Mary’s response to the angel’s announcement is one of the finest confessions of faith in human history. Not knowing all that it would entail, she, nevertheless, replied with no apparent hesitancy, “Be it unto me according to your word.” Her engagement to be married was shattered by the prophetic circumstance soon to be reality. How do you explain to your betrothed that you are pregnant, yet have never slept with a man, least of all him? How do you manage days of journey on the back of a donkey in your last month of pregnancy? How do you accept the un-antiseptic and uncomfortable accommodation for delivery? How do you care for a flesh and blood infant who is very God of very God? Shepherds coming to the stable hours after giving birth; Magi coming to your humble home in Bethlehem; soldiers coming with intent to kill. Who else will come? When? There are no directions to follow or guide book with details of what to expect next.

Do you not wonder what must have coursed through Mary’s brain? What was the content of her ponderings, the things she kept deep in her heart; from which she drew as years later Dr. Luke interviewed her? What did Simeon’s words that a sword would pierce her own soul do to her outlook on life each day? What was it like as a sinner to mother a sinless boy? To ask him why he put them through their anguished anxiety when he was missing from them three days in Jerusalem? God gave us His Son to care for and now we have lost him at age twelve? How embarrassing! Yet neither she nor Joseph understood his explanation. How many times was that the case? You must wonder if Mary thought back, or how often, to those words she spoke to Gabriel, “Be it unto me according to your word.”

What about you? Have you not also said to the Lord at one time, “I am yours, be it unto me according to YOUR desire?” Is that not the essential confession of true faith? Look at all you know from the brief accounts in Scripture of Mary’s life, and fill in the rest with your own pondering. And look at your own life and ask, Would I rather be a man or maidservant of the Lord of all creation, even with thorns or soul piercing sword, then one to whom He will say, “Depart from me, I never knew you?” Mary’s faith is a precious nugget of hope to us, who like her are sinners, who do not always understand what God is saying, or what is happening, or what will take place next in your life. If you are His, and you believe it by your faith, then Mary’s song (Luke 1:46-55) is your song! Read it and put yourself in Mary’s place. If the King of Kings is your King surely every generation one day will call you blessed, even as Mary was blessed through all that “be it unto me” entailed for her; and what it entails for you. Mary’s hope is yours too!

Merry Christmas to you from the Paul Anderson Youth Home family!

Every day of our lives tragic deaths take place around the world. Heinous injustices are perpetrated by others upon men, women, and children. Truth is dishonored. Values are scorned. Human beings are ravaged and their blood and dignity are trampled in the streets. And in most instances we do not weep. We only are aware of a miniscule amount of personal suffering in the world. The pain of loved ones and friends and acquaintances often move us to tears, but even then, not always. We are removed from personal pain and sorrow by lack of knowledge, distant impersonal connection, and callused emotions that have seen and experienced too much for every occasion of grief to bring tears. When personal grief does assail us closer to home and the subsequent tears seem unending, time eventually salves the wound while increasing the distance between the moments of memory and the consequent sobbing. Life moves on, even though something is missing, and is not yet restored.

As finite human beings we are incapable of bearing the world’s pain and sorrow. We can hardly take care of our own. The cruel severity of the world must impact any sensitive soul when considering that many suffer completely alone with no one to hear or share their tears or hear their cry for justice. And if there really was no one infinitely capable of this, someone with whom we could relate and know personally, life must seem not worth living, and we truly would be wretched, poor, miserable creatures without hope in life or in death.

