He's My King!

I'm continuing to read in various media reports online about protests against the newly-elected President of the United States, Mr. Donald Trump. Individuals and groups are using the slogan "Not My President" in their anger against our new leader. But I'm not here to talk politics -- I'm here to lift our eyes to a higher plane, to who our real Leader is. Hint: we're getting ready to celebrate his birth soon!

Jesus -- his name means "one who saves" -- was born in a little backwater

Don't Be Afraid, it's Good News!

If you saw a headline that said "Great News! Stock Market Crash Wipes Out Wealth of Millions!" you'd wonder about the writer's sanity. Good news is supposed to benefit people, so they jump up and down in delight. The night Jesus was born, an angel appeared to shepherds out in the field to bring them this good news. The angel explained, "I bring you good news of great

Come, Let Us Adore Him

The busyness of Advent and Christmas season is over. We start the new year by putting away the decorations, writing thank-you cards, and focusing on the routine of life. But wait -- we sure don't want to lose out on the lasting lessons of the season, do we?  I think not. One of the main lessons of Christmas, I believe, is

Advent truths

A newsletter pointed me to this poem by Daniel Berrigan, a Jesuit priest. These statements contrast what we think, or perhaps despair of, with the truth of God's word about the Word of God. The daily concerns of Jesus' day are remarkably similar to the situation today, aren't they? But we can be glad for something: the worries about our doom are seen as less than real in the light of the reality of Christ! He came to set it all straight, and truly he did, even if we don't see it often enough. Let's spend a little more time in Advent before we rush off to the New Year: 

http://www.journeywithjesus.net/PoemsAndPrayers/Daniel_Berrigan_Advent_Credo.shtml

Living in the W

It's been a tough year for a lot of us.  My dad had a pacemaker put in, then had complications.  Several of my friends have
illnesses and all the attendant problems like tight finances and too much time tied up in doctor visits.  The Lovely Joanne had a car wreck and is still dealing with it.  Many people we know have lost loved ones, including two in the last three days.  A dear friend and fellow pastor is afraid his wife may have cancer.  My father-in-law has health problems.  And on it goes.

Where does it all end?  When will it be over?  What can we do to make it better?  Why is this happening? 

I don't know the answers to any of those W's but I do know one W that makes the whole thing bearable.  In fact, this W makes it all make sense.  That's the "Who" question -- which is the only place to start, and is the key to the entire puzzle.  In this case, it's Who is in charge?  And the answer is another question:  Who is Jesus? 

Jesus is the Word who was with the Father before creation and still is (John 1:1-4), and who came to be with us (John 1:14), in the flesh with all our same weaknesses and needs (Heb. 2:17) the unique Son of God who gave himself to save us (John 3:16-17).  He's the One the Father sent because we didn't listen to the other messengers very well (Heb. 1:1-2) and he is absolutely of the same being as the Father (Heb. 1:3).  He paid for all our sins on the Cross, willingly (John 19:30) and rose from the grave (John 20:1-10).  He ascended bodily to the Father (Acts 1:9) and is at the right hand of the Father now, ruling the entire universe -- in fact, containing it all in himself and having brought the whole created order back to God in a state of favor (Col. 1:17-23, Heb. 1:3) .  In all those ways, he perfectly represented us, so that when he died, we died and don't fear death anymore, because when he was resurrected, so were we (2 Cor. 5:14-17) and when he ascended to the Father, he took us with him in spirit and we stand before God the Father without a single fault (Col. 1:22) -- totally blameless, in Christ.  Through Jesus we have been adopted into the very household of God for God's glory and this made him very happy (Eph. 1:3-6).  He will return again in glory and finally set everything right: " I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them. He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever” (Rev. 21:3-4).  We have the Holy Spirit as our guarantee, living within us every day, as the down payment on the life we've been promised by God through his Son Jesus (Eph. 1:13-14). And Jesus will never leave us, but will be with us to the end (Mat. 28:20). 

