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Our lives changed forever on D-Day of 2006. Diagnosis day was March 20th of this year and that day seems like it was years ago. It is hard to fathom that in real time it has not quite been nine months since we found out about Joni’s breast cancer. My wife’s recent post made me realize how much our perspective has changed in those nine months. Joni was sharing one of the most exciting developments in her cancer journey. The headline was typically Joni…to the point.

I have eyebrows!!!

Chemotherapy patients know the trauma of losing your hair, eyebrows, and eyelashes. Joni’s words reminded me how much we daily take for granted.

It amazes me how a simple thing like eyebrows can be so  exciting.  My eyebrows are coming back along with eyelashes and about a half inch of hair on my head.  But it is the eyebrows that excite me the most. 

Cancer changes your priorities a bit, doesn’t it? Last year at this time we had no idea what 2006 would hold. But thanks to the prayers, love, and encouragement of the body of Christ and the comfort and strengthening of the Holy Spirit we have made it this far. Joni continued her thoughts.

It has been a long and difficult journey but God has so richly blessed me and provided for all of my needs and then some.   My energy is beginning to return and it feels so good not to be tired all of the time. 

I love this time of year and I am thankful I can help with the decorating and festivities that go along with the season even though it is toned down from past Christmases.  I am studying Romans in my Bible study.  In Romans 5:3-5 there is a progression from tribulation to perseverance to proven character to hope.  I know I have  experienced tribulation and perseverance through the operations and grueling treatments.  My prayer is that all of this  has also produced proven character for the Lord and I know He has given me hope.  There is joy in tribulation in that it proves that God is faithful and He will never leave me.

All of these qualities and eyebrows too? How blessed am I? This is going to be a great Christmas. Tribulation and perseverance has brought us even closer together. Our Christmas prayer is the hope of many more Holidays together. God is faithful and He has not left us…not for an instant.

Last night the lovely Mrs.Burchett and I enjoyed a wonderful night of music with Michael W.Smith, the Dallas Symphony, and hundreds of our closest friends. Michael’s Christmas Time Tour 2006 is fun, inspiring, touching, and glorifying to God. See it if you have a chance.

Michael W.Smith has more musical talent in one hair follicle than I have in my entire body. And I confess that I entertained a bit of envy in the early part of the concert. I always wanted to be a musician but I just didn’t want to commit to that whole practice and hard work thing. Right after I moved past my talent deficit envy I happened to notice, really notice, something that happens at every concert. At the end of a stirring song a stagehand quietly and efficiently moved onto the stage, set up two microphones, and left without fanfare.

And it occurred to me that his small role in this gigantic production was enormously important. The next event was Smith reading the Christmas account from Scripture as a musician accompanied his narration. Because of the unnoticed stagehand the transition was seamless and the effect was powerful. No one applauded the stagehand. He might have felt unappreciated. He might have envied the acclaim that Michael W.Smith receives. He might have noticed that the audience applauded the arrival of the first chair violinist and the conductor. He might have wished for the rousing applause reserved for the other vocalists and the instrumental soloists.

But I kept thinking about the stagehand who carefully set the mikes in exactly the right place. I thought about the dozens of unseen technicians that made a magical evening of music happen. Incredibly vital people who did their jobs without a single moment of public adoration. God always sees the stagehand that humbly does his part. God values the technician who makes the music happen without personal recognition. I believe that God would view that stagehand’s seemingly insignificant contribution as being just as important as the people in the spotlight when that small role is offered with worship.

Paul used the body as a metaphor for how every part of the body of Christ is vital and valuable. In his letter to the Corinthians the Apostle writes about the distribution of spiritual gifts.

But our bodies have many parts, and God has put each part just where he wants it. How strange a body would be if it had only one part! Yes, there are many parts, but only one body. The eye can never say to the hand, “I don’t need you.” The head can’t say to the feet, “I don’t need you.”  In fact, some parts of the body that seem weakest and least important are actually the most necessary.

