Tag: Jesus

Advent 21: Controversy

I don’t like controversy. I run away from conflict. I avoid confrontation.

This is a difficult weekend to avoid controversy.

A few days ago, a man of faith, who also happens to be a TV personality, was asked a few questions about his beliefs. I wonder if he felt like he was being set up? The whole thing reminds me of the way that the Pharisees questioned Jesus in order to trap him. The celebrity answered honestly, as he felt Jesus would have wanted him to. And wham, bam, his show was pulled and a well-known family style restaurant pulled all his merchandise.

And the lines have been drawn and people have polarized. Boycotts are planned. Nasty, derogatory comments are being made by both sides of the issue.

It makes me wonder how much of this is pleasing to God? Is he getting any glory out of our pettiness? People who might have been on the edge of faith are repulsed by behavior that should woo them not make them walk away.

But there is the point…when did it happen that I can’t express my faith without fear of offense?

Perhaps that’s the problem…we fear offense.

Go back and read the Christmas story. Read the gospels. Pay attention to Jesus’ words.

He was an equal opportunity offender.

I want to say that Jesus wasn’t intentionally offensive. I’ve tried to write the thought several ways, but I don’t believe it.

Jesus didn’t come to make the people of his day, or ours, comfortable. He stirs things up. He made radical comments and shed all kinds of new light on tightly held traditions. He ate with the wrong people. He traveled the wrong roads. He challenged authority. Controversy, confrontation, conflict seemed to follow him wherever he went.

And it got him killed. But not just him. His cousin John could easily speak to this, if he hadn’t lost his head. He was asked what he thought about the King’s questionable marriage situation and he paid the ultimate price–he gave his life.

No wonder we shy away. Bite our tongues. Swallow our faith.

So Mr. TV personality lost his show. It happens. I know a teacher who lost his job because he always put his Bible on his desk. He kept true to his faith…and fortunately another job came his way.

Maybe that TV show ran its course. Did what it was supposed to do. And maybe God has something else for this family to be doing. Should we boycott that too?

We don’t understand persecution for our faith the way that some do in other parts of the world. Or in times gone by. Jesus seems to want us to be more aware. He actually tells his followers, “Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 5:10).” Peter went on to write: 12 Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. 13 But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. 14 If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. 15 If you suffer, it should not be as a murderer or thief or any other kind of criminal, or even as a meddler. 16 However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name. 17 For it is time for judgment to begin with God’s household; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God? (1 Peter 4:12-17)

Jesus’ birth was extremely controversial. Consider that the announcement came to shepherds, not the King.

We don’t have to go looking for conflict. It will find us. Sometimes it’s a set up. But however we encounter it. I pray that we faithfully face it and make sure we do all we can to speak the truth in love and glorify the one who is the foundation of what we believe.

Advent 19: Silent Night

I was surfing Christmas music on youtube when I came across this song by Amy Grant:

I’d never heard it before, so I sat and listened. And right at the end of the video a scene popped up that moved me and made me cry.

That last scene was in an app I downloaded for my phone and NookHD+. I selected it for my wallpaper on both. There was something very homey and comforting about it. It was like an invitation to step back and keep Christmas without all the hustle and bustle.

Seeing it there in this song was like a hug from God. And in my spirit I could hear him saying, “Whoa, little one. Slow down. You are racing so. Look at you all in a frenzy.”

I sat quietly and pondered this whole “resting” thing. Why is it so hard for people? So I decided to ask google. I found one article by a trainer described how he taught “chargers” to rest effectively. (Here’s the addy: http://breakingmuscle.com/mobility-recovery/learning-to-rest-teaching-hard-chargers-to-slow-down-and-relax .)

What he was saying reminded me of when I worked at Curves (The Workout Place for Women). When we coached people through the program we put strong emphasis on the cool down and stretching portion of the workout. Invariably at least half the women would skip this portion, citing a need to be somewhere else and promising to do it next time.

We just don’t slow down well.

Throughout the Psalms there’s a little word that we often gloss right over. It occurs 71 times there and three times in Habakkuk 3. The word is Selah. While there is some confusion over its exact meaning, it is most often described as a musical term which we would closely associate with a rest, bringing an oppotunity to pause, to mediate on what was just read or sung.

If our bodies need to physically pause to restore, should it come as any surprise that our spirits need that also?

