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Are you a star gazer? I can recall a few grade school field trips to the planetarium on ISU’s campus.  We would sit in the dark and stare up at the big domed ceiling depicting the starry sky and all of its wonder. It fell short of the real thing but  I learned how to identify the big and the little dipper. Honestly, I probably slept through the rest, but I do know that there are stars upon stars upon stars. Most we will never see in our lifetime. The best star gazing is done without the intrusion of city lights and somewhere in the great wide open. On a boat in the middle of a lake, from the top of a mountain, or in the middle of an open field. The stars are always a great reminder of how small I am and how big the universe is. Only God knows how many there are and where He placed them.

Genesis 15:1-6 describes a star gazing moment between God and Abram (later to be named Abraham).  God chose Abram and promised to make him into a great nation, but Abram struggled with the details and the execution of God’s plan. He voiced his concerns to God and his concerns seemed quite valid from our human perspective. He was promised to be the father of many nations but had yet to produce any offspring. He and his wife Sarai were getting older and the opportunity to have children was decreasing by the day.  He was worried and questioning. God listened and offered encouragement.  God first said to him in Genesis 15:1, “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward”. Picture God putting his arm around Abram’s shoulders and gently walking him outside to look at the stars. He says to Abram, “Look up at the sky and count the stars – if indeed you can count them. So shall your offspring be”. There were no city lights obstructing their view and the stars had to have been magnificent against a black sky. Too many to count. This star gazing moment was God’s response to Abrams questioning. It’s as if He said “You have no idea what I have planned but it is beyond anything you can imagine! It’s not going to happen the way anyone expects. Trust me!” God always chooses the most unlikely people to reveal his purpose. Abram did not have the benefit of the Bible to read for reassurance that God was the real deal. He came from the land of Ur where they worshipped many gods, but he left that place because God spoke to him and told him to do it. God had protected him because of his obedience. Abram believed him once again, and because of his faith he was determined to be righteous. Abram and Sarai did have children. Their children had children, and their children had children which became the lineage that led to the birth of Jesus.  The Old Testament is always pointing us to  Jesus.

Have you ever thought of yourself as one of those stars that Abram and God looked at? God knew you then and knows you now. During this Advent season, as we look forward to celebrating the birth of Jesus our savior, step outside and do some star gazing. Remember Abram and how his faith set into motion God’s plan for mankind. He made what seemed impossible, possible. To save the world in the form of a baby, the savior….Jesus. He is our hope!

Galatians 3:29 “If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise”.

 

 

 

Today’s Reading : Genesis 3: 8-15

⁸ Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. ⁹ But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”

¹⁰ He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”

¹¹ And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”

¹² The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”

¹³ Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”

The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

¹⁴ So the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this,

“Cursed are you above all livestock
and all wild animals!
You will crawl on your belly
and you will eat dust
all the days of your life.
¹⁵ And I will put enmity
between you and the woman,
and between your offspring^[a] and hers;
he will crush^[b] your head,
and you will strike his heel.”

 

The beginning of Advent is one of my favorite times of year. It’s the anticipation of the renewing of our spirit and of our faith. It is excitement for the renewing of hope and joy. It is the renewal and refreshing of our relationships.  It is a time of reflection and introspection into ourselves and our relationship with God.

In this particular passage of the day I see it through a different lens. I’ve had a paradigm shift since reading these passages from being a young boy to a young man and now a husband and a father.

As I’m reading the third chapter of Genesis and the fall of man, I can revert to the old Lynden and “Just try to get through it” or ask the Spirit to allow me to see it in a different perspective. Now as I have matured, I can see the deeper side of the true story.

The setting is ten years into the future: I come home after a day at work and Jillian is not home but the kids are at home. Oliver,19, Ruby,16, and Nadya,15. I know that they are home because I had contacted him before I left work to make sure that they had the dinner started and chores completed. As I come to the house I called out to all of them. The food is in the oven and the chores are done, but they are nowhere to be found.  As I search the house I call for them but no one answers.

I find them in the attic where they have found the mother’s wedding dress. Ruby and Nadya tried to put the wedding dress on and have destroyed the wedding dress. Oliver is trying to help them mend the dress.  They are all distraught; they are all crying; they are all sad. I look at them with heartfelt sympathy and remorse. Their actions have created a painful and disappointing error. But this is created an opportunity for love and compassion and redirection.  I give them their consequence: They have to tell their mother that they have destroyed her wedding dress. The have to deal with the consequences of their actions, but I will continue to give them the needed love and support that they need.

