Week 2 - In Praise of Humility

Mary's Song - The Magnificat - is a praise from the interior of her soul for who God is, and what he has done.

Luke 1:46-49 (NIV)
⁴⁶ And Mary said: "My soul glorifies the Lord
⁴⁷ and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
⁴⁸ for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed,
⁴⁹ for the Mighty One has done great things for me-- holy is his name.

I think the nature of humility is best expressed in the words:  "the Mighty One has done great things for me..."
Humility is that recognition that where we are, and how we got there, are not merely a matter of "pulling up the bootstraps", but that God has worked in and through us and the benefits of that spill over into all areas of our lives.
Yet humility is not something that we go out looking for...it finds us in the places of worship, thanksgiving, reflection and praise.

Philippians 2:5-8 (NIV)
⁵ Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
⁶ Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
⁷ but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.
⁸ And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death-- even death on a cross!

Jesus came in humility...he took on a role of serving something other than his own interests,  his own rights, and his own stature.
Isaiah 42:1 (NIV)
¹ "Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him and he will bring justice to the nations.

It isn't an easy place to get to...our flesh rises up in defense of self-importance:  Matthew 20:25-28 (NIV) 
²⁵ Jesus called them together and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them.
²⁶ Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant,
²⁷ and whoever wants to be first must be your slave--
²⁸ just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."


In serving, there is a posture of humility - a renunciation of the self-importance of the flesh, and in humility we confess that something great has been done for us...and something great must be done for us if we hope to move along in life at all.

1 Peter 5:5-7 (NIV)
⁵  ...All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble."
⁶ Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.
⁷ Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

In Advent it is good to take inventory of our motives, our attitudes, our selfishness and those things that lead to a self-will that chooses life without thinking about God's will and word.


Luke 1:38 (NIV)
³⁸ "I am the Lord's servant," Mary answered. "May it be to me as you have said." Then the angel left her.
Mary was a young maiden when the angel Gabriel paid her a visit.  She heard the words of the angel as the word of God and she said "yes, I'll serve you."

We will not be asked to be the mother of His son; but perhaps God will ask that you make a meal;  visit someone; or write a letter; take time to have a conversation (preferably in person); or help someone in need.
If you can, do what you do without fanfare, without expectation - even anonymously if you can.  We are not serving each other...we are serving God.

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When God Reached Out

Luke 1:30-33 (NIV)
³⁰ But the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God.
³¹ You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus.
³² He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David,
³³ and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end." 

For many people Advent and Christmas to follow bring lots of "family" times.  I know that not everyone has a family to go back to - and I genuinely feel sorry for them.  Recently I was talking to a guy at the local YMCA and he told me that he was single and spent Thanksgiving Day alone...which he said "I've gotten used to it".  I couldn't help but feel sorry for him that he didn't have any family to go back to.
Yet sometimes people either go back to family reluctantly, or skip it altogether.  Family is just too hard to endure.  The old adage is true:  "You can pick your friends, you're stuck with your family."
Even Jesus went through this.
Mark 3:31-35 (NIV)
³¹ Then Jesus' mother and brothers arrived. Standing outside, they sent someone in to call him.
³² A crowd was sitting around him, and they told him, "Your mother and brothers are outside looking for you."
³³ "Who are my mother and my brothers?" he asked.
³⁴ Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, "Here are my mother and my brothers!
³⁵ Whoever does God's will is my brother and sister and mother." 

It must have been one of those very awkward moments when Jesus' family came - not because they believed in him, but frankly because they didn't and wanted to take him home and stop what he was doing.  They who grew up with Jesus couldn't see the Messiah - just the brother, son.  


Perhaps we're all guilty of "putting" our family members in boxes.  "They are always like this...or that".  "They will never change".  "Why do they have to be like that?"  And, on and on it goes.  We're not very good at allowing people who we've known for our entire life to become something different.  Yet that is the very heart of the Gospel - the change to newness of life.


2 Corinthians 5:17-21 (NIV)
¹⁷ Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!
¹⁸ All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation:
¹⁹ that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.
²⁰ We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God.
²¹ God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 

Here's a good Advent word:  Reconciled.
In the original Greek the word is katallasso - it means to "let loose", "To exchange".
The idea is that in Christ, each of us have become new creations...we're no longer defined by our past, but only by what lies before us.  God does not bring up the past, he does not "count our sins" because he is committed to reconciliation.  Now, we are ambassadors of that message.  We live as ones who personify Christ.  We are not righteous in our own selves; but in Christ we have received this new life...and so have others!
How can we live reconciled?  Christ does it to us by not "counting" the past sins...but instead treating us as "new".  It isn't easy to do always but it is possible.


