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I value nearly all of the comments I receive from readers of these humble ramblings. Occasionally I get a mean-spirited post that promptly finds it’s way into the cyber trash can for all of eternity. We have one basic rule at “Bad Christian” World Headquarters.

Verily, verily, all words that proceedeth out of thy posts and thy comments shall be civil…thus saith the one who pays the server bills.

King James style rules just sound more authoritative. Some comments that reach this site touch me deeply and that happened today. A reader named John left these comments after reading yesterday’s post about the Time Person of the Year nominations followed by my nominations for people of the year. Here are some of John’s comments.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts about these amazing men and women of God.

I’ve just stepped through some deep valleys and there were times when i had difficulties in believing that God is good. When a super-hard blow came yesterday, i lost all feeling and was totally nonchalant about life.

I’ve lost nights of sleep and have not been eating due to this distressing season – but your post helped to remind me that there is still a loving God – *even if* He does seem so distant and far and even if my questions of “What’s going on, where will this lead to” are not answered.

My heart ached for John. I have been there, done that, didn’t have the energy to get the t-shirt. I have no idea what trials he is going through. But I am asking our little band o’ bad Christians to pray for him. I remembered an earlier post that I had written about a song I love by Andrew Peterson. Please forgive me for the re-run of that blog. I hope John returns today to read this and I hope he knows that the body of Christ cares about him. I also pray there is something in this article that will encourage him.

One year ago  Andrew Peterson was not even on my playlist radar. Youngest son Brett suggested I should check out Peterson after he had performed at a chapel service at Baylor University. Andrew Peterson quickly moved to my top-rated playlist. The iPod shuffle today landed on a haunting and beautiful song called “After the Last Tear Falls”. Andrew Peterson has filled part of the void that I felt when Rich Mullins was tragically killed almost ten years ago. His ability to use the power of music to portray truth is reminiscent of Mullins. Here are some lyrics from today’s song.

After the last tear falls
After the last secrets told
After the last bullet tears through flesh and bone
After the last child starves
And the last girl walks the boulevard
After the last year that’s just too hard

There is love
Love, love, love
There is love
Love, love, love
There is love

Andrew Peterson gives me a powerful reminder that in this fallen world, full of sin and pain, there is a love that can save me. He recognizes that trouble will not escape followers of Jesus. In the midst of our cancer journey Joni and I have felt His love. That love and grace should be my focus as I navigate this crazy and confusing world.

After the last disgrace
After the last lie to save some face
After the last brutal jab from a poison tongue
After the last dirty politician
After the last meal down at the mission
After the last lonely night in prison

There is love
Love, love, love
There is love
Love, love, love
There is love

Satan tells me there can be no love from a God that allows such pain. The truth is that I am God’s hands and feet to reach out to a wounded world. If everyone who has claimed the name of Christ got serious about doing something tangible we would make a real difference. Would such a concerted effort eliminate all pain and suffering? Of course not. But the body of Christ could make an incredible difference by practicing sacrificial living, giving, and service. There is love. We need to reflect that love. The body of Christ needs to focus on what unites us instead of what divides us.

And in the end, the end is
Oceans and oceans
Of love and love again
We’ll see how the tears that have fallen
Were caught in the palms
Of the Giver of love and the Lover of all
And we’ll look back on these tears as old tales

Andrew Peterson’s message is powerful. Someday we will see how God worked in the ugly fallenness of this planet to accomplish His purpose. I once heard a pastor say that he expected to spend the early part of eternity walking around heaven making comments like these.

“Oh, I get it now.’
“Now I see how God was working.”
“I understand why that happened now.”

In the end, there is love. Sometimes I fear my actions don’t reflect that I really believe that with complete certainty. That is why I am grateful for the trials. The good times are fun. But only the hard times slowly mold me a very tiny bit more in His image. In those really hard times I truly realize that there is love.

John finished his comment with these words.

I’ll just take a leaf from their books and learn from them. I’m glad that they lived a life where they trusted in God’s goodness. if they could hold on to God (and I’m sure its not easy), i think i could at least give it another good go at it.