This is an example that I think many people can relate to. This is essentially what has happened to Adam and Eve in the garden. Our loving Father has come to fellowship with his children. When He comes, they are ashamed of what has happened and remorseful.   God knows what is going, and he asks a simple question. This question is inquisitive and without any punitive tones or condemnation.  He is asking because he loves them.  He already knows what has happened he wants us to come to him and take responsibility for what has happened.

Many times I’ve seen this scene as a wrath of God or wrath of a malevolent father.  But now I can really see the gentleness and the sorrow in which He sees that his beautiful creation has changed. But the most amazing thing that I am able to understand now is His love and compassion for us.  He sees how this circumstance creates an opportunity for change. God with all his power, all his wisdom, and all his might could’ve easily wiped the slate clean and create a new world with new people and have “Paradise” once again. But he understood that no matter how “perfect” anything is there has to be a balance. He knew that there was have to be a balance between the light and dark, chaos and order, love and apathy.

Advent is the expectation and anticipation of the newness of life. But Advent is also showing God’s purpose and God‘s love for us. He knew that the perfect world in which we to live it had to be balanced. That’s why he knew from that moment of the fall, Christ will come to balance the world and us.  He knew that to change in the absence of suffering, we would not truly appreciate and understand the fullness of his love.

Because of his fatherly love, he knew the only way that we could I understand our part in his love was to allow us to go through the hard times, but He will be there with us in those hard times.   To the point where he himself came down in the form man as Christ.

My prayer for this Advent season is that God is with us, showing us with his Fatherly love He’s there with us in every and any circumstance. Creating pockets of Opportunity and that His love has a purpose and a plan. He spoke it into existence that the Offspring would trample the serpent under his heel. We have to acknowledge that Christ has prevailed and given us that power.

 

 

Today we will look at Isaiah 40 for this first day in our study of Advent.  Ross did an excellent job of describing what Advent means for us in his post yesterday.  As we study each day of this advent season may our hope and longing of knowing Jesus grow deep within us.  

Did you make it through Turkey Day?  All the preparations of food and drink, cleaning of the house, catching up with family?  I always enjoy Thanksgiving evening, when all the prep is done, dinner is over, comfy clothes are on and everyone is relaxed and chatting.  But, as soon as Thanksgiving Day is over we jump right into preparing for Christmas…Get the tree up!  Hang the lights outside!  Put out the nativity and decorations!  Buy the gifts!  Wrap the gifts!  Make the cookies!  If we aren’t intentional we will miss the real meaning of Christmas.

I am excited over these next four weeks to take a deep dive into the scriptures and focus on the meaning of Advent and the days leading to Christmas.  

These words in Isaiah 40 are a guide for this first look into Advent.  The words offer us hope.  Though they were first meant to be God’s word to a people “who walked in darkness,”  they are for us today.  Matthew, Mark, and Luke all quote from Isaiah 40 when they refer to John the Baptist.  (Mark 1:2-3, Matthew 3:3, Luke 3:4-6, and John 1:23).  John is commissioned to be the one to proclaim the arrival of Christ.  He became the voice crying out in the wilderness.  A voice of one calling: 

“In the wilderness prepare the way for the Lord;  make straight in the desert a highway for our God.

Isaiah 40:3

John the Baptist proclaimed that God will indeed be revealed to them.  He was proclaiming that the long wait was over, that what Isaiah had predicted was finally here.  

You who bring good news to Zion, go up on a high mountain.  You who bring good news to Jerusalem, lift up your voice with a shout, lift it up, do not be afraid;  say to the towns of Judah, “Here is your God!”  See, the Sovereign Lord comes with power, and he rules with a mighty arm.  See, his reward is with him, and his recompense accompanies him.  He tends his flock like a shepherd;  He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart;  he gently leads those that have young.  

Isaiah 40:9-11

The Lord is returning to Jerusalem.  Jerusalem is to proclaim the exciting news to all the other cities that God once again is for them.  “Do not be afraid” means that Zion need not fear being wrong about this and raising false hopes.  The proclamation should be bold and heard by everyone, because there is no chance that it will not happen.

