Fear Not

But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid." (Luke 2:10a NIV)

There are a multitude of Christmas movies to choose from and more made every year.  It's hard to choose a favorite.  I love "It's a Wonderful Life," "White Christmas," "Christmas Vacation," "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas," "The Santa Clause,"  and so many more.  But I think among my first favorites as a kid is "A Charlie Brown Christmas."

Charlie Brown is the neighborhood "blockhead," but he has so much depth of soul.  He's always digging deeper within himself and looking for the good in everything and everybody.  In this movie, frustrated with trying to direct a Christmas pageant, Charlie asks, "Doesn't anybody know what Christmas is all about?"  Enjoy this iconic scene here:

 http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DKk9rv2hUfA

Have you ever noticed that the moment in which Linus says, "Fear not!"  he lets go of his security blanket?  What a wonderful symbol.

What are your securtiy blankets against fear?  Dare you believe God and let them go?  God tells us time and time again, "Believe in me.  Fear not.  I've got this."  Let go.  Let go for the seasons of Christmas and Epiphany and see.  Perhaps you will find that you never have to pick it back up again.

Father,
Thank you for this season of love.  Help us to trust you and "fear not."  Amen.

Joys:  Christmas Eve; fun with friends over the weekend; looking forward to lots of family time

The Magic Kingdom

Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” (Mark 10:15 NIV)

Growing up in South Florida, I went to Disney World more often than the average person.  It was a popular school field trip destination, family weekend escape, and as an older teenager, it was a popular spot to go with friends.  I really got to know the Magic Kingdom quite well.  So well in fact that the magic pretty much disappeared for me.  The more I knew about the inner workings of the Kingdom, the less it impressed me.

Last week Richard and I took our 4-year-old granddaughter to Disney.  The magic returned full force!  Seeing Disney through the eyes of a small child made all the difference in the world.  It was exciting and magical and even emotional for me.  Watching Cecelia run up and hug the Mouse that has been her favorite cartoon character since before she could talk was a joy beyond joy.

There is another Kingdom we are to receive as a child... the Kingdom of God.  It's not that we shouldn't study and learn all we can about our faith.  Certainly we should!  But we should not let theology get in the way of the beauty and excitement of our relationship with Christ.  We can't let theology get in the way of what Jesus came to teach us.  Theology can be - and often is - wrong.  It has to be, or there wouldn't be so much conflicting theology.  But loving God and loving one another can never be wrong.  And love is the easy-to-grasp childlike theology on which we should center our faith.  If it isn't loving, it isn't of God.

My little preschool Sunday school kids get it.  "Jesus loves me"  "God is love" "Love one another"  If we live this simple and basic theology, we will discover the Magic of the Kingdom again.

Lord,
Help us to love you as a child loves.  Help us to accept your love as a child does.  May we all discover the real Magic Kingdom here on earth.  Amen.

Joys:  Being with family I haven't seen in a while; a new generation of cousins playing together; Taking Cecelia to Disney and Universal parks

Love Never Hurt Anybody

“A voice is heard in Ramah, mourning and great weeping, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.” (Jeremiah 31:15 NIV)

Everyone is asking the question, "why?"  How does someone point a gun at a 6- or 7-year-old and shoot?  Why, why, why???  The "answers" have been flung fast and furious across Facebook, blogs, news commentaries and personal conversations.  Some say it is lack of gun control.  Some say it is because of the removal of prayer from schools.  Some say violence in our entertainment is to blame.  Or our godless culture, or lack of insurance for the mentally ill.  Maybe it is all of these things combined.  I have a feeling the answer is much more complicated than any one thing.

But the basic reason this happened is that one man, with a deep hurting anger in his heart used his free will to do this awful, awful thing.

We cannot remove deep, hurting anger from every person who feels it.  But perhaps we can be a part of the solution by being a little less selfish in our personal lives, in our business lives, in our financial affairs and in our political opinions.  We tend to do what is best for "me and mine" rather than what is best for society as a whole.

I don't pretend to begin to know the source of this young man's anger, but it was obviously there.  I don't know if he would have still done this if he lived in a kinder, more caring world.  But maybe if we all looked into the eyes of those we see everyday with a compassionate heart, we may see hurt and anger we didn't know was there.  We might be able to reach out a hand in love.  Maybe, just maybe love and compassion could prevent just one senseless act of violence.  We may never know if we prevent it, but who cares?  Love never hurt anybody.

