Today, Jude picked up a wooden ring, then tossed it back on the table.

We cheered.

Funny how those little moments are what become stamped in our memory. For Jude, those moments add up and ultimately shape his early life. Every responsive smile, touch, and embrace make a difference in who he is becoming. I watch Krista and how she cares for Jude, and I realize that her interaction with him matters. We are shaping him.

After reading Mary’s song in Luke 1 yesterday, I began thinking about Mary and Joseph’s role in Jesus’ life.  Isn’t it right to assume that the way she raised him through infancy and childhood had an impact on how his personality developed?  It seems strange to talk about Jesus, God in the flesh, “developing” a personality, but if he was truly human, then he experienced all the change and growth that every person experiences in their early years.

Mary and Joseph were chosen for a reason. God knew the kind of woman she was and the kind of man Joseph was. Their parenting would help establish the kind of man Jesus would be.

Part of the miracle of the Advent of Christ is that God put himself in a position of dependence on his creation. Baby Jesus was completely dependent on Mary to feed him, change his disgusting diapers, and to protect him from disease and danger. As much as it would make us feel better to believe it, Jesus did not come out of the womb as a 12-year old, ready to teach in the temple. He came, in a position of need and frailty, then died in a position of weakness and pain.

And Mary was in on the whole thing, more than anyone else. There would be no doubting her son. As she was there at the beginning, she was there in the end, loving him in ways that would strengthen him to accomplish his mission.

I think I understand Luke 1:42 a little bit better today…

Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!

“Help us, O God, to rightly remember the birth of Jesus that we may share in the songs of the angels, the gladness of the shepherds, and the worship of the magi. Close the door of hate and open the door of love around the world. Let kindness come with every gift and good desire with every greeting. Deliver us from evil by the blessing that Christ brings, and teach us to be merry with clear hearts. May the Christmas morning make us happy to be your children, and the Christmas evening bring us to our beds with grateful thoughts, forgiving and forgiven for Jesus’ sake. Amen.”

- Robert Louis Stevenson

I’m going through a phase in which I am having trouble remembering why we do this Christmas thing every year. Now some may immediately say that the answer to that should be easy, especially for a former church youth group junkie who should know better.

The problem here is mostly within me. Thus far, I’ve spent very little time during Advent moving toward Jesus, anticipating him, and worshipping him. I posted about a few great Advent resources, hoping that I might be inspired to pick up and read, but so far all of my attention has been on the externals of Christmas: the trees, the lights, the cold weather, the food, the colors, the get-togethers, and the Charlie Brown Christmas Special.  

None of these things are bad but they’re all I’ve got right now. So I’ve been left high and dry. 

The word Advent, from the Latin word adventus, means “coming.”  It’s a time of prayer and anticipation, each week closer to the outburst of joy that was Jesus’ birth. I want to know the pause of waiting that every follower of God must experience, as we watch for God to do more than we could imagine when we need it the most. I want a wide-eyed soul that asks, “Could it be true?” with hopeful expectancy.

Frederick Buechner describes Advent as a season of the world “holding its breath”:

The Salvation Army Santa Claus clangs his bell. The sidewalks are so crowded you can hardly move. Exhaust fumes are the chief fragrance in the air, and everybody is as bundled up against any sense of what all the fuss is really about as they are bundled up against the windchill factor.
  
But if you concentrate just for an instant, Far off in the deeps of you somewhere you can feel the beating of your heart. For all its madness and lostness, not to mention your own, you can hear the world itself holding its breath.*

I haven’t missed Advent completely, so tonight  I’ll start with the Bible.  I’ll hold my breath there in John’s story-gospel, with the rest of the world awaiting a Savior who has entered our story.

*from Whistling in the Dark: A Doubter’s Dictionary, by Frederick Buechner.

Bobby Webb asked me if I had any recommendations for Advent books, so I thought I’d post a few that we have (re)discovered lately.  Please add to the comments any recommendations you have for worthwhile readings during Advent.

The Holy Bible
I should start here.  I’m finding it much too easy to read other things without spending time at the source.  Advent is a good season for opening our hearts to his Word again.

The Book of Jesus – ed. by Calvin Miller
This isn’t a book strictly for Advent, but I highly recommend picking it up.  It is a compilation of writings from over two hundred authors about the birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus.  Krista has been spending time in the section on Jesus’ birth over the last few days and has enjoyed it.