But this is why Good Friday is Good! There is One who has borne our sorrows and carried our grief when no one else could. Not only are our personal iniquities laid on His back, but He bears the sins of the world on the cross; the people places neither we nor others could reach, or “fix” ourselves. The lonely cry in the darkness does not go unheard. The call for justice does not fall on deaf ears. We cannot know, we will not know, until we reach the other shore, what transpires between the lonely soul and the heart of the God-man, Jesus, who died in our place; in the critical moment we do not see, yet He sees. The powerless victim will be avenged. Like the thief on the cross who never had another opportunity to ask forgiveness of those he abused, robbed or killed, yet saw his hardened heart suddenly become tender in the brief moments before dying within feet of his Redeemer. The other faced his Maker with a scorn he carried to his last breath. But He tells us about both that we might come to Good Friday with a heart like one and not the other; that of the thief who entered Paradise with Him from the cross; humble, broken, repentant, thankful, and hopeful of his future even in the midst of his dire situation.

Tomorrow is Good Friday. Not just a common-religious-holiday-name, that lights no “spark” in your soul, because you’ve “been there, done that.” Real faith is not like that. It works Good in you as you prayerfully contemplate what a dying Savior gives to your life, and all that a dying Savior gives to the world. Jesus died! It is a Good thing. He lives, and so shall we.

For example the fears of another Chernobyl have been fired up by the media creating nuclear energy knee jerk reactions around the globe. Unfortunately, the true facts of Chernobyl are in very short supply as the pundits show they are neither aware of the final results of Chernobyl nor able to accurately portray the potential damage to people’s health in Japan and elsewhere; note the run on anti-radiation medicine in the stores of California, Oregon, and Hawaii.  In actual fact the only people after thorough study and investigation who died as a direct result of Chernobyl’s meltdown were the 30 people in the plant who died in the explosion. Perhaps you did not know this because you relied on the news media to tell you the truth. Additionally, the Sunday Times of London reported April 28, 2002 that the animals around Chernobyl are “thriving.” 50 years after the destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by nuclear bombs, the 90,000 survivors had experienced only 700 cases of cancer in excess of the normal rate of cancer in the population, and half of the 90,000 survivors were still living.

One of the most important aspects of the impact of this natural disaster is not even on the radar screen of the media. From a career missionary friend to Japan, who was born and raised there, I received a letter with the expression of hope that this upheaval of shocking proportion will awaken the Japanese people from spiritual lethargy to think about eternal values. He wrote that on any given day in Japan 90-100 people commit suicide. Even as the death toll from the earthquake and tsunami climbs to above 10,000, such a number represents only a third of the people in Japan who die every year by taking their own lives.

As in any disaster, natural or man-made, the question inevitably arises, strangely enough from even atheists and agnostics (go figure), “Why did God allow this, or if He is sovereign over all creation as the Bible teaches, why did He cause it, or why didn’t He stop it if it is just nature running its course?” It’s a good question to ask, especially if you also consider your answer to the following questions along with it: “Why has my ignoring of Him been so pervasive in my life in the past? And why am I concerned about His plan, purposes, and practice only when my life is inconvenienced by a disaster that really gets my attention?”

This last earthquake, tsunami, or what have you is not nearly the final one we will see or experience. The doozy of them all is still to come, described graphically in Revelation 16, not to mention all those in-between.  Whatever the full ramifications of God’s purposes in the many devastations of the past, the present and the future, this much is surely true; it has been seen that is often the only way to shock spiritually dead or lethargic people into  seriously evaluating where their life is headed eternally and to seek out the Almighty and Living God. Would that Japan would experience a spiritual revival as a result of this upheaval, as well as other peoples of the world who are able in this 21^st Century to see firsthand what is happening across the globe from them.  For every believer Japan’s pain should motivate our own prayer life, and stir us more readily and earnestly to speak the gospel into our own personal world, to those near and around us who are devoid of any relationship with Jesus Christ or hope of heaven.

