climate will be like in years to come.  That we spend time remembering things that may well have happened long before we were even born can certainly be seen as radical, even revolutionary in our time!

I submit, however, that remembering is not only a good thing to do (e.g. to be encouraged by God’s provision in the past or to learn from yesterday’s dumb mistakes), it’s also a biblical thing to do.  Think of the Israelites crossing the Jordan River.  Ushering them into the Promised Land, God parts the waters like He did with the Red Sea at the beginning of the exodus.  However, before they all make it across the Jordan, God commands some people to take boulders from the middle of the riverbed and pile them up on the other side.  Why?  Here’s God’s reason:  “In the future when your descendants ask their parents, ‘What do these stones mean?’ tell them, ‘Israel crossed the Jordan on dry ground.’  For the LORD your God dried up the Jordan before you until you had crossed over…  He did this so that all the peoples of the earth might know that the hand of the LORD is powerful and so that you might always fear the LORD your God” (Joshua 4:21-24).  In short, God wanted them to remember and pass along what He had done for them.

Similarly, we gather at a monument today to remember fallen soldiers who fought so that we may have a free country (something we so often take for granted).  As we remember events from the past, we can give thanks to God for how He has orchestrated history in such a way that Canadians live in freedom today.  But what’s more, in thinking about historical events, we see ourselves as part of something bigger than just ourselves.  We find ourselves part of a larger story.  We might not know a single one of the soldiers who sacrificed their lives, and yet our lives have been impacted for the better by them.

The apostle Paul encouraged young Pastor Timothy with these words: “Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David.  This is [the] Gospel…”  I don’t think Paul only means for Timothy to remember Jesus’ divinity and humanity as historical facts or as a spiritual reality – though those things are certainly good and true.  I hear Paul encouraging Timothy to remember Jesus so that Timothy can find himself part of the larger story of Jesus’ life and mission.  It’s as though Paul is saying, Think about Jesus and how, because of Him, you are part of a grand, ongoing story that has meaning and a purpose.

This is a great story.  It will revolutionize your life.  This story takes seriously our brokenness and pain.  It takes seriously the wars that were fought and are being fought – many overseas, many in our own strife-filled homes.  This grand story reminds us how we are lost in sin.  …Lost in sin apart from Christ.  In Christ, there is forgiveness and redemption!  This isn’t something to just think about on your deathbed; this is something in which to immerse yourself today.  Jesus invites you to find your identity, to locate and live your particular story within the larger narrative of His story of redemption.

Part of this involves remembering men and women who have given us the ability to explore such things in freedom regardless of our convictions about warfare.  And part of this involves remembering who you were apart from Christ, how He has rescued you from the devil-warlord, and where He desires to lead you in freedom as you are obedient to Him.  (Freedom in obedience…  It sounds like a paradox, I know.)

So I encourage you to remember.  And to remember well.

Artwork:
”Valiant Poppies” by Amanda Dagg

Inspired in part by:
”Jake’s Gift” by Julia Mackey

In the good company of doubters

I preached on John 20 this past Sunday, which includes the well-known story of “Doubting Thomas.”  Personally, I think Thomas has gotten a bad rap.  Two reasons…

::     O  N  E     ::

People perceive Thomas as a failure because they perceive that doubt = bad.  That’s not true.  Doubting something can lead you to investigating it and discovering its veracity (or lack thereof) for yourself.  Having doubts – even about faith – can actually end up strengthening faith.  Thomas’ time of doubt concludes with him confessing to Jesus: “My Lord and my God!” (20:28).  From this famous (or infamous) doubter comes “the greatest confession of the Lord who rose from the dead” (George R. Beasley-Murray’s commentary on John’s Gospel, p. 385).  This can be anyone’s experience, assuming you decide to actually wrestle with your doubts.  If you say you have doubts about faith but do nothing to work through your doubt, then I’d call it cynicism or flat-out disbelief, not doubt.

Because people perceive doubt = bad, I think many hear disappointment or impatience in Jesus’ words when he says to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands.  Reach out your hand and put it into my side.  Stop doubting and believe” (20:27).  I do not believe that accurately captures the tone of Jesus’ voice or the language of His posture.  Instead, I see Jesus simply doing what He always does – taking the initiative, doing what it takes to draw, to woo people to Him.  So Thomas is not a failure.  He serves as part of the picture of what Jesus can and will do to strengthen people in their faith.

 

::     T  W  O     ::

The other reason Thomas has received a bad rap is because he is often portrayed as the only doubter in the room.  It’s only been one short week since the rest of the disciples were in the same room, “the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders” (20:19).  Why were they huddled together in secrecy and fear?  They had heard the report of Mary Magdalene, that she had seen the empty tomb and the living Jesus.  Why else were they huddled together in secrecy and fear except for the likely reason that they doubted Mary’s report.  They, too, wouldn’t believe the report without proof!  A week before the events concluding John 20, the room was filled with doubters.  In John 20:25, Thomas is the only one doubting now, yet he’s the one we single out and call Doubting Thomas.  The poor guy.  (Gail R. O’Day writes about this in her commentary on John’s Gospel, pp. 846, 849.)

Personally, I receive comfort in reflecting on how I am in good company when I have doubts, knowing that the very first disciples experienced the same thing – and had their doubts taken seriously and resolved.

Art:
”Doubt of Thomas” by modern Japanese artist Sadao Watanabe.
www.scriptum.com/art.cfm?rec_id=1544

I am still not religious

To follow up on what I wrote last week, Jesus desires relationship with us more than watching us be busy with religious activity.  Notice I am not saying that activity is bad; rather, it needs to be the happy by-product of knowing and loving Jesus, following and obeying as He leads.  How sad it is when our busy activity distracts and disconnects us from our Lord!

In his commentary on John’s Gospel, Gary M. Burge writes:

Faith, then, is more a matter of relationship than of creed.  (p. 577, discussing John 20)

Now, I don’t think the author is bashing creeds, confessions, or catechisms.  I think what he is saying is that faith is more than only storing the correct information in your head and being able to let it pour out of your mouth.  Not that knowledge and speaking up are useless; it’s just that those abilities do not necessarily equal having true faith.

I think the Reformed tradition has accurately (though perhaps excessively) been accused of focusing too much on the head and too little on the heart.  Granted, there’s something appealing to sticking exclusively with intelligence: You can convince yourself that you have mastered it as you would a course at school; you can appraise and judge other people and traditions by how closely they believe the same things you do; you are less vulnerable than when emotions get involved.  Unfortunately, keeping faith as only a cerebral thing can result in us keeping Jesus at arm’s length.  I guess there’s something appealing about that, too:  We’ll feel we can avoid following Him when He leads where we don’t want to go.  But we’ll also miss out on deeply experiencing His power and enjoying His close friendship.

Here again is Dr. Burge’s comment in the context of its paragraph:

Faith, then, is more a matter of relationship than of creed.  On occasion it means accepting that a message given is true and trustworthy, but for the most part, faith springs from confidence in the works Jesus has done and results in a desire to invest all hope in Him.  Faith is personal and transforming since it is dependent on a Person who has demonstrated Himself powerful and trustworthy.  It is the decision whereby a person gains eternal life and … become[s] a child of God, and so marks himself or herself as a member of Jesus’ community.