Wednesday, December 29, 2021 – New Years

“Get out of bed, Jerusalem!  Wake up. Put your face in the sunlight.  God’s bright glory has risen for you.

The whole earth is wrapped in darkness, all people sunk in deep darkness, but God rises on you, his sunrise glory breaks over you.” (Isaiah 60: 1 -2, The Message Bible)

                 Seriously, I am just saying…

                If these were Old Testament times, there would probably be some prophetic voice crying in the Covid wilderness proclaiming that we need to change our godless ways (i.e. repent) and return to a life of faith and trust in God alone. This implies that God would use the pandemic as a conduit for a serious message to express God’s displeasure and dismay with humankind. 

               A terrifying example: “Danger ahead! God’s about to ravish the earth and leave it in ruins, rip everything out by the roots  and send everyone scurrying: priests and laypeople alike,  owners and workers alike, celebrities and nobodies alike,  buyers and sellers alike, bankers and beggars alike,  the haves and have-nots alike. The landscape will be a moonscape, totally wasted. And why? Because God says so. He’s issued the orders.” (Isaiah 24: 1 -3, The Message)

                Danger ahead!

                But most of us are far too sophisticated, intelligent, progressive, secular, skeptical, agnostic (even among the devout, if truth be told), doubting, irreligious and liberal to give much credence to such ancient nonsense. Only the extremely religious, dingbat, right wing might give weight to such a theory. Our God, if we have one at all, is more of an indulgent grandfather figure, incapable of doing much harm to his beloved sons of Adam and daughters of Eve.  Besides, good-old-boy Jesus wouldn’t let him anyway…

                Nevertheless, let’s give this some further serious thought and consideration.  I am not suggesting that God has necessarily created the situation we are in but I am wondering whether he is using this pandemic to try and get our attention.

To alert us to his concern about us and for us.

To engage us in a fresh conversation about his love and his desire for us to give him our serious devotion.

To call us back to a renewed relationship and re-habilitated conversion of heart, mind and spirit.

And, therefore, to assure us of a different future then the one we are currently experiencing.

The good thing about most prophetic messages is that they eventually turn into hope, promise, and good news once the bad news is out there for all to hear.

Messages of deliverance, salvation, rescue and victory over that which oppresses us, tries to doom us, threatens to defeat us, and exiles us. And this whole Covid aberration certainly feels like exile to me.

Seriously…

Grab onto God and he can get us through this mess.

Hold onto God and he has a better way into the future.

Demonstrate your full trust in God and he will lead us through the darkness.

As we enter a new year, let us make it our resolution to engage God in this conversation, painfully honest as some of it may be, but also full of new possibilities, fresh insights and an invitation that by doing it God’s Way, we experience the breaking of sunrise glory upon us.

I am just saying… seriously.

 Dale

Wednesday, December 22, 2021 – Christmas

“In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night.” (Luke 2: 8, New Revised Standard Version)


There are times, like now,
That we seem forever stuck in our cold and forlorn fields,
        dreaming of warm hearths, groaning boards of ample food
        and safe rest.

There are times, like now,
That the empty dark seems overwhelming,
        our camp fires dwindling, our resources scant
        and our prospects for anything better, limited.

There are times, like now,
That we huddle against the unknown and tend our worries,
        abiding in some new wilderness, facing new risks and fresh assaults,
        seeking shelter against desert storms.

Would that we all could be magi,
Riding majestically into Jerusalem, seeking audience with a king,
        but we reek of sheep and the wild, expecting predators,
        and the New Jerusalem is a long way off.

But God has not forgotten the poor and the lowly,
Nor has God forsaken the fields in which we live and toil,
        but sends us beacons of light and sound, sundering the winter’s night,
        re-awakening old promises and new hope.

There are times, like now,
When God challenges the wildernesses with angels,
        inviting us into his joy and peace, challenging us to awake
        and make haste to Bethlehem.

There are times, like now,

That turn the night into expectation and anticipation,
        daring us to believe in the incredible and the astonishing,
        and re-ignite our lives with faith and love.

There are times, like now,
That compel us to see our lives and our world through a different lens,
        lying there in a manger, as human as we are,
        word made flesh, dwelling among us.

The fields are less lonely,
        the wilderness less wild,
                the world less voracious.

And it is good to be in Bethlehem, once more.

Dale

Wednesday, December 15, 2021 – ADVENT FOUR

“She gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped him snugly in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no lodging available for them.”  (Luke 2:7, New Living Translation)

                 Yikes! The manger is missing!