Scriptural Basis:

“At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory. And He will send His angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather His elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other………I tell you the truth, this generation will not pass away until all these things have happened.  Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.” (Matthew 24:30-31, 34-35)

Application:

There is a perspective of Christmas that may well precipitate a great let-down after the holiday is past. When all the focus is upon the buying and giving of gifts, being with family and friends, putting up and enjoying Christmas tree and decorations, singing and listening to carols, all the sights, sounds, smells, tastes that remind us of this special season; when it is abruptly past how do we feel? What does this say to our carrying the message of Advent into and throughout the New Year? The Bible’s perspective is never like this. The Bible speaks nearly always about Advent in its twin phases; like two mountain peaks, one behind the other that appear in our perspective to be right up against one another, when in reality there is a great plain that lies between them. But the great plain is not important, the nearness of the two peaks is. When biblically aware Christians celebrate the first Advent, the birth of Christ, they anticipate all the more the Second Advent, the return of their Lord.

Jesus saw it no differently even at the young human age of his early 30’s. From His perspective His return was near. In the same passages where He spoke of its nearness, He also said that no one knows the time of His return, not even Himself, only the Father in Heaven. So what did Jesus mean when after events are described in Matthew 24 leading up to and including His return, He says that all this will happen before this generation passes away? Some feel that the word “generation” can be translated “race,” speaking of the Jewish people; they will not pass away as a race until all these things have happened including the Lord’s return. That may well be the correct translation, yet the nearness of Christ’s return was not only His words, but is the message of the Bible: “Behold I am coming soon,” “The Judge is at the door,” “For in just a very little while, He who is coming will come and will not delay,” You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near.”

This is exactly the perspective that Jesus desires you to have, whatever your generation. It is not untrue nor without essential spiritual power to every believer even though 2000 years have passed from when Jesus spoke those words. C.S. Lewis captures beautifully the meaning of this in his article “The World’s Last Night”:  “The doctrine of the Second Coming teaches us that we do not and cannot know when the world drama will end. The curtain may be rung down at any moment: say before you have finished reading this paragraph. This seems to some people intolerably frustrating. So many things would be interrupted. Perhaps you were going to get married next month, perhaps you were going to get a raise next week; you may be on the verge of a great scientific discovery; you may be maturing great social and political reforms. Surely no good and wise God would be so unreasonable as to cut all this short? Not now of all moments!. . .The doctrine of the Second Coming, then, is not to be rejected because it conflicts with our favorite modern mythology. It is, for that very reason, to be more valued and made more frequently the subject of meditation. It is the medicine our condition especially needs. What death is to each man, the Second Coming is to the whole human race. We all believe, I suppose, that man should “sit loose” to his own individual life, should remember how short, how precariously, temporary, and provisional a thing it is; should never give all his heart to anything which will end when his life ends.”

The passing of Christmas 2010 means for believers that the Second Coming is nearer and is near. In the truest perspective “the Judge is at the door,” our Bridegroom is on his way, and our life in 2011 should reflect our meditation on that glorious truth. If in the New Year “the curtain rings down” on you individually or on the entire world, will you be prepared to go out to meet Him?  

Encouragement:

“Rejoice all you believers, and let your lights appear; the evening is advancing, and darker night is near: the Bridegroom is arising, and soon He draweth nigh; up pray, and watch, and wrestle; at midnight comes the cry.”

(1^st verse of Laurentius Laurenti’s hymn, “Rejoice All Ye Believers”, 1700)

Anderson’s Applications:
“Chestnuts roasting on an open fire, Jack Frost nipping at your nose, Yuletide carols being sung by a choir, And folks dressed up like Eskimos,” conjures up a familiar picture of Christmas celebration and family traditions, whatever yours may be. In a few days many of you will be sitting around a Christmas tree exchanging gifts, observing delight on the faces of those you love, smelling the aromas from the kitchen. But consider how contrasts heighten the enjoyment of most pleasures. Sitting before a warm, crackling fire in your favorite chair seems more inviting when its snowing outside. Hot spiced cider, a good cup of coffee, a warm fire are all the more pleasurable on a cold day. When you are hungry, eating is a greater joy. When you know pain, relief or painlessness is a treasure. And when you are alone and lonely, company warms the heart.