The people I wrote about in yesterday’s post are not superhuman. They are, however, super dependent on the knowledge that God is holy and good, Jesus is their advocate before the Father, and the Holy Spirit is their comfort in the trial. I hope that you see that God is still there through His people. I don’t know why you are going through your trial. I do know that Jesus loves you. And so do His people. And His people are praying for you and rejoicing that you are going to give it another go at it. May God meet you as you step out in faith.

Steve Martin closed a comedy CD with this classic bit….

You’ve been great, I’d like to thank each and everyone of you for coming out tonight:

Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you….(you get the point, the bit kept going)

Now Time Magazine has one upped Martin’s attempt to suck up to everyone by naming Me (and You) as Person of the Year!

I am sharing the award with millions of my closest and dearest friends. I was awarded this pretigious nomination (along with those other people) based on this criteria.

The winners this year were anyone using or creating content on the World Wide Web.

Since the criteria was not for creating “good” content I can, with clear conscious, accept my nomination as Person of the Year. This joins my list of lifetime accomplishments that includes being a member of Sam’s Club, standing somewhat uncomfortably next to Jack Nicholson at a Forum restroom during a Laker NBA game, and directing the television broadcast of the baseball game that featured the baseball bouncing off of Jose Conseco’s head and over the fence for a home run. Yes, it is an amazing life I have led.

I think Time’s copout is a bit disappointing but it is generating the desired publicity and office patter. However, I have some ideas for Time if they are looking for real persons of the year. I would nominate some people who have demonstrated grace, courage, and what it really looks like to be a follower of Jesus. Last January I nominated our friends Bob and Susan. That nomination remains intact. This is what I wrote in January of this year about Bob and Susan.

These are two people that have affected my life for better because of their unquenchable faith. Susan has been battling cancer for a couple of very long years. The chemotherapy caused a reaction that severely damaged Susan’s neurological responses. Her balance, coordination, and speech were all profoundly affected. Yet everytime we visit she ends up encouraging me with her smile, spirit, and strength. Bob has cared for Susan with a dedication and love that embarrasses me. Bob went for months sleeping only minutes at a time and yet he served and loved his wife without complaint. He had pledged to love her through better or worse and, unlike so many of us, he stuck to the pledge. I had always wondered exactly what Paul meant in Ephesians when he wrote that husbands are to love your wives just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. I left Bob and Susan’s house after one memorable visit with that Scripture verse reverberating through my thick noggin. I had just seen the working model of how a husband can love his wife like Christ loved the church. Recently Susan personally dictated a Christmas letter that put the whole thing in perspective for me. For this family who has been through so much to be grateful for God’s blessings is an amazing demonstration of faith that is real. Faith that works even when the sky is dark. I can talk about apologetics. I can argue the validity of the ancient records. I can present the evidence for Jesus in historical documents. But nothing demonstrates the amazing grace and presence of a living God more than watching how men and women who love the Lord deal with such adversity. There are many stories of people who live a life that truly reflects the power of God living within them. You just don’t hear about them often enough. Pray for Bob and Susan as they trust God in every moment. They don’t make the news and they won’t be on the cover of Time. But in the midst of disappointing actions by too many Christians in the year of our Lord 2006 they are a beacon that shows that my faith is not only real…it works at the most difficult times. How can you endure such a trial? Paul begged for a trial to be taken away and received this response.

“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

It cannot be explained how the Holy Spirit comforts and sustains you in those trials. Joni and I have experienced it through the death of our daughter. I have recently seen it in the lives of my friends. I am grateful that I have had the privilege of sharing my life with these special followers of Christ. I hope that I will pass the future tests and trials of life like the example they have set for me.