That, my friends, is the Gospel.  Now, with all that in mind, what exactly were you and I worried about a few minutes ago?  Whatever it was, Jesus Christ already knows about it; has experienced it in his own body, and knows exactly how you feel; is walking with you through it; and will never let you go.

We need to keep our eyes on Jesus and keep asking the "Who" question, because that one.  Or as I have come to call it, "Living in the W."  Are you there with me?

What Now?

Christmas is a time of tremendous joy for the McCulleys, as we look at the Son of God, who took on human flesh (that's the Incarnation) to join us to God and give us eternal life.  Sharing that joy with others is our main focus during this time.  But, we just finished putting away all the Christmas decorations and took the tree out to be turned into compost.  So, what now?  Mild depression?  Back to business-as-usual?

What now?  What is our response to the great gift of God for us, his only Son, Jesus the Christ?  There should be only one response, if we consider carefully:  to live out, in every possible way,  our true being and purpose in life as God has revealed it.  Here's a prayer from the journal of Susanna Wesley, mother of John and Charles Wesley, who grounded them in God in their youth:  "Help me, Lord, to remember that religion is not to be confined to the church, or [prayer] closet, nor exercised only in prayer and meditation, but that everywhere I am in Thy presence.  So may my every word and action have a moral content...May all the happenings of my life prove useful and beneficial to me.  May all things instruct me and afford me an opportunity of exercising some virtue and daily learning and growing toward Thy likeness...Amen."  (Quoted by Richard Foster in Streams of Living Water, from Donald L. Kline's book, Susanna Wesley: God's Catalyst for Revival.)

What now?  God has called us with a holy calling as his dear children (Eph 1:4) and is blessing us spiritually (Eph. 1:3).  He is everywhere, at every second, so we know God is in every moment of our lives.  We don't have to "bring God along" as we go somewhere; he is already with us. But if we're not aware of God's presence and power, we end up stumbling around in life, being aware only of our own strength, and tripped up by our weaknesses. 

Let me suggest a simple prayer to remind us of God's presence in every second of our daily living:  "Lord God, help me see you in everything and hear your direction for me.  Let your love fill me so I can love everyone in your name.  Amen."  That's a place to begin. 

What now?  Live every moment of every day being fully aware of God's love and purpose for you. 

Christmas Bonus

Some companies give out a Christmas bonus (for the PC, a holiday bonus), or if they're technically driven, a performance bonus.  So here's something all of us can enjoy; one more point about the miracle of Christmas -- a 'Christmas bonus' if you will.

To paraphrase Max Lucado, God went through all this just for you.  If you were the only human on earth, the eternal Son of God would have come into human flesh with you, to be Immanuel, bringing humanity back into unity with God.  He would have died to pay for all your sins by his perfect, sinless sacrifice.  The hundreds of your sins would all be washed away by his sinless blood, and his rising from the dead on the first day of the week would have been your confidence of eternal resurrection. 

Even if it was only for you.  God loves that much!

Want some scriptures to read about this?  John 3:16, 1 John 3:16, 1 John 4:8, Romans 3:21-28, 6:23, 5:6-10, Eph. 1:3-5, for starters.  

How's that for a Christmas bonus?  This is one you can spend over, and over, and over...

The Gospel -- A Scandal from the First

He was conceived by an unwed mother in a comparatively poor family.  The scandal in her small town probably shamed her entire clan.  Her fiance nearly broke off their engagement in shame.  She didn't get a baby shower, because all her well-behaved friends deserted her.  When the time came to deliver her baby, there was no midwife, no adoring friends to fight over who got to hold the new baby first, nobody to bring in meals for the new mother.  Jesus' first look at our world took in the inside of a barn, which might even have been a cave hollowed out in the soft limestone, thick with cobwebs, dust and lamp smoke -- even worse than the kind of place Bob Vila sees on "This Old House."  

Angels told people about this newborn king.  But they didn't give their good news to the city fathers, or the local judges or priests or teachers, whose reputations could have generated welcome and notoriety for the newborn.  Instead, the heavenly messengers gave the word to shepherds, who were not only smelly, but generally seen by the good townfolk as just barely on the right side of the law, not to be trusted.  So even the first witnesses to the Messiah's birth were outcasts.  What a scandal!

