Jesus

Advent approaches – will the Grinch grab Christmas?

Posted on by Grace Day

Today, Advent continues its steady advance, unfazed by any unforeseen obstacles that would slow its approach or block its path. Advent is unstoppable. God’s gift to mankind will be delivered (oh good pun, right?) in a timely manner and nothing will delay or deter the arrival of Immanuel – God with us. 

“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given,” (Isaiah 9:6)

So the Messiah arrives on time. But will I be ready? Ready to celebrate His arrival properly that is? You see, I’ve had a few setbacks. First, due to a bad cold, I haven’t left the house in five days. Those were five days I had fully filled (in my head and on my “to do” lists) with all the things I was going to accomplish during that time to get ready for the celebration of Christmas. (this is when not being a procrastinator would have served me well) So the purchasing of gifts and the procurement of festive foods (or any food) has not been done as I write this sad but true confession.

The second unexpected setback was the need for a plumber’s services. No one ever plans on a plumber – if you need a plumber, it’s because there’s a problem you didn’t plan for or leave room for in your schedule. ”Have a plumber over to the house for a day” was NOT on my original to do list. It got added out of necessity. (of course “get sick” wasn’t an item on my list of things to do either) It’s no wonder these words from Proverbs have been uppermost in my mind these days –

“Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.” (Proverbs 19:21)

“In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps.” (Proverbs 16:9)

I had made oh, so many plans, but have actually carried out none of them to date. When my grown children arrive to celebrate Christmas will they find no presents under the tree and the refrigerator empty? Oh, that’s right, there is no tree, I don’t have one. So, the casual observer might conclude that the Grinch has already visited my house and successfully grabbed Christmas while I was otherwise occupied with plumbing problems and personal illness. But this would not be true, because there isn’t anything for the Grinch to grab. I can’t blame the Grinch for my lack of preparedness. The Grinch hasn’t stolen anything from me. There is nothing here for him to steal at present.

Now the reason I always liked the story of the Grinch as a child was because it had a satisfying ending involving a change of heart on the Grinch’s part brought on by the revelation of a very profound truth. The Grinch thought he had stopped Christmas from coming by stealing all the trappings of Christmas, the trees, the presents, the decorations, the food, everything from every Who’s house. He left nothing behind. But on Christmas morning the Grinch heard all the Who’s singing and celebrating. It was then the Grinch had this epiphany -

“Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn’t before! ’Maybe Christmas,’ he thought, ‘doesn’t come from a store.’ ’Maybe Christmas . . . perhaps . . . means a little bit more!’ “ 

And with that revelation of truth, everything changed for the Grinch. According to the story, his heart grew three sizes and he returned all the stolen trappings of Christmas to each and every Who. The Grinch had stolen the Who’s stuff, but he hadn’t succeeded in stealing Christmas because the gift of Christ, that we celebrate at Christmas, can’t be taken from those who receive God’s gift of His Son.

Advent is about clearing the clutter in order to make room for the Christ Child. The Grinch certainly helped the Whos to make room that day. When everything was stripped away, the Whos still had a reason to sing, a reason to rejoice. The Christ Child still came, God’s gift is still given. And the Whos did sing and celebrate, even though all their food, presents, decorations etc. had been stolen by the Grinch. Sometimes it’s easier to celebrate when the external customs of the season are removed, so we are no longer burying the original event, Christ’s birth, which is “the reason for the season”, as they say, beneath all the man invented, added on customs and traditions now covering up the miraculous event itself, the birth of Immanuel, God with us. 

We don’t want to forget whose birthday party it is that we are attending as invited guests. Sadly though, for many, it does seem to be about the party rather than the Person. Maybe the Grinch will grab Christmas again and do us all the favor of clearing away our clutter, helping us to make room for the Christ Child, something that we can’t seem to get done on our own. So thank you, Mr. Grinch, for stealing what doesn’t matter, so that I can see more clearly that which does matter.

Christmas will come, whether or not I ever get to the store! Let my heart be preparing room for the coming King!  

“She wrapped Him in cloths and placed Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.” (Luke 2:7)

Lord Jesus, this Christmas may You be welcomed in everywhere. May You find many hearts that have made room for You to enter in, including my own.

sincerely,  Grace Day 

   

Advent’s songs tell the story

Posted on by Grace Day

I punch the buttons on my car radio as I drive, not satisfied with any of the musical offerings that come into my car with each change of the radio station. I have already grown weary of Jingle Bell Rock, Chestnuts Roasting over an open fire, Rudolf the red-nosed reindeer, Winter Wonderland, White Christmas, Santa Claus is coming to town, It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas, Frosty the Snowman, Let it snow, Santa Baby, Rockin’ around the Christmas Tree – well, you get the idea. These “songs of the season” don’t really give me any clue as to who or what we are actually celebrating. 

