The Stupendous Stranger

Christopher Smart was an English poet who lived just before the American Revolution. He contributed regularly to a couple of popular magazines in London, but he was eventually locked away in a mental institution by his father-in-law for various reasons. Smart accumulated so many debts throughout his adult life that he was finally placed in a debtors’ prison, where he died of an illness at age 49.

I just learned about Christopher Smart because of a poem he wrote, entitled The Stupendous Stranger, which has been set to music. One of the choirs in which Tara and I sing will be performing this piece of music at an upcoming Christmas concert this month. The poem is rather short, just two verses long. I offer this to you as an Advent reflection:

Where is this stupendous stranger?
Gentle shepherd, now advise.
Lead me to my Master’s manger,
show me where my Savior lies.
O Most Mighty! O Most Holy!
Far beyond the seraph’s thought,
art thou then so weak and lowly
as unheeded prophets taught?

O the magnitude of meekness!
Worth from worth immortal sprung;
O the strength of infant weakness,
if eternal is so young!
God all bounteous, all creative,
whom no ills from good dissuade,
is incarnate, and a native
of the very world he made.

Sometimes the most powerful ideas are contained in just a few words. I fear that anything I write here might detract from the impact of Smart’s poem on my life – and, perhaps, on yours – so I will keep these comments brief.

Jesus is the stupendous stranger whom we meet as the baby in Bethlehem. The contrasts of this poem are remarkable: great and meek, strong and weak, eternal and young, creating and incarnate, strange and native. Jesus is all of these things.

How can we ask “What Child Is This?”, as the Christmas carol goes, when he is the very one who created Mary, the one on whose lap he is now sleeping?

How can we speak “sleep in heavenly peace,” as the Christmas carol goes, when this tender and mild infant is the immensely powerful God of all creation?

How can we sing “welcome to our world,” as the recent song by Chris Rice goes, when this child is not really a stranger to this world at all?

Perhaps we are the strangers whom God graciously invites to approach his manger. Perhaps we are the visitors who get to meet someone who is so unlike ourselves (immortal, strong, creator, master) yet who is very much like us (enfleshed, weak, vulnerable, native). Perhaps we are the gentle shepherds who are called to escort others to the manger, to the cross, to the tomb, to the Table.

Perhaps we are simply those who read Christopher Smart’s words and pause in awe and thanksgiving. The Stranger is now native. The Creator is among us. The Baby is eternal. The Weak is our Strength.

Pastor David

Jesus’s World: The Tension

This Advent, as we approach Christmas Day, we will be studying the world of Jesus to see just how dramatic his entrance into that world really was. The lessons we discover along the way will shape how we look at our world, as well. Listen in as Pastor David preaches on Isaiah 64:1-12 and the tension that filled Jesus’s world.

Listen now!

Getting Down to God

This season, Tara and I are preparing to sing several musical selections with the Midland Chorale at our annual “Holiday Extravaganza” at the Center for the Arts. One of the songs we are practicing is called “Christmas on Broadway.” This is a medley of holiday tunes from different Broadway shows through the years: “It’s Beginning to Look Like Christmas,” “My Favorite Things,” that kind of music.

The final tune in this medley is called “God Bless Us Everyone,” from the musical version of Charles Dickens’s “A Christmas Carol.”  The lyrics, written by Lynn Ahrens, are simple yet meaningful:

In your heart there’s a light as bright as a star in heaven.
Let it shine through the night, and God bless us, everyone.
‘Til each child is fed, ’til all men are free, ’til the world becomes a family…
Star by star up above, and kindness by human kindness,
Light this world with your love, and God bless us, everyone.

These words alone are worth pondering: the tasks of feeding each child, freeing each person, and counting stars are seemingly endless tasks. But global problems must be approached one person at a time, because each life that is changed is worth the investment.

Last Monday, we ran into an interesting musical problem while rehearsing this tune.  When we sing the line “and God bless us, everyone,” there is a big leap downward from “and” to “God.” Some of the singers in our choir were struggling with this jump downward, so our director paused and said, “it sounds like some of you are having trouble getting down to ‘God.'” Then he looked at me and said, “Getting Down to God would make a good sermon title!”