Watch for the Light – compilation
Another compilation, but completely focused on the Advent season.  Authors include Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Meister Eckhart, T.S. Eliot, Gerard Manley Hopkins, C. S. Lewis, Thomas Merton, Archbishop Romero, Henri J.M. Nouwen, and Philip Yancey. A wide range of voices for the Advent season.  So far, it’s been mind/heart-opening.

Faces of Jesus – Frederick Buechner
The six chapters (Annunciation, Nativity, Ministry, Last Supper, Crucifixon, and Resurrection) provide a means of looking with fresh eyes at the Gospel accounts of Jesus’ life. Buechner is a great writer who has a potent ability to use the written word as a window to peer into the human heart and its need for God.

“We’ve become too polite. We don’t laugh and cry with God. We’ve forgotten the excitement of the Good News. What greater sign of the extraordinary, lavish, marvelous love of God than the incarnation! God so loved the world and all of us in it that God himself came to live with us as one of us! Is it so good that we’re afraid to believe it?”

– Madeleine L’Engle from Penguins and Golden Calves

May you celebrate the lavish gift that is Christ the Savior.

Merry Christmas to you and your family.

“It’s the most wonderful time of the year…”

In spite of the song sung every Christmas season about how wonderful Christmas is, I have mixed feelings. One one hand, I enjoy the nostalgic feelings that come along with all the decor, the food, and the music. It reminds me of the oblivious days of childhood, when every harsh reality could be easily kept at bay by playing in the dirt and pretending that I was one of the Dukes of Hazzard.

On the other hand, I am quickly annoyed by the forced cheerfulness that is sometimes a part of the holiday season. Earlier this week, I was quizzed as to why I wasn’t in a better mood. “It’s Christmas, after all!” It was topped off with a comment from one co-worker to another that Christmas “is a time when we are supposed to be cheerful.” This comment only further entrenched my Grinch-likeness.

What bothered me about that? Were they right? Should I put aside any feelings of angst, just for the sake of “holiday cheer?”

“Don’t Worry, Be Happy” is the mantra for these happily-going-lucky types, but there’s something there that doesn’t feel much like real life to me. We sometimes carry heavy burdens, regardless of how close we are to Christmas, and those burdens don’t go away just because we try real hard to get in the spirit.

Christmas is about one thing only: becoming receptive to a God who has come to us through the humble, messy trappings of humanity. We can be in an interactive, life-transforming relationship with God precisely because his invitation did not come with a requirement that we “cheer up” before we come to him.

So be a Scrooge at Christmas if that’s all you have to offer, but do so with the knowledge that Jesus welcomes you to friendship with God, whether you are the Grinch, Cousin Eddie, or the Happy Little Elf.

An acquaintance of mine recently made a decision to shift his whole way of looking at Christmas. He decided that it was foolish to spend $500 on trinkets, socks, and CDs as gifts for friends and family who needed no such things. Instead, he is taking the money he would have spent on these gifts and giving to Blood:Water Mission.

For each person on his Christmas list, he is giving a donation to B:WM in their name. He is informing each person–probably with a message in a Christmas card–that their name is on a gift that has been sent to another continent. This gift will help “to build clean wells in Africa, to support medical facilities caring for the sick, to make a lasting impact in the fight against poverty, injustice and oppression in Africa through the linking of needs, talents and continents, of people and resources” (from B:WM’s web site).

Great idea, huh? Apparently not. Some members of his family have, in Grinch-like spirit, expressed their displeasure over his decision. They are upset about being “forced to support an organization they know nothing about.”

This kind of thinking drives me nuts. First, my friend never required anyone else to do the same for him , nor did he say that everyone else is morally required to do this just because he is.

Second, he didn’t choose a controversial political organization to support in this endeavor. B:WM is an organization that is providing clean drinking water for people that are dying because they drink bacteria-laden water EVERY DAY. If we saw the water they were drinking, we wouldn’t even suffer a sip. They also minister to the lepers of our day: AIDS patients.

What could he possibly give that would be more meaningful? He’s not making a statement about who to vote for, how to think, or what to buy. He is helping people who are desperate in their need, and putting his family member’s names on the donation.

