Christmas Day

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

"The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth." John 1:14

"In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven." Hebrews 1:1-3

-The stained glass impression of the Holy Family was a created for me by my friend, Joy Boake

Christmas Eve

I began our Advent Season together with a post on gratitude, and I felt it was only right to conclude that way as well.

The Psalm readings this past Tuesday, Psalm 66, 67, 116, and 117, spoke so clearly to my heart about the Lord's work in my life over the past two years that I was brought to tears. Though the writing exceeds me, the heart of the Psalmist could easily have been my own as he thanks God for bringing him back from the brink of death.

The Lord has walked with me through many trials throughout my life; and in the process, He has given me faith to trust Him. During the past two years, however, that faith has been shaken to the core. The cancer diagnosis not only ravaged my body; it became a scourge to my soul. There were days when I wasn't sure my body or my soul were going to make it through. 

The Lord has been good to me, though. He has preserved my life and restored my health physically, which is a tremendous blessing. But he has tended my soul and renewed the joy of my salvation.

This body may one day wither, but in Christ, my spirit is growing stronger and stronger.

I am thankful today: thankful for my family, my friends, my church, my health, my house, my job. I am thankful that my life is full of books and art and ideas and opportunities. But I am deeeply thankful for Jesus. Soli deo gloria!

PSALM 116

I love the LORD, for he heard my voice;
he heard my cry for mercy.

Because he turned his ear to me,
I will call on him as long as I live.

The cords of death entangled me,

the anguish of the grave came upon me;
I was overcome by trouble and sorrow.

Then I called on the name of the LORD :
"O LORD, save me!"

The LORD is gracious and righteous;
our God is full of compassion.

The LORD protects the simplehearted;
when I was in great need, he saved me.

Be at rest once more, O my soul,

for the LORD has been good to you.

For you, O LORD, have delivered my soul from death,
my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling,

that I may walk before the LORD
in the land of the living.

I believed; therefore I said,
"I am greatly afflicted."

And in my dismay I said,
"All men are liars."

How can I repay the LORD
for all his goodness to me?

I will lift up the cup of salvation
and call on the name of the LORD.

I will fulfill my vows to the LORD
in the presence of all his people.

Precious in the sight of the LORD
is the death of his saints.

O LORD, truly I am your servant;
I am your servant, the son of your maidservant;
you have freed me from my chains.

I will sacrifice a thank offering to you
and call on the name of the LORD.

I will fulfill my vows to the LORD
in the presence of all his people,

in the courts of the house of the LORD— 

in your midst, O Jerusalem. Praise the LORD.

Week 4, Day 4: The Longest Day

Today is my last day of work before a four-day Christmas holiday, and I can guarantee it will feel like the longest day of the year. It's that way every Christmas season; one year, I was sure that I had actually fallen asleep at work and was there into a second day. It felt THAT LONG!

During these especially long days before the holiday, it's tempting just to wish the day were over. To wish that it was already tomorrow and I was sleeping in and celebrating with friends and family the whole day long.

The same temptation is there as we wait on Jesus. Because the Advent calendar ends in Christmas, as we get toward the end, it's easy to just want it to be over. To get there. And the same is true as we wait for Jesus to come again. Especially when the days are long and hard, wanting a shortcut to the end seems reasonable.

But since I stared down death in the past two years and became acutely aware of the reality of my limited days - of all our limited days - it just doesn't seem right to wish any of them away. Finding our way from the first day until our last day isn't just about passing the days, waiting for the end. It's about living each day fully.

It's about getting up each day, regardless of what awaits us, and crying out with the Psalmist, "This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it."

Week 4, Day 3: No Mere Simile

I love a good simile -- you know, a figure of speech that compares the similarities of two things using "like" or "as." No description expresses the nuances of a thing quite like it.

Similes are the stuff poems and songs are made of, like when Elton John described Marilyn Monroe, and later Princess Diana, "like a candle in the wind." Or, the oldie but goodie from Simon and Garfunkel, "like a bridge over troubled waters." 

Similes also help us understand our day: "the expressway was like a parking lot." And they give us tried and true, though sometimes tired, descriptions of the world around us: "her eyes were as green as emeralds."

I found myself the object of a wonderful simile when I received my Christmas gift from my six-year-old friend, Clara, last night. On the front was a swirly, squirrelly bluish scene with a a couple of stick-figures. At first glance, I wasn't sure what to make of it.

Then, I looked on the back and found some writing. At first, I thought it said, "You're like a blister," which I was having a very hard time interpreting. Clara corrected me. "It says, 'You're like a blizzard,'" she said, as if that would have a far clearer meaning.

