Why Christmas?

There are many joys to being in friendship with people from other countries.  We talk about customs, fashions, family routines and EVERY other subject.  But one of my favorite times is when foreign visitors ask questions that are both completely simple and completely complex.  These type questions absolutely stump me.  Let me give a few examples:
•Ms. Kathy, why do people in the US put trees in their homes during the Christmas season?  And what do those round objects on your front door symbolize?
•Ms. Kathy, I enjoyed your church environment but why is everyone so sad?
•Ms. Kathy, could you explain the Holy Spirit?

These questions are real examples.  But today, I want to ponder this question: Why do you celebrate Christmas?  What's all the fuss about? Why was/is there so much excitement about a baby being born?

Why indeed?  Ellsworth Kallas, a favorite author of mine, calls our celebration of Christmas the Christmas scandal.  He contends, and I agree, that our need for Christmas started in the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve and their desire to choose themselves over God.  And ever since that one selfish act mankind has been trying to find his way back to the God of creation.

Trying to find our way back to God...what?  What if you realize that all your candle lighting, all your church going, all your good deeds will never be enough?  What if, on your journey to get back to God you realize the task is impossible.  What about the emptiness inside each of us, an emptiness just waiting to be filled?  And, what if we lived in the time before Jesus was born into the world?  Can you imagine the forlornness they must have felt?  Can you imagine the waiting for the gift that would reconcile people to God?  People had waited for hundreds of years for the promised Messiah.  And finally, on one lonely night... a baby was born.  And suddenly real Light had appeared in our world.  New hope, new life had come to earth. That is the scandal of Christmas.  Our self-centered natures, or sin, caused the miracle of Christmas Day...He came to save us.  No wonder the song, "Come Thou Long Expected Jesus," resonates in so many Advent church services.  For many, many people He was the long awaited and expected Savior.

So how about us?  Is the Christ Baby our long expected Savior?  Or is He just a baby in a manger, is he just the 'old Christmas story?"  I want my spirit to be stirred by the anticipation and excitement of finally receiving a precious gift.  I want my spirit to rejoice that Light has come to my completely darkened, blind eyes.  I want this Christmas to be scandalously glorious.  For it is my sin that He came to save me from and to lead me back to my true place in God.  Now THAT'S a Christmas gift!

I've often wondered why new Chinese Christians are SO dedicated to their faith.  They take nothing for granted, they walk a faith walk that inspires me.  Why? I wonder.  And the answer I believe, is that before they learned of this Jesus they lived without any hope, without any spiritual awareness and found themselves surrounded by darkness.  Perhaps they had rituals and had heard fairy tales of a god but these notions seemed senseless and incomplete.  But once they met the Light of Christ they ran to greet Him.  And now, their lives reflect that Light.  And they now lived amazed at this Christmas gift.  For when all you know is darkness, Light shines oh, so bright.

Advent is time for me to realize just what Christmas Day means.  I mean, do we recognize why Jesus  left heaven and came to this broken place we call Earth?  I do not want to forget my role in this story,  my selfishness and my self-centered choices that make Christmas needed. Without this Christmas birth, we would still be waiting to somehow get out of our hopeless lives.

Christmas happens for each of us!  "Come, Thou long expected Jesus / Born to set Thy people free; / From our fears and sins release us, / Let us find our rest in Thee.… "

There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light. The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. John 1:6-9

Advent Begins!

The day has dawned and Advent 2016 begins on Sunday, November 27.  What is Advent?  Advent is the "period beginning four Sundays before Christmas, observed in commemoration of the coming of Christ into the world."

Scott Elliff and I are again co-writing an Advent Devotional series.  We will post every Sunday and perhaps some surprise days as well.  We hope you will read our writings and ponder with us.  We are so happy to share this journey with you....again.  Our direct link is below. Until tomorrow....

