Month: December 2013

Before that night nearly everything seemed impossible. Man, created for relationship with God, found himself in a state of sin which made it impossible to stand in the presence of a Holy God.  Sure, there was a system of sacrifices designed to address individual infractions, great and small, but as soon as one sin was dealt with another arose. It was the sin nature that was the problem and the law did nothing to address that. It was all Holy Impossibility until that night. On that night, in the form of a tiny babe, the impossible became possible. Man who was unfit to stand in His presence became a candidate for sonship, not just any relationship but ultimate relationship. The law system of sacrifice to be replaced by an ultimate, one-time-for-all sacrifice. It was not all perfected that night. It has not all been perfected even now. But it became possible. Hope was reborn. Into the darkness, there came a great light. If today you face what seems impossible, this is your remembrance. No hill is too high. No relationship is too broken. The babe brought hope. Him crucified brought salvation. His return will bring completion.  All is now […]

Several years ago Michael English wrote and recorded Mary Did You Know. It was not released at Christmas nor was it meant to be a Christmas song, but over the years it has become a Christmas favorite. It explores the question of just how much Mary knew about who Jesus was and the enormity of what He would do. I don’t think Mary had complete knowledge of Jesus. I don’t think any of us really understand all the possibilities that a relationship with Him means. Nor do we understand the enormity and life long impact of what we do. Michael English won numerous Dove awards. Just days after one of the award presentations it was discovered that he fathered a child for a woman to whom He was not married. The scandal seemed to ruin His career. His marriage ended in divorce and he was not heard of for several years. The scandal had enormous impact in the Christian community, shaking the faith of many.  After several years of repentance He  re-emerged as a force in Christian music, remarried and started his life over. We don’t alway know the impact of the good, and the bad, we do. We […]

I didn’t normally eat very well when I was a kid. If you find that hard to believe, you need to know I was very thin when younger. I was the oldest of nine kids, we were poor and my mom was not a great cook. Let me rephrase that: she wasn’t even a good cook. Meals were not normally something I looked forward to. We certainly ate to live and did not live to eat. Except for the holidays, my mom had inherited a great cornbread dressing recipe from her mom. Best I could tell it was the only thing that she inherited. This wasn’t one of those awful chicken broth based dressings, or one of those dry corn bread dressing casseroles. This was “real” corn bread dressing made with ground beef and pork and lots of beef consomme’. It was juicy and delicious. I remember the smell of it cooking. I remember sneaking tastes out of the pot before it was ready. I remember having huge servings during holiday meals. I remember it heated over with other left-overs for days after.  There were many Christmases when we didn’t have much. We usually got to pick out one present from […]

It seems Christians are lining up to support Phil Robertson, of Duck Dynasty. Phil was asked in an interview about sin and chose to talk about the “sexy” sins, like adultery and homosexual acts. These things are listed as sins in scripture. Phil was right to include them. He chose not to mention much more frequent sins like acts of pride, murder, dishonesty, gluttony, and bearing false witness.  Of course, the supporters of gay rights are in arms  because they like to read out  certain clear portions of scripture. However, they aren’t the only ones who skip certain portions of the word that hit too close to home.  Conservative Christians are taking up Phil’s cause in support of “free speech” however, these same folks would like certain others to “just shut up.”  Many Christians are proclaiming that it’s about time someone talked more about sin. Well, let’s step back for a minute. Jesus didn’t talk that much about sin and when He did. it was usually in connection with forgiveness. It’s true that some are preaching a watered down gospel that is really no gospel at all. Repentance is clearly a necessary step in the salvation and redemption process. […]

8 Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night.9 And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. 10 Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. 11 For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. Luke 2:10-11 With a week to go until Christmas, how’s your Great Joy meter? This is where the stress level explodes. It’s when we realize that we forgot several someones who bought us something and now we need to go back to the Mall. It’s when we begin to think that we should add another dessert or vegetable to the Christmas day menu or that our choice for the main dish now sounds weird instead of exotic. It’s when Christmas cards start coming in from folks we didn’t send cards to, and we have run out of the pretty personalized cards we bought.  Is the joy slipping away? What can we do? 1. Remember […]

It seems the world is having more trouble than ever accepting the babe born in a manager over 2000 years ago. It seems the tiny one whose parents could not even get a room in an inn or provide a clean place for his birth scares the hell (yes I said “hell” pun intended) out of most. Maybe it’s because like the Magi they recognize this child for all that He is.  They gave Him gold in recognition of his kingship, not just earthly royalty but divine. This little one possesses great power. He is ruler of the universe, a role hidden in a dingy manger and not fully realized until His final return, but ultimate ruler nonetheless. They gave Him frankincense because they knew Him as priest, not just any priest but the Great High Priest who would advocate for lowly man with the Most High God. He would replace all the rituals and ceremony of religion with the reality of relationship.   They gave Him myrrh because they foresaw Him as murdered sacrifice for sin. They recognized this child in His most mysterious yet most marvelous role of all, the greatest gift ever given by a God […]

I had fun at church last night. I feel slightly naughty just saying it. Don’t we believe that Church isn’t supposed to be fun? Don’t we believe that if it is fun, you must not be having real church? You must be doing it wrong. Don’t we think if you have fun at church  you must be going to one of those seeker-friendly churches that aren’t really churches at all?  Now, I have to admit that last night wasn’t a church service, it was a senior group party. We had a pot luck dinner and played a gift exchange game. There was prayer and testimony and fellowship. All that was very nice, but what I really needed was some fun.  Christmas season hasn’t really been much fun for me so far and I needed a laugh. Shouldn’t church really meet our needs? Well it really did last night. I needed a reminder that having Christ in Christmas doesn’t mean taking out all the joy, the fun. It means taking it to a higher level. Church really needs to be more fun, even at the regular services. We have somehow painted Christianity as an exchange for a fun life now […]

Usually about this time of the year I post an encouragement to Keep Christ in Christmas or something about avoiding Christmas stress. Not going to do that this year. In the past I was usually talking mostly to myself and without much success. It seems a losing battle. In fact, this year I’m suggesting we accept the commercialism and take joy in the stress. These things arise from futile attempts to create something artificially, that is only truly possible for those who are in Christ. Consider this. The great thing about Christmas is that it celebrates the Incarnation, the fact that Jesus came to earth, Emmanuel, Christ with us. Christmas is a remembrance of that miracle. But now Jesus isn’t physically here. He’s present spiritually with those who, by faith, are in Him. How can we expect a world that doesn’t know Christ to “keep Him” in Christmas? We have to have understanding and pity for those who struggle to create through material means something that is profoundly spiritual. We are unable, on our own, to generate the love and good will that Christmas promises. That is genuine only in a relationship with Jesus. In our keeping of Christmas, […]