In other words, he is toppling the Christmas apple cart and giving fruit to the poor.

For many of us, it’s too late for this year, but I wonder what Christmas would look like if we cut our gift-giving budget in half and gave the other half to an organization that is making a difference in the world in the name of Christ.

If you try it, you may upset some people who enjoy the status quo. Won’t that be fun?

christmas

Come Thou Long Expected Jesus,
Born to set Thy people free:
From our fears and sins release us;
Let us find our rest in Thee.

Israel’s strength and consolation,
Hope of all the earth Thou art,
Dear desire of every nation,
Joy of every longing heart.

Born thy people to deliver,
Born a child, and yet a king,
Born to reign in us forever.
Now thy gracious kingdom bring.

By thine own eternal spirit
rule in all our hearts alone;
By thine all-sufficient merit
Raise us to thy glorious throne.

- Come Thou Long Expected Jesus, by Charles Wesley

I believe God is trying again to make it clear to me that the most valuable moments are not the ones in the “good ol’ days” or in the looked-forward-to future.

Two readings have emphasized this to me lately. The first one is from Blink by Malcolm Gladwell. I borrowed the audiobook from a friend and listened to the first chapter again today. I won’t attempt to outline the entire chapter here, but I can summarize his point. He effectively argues that our instincts are often right because our mind subconsciously picks up on clues in an instant, before we are consciously aware of why we “have a hunch.” It was a reminder to me that each moment is full of clues about Truth. If I am mindlessly moving through my day, I miss the daily reading of the Word that nature and relationships provide.

The second passage which prompted my thoughts was from Brennan Manning, in his book Ruthless Trust. There is an excellent chapter titled “The Geography of Nowhere” in which he challenges us to consider the significance of every moment while we are in the moment. Here’s one key passage:

“Now/here spells nowhere. To be fully present to whoever or whatever is immediately before us is to pitch a tent in the wilderness of Nowhere. It is an act of radical trust––trust that God can be encountered at no other time and in no other place than the present moment. Being fully present in the now is perhaps the premier skill of the spiritual life.”

Today is a Sunday, and it’s Christmas Eve. I’m not “looking forward” to Christmas for once. I’m going to church with Krista to bask in the rays of God’s Advent light as we worship with God’s now/here community. I’m sure that the future will beckon for our attention throughout the day. We need to make plans, schedule events, and prioritize our activities. There is no inherent fault in those things, but an over-attention to the future invites worry into our lives as we think through every what-if scenario, wondering if we will lose control when unforeseen factors come into play. Most importantly, it steals us away from the value of the now and here.

I am also going to resist the urge to get lost in nostalgia as we sing triumphant Christmas songs that I remember singing as a kid. I will seek to be fully present in worship with God’s people, not lost in a idealized rememberance of yesteryear. “If you glorify the past, the future dries up,” Bono once sang. I suspect that glorifying the past can result in the drying up of the present, too.

Last year was a tough year for “Merry Christmas.” It seemed like every corner store was banning the dangerous phrase from being spoken by employees. Instead, a “Happy Holiday” was wished upon us.

There is a HUGE difference between being merry and being happy. Merry people are busy saving the world by making sure that everyone acts like Jesus, even if they don’t know Jesus from Alice Cooper. The merry mission is to strongarm the entire world into behaving as if they already know Jesus. This comes at the expense of His reputation, but for merry people it is well worth it.

The new front line of battle last year became a simple phrase: Merry Christmas. If you don’t acknowledge Christ on Christmas, then you are in big trouble, pal. But the tables were turned this year. In almost every retail establishment I’ve been to, there is somebody saying the magic words, “Merry Christmas!” It gives me goosebumps, or should I say, a chill. With each Christmas salutation, I wonder if it was Christian peer pressure that forced them to do it!

Christendom has temporarily won the Merry Christmas battle, but we seperate ourselves further from the world and from Christ when we insist that the world act like Him without ever knowing him. It brings double damage to His cause: Not only are people given an inaccurate picture of what God is doing in the world, but they also are repelled by the people who represent Him.

God’s invitation is to a messy manger, in a messy stable, to worship a Savior who isn’t afraid to get his hands dirty. Can we find a way to invite people to such a scene without asking them to first clean up their act?