Advent again.blogspot.com

Christmas Day Delight

Your job is done!  The presents have been unwrapped and hopefully the smiles abound.  All those precisely chosen gifts have been given and received...yes, your job is done!  And as clean up looms and the grand Christmas meal awaits, let's pause just a second to reflect on what YOU received.  Perhaps you received a long-awaited gift or another shirt you really didn't need or a scarf that you will never wear but I bet you agree that the gift-receiving wasn't about any specific item.  Was it about watching others open their gifts?  Was it seeing the great surprise in someones face?  Was it seeing and hearing the squeals of the children as they delighted in their treasures?  Is that what you received?

Let's take one last look at our Advent scripture, Mark 12:29-31: "The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’  The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”
But furthermore, The Message translates the verse like this:
 The Lord your God is one; so love the Lord God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence and energy.’ And here is the second: ‘Love others as well as you love yourself.’ There is no other commandment that ranks with these.”

We've pondered these verses for one month and eight writings.  I'll be honest and tell you that I'm still struggling to apply these verses in my life.  I'm struggling to even understand the words and how to love in such a manner.  The Message translation helps me a bit but still makes this verse very difficult to apply today and every day.  Love with all my heart-passion, with all my soul-prayer, with all my mind-intelligence and with all my strength-energy.  And if that is not enough of a challenge, love God, my neighbor and myself in this way.  Whew!

So on this Christmas Eve as I sat in my home struggling to write and trying to compose some words that might make sense to someone else, I received a gift.  Far away from the Christmas tree and the tinsel but in the quietness of my writing room.  Just a whisper of a thought that maybe everyone else has already realized but me...these verses that we have pondered for weeks were perhaps not only written as a commandment but as a description and reflection of God's nature.  It is how He loves....me, you, and everyone!  The King, the Saviour, the I AM loves me and you with all His heart, with all His soul, with all His mind and with all His strength.

And He comes to teach me that as I attempt to live and love in this same way it is only in reflection of Him for we are made in His image.  And in loving people and myself in this way, the world will see HIM.  God never asks us more that He's already given and shown.  For His very essence is love....not rules, not commands, not condemnation, not arrogance, not selfishness but all love with His whole being.  And somehow the shepherds who visited Jesus in the manger saw this love, knew this love, recognized this love and that's why they felt compelled to "spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed.."

What a gift we have received today...the delight He feels is seeing the joy on our faces.  His delight is seeing the completeness that His gift gives us.  It was the perfect Gift picked out just for us.  I love a surprise!  Can you see it?  Do you recognize the gift?  Are we compelled to spread the word? Who can we tell what we have received this Christmas Day?

Kathy Hayes
Christmas Day 2015

Go Ahead and Give Yourself a Gift This Christmas

Long, long ago...in a galaxy far, far away...many people waited until the very last minute to purchase gifts for their friends and family for Christmas.  They would hustle, bustle, curse, gesticulate and palpitate all day long on Christmas Eve, trudging from store to store, struggling to get their eleventh hour shopping done.

Nowadays, the people just curse, gesticulate, and palpitate as they wait all day long on Christmas Eve, in hope the UPS driver will come before midnight to deliver all the items they ordered online!

Oh, how we fixate on getting just the right gift for the right person:  something personal, unique, memorable.  We look expectantly to that moment when the present is opened to see the expression on his face, to hear the excitement in her response!  Yes, it is indeed better to give than to receive.

But are you remembering to give yourself a gift this Christmas?

It's neither selfish nor tacky to do so.  In fact, one might contend that it's essential to give to yourself before giving to anyone else.

"Love the Lord God with all your heart and mind and soul and strength...and love your neighbor as yourself."  For four weeks, we have explored these words of Jesus Christ in response to questioning from the religious establishment of his day.  These words, he said, represented the greatest of commandments.

"Love your neighbor as yourself."  Simple, yet profound.  We could spend four weeks, four months, four years or a lifetime just exploring what those five words meant then and mean now, and experience revelations anew each time we read them.

Paul, whose conversion experience led him to be a "Jesus-follower" after Christ's death, talked a great deal about love.  He painted a very clear picture for the contentious church members of Corinth, lest they be confused.  Love, he said, is certain things and is not others.  Love is patient, kind, protective, trusting, hopeful, and persevering, Love is not selfish, quick to anger, boastful, envious, prideful, or about keeping a long and permanent list of all the mistakes one has made.

