A Christmas Eve Meditation

 One of my favorite Christmas books (and subsequent film) is Dr. Seuss’s How The Grinch Stole Christmas.  In this timeless classic, the Grinch, who has a heart that is two sizes too small, decides to prevent Christmas from coming in the village of Who-ville by cleverly stealing all the food, decorations, and gifts as the Whos down in Who-ville slept on Christmas Eve.

                                                            

After his hard night’s work, the Grinch was eagerly anticipating the disappointment in Who-ville when its residents discovered that Christmas had been stolen.  Much to his amazement, Christmas came anyway!  

                        Every Who down in Who-ville, the tall and the small,

                        Was singing!  Without any presents at all!

                        He HADN’T stopped Christmas from coming!

                        It CAME!

                        Somehow or other, it came just the same!

 

And so it was on that Christmas morning that the Grinch learned that Christmas means more than decorations, more than feasts, more than gifts.  And with that knowledge, the Grinch’s heart grew three sizes that day, and he was able to join the Whos in their celebration.

 

And in 2020, it may seem like the pandemic is trying to steal Christmas.  May we remember that Christmas will indeed come, just the same!

An Advent Meditation

 Ready. Or. Not.  Christmas is coming…soon!  To be sure, the holidays are different this year.  Many of us are enduring grief, hardship, and stress.  Celebrations require a large measure of sensitivity, caring, compromise, and sacrifice.  We may not have much in the way of holiday spirit.  But that is exactly why Jesus came.

 

Jesus did not come because we—the human race—had our act together.  He came because we are—individually and collectively—a mess.  We are so in need of the Messiah.  And His coming is not so unlike the ages-old children’s game of Hide and Seek.  The hiders hide.  The seeker waits, and then shouts, “Ready or not, here I come!”  And then the seeker comes looking….

 

We may not be ready; or alternatively, we may be hiding in what we think is a very secure place or in a very good disguise.  But regardless of our location or circumstances, regardless of how ready we are or how we are doing, we can be absolutely certain that the Seeker is coming for us.

 

Of course, Hide and Seek is a game, and the coming of the Messiah is anything and everything but a game.  The advent of the Messiah is about eternal life and death.  But we can learn something important from the game: The glee in which the seeker in the game finds the hiders is a mere shadow of the joy that the eternal Seeker experiences when He seeks and finds the lost or seeks and comforts those who are already His own but are suffering and struggling.

 

 

Come, Lord Jesus…!

Quote Of The Day

 "One thing this vaccine will not solve or cure is selfishness."

                                                        Tennessee Governor Bill Lee

An Advent Meditation

 ‘Tis the season for decorations, special music, (virtual) gatherings, gifts, parties, and…nativity scenes.  Representations of the circumstances of Christ’s birth appear as ornaments, in church plays, and on lawns.  Although we don’t know the details of this momentous event:  We don’t know if Jesus was born in a stable, a cave, or even in the stone tower known as Migdal Eder.  But we often find it helpful to imagine them so that our minds have something of substance to ponder.

 

Of course nativity scenes feature the baby Jesus with His mother Mary and human father Joseph.  Usually included is a donkey that may have accompanied Mary and Joseph from Nazareth and often a cow and a lamb.  It is a warm, rural scene that emphasizes the contrast between the glories of heaven and the humble circumstances of Christ’s birth and earthly life.  

 

There is one animal that is consistently and remarkably absent from our nativity scenes.  We never see a snake.  Modern-day Israel is home to over forty species of snakes, and ancient Israel no doubt had a robust population.  It is not in the least unreasonable to speculate that a snake was present at the birth of Christ.

 

But it is not a generic snake that is in question here.  It is the serpent of old, Satan in the Garden of Eden, whose presence deserves our consideration.  After Satan, in the form of a serpent/snake, tempted Eve and provoked her to disobey God and initiate the fall, God pronounced judgment upon all involved.  His judgment upon Satan included a promise of redemption for Adam and Eve and their descendants—the Seed of Eve would crush the serpent’s head even as he would bruise this Seed’s heel.

 

And so even though we do not know if there was an actual snake at the birth of Christ, the serpent of old plays a prominent role in this drama.  His presence—literally or metaphorically—reminds us that the wondrous birth of Christ is a scene set in the battlefield of Good versus evil, of sacrifice and suffering to defeat the serpent, to purchase redemption, and to reclaim eternity for those who believe.

An Advent Meditation

 In.  The.  Beginning.  Powerful words that begin the books of Genesis and the Gospel of John.  And while these phrases were originally written in different languages, they share the same meaning and are translated with the same words.  This has been recognized since the Old Testament was first translated into Greek by the scholars gathered together for that purpose.  En arche God created the heavens and the earth.  En arche was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

 

As we walk through this Advent season and prepare to celebrate Christmas, the connection that the Apostle John makes with the book of Genesis is powerfully relevant.  The God who was and is the beginning of all things is the very same God who was and is the Word who came to live among us, to be our Immanuel, God with us, to reveal Himself in flesh and to save us as the Lamb of God.  

 

Jesus’s birth in Bethlehem, in time and space, was not a random event.  It is firmly anchored in the beginning of time; it is promised by God after the fall; it is prophesied by the prophets.  The I AM by Whom, through Whom, and for Whom all things have been created (Colossians 1:16) has emptied Himelf, taking the form of a bond-servant and being made in the likeness of men (Philippians 2:7).  

 

As we prepare to celebrate our Lord’s first coming and consider the reality of His second coming, may we remember and appreciate with awe and reverence the wonder of Immanuel, God with us.