The first Christmas is quite a contrast to the Christmases most of us experience today. We have romanticized the true Nativity story passed down to us in the Bible so that we do not readily think of the pain and discomfort Mary and Joseph endured. What we do know is that the circumstances were dire and severe. The birth was not in the comfort of a home, but in some form of a dirty stable vulnerable to the elements, manure, mice and insects. Young Mary did not have the comforts normally accorded to most mothers giving birth; nor for her first birth, the assistance of her mother. She had Joseph, but this was his first experience as a father. They were not people of means. There is no doubt Jesus was born in the humblest of circumstances.

Meditating on the reality of it, contrasting it to our own blessings this Christmas, should bring the warmth of thanksgiving for what God has done for us in this supreme act of love. We would not have what we enjoy this Christmas without the love God conveyed to us in that stable on the first Christmas night. The contrast ought to make our love for Him even greater. But then so should our contrasting our bondage in sin to the freedom of the children of God, our life apart from His love to basking in the light of our Father’s smiling countenance, a Christ-less eternity to “well done, good and faithful servant.” The contrasts are of infinite proportion.

We who know the righteousness of Christ, begun in the poverty of a stable when He took on flesh to become our eternal brother, redeemer, friend, and mediator, are blessed this Christmas beyond measure. The poverty, but nevertheless, glory, of that first Christmas, warms our hearts and is our joy.

Merry Christmas!

Encouragement:
“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.”

“Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you now dismiss your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all people, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.” Luke 2:29-32

Application:

Who would ever name their son Ichabod? Perhaps we know the name best from the main character, Ichabod Crane, in Washington Irving’s tale The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.  His story and personal attributes are so sad no parent would choose his first name for their own son.  But it is the original Ichabod of the Bible who first gave the name its undesirable reputation. The birth and naming of Ichabod in the Book of 1st Samuel follows the delightful story of the birth of Samuel to a long barren mother, Hannah, who was rewarded for her steadfast faith with a baby son whom she with her husband appropriately named Samuel, meaning, “God heard.”  Samuel became one of God’s greatest prophets. There is simply no comparison between the number of parents down through the ages who named their son Samuel with those who chose the name Ichabod.  I don’t know any.

Ichabod’s mother gave him the name just before she died in childbirth. She had gone into labor early with the news that her father-in-law, the prophet Eli, had died of a broken neck and her godless husband had been killed on the battlefield. Even worse in her and Eli’s estimate, the Ark of the Lord had been captured by the pagan Philistines in the battle.  She named her son Ichabod, because it means “the glory has departed.” It was a time of great despair for Israel. In contrast the announcement of the angels on the first Christmas and the words of Simeon when he held the weeks old baby Jesus in his arms spoke of the entrance of glory into the world in the birth of its Savior; a vast contrast to the birth of Ichabod.

Still the birth of Ichabod, glory departed, and the birth of Jesus, the entrance of glory, means little to us if we do not grasp the meaning of glory. What does glory do for you, for your children, for all mankind? Do we truly want this glory of which the Bible speaks so extravagantly? The concept of glory can fill a library of books, yet it can be simply defined, if for nothing more than to wet your appetite to dig deeper. Glory is your salvation; it is bringing to fruition all the magnificence which God personally created you to uniquely be; it is the removal of the dross and impurities in you which drive you to despair and loss of all hope; it is the perfected, realized answer to the question: “Why do I exist?” Your glory is inextricably tied to the babe in the manger, to the crucified Savior, to the risen Lord, and to the reigning King.  This is why the apostle says “Christ in you, the hope of glory,” all which in your innermost being you hunger to know and be.

Yet, if you are still here tomorrow morning, you continue to face the typical burdens of this life.  We know what the Bible means when it says the creation in which we live was subjected to frustration (Murphy’s Law), and will be until it and we are liberated from bondage to decay. Who can deny that we hunger for some glimpse of glory in our life while still dwelling in the dust and fog of this battlefield?  The birth of Jesus is our reminder that glory can be experienced now, that we might yearn for it all the more in our heavenly home. Paul conveyed this to the Corinthian church, “And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into His likeness with ever increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” (2 Corinthians 3:18) Don’t take it from me; take it from Him!