If we make good use of Paul's listing, we have a guide for how we are to be with other people.  But if we are to take Jesus' commandment in full measure, then it appears we have to start with ourselves first, to establish a model for how we are to treat one another.

Am I patient with myself, or do I speak against myself in frustration when I don't get things right the first time?  Do I protect myself from things or situations that may harm me, or am I so unguarded as to place myself in constant physical or spiritual danger?  Am I kind to my spirit and my body, or am I self-abusive?  Am I prone to give up on myself rather than seeing myself through the long-haul?

If I cannot show myself the consideration of love, how can I do so for others?  Indeed, the way I treat myself--for better or worse--will show up in how I treat others.  If I am to follow Jesus' commandment, I better take a long, hard look at how I am treating myself...for that is precisely what others will get from me.

"I can be kind to myself and, therefore, to others," I might say.  "Okay, I will work on patience with myself and the people I love." That might be an easy place to start.  Then we hit the "biggie" in Paul's list of love words, right there in I Corinthians 13:5.

"Love keeps no record of wrongs."  Darn it, there's that pesky "forgiveness" thing.  "Now he's gone to meddling," we think.

Heeding both Jesus' and Paul's words about love, the message is, "Keep no record of the mistakes of others as you keep no record of the mistakes you have made," It would appear that forgiveness of others should be modeled after the way we forgive ourselves.

Oh, Lord, if only it were as simple as it sounds!  Some of us are good not only at keeping the list of all  the mistakes we've made, we've become proficient at flogging ourselves on account of them.  We are accustomed to the self-inflicted scars.  We practically take out ads to remind ourselves and everyone else of how we can't forgive ourselves for our past mistakes.

And then we fail to forgive others, just as we fail so capably to forgive ourselves.

This Christmas Eve, once you're done with the hustle and bustle and the waiting and watching, find that quiet space and time when you can give yourself the greatest gift this Christmas, the gift of forgiveness.  Then watch how much easier it is to do the same for others, just as Christ commanded.

I imagine he would be most pleased with such a personal, unique, and memorable birthday remembrance.

Have yourself a merry little Christmas...may all your days be merry and bright...and may love rule each and every one of them!

Scott Elliff
Christmas Eve, 2015

All Strength Rerouted

The Internet screams "ONLY 5 DAYS LEFT"!  It makes me nervous to read those words even though I'm relatively ready for Christmas!  And there are other comments that I'm hearing: "I really don't like Christmas," "Pray for our family gathering, it's always so painful and stressful," "I'm so excited Christmas will soon be over so I can get back to my normal, boring life," and lastly..."it takes all my strength to get through these days".

Let's be reminded of our verse for this Advent season....Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’Mark 12:30

What is all our strength?  Everything I've got?  Everything I am emotionally, spiritually and physically?  Is 'all strength' all my effort, all my time, all my thoughts, all...?  How does one 'do' all strength?  How do I achieve that in my day-to-day life?

Well,...the shepherds in the Christmas story seem to give us a bit of an example.

15 When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”
16 So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. 17 When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, 18 and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. 19 But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. 20The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child.  The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.  This resonates with me because in reading these words, with the emphasis marked, I realize that I too am a shepherd.  Aren't you?  Here we find ourselves in our daily work, going about our tasks in routine, matter-of-fact manner, just living our lives.  The shepherds were not the top of society but very common, average.  And aren't we?  Most of us find our very blessed and beautiful lives are actually average, common not world-changing lives...just simple, everyday lives.

And like the shepherds we too 'have been told' about this Child.  We've heard and we've seen.  If fact we've been told and told and told this Baby story for oh, so long.  The shepherds found the news life-changing, unbelievable, throw-down-your-staff-leave-the-sheep-and-run-to-Bethlehem unbelievable! That took all strength.

So this Baby news for me...has it become just ho hum news?  Michael Yaconnli, in his book, Dangerous Wonder, says this, "We have lost our astonishment.  The Good News is no longer good news, it is okay news."  Just OK news...is that what I want to base my life on?  Or am I traveling on this journey to run with all my strength to hear, see, live full out?  What if all strength actually means fully glorifying and praising Him just as we've been told?