I get chills as I read those words. Who knew that Joni and I would have the chance to trust Jesus in the midst of our own trial with Joni’s breast cancer just two months later. And as we have walked through the valleys of fear and trials He has been right there with us every single step of the way. And Bob and Susan have stepped outside their own problems to show love and concern to us as we learn how to trust Him during adversity. Joni and I often think of Bob and Susan when we start to grow discouraged and we soldier on. Because of their grace filled example we have seen how Jesus works in the midst of the storm.

I would also nominate Ed and Judy. I wrote about a recent setback in my friend Ed’s battle with cancer in a recent post. Here is Ed’s description of a difficult night.

Judy and I appreciate your prayers that carried us through a long, dark night. As you know by now, the main source of discomfort for me and concern is the “skin issue” once again. Last night was the first night off meds–pain meds, sleeping meds, antibiotic meds.–every hour filled with itching, skin falling off, twinges of pain in the knee, and, as you might imagine, anxiety.

With decades of studying about, relating to, walking with, and telling others about “Our Father” in my life, I was able to focus my thoughts on a comforting phrase from the New Testament–Abba Father (Romans 8:15).

So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.”  NLT

This is an endearing and intimate title for God the Father that could be translated, “Father, my  own dear Father.” It is the title a child uses to relate to a father when the child knows that he or she is dear to Him, the one He delights in.

So, last night was so much more than a night of malaise, it was a night I spent on my Father’s lap, talking with Him about my fears, feelings, and hurts. It is the upside of suffering for the child of God–deepening intimacy with Abba Father.  Please continue to pray that the knee will continue to improve, the rash will stop, and that I can return to my life with these lessons of faith in my heart.

Once again I am humbled in my puny walk with Jesus. That is an amazing line. “The upside of suffering for the child of God is deepening intimacy with Abba Father.”  Ed has weathered this storm, is doing well and I am sure those lessons of faith are deeply ingrained in his heart.

Which brings me to my other person of the year. My bride. How can I ever doubt the courage, strength, dignity, and faith of this amazing woman? She has endured six months of chemotherapy, two months of radiation, and numerous setbacks with trust and determination. She is my hero and my person of the year. I write silly blogs and direct sporting events. Susan, Ed, and Joni have stepped up and stared the giant in the face without backing down. You will never be able to convince me that Jesus doesn’t work in the real world. I have seen it.

 

 

 

I love Dave Barry. As long as he is alive I will not have the weirdest brain on the planet. Here is his take on the secularizing of Christmas greetings.

      Once again, we come to the Holiday Season, a deeply religious time
that each of us observes, in his own way, by going to the mall of his
choice.

    In the old days, it was not called the Holiday Season; the Christians
called it “Christmas” and went to church; the Jews called it “Hanukkah” and went to synagogue; the atheists went to parties and drank. People passing each other on the street would say “Merry Christmas!” or “Happy Hanukkah!”or (to the atheists) “Look out for the wall!”

    These days, people say “Season’s Greetings,” which, when you think
about it, means nothing. It’s like walking up to somebody and saying
“Appropriate Remark” in a loud, cheerful voice. But “Season’s Greetings”
is safer, because it does not refer to any actual religion. Some day, I
imagine, even “Season’s Greetings” will be considered too religious, and
we’ll celebrate the Holiday Season by saying “Have a nice day.”

There is a lot of humor and an uncomfortable amount of truth in those paragraphs. And while I will be going to the mall of my choice this week with my beloved this is also a deeply religious time for me. For me this is a time to celebrate and marvel at the concept of God becoming man. The past two posts have offered some gift ideas to give Jesus on His upcoming birthday. It is an odd concept indeed that we generally give Christmas gifts to everyone but the one who is having a birthday. So if you are a late arriver we have been looking at the gifts of the Magi (wisemen) to see if we can get some last minute ideas. The first gift was gold and the second gift was frankincense. The third gift given by the magi to Christ child was myrrh. 
 
Myrrh is an aromatic gum produced from a thorn bush and it is obtained in the same manner as frankincense. The bush is gashed and the resin bleeds out and is collected. However, if frankincense represents sweetness, myrrh represents bitterness, at least to the taste. Myrrh was used chiefly in embalming the dead, (John 19:39) Nicodemus brought Myrrh and aloes to wrap the body of Jesus. 