A lot could be said about “getting down to God.” Is God somehow lower than us? Do we try to make God too complicated, when really God should be simpler than we make him? Are we guilty of thinking more highly of ourselves than we ought?

But think about this: “getting down” to a lower note, vocally speaking, means reducing the frequency of the pitch being produced by your voice. In terms of sound waves, lower frequency means the waves somehow slow down (technically, the speed of sound doesn’t change; the period of a sound wave gets longer as the frequency drops). “Getting down” to a lower note means slowing down, taking more time, as if the sound waves are paying more attention to the world around them.

As Jesus was on his way, the crowds almost crushed him. And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years, but no one could heal her. She came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak, and immediately her bleeding stopped. “Who touched me?”Jesus asked. (Luke 8:42b-45a NIV)

Jesus slowed down and paid attention to those around him, even though he was being crushed by the crowds. While on his way to another (life and death!) ministry situation, Jesus paused to have a conversation with a woman who trusted him for her healing. (Read the whole story in Luke 8:40-56.)

What if “Getting Down to God” means moving slowly through our world, like Jesus did?  What if it means paying attention to those in need around us and doing what we can to alleviate suffering, to raise quality of life, to bring redemption and healing in the name of Christ?

‘Til each child is fed, ’til all men are free, ’til the world becomes a family…

Tips for Holiday Giving

‘Tis the season to be generous! Of course, as Christians and as Americans, we should always be generous.  For some reason, though, the holidays of Thanksgiving and Christmas (and the onset of cold weather) make us especially thankful for what we have – and concerned for those who are struggling.

In this month’s Reader’s Digest, I ran across an article that gives some great ideas about how and what to give this season.  The following twelve tips are summarized from this article, originally written by Deb Martinson on xojane.com:

1. Do not give anything you would not want to eat. Odds are that no one else wants to eat it, either.

2. Don’t give stupid things. Some food is just too horrible to wish on anyone else; throw it out instead.

3. Consider giving food that can be eaten without cooking. Even living indoors, people have a hard time cooking if their landlord won’t fix the broken stove or the power company just shut off the electricity again. Think granola bars, cheese and cracker packages, spam, tuna, peanut butter, dry milk — anything you’d take on a long hike.

4. Don’t give perishable items. Also, leave food in the original packaging. If it needs to be portioned out, volunteers at the food bank will take care of it.

5. Think about people with special dietary needs. Clear labeling will help food bank workers get the right food to the right clients.

6. Make it easy to get at. Aseptic packaging and pouches are better than pull-top cans are better than traditional cans. Avoid glass jars, as they may break during processing.

7. Choose things that don’t require elaborate preparation. A boxed cake that says “just add water” is much better than one that wants milk, eggs, vegetable oil, and whatever else it can think of.

8. Keep it simple. Exotic foods are likely to be tossed and they take up space that could go to things people will actually eat.

9. Ask what’s needed. The volunteers at the food bank know what’s on the shelves and how far it will go. Your local food bank probably needs things you’d never think to give them. Ask.

10. Check your grocery store. Many work with local food pantries to assemble bags of food you can buy and donate for 5 or 10 bucks. It’s a really easy way to give.

11. Be nice. Try to include at least one item you’d choose as a treat for your kids. Someone else’s kids will love you.

12. Consider donating cash. Large organizations can get way better deals on food than you can; with ten dollars, Feeding America can provide 90 meals to hungry people. You can give them money here.

Christ Our Brother

This Sunday was the fifth day of Christmas, a season which lasts twelve days and extends all the way to Epiphany, the next holiday in the church calendar.  On this day, Pastor David highlights “five golden rings” from Hebrews 2:10-18, a passage that explains the connection between Jesus’s birth and death.  Listen in to this message, and allow the word of God to transform your life!

Listen now!

Veni, Veni Emmanuel

This Christmas Eve, Pastor David led us in a reflection on an ancient Christian hymn, “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel,” which has lyrics that date back to at least the 9th Century.  The seven stanzas of this hymn contain a powerful message that you won’t want to miss.  Listen in to this message and celebrate the great truth that Jesus Christ is indeed here with us – and that he will be here again soon!

