Advent Hope

It's that time of year again; Advent is upon us and Christmas is coming. I love that the first Sunday of Advent is hope. The season begins with expectation. Before peace or joy comes the anticipation of God's good work in the world. We are not alone or abandoned. The miracle of Advent is that Emmanuel has come and is coming again.

On a grand eschatological scale, I understand the hope we have in Jesus. He has overcome sin and death to bring us eternal hope. God’s story ends well because Jesus has won the victory. But sometimes it’s hard to see how this hope trickles down into the minutia of our everyday lives. It can be difficult to sense how Christ’s incarnation solves problems of work situations, difficult relationships, or desires deferred.

This is a problem of vision not God’s sovereignty. Perhaps it feels like a baby in the manger does not resolve whatever is weighing on our minds, but that child did change eternity. When we allow ourselves to think our problems are beyond the scope of our hope, we put artificial limits on God and His good work. Our hope is not dictated by our present conditions between the two advents of Jesus. Jesus has not overcome some conflicts and some sins, but all. He came to rescue us and He is coming again. This hope we have should recalibrate how we see our circumstances.

Recently I was praying about various fears, and the more I prayed, the more I became discouraged. Amidst my mounting anxiety, I felt the Lord say “stop focusing on the problems. Fix your attention on me.” When I stopped concentrating on my fears, and reminded myself of who God is, my anxiety began to wane. I was reminded of the passage when Peter walked on water until he took his eyes off Jesus and looked at his surroundings (Mt 14:22-33). I’m sure we have all heard sermons about needing to keep our hope and our attention on God, but it's a lesson we easily forget. God is very patient with me and my forgetfulness.

I don’t know what hardships you may be facing. On top of life, with its business, comes the bustle of the Christmas season. In the midst of everything, may we not lose sight of the hope we have in Jesus who came into this world and is coming again.

Viral Gospel Part 3.

 Today’s post is the third and final part of my “Viral Gospel series”. The Gospel is like a virus in its ability to transform culture and lives. We see this illustrated in a biological process known as transduction.

As discussed in Viral Gospel part 1. the goal of a virus is to infect a cell, use the cell’s machinery to build more viruses, and then release the daughter virions (individual virus particles) to go infect other cells. But sometimes in the chaos of a virus’ hostile takeover of a cell, instead of packing a copy of the viral nucleic acid into a daughter virion, a chunk of the host cell’s DNA is added instead. When this daughter virion goes on to infect another cell, instead of inserting viral nucleic acid into the new cell, the bit of previous host’s DNA is added. This viral accident can be used by biologists as a tool for making cells express novel genes.

Like a virion introducing new genes into an existing genome, the Gospel brings new life to our human cultures. The Gospel does not condemn culture or impose an ancient culture upon us today, but engages with, redeems, and transforms our modern culture.

When we encounter the Gospel we do not have to reject everything we have known; we do not have to disown our old way of life. Instead we can allow the transcendent truth of the Gospel into our lives and begin discovering how this interacts with us and our culture. We do not have to behave like first century Palestinian peasants to follow Jesus, we can learn what it means to be followers today in our twenty-first century context. This journey of transformation is something Christians have been experiencing and experimenting with for centuries. We see an example of this in the New Testament debate about circumcision. The early church had to wrestle with how the Gospel related to both the culture and the belief concerning circumcision.

Another example is the Christmas tree. Skeptics like to point out possible pagan roots or animistic traditions of the Christmas tree as though this somehow invalidates the holiday. There is nothing inherently evil about decorating with a tree, even if pagans used to worship it. The Gospel does not say “because this [insert cultural good, artifact, tradition] was used for idolatry (or other sin), it must be disowned.” Instead the Gospel teaches us how to take these things and re-purpose them for the Gospel. This is how we redeem an object or custom. People used to worship trees, instead of raining on their parade let us use this familiar tradition to now point to Jesus. People celebrated the winter solstice and prayed for the sun to return, let us celebrate Jesus’ birth at the same time of year and utilize this existing cultural momentum to teach about Jesus’ coming as the true light and new life which people have long hoped for.