I realize that I am prone to say it is all about Him and then get upset if no one notices me. So who is it really all about? If my service is for Him I am confident that God takes note. Should it really matter if anyone else does? I am the first to confess that such notice is nice and appreciated. But should it really matter?

If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it, and if one part is honored, all the parts are glad. All of you together are Christ’s body, and each of you is a part of it.

I am not always glad when another part of the body is honored. How quickly I forget the unmerited gift of grace. If we really comprehended what that meant would we ever question what is in it for me? As I meditate on that today I pray that I will choose to praise God and be content even if He asks me to be the anonymous stagehand that no one ever applauds.

Next week will be a fun week of reminiscing as the TV Land cable channel unveils their list of the 100 Greatest TV Quotes and Catchphrases. It was nostalgic to review the list and remember my season of life when a particular quote or catchphrase was popular. I don’t have a strong recollection of Joseph Welch telling Senator Joseph McCarthy that “he had no sense of decency”. Perhaps that was of little interest to a fourteen month old baby. And not having a television in the family home might have been another factor. We didn’t join the TV revolution for a couple of years until we were sure it was going to “catch-on”.

But I can remember most of the others on this list. I am embarrassed to recall that I quoted many of these on a far too regular basis over the years. But I guess I was not alone.

“Danger, Will Robinson” (Robot, “Lost in Space”)
“De plane! De plane!” (Tattoo, “Fantasy Island”)
“Elizabeth, I’m coming home!” (Fred Sanford, “Sanford and Son”)
“Heh heh” (Beavis and Butt-head, “Beavis and Butthead”)
“How you doin’?” (Joey Tribbiani, “Friends”)
“I know nothing!” (Sgt. Schultz, “Hogan’s Heroes”)
“I’m not a doctor, but I play one on TV” (Vicks Formula 44 ad)
“Is that your final answer?” (Regis Philbin, “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire”)
“What you see is what you get!” (Geraldine, “The Flip Wilson Show”)
“Whatchoo talkin’ ’bout, Willis?” (Arnold Drummond, “Diff’rent Strokes”)
“Would you believe?” (Maxwell Smart, “Get Smart”)
“Yada, yada, yada” (“Seinfeld”)
“Yeah, that’s the ticket” (Jon Lovitz as the pathological liar, “Saturday Night Live”)
“You look mahvelous!” (Billy Crystal as Fernando, “Saturday Night Live”)
“You rang?” (Lurch, “The Addams Family”)
“Well, isn’t that special?” (Dana Carvey as the Church Lady, “Saturday Night Live”)

Nearly all of those catchphrases have lost their cultural relevance except as memories of TV seasons past. The definition of “catchphrase” at dictionary.com is “a phrase, as a slogan, that comes to be widely and repeatedly used, often with little of the original meaning remaining”. The first thing that popped into my brain was a catchphrase that Christians use every Christmas season.

Jesus is the reason for the season.

Has that become a catchphrase for followers of Jesus? Before you send the angry email let me disclaim that I completely agree with that statement. Without the miracle of Jesus coming to this planet this holiday is just another excuse to sell stuff. There is, to state the obvious, no Christmas Day without Christ.

But there is an inherent danger in this season. It is easy to get caught up in the battle for Christmas and forget that the best defense of Christmas is to represent Christ. The power of Christmas Day is when His followers unite to be the very hands and feet of Jesus. To give and love and comfort those who need it. That is when people see that Jesus is the reason for the season. It is important to stand up for cultural rights. But the birth in Bethlehem that changed history was not about winning court battles. It was about changing hearts. I still love the King James language that describes the birth of Jesus.

Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us. Matt 1:23 KJV

May God be with us. And may we really demonstrate with our love, grace, and deeds why Jesus is the reason for the season.

 

 

Truth can be so annoying. If annoying truth was a Jeopardy category it might look like this…

“I’ll take Annoying Truths for $100, Alex.”
This famous preacher said,  “Give me five minutes with a person’s checkbook, and I will tell you where their heart is.”
“Who is Billy Graham? I’ll take Annoying Truths for $200, Alex.”
This missionary to India said, “You can give without loving. But you cannot love without giving.”
“Who was Amy Carmichael, Alex. I am getting very uncomfortable with this topic so let’s take “Sins that make you worse than me for $100.”