Below is a prayer by Max Lucado entitled, "A Christmas Prayer."

Dear Jesus,  

It’s a good thing you were born at night. This world sure seems dark. I have a good eye for silver linings. But they seem dimmer lately.These killings, Lord. These children, Lord. Innocence violated. Raw evil demonstrated.The whole world seems on edge. Trigger-happy. Ticked off. We hear threats of chemical weapons and nuclear bombs. Are we one button-push away from annihilation?Your world seems a bit darker this Christmas. But you were born in the dark, right? You came at night. The shepherds were nightshift workers. The Wise Men followed a star. Your first cries were heard in the shadows. To see your face, Mary and Joseph needed a candle flame. It was dark. Dark with Herod’s jealousy. Dark with Roman oppression. Dark with poverty. Dark with violence.Herod went on a rampage, killing babies. Joseph took you and your mom into Egypt. You were an immigrant before you were a Nazarene.Oh, Lord Jesus, you entered the dark world of your day. Won’t you enter ours? We are weary of bloodshed. We, like the wise men, are looking for a star. We, like the shepherds, are kneeling at a manger.This Christmas, we ask you, heal us, help us, be born anew in us. 

Hopefully,  Your Children

Standing in the Gap

How can we thank God enough for you in return for all the joy we have in the presence of our God because of you?  Night and day we pray most earnestly that we may see you again and supply what is lacking in your faith. (1 Thessalonians 3:9, 10 NIV)

The Advent devotional book I've been reading is "Silence- and other surprising invitations of Advent" by Enuma Okoro.  This is an excerpt from this morning's reading:

"The gift beneath all this is that God is indeed near whether we feel it or not.  What a relief that God's reality and trustworthiness does not depend on our feelings.  And God can be trusted with all our emotions and all our hungers, pains, fears and doubts."

God uses community to work in all those hungers, pains, fears and doubts.  Doubt is a troubling thing without community.  Without our fellow Christians to keep us reminded of the things God is doing in our lives and in our world each and every day, we can easily be swept into agnostism or even atheism.  I never gave much thought to the meaning of the phrase that some Chrisstians use:  "Standing in the gap."   But when we are going through a period of doubt... a real crisis of faith... a long dry spell where we cease to feel God's presense - it is precisely then that we need others to "stand in the gap"... to keep pointing to Christ... to remind us of the wonderful work God has done in our lives.  Not only are others important to the strengthening our our own faith; but each of us is important in strengthening the faith of others.  We need one another.

There have been times when I have felt too busy or too tired or just plain too uninterested in attending my weekly small group meeting.  But it is a commitment I take seriously, so I shake off my desire to play hooky and go anyway.  On those occasions I ALWAYS find that at least one of the others in the group needed some spiritual support.  They needed their community of which I am a part.

We all need to take our commitment to our faith communities seriously.  There will be times when you are needed to point to Christ for someone else.  You will be called on to "stand in the gap" for someone in spiritual conflict.  And there will be times when you will need your community to do the same for you.

Doubt can be troubling without community.  But with community doubt can be an awesome tool for spiritual growth and maturity.  Don't be afraid of your doubts.  Delve into them.  Reflect on them.  Research them.  But do it in the framework of a community who will support you and help you keep Christ in the center of your life.

Father,
Thank you for the spiritual growth I have experienced by working through my doubts and an awesome faith community that supports me though it all.  Amen.

Joys:  People who "stand in the gap" even when they don't know it; one more day of work before vacation; another great night with a full "empty nest"

Doubt

Zechariah asked the angel, “How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years.” (Luke 1:18 NIV)

Have you ever had the answer to a prayer stare you in the face, and yet you were filled with doubt?  It happens all the time, especially for those who ask for signs.  One of my favorite movies is Bruce Almighty.  Near the beginning, Bruce's life is falling apart.  He got fired from his job.  He had a big fight with his girlfriend.  Nothing seemed to be going right.  Frustrated, he go in his car and started driving as he fussed at God.  He challenged God to show he cared by sending a sign.  At that exact moment, a truck pulled out in front of him.  The back of the truck was filled with street signs that said things like:  stop, yield, go back, no enterance, etc.  But Bruce totally missed it, cursing that same truck for cutting him off.

