Wednesday, December 18, 2024 – Advent Four

“For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven.” (Ecclesiastes 3:1, New Living Translation)

               “Don’t open until Dec. 25^th.”

                Only seven more sleeps.  The delivery boxes are piling up. Are there some for me?

                For some inexplicable reason, I have gained a reputation as a gift pincher at Christmas, a gift shaker. This hurtful, character assassination even has even led my grandchildren to shout, if I but approach the Christmas tree under which the gifts are displayed, “Grandpa is pinching!” Why, I never…. well, almost never… once or twice, maybe, at the most…

                Anticipation is part of the lure of Christmas for many of us. Not just for what is under the Christmas tree, but the expectancy of family gatherings or the joy of reunions or a visit from a loved one, after some time away.  The date is clearly marked on our calendars. We keep ourselves busy preparing for the Day itself. Some families may celebrate Christmas before or after for practical reasons. But December 25^th is the traditional date for everything Christmas. It is what most of us aim for. That is the Day in which Christmas takes place. You can’t hurry it.  You can’t make it come any quicker. Just ask any child who is excited about Christmas Day.

                I think that it's worth the wait. Then the Day unfolds its hope, peace, joy and love in all its splendour. It may not always, sadly, be this way for everyone, but the potential is always there, the Good News bursting in on our realties and raising us closer to God in a myriad of ways.

                I have always experienced a different sense of time on Christmas Day. All has been prepared. TV is shut off. The phone doesn’t ring unless it is family. No errands to run. Christmas Day, in our families, is an all-day affair as we take our time to enjoy the whole day. The Day unfolds in many peaceful ways. Okay, it gets a little boisterous as the kids unwrap their gifts, but that too is part of the sacred “magic” of Christmas. But even then, each person takes their turn and we watch as gifts are unwrapped, so we can enjoy their pleasure or surprise, no great hurry. The Day is capped off by a Christmas dinner. The post dinner experience is full of laughter, conversation, and an overwhelming sense of thanksgiving.

                It is worth the wait. One can’t and shouldn’t rush these things.

                For everything, there is a right time to receive “what we can only get by waiting in faith for God to complete his promise.” (Galatians 3:22)

                “But when the time arrived that was set by God the Father, God sent his Son, born among us of a woman, born under the conditions of the law so that he might redeem those of us who have been kidnapped by the law. Thus we have been set free to experience our rightful heritage. You can tell for sure that you are now fully adopted as his own children because God sent the Spirit of his Son into our lives crying out, “Papa! Father!” Doesn’t that privilege of intimate conversation with God make it plain that you are not a slave, but a child? And if you are a child, you’re also an heir, with complete access to the inheritance.” (Galatians 4: 4 -7)

                It seems to me that this is Paul’s way of saying “Merry Christmas.” We use December 25^th  to celebrate this one-of-a-kind event, the gift of Jesus Christ. He is the gift that keeps on giving, of course. But Jesus is worth the wait as he brings with him an engaging presence, a rarefied contact with God in person that makes the Day uniquely special and unlike any other.

                If the shepherds had shown up at the stable two days earlier, they would have seen nothing but an empty manger.  And gone back to their sheep. Their daily lives would have remained the same. But by the urging of angels they go on Christmas Day, in search of peace and goodwill, in search of a Saviour, in search of the Word made flesh. They weren’t disappointed.

                “As the angel choir withdrew into heaven, the shepherds talked it over. ‘Let’s get over to Bethlehem as fast as we can and see for ourselves what God has revealed to us.’ They left, running, and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in the manger. Seeing was believing. They told everyone they met what the angels had said about this child. All who heard the shepherds were impressed.” (Luke 2: 15 -18, The Message Bible)

                Advent is about the anticipation of Christmas Day. Christmas Day is the actual experience of a Savior being born in David’s town, a Savior who is Messiah and Master.

                Until then, no pinching.

 Dale

Wednesday, December 11, 2024 Advent Three

“At that time there was a man in Jerusalem named Simeon. He was righteous and devout and was eagerly waiting for the Messiah to come and rescue Israel. The Holy Spirit was upon him.” (Luke 2: 25, New Living Translation)

                “I can’t wait until Christmas.”

                Waiting in an emergency room in the hospital is a little like waiting for Christmas in some respects. Yesterday, I was in our hospital’s ER for ten hours waiting for all the different stages of the visit to unfold. First, I waited to get registered. Then I waited to see the triage nurse. Then I waited for blood work. Then I waited to get called to the examination waiting room. Then I waited to get called to assess my problem. Then I waited for the first course of treatments. Then I waited while the first results of tests come in. Then I wait for the Dr. to prescribe further tests. Then I waited around some more. Then I waited for the Dr. to make his appearance to tell me what was the diagnosis and prescribe next steps, next drugs and next treatment. Small wonder that it took ten hours.