Myrrh was a commodity of great value for early commerce.

As they sat down to eat their meal, they looked up and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead. Their camels were loaded \with spices, balm and myrrh, and they were on their way to take them down to Egypt. (Genesis 37:25) 

The Psalms tell us that myrrh was a valued perfume.

All your robes are fragrant with myrrh and aloes and cassia; 
from palaces adorned with ivory 
the music of the strings makes you glad.  .(Psalms 45:8).

Myrrh kept its fragrance for several hundred years when stored in an alabaster pot. Myrrh also had medicinal qualities, sometimes mingled with wine to form a painkilling drink. That was offered to Jesus on the cross to ease His suffering. 

Then they offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it. (Mark 15:23)

So the Magi brought myrrh as a gift of great value but also as a foreshadowing of the human suffering that Jesus took upon Himself when He came into our world. So what can we give to Jesus in response to His willingness and love to take on suffering and death on our behalf? How about giving the gift of being willing to die to our self…our selfish desires…our own agenda? It is a daily choice that followers of Jesus make to live like that. We ought to consider others as more important than ourselves (see Rom. 12:10). We can’t do that unless we first learn to die to ourselves. The Message has an interesting take on Colossions 3.

So if you’re serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ, act like it. Pursue the things over which Christ presides. Don’t shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ–that’s where the action is. See things from his perspective. Your old life is dead. Your new life, which is your real life–even though invisible to spectators–is with Christ in God. He is your life.

Jesus is my life. And I want to be serious about living this resurrection life in 2007 and beyond. During the hustle and bustle of the Christmas season I need to take time to remember that. So let’s review our potential shopping list for Jesus on His birthday. Perhaps you would like to give Jesus the gift of more time with Him.  How about the gift of really believing that Jesus is Lord over all…not Lord over what you and I select? Perhaps you are ready to take the faith step of being willing and ready to die to your desires so that you can serve the needs of others.

There are just ten days until we celebrate the birthday of Jesus. He gave us a gift that we cannot repay when He surprised earth by bringing Heaven to this planet on Christmas Day. So it seems appropriate to wrap a little something for Jesus and present it to Him this year. Merry Christmas!

As a public service I am providing a shopping guide for things you can give to Jesus on His upcoming birthday. Let’s be honest…giving the King of Kings and Lord of Lords a unique gift is really tough. Yesterday’s post examined the gifts brought to the young Christ child over 2,000 years by the three wise men, I had hoped that examining what the Magi brought might jump start our gift giving ideas.  By the way, there is a plaque that is available in catalogs this year with the title “What if They Had Been 3 Wise Women?” Here is the conclusion….

They would have asked directions.
 Brought practical gifts
 Made a casserole
 Cleaned the stable
‘ Changed the baby
 And there would be peace on earth.

Alert readers from yesterday remember that the first gift was gold. That is always a lovely gift. But now it gets a little tougher.

Then they opened their luggage and presented gifts: gold, frankincense, myrrh. Matt 2:11 (MsgB)

The second gift brought out of the luggage by the Magi was frankincense. Frankincense is a very costly and fragrant incense. It is a gum distilled from a tree found in the Middle East. It is a white resin or gum, and is obtained by slitting the bark of the “Arbor Thurisfrom”, allowing the gum to flow out (there will be a test). The word actually means “whiteness”, referring to the white colored juice which flows out of the wound in the tree. This gum hardens for three months, and is gathered at the end of the summer, and sold in the form of “tears”, or clumps of hardened resin. Frankincense is highly fragrant when burned, and was, therefore, used in worship, where it was burned as a pleasant offering to God. It is interesting to note that this sweet smelling resin comes as the result of the tree’s woundedness and pain. It is cut open and bleeds to give us the sweet smelling scent. The spiritual parallel is interesting. When we can worship God in the midst of our sorrow, our brokenness, then it is a sweet smelling offering to our Lord. 