So it shouldn't have been any surprise, when Jesus started preaching, that he spent time with prostitutes, tax collectors, fishermen, and other disreputable types.  When Jesus told the parable of the wedding banquet in Matthew 22, all the 'good and bad' of the town were invited to the party, because all people need the Father's love.  He took heat from the religious establishment for getting too close to sinners.  They accused him of the same kind of sins as those he was around, but they had it wrong.  He was there to show all of them -- the religious posers and the honest sinners -- that Father God loved them, and the best way to do that was to spend time with them so they'd see as well as hear his message.  And he said, plainly, in Luke 19:10 that he came "to seek and to save the lost."  That was a scandal to the religious leaders, who assumed that good religious people should only be around other good religious people. 

Why all this?  Because if Jesus, the Son of God, had been born to a princess in a king's palace with royal attendants and gifts from Nordstrom's, and a scholarship to the best rabbinical school, then we could assume that he came only for the powerful and religious.  But grace, by nature, is scandalous!  God has adopted -- given complete forgiveness and acceptance into his own circle of love, without reservation -- to everyday sinners and losers like me and like you, through Jesus, freely.  If you don't understand that scandalous grace, can we talk?

God's scandal of grace was made plain in Jesus.  Now, most people don't believe God could possibly love somebody as messed up as them.  I was in the front of the line on that one.  But Jesus proved God loves us, by a humble birth in uncomfortable circumstances, and by scandalously accepting with open arms all the broken, messed-up people he could find.  He already loves you, right where you are. 

And that's the real meaning of Christmas.

He's still talking to us

In Genesis 1, the Bible talks about God speaking the universe into existence. God spoke and it happened (verses 3, 6, 9, 11, 14, 20, 24, 26). Then God spoke to the humans (verses 28 and 29) and gave instruction. He continues to speak in chapter 2, particularly verses 16 and 18. Now, it seems that the humans listened at first, and as long as they did, all was well. It was when they listened to the serpent, and believed him instead of God, that things went south.

And so it has gone, ever since. As I've written before, God talked to people like Noah, Abraham, and the prophet Moses, as well as kings and prophets after them. He has never really left us without knowing His will. But to make the speaking perfect, the Father sent the Son to be with us and show us the Father's heart. We can read in Hebrews 1:1-2, "Long ago God spoke many times and in many ways to our ancestors through the prophets. And now in these final days, he has spoken to us through his Son."

How did the Father speak to us through the Son? In the Incarcation (God made flesh), we see many ways, verbal and non-verbal. For instance, the Son was born as a baby, expressing solidarity with humans in our weakness and helplessness and poverty. He was baptized to identify with our need for cleansing and to make our baptism perfectly valid. As a human, Jesus had to learn the scriptures; and as God, he taught the will of the Father that stands under and behind all the written word. Jesus gave up his life as a perfect sacrifice for our sins, in order to clear the way for our adoption by the Father; and was resurrected to show the Father's desire for us to join him in eternal happiness and peace.

The infant in the manger speaks to us. The young man in the Temple speaks to us. So do the Teacher and the Lamb and the risen Son. He's still talking to us through scripture and the Spirit's voice. It's all the one and same God speaking -- not one mysterious short-tempered God in the Old Testament and a new, nice and sweet Jesus in the New. It's the same will of God, the same love of God for his children, and the same faithfulness of God to his promises, that have spoken to us from Creation to now -- revealed, finally and fully, in the incarnate Son.

The Christmas season, for Christians, is not a time of spending money we don't have, to buy stuff we feel obligated to buy, for people we don't like, so they can take it all and exchange it on Monday for stuff they'd rather have anyway. Christmas teaches us to recognize the voice of God in the Son of God made flesh for us and with us. It teaches us that, by entering his creation, God has united his creation -- including all of us -- with himself forever. And that, we can celebrate with great joy!