So what does this mean for us now? How do we allow the Gospel to transform us? What in our lives, in how we live, has not been changed by the Gospel? How can we be transformed by this truth? The miracle of Christmas is the incarnation of our Savoir. We reflect back upon this great mystery and we look forward to this coming reality, to Jesus’ second advent. The question for us now is how do we incarnate the message of God’s incarnation today, in our context, to our neighbors?

Share your thought and ideas in the comment section, I know I still have a lot to learn

Advent in France: Peace

Every Advent I love contemplating the awesome Truth of Emmanuel; "God with us" (Mt 1:23, Isa 7:14).  I am continually amazed by God; after I had rejected Him and have betrayed him on a daily basis, He still chose to come back and be with someone like me.  It's crazy.

In John 1:9-13 we see the sad truth of God coming back to this beautiful creation of His, now marred  by sin, and not being recognized.  There are examples of darkness all around us and the internet has only heightened this availability.  But the passage does not end here.  In verse 12 and 13 we see hope break through.  We who have become enemies of God have a way back home.  We can have peace with our Creator not based upon our efforts but because of His efforts.

With less than a week to go before Christmas, let us each make room for this awesome gift of peace in our lives.  Emmanuel has come and is coming.  May we celebrate the peace we have in Him.

Advent in France: Hope

For those who don't know we recently moved to France where we will working for the next two years.  It has already been an awesome adventure filled with fun, friends, and culture-shock.

It is also hard to believe we are already eight days into December.  As with each year it seems, Advent is whirling past too quickly.  Or I am too busy sorting out a new life, new ministry, new culture to take the necessary time to ruminate upon the themes of Advent.

I love Advent, I love this season of waiting, darkness, and solemn contemplation.  I love the first Sunday's title of "hope"; Advent begins with hope.  As I have previously discussed in Advents passed, we celebrate Advent not only as remembrance of Jesus's first Advent, but also looking forward to His awaited second Advent.  This is why I have hope, the story is not over.

With this year's Advent season the question I have been pondering is how to embody this hope?  As I am learning to engage with a new culture how do I live in a way that reflects this Advent truth?

The best example I have found to follow is John the Baptist.  Isaiah prophesies about John saying:

A voice cries out:
"In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.  Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain.  Then the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken." (Isa 40:3-5)

We see John went before Jesus and prepared for His first Advent.  John's life was lived to make way for Jesus's coming into the world, and this is our great calling.  We too can live out and live in the Truth of Jesus's first Advent and His second Advent, and by doing so we have the opportunity to prepare the way for His coming.  I love how the Isaiah passage concludes, about the LORD's glory being revealed and all people, from all sorts of backgrounds and beliefs, seeing it together.  What a wonderful image.  We also see John's mission was not dependent upon his abilities, his tactics, but ultimately upon the LORD and His declaration.  The LORD has spoken His Truth and we have the privilege of walking out and embodying this.

So let us go out into this dark world carrying to hope of Advent, let us make a way in this desolate land, and let us live to see His glory revealed and everyone invited in.

Love and sharing the Good News

Merry Christmas Eve!  With Christmas now only a day away we are preparing to switch gears from Advent to Christmas; from the longings in exile to the joy and good news which has come into the world.  Our messiah is coming.  Through Jesus's birth we see God's love demonstrated; we see the lengths He has gone through to show His love of us to us.  Jesus went on a missions trip to Earth to be our good news.

We remember the awesome truth of Emmanuel ("God with us") who came to this dark and lonely world.  God is with us and we can rest in the truth of His love.  We have the assurance that humanity in all our depravity cannot push God from this world.  Try as we have throughout human history, we cannot eclipse His love; we cannot make Him who is faithful give up.  God's love for this world is too great to be drowned out, and this incomprehensible truth continues to bring me awe.

With this in mind, an often un-discussed but central topic to Christmas is the un-reached people groups of the world.  We can relate to the people of Israel who waited in darkness for the coming of the Lord, and now we too are waiting for the Second Coming.  Our hope is in the assurance Jesus is coming back to bring us home.  Our exile will end and we will be with God.  As we prepare to celebrate Jesus's birth and His Second Coming, there are almost 3 billion (Joshua Project) people who have not heard the truth of Jesus's first coming.  Christmas is about the good news coming to Earth; not to certain regions, not only to the Church, but the whole world.