                The long and the short of it is that I have been diagnosed having diabetes. One might say that unlike Advent/Christmas this is an unhappy result of all the waiting. For sure, I am a little rattled at this unexpected development, but on the other hand I now know why I have been feeling so crummy lately and now I will have medications and treatments which will help me begin to get better.  That’s worth the wait.

                Like ER visits, Advent waiting is also a process. We don’t get to Christmas without that process. The Jews of Jesus’ times had been eagerly waiting for hundreds of years for the Messiah, waiting through suffering, foreign oppression, at the ends of the civilized world. It must have seemed indeterminable.

                For us, whether we like it or not, our eager waiting is marked by four Sundays of Advent, each very important in getting to Christmas.  Hope. Peace. Joy. Love. Each of those characteristics speaks to each one of us in different ways depending on what “ails” us or what may be separating us from God, or what may be hindering us from feeling the Christmas Spirit. Slowly we move through Advent, step by step, gathering the information and evidence that will eventually reveal the Good News of Jesus Christ and that we have Someone who is on our side through thick and thin.

                Waiting is hard. It challenges us to be patient, faithful, trusting and perseverant. We hope that there will be a happy ending at the end of the waiting. Often there is. But sometimes the happy ending is wrapped up in some new, challenging circumstances and we will need to seek the blessing inside the problem. We will need to grasp the hand of God and be utterly amazed that our salvations rests in a manger in Bethlehem. This is what we have been waiting for?  A baby in a manger? Seems preposterous!

                But wait! There is for more to this story than Bethlehem. We wait again for this child to grow into his role as the Messiah and fulfill God’s work on the Cross and through his Resurrection. Perhaps, we can say that Advent is but the beginning of growing into faith. It initiates the long process of what it is means to follow Jesus Christ, from birth to death. Learning. Growing, Experiencing. Accepting.  Sharing. Enduring. Persevering.  But in the end, we achieve the prize of the upward calling.

                “Wait patiently for the Lord. Be brave and courageous. Yes, wait patiently for the Lord.” (Psalm 27:14)

                Christmas is there, waiting for us.

 Dale

Wednesday, December 4, 2024 – Advent Two

Gabriel appeared to her and said, “Greetings, favored woman! The Lord is with you! ” Confused and disturbed, Mary tried to think what the angel could mean. 30 “Don’t be afraid, Mary,” the angel told her, “for you have found favor with God! (Luke 1: 28 -29, New Living Translation)

                Batteries not included.

                There is nothing worse than for a child to open up a Christmas present which is a toy that needs batteries. But the package informs us that batteries are not included. Susan is very good at assuring that batteries are sent along with the gift, but I’m sure there have been times when we have been caught without. So the hunt begins. We check the junk drawer. There is every battery known to humankind but the right size. Then we start pillaging other devices for their batteries like the TV remote, shavers, other toys in hopes we find the much-needed battery. Worse come to worse, we hope that the local convenience store might have what we need and isn’t closed on Christmas Day. Ah, the day is saved after all!

                Mary begins her Christmas story without the necessary batteries. She is confused and disturbed by the angel’s words. A bit later, she even asks, “How all this can be?” She is being offered a tremendous gift but, at first, she lacks the understanding which is needed for a full appreciation of the moment. She was not prepared for the angel’s message. She was missing the essential spiritual energy boost to comprehend the import of what was happening to her.

                The angel supplied the battery, so to speak: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.” Then it dawned upon Mary. It clicked. Her Christmas took on life. “I am the Lord’s servant. May everything you have said about me come true.”

                There may be times when any of us come into the Advent season “confused and disturbed.” We can’t find the Christmas spirit.  We don’t feel that we have the energy to do everything which needs to be done before Christmas day. There is enough stuff going on in our lives already that Christmas itself seems daunting and even somewhat overwhelming to some extent. Our get-up-and-go has got-up-and-went. We might ask ourselves, and it is OK if we do, what is Christmas really all about. Is the fuss worth it? How can this be?

                It is then I hope and pray that the Holy Spirt calms our worries and helps us to appreciate the full meaning of the Christ Child. May the power of the Most High speak to our anxieties and lift the veil so that we find the momentum which leads to Christmas itself. Like Mary, we will stop our fretting and accept with peace and goodwill the Good News of Jesus’ Advent into our messy world. We will stop resisting Christmas and accept it with grace and humility. God will give us the power by which this Christmas and every Christmas is truly experienced.