So God’s gift came in the dark of night. In the quiet of night. Third shift. Quiet. Still. Selah.

Yeah, I think we could all use a Slient Night.

Advent 18: Aromas of Christmas


When you think of the aromas of Christmas, what comes to mind?

Pine. Peppermint. Fresh baked bread. Snickerdoodles. Honey baked ham. Mulled cider. A warm and cozy fire.

All pleasant. Cozy. Enveloping.

What about poop? What about cow, donkey, and the ever odoriferous pig?

Once upon a lifetime ago, I worked at a Shell Gas Station, ringing up customers in the convenience store. We were a farm community. The local large animal vet would work with students from a nearby college. Everyday they would come through the store for snacks and sodas–and their odor always proceeded them.

And lingered long after they left…way too long.

As I listened to a customer complaining about the pungent smell one day I found myself thinking about the stable where Jesus was born. I don’t imagine it smelled of pine and cinnamon. No it smelled like a barn, with animals…and manure.

About the closest most folks get to that is once a year when they traipse off to the county or state fair.

Why would God choose to be born in that manner, in that kind of place?

He’s not afraid of or put off by any mess in our lives.

Psalm 139 paints the clear picture that there is no height or depth that God will not go in pursuing us. He loves us that much.

He is not repulsed by the stink of our lives, the rottenness of our sins. His love is relentless as it it lavish.

There’s a funny thing about poop. We try and mask the smell with pretty smells. But all we end up with is cinnamon poop.

Perhaps God sent his son into the world, to a stable, to lay in a manger so that we would realize his amazing love for us and so that we would find him and quit trying to cover our messes.

For God so loved…

Advent 17: Peace on Earth

Part of what set me up to make the poorest decisions in my life was buying into the lie of “peace at any price.” I learned, and quite painfully, that there is no such thing because it really is not peace and we pay way too high a price.

And yet I still believe in and crave peace. I avoid conflict whenever I can. But I am not a pacifist. I am a peacemaker.

When the angel chorus delivered their message to the shepherds, they sang of peace on earth. And the crowd heard a very different message than what God intended. They took it to mean an end to strife and hardship and oppressive rule.

God had something very different in mind. Paul tried to clear up the confusion in his letter to the church at Ephesus. He wrote: “For he himself is our peace, who made both groups into one, broke down the barrier of the dividing wall…that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace.” (Ephesians 2:14, NASB.)

There were so many divisions between the people. The mission of Christmas is to heal those separations. God wanted peace not pieces. God wanted to bring his people back together and back to him.

Will you take some time to examine what divides your heart, what separates you from others, what keeps you from God.

His gift for you is peace: wholeness in life, not pieces formed by divisions.

Today I want to close with my favorite Christmas song and a prayer that God will heal the brokenness that divides so you will know peace.

Advent 15: Baggage Claim

I am not a seasoned traveler. No matter how many times I go to visit my mom, I feel like a newbie all over again. I still get nervous when the plane takes off and lands.

One thing I have learned is to pack less. It’s much easier to travel with a lighter bag and just enough to entertain myself on the flight.

On my recent trip to visit my mom, I watched people tugging and lugging huge backpacks and bulging roll-on bags. They were juggling coats and coffee, books and briefcases. They wrestled them into the overheads and scrunched them to fit under the seat in front of them. So much energy was expended…wasted. So much frustration. A few broken nails. And lots of colorful language–cover the children’s ears.

It reminded me of something I read in Max Lucado’s book, Traveling Light. He tells the story of a time when he was away at a speaking engagement and he didn’t realize until he arrived at his hotel room that he had claimed the wrong bag. He goes on to talk about how no sane person would keep the wrong bag–what would he do with women’s clothing? His point: often we carriage baggage that is not our own.

Unwanted baggage can infiltrate our Advent and Christmas experience, too. Ebenezer wasn’t the only one who has nightmares from ghosts of Christmases past.

What would happen if we carried less into the holidays? Perhaps if we projected less from the past into the present and traveled lighter? We might find more energy to enjoy the present.

As I was thinking about this I was reminded of the image of Mary and Joseph traveling to Bethlehem. On that arduous journey they only carried the essentials. It was probably good since they ended up having to flee to Egypt.

In the midst of his ministry to the masses, Jesus looked out on the crowd and had compassion on them. I picture him lifting his arms in invitation as he said: 28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light (Matthew 11:28-30, NIV).”