Listen now!

You can read the Latin and English lyrics by downloading this PDF file, which shows the back side of tonight’s order of worship:  VeniVeni.pdf

Sing Lullaby

But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. (Luke 2:19 NIV)

What if Mary, the mother of Jesus, had known the entire course of her son’s life at the moment of his birth?  What if she knew that his life and ministry would spark a religious conflict in Jerusalem resulting in his execution?  What if she could grasp the prophetess Anna’s words, “and a sword will pierce your own soul too” (Luke 2:35b NIV)?  What if she could see the glory of Jesus’s resurrection, the promise of eternal life, even as he lay in her arms as a newborn?

Continue reading →

Thank you!

This is, perhaps, a bit belated, but I want to express my heartfelt thanks to all of you in the congregation for your kind outpouring of gifts, cards, chocolates (especially those!), and warm wishes during the recent Christmas season.  It is an honor to serve as your pastor, and Tara and I appreciated reading each card, reflecting on each family, and giving thanks for such a group of people with whom we have the privilege of working.  So thank you, one and all, for your many thoughtful gifts in the past month or so.

photo by visualpanic
photo by visualpanic

The letter known as James, written so many years ago, communicates relevant truths about gift-giving that can be useful for all of us in such a time as this.  In the early verses of this short letter, the author encourages Christians to remain faithful to the Lord even in times of testing.  Of course, the earliest Christians – along with some Christians in certain parts of today’s world – faced much more serious persecutions and trials than we experience in contemporary Western culture.  Yet the first gift that James mentions as being worthy of requesting from God is the same gift for which King Solomon yearned in the Old Testament days:  the gift of wisdom.  (See James 1:5.)

Oh, that we might all be wise in our living!  I ask the Lord frequently for wisdom in my service as your pastor; I hope that you ask God for wisdom frequently in your daily vocations, as well.  As generously as Mt. Haley showered Tara and me with Christmas gifts and cards last month, so much more generously will our God shower wisdom on those who ask him for it sincerely and in faith.

For as James teaches us, “All generous giving and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or the slightest hint of change” (James 1:17 NET).  How comforting to know that God’s character never changes:  that he is always generous, giving, and forgiving; that he is steadfast, consistent, and just.  The new life he has planted in us through Jesus Christ (see James 1:18) is perhaps the greatest gift God has given us, although it requires (and inspires) us to strive toward holiness and righteousness on an everyday basis.

God’s gift of life-changing wisdom causes the faithful to desire to live differently in ways that please the Giver.  In the same way, those who receive gifts from fellow human beings strive to honor their relationships so that the gifts do not fall empty and become meaningless.  Have you ever received a gift from someone and then worked diligently to strengthen that relationship because of that gift?  So should it be with our relationship with the Lord, in response to his gift of wisdom.

And so it will be in my relationship with you as Pastor of Mt. Haley Church of God.  In the new year, I pledge to renew my efforts to lead this congregation in ways that please God, the giver of all good and perfect gifts.  To God be the glory in 2013!

–Pastor David

 

A Pure Glass of Water

I was visited by two Jehovah’s Witnesses at the church this afternoon.  One of these two ladies has visited me several times this year, each time with a different companion.  I generally enjoy spending time with them, although I wonder why they visit me (will I convert? probably not!) and why I often feel on the defensive when they visit (do I have anything to fear? no!).

Jehovah’s Witnesses express faith in Jesus Christ, believe in his death for the atonement of sins, and generally try to please God with how they live.  (As a side note, they do not talk much about Jesus’s resurrection.  They say, quietly, that “God resurrected Jesus, but not as a human.”  This is an unorthodox and non-biblical belief.  If Jesus was not raised to life again as a real human being, then his power over sin and death is greatly diminished.  In my understanding, the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ mistaken beliefs about Jesus are, in part, what make them non-Christians.)