God’s children have experienced glory in the worst of circumstances and situations. The stable birth and manger bed confirm it. There in the vulnerable elements which threatened His infant life, glory came down and dwelt with us. He did so that we might in our own “stables” and “mangers” know the glory that He desires to share. It is why He came. In an act of faith you must think about it, so it may infiltrate your mind and heart. I think you best solidify such thoughts when you speak about it to your loved ones. Nothing clarifies your own understanding better than having to explain the concept of glory to your little child in a way that he or she gets a picture of what you are saying. Mind you it is not impossible for them to understand. If it were so God would not have encouraged us to tell the next generation about the glory of the Lord in passages like Deuteronomy 6, Psalm 78, and Matthew 18. If you fail in your family for your generation how will your children and their children know? Do not test God by counting on Him to do for you what you are unwilling to do.

Far too many experience an Ichabod Christmas, where the glory has departed. The believer need not have it so. It rests with you.

Encouragement:

“Though Christ a thousand times
In Bethlehem be born,
If he’s not born in you
Your soul is still forlorn.”
(Anonymous, 3rd Century)

Scriptural Basis:

“So they hurried off and found Mary, and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.” Luke 2:16-20

Application:

Have you ever wondered what became of these shepherds, whatever their number, who were, as far as we know from the Bible, the only people other than Joseph and Mary who witnessed and worshipped God in the flesh, a new born baby, in a Bethlehem stable the day of Jesus’ birth? They are never spoken of again in Scripture. Did any of their own babies die when Herod perpetrated his terrible slaughter of the baby boys of Bethlehem over a year later after the visit of the wise visitors from the East? Were any of them around to see and hear Jesus when he began his public ministry thirty years after?

In any case the Scriptures seem to imply that these lowly shepherds surely believed and can be counted among the saints of glory, for Luke tells us they glorified and praised God for all they had heard and seen. But what about those to whom they spoke of their glorious experience. Luke’s account tells us they were amazed by what the shepherds told them; they were astonished, surprised. When we examine the use of this same word “amazed” elsewhere in the New Testament, we find that simple amazement does not always produce a faith that transforms one’s life eternally(compare Matthew 13:54-58 or even later in the same chapter of Luke verse 47). Very possibly some came to faith while others did nothing to follow up their amazement with a desire to know more about what they were told by the shepherds.

Amazement or astonishment does not always lead to a pondering or treasuring of these life-transforming mysteries as did Mary here and again in Luke 2:31. Though she was specifically chosen to be the Mother of God, even Mary did not immediately understand the mysteries that were invading her life.  Nevertheless, she pondered and treasured them in her heart. This is exactly what the mystery and the Advent of Christ asks of each one of us: a “pondering” leading to “treasuring.” Saving faith knows nothing of amazement and astonishment that leads to less; a pondering (earnest, continuing, probing, meditative  thought) drawn to treasuring the mysterious, personal One who through faith inhabits your life; not as some distant relation, but One who is personally close and intimate unlike any other.

The human spirit is amazed and astonished by all kinds of incitements in the world: birth of children, particular people in our life, sex, food, money, discovery, sights, music, success, failure, unexpected healing or sickness, “coincidental occurrences,” tragedy, and appropriate to this time of year, surprise gifts. We tend to place Christ and the eternal future of our souls in these same temporal categories; among those “amazing and astonishing” things that often pass until the next one arrives. We go from one to another, while not pursuing or pondering Christ’s coming to us (i.e. an  Advent). We experience one amazing moment and are all too quickly anticipating the next, while not understanding that only One Object of our heart search will ever satisfy and never disappoint or fade away; rather the relationship grows, as the Bible says, from glory to glory.