Light burdens. That’s the gift he brings. Sounds like the best way to travel to me.

Advent 14: Christmas Cookies

I love Christmas cookies. I love cookie exchanges.

My mom never made Christmas cookies–any cookies, actually. It wasn’t until I was in Girl Scouts that I ever iced sugar cookies.

Did I mention I love cookies? I don’t think I ever met a problem a Doule Stuff Oreo (or whole bag) couldn’t solve. I have eaten way more than my fair share in my fifty-six years.

Last Christmas a friend invited me over to decorate cookies. It sounded like fun so I showed up. She had several bowls of homemade icing and trays and trays of cut-out cookies in all the traditional Christmas shapes.

I sat down at the table and very carefully and gingerly began to ice and decorate with sprinkles.

She laughed at me. Then she asked me what I was doing.

I looked at her rather shocked at first. I mean, what did it look like I was doing. Then it dawned on me that she had finished decorating a half dozen cookies to my one. I was so afraid to “mess up” that I was not enjoying the experience at all. My perfectionism was totally tying me up and shutting me down.

My friend then very quickly went to work assuring me that there was no wrong way to do this. She’s a very wise woman. I decided to believe her. The result was that we had a fun time. In the end there were plenty of iced cookies and neither of us were fretting about the icing or sprinkles on the table…I don’t think we were fretting at all.

And a truth seed was planted in my heart that brought a breath of freedom into my life.

Too often my perfectionistic roots strangle my creativity, my living, and living life to its fullest (See John 10:10). I have noticed that I’m not alone in this as I have listened to friends discuss their struggle with finding and doing God’s will…his perfect will.

Choices that I made in my life really messed things up for me. I was afraid life was over. Somehow I thought that life progressed in a straight line moving up. But it looked more like a jumbled mess.

What if the truth is that God loves us enough to let us make mistakes? What if there isn’t one plan/path and if we don’t find it and only walk down that one and instead meander a little? What if there isn’t one perfect job, but a series of jobs where we have the opportunity to touch many lives and make a difference in many places? What if there isn’t one perfect mate, but more than one…or none?

There are those who would consider such thinking blasphemous. I wonder what they do when the cords get jumbled up?

There is a verse that is often quoted from Jeremiah: For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future. (Jeremiah 29:11)

There is certainly comfort in that verse…but it’s also pretty vague. And when you put it in context it’s even more interesting. Go ahead read the whole chapter.

Life is not always neat and tidy. Sometimes it’s jumbled up. Sometimes it’s even messier than a table after preschoolers attempt to decorate Christmas cookies. But God is still there. He’s still planning for hope and a future. He can make something beautiful if you’ll ease up and let him.

He is after all, the one who promised to give us life…life to the fullest.

Advent 12: Countdown

Well, we’re halfway there. Advent is half over and Christmas is just a couple weeks away.

Are you feeling the pressure yet? Has your holiday spirit suffered from the hustle, bustle, and too much to eat?

How’s your anticipation quotient? Are you slipping from excited expectation into dread and loathing?

We are just a handful of days away from turning the calendar page into a whole new year.

Where has the time gone?

As I pondered this, I was reminded of Paul’s words to the Colossians: Make the most of every opportunity. (4:5b, NIV)

It’s really hard to do that if we’re not living intentionally. If we have allowed ourselves to get swept up in the current of the culture and buy into the prevailing mentality of fast is best and the one with the most on their calendar wins.

Christms comes every year, right about this time. And typically when it’s all over I will finally take a deep breath and thank God for getting me through another one.

I hate feeling that way. I don’t think it really pleases God either.

So I have taken Paul’s words as my mantra for this season. Every opportunity, every moment, is a gift that God has given me and I’m going to make the most of it.

A very funny and dear man has described this as holy appointments and divine interuptions–or something like that. Essentially every moment is a God-ordained opportunity to be salt and light, to touch the lives of others with the love and grace of God. God has something for us and for us to do and be.

Don’t run out of time. You’ll never run out of opportunities.

Advent 10: Humble

5 You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.
6 Though he was God,[a]
he did not think of equality with God
as something to cling to.
7 Instead, he gave up his divine privileges[b];
he took the humble position of a slave[c]
and was born as a human being.
When he appeared in human form,[d]
8 he humbled himself in obedience to God
and died a criminal’s death on a cross.
(Philippians 2:5-8, NLT)

Humble.