But there is music that runs through my mind today, filling the silence with it’s almost forgotten words from the past. The song is “O Little Town of Bethlehem.” But as usual I only mostly recall the first verse, so I look up the words to the other three verses to satisfy my curiosity or maybe my longing to bring back those childhood years of singing this and other carols as we celebrated the Advent season. These carols always made so real to me the miracle of Jesus coming here to earth as a baby, the miracle that is Immanuel – God with us. I couldn’t sing the words without reliving the age old story once again. That is still true to this day.

After four hundred years of God’s silence, His people were desperate for His presence. Had they given up hope? Had they stopped watching for His appearance? Seems as if the arrival of the Messiah took them by surprise. Maybe that’s because Jesus wasn’t born in a big, important city such as Jerusalem. He chose instead to be born in a small, out of the way, little known town called Bethlehem. The story is told beautifully in the carol, “O Little Town of Bethlehem”, which as I said, is the song in my head today. It begins -  

“O little town of Bethlehem, how still we see thee lie! . . . Yet in the dark street shineth, the everlasting Light, the hopes and fears of all the years, are met in thee tonight. For Christ is born of Mary, . . . O morning stars together proclaim the holy birth, and praises sing to God, the King, and peace to men on earth.” 

How true the words and how wondrous! Into our darkness comes the Light. All the hopes of mankind are realized in the person of Jesus Christ, and all the fears of man are conquered with His appearance on our behalf. 

“In Him was life, and that life was the light of men.” (John 1:4)

“Jesus said, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.’ “ (John 8:12) The third verse of the song continues –

“How silently, how silently, the wondrous Gift is given! So God imparts to human hearts the blessings of His heaven. No ear may hear His coming, but in this world of sin, where meek souls will receive Him still, the dear Christ enters in.”

This song acknowledges Jesus as “the wondrous Gift given” to us by God and further tells us that we can receive this gift and Jesus will “enter in” if we have prepared a place for Him in our hearts and in our lives, if we have, as another song says – “prepared Him room.”

The fourth verse echoes the yearning of every human heart for redemption from this broken world and for reconciliation with our holy Creator. The carol continues –

“O holy Child of Bethlehem, descend to us we pray. Cast out our sin and enter in, be born in us today. We hear the Christmas angels, the great glad tidings tell, O come to us, abide with us, our Lord Immanuel!”

God did descend to us when Jesus was born in Bethlehem that first Christmas. He did come to cast out our sin, making room, so that He could enter into our lives and we could be born again. He came to abide with us. Jesus is Immanuel!

“The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14)

The words of the carol tell the story that we celebrate every year. We celebrate the birth of God’s only Son, the birth of the promised Messiah, the birth of the Savior, the birth of the sacrificial Lamb of God, the birth of the Prince of Peace, the birth of the King of kings and the Lord of lords. Jesus is all these things and so much more. He brings light into our darkness and hope into our despair. How can we not celebrate that He was born, fulfilling the promise of God to redeem us for Himself? 

When I feel like Christmas is getting lost in the celebrating of the event itself, I find that singing the old songs, songs that tell the story of Christmas, shifts my focus from what surrounds me to the event we say we are celebrating, the event which tore time in two, an event that took place over two thousand years ago, but continues to this day to be the event that changed human history irrevocably, for now and for eternity.

The King has come! The King is coming! Time to celebrate the former while preparing for the latter. The time is now. Advent is here. ”Let every heart prepare Him room!”

“Lift up your heads, O you gates; be lifted up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O you gates; lift them up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is he, this King of glory? The Lord Almighty – He is the King of glory.” (Psalm 24:7-10) 

Lord, King of glory, may my heart not be closed to You this Advent season. 

sincerely,  Grace Day 

 

Advent – has the lead been buried?

Posted on by Grace Day

Birthday parties are really fun celebrations. I think back on my own children’s birthday parties and they were always important events that we celebrated with much planning, preparation and anticipation. My children were also guests at numerous birthday parties during those years. These birthdays were celebrated in a variety of ways. Roller skating or bowling were both popular activities with which to celebrate the birthday, as were Build a Bear and Chuck E Cheese as venues. The birthday was celebrated with food and gifts before the final activity of singing to the birthday child, whereafter he or she would blow out the candles on their birthday cake and every guest got to eat some of the coveted cake. Not only did the guests partake of the cake, they were also sent home with goodie bags, containing gifts for themselves even though it wasn’t their birthday. 