John the Baptist was sent ahead of Jesus to "prepare the way of the Lord" as testified by all four Gospel authors.  He fulfilled Isaiah 40:3-5 and went before Jesus to be the voice crying out in the wilderness.  John's great task was to go into a dark world and begin testifying about Jesus to any and all who would listen; he prepared the way for Jesus's first coming.  Similarly our great task is to (like John) go before Jesus and prepare the way for His second coming.  Like John we are called to be the voice in the wilderness crying out "prepare the way of the Lord."  We are not called the comfortable, we are not called to the complacent; we are called to "the wilderness" and "the desert".  Our task is not an easy one; we are called to serve the hard, dry, and resistant areas.  Finding such places does not require stepping much beyond our front doors, but on a global scale we have to consider the regions and people groups who have no access to the good news of Jesus.

As we transition from Advent to Christmas may we remember the un-reached who have not heard about our Emmanuel.  We will once again celebrate the truth that Jesus has come into the world and life will never be the same.  May we be people who will take this truth, the light of this good news, and carry it to those still in darkness who have no hope.  May we not look to the Second Coming without thinking to share the message of the First with all the world.

What's the deal with the pink Advent candle?

I don't know your traditions, if you have these traditions, but growing up the four Sundays of Advent were Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love. This last Sunday was the third Sunday of Advent and therefore Joy. Another tradition I have often seen in Advent wreaths is having the third candle be pink instead of the typical purple color of Advent. I did a little digging (wikipedia) to find the story behind this pink candle and have discovered the following.

The third Sunday of Advent is called "Gaudete Sunday" in the liturgical calendar, and "gaudete" is Latin for "rejoice". Historically this Sunday's mass begins with Philippians 4:4-6.

But why the pink candle? Turns out the candle is pink to help distinguish and highlight this Sunday and specifically the theme of joyful anticipation of Jesus's coming into the world. I find this idea intriguing.

I don't know about you, but I experience Advent as a quiet and contemplative season of the year. I enjoy reflecting upon the melancholy themes of exile and walking in darkness before Christ's triumphant entry. Just as we are waiting for the light of Christmas and Jesus's first coming, the whole world is still waiting for the light of Jesus's second coming.

But Christmas is not only about the solemn reflection upon the state of the world, it is a joyful celebration of Emmanuel, our God who came to be with us. After being rejected by humanity God in His goodness He sent us His Son. Jesus came back to this dark world which He could have easily given up on (I would not blame Him if He had). We have hope, peace, joy and love because Jesus has come into the world. Jesus is coming and nothing will ever be the same.

And so it is fitting for Christmas to be a fun and festive season; to give gifts, sing carols, eat cookies, and be with family. Our God is a God of celebration. In the Torah He very specifically called the Israelites to celebrate three festivals in remembrance of what God had done for them (Passover, Booths, and Pentecost). It is only appropriate we too be a people of celebration as we remember all the Lord has done for us.

Yes this world is still in darkness, but we joyfully await Jesus's triumphant return.

What a candle taught me about Advent

A few years ago I had the opportunity to spend Thanksgiving with my sister in Copenhagen Denmark.  Without Thanksgiving to get in the way the whole city was in full Christmas-mode.

A fun Danish Christmas tradition my sister showed me is burning Advent calendar candles (pictured) called a kalenderlys.  The idea is simple enough, each day you burn one day's worth of candle counting down until Christmas.

This last summer we found one of these candles in our travels, and for the month of December I have been burning the candle each day.  This task is nice and cozy, but it has required more intention than I initially expected.  Each day I am forced to find time for the day's burning.  This requires me to plan my days in such a way I will have time for the kalenderlys.  If a day were to be missed I know the little golden numbers on the candle would be there taunting me until the time had been redeemed.