We often ask for signs, but don't really believe God will send one, so we don't see it when he does.  And the same with answered prayer.  We often have a preconceived notion about how God will answer our prayer, so when God takes a different and better approach, we miss it.  Our imaginations are sometimes too limited to see God's work in our lives.

Zechariah simply could not imagine that he and Elizabeth could have a child at this stage of their lives.  And so he doubted.  Doubt is a natural part of faith, but if we could live more with an expectation... the expectation that God will indeed work in our lives and answer our prayers, perhaps we would pay a little more attention and perhaps we will look for possibilities in what we think to be impossible.

Father,
In this season of waiting and hope and expectation, help us to live expectantly... expecting you to answer our prayers... in your time and in your way.  Amen.

Joys:  Houses decorated in lights; Cecelia's excitement... two more "sleeps" until Florida!; Kevin's excitement about moving his family into their first home

God's Time

“ ‘The days are coming,’ declares the  Lord , ‘when I will fulfill the good promise I made to the people of Israel and Judah. (Jeremiah 33:14 NIV)

What is your favorite Bible story about answered prayer?  Perhaps it is Hannah's prayer for a child and God gives her Samuel who becomes a prophet.  Maybe it was Jacob's prayer that Esau not kill him for his terrible deceptions and God goes way beyond that and promises to make Jacob's decendants "like the sand of the sea which cannot be counted."  Or is it when the early church prays for Peter who is in jail and God sends angels to release him from his shackles so that Peter may go on to be the Rock on which the church is built.

Do you notice a theme?  When God answers prayer, it benefits more than the person praying.  A community, or the world or sometimes even all of history is affected!  Abraham and Elizabeth were given the desire of their heart... and the world was never the same again.  It happened in God's time when the most people could benefit from the answered prayer.

Perhaps that is why your prayer has not yet been answered.  God is waiting for that perfect time when even more people will benefit.  I'm not saying that your prayer may be too selfish, only that God wants to show you that we are all connected and that what we think we want only for ourselves can be an answer for many... if not all.  And I think sometimes answered prayer can be for only us.  Sometimes answered prayer is simply grace poured out.

But sometimes, waiting is the key.  Waiting for God's perfect time.  Waiting for God to be glorified in our lives and in the lives of others.  Waiting for God's good and perfect will to be fulfilled through our own imperfect, and often selfish, prayers.

I am overjoyed at the beginning of answered prayer for some friends who are seeing real progress in their son's healing from a spinal injury.  I can't wait to see how God uses this for greater good... and I know He will.  This is our Advent hope this year as we wait for God to act.

Father,
Thank you for answered prayer.  But most of all, thank you for using our little, imperfect prayers to do mighty and perfect things at just the right time for the greater good of all.  Amen.

Joys:  Exciting progress for Adam; an empty nest that rarely really seems empty at all; Erin's help with Sunday school yesterday.

Pray for One Another

Once when Zechariah’s division was on duty and he was serving as priest before God,  he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to go into the temple of the Lord and burn incense.  And when the time for the burning of incense came, all the assembled worshipers were praying outside. (Luke 1:8-10 NIV)

As priest, it was Zechariah's duty to go into the temple alone to burn incense on the altar.  But he wasn't really alone.  He had a community of believers praying for him outside.  Our faith community is an awesome thing.  Who knows how many blessings have come to each of us because someone else prayed for us?  I would bet that Zechariah and Elizabeth's community often prayed for them and their desire for a child.

Have you shared that unanswered desire of your heart with any of your faith community? They won't know how to pray for you unless you do.  Do you regularly pray for the needs of your brothers and sisters in Christ?  It is not just your responsibility, it is a privilege and a blessing.  It is what Christian community does. If you are not interceding and being interceded for in prayer, you are missing out on one of the greatest gifts we have.  Pray for the members of your church family and bless them by asking them to pray for you.

Father,
Help me to always remember to pray for my brothers and sisters, but more than that, give me the courage to ask them to pray for me. Amen.

Joys:  hearing exciting news from a sister in Christ and the privilege of praying for her and her family; seeing family I haven't seen in a long time; blessings from friends in the form of cards,kind words, food, and prayer