Corrie Ten Boom was arrested, along with her entire family, by the Nazi's.  She and her family were all shipped off to a concentration camp, and then after the war, she alone returned.  The rest died at the hands of the Nazis.  In 1947 she was asked to speak in Holland at a church meeting - the topic was forgiveness.  She spoke eloquently about God's forgiveness for each of us, and the need to extend that to others.  Then when it was all over with a man came forward - a man she immediately recognized for he had been a Nazi guard at the Ravensbruck camp her family and she had gone to...the same camp they died in.  All of a sudden forgiveness was no longer just a good Christian idea, or concept...it was up close and personal.  She said,  
“Even as the angry vengeful thoughts boiled through me, I saw the sin of them. Jesus Christ had died for this man; was I going to ask for more? Lord Jesus, I prayed, forgive me and help me to forgive him....Jesus, I cannot forgive him. Give me your forgiveness....And so I discovered that it is not on our forgiveness any more than on our goodness that the world's healing hinges, but on His. When He tells us to love our enemies, He gives along with the command, the love itself.” 
― Corrie ten Boom, The Hiding Place

Advent is a season of knowing that God reached out when he could have justified keeping his distance.

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Carols and God Singing

There is something about music at Christmas that fills my whole being with peace and joy.   I don't mean the "cheesy" music of "Jingle bell rock" or "I saw Mommy kissing Santa Claus".  Unfortunately public places are much more likely to have that kind of music on and it doesn't lead me to that place of peace and joy, but rather to want to escape!
Still, there is lots of great music...old carols, beautiful orchestras and choirs, fantastic instrumental music to celebrate the season.  Over the years I've collected hundreds of great classical pieces of music - to the point that I can press play on my IPod and it will play for days on end without repeating.
I put on this music and it operates in the background.  A lot of the time I don't even know what is playing, but then once in a while I'll catch the sound out of the air and for that brief moment of time I'm caught back up in the message.

I love this verse from the prophet Zephaniah:
Zephaniah 3:17 (NIV)
¹⁷ The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing."

While I love the music around me, here's another music that is amazing to me.  I got to hold my brand new Granddaughter yesterday.  I held on to this tiny baby and smiled, and spoke to her, and then sang to her.  Not loud songs, but the gentle whispers of one who madly loves this child.
Do you think maybe that God's singing over us is this gentle whisper of one who madly loves?

We sing and make music because it comes from within...something is happening on the inside of us that needs to come out into the air and be declared:

Singing is a part of our faith and trust in God...
Psalm 5:11 (NIV)
¹¹ But let all who take refuge in you be glad; let them ever sing for joy. Spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may rejoice in you.

Singing is a declaration of who God is...
Psalm 68:4 (NIV)
⁴ Sing to God, sing praise to his name, extol him who rides on the clouds-- his name is the LORD-- and rejoice before him.

Singing is not circumstantial, but it is hopeful when all is not well...
Habakkuk 3:17-18 (NIV)
¹⁷ Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls,
¹⁸ yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior.

Singing is Mary when told she is to have a child...
Luke 1:46-47 (NIV)
⁴⁶ And Mary said: "My soul glorifies the Lord
⁴⁷ and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, 


Singing is not just on earth...it even comes from heaven.
Luke 2:8-14 (NIV)
⁸ And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night.
⁹ An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.
¹⁰ But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.
¹¹ Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.
¹² This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."
¹³ Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
¹⁴ "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."

AND then there is Zephaniah 3:17...and God sings.  Music captivates, declares, helps us connect our faith with the reality and truth we know.  When that moment comes today and you catch the sound of that carol, that hymn, that choir...stop and think about the mystery and majesty that is ours because Our God sings to us.

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Day 5 - Simplicity of the Backdoor

Luke 2:5-7 (NIV)
⁵ He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child.
⁶ While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born,
⁷ and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.




The scripture tells us that God's entrance into the world was not through any of the trappings of royalty, or wealth, or status of household.  Rather he chose a "nobody" girl and her "nobody" fiance to birth His son.  Jesus came "in the backdoor".  
It should be significant/noteworthy...worthy of meditation, that God sought the most humblest of ways to enter into humanity and begin his redemptive work.


"Simple Gifts" was written by a Shaker community in the mid 1800's.  The lyrics of this one-verse song:

'Tis the gift to be simple, 'tis the gift to be free

'Tis the gift to come down where we ought to be,

And when we find ourselves in the place just right,

'twill be in the valley of love and delight.

When true simplicity is gain'd,

To bow and to bend we shan't be asham'd,

To turn, turn will be our delight,

Till by turning, turning we come 'round right.

Scripture often uses the idea of "turning" to represent acts of humility, and even of repentance.  It's that idea of "re-orienting" ourselves to get back to the proper place.  
I wonder if they saw in simplicity the ability to bow, bend, turn - and in turning to keep orienting their lives towards humility and service of others?  The Apostle Paul wrote these words to the Philippians while in a Roman jail.