This is good news.  Good news that will bring light and hope to people suffering in darkness; news that will fill people with peace and joy.  Jesus came into our world as a fulfillment of the hope of Israel.  We now wait with the same hope.  God will fulfill our hope, and he does so  in Christ Jesus.  

We, the church are called now to proclaim the Good News.  We need to tell people, “Here is your God.”  He has come to reclaim what was his.  He gathers the lambs in his arms (40:11).  We see God work in history and in our lives today.  Just as Israel longed for redemption in the midst of darkness we long for the return of Christ.  Advent serves as a time to reflect and long for what God has done and will do.  As our days are filled with Holiday fun and busyness, may we take time to focus on the joy and hope that Christ’s birth provides.

Now that Thanksgiving has come and gone, the holiday season is finally upon us and the end this rollercoaster of a year is coming close. For those of us who haven’t already done so, it’s time to start preparing for Christmas. Time once again to put up the Christmas tree, pour yourself a cup of eggnog or two (or the whole bottle, in my case), get your gift ideas together, and build up the mental fortitude to get through what will be a very different Christmas season than usual. Among the rigor of what our culture seems to commodify into a more stressful holiday every year, we need more than ever to set aside this time to prepare our hearts for reflecting on the blessings of Christ this season.

Growing up in the Catholic Church, I remember lighting the candles on our Advent wreath every Sunday evening leading up to Christmas and weighing those serene, meaningful moments against the Scriptural theme of that morning’s service. The first candle symbolizing the hope we find in Christ’s promises, the second one our preparation for His return, the third the joy & celebration of His birth, and the fourth, the love we feel for our Savior, who came down to earth from heaven for our sakes. These lessons have reminded me every year since why we do all this at Christmas time, about how all the presents and decorations and festivities are secondary to our living Savior’s appearance.

Advent is a season of centering focus on Christ’s coming to earth, to give due diligence to the miracle of God humbling Himself by being among man; the incredible sacrificial love shown by sending His son to earth to die for our sakes. When Christians began celebrating Advent as a time of remembrance back in the 4th or 5th century, it has been a time of reflecting upon Christ’s promises, for preparing new Christians for baptism and for penitent prayer and dedication to studying the Lord’s word. It was as much an act of anticipation of Christ’s second return as His first, but at some point the focus turned more towards His birth.

Just as equally as His first coming to Earth, in this time, we can prepare for Christ’s second coming. While we traditionally use this time is for celebrating that quiet night many years ago, just as much as it is for readying for that day when Christ will make all things new and we will dwell with Him. It’s about looking back on the promises God has already fulfilled in Christ’s birth, as foretold in Numbers 24:17: “A star will come out of Jacob; a scepter will rise out of Israel.”. But just as we celebrate God’s fulfilled promises, we proclaim our faith in the promises He still will fulfill, like in John 6:39 & 40: “And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” Just as we celebrate Jesus’s rise out of Israel, we can focus our hearts on Christ until that last day arrives.

So as we explore Scripture throughout Advent centered on Christ’s birth and prepare our hearts for the Christmas season, think about not only the joy and love Christmas morning symbolizes, but on the hope for salvation Christ’s return will herald, and the preparation our hearts and minds need to remain faithful amidst our exile until that day. Amidst the kindnesses we get ready to show our families and communities, we reflect on the perfect selfless act of Christ’s love, and for His deliverance to come. I pray God’s love fill all of you in this time, and may this Advent season be a thoughtful and penitent one as we use this season to focus on Christ as the center of our lives.

 

 

John 20

 

I am fascinated with surgery! I’m a hairdresser by trade, but any chance I get to watch a surgery on tv…I am in!! I can’t get enough of seeing the inner workings of our bodies or the repairs needed to help them continue to function. I’m a bit ashamed to admit that I like watching Dr Pimple Popper, My Feet Are Killing Me and anything else that contains surgery. I also like to “practice” as much “medicine” as I can. I have removed sutures for people, given shots to friends who’s husbands couldn’t stomach the job, steri-stripped my daughter’s incision back together when it opened after staples were removed and a few other “procedures” that might make some of you queasy to read about so I’ll stop here. When friends or family have a procedure, I am always interested to hear about their experience and what their incision or affected area looks like. If they live far away and I know I won’t get to see them during the healing process I ask them to send pictures. I know I can’t really get my mind around their experience or how they are feeling unless I can see their wound. I want to understand what happened and I don’t feel like I can really grasp what they went through unless I can get my eyes on them and see for myself. In our reading for today, Jesus’ friends struggled to believe what was before them until they were able to see the physical proof they needed to see with their own eyes.