King David wrote, “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.” (Psalms 51:17 )

Much emphasis in worship today is on “celebration”. No time for agonizing and tears, only for shouts of joy and victory. While joyful praise is acceptable and pleasing to God, tears, like frankincense resin, oozing out of our hurts, broken hearts, and tears of repentance are especially pleasing – a sweet smelling sacrifice to the Lord. Anyone can dance and shout when blessings are flowing, and everything is going their way. But true worship happens when we must overcome feelings of self-pity, fear and doubt. So how can we offer a pleasing aroma to God?

How about giving Jesus the gift of belief for His birthday? You believe that Jesus is the Son of God…that He came to earth as a little baby over 2,000 years ago. That he lived a Holy life and died on a cross as perfect sacrifice for my sin and your sin. I would guess that most of the people who stumble onto this blog believe that. But what I am talking about is really believing God in every circumstance.

Think about giving the gift of really believing in Jesus for every need this coming year.

Believing that you are an amazing one of a kind creation whom God has placed where you are and with gifts that can be uniquely used where you are.

“You’re blessed when you’re content with just who you are-no more, no less. That’s the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can’t be bought. Matthew 5:5 (MsgB) 

Later in the gospel of Matthew we find this…If you puff yourself up, you’ll get the wind knocked out of you. But if you’re content to simply be yourself, your life will count for plenty. Matthew 23:12 (MsgB)

I believe that comparison is one of Satan’s primary strategies to cause despair. You are wonderfully made by the Creator of the Universe and you are valuable. Michelangelo made a nearly perfect sculpture of David. The statue’s muscular tension is precisely rendered down to the muscle contraction on his forehead as David is poised to go into battle. It is perhaps the most important sculpture in the world and it was carved from one large block of marble. Why is that unique? Two other artists rejected the block of marble because of imperfections. Michelangelo saw the beauty in that block of marble that others did not. Jesus sees the beauty in you that others might not. Can you believe in a Jesus that can take you, even if you feel like a rejected block of marble, and then lovingly chip away until you become a beautiful work of art? Can you give Jesus the gift of believing that He is really there with you…as your Good Shepherd…ready to bind up your wounds and lead you to still waters.

“I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd puts the sheep before himself, sacrifices himself if necessary. A hired man is not a real shepherd. The sheep mean nothing to him. He sees a wolf come and runs for it, leaving the sheep to be ravaged and scattered by the wolf. He’s only in it for the money. The sheep don’t matter to him. “I am the Good Shepherd. I know my own sheep and my own sheep know me. In the same way, the Father knows me and I know the Father. I put the sheep before myself, sacrificing myself if necessary. You need to know that I have other sheep in addition to those in this pen. I need to gather and bring them, too. They’ll also recognize my voice. Then it will be one flock, one Shepherd. This is why the Father loves me: because I freely lay down my life. And so I am free to take it up again. No one takes it from me. I lay it down of my own free will. I have the right to lay it down; I also have the right to take it up again. I received this authority personally from my Father.” John 10:11-18 (MsgB)

The Good Shepherd had the choice and chose to give us the marvelous gift of laying down His life and then taking it up again. Believing Him…really believing Him…would make a lovely gift to Jesus on His birthday.

We are twelve days from the hardest day of the year for most men. Many of us men give gifts to our significant others with fear and trembling. Humor writer Dave Barry relates the confusion most men deal with when giving a gift to their wife.

He could tell by her reaction to the gift that she had not been dreaming of getting an auto emergency kit, even though it was the deluxe model with booster cables and an air compressor. Clearly, this violated an important rule, but the man had idea what the rule was, and his wife was too upset to tell him.

Barry continues his thoughtful treatise…

So why is the Christmas season so difficult for men? There are many complex reasons, by which I mean: women. The problem goes back to the very first Christmas. We know from the Bible that the Wise Men showed up in Bethlehem and gave the baby Jesus gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Now Gold is always a nice gift, but frankincense and myrrh – at least according to my dictionary – are gum resins.