Now depending upon how big these parties were and whether it was one where the whole class was invited, the party guests had varying degrees of relationship with the person who had issued the invitation, the person whose birthday was actually being celebrated. But even if a particular guest did not know the person well whose birthday was being celebrated, they could still participate fully in all the activities surrounding the event, such as skating, enjoying the food, singing and eating cake and hanging out with friends at the same party doing the same thing. They didn’t really have to know who they were celebrating in order to enjoy all the various aspects of the party. Maybe it was more about the party than the person anyway?

As adults we may also be guests at events where we don’t know the person being celebrated all that well. It may be a work event honoring a coworker we don’t know personally. But that doesn’t stop us from participating in the festivities, enjoying the food and the fun, even though we have no personal connection to who is being recognized. After all, who doesn’t love a good party? 

I’m thinking this may describe the season and the celebration of Advent we are in today. Christmas is celebrated around the world in many different ways by many different cultures. Christmas is a birthday party – a world wide party celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ. The name of the holiday literally means “Christ’s mass” or “Christ’s celebration”. That should be a clue right there as to who we are honoring at this party we call Christmas. The guest list for this party is all inclusive. Everyone is invited to come and to celebrate God’s gift to the world of His only Son.

“For to us a child is born, to us a Son is given, and the government will be on HIs shoulders. And He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.” (Isaiah 9:6-7) 

This is really good news! No wonder the month of December around the world is one big birthday party celebration, observed with different foods and customs in different parts of the world – but celebrated nonetheless. We are celebrating the birth of God’s Son, Jesus, the promised Messiah for all mankind. 

“For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

We may come to this birthday party bearing a gift for the Christ child, like the Wise Men did, when they brought their gifts to Jesus. But if we accept the goodie bag given to us freely at this birthday party, we receive the gift of eternal life. That’s a pretty good gift to take away from this celebration. 

“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23) 

Everyone receives an invitation to this birthday party and everyone is offered a goodie bag prepared just for them. There are no exclusions. 

“The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9)

People all over the world fully participate in all the activities surrounding the celebration of Christ’s birth, despite the fact they don’t know Him personally. We decorate, we bake cookies, we put up Christmas trees, we give and receive gifts, we sing the songs of the season – which include everything from “Glory to the newborn King”, to “Santa Clause is coming to town” to “I’m dreaming of a white Christmas.” Some of these songs, such as “The First Noel”, remind us of the miraculous event that happened two-thousand twenty-three years ago, the birth of the Savior, which we are still celebrating today.  

As I write this, the global birthday party is in full swing. People are only too happy to be invited to participate in all the festivities, fun and food. But many participate in the party without ever coming into contact with the guest of honor. And when the celebration draws to a close, they leave the party without their goodie bag. They don’t receive the gift that was offered to them, the gift made possible by the coming of the Christ Child. How sad to attend the party, never meet the guest of honor and then leave empty handed. 

In our culture, the lead certainly has become buried in the celebration of Christmas. Oh, there are still some clues for those who have eyes to see. Stars or angels atop Christmas trees are symbols of the night of Jesus’s birth. It was an angel who appeared to the shepherds in the field, giving them the good news that Jesus had been born. And it was a special star that guided the three Wise Men on their long journey to find Jesus and worship Him. 

“And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; He is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.’ “ (Luke 2:8-12)

This is the lead that has been buried beneath all the festivities of the birthday party of the King. ”Unto us a child is given, unto us a Son is born,” “a Savior has been born to you!” to us, to you and to me! Our promised Redeemer has come, hope has entered into our hopeless world. 

“The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14)

Immanuel, God with us, this is the lead that today is buried beneath our cultural customs attached to this birthday party. There are so many fun activities for us to do, that we really don’t have any extra time to seek out the guest of honor and get to know Him. It wasn’t any different on that first Christmas – the lead was buried then also. The people were looking for a powerful, political king with a crown to deliver them from Roman oppression. So they overlooked the helpless baby in the manger, except for the shepherds, who listened to the angel and followed his instructions to go and worship the newborn King. The rest of the world went on with business as usual, not realizing the miracle that had taken place in their very midst.

This Advent season I don’t want the lead to be buried. I am celebrating a miracle. God has come and He’s coming again. The angel brought “good news of great joy for All people.” That’s a reason to celebrate. God came here to redeem His people. That includes you and me, dear readers. ”Let every heart prepare Him room.” I want to be ready when He comes. Advent is all about preparing to receive the coming King.