Money is an uncomfortable topic for followers of Jesus. One anonymous writer noted that a lot of people are willing to give God the credit, but not too many are willing to give Him the cash.

Twenty-six years ago a man in Kansas City made a choice to give away the cash. It was a choice that changed his life and the lives of thousands more. The Associated Press reported that for the next 26 years, a man known only as Secret Santa roamed the streets every December quietly giving people money. He started with $5 and $10 bills. As his fortune grew, so did the gifts. In recent years, Secret Santa has been handing out $100 bills, sometimes two or three at a time, to people in thrift stores, diners and parking lots. So far, he’s anonymously given out about $1.3 million. It’s been a long-held holiday mystery: Who is Secret Santa? But now, weak from chemotherapy and armed with a desire to pass on his belief in random kindness, Secret Santa has decided it’s time to reveal his identity.

He is Larry Stewart, a 58-year-old businessman from the Kansas City suburb of Lee’s Summit, Mo., who made his millions in cable television and long-distance telephone service. While Stewart has also given money to other community causes in Kansas City and his hometown of Bruce, Miss., he offers the simple gifts of cash because it’s something people don’t have to “beg for, get in line for, or apply for.”

His epiphany happened just before Christmas in 1979. His circumstances were dire. For the second year in a row he had been fired just days before Christmas. He admits that he was wallowing in self-pity when he learned that giving returned an inexplicable joy. That simple discovery changed him, the entire city of Kansas City, and beyond. Let’s pick up the story as Stewart was nursing his wounds at a drive-in restaurant after getting fired once again. He describes that December day in his own words.

“It was cold and this car hop didn’t have on a very big jacket, and I thought to myself, `I think I got it bad. She’s out there in this cold making nickels and dimes,”‘ he said. He gave her $20 and told her to keep the change. “And suddenly I saw her lips begin to tremble and tears begin to flow down her cheeks. She said, `Sir, you have no idea what this means to me.”‘

Larry Stewart was deeply touched. He decided to go to the bank that day and took out $200, then drove around looking for people who could use a lift. That was his “Christmas present to himself.”  He’s hit the streets each December since. Now, his mission is bigger than handing out $100 bills. Stewart wants to speak to community groups about his devotion to kindness and to inspire others to donate their time and money. “That’s what we’re here for,” Stewart says, “to help other people out.”

Larry Stewart has learned the reality of money and possessions that was eloquently expressed by author Thomas Fuller. “Riches enlarge rather than satisfy appetites.” 

As a follower of Christ I think Stewart has it half right when he notes that we are here to help other people out. The religious scholars asked Jesus what a purpose driven life should look like.

“Teacher, which command in God’s Law is the most important?” 
Jesus said, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence.’ This is the most important, the first on any list. But there is a second to set alongside it: ‘Love others as well as you love yourself.’ These two commands are pegs; everything in God’s Law and the Prophets hangs from them.”   Matthew 22 The Message

During this Christmas season I am challenging you to join me in trying Larry Stewart’s experiment. Go buy yourself a gadget or outfit or bauble. Note the reading on the joy meter. Then go give money to a desperate Mom trying to make ends meet. Or give some cash to an elderly couple who can’t pay the heating bill. Deliver a Christmas gift to children who would not receive gifts any other way. Then see which action has given you real joy. Was it acquiring more stuff or meeting real needs in the lives of others? Larry Stewart has learned that lesson. And the world is a better place because of the revelation he experienced on a cold December day twenty-six years ago.

Pray about what you can give this Christmas. Remember that Larry Stewart started small. I pray that you will receive the kind of joy that has driven the Kansas City “Secret Santa” for twenty-six years. The chance to witness the surprised joy of a person receiving an unexpected and much needed gift. Kind of like salvation, isn’t it? That is the gift that Jesus brought to Bethlehem two millenia ago. And that is another gift we should be eager to share this season.