Yet the reason for today’s visit was to discuss the meaning of Christmas and how “pagan” (to use my friend’s word) many of our Christmas celebrations are.  She said that it is more important for God’s followers to live in ways that please him all year long rather than simply to remember Jesus for one day (or one season) of the year.  She said that true Christians should not celebrate Christmas at all because of its pagan origins – which is a standard Jehovah’s Witness belief.

photo by blmurch

To illustrate her beliefs about Christmas, she had me imagine a glass of pure water.  If you just add a little bit of cyanide or other poison to the water, it may still look like water – and it may not kill you.  Eventually, though, if you keep adding poison to the water, it will be deadly to someone who drinks it.  It’s best to stick with the pure water.  My friend said this is what “so-called Christians” have done with the Christmas season, especially by adding so many commercial and marketing and gift-giving events to the month of December.

Friends, this is exactly what these visitors from the Jehovah’s Witnesses have done:  they have gotten used to a certain amount of “poison” in their water.  Each time my friend visits, I am given another piece of literature from the Watchtower organization.  (I enjoy building up a library of works from all sorts of religions, such as Islam, Mormonism, the Witnesses, etc.)  Jehovah’s Witnesses must adhere to everything the Bible says – this they claim readily – as well as everything the Watchtower organization says, which often dictates how people should interpret the Bible.  You cannot disagree with anything found in these publications of the Jehovah’s Witnesses if you want to remain in good fellowship with that group.  And you must “work out your salvation” by going from door to door in order to spread the message of the kingdom of God – and, incidentally, to spread the Watchtower’s literature.

How much poison can a person get used to?  How many good works must a person do to please God?

As for us, “the Bible is our rule of faith, and Christ alone is Lord.”  All other resources outside the Bible can be helpful or harmful.  We are free to study the Bible, to question it, to test it, to doubt it, to live according to it.  But we must constantly be on the lookout for modifications to true biblical faith that put, in this case, too much emphasis on our own works for righteousness and too much emphasis on believing everything a human leader or organization says.

I don’t think my Jehovah’s Witness friend realized that her illustration applies perfectly to her very own life.  And that makes me sad.

–Pastor David

Already and Not Yet

As people of faith in Christ Jesus, we celebrate this current season with special fervor and religious anticipation.  The Christmas season, while maddeningly materialistic and terribly self-centered in our American culture, still holds special meaning for Christians.  We want to encourage people in our community to “keep Christ in Christmas” – yet at the same time, we should remember why we celebrate this season and what it means for the faith.

photo by Per Ola Wiberg

We are people who believe in an “already and not yet” kingdom of God.  God’s reign over the universe broke into this world in personal, tangible form through the person of Jesus Christ.  This was the content of Jesus’s preaching (see Mark 1:14-15), and this was the reason that Jesus was born into the world (see John 18:33-38).  He reigns in our hearts in the present tense.  He conquers sin in our lives in the present tense.  His rule is already secure because of his nature, his work on the cross, and his empty tomb.

And yet the kingdom of God is not yet completely fulfilled.  We await Jesus’s return at the end of the age, at which point his kingdom will come in its completeness and perfection (see Revelation 22:6-21).  There will be no more suffering in the future tense.  The presence of God will fill us with heavenly light in the future tense.  We yearn for Christ to return even within our lifetimes so that we might witness his reign being made complete.

We are “already and not yet” Christians.  We believe in an “already and not yet” Lord, one who has already atoned for our sins but has not yet brought about the ultimate fullness of his kingdom.

This ties into our observance of the season of Advent, the season in which we celebrate the “coming” (“advent”) of Jesus Christ:  both his birth into the world and his second coming at the end of the age.  We are “already and not yet” Christians who celebrate an “already and not yet” Lord!

We tend to focus on the past tense story of Christmas, the birth of Jesus as a baby in Bethlehem, during this season.  Let us always remember, though, that our faith points us toward a future tense story of Advent, which is the return of Christ in final victory and triumph.  Even as Jesus came to earth in the form of a tiny, humble baby, so he will return again as ultimate, undisputed, unmistakable King.

Who needs Black Friday sales, Cyber Monday advertisements, nonstop secular Christmas songs, and stereotypical American indebtedness to celebrate this season?  Let’s celebrate Advent, in word and in deed, as people of true faith.

–Pastor David