 Barry asks the vital question…

Who gives gum resins to a baby? The answer is…Men. The three wise men…being men, didn’t even start shopping for gifts until the last minute, when most of the stores in the greater Bethlehem area were closed for Christmas Eve. The only place still open was Big Stu’s House of Myrrh.

Even though Barry’s interpretation of the Gospels might be a little suspect…I do think he is correct about the difficulty in finding the right gift to give to Jesus on his birthday.

On December 24th or 25th most of us will exchange gifts on Jesus birthday. Suppose you had a big party for me to celebrate my humble birthday this April. All of my close friends and acquaintances show up and you all start exchanging gifts on my birthday. But there is nothing for me. Oh, someone might mention my name now and then. But I just sit and I sit and I watch others open gifts. Then someone mentions how grateful they are for Dave’s birthday so we could all be together. I become hopeful. But then someone else yells that the refreshments are ready so everyone rolls into the kitchen and I am left sitting there….no gifts on my birthday. I wonder if we don’t do that exact thing to Jesus. We have reason for the season signs and all of that. But it is so easy to get all caught up and not even think of a gift for the guest of honor at our Christmas celebrations.
  
So what can you give the Lord of the Universe? If you think your mother-in-law is tough to buy for what do buy for the Saviour who has everything? Believe it or not…I decided to go back to the Three Wise Men and see if there was more to their gifts than first appears. What is the story behind these gum resin gifts? What is up with the gifts presented by the Magi? The simplest meaning is that these men brought items which, in their experience, represented the greatest worth. All of these gifts were rare, precious and expensive. Whatever else we may learn from this story, we know that they gave their best in honor to the One they believed to be the King, the Messiah. It’s interesting that we don’t know the names of the Magi but we know what they gave. We don’t know where they came from but we know that they worshipped the  Christ child.
                     
They entered the house and saw the child in the arms of Mary, his mother. Overcome, they kneeled and worshipped him.

The gifts were a part of their worship. They bowed down before Him, and they offered Him gifts. What an amazing spirit that must have surrounded that child that caused men of importance, wealth and education to fall down before Him!

The miracle of God becoming man… He became what we are so that He might make us what He is.
Then they opened their luggage and presented gifts: gold, frankincense, myrrh. Matt 2:11 (MsgB)

The first gift mentioned is gold.

Gold was the usual offering presented to kings by their subjects, or those wanting to pay respect. Gold has always held extremely high value – as long ago as 2,500 BC, gold was especially prized, and used as a medium of exchange. Even today when investments get shaky you start hearing about buying gold as a hedge against economic downturns. The value of gold seems to be a constant in our civilization. In both the Old Testament Tabernacle and the Temple, gold was used plentifully and was clearly associated with worship.

So should we give Jesus gold on His birthday? Most of us have a rather limited supply of gold. I am going to suggest that we give Jesus a commodity that is as valuable in today’s culture as gold was in the time of the Magi. That commodity of great value is time. When I think of gifts that we can give to Jesus…is there anything more precious than our time?

When you love someone you want to spend time with them. If you say you love your wife but you go several days or weeks without talking to her she might be suspicious. When we say we love our children but we can’t work them into the schedule they begin to have doubts. When a young couple falls in love they want to spend every moment together. When they are apart they think of each other. As Percy Sledge famously sang that when a man loves a woman he can’t keep his mind on nothing else.

So we say we love Jesus. But we probably have little difficulty thinking of something else. We tell others that He is the center of our universe…but we can’t carve out the time to spend with Jesus. I am confessing here that I have been guilty of this far too often in my journey with Jesus. My lips confess my commitment to Him but my time with Him reveals my true priorities. The uncomfortable truth for me as a husband…as a father…and as a follower of Christ is that my Daytimer reveals my heart. I make time for the things that are most important to me.

Gift suggestion number one for Jesus on His birthday…give Him a little time or maybe a little more of your. Sit down with Him…talk to Him…enjoy His company.