"In what ways am I like a blizzard?" I asked diplomatically, trying hard not to be completely offended. "You are always busy and you get lots of things done and you move around a lot," she explained. "And that's you riding your bicycle through the blizzard," she said.

I got it. This was a compliment; Clara saw blizzards as strong, effective weather systems, which meant she saw me as a strong, effective woman. "I love it," I said.

In thinking about this simile, even though I am in some ways like a blizzard, there are many aspects of a blizzard I hope do NOT define me: cold, destructive, and overwhelming, just to name a few. And the fact of the matter is, I am NOT a blizzard. It's just a simile.

But when Jesus took on flesh in the incarnation, actually became a man, this was no simile. He wasn't like a man. He wasn't being compared to a man. It wasn't just the nice parts of humanity he used to describe himself.

No, the miracle of the incarnation is that it is no mere simile. At Christmas time, we celebrate God becoming a man: fully, truly man. Taking on both the good and the bad.

The world has never been the same since.

Week 4, Day 2: The End

On Saturday, I heard a very touching interview with Vicki Kennedy, the widow of Senator Edward T. Kennedy.

One of the questions she fielded was about a sense of "the end" during those days between his cancer diagnosis and his death. "Was there a moment in the last few months that you looked at each other and knew these were the last few months?" Scott Simon asked Mrs. Kennedy.

It's a question that is answered more in the asking than the telling, because it's something we all want to know: will I have the same sense when my life is nearly over? Will I have time to finish things and make things right?

Having come face to face with death myself through my own cancer diagnosis, it's a question I asked myself a hundred times. If these are my last days, am I living them the way I should?

This is not just a question for our deathbeds, however. This is an Advent question. Jesus will come again, and if our days on earth don't end individually in our own death, it will only be because Jesus has ushered in the end of all days on earth collectively by returning as He promised.

Since no one knows when either of those days will be, the only logical conclusion is to live every day as if sensing this might be our last. This is precisely why God has not told us our last day, even though he knows it as well as our first. He wants us to find certainty in the uncertainty; to live by faith everyday we wait for him.

"When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?" Luke 18:8

Week 4, Day 1: Help

I am rejoicing tonight over this morning's sermon on Immanuel, "God with us." The main point? "Real hope comes from God's help through Jesus."

"God with us" means we never have to do it alone.

Wishing you a happy Fourth Sunday of Advent. Only five days til Christmas.

--

Purify our conscience, Almighty God, by your daily visitation, that your Son Jesus Christ, at his coming, may find in us a mansion prepared for himself; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. -- The Collect for the Fourth Sunday of Advent, from The Book of Common Prayer

Week 3, Day 7: The Gift-Giver

Keeping Christ in Christmas continues to be a challenge as we celebrate in a consumer culture more concerned with secular tradition over spiritual disciplines.

Earlier this month, as I put together a company-wide newsletter at my work, I had to refer to photos of office decorations as "holiday" images rather than using the word "Christmas" since I was writing as a representative of my employer. The other night I saw a story on the NBC newscast about a man who depicted the manger scene using cutouts of the cast of the Today Show. And even the more altruistic requests for donations and contributions appeal to the "goodness in our hearts" rather than a reflection of our love for Jesus.

Even when we try to keep the focus on Jesus, it's not easy.

A dear friend of mine has decided in her conscience that it is best for her family if they do not pretend that there really is a Santa Claus. So, from the time they could understand, she has told her sons the truth about the fabled man in red -- at the same time, always careful to tell them that other families may participate in this "fun" tradition, so they should not be spoilers.

This year, as she was explaining once again about the tradition of St. Nicholas, her oldest son said, "You're lying. I know there's really a Santa." How ironic, I thought, as she told me this story, laughing.

One aspect of Christmas that is particularly difficult for me to consider counter-culturally is gift-giving. Our consumer culture often focuses more on gift-giving than the Gift-Giver, and I have certainly grown accustomed to this tradition as part of my own Christmas celebration. In fact, time spent ordering, buying, wrapping, and giving gifts is usually intertwined throughout my Advent celebrations, and Christmas gatherings with friends and family almost always include a time to give and get gifts.

What would it mean to forego this part of Christmas? How do I untangle myself from the complex emotional and traditional ties of gift-giving? If I don't spend money on others, how else can I show them that I care? And most importantly, how am I celebrating the Gift-Giver as I give gifts to others?

I don't have the answers this year. But I do sense that there is one gift I haven't thought of yet, a gift that won't be purchased, wrapped, or mailed. I sense that in the midst of my wrestling through this issue of gift-giving, that Jesus has something on His list that only I can give to Him. And I pray that when He reveals it to me, I will be ready to give to the Gift-Giver out of the same love He has given to me.