 

 

Regular readers of these ramblings know that my bride is in the midst of a battle with breast cancer. For the last eight months that unwanted and unexpected foe has rearranged our lives around doctors, hospitals, chemo days, and radiation days. Joni’s prognosis is good. The love and outpouring of prayers and well wishes from many of you has been amazing and uplifting. More than you will ever know. Joni has just over a week of radiation left and then several months of a targeted chemotherapy drug. That will be administered every three weeks so at least our schedule has a chance to return to some semblance of normalcy.

Yesterday was another day at the chemotherapy infusion room that Joni and I call the Slow Drip Spa. It is a place that has administered “treatments” to me as I watch Joni receive her infusions. I get regular infusions of perspective into my self-centered veins and heart. I watch people display courage and grace in the midst of a terrible trial. Yesterday I watched the initial greetings of every person that came in for treatment. The staff would always smile and ask the patient how they were doing. Yesterday the small sample of patients I witnessed had a consistent response. They would smile and report they were doing well.

I reflected on the irony of that exchange. I know from personal experience that the journey is long, tough, and you get discouraged. But the patients that come into the “spa” are consistently upbeat and determined. The regulars of the “spa” humble me. My infusion of perspective came at a good time yesterday. How easy it is to turn your focus from God and serving others to self absorption. As I absorbed my perspective infusion yesterday I remembered a long lost hymn from a legalistic church far, far away. The truth of this old hymn might have been lost on most of the congregants at that assembly but it is still truth.

Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace.

I am anxious for Joni’s treatments to be finished. But I pray that I don’t forget what I have learned at her side. Perhaps I (and maybe all of us) should schedule a monthly “perspective” date. It is not about us. I am not happy when I make it about me. Reflect on the creative translation of a very familiar verse from Matthew.

“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”  Matt 11:28–30  The Message

I am tired. Joni and I are worn out. Frankly, I have been a little burned out on religion. Today I am going to carve out a some time to keep company with Jesus and seek how He displays the rhythms of grace.

 

 

I rarely give over my space to a writer that does not have the last name Burchett. But faithful and long-suffering reader Steve sent me a link to an article by Wheel of Fortune game show host Pat Sajak. Pat may need Vanna’s help to turn letters but he does a really nice job of arranging them into a thoughtful piece posted at his site.

There is much debate in the gay community on the subject of “outing”; that is, disclosing someone’s homosexuality without his consent. As with most debates, there are two extreme positions and a middle position. On one extreme are those who think anyone is fair game, and no one has any business keeping his true sexuality under wraps. The other extreme believes it’s a very personal matter, and “outing” is absolutely wrong. Besides which, many of these absolutists find the practice counter-productive in their quest for gay rights. There is, however, a growing in-between position which says “outing” is justified if the person being exposed is a hypocrite. For example, if a crusading moralist or an anti-gay marriage Congressman is leading a secret gay life, it’s okay to make that public.

I would be in favor of that middle position if we could apply it across the board. In other words, if we’re going to “out” hypocrites, let’s go all the way. If a Congressman opposes school choice for his poorer constituents while sending his own kids to private schools, let’s “out” him. If a politician or celebrity complains our taxes aren’t high enough while he hires the most aggressive accountants to minimize his own taxes, or takes questionable deductions to do the same, by all means, let’s “out” him. Minimum wage? Illegal immigration? Does their public stand match their private actions when it comes to their own domestic help? If not, “out” ‘em.

What about those who want to legislate diversity in our schools and clubs and organizations and work places? Great, but let’s check out their offices and club memberships and circles of acquaintance and make sure they don’t need to be “outed” as well. Let’s take a close look at our rich members of Congress (and there are a lot of them) who speak out about a middle class crisis, and let’s be sure they (and their family business entities) treat all their employees with the same generosity they would demand of others (salary, benefits, health care, etc.). Otherwise, “out” they go!

Let’s make sure Second Amendment opponents (or their bodyguards) don’t own guns. Let’s be certain those who complain about executives’ wages apply the same standards to themselves. Let’s change the rules to make every law Congress passes apply to its members as well. If not, “out”, “out”, “out”.