“Lift up your heads, O you gates; be lifted up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O you gates; lift them up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is He, this King of glory? The Lord Almighty – He is the King of glory.” (Psalm 24:7-10)

sincerely,  Grace Day   

  

    

 

 

songs of the season

Posted on by Grace Day

They are inescapable in this advent season, these Christmas songs. No matter what radio station I turn on while driving in my car, Christmas tunes are playing nonstop. Stores and even my church have Christmas music playing in the background continuously during these days. It’s no wonder my thoughts are filled with the words to these songs, causing me to hum and sing various versions of these songs randomly throughout my day.

Today’s tune has been “Hark the Herald Angels Sing!” You know the one, right? “Hark the herald angels sing, ‘Glory to the newborn king! Peace on earth and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled.’ Joyful, all ye nations rise, join the triumph of the skies. With the angelic host proclaim: ‘Christ is born in Bethlehem.’ ”

I’ve sung this old Christmas carol for many years, which may be why I find myself today singing this song without really being aware of the words that I am singing and of their deep meaning in telling the true story of Christmas. From the very first line truth is proclaimed. The angels are singing “Glory to the newborn king” – which is the baby Jesus. This song proclaims Jesus identity as King, even though the world would not recognize nor receive Him as such at that time.

The song continues “God and sinners reconciled.” That’s the reason why we celebrate Jesus’s birth. Jesus came to live among us in order to reconcile us to God. He did this by taking on our human form, walking miles in our shoes and then dying in our place, for our sins so that we could be reconciled to our Creator, God. God is holy, we are sinners. We needed someone to bridge that unbridgeable gap between us. We couldn’t do it. But God could and He did. He came here in the person of Jesus Christ to make reconciliation possible! That’s why we celebrate His birth.

Something else occurs to me as I hum these tunes and sing these songs of the season. I only seem to know the first verse of these carols. But the words of the third verse are just as inspiring and truth filled as the first verse. This carol continues – “Hail the heaven born Prince of Peace!”

“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, . . . And He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” (Isaiah 9:6)

The song continues, “Hail the Son of Righteousness! Light and life to all He brings, risen with healing in His wings.” The words of this song confirm what we read in God’s word about Jesus being the light of the world.

“In Him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not overcome it.” (John 1:4-5)

“When Jesus spoke again to the people, He said, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows Me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.’ ” (John 8:12)

The next words of this old Christmas carol are truly extraordinary – “risen with healing in His wings”. This is a song celebrating Jesus’s birth and yet here are words referring to His death and resurrection – the reason He came, to die and to rise again leaving an empty tomb behind and the promise of eternal life before each one of us who believe in His name. This Christmas carol celebrates the whole story, from Jesus’s birth to His sacrificial death to His miraculous resurrection. The third verse continues with these words –

“Mild He lays His glory by, born that man no more may die, born to raise the sons of earth, born to give them second birth, Hark the herald angels sing, ‘Glory to the newborn King!’ ”

This Christmas carol, in these words, gives us the reason for Jesus’s birth – “born that man no more may die” – no wonder we celebrate Christmas! No wonder we sing! That’s really good news – no more death! In just a few years, Jesus would explain this to Martha saying –

“I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in Me will never die.” (John 11:25-26)

When I sing the words “Mild He lays His glory by “, I am reminded of the cost to Jesus, an extraordinary, unfathomable cost, a price Jesus willingly paid in order to come here, to take on our human form in order to rescue and to redeem each one of us. Philippians explains it this way –

“Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death – even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2:6-11)

When I sing “Mild He lays His glory by”, I am reminded that when He laid down His glory, He took up something much heavier and much harder in its place.

“Surely He took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, . . . He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His wounds we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:4-5)

Sound familiar? “Risen with healing in His wings.” Jesus came to heal us, to heal our broken relationship with God, our Creator. Sing it with me – “God and sinners reconciled!” This Christmas carol ends with the words – “Hark! The herald angels sing, ‘Glory to the newborn King!’ ” The carol recalls the night of Jesus’s birth, when the angels did indeed sing, proclaiming the good news of Jesus’s birth to the shepherds in the fields and to the waiting world. The angels knew this newborn baby Jesus was indeed the King who had just left His home in glory to come and make His home among us for a little while. The time has come for us to make room for Him, to receive Him, to let Him in.

“Lift up your heads, O you gates; be lifted up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O you gates; lift them up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is He, this King of glory? The Lord Almighty – He is the King of glory.” (Psalm 24:7-10)

sincerely, Grace Day