And join us tomorrow for another last minute gift idea for Jesus. Merry Christmas.

It never surprises me when people get agitated in Seattle. It is by far the most caffeinated city in America and it makes sense that sometimes that coffee buzz leads to silliness. A recent “crisis” in the Emerald City has been averted by the rare combination of communication, common sense, and cooperation. What a concept.

If you missed the story a huge uproar occurred when the officials at Seatac International Airport decided to enact the adult version of “taking your football and going home”. When asked by a local rabbi to include a menorah along with the airport holiday decorations the port officials deferred, fearing a precedent would be set that any and all religious or cultural symbols would have to be displayed. Then the rabbi made it known that a lawsuit was a possibility. So the airport authority apparently hired the overnight moving company that spirited the Baltimore Colts to Indianapolis and removed the Christmas trees while we were sleeping. A story in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer noted that this was not the intent of the rabbi.

Rabbi Elazar Bogomilsky, who made his request weeks ago, said he was appalled by the decision. He had hired a lawyer and threatened to sue if the Port of Seattle didn’t add the menorah next to the trees, which had been festooned with red ribbons and bows. “Everyone should have their spirit of the holiday. For many people the trees are the spirit of the holidays, and adding a menorah adds light to the season,” said Bogomilsky, who works in Seattle at the regional headquarters for Chabad Lubavitch, a Jewish education foundation.

Rabbi Bogomilsky defused the situation by withdrawing the lawsuit option and the trees were again returned to the airport. I salute the rabbi for his gesture that allowed the Christmas trees to be returned. I believe him that he never desired to have the trees removed and that he merely wanted to add the menorah lights. But there is a darker side to this story that plagues the legitimate attempt to defend cultural traditions like Christmas decorations.

That darker side is the hateful, ugly, ungraceful communication of angry Christians (and non-Christians) when issues like this arise. For my purposes, I am only taking Christians to the biblical woodshed. The reason for our little trip is this quote from the Associated Press that simply breaks my heart.

The rabbi had received “all kinds of calls and emails,” many of them “odious,” Bogomilsky’s lawyer Harvey Grad said, adding he was “trying to figure out how this is consistent with the spirit of Christmas.”

I can help the rabbi with this one. It is not consistent with the spirit of Christmas. And that is what I fear the most in the battle for Christmas. We, as followers of Christ, must demonstrate that spirit if we are true to our faith. The quote from Mohandas Gandhi has troubled me for years because of it’s gut level honesty. Gandhi said, “I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.” Ouch. And guilty.

When we are unlike our Christ we lose the message of Christmas even if we get trees back up in an airport. This December many of us will read the Christmas story without really understanding the meaning of it.

And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn. And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, 
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.  Luke 2 KJV

Christians believe that the baby born that day was a Saviour, Christ the Lord. By believing that He is Messiah we are called to represent Him not only in truth but also in spirit. And that brings me to the title of this post. As part of our strategy for the war on Christmas I would challenge every follower of Jesus to memorize the following passage. Print it out, place it on your computer monitor, put it by the phone, or make it your screensaver. When an “odious” call or email is made by a Christian or one who claims that title it does damage and I believe it grieves our Lord. Here is the verse that all of us need to write across our hearts.

You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one body. “In your anger do not sin”   Ephesians 4  NIV

It is okay to be angry and speak truthfully to your neighbor but it is not okay to be ugly and meanspirited. In your anger do not sin. In practical terms that means some or all of the following ideas…

• Never hit the send button on an email written while you are angry. Wait, pray, reread, and pray again before even thinking about hitting the send button.
  
• Ask a mature Christian friend (preferably one without a dog in the hunt…that is Texan for emotional involvement) to read your email to see if it communicates truth gracefully
  
• Do not ever call anyone names or accuse them of motives that you can’t honestly know.
  