My day dawned early.  I was young and so naive.  I showered before we left for the hospital.  I wanted to be fresh!  It was 2:00 a.m.  And the precious baby boy was born at 6:00 a.m.  I'll never forget the moment.  He was so very beautiful.  His dad and I loved each other deeply and were so content in our world of two until he came into the room and then we were three...and oh, so perfect.  When my tears finally stopped and I could see him through clear eyes I never wanted to let go.  And I wanted to find everyone in the hospital and show them this beautiful boy.  I wanted to call everyone I knew and tell them of the news, It's a boy and his name is...

Do I feel the same today about the Baby boy coming on Christmas Day?  Am I ready to go all strength and glorify and praise Him just as we've been told?  He is coming!  It's a Boy and his name is JESUS.  He has come to get us....that is why it is a Merry Christmas.  The King of Heaven comes down to get us....is there any way we cannot run, sing, glorify and praise?  This is much, much more that just okay news...are you running yet?

Loving Love

This week, I'm going to break with the flow of reflecting on the experiences of our Nativity characters (forgive me, Kathy!).  I will circle back to the shepherds next week right before we wrap up with a joyous birth.  Today, I'm trying so sort out my thoughts about...well...thinking.  And I hope I don't over-think it!

Bet you didn't know this about your brain:

• Your brain is the fattest organ in your body, consisting of about 60% fat.  So, when someone calls you a "fathead," they simply may be telling you the truth.
• There are no pain receptors in your brain, so your brain can feel no pain.  Explain a headache to me, then?!?
• Your brain has over 100,000 miles of blood vessels.  Additionally, your brain has over 100 billion neurons, and each neuron has from 1,000 to 10,000 synapses to aid in the transmission of messages across and through your brain.  That's a lot of zeroes!
• When you were a baby, your brain was about about the same size it is now in your adulthood, giving you an excuse to think like a child from time to time!
• While you are awake, your brain produces 10 to 23 watts of power--enough to fire up a light bulb.  Tell that to the next person who calls you a "dim-wit!"
• Humans experience around 70,000 thoughts per day!

Indeed, the brain is the most fascinating of the many fascinating parts of our human body, the "control room" that makes many things work involuntarily, and it is the center of memory, problem-solving, and reason.  We make "sense" of the world with our minds, using the unique human capacity to reflect on on our memories from the past to understand the present and create a vision of the future.

"Love the Lord God with your whole...mind."

On the one hand, when one considers both the complexity of the human mind physiologically, coupled with the noise and clamor most of us experience at this time of year as the "voices in our heads" compete for our attention, it seems a big task to devote our entire minds to the task of loving God.

On the other hand, mindfully and intentionally directing our attention to what God would call us to do in any given situation is a gift no other being on the planet can claim.  Unlike the other animals with whom we share the planet, we do not operate entirely and "mindlessly" from instinct.   We have the singular, unique ability to use our memory, our knowledge, and our experiences together to reason the response to be taken in those situations.  All that we have learned up to this very moment in our lives can serve as a resource for living if we intend to pay attention.

John Wesley, the father of the Methodist movement in England in the 18th Century, advocated for a balanced approach to theological reflection.  Recognizing the singular gift of the mind, "Wesley's Quadrilateral" suggested that a balance of scripture, reason, tradition, and experience were essential in the Christian journey.  How are we to make scripture come alive in our individual lives if not through the power of the mind?

The scriptures say many things about the nature of who we are, who God is, and how we are related. One of the simplest, most elegant descriptions of God is found in John 4:8.  "The one who does not love does not know God, because God is love."

Who is God?  What is God?  God is love. Scripture has spoken.  God is Love; therefore, if it's not love, it's not God.

When Jesus spoke to the experts who demanded to know his thoughts on the greatest commandment, my reason, tradition, and experience tell me that he was saying, "It's simple.  You need to love love with all your heart, soul, mind and strength."