Let’s “out” the Hollywood star who lectures us on the environment while living in multiple homes, flying in private jets and riding around in limousines, or the athlete who rails against government neglect of the poor while lending his name to $100-plus basketball shoes marketed at that same audience.

Most people keep more than their sexuality in the closet. So, if we’re going to open that door to root out hypocrisy, let’s open them all.

Pat Sajak nicely summarizes our amazing ability to deceive ourselves. That is why Jesus was so harsh with the “religious” types of His day.

• “You’re hopeless, you religion scholars and Pharisees! Frauds! You keep meticulous account books, tithing on every nickel and dime you get, but on the meat of God’s Law, things like fairness and compassion and commitment—the absolute basics!—you carelessly take it or leave it. Careful bookkeeping is commendable, but the basics are required. Do you have any idea how silly you look, writing a life story that’s wrong from start to finish, nitpicking over commas and semicolons? You’re hopeless, you religion scholars and Pharisees! Frauds! You burnish the surface of your cups and bowls so they sparkle in the sun, while the insides are maggoty with your greed and gluttony. Stupid Pharisee! Scour the insides, and then the gleaming surface will mean something.”  Matthew 23 The Message

I am still learning not to deceive myself. I am quite capable of shining the exterior while covering a maggoty interior. So I will out myself. I am a recovering hypocrite. I will never be fully healed. And that is awesome! Because if I could be healed I wouldn’t have to depend on my relationship with Jesus and the daily inspection of the Holy Spirit.

So, in honor of Pat Sajak, today’s puzzle is about deception. And the question is simple.

H Y P O C R  _  T E S

“Jesus, is there an “I” in there?”

 

Last year I posted a story about the decision by a Wisconsin elementary school to rewrite the lyrics of “Silent Night” to make it acceptable for the “winter program”. The unfortunate choice for a new title was “Cold in the Night”. And the new lyrics went something like this.

Cold in the night,

no one in sight,

winter winds whirl and bite,

how I wish I were happy and warm,

safe with my family out of the storm.

That is wrong on so many levels. Why not just have the kids sing “Grandma got run over by a reindeer” and go on home. Some things just shouldn’t be done. It is like the old Jim Croce song…”you don’t tug on Superman’s cape, you don’t spit into the wind, you don’t pull the mask off the old Lone Ranger, and you don’t rewrite Silent Night” (New Revised Version).

Rereading that post brought to mind a legend I had heard all of my life involving the real song “Silent Night” and a wartime Christmas truce. I researched the story and found that it actually happened. Here is a nice Christmas story for your Christmas celebrations to share at Christmas gatherings during this Christmas Season (was that anti-pc sentence a little too obvious?). I would normally post a story like this a little closer to Christmas Day but I just found out there is a movie depicting this event and I thought you might be interested in acquiring or renting it. There are some cautions for parents contained in this review in Christianity Today but the positives seem well worth the investment. I just ordered the DVD and I look forward to viewing it this Christmas. Here is the story that inspired the film.

The year was 1914 and soldiers were having to spend Christmas Eve night on the battlefields of France during World War I, the Great War, as it was called. After only four months of fighting, more than a million men had already perished in the bloody conflict. The bodies of dead soldiers were scattered between the trenches. Enemy troops were dug-in so close that they could easily exchange shouts.

On December 24, 1914, in the middle of a freezing battlefield in France, a miracle happened.

The British troops watched in amazement as candle-lit Christmas trees began to appear above the German trenches. The glowing trees soon appeared along the length of the German front.

Henry Williamson, a young soldier with the London Regiment wrote in his diary: “From the German parapet, a rich baritone voice had begun to sing a song I remembered my German nurse singing to me…. The grave and tender voice rose out of the frozen mist. It was all so strange… like being in another world — to which one had come through a nightmare.”

Silent Night
Holy Night

A man named John McCutcheon wrote a song about the incident. These lyrics are from his work called “Christmas in the Trenches”.  His poem has also been released as an illustrated book with CD that you find at John’s website.