Again this Advent Season you will experience some “amazing” moments; eliciting joy, sadness, passion, or something else. The opportunity is there to meet Christ in it; pondering and treasuring who He is and who you are in Him. In essence did Mary ponder anything more than this that first harrowing Christmas night in which she gave birth? Mary must have thought to herself, “Who is this baby? Who am I in relationship to Him? Why are these shepherds here in the stable telling this mysterious story?” The amazing moments are not just Mary’s. They keep on coming in your own life with a purpose of drawing your thoughts and affections in a Christ-ward direction. The spiritually thoughtless life leads eventually to despair; pondering and treasuring Mary’s way leads to heaven.  

Encouragement:

“O holy Child of Bethlehem, descend to us, we pray; Cast out our sin, and enter in, Be born in us today. We hear the Christmas angels  The great glad  tidings tell; O come to us, abide with us, Our Lord Emmanuel.”

(4^th verse of Phillips Brooks Christmas Carol hymn, “O Little Town of Bethlehem”, 1868)

Scriptural Basis:

“For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written:”I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.” Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe.”

1 Corinthians 1:18-21

Application:

Not only is the message of the cross foolishness to the scholars of this world, so is the story of the nativity; God becoming flesh that he might save men and women, young and old, even babes in the womb who have not seen the light of day. I never would have believed it if I did not see with my own eyes the furious, raging frustration today in those who consider themselves the “brilliant minds” of the world, as they “pull out their hair” over Christmas celebration in the public square, or anything smelling of Christianity, offending their “scientific” nostrils and “superior” minds to no end. Such consternation seems particularly explosive each time the Advent/Christmas season dares to come round once again. Despite their fairly successful war to cleanse public schools and government grounds of any and all expression of Christmas; despite the fact that the only reason December 25 is a national holiday, and that Thanksgiving to the end of December is vastly different from all the rest of the year, simply because the birth of Jesus Christ has been celebrated for centuries around the globe; its message cannot be silenced. It is there to be heard for those whose ears are open to hear; in every carol, in numerous symbols, in countless homes, in myriads of churches, in movies, plays, books, radio and television, and in the book that has been with us for thousands of years, the Bible, the nativity story lives because it is real. And because it is real it places demands on each and every life.

But in reality by the measuring standards of the world the story of Christmas, the Advent of the Messiah, is “foolishness.” A young Jewish girl, still a virgin, yet mysteriously pregnant, avoids stoning even though her betrothed husband never had sexual relations with her.  She is forced to travel on a donkey in her ninth month because both she and her husband are of the lineage of the House of David and therefore required to register, pregnancy or not, in David’s place of birth, Bethlehem. She has her first child in the most primitive, unhygienic, and uncomfortable place imaginable, with no help of a midwife other than her husband. Shepherds, stirred in their hearts by a most unscientific announcement by alien beings lighting up the night sky, come directly to the stable where they find the Savior of the world: an hours-old infant. Sometime later when the infant has become a toddler, scholars from a distant land directed by astronomical signs in the sky and a star that stops over the place where the child lives, come to worship him, bringing strange gifts. The gold is not so strange really, but frankincense and myrrh certainly are, though not without purpose.  A king with great power and soldiers at his beck and call attempts to have the child murdered by killing all male infants and toddlers of Bethlehem in the expected age range; yet the young Jesus with his parents escape to the neighboring country of Egypt, fulfilling a centuries old promise. The details go on and on, but no one can doubt the “foolishness” of the story, at least from the world’s perspective.