When I quiet my mind and reason out the insanity of the world in Advent 2015, I am able to discern examples of love and non-love (hatred? indifference? jealousy? impatience? unkindness?).  If it's not love, it's not God, it seems to me.  

We live in a very dangerous, scary world.  We see so many images of hatred in our 24/7 news cycle. There is political upheaval in the Middle East.  Terror abounds.  People are fleeing that terror by the millions.  Some have good intentions, others do not.  There is chaos...just as there was chaos and political upheaval in the time of Christ's birth.

In this insane world, my reasoning mind can lead me to protect myself and my family, to avoid danger, to choose the words I use and the actions I take.

But I am commanded, first, to love love, and therefore to not love non-love. In these days of preparation for the coming of Christ into the world, into our hearts, I am going to try to focus my intention and attention on that...to love love with my whole mind.

May God help me. 

What's On Your Mind?

What's on my mind is not too holy!  I confess that my mind is occupied with present buying,
present wrapping, food and more food, plans, parties and finances!  This is the fight I daily battle in this Christmas season.  But through the writings of the last two weeks I have been encouraged to love God with all my heart and all my soul and now this week with all my mind.  Our words have perhaps challenged some but they may have also hung soundless in the corners of our brains.  For truly, how do we love God in these ways?  And certainly, in this week how can we possibly love God with our minds?

Maybe its all about what we see and what choice we make?  Let's go to the Christmas story.  The shepherds were in the fields working.  Their day was just as the one before - hard, grueling, tiresome with little pay perhaps.  I would bet they had family, responsibilities and worried about many things.  As the story goes these shepherds suddenly experienced a visit from an angel who displayed the "Glory of the Lord" and the shepherds were terrified. (Luke 2:9-10).  You may recall that there was a reference to the Glory of the Lord in Moses' day and in fact, this Glory was so overwhelming that Moses was not allowed to even look directly at the Glory for he would surely die (Then Moses said, “Now show me your glory.”
And the Lord said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.” Exodus 33:18-20)

Was this the type of Glory the shepherds experienced?  Additionally, joining the one angel was a heavenly host of angels!  I don't really know how many angels appeared but if the one showed the Glory of the Lord I can only imagine what one plus a heavenly host would be like!  It was after this experience that the shepherds said to one another, "Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about."  Was this decision-making action TO GO an example of loving God with their whole mind?  For they made a decision, yes it would seem their hearts and souls had been stirred and their MIND took them to action.

Is my Christmas mind so stirred with God's glory in my life that I am making plans to love Him with my whole heart, soul and mind today?  Do I recognize his Glory as it shines all about me?  Or have I diminished His Glory to a to-do list full of unwanted and unneeded gifts?  For if I truly see and recall His appearance in my life....how can my mind have any choice but to run to Bethlehem?

I have a very dear friend who has recently moved back to her home in China.  While she was visiting the United States she learned about a spiritual world.  Never before in her life had she known that there was a Saviour born for her.  Never before in her life had she known His unconditional love and grace just for her.  But she met Him here and accepted His love.  In the few weeks leading up to her departure she began to express concern about her return and the lack of Christian fellowship available to her in China.  I expressed to her that our God was the God of the world not just the God of Alabama.  But oh, how easy for me to say as Bible-belt faith literally stands on every corner of our city.  And how different when you are one girl returning to a city of millions or one shepherd standing all alone in a field.  You've seen God but...will He show up in your normal life, that's the question your mind asks.

This week, I had a video call with my friend and one of the first things she shared was this story:
"While I was up feeding the baby, I thought I heard music playing from the apartment above me.  And the music seemed familiar.  I began to listen closely and finally could understand the music and recognized the sounds as Chinese christian worship songs.  I immediately alerted my husband so that he could listen too.  We were so excited and overwhelmed that we left our apartment and went to find this music.  I never thought I would hear such sounds in my apartment complex.  But Kathy, I am not alone.  He has gone before me.  He is here!"

She loved God with her heart and her soul and on this night she believed and loved with her mind.  She saw the Glory and her mind followed.

Through Bethlehem, He surely went and goes before us!  I want to remember His glory today and have my heart and soul and mind follow.