Philippians 2:1-8 (NIV)
¹ If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion,
² then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose.
³ Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.
⁴ Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.
⁵ Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
⁶ Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
⁷ but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.
⁸ And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death-- even death on a cross!




Advent can serve as "check" on our goals, ambitions, desires, motives - soul stuff - for the Christmas season.  There is something to be said for humble simplicity...there is something to be said for using the backdoor.

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Second Advent Waiting

With December just around the corner, parents find that for children the waiting for Christmas begins.  Waiting is sometimes so very hard to do.  I know I hate to wait...and I don't mean a little.

I have heard that if you live to be seventy years old, you will spend three years of your life just waiting. Waiting in line at the grocery store, waiting in the doctor's office, waiting for lunch to be ready, waiting, just waiting.

In his book, "Oh, the Places You'll Go," Dr. Seuss talks about a place called "the waiting place." He describes it as a useless place where people are just waiting.

Waiting for a train to go
or a bus to come, or a plane to go
or the mail to come, or the rain to go
or the phone to ring, or the snow to snow
or waiting around for a Yes or No
or waiting for their hair to grow.
Everyone is just waiting.

Jesus talked about waiting in relation to his return - the second Advent:
Mark 13:32-37 (NIV)
³² "No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.
³³ Be on guard! Be alert! You do not know when that time will come.
³⁴ It's like a man going away: He leaves his house and puts his servants in charge, each with his assigned task, and tells the one at the door to keep watch.
³⁵ "Therefore keep watch because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back--whether in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or at dawn.
³⁶ If he comes suddenly, do not let him find you sleeping.
³⁷ What I say to you, I say to everyone: 'Watch!'" 

Advent is a season of expectancy and waiting.  Christmas is almost here.  The celebration of Jesus' coming - Immanuel, God with us - is already here.  We celebrate with decorations, with candles, music, gifts, lights, etc...but it is not just for NOW, it is also an expectancy and hope that Jesus will return to earth in all of his glory, and God's power and majesty will bring His Kingdom to fullness upon the earth.
In the meantime, we wait...with hope, and faith that God will come...and sometimes that is just for our own self.

Waiting is often uncomfortable, simply because it seems so useless.  Sometimes though waiting is uncomfortable because it's outside of our control, and it is dominated by fear.
Some are waiting right now with that in place.
Waiting for a child to be born, while hoping all will be well;
waiting for a mate to be discovered, while not being sure how or when that will occur;
waiting in hope that the treatments while work, while holding off fear that they won't;
waiting for the job to come, while doing resumes and searching the job lines everyday;
waiting for healing to finally come, while walking down the road of recovery;
waiting for reconciliation, or forgiveness, and yet experiencing distance;
waiting for the pain to go away, but living with it every day.
There are so many difficult ways that we wait.

The Old Testament Prophet Micah said:
Micah 7:7 (NIV)
⁷ But as for me, I watch in hope for the LORD, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me.

Advent is a season of expectancy, of watching, of waiting.  Go ahead and buy those presents, sing carols, decorate and enjoy; but remember that we are waiting for Jesus and it is He who is our hope.  That hope is real to us - whether present or elusive - every day of our lives.
We can wait in hope...our God has come and will come again.  While we wait for him, my prayer is that we will not forget that he comes to, and for us, over and over again every day of our life.

May God fill you with joy, faith, hope and love as you wait for Him.

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Messiah Character

Today's reading is from the prophet Isaiah, written some 700 years before Jesus came into the world.

Isaiah 11:1-5 (NRSV)
¹ A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots.
² The spirit of the LORD shall rest on him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD.
³ His delight shall be in the fear of the LORD. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide by what his ears hear;
⁴ but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.
⁵ Righteousness shall be the belt around his waist, and faithfulness the belt around his loins. 



Isaiah wrote this in the middle of economic and political chaos - sound familiar?  He speaks in hope of new life coming from that which is seemingly "dead".  And that new life is the Messiah.



We have a "bush" outside of our house.  It was a tree and then a bad storm revealed what was going on in the inside - the middle of the tree was rotting.  The tree broke in half and lay on the ground with nothing more than a stump remaining.  So, I went out and cut down the remaining part of the stump leaving just a small stump out of the ground.  Over the next few weeks, from that small stump a small bush appeared...shoots coming up from the former tree...it's roots are still good!

Israel was a nation with a "religious" character.  They did the things outwardly, but inwardly they lacked the personal character of "love the Lord your God with all of your heart".  It is with the heart, not just the head, that we personally relate to our God.

