Prophesy – Week 1
Like a child waiting for Daddy to come home, or a pregnant woman
ready to meet her child, a time of waiting is most marked by the arrival of
what we have been waiting for. The time can be frustrating, agonizing or
distracting. However, this time can also be exciting, filled with possibility
and wonder, and a building sense of joy. How do you choose to wait?
Since the beginning of time, generations have waited for the
coming of the promised one. The delight of God’s promise of freedom from sin,
of a reunion with Him, were worth waiting for. But how long would He be?
Thousands of years pass with no promised one, then God seems to be silent.
Could He have forgotten his promise?
Sometimes, in the darkest of winter, hope is the only thing we have to
know that spring is coming. And come he did, though not in the way that most
people expected. Many people from all over the world were watching and waiting
and yet when Jesus came, few took notice.
For thirty-three short years the wait was over and the Promised
one came to earth and did what God promised he would do. He leaves us with
another promise, “I will come again.” And so we return to waiting. Another
couple thousand years of waiting. Perhaps there is something in the waiting:
something that teaches us to hold on to hope and promise, that encourages us to
always be preparing for the fulfillment of our longing, to keep us from
thinking we have arrived and settle into complacency. Perhaps this waiting is
core to the very nature of Christ- followers, of Messiah seekers.
So another winter has come and before you break into celebrating,
pause and remember that the best celebration is yet to come. Embrace the wait
and prepare your heart to see Christ as you’ve never seen Him before.
Peace – Week 2
There is nothing quite like the sound of snow falling. It makes
no noise at all and yet, it has a palpable presence. When the snow begins to
fall, it seems as though all the world stops. Plans change, people look up at
the sky or settle in to something warm. If there’s enough snow, an unplanned
holiday takes place. Schools and businesses close and a whole new world of
possibilities open up. Suddenly our schedules cease their clamor and we can
simply be.
It’s those moments when we are quiet, when we simply are, that
God speaks. Or maybe it’s then that we can really hear him. As with the
shepherds on the hillside, our encounters with God can forever change us: our
perspectives, our desires, our priorities. One of his gifts in these encounters
is the gift of peace. Not an absence of striving kind of peace, though that may
be true, but this peace is a fullness of purpose, a sense that things are as
they should be. A peace that settles in, just like a snowflake on a field.
In our culture, quietness and peace are a rare commodity, a
luxury few can afford, a short term reward for completion of a major
undertaking. What if the truth is that peace is a necessary foundation, an
integral part of what makes us human and a more fitting home base than busyness?
What if peace was at the core of who you were this Christmas, instead of an
exhausted afterthought? What would be different? What would stay the same?
Let’s approach this Christmas with the peace that God intends for
us. Yes, there are presents to buy and wrap, cookies to bake and relationships
to invest in. Those things can still happen, but the focus can change if you
let God’s peace settle in and “be” Christmas instead of “doing” Christmas.
Joy – Week 3
Is there anything more beautiful than seeing the joy on a loved
one’s face when we give them the perfect gift? Something that they have desired
for a long time, yet could never have bought for themselves. Made more precious
by the fact that this treasured item is now connected to a valued relationship.
Can you imagine the excitement God had in making his plans to
send his Son? It is the perfect gift. Just what we needed and something we
could never have even thought to ask, it cost so much. We could never have got
it on our own. Made more precious because it gives us a relationship with God
that we could never have without this gift.
Imagine His delight as you opened his gift and realized that it is just
for you.
Better yet, as much as this gift is designed specifically for
you, it is equally designed for the person next to you: your neighbor, your
family, your friend. And God asks you to share it with them. You can keep it
and give it at the same time. You can share God’s joy as you see others receive
the gift.
And yet, how much of your life shows this joy, gratefulness for
this perfect gift? Smack in the middle of the busy Christmas season, would
those who looked at your life be able to see joy?
That’s what the angel was talking about when he said in Luke 2:10,
“I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all
people.” This joy is radiant, life changing, bursting delight that comes from
God, through you, to others. This joy is uncontainable, unexplainable,
unbidden. It is the joy that started with one Christmas night, in a manger in
Bethlehem. Gifted first to a husband and wife, then a strange mix of kings and
shepherds, eventually a loose group of followers and finally the whole world.
Week 4 –
Love
The heart of Christmas is love. A.W. Tozer once said, “I can no
more do justice to this awesome and wonder-filled topic than a child can grasp
a star. Still, by reaching toward the star the child may call attention to it
and even indicate the direction one must look to see it. And so, I stretch my
heart toward the high, shining love of God so that we may be encouraged to look
up and have hope.”
God’s love is amazing, unconditional, transforming, sacrificial,
humbling, uplifting and more. How does one even begin to describe it? It is
offered, even to those who reject it over and over. It is abiding, even when
circumstances overwhelm and sadness lingers. It is always choosing the best for
us, even if that best is hard or unfamiliar. It is unending, unquenchable,
celebratory and solemn. And it reveals itself just when we need it most.
Human love is often self seeking, emotion driven, changeable as
the wind. How comforting to know that God’s love is not like ours. But God’s
love could be ours, if we learned from him how to really love our world.
Imagine how it could be if each of us took the people around us
and loved them like God does. How could we influence our neighborhoods, our
families, our schools, our friends if we saw each situation through God’s love
and used that as our guide. How would your relationships be different? How
would you spend your time?
And that may be the biggest miracle of Christmas: that God,
through Jesus, showed us how to love our world and re- create it to be as he first imagined it. That his love through us
would change hearts and minds and actions, propelling us to be kinder, more compassionate, more accurate reflections of Christ.
And as we explore that love, we call others’ attention to it, as a child grasps
for a star.
Christ
Candle – Christmas Eve
He came. In fulfillment of the promise and in honor of the
waiting generations he came. In response to the obedience of teenagers he came.
To the lowliest of places he came. During political occupation he came.
Heralded by angels and shepherds, not kings or emperors, he came. From
perfection and beauty and light and love to brokenness and horror and darkness
and hate, he still came.
And it changed everything.
Because he came, we can know God. Because he came, we have peace.
Because he came, we are free. Because he came, we have purpose.
Jesus’ coming shows us how humanity was meant to be, how we could
be if we trusted and believed God. He shows us how God wants to interact with
the world: intimately, individually, personally. Jesus’ coming not only tells
us of a better day coming, but also includes the possibility that today could
be a better day.
Christ is our model, our teacher and our hope. He is God as well
as being the fulfillment of humanity. He is the first one among us, yet he
valued the least ones. He is the cornerstone of our faith, the rock on which we
stand.
Because of Christ, we have Christmas.