John 20 tells us about Jesus resurrection after his crucifixion. When we talk about and read about the end of Jesus’ life, I feel like we are mostly looking at the events through Jesus’ experience. After he dies, we all know what is coming next because we know who he is. We know he raises from the dead…it’s the best part of the story and we long for that part to come. But we didn’t live the events like Jesus’ family and friends did. For them His death was the end…just like death is the end of life on earth when we lose someone we love. They were devastated, broken, sad beyond belief and probably at great loss because their ministry felt over. When his body went missing, those who loved him could only think that someone had stolen him. They were frantic to find his body and get him back in his proper final resting spot. The horrible circumstances just kept piling on for them!

And then he appeared… first to Mary, then to his friends and then again about a week after the first time to his friends again. Can you put yourself in their shoes? Can you imagine the person you just watched die, sat through funeral services for and buried or placed in a tomb appearing in a room with you without using the door to enter? Do you have the “no way” thoughts, the fear, the skittishness in believing that this is really your friend? I have only had one experience in my life that comes close to this kind unbelievableness. There was a car accident and several students were killed. My uncle is a pastor and the youth pastor he worked with lost his daughter Whitney in that accident. Whitney’s family planned her funeral and my uncle officiated the services while grieving with his close friends. It was devastating for all. About three weeks after her funeral, it was finally soaking in for me that she was actually gone. My dad called me one afternoon and simply said, “Whitney is alive”. I literally had no words. I couldn’t believe what he was saying. I couldn’t grasp the truth until he explained that Whitney’s body had gotten confused at the accident scene with another girl’s. Until “the girl” in the hospital woke from her coma and started to speak, no one knew that it was actually Whitney instead of Laura. In this case, Whitney was never dead, but every time I read the events of Jesus’ resurrection I think of my dad’s voice over the phone telling me “Whitney is alive”.

Jesus’ friends had trouble believing and processing the events they were living through. They needed to see with their eyes and touch with their hands the wounds in Jesus’ hands and side. Those wounds were the proof they needed to make sense of what was happening. They needed to see to believe that their friend and leader was actually killed, buried and now alive. It was too strange and different from what they knew to accept without seeing. God knew they would need to see Jesus. He knew that witnessing Jesus’ death would make it too hard to believe that he was alive without seeing him for themselves.

 

John 20:29-30 “Jesus told them, You believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who believe without seeing me. 30-The disciples saw Jesus do many other miraculous signs in addition to the ones recorded in this book. But these are written so that you may continue to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing in him you will have life by the power of his name.”

The words of John are so deep. I’ve been mediating on chapter seventeen for weeks and each time I read it something new stands out to me. So many levels and layers to what he brings forward from Jesus. And its no wonder, as he is called the beloved, described as such a close companion to the Lord.

In my last review of this chapter, what really grabbed my heart was at the very end in verse twenty-six:

I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.

On this earth, there are so many things we can do, be recognized for, or accomplish. And of course we all have personal goals in different areas. Where this scripture challenges me, is how many of my own plans get right back to the heart of making God, our creator, known. K N O W N. Truly known.

Jesus, right before his arrest, spends his time praying and with the aim that the world will know his Father. His consistency and faithfulness is unmatched.

I’m not sure why this hit me so hard.

Maybe its because in the middle of a pandemic, when so many things are cancelled and shut down, I still don’t have my time with the Lord prioritized how I’d lik.

Maybe it’s because I wonder how many things have my name tied to them, instead of the Lord’s. Am I shouting from the rooftops that it’s truly ONLY BECAUSE OF HIS GRACE that I am able to do the things I do?

Maybe it’s because I find myself doing so many things, things that may even be deemed by the world as good, and yet I feel the Lord calling me saying I don’t want more actions from you, I just want more of you.  

Maybe it’s because this quote showed up in my timehop of something I posted seven years ago, and still struck me today. Ouch. All the good deeds are just that – good. But holy habits of obedience, prayer, worship… wow. That’s how we know him and in turn, make him known.

John 17 is so beautiful. As you read through this last prayer before Jesus is arrested, what stands out to you?