An old Spanish proverb goes, “Every man is a fool in some man’s opinion.” The nativity of Jesus, just as the Gospel itself, is indeed foolishness in the opinion of many who are wise in their own eyes. It is not foolish to the One who alone defines foolishness. He says, “The fool says in his heart there is no God,” and “The message of the cross (and the stable) is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to those who are being saved it is the power of God.” There is no doubt that the nativity, the cross, and the gospel are steeped in mystery, but mystery simply because it is mystery does not equate to foolishness, as those who think they are wise claim. The Apostle Paul, with wisdom from God hungered for the saints to experience the “full riches of complete understanding in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” (Colossians 2:2-3)

 We cannot deny that there is great mystery in the nativity as there is in Christ, himself, but mystery does not make it or him to be foolishness. Rather, foolishness resides in those who refuse to un-wrap the mystery of the ages and instead scorn the gift that gives forever. If the Christmas story holds no mystery for you worth dwelling upon this Advent season, you need to dig below the surface of shallow thinking and behold “the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”

Encouragement:

“O come, thou Dayspring from on high And cheer us by thy drawing nigh; Disperse the gloomy clouds of night, And death’s dark shadows put to flight.”

“O come, thou Key of David, come And open wide our heavenly home; Make safe the way that leads on high, And close the path to misery.”

“Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel……………….. shall come to thee, O Israel.”

(4^th and 5^th verses of a 12^th Century Latin hymn of Advent)

Scriptural Basis:

“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it more abundantly.” John 10:10

Application:

A recent issue of World Magazine recounted the story of Sam Kolden. He is a Wisconsin High-Schooler who has autism.  From the eighth grade to his senior year Sam practiced and participated with the Menomonie Indians football team. On homecoming night this last October his years of perseverance and commitment paid off with a 66-yard touchdown play which none of the spectators, coaches, and players from either side will soon forget. Late in the fourth quarter when the Indians were leading 46-14, the Menomonie coach yelled over to the opposing coach with a request. Would the Superior Spartans, who were already soundly beaten, be willing to fulfill the dreams of a developmentally challenged young man? He asked the Spartan’s coach if they would allow Sam to catch a pass and be sure to not injure him by tackling him gently after he caught the ball.  But the opposing coach, Bob DeMeyer, had a better idea: “Let’s let him score a touchdown, coach. That’s what it’s all about.” So on the next play, Sam ran into the left flat, hauled in a short pass, and raced 66 yards past the futile tackling attempts of the Spartan players. The touchdown ignited a cheering frenzy throughout the stadium of fans from both teams appreciating a moment far grander than any common football contest. Sam’s father, watching from the sidelines, was deeply moved by this display of character and sportsmanship. Sam’s teammates who had known and played on the same team with him for years celebrated enthusiastically, while the opposing Spartans’ reaction was even more impressive. Once downtrodden from suffering their fifth straight loss, they now saw the game in a whole new light. One of them put it into perspective, calling the moment “the highlight of anybody’s life.”

This act of kindness, compassion, and concern for the other stands out simply because it is not the expected behavior of man. We notice when behavior does not conform to man’s typical nature. Oh yes, as we have heard so often before, there are those who will describe such an event as proof that most people, if not all, are “basically good at heart.” But any thoughtful observation of humanity puts the lie to such an idea quickly. At least it ought to. Even those in the football stadium who were so impressed in the moment would not necessarily be transformed by it.  Within a day or two they might not show even their spouse the same compassion and concern displayed that night.

This is the first week of Advent, a season of the year with the glorious purpose of reminding us of our Savior’s Advent in history, and of His promised Advent ahead. St. Bernard (not the Swiss mountain dog, but the saint) in one of his Advent sermons contrasts the devoted disciple of Christ with those who pay no attention to the coming of the Savior. These are in no way aware that they even need a Savior! Consequently, they are unaware of His presence. Bernard develops in his Advent sermons the idea of the “three Advents” of Jesus. The first and the last are obvious to us: Jesus’ incarnation and birth and Jesus’ return, His promised coming again. The first is that in which He comes to seek and to save that which was lost. The third is that in which He comes to take us to Himself. But what is this second, or “middle Advent” of which Bernard spoke?