The character of the Messiah - Isaiah prophesies - will be one of wisdom, understanding, counsel, and might (strength), knowledge...and most of all "the fear of the Lord".  What is that?  The next verse makes it clear - not discerning life around us with what we see, nor by what we see.  Just think about that when it comes to culture, media, literature.  The character of God is described in vs. 5 - "righteousness" and "faithfulness".
It's so unfortunate that we have no place in our vocabulary for that word, "righteousness".  We only hear it used in a negative manner, such as a person who thinks they are so righteous, or describing someone as self-righteous.  Yet, it's a word that God's word  uses over and over again to describe the character of a person who loves God and risks obedience in living over the conveniences or popular wisdom of those around him.

Case in point, Joseph.  Matthew 1:18-19 (NIV) 
¹⁸ This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit.
¹⁹ Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly. 

This man who would become Jesus' earthly father had the character of being a "righteous" man.  We must see that this doesn't necessarily lead to pompousness, nor a "I'm better than anyone else around me."  Instead, he humbly and quietly was going to do what the law required of him...UNTIL God stepped in and told him what was happening.  Matthew 1:20 (NIV)
²⁰ But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.


The Messiah would come from good roots!  The fear of the Lord is that quality of relationship, that character in the inner being, of the one that seeks to love God more than anything else around us.  Henri Nouwen said:  "Jesus' message is to say that you are God's beloved child... When you can hear in your heart, not in  your head, that you are truly God's beloved child, everything turns around.  The mystery?...You were loved before you were born, and you will be loved after you die...Your dwelling in God's heart is a dwelling from eternity to eternity."

It makes no difference that we are broken people.  Our past does not define us, neither does our present circumstances.  We are defined by God's heart for our lives.  The ancient church father said it best..."God loves each of us as if we were the only one."

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Advent Day 2, "Walking Lights"

Over the weekend we welcomed a new Grandchild into our family.  Iris June came in at 5 lbs, 2 oz. - when I held her in my arms for the first time I said "You are a beautiful, you little peanut".
Over the weekend we decorated the house.  Before our little girl made her entrance, Linda, Andy and I went out to our favorite Christmas tree farm and found this years tree.  Then when Linda took off to the hospital, Andy and I decorated the tree.  First we took the lights out and hung them on the tree.  There is a magical moment when you get all of the lights on the tree and turn it on for the first time.  While there is always that "does it look good?", there is more.  I love that moment after darkness settles in, and the tree is decorated, and the lights go on... the lights take over and no matter how soft they be, they are more dominant than the darkness.

Think about that this morning as we read these passages from the prophet Isaiah some 700 years before the coming of Jesus.

Isaiah 9:1-2 (NIV)
¹ Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future he will honor Galilee of the Gentiles, by the way of the sea, along the Jordan--
² The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned. 
AND then later in the book...
Isaiah 42:1-16 (NIV) 
¹ "Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him and he will bring justice to the nations.
² He will not shout or cry out, or raise his voice in the streets.
³ A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out. In faithfulness he will bring forth justice;
⁴ he will not falter or be discouraged till he establishes justice on earth. In his law the islands will put their hope."
⁵ This is what God the LORD says-- he who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and all that comes out of it, who gives breath to its people, and life to those who walk on it:
⁶ "I, the LORD, have called you in righteousness; I will take hold of your hand. I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles,
⁷ to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness.
⁸ "I am the LORD; that is my name! I will not give my glory to another or my praise to idols.
⁹ See, the former things have taken place, and new things I declare; before they spring into being I announce them to you."
¹⁰ Sing to the LORD a new song, his praise from the ends of the earth, you who go down to the sea, and all that is in it, you islands, and all who live in them....

¹⁶ I will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths I will guide them; I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth. These are the things I will do; I will not forsake them. 

Advent reminds us that God has come to pierce the darkness...it does not make any difference if the light is small...one light speaks more loudly than the darkness all around it.  Maybe that is why Jesus uses that same analogy to speak of us...that we are lights...Matthew 5:14-16 (NIV) 
¹⁴ "You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden.
¹⁵ Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.
¹⁶ In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.


Yesterday morning in our Worship services we sang the song, "Here I am to Worship".  It's a beautiful song of declaration...that our purpose for being together, and our great desire in singing, praying, listening, speaking is to worship our God.
The song begins with the words:

"Light of the World
You stepped down into darkness
Open my eyes let me see

Beauty that made this heart adore You

Hope of a life spent with You

Here I am to worship,

Here I am to bow down,

Here I am to say that You're my God

You're altogether lovely

All together worthy,

All together wonderful to me

King of all days

oh, so highly exalted

Glorious in heaven above

Humbly You came 

To the earth You created

All for love's sake became poor

We are walking lights!  Our lives show forth the beauty of Christ as we worship him every day and live in him.  1 Thessalonians 5:5 (NIV) 



⁵ You are all sons of the light and sons of the day...

Decorate the house with lights, and let that tree be filled with lights, and walk as Lights my friends, as you walk in fellowship with Christ.

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