It's amazing how restful it is to daily spend time watching a candle burn.  Since I can't leave the flame unattended, I am required to sit and be still.  So far the time burning the kalenderlys is either spent praying or sitting with my wife Emily (my two favorite people).  The Advent calendars I had growing up (opening a door each day) helped me count the days until Christmas, but they did not require a daily pause from me.  A picture or Bible verse can be merely glanced at; a candle takes time to burn.  I am held accountable for spending time each day resting and reflecting upon the miracle of Emmanuel.

I don't know about you, but I at least can make the idea of spending time with Jesus into this great overwhelming task.  Jesus did not come to add clutter to our lives, but we have a knack for missing this point.  It is easy for me to confuse quantity and quality of time spent with God.  The kalenderlys helps me also remember even a small portion of time spend well with the Lord is time well spent.

This advent season instead of buying into the craziness of our modern holiday let us make room to be still and remember what the Lord has done for us.

Advent is not like a Civil War reenactment

Once again the season of Advent is upon us and with it come a whirlwind of emotions.  I love the season of Advent.  And I especially love how Advent is not like a Civil War reenactment.

There is great power in remembrance.  One of God's most frequent commands throughout scripture is to remember, and we see this in various expressions from piles of stones to Passover dinners.  Even beyond the Lord's direction we understand the power of recall and contemplation.

Advent is a wondrous time of remembering, to take time and be still, and think about the Lord's coming to Earth.  We contemplate the truth of how before Jesus's arrival we all were a people in darkness, but with His coming "the people walking in darkness have seen a great light" (Isa 9:2).  We remember the miracle of Emmanuel, "God with us"; the impossible truth that despite our rebellion and rejection of God He came back for us.  We are not alone.  It is powerful to remind ourselves of this truth.

But the similarities between Advent and a Civil War reenactment end here.  A reenactment has the power to help us remember, to visualize and experience the past, but the events are forever locked in the past.  No matter of contemplation and recollection will ever cause change.

Advent is a season of hope not only in events of the past but also events of the future.  As the world waited in darkness for Jesus's first advent, we now quietly await Jesus's second advent.  We can relate to lyrics such as "O come, O come, Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel, that mourns in lonely exile here until the Son of God appear" because this too is our story.  Our lives are in exile upon this rock.  Earth is not my home.

We do not reenact or remember the events of two thousand years ago only to recreate the memories or experiences of Christ's advent; we are not merely trying to recapture every year the wonder of events past.  We also contemplate Christ's first coming to give us hope and help prepare us for His second.  Our lives should look different in light of our hope of Advent.  Emmanuel not only came back to save us, but is coming back to bring us home.  The conclusion of Christ's Second Advent is our return to Paradise and God's presence; the restoration of everything we lost at the Fall.  Our hope is in going home.

Are we looking to the future this Advent?  May we contemplate Jesus's first advent as a reminder of the hope we have in His second.

Emmanuel

I love the word "Emmanuel"; the concept of "God with us" (Mt 1:23) is such a profound mystery.  

The radical idea of Christmas is that God came back to Earth.  Of our own volition Humanity has only rejected God, spat in His face, and broken His heart.  And yet He sent His Son.  God came back to the world that had forsaken Him for our own destruction.

"He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him.  He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him." (Jn 1:10-11).

As far as we have run away God is relentless for us.  God has already proven that He will do whatever He can to get us back not because of our merit but His great love for us.  I would have given up on myself a long time ago, but God continues to reach out to me.  He believes in my redemption even when I struggle to.  May we seek to be as relentless in our pursuit of God as He is in His pursuit of us

Let us not jump ahead to the Cross just yet, but for now simply marvel in the great mystery of the Incarnation.  Christ has come into the World, and nothing will ever be the same.  May we ponder the implications of this and consider how to embody this faith.

Advent and Love

As Christmas Day draws near and this season of Advent builds toward it's climax, we come to the topic of love.

This poor worn English word has the burden of carrying such a variety and depth of emotions.  The word 'love' is so frequently and often carelessly tossed around.  With this usage the term easily becomes distorted and devalued.  Truth such as "God is love" (1 Jn 4:16 ) is changed to "Love is god", and we are left just as empty as before.