He describes it like this: every moment of time between the first and last Advent is a moment of judgment; that Christ is passing by and that we are judged by our awareness of His passing.  If we join Him and travel with Him to the Kingdom, the judgment becomes for us salvation. But if we neglect Him and let Him go by, our neglect is our condemnation! The night last October in the Menomonie Football Stadium was just such a “middle Advent;” Jesus was there and He gave those who witnessed and participated an opportunity to respond to His grace and be transformed by it. This “Sam Kolden story” did not just happen as though man’s nature in itself would produce what took place. There are countless “middle  Advents” in each of our lives. Just as Jesus’ noticeable “visit” in the stadium that night, so he passes by in each of our lives over and over again. Sometimes we notice His presence, while other times we may be completely oblivious. Meditating on the first and the last Advent of our Lord and Savior awakens us to His countless “middle visits” where we are judged by our response to Him. Think about it. This is a season to do just that. But there may not be many more.

Encouragement:

“Be near me, Lord Jesus, I ask thee to stay, close by me forever and love me I pray; bless all the dear children in thy holy care, and fit us for heaven to live with thee there.”

(Last verse of the “Cradle Song” attributed to Martin Luther,” Away in a Manger”)

Anderso
July 4th is America’s holiday; a perpetual declaration of her independence. We celebrate our nation’s birthday in a very BIG way: fireworks, picnics, parades and patriotic performances. As Americans we have much for which to be proud and thankful; blessed abundantly with liberty and the many freedoms associated with it. And rather than hoard our liberty we have shared it with many people around the globe; inspiring the initiation of one democracy after another on every continent. Despite the cynicism of numerous naysayers: university professors, “intellectual elites,” bombastic journalists, the historically ignorant; apart from God’s raising up and using American liberty and strength, the world would be a sorry pit of petty tyrants, cruel dictators, and evil, self-serving Mugabes, Saddam Husseins, Hitlers, and the like. So despite our many flaws, once again on another July 4th we can still celebrate life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness in America. No one is fighting to leave her; rather people from everywhere are doing everything to get in! Sort of flies in the face of most everything the naysayers write today of our country.

I deeply appreciate, as I am sure you do, the independence of our nation, and the precious privilege of being born, living, and being a citizen in this great democracy. Yet it is worth thinking about when we speak of liberty and freedom either as an individual or as a nation, it is seldom if ever you will hear someone say in such a context, “Yes, but I am thankful most of all for my REAL freedom; freedom from my sin and my guilt.” For when the Bible speaks of freedom and liberty THIS IS ITS PRECISE FOCUS! When Jesus speaks of freedom, it is NOT freedom from political tyrants and dictators; it is freedom from sin and guilt and condemnation for our sin. And through the centuries of world history most Christians have lived not under democracy, but under dictatorships, tyrants, and monarchies, not infrequently run by evil kings. All the more reason to give thanks for our blessings; OR, maybe not. Would we more deeply appreciate and treasure our freedom in Christ, if we suffered as our Christian brothers and sisters have historically under the rule of despots and tyrants? I doubt any of us desire that, but what will it take to raise in our consciousness the love of sins forgiven, the appreciation of redemption from sin’s disgrace, and the passionate affection to be a slave to righteousness? Paul says to true believers, “You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.” (Romans 6:18) Is that how you would describe your freedom: a slave to righteousness?

It is not a bad thing for us to celebrate national independence as American citizens. But it is a far better thing as a citizen of heaven to love and live freedom from sin and its ugly stains by being covered, redeemed, and washed in the blood of Christ. It does you no good if you do not know and remember what that means and appropriate its truth in your life. There is no freedom like it. You can live in a grand democracy like America and be miserable. You can live anywhere with the knowledge of being set free by the Son, no matter your physical circumstances. No one really knows freedom until they experience it in Christ! Janis Joplin wrote in her famous song, “Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose…” This only makes sense if what you lose is your sinful self, not Bobby McGee. If we die to ourselves, and the sins we cling to, and live unto Christ and His righteousness, we will only and really know freedom!

Encouragement:
“Father, open my eyes to my freedom in Christ, if indeed I am in Him and He is in me. May I love my freedom from sin and guilt more than this life, for because of it I have a better home.”