                After decorating our Christmas tree, I noticed the creche figures in the box and decided that they would look great on the floor below the tree. I pulled out the two lambs, a donkey, a shepherd and Mary and Joseph, of course. But I couldn’t find the manger. The manger that I thought belonged to the set was not in the same box as the rest of the figures. There was a tiny version belonging to another creche set; I tried to use it a substitute but it was so out of scale that it looked silly. Well, it wasn’t Christmas yet, I told myself, so I guess it will be OK if Baby Jesus hasn’t appeared just yet.  Maybe the manger will turn up.

                But it continued to strike me as odd that the manger wasn’t in the same box. A little later in the day, I took a closer look at the creche scene and, lo and behold, there is no manger because Mary is holding Baby Jesus in her arms. This scene depicts a loving mother cuddling and embracing her new born baby while Joseph looks proudly upon both mother and child. No need for a straw-filled  manger. No need to look any further. Jesus was in the best place possible – his mother’s arms.

                Is there something missing in your Christmas this year? Does something seem not quite right? Is something out of place or just doesn’t fit? What are you looking for this Christmas? Who or what are you hoping will turn up? In another Christmas that is affected and infected by covid, these are valid questions for many. Christmas can’t be real without a manger. Christmas isn’t Christmas until… (you fill in the blank).

                Perhaps, we should take a closer look at the Christmas scene. Truth be told, sentimentalism aside, Christmas isn’t Christmas until we lift Jesus out of the manger and embrace the Christ child. Maybe we are looking in the wrong places for the grace and beauty of Christmas. A manger is a crude place for a Messiah. He was born there in the shed because there was no room anywhere else. Although we have romanticized it, this was a cruel beginning to such a tiny life.

                We should not leave the baby just lying in the manger, but wrap our arms around the significance of this birth for you and me. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David!”  (Luke 2: 10 -11, NLT)

                There is a Christmas song called “While You Were sleeping”. The chorus goes like this:

                Oh Bethlehem, what you have missed while you were sleeping
                For God became a man
                And stepped into your world today
                Oh Bethlehem, you will go down in history
                As a city with no room for its King
                While you were sleeping
                While you were sleeping

The songs ends by asking the same question of America, about what it will miss while it is sleeping.  But I  think the words provoke a challenge for us all, to embrace the One who was born into our world. Open our hearts wide, make room, hold tight, and discover that Holy One has been right under our noses and in our midst all the time.

Dale

Wednesday, December 8 – ADVENT THREE

“Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit…” (Luke 12:38, New Revised Standard Version)

                 Get ready! Get set!  Go!

     You don’t get ready to bake a Christmas cake and not prepare by making sure that you have all the ingredients you need beforehand.

                You don’t get ready to go on a long trip and not prepare what you will need to pack and take with you.

                You don’t get ready to do your Christmas shopping and not prepare to do it before December 25^th. (Although my Dad was an expert on getting Mom’s gift on December 24^th and he always nailed it.)

                If one wants to be ready for something, it usually pays off to prepare in advance for it to be a successful venture. I have never been much of a list maker, but these days I will make lists so as not to forget something. 

                Jesus tells many a story about the need to be prepared and ready as a follower of Jesus. We may not know exactly when he will need us but we need to be ready, prepared and set to go once he calls upon us. Yes, there is a cue here regarding his Second Coming but there are also the expectations of what we need to be doing here and now. “Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit.”

                Jesus had a wry sense of humour which showed up in his parables. I imagine that people were smiling as he told his parable of the ten bridesmaids (Matthew 25:1-13). Five were foolish and five were wise. The wedding was late in getting started and the five foolish bridesmaids had not brought enough oil with them to get them through the night. The smart ones had. Smiling to ourselves, we all know people like them both; maybe we are one of them.  Some are of are always late, always leaving things to the last minute, always procrastinating, always putting things off until it’s too late. Others of us don’t move unless we are sure we have everything we need, keep meticulous lists and spreadsheets, planning ahead for just about any contingency. Amusing, isn’t  it?

Then comes the punch line - a wry but pointed twist. When the groom was arriving, the foolish ones had to go buy some more oil and when they got back to the wedding, the doors were shut and they couldn’t get in. The “joke” is on us or some of us. We get left out of the party. Our intentions may have been good, but while we are out, last-minute shopping, the party has already started.