                We may not see any angels on our doorsteps, but in the simple reading of all the Christmas stories, it is as if the angel is still speaking to us and telling us of the Good News which is ours today. “Don’t be afraid” the angel starts out saying to Mary. Indeed, Christmas is not something to dread or put off.  The Good News is for us in all its wonder. It speaks to us in our everyday world and experiences even when it seems hard to fit it in.  Its energy comes from the Love of God for us. Its vigour comes the from grace of God. Its vitality comes from the hope, the joy and peace God gives.

                “I also pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God’s power for us who believe him. This is the same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at God’s right hand in the heavenly realms.” (Ephesians 1: 19 20)

 

Dale

 Advent One (December 1)

“You also must be ready all the time, for the Son of Man will come when least expected.” (Matthew 24:44, (New Living Translation)

               “Some assembly required.”

                What parent, late on a Christmas Eve, has not read those ominous words?

                One Christmas Eve, Susan and I were trying to put together a doll house for Katie’s Christmas morning surprise. She was about six years old or so. Following the instructions as best we could we were making progress on the dining room table when who of all people showed but a bleary-eyed Katie, herself, wanting a glass of water. Talk about arriving when least expected. Somehow, she didn’t notice what we were doing and we got her back to bed with no harm done.

                Sometimes, it is a lot of assembly required, not just “some.” Don’t even get me started on decals which needed to be applied, usually in the smallest and most difficult of spaces. Parents can only hope that all the parts are there. And heaven help parents if the instructions don’t make a lot of sense, even if they are in English. I’d like a word with Santa who drops off toys with the warning label, “Some assembly required.”

                But as we prepare to celebrate Advent on Sunday, this warning label may make some sense from a faith perspective. It would be wonderful if Christmas would arrive all neatly bundled and everything ready and no assembly required. But to get the full import of what the Advent of the Christ Child, truly means we have some work to do to put it all together as the Day approaches.

                So, we read the same stories over and over again about Mary, Joseph, angels, shepherds and eventually the Magi. We hear fresh sermons and read fresh blogs helping to interpret this wondrous event. We sing the familiar carols, listen to beautiful choral music which celebrate that which is on the horizon. We clean, cook and decorate in the anticipation. We buy and wrap gifts for our loved ones. We put up the Creche which reminds us who this season is all about.

                All these pieces are important for a full Christmas. Our instructions, the Bible stories of Christmas, help us to understand how to connect Jesus to our lives and how to get to Christmas with our spirits intact and properly readied. We have to be prepared to put things in the proper priority and not get too far ahead of ourselves unless we slip up. Although Christmas doesn’t come unexpectedly, December 25 is a lock, for many of us it does seem to sneak up on us and come at us all of a sudden. But we need to take these four weeks of Advent and do those things which give meaning, which give us the hope, peace, joy and love that make Christmas shine in our heart and souls.

                Some assembly required. Our goal is to appreciate and understand that God so loved the world that he gave his only Son for us so that we will not perish but have everlasting life. That is a lot to unpack and figure out and make sense of. It should make us think about who we are, whose we are and how we are to manage the future. This Gift comes with instructions how to interweave our lives with the One has come into our world, the Word made flesh. Love others as I have loved you. That’s a big piece of the “puzzle” to fit into our Christian project. It doesn’t happen all by itself, automatically. One has to work at it, apply oneself, figure it out. Some assembly required.

                God is good. We have been given the next four weeks to put this Christmas all together. I pray and hope that you will manage.  Get ready – here comes the Christ Child.

Dale

Wednesday, November 20, 2024

“I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway. But if I do what I don’t want to do, I am not really the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it… Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Romans 7: 19 -20, 24 25, New Living Translation)

               I should become a luddite – someone who despises technology and would like to take a sledge hammer to my computer. I am so incompetent when it comes to technology. I use it, of course, each and every day. I couldn’t write this blog without it.  But my, oh my, when some sort, any sort, of glitch happens or things don’t go according to Hoyle, I am in very deep, troubled waters without a lifejacket.

                So, when my Facebook account failed me, I was a in a frantic pickle. Some of you may have noticed that my blogs weren’t making it on your Facebook since September 11. I was writing them and posting them each week but I didn’t realize that they were not going through until mid October. Yikes!  I tried several things on my end – to no avail.  That’s when I went down the rabbit hole – I should have known better.  I sent out frantic texts via Facebook to all and sundry about the problem. But my daughter, Katie, then informed me that my account had been hacked and an ad for adult “toys” (if you get my drift) had glommed on to my texts. Yikes had turned into egad and little fishes! It was all going from bad to worse. I was in panic as I couldn’t erase the foul message on my end. Finally, Katie took over my account from her place and erased the messages. We (well, really not me) have figured how to get the blogs posted on Facebook safely.