The cannon rested silent, the gas clouds rolled no more,
As Christmas brought us respite from the war….

“They finished their carol and we thought that we ought to retaliate,” another British soldier wrote, “So we sang “The First Noël” and when we finished, they all began clapping. And they struck up “O Tannebaum” and on it went… until we started up “O Come All Ye Faithful” [and] the Germans immediately joined in …. this was really a most extraordinary thing — two nations both singing the same carol in the middle of a war.”

McCutcheon’s lyrics continue…

“There’s someone coming towards us!” the front-line sentry cried.
All sights were fixed on one lone figure trudging from their side.
His truce flag, like a Christmas star, shone on that plain so bright
As he, bravely, strode unarmed into the night.

It is recorded that enemy soldiers greeted each other in the no man’s land that was a killing zone on December 23rd. The soldiers wished each other Merry Christmas and agreed not to fire their rifles on Christmas Day. The spontaneous cease-fire eventually embraced much of a 500-mile stretch of the Western Front. According to the reports of soldiers at the scene, hundreds of thousands of soldiers celebrated the birth of the Prince of Peace among the bodies of their dead.

Soon one by one on either side walked into No Man’s Land.
With neither gun nor bayonet, we met there hand to hand.

Other soldiers told of how the “enemies” exchanged badges and buttons from their uniforms. Others shared photos of wives and children and some even exchanged addresses and promised to write after the war ended. The German troops rolled out barrels of dark beer and the British reciprocated with offerings of plum pudding. Some soldiers produced soccer balls and a spirited match broke out as fellow soldiers shouted encouragement.

At one location along the front the men who just the day before sought to kill one another now gathered together to bury their dead. Together, with heads uncovered, they held a service to memorialize their fallen comrades. A solitary voice began to sing Silent Night, in French. He was joined by another voice — this one singing in German — the words of a Christmas song known and beloved by all.

But the miracle of peace was temporary. Slowly, under threats from their officers, the troops returned to the trenches and the recoils of rifles split the temporary “Silent Night.” Some soldiers admitted aiming so their bullets flew well above the heads of the “enemy.”

Soon daylight stole upon us and France was France once more.
With sad farewells, we each prepared to settle back to war.

But the question haunted every heart that lived that wondrous night:
“Whose family have I fixed within my sight?”

My name is Francis Tolliver, in Liverpool I dwell.
Each Christmas come since World War I, I’ve learned its lesson well:

That the ones who call the shots won’t be among the dead and lame,
And on each end of the rifle, we’re the same.

That is the message the Prince of Peace brought to us on Christmas long ago. Perhaps those of us who celebrate the birth of the Savior could learn a lesson from this Christmas miracle as we engage those who do not share our beliefs and faith in Jesus. Those on the other side of the cultural trenches are not unlike us. The message delivered in Bethlehem was peace and goodwill toward all men. When we fight the cultural war we need remember that the whole purpose of Jesus invading our space and time was to love and ultimately die for those on both sides of the battle.

But perhaps the biggest lesson is how the power of a unified focus on Jesus can unite even bitter enemies. My heart aches as I see Christians splitting ranks over things that don’t amount to a hill of beans on an eternal scale. I picture Jesus weeping over the churches of America like He wept over Jerusalem. I picture Him weeping over how Christians in this country divide over non-essentials and fail to communicate the joy and life-changing power of the good news of the gospel. Jesus gave this final command to His followers…

“Go out and train everyone you meet, far and near, in this way of life, marking them by baptism in the threefold name: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Then instruct them in the practice of all I have commanded you. I’ll be with you as you do this, day after day after day, right up to the end of the age.”  Matt 28  The Message

Pretty straight forward. Nothing in there about personal gain, power, or prestige. The power of what happened on that Silent Night united enemies centuries later on a French battlefield.  My Christmas prayer is that the miracle of God becoming man will unite you and me, His followers, to seek what actually matters. To really make it about Christ and not about us. While we still have the chance.