In contrast to this we have the ever-lasting and ever-faithful/unchanging love of God.  It is in the midst of the darkness that the light shines (Jn 1:5).  Into the brokenness God sent His Son.  To the fallen world God came as the Son (Rom 5:8).

We may misuse and misunderstand words like love, and so Jesus came to show us love.  He demonstrated what love looks like in ways not as easily altered as frail human words.  We can warp the concept of God's love to mean whatever we want, but in His incarnation we see love depicted.  He has shown us love by portraying and giving it to us.  To understand love we simply need to look to the manger and to the cross.

There is much more that can be said of love, many things that I am yet to learn, but let us contemplate this mystery of God's love coming down to show us how to love and how to live.

Advent and Joy

Joy is a funny thing.  It can be hard to put into words, and yet we all have a sense of it.

In the Gospels joy is seen as a response to the good news of Jesus and the coming of His Kingdom:  Mt 13:20, Lk 6:23, Mt 28:8, Jn 3:29, Lk 1:44.

Joy is often presented in contrast to happiness.  Happiness is described as conditional and temporal.  Joy in comparison is not derived from situation but person, specifically God.  In that sense joy is interwoven with delight.  This is not at all to say that happiness is bad, merely that happiness is fleeting while Jesus is our solid rock.  

Joy and delight stem from deep within the human soul, the purpose of humanity is to delight and be delighted in by God our Creator and Lord.  We have been created for delight, and the memory of this still aches within our souls.  Our joy is found in remembering who God is and who we have been created to be. Joy is never a solitary thing, it comes from relationship.

Are we settling for a happiness that is convenient when our truest desire is for a deeper joy?  Are we attempting to distract ourselves instead of addressing the more difficult and fulfilling pursuit?

May we remember and discover anew the good news of Jesus and His Kingdom, and may we appropriately be filled with joy.

Advent and peace

It has been observed that the Christmas season is one of the least peaceful times of the year.  We all know that is not how things should be, and we all know that the celebration of our Lord's birth should be a season on peace and not business.

My family's tradition is that the second candle of Advent is the candle of peace.  I like that the season begins with hope and then moves to peace; peace flows from our hope.

I have found that my most broken moments are often my most peaceful moments, because from brokenness come dependency on God, dependency flows into intimacy, and from intimacy comes Christ's peace "which surpasses all understanding" (Phil 4:7)

I like that we are not commanded to muster up peace.  We do not have to obtain peace to turn to God, but rather peace flows from turning to God, from obedience, from being present in His presence. Our peace is not dependent upon us, our actions, or our circumstances, but upon God who is independent.  We receive peace like we receive grace.

So may we have peace even in the middle of the chaos of the season.  May we "be still and know" (Ps 46:10), may we rest in His presence and peace, because it is there that we are home.

Advent and hope

Here we are once again in the season of Advent; this time of year is a whirlwind of emotions, traditions, and memories.  Once again we contemplate the profound mystery and miracle of Emmanuel, "God with us" (Mt 1:23).

We remember the first Advent when "the people who walked in darkness have seen a great light" (Isa 9:2).  All of creation lay in exile.  And then came God's promise of the messiah, He who would come back for us.

Before we get to the joyous day of Christmas we have Advent, a time of waiting in darkness.  We remember the state of the world, as expressed by the lyrics "O come, O come, Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel, that mourns in lonely exile here until the Son of God appear."

We do not remember Advent simply because of what happened two thousand years ago.  We remember the first Advent because we are currently waiting for the second Advent.  We too are a people walking in darkness.  Yes, Jesus has come into the world, but the fullness of Jesus' victory and God's redemption of all of creation is still in progress.  The world is still a dark place.  And so we reflect upon the first Advent as a means to illuminate our current state of waiting.

But we are not to wait idly.  We have the incredible honor of participating in God's work of reconciliation (2 Cor 5:18-19).  We are called to be like John the Baptist, who came before Jesus.  John was the one who came "to prepare the way of the Lord" (Isa 40:3-5).  And now it is we who are called by God to prepare the way of Jesus' second coming.  Until that great day we sacrifice to prepare the way, and we wait in darkness, but we have hope.

May we seek to be present this Advent as we contemplate both Advents past and future.