Perhaps this parable inspired Jesus’ words in Luke, too. “Keep your shirts on; keep the lights on! Be like house servants waiting for their master to come back from his honeymoon, awake and ready to open the door when he arrives and knocks. Lucky the servants whom the master finds on watch! He’ll put on an apron, sit them at the table, and serve them a meal, sharing his wedding feast with them. It doesn’t matter what time of the night he arrives; they’re awake—and so blessed!” (Luke 12: 35-38, The Message Bible)

Our Christian service is expressed in our readiness to serve Christ as soon as we may be needed. We stay alert for the opportunities and occasions when we will need to be prepared to show his love and compassion when the moment arrives. There are no excuses not to be ready. We need to be dressed and prepared for action – right now. Today. Maybe right this moment, there is some need, some help, some work which is right under our noses and only you or I can stand up and serve Christ by paying attention to that need as soon as possible. Love and compassion shouldn’t be put off or delayed for another day.

“But friends, you’re not in the dark, so how could you be taken off guard by any of this? You’re sons of Light, daughters of Day. We live under wide open skies and know where we stand. So let’s not sleepwalk through life like those others. Let’s keep our eyes open and be smart. People sleep at night and get drunk at night. But not us! Since we’re creatures of Day, let’s act like it. Walk out into the daylight sober, dressed up in faith, love, and the hope of salvation.” (1 Thessalonians 5: 4 – 8, The Message Bible)

Get ready! Get set! Go!

Dale

Wednesday, December 1, 2021 – ADVENT TWO

Gabriel appeared to her {Mary} and said, “Greetings, favored woman! The Lord is with you!” (Luke 1:28, New Living Translation)

                 God always seems to make interesting choices in the people whom he calls into his service and for his plans.

                Seniors like Abraham and Sarah. Slaves like the Israelites. A foreigner and immigrant like Ruth. A shepherd boy like David. A fisherman like Peter. A violent antagonist like Paul.

                And Mary, a young, single, innocent woman in the backwater town of Nazareth and nothing good comes out of Nazareth. The only “king” on the throne was a Roman lackey and reprobate, King Herod. Hardly an auspicious choice.

                I am going to presume she was still living in her family’s home, doing whatever young women did in those days to spend their time – probably helping with the daily household chores, collecting water from the town well, cooking, cleaning and the like. Necessary chores, but not especially noteworthy or life changing.

All very ordinary.

Then Gabriel shows up and nothing is ever ordinary again.

She is favoured by God. One might wonder whether being a single, unwed mother was anybody’s idea of being favoured, but Gabriel brought that message to Mary just the same. She has been sought out, chosen, favoured, and brought into God’s plans to bring a new Messiah into being. “’Don’t be afraid, Mary,’ the angel told her, ‘for you have found favor with God!’” (1:30)

                At first, she is perplexed (1:29). Who wouldn’t be? There she is minding her own business, getting ready for her wedding, the future being set as a married woman running her own household and raising a family, and God has the audacity to interrupt her plans with ones of his own. That word “perplexed” may summarize her confusion, surprise, consternation and fears. Why her? Why now?

                Then, she is doubtful. “Mary asked the angel, ‘But how can this happen? I am a virgin.’” (1:34) Like a lot of people who get picked by God for a task, she looked for a way out of her assignment. Sarah had a good laugh. Moses stammered and stuttered, so let God find someone else. Jonah took the first ship out the harbor. I’ve bought a cow, married a wife; I cannot come.  Don’t bother me, God. I am not the one you want.

                But Mary was the right one, the favoured one, the chosen woman to bring into the world and nurture the one who would change the world. God saw something profoundly worthy in Mary that made her the ideal choice as the mother of Jesus. He would deal with Joseph later. “But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law.” (Galatians 4:4. NLT)

                Then, Mary accepted her role. “I am the Lord’s servant. May everything you have said about me come true.” Did she entirely grasp everything she was getting herself into? Probably not. Nevertheless, she rose to the occasion and found the courage and the strength to step into God’s future.

                Mary’s story seems out of the ordinary but it reminds us that God acts in the ordinary spaces of our lives  and calls us into his service. We may feel that we are unlikely or even unworthy candidates. It may seem too complicated or perplexing as to what we should do. We may have good reasons as to why it should not be someone like you or me. But God always needs a human touch to shape his future. God favour, i.e. God’s grace, love, and pleasure, shapes who we are and who we can be.  

                So get in touch with your inner angel and hear God out. You will be glad you did.

 Dale