                My technological ineptitude illustrates Paul’s frustration with sin. The harder we try to get away from it, the worse it becomes. We get all tangled up in sin’s machinations. We think we are doing just fine and then sin throws a monkey wrench into our lives and the harder we try fix things, it just continues to be a spiral of compounding our mistakes and slip-ups.  We have fallen and can’t get up despite our best of intentions.  We say too much and offend even more. We offer help and just get in the way. We give advice that backfires. We make promises that we can’t or won’t keep. We think we are doing some good but our involvement becomes intrusive and unwelcome. We would like to do the right thing but the good gets tangled up in human affairs and agendas and blows up in our faces. Sin can make us do the wrong things even if we think it is for a good cause.

                But take heart!  Just as Katie came to my rescue, Paul reminds us that Jesus also comes to our rescue in our fight with sin and its consequences. He “fixes” our life’s accounts. Jesus forgives and redeems us.  Jesus rescues us from sin. We still have to confront sin every day of our lives, but we are not alone in this battle; we have a Saviour, someone who turns bad into good. We are not lost causes, ever incapable of doing good. Rather Jesus empowers the good that is in us and helps us to rise above our worst. “Don’t let evil conquer you, but conquer evil by doing good.” (Romans 12:21)

                Quite probably, I will never conquer my technological incompetence and will always need somebody’s help. Likewise, none of us can defeat the power of sin alone without God’s intervention, without God’s Love, patience, mercy and encouragement. “For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.” (Ephesians 2:20)

                When things are going screwy, and we have no answers to the problems we are facing, it is best to hand it all to God through Jesus Christ. It can only get better when we do.

 

Dale

 Wednesday, November 13, 2024

“Do you want to stand out? Then step down. Be a servant.” (Matthew 23:11, The Message Bible)

            Service with a smile – how hard can it be?

I am frustrated with the Canadian service industry in general. We have been trying and trying to hire various people to do some work around our house this Fall, both outdoors and indoors. We leave phone messages and get no call back. We get people who say they will come around and then don’t. Some phone weeks later. Some even suggest that we fix our problems ourselves i.e. the cable company. Susan is a trooper in her pursuit of the needed service calls, but it is often an irritating act of futility. I have recently tried to get more involved with our stalled, basement reconstruction. I phoned a company Friday; they promised to call back within 48hrs – we’re still waiting. To be fair, I phoned a local company; the man came within 20 minutes, figured out the problem and can start Monday. Isn’t that how it should work or am I being too picky?

Giving good service is a challenge. A lot of things can get in the way or become excuses or hold us back or are out of our expertise in some cases. But when we are called upon to be of service in any way, shape or form, we should try to give it our best effort.

Jesus told many a story about servants. He emphasized that they should always be ready to serve and it is a serious responsibility. “A faithful, sensible servant is one to whom the master can give the responsibility of managing his other household servants and feeding them.” (Matthew 24: 25, New Living Translation) The parable of the talents teaches us that we should double our efforts to produce good works. “Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let’s celebrate together!’” (Matthew 25:23) Although, some of us may be aghast that we now have more responsibilities. Yikes! Christian service is an act of loving humility. “But among you it will be different. Those who are the greatest among you should take the lowest rank, and the leader should be like a servant.” (Luke 22:26) Jesus is not just talking a good spirit of voluntarism but a dedicated duty of serving others in the name of Jesus.

Of course, translations have softened up the language by replacing the word ‘slave’ with ‘servant.’ Slavery has all the wrong connotations in our modern world and for good reason. Nobody wants to be a slave or be obliged to have to do anything against our will.  We might say that some people are slaves to their work, slaves to their ambitions, slaves to their reputations.  But nobody wants to be enslaved to serve another out of obligation and necessity.  We want to be free beings, make free choices, doing what we want when we want and how we want.

Yet Jesus uses the word slave or servant, if you prefer. In fact, Jesus portrays himself as a servant. He sets the example for us. “Anyone who wants to serve me must follow me, because my servants must be where I am. And the Father will honor anyone who serves me.” (John 12: 26) when Jesus stooped down and washed his disciples’’ feet, normally the work of servants, he gave us the perfect example of what Christian service means.