• Lay out your argument in a gentle but firm way, never shirking truth, but also never forgetting that you are representing the Lord Jesus Christ
  
• Ask if this letter, email, or conversation is glorifying to God or would you be embarrassed if God were present (important safety tip…He is)
  
• If you ignore all of the above be humble enough to repent and then repair any damage your anger might have caused

In your anger do not sin. Remember that when cultural clashes or even congregational clashes occur. Jesus did not say that He came that we may have discord and frustration. In the Gospel of John the Lord says that, “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly”. In my simple little world anger and bitterness are not part of an abundant life. How about yours?

 

 

Today is a revisit of a “Christmas Classic” from last season. How does a blog become a classic?

1) It is your blog, your site, you pay the server charge and you can call it whatever you want
2) You have no time to write today

So here is a gently read post from Christmas past…

One of my contributions with this modest little blog is to continually ask the tough questions.

While listening to  “Away in a Manger” at a Christmas program my inquiring mind kicked in. You likely know verse three of the song.

The cattle are lowing
The poor Baby wakes
But little Lord Jesus
No crying He makes

As I listened an important series of difficult and probing inquiries popped into my head. What noise, exactly, were the cattle making when they started lowing? Was this normal cow talk? Did lowing just sound better than mooing in the lyric or is lowing a more spiritual cow sound? And then the most important question came to mind…what is wrong with me?

I can’t answer the last question but I can help with the others. Lowing is defined at dictionary.com as “the characteristic sound uttered by cattle; a moo”.  

So little baby Jesus was awakened by the characteristic sound uttered by a cow. The next part of the lyric is disturbing to those of us who are parents. If any of the babies who grew up in our household were awakened by cattle lowing they would be squalling (the characteristic sound uttered by a ticked off baby; a scream).  During the course of my intrepid investigating I discovered that this verse was not original to the song. It was added in the early 1900’s by a Methodist minister named John T. McFarland for a children’s program. While verse three is not a part of the original Christmas carol canon it does create an image of Jesus that we need to rethink.

I remember as a child singing “Away in a Manger” and picturing the baby Jesus with this beatific smile on his face and a little halo hovering over his head. In my imagination the animals were swaying and singing like the campfire scene from the movie “Three Amigos”.  I pictured Mary and Joseph as awed spectators as the baby Jesus acknowledged the shepherds and welcomed them to his place (remember…the earlier lyrics told us he didn’t have a crib). My images of the baby Jesus were indeed childish. But I wonder if we don’t carry a little of that flawed perspective into our adult Christian journey (like Ricky Bobby in the movie Talladega Nights…you bad Christians know what I am talking about).

This Christmas why not take a little time to think about the implications of the incarnation. That nice little theological word is used to denote when the second person of the Trinity assumed human form in the person of Jesus Christ and became both fully God and fully man. C.S. Lewis called the incarnation “the Grand Miracle.” He wrote: “The central miracle asserted by Christians is the Incarnation…. Every other miracle prepares for this, or exhibits this, or results from this…. It was the central event in the history of the Earth–the very thing that the whole story has been about” (from Miracles, chapter 14).

By a miracle that passes human comprehension, the Creator entered his creation, the Eternal entered time, God became human–in order to die and rise again for the salvation of all people. “He comes down; down from the heights of absolute being into time and space, down into humanity; down further still … (to) the womb … down to the very roots and sea-bed of the Nature He has created. But He goes down to come up again and bring the whole ruined world up with Him” (Miracles, C.S. Lewis).

Take a moment to meditate on the mystery of that. Fully God and fully man. I am sure the little Lord Jesus would have had the normal response to being awakened by any cow noise…lowing or other. His swaddling clothes had to be changed just like any baby. Chuck Swindoll described Him as diety in diapers.

How does that affect me this Christmas? Because God became flesh He understands the frailties of our flesh. When I suffer Jesus understands. He has been there. When I am lonely or feeling betrayed He understands. When I am joyful and laughing He understands. By becoming like me Jesus can empathize with me. He gets it.

My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.   I John 2

Jesus became our advocate and our path to salvation when He arrived on earth. The miracle in the manger was not Jesus ignoring stupid cows. The miracle was God becoming flesh.