There is so much fanfare, hype, glitz, and spending at Christmas. It sort of takes over. And we overlook the simplicity that characterized the first Christmas.

A young couple. A husband who could have demanded his own rights, yet humbly cared for his wife and believed that God had a plan. A young woman who was probably scared to death, determined to be God’s servant…a pretty humbling choice to make.

A stable. A manger. And the first recorded visitors: shepherds. The King was not invited. He wasn’t even informed. The wise men who sought him came later. Came to the palace, but found the Messiah in a humble home.

Humble.

Paul paints a really clear picture of what Jesus gave up to come to us. Live with us, showing us God’s love and grace, and then giving his life.

I’m humbled by that.

He did that for me. He did that for you.

I did a word study once and the word humble has a root that we would recognize as humus…you know like dirt. Remind you of anything? Adam was made from the dirt. He had a humble beginning. And Jesus chose to be humble.

How will you be humble this Christmas season?

Advent 8: Reindeer Games

This morning I was singing along with the radio when the Rudolph song came on. And I got stuck on how the other reindeers wouldn’t let Rudolph play because he was different…weird.

I get Rudolph. I get how that must have hurt.

I am in Arizona visiting my mom. While we are together we play Scrabble practically non-stop. In the week that I have been here we have played over 50 games. We laugh and talk, philosophize, and try to solve the ills of mankind.

We often say that you can learn a lot about life from the game of Scrabble. You have to wait your turn. It helps to be flexible when someone takes the place you were about to play your hundred point word. There are times when you win and there are times you lose–but it’s all about playing the game.

I play Scrabble because I enjoy it. That’s why I play any of the games I play. It’s for fun. But it isn’t that way for everyone.

You know the kind of folks I’m talking about. Their face has probably popped into your mind’s eye. They are cut-throat. They can’t loose. They sandbag. They count cards. Winning is everything. It’s like a drug for them. And the worst thing is that they make you feel less than worthless when you lose.

Worse than Rudolph.

So what do games have to do with Advent…other than they make for a great Christmas gift?

It has a lot to do with how we treat people. In one of my favorite books, The Red Sea Rules, one of the lessons from the account of the Hebrews crossing the Red Sea is that it’s not always about us. God put them in that place, in that time, for his glory to be revealed. Jesus picks up on this when he raises Lazurus.

It’s not always about us.

One time I had the joy of playing Scrabble with my former choir director. She was in an assisted living situation and her memory was not what it once was. I could have easily ran the score up–but what purpose would it have served? What mattered was the time we could share together.

It is so easy to get focused on ourselves: where we need to be, what we need to do, and what is important and urgent for us. To say this affects how we “play the game” of life is quite an understatement.

Take stock of your attitude and relationality. A wise mentor gave me a good guide to go by for this: would you rather be right or related? Can you let someone else win the game?

Advent 2013: In the Fullness of Time


My life used to be much fuller. I worked two full-time jobs. I had two teenage daughters. I was a wife. I tried to keep house. For a while we also added foster children to that mix.

Life was busy. Full of things. Broad, but not deep. My motto might have been, “so much to do, so little time.” That is if I had stopped long enough to consider a motto.

Life has swiftly moved on. My daughters are now mothers–both over thirty. The movement has been a journey and a process. In the process, I have slowed down. And as a result, life is richer. I find moments to be treasure-worthy. It’s not all good, but it’s good.

Earlier in my life, when I read the Christmas story and came upon the phrase: in the fullness of time, I took it to mean full in the sense of crammed to the brim–and I lived my life accordingly.

I was wrong.

The phrase means: when the time was right, or ripe.

I don’t fully understand what made that time “right” in God’s eyes. What I do know is in my own life, God is never early nor late. I may want him to come sooner, do something sooner. change things now–but I have come to trust two things completely: if things don’t happen on my time table, then God is still working things out; and he is absolutely trustworthy.

When things come together we often say the time was right. We are often in the right spot at the right time–or not. It’s the right time to get married, to have a child, to buy a car. The stars align. The market is favorable. We can identify physical markers and emotional leanings–so why would we be surprised when God says, “It’s time.”

And that’s how we are invited into this Advent season. However full or empty our world seems, it’s just right for God to work. With the same child-like excitement that builds toward opening Christmas presents, let’s anticipate the gift God has for us.