“And since I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash each other’s feet. I have given you an example to follow. Do as I have done to you.  I tell you the truth, slaves are not greater than their master. Nor is the messenger more important than the one who sends the message. Now that you know these things, God will bless you for doing them.” (John 13: 14 17)

                If we are slaves to fame, fortune and power, that is not going to work in the Kingdom of God. But if we truly follow in Jesus’ Way, then our destiny is found in the work of service in the world around us. There are certainly plenty of opportunities for us from om food banks to homeless shelters to church boards and committees, to hospital volunteers or driving cancer patients to their appointments to name but a few. I serve on the hospital’s Spiritual Care Advisory Committee and occasionally fill in for one the chaplains. I should do more.  

Whatever we do, we should do it in the Love and Name of Jesus. He expects us to call back, show up and do a good work.

            Brother, sister, let me serve you;
            let me be as Christ to you;
            pray that I may have the grace to
            let you be my servant too.

 Dale

Wednesday, November 6, 2024

“Or imagine a woman who has ten coins and loses one. Won’t she light a lamp and scour the house, looking in every nook and cranny until she finds it? And when she finds it you can be sure she’ll call her friends and neighbors: ‘Celebrate with me! I found my lost coin!’ Count on it—that’s the kind of party God’s angels throw every time one lost soul turns to God.” (Luke 15: 8 -10, The Message Bible)

                The lost shall be found.

                I read a story this week about a diver who found a 1965 McMaster University signet ring in the Barbados waters. (McMaster is also my alma mater.) To the diver’s good  graces, he wanted to return the ring to the original owner. All he had to go on were the initials etched inside the ring - FMP. But he contacted the university. They did a search and came up with only one possibility. Sure enough, the 1965 graduate had lost the ring in 1977 while wading in the waters with his son. They had looked for it but to no avail. Now, a diver had found it after digging down more than 30 cm, after his metal detector kept pinging that there was something in the sand.

                Will wonders never cease, eh?

                Losing something precious or, at least, meaningful is a frustrating disappointment. It panics me just misplacing my car keys or wallet or cell phone for even a few minutes. Susan once lost a small diamond pendant I had given her up at the cottage. We searched high and low, but couldn’t find it. Yet, a couple of years later, we accidently came upon it at the cottage.

                Therefore, I think just about any or all of us can identify with the woman who had lost one of her ten coins. This may be all she had to live by and even the loss of one coin was serious and problematic. Perhaps, she had a family to feed, a mortgage to pay, bills that were overdue to put a contemporary spin on it. With a diligent persistence and fierce determination, she turns the house upside down until she finds it. Then, she throws a party.

                But it doesn’t always have to be a loss of something material. We can lose heart. We can lose confidence. We can lose our reputations. We can lose our faith. We can lose our way. We can lose hope. And yes, we can lose family, friends and loves ones. Losses of these sorts may be overwhelming and devastating. How can we ever hope to recover and find joy again?

                One of the lessons of this parable is that we should never give up. Jesus once told another story about a woman who wouldn’t give up in seeking justice for herself. (Luke 18: 1 -8) He used the illustration to support his teaching that people should always pray and never give up. “Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere.” (Ephesians 6:18, New Living Translation)

                Another lesson is the assurance that God never gives up on us, even if we are ready to give up on ourselves.  “God’s love is meteoric, his loyalty astronomic, His purpose titanic, his verdicts oceanic. Yet in his largeness nothing gets lost; Not a man, not a mouse, slips through the cracks.”  (Psalm 36: 5 – 6, The Message Bible) The persistent, even stubborn, Love of God, is looking out for us and is relentlessly ready to welcome us back into his loving arms as surely as the prodigal son was welcomed back by his father, “'for this son of mine was dead and has now returned to life. He was lost, but now he is found.’ So the party began.” (Luke 15:24, NLT)

                Sometimes, we try very hard to hide from God and that is not quite the same as being lost, like Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. We are ashamed, naked in our humanity, feeling like we have done something which is unforgivable toward God or someone we love. Yet the principle is the same – God seeks us out and communes with us his concern, his discernment but also his unending Love.  It is far better to “face” God with all our sins and mistakes than hide from him. God is just going to find us anyway. “I can never escape from your Spirit!  I can never get away from your presence!” (Psalm 139: 8) But we need to believe that this is not a scary, judgmental thing, but a hopeful thing. Rather, “Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9)

                When we think we are buried in the silt and debris, God's Love pings and he looks diligently for us.

                So whether you are lost or are hiding, be assured that God has not given up on you. However God finds you, the band is warming up, the food is on the table, the party is set to go. Just waiting for the honoured guest – you! Won’t that be a wang-dang doodle!

 Dale