Countdown to Christmas - December 8, 2022

Troubled relationships, we've all had them. During this time of celebrations and gatherings, we may long for reconciliation. Or, we dig in, rehashing hurt and terrible words best left in the past; we strengthen our resolve to hold a grudge until that person apologizes first, and refuse to allow that person to ruin our holiday.

Jacob and Esau, sons born to Isaac and Rebekah, had a troubled relationship. They were twins, but they appear to us as different as night and day: Esau was rugged, a hunter, and his father's favorite; Jacob stuck close to Mom by the tent. Being the oldest, Esau was deserving of the birthright, a double portion of inheritance and the title of "man of the house" when Isaac died. But, even before they were born, God announced His plan:

Two nations are in your womb,
Two peoples shall be separated from your body;
One people shall be stronger than the other,
And the older shall serve the younger.”

Things would not go according to the traditions of men. 

One day when Esau got hangry, Jacob seized the opportunity: he traded some stew for Esau's birthright. But that wasn't enough for Jacob; at his mother's suggestion and with her assistance, Jacob tricked Isaac into giving him Esau's blessing. Esau, to say the least, was fighting mad. He swore vengeance on his brother. Jacob ran off in fear for his life. Years passed and Jacob sent word to his brother, Esau, he was willing to hand over a good portion of his fortune to make amends. Jacob's servants returned with news Esau was coming their way with four hundred men. Not exactly the intimate family reunion Jacob was planning. So, Jacob tightened up the defense and prayed:

Deliver me, I pray, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau; for I fear him, lest he come and attack me and the mother with the children. 

He also sent a peace offering to Esau ahead of time: hundreds of goats and sheep, camels and colts, cows and bulls, and donkeys and their young. What a present! This put some distance between the things Jacob was willing to lose should Esau decide on revenge, and Jacob's loved ones bringing up the rear. Jacob gave his servants specific instructions and explained, I will appease him (Esau) with the present that goes before me, and afterward I will see his face; perhaps he will accept me. The present. 

In this all too commercialized season, presents, satisfaction, finding that "just right" thing to make another's holiday sparkle can steal our attention from the greatest Gift of all, Jesus, the Prince of Peace, our Salvation, God with Us. The Messiah is God's peace offering to the world; it is only through Jesus we find reconciliation with God. We can never be good enough; we can never give enough. A right relationship with God requires divine intervention, a Gift more holy, more sufficient than we could ever be. The Peace Offering of Jesus is the only acceptable means by which we can enter the presence of God and receive His forgiveness. The Present, Jesus Christ, the all-sufficient Sacrifice, given to us by a Holy God, goes before us to atone for our sins, appease God's righteous wrath, and bring peace to our relationship with our Heavenly Father. When God looks at His children, He looks at them through the Present, the person of Jesus Christ; He accepts us and we see Him more clearly as His Holy Spirit remains with us, teaching and guiding us. But unlike Jacob's present to Esau, there's no "perhaps" about it. Colossians 1:19-23 assures us:

For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.

And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight— if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard..."

The ending to this scene in the history of Jacob and Esau comes in Genesis 33:4:

But Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept.

Reconciliation. 

By Jesus we are made right with God, holy and accepted. Do you long for reconciliation? Jesus, the greatest peace offering has come, has served with His life, and has gone before us into the presence of a just God who has chosen reconciliation over vengeance for those who continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard. What a present!

Countdown to Christmas - December 5, 2022

The people who walked in darkness

Have seen a great light;

~ Isaiah 9:2

We used to attend a church with two Christmas Eve services. One, the first, and perfect for families with young children looking to burn off the Christmas Eve excitement, was a raucous, musical celebration, a birthday party for Jesus, complete with balloons and favors and sweet treats afterward. The second was later in the night, quiet, reverent, by candlelight. Such is the season that is upon us. We move the furniture from the middle of the room, make space where we can dance and welcome the advent of Light, keeping the night at bay, outside our celebration. We close the door and bar the noise and onslaught of life and its busyness that we might sit silently in the simplicity that is darkness, treasuring the peace. In our homes, massive trees usurp spaces once dedicated to frivolous things like chairs and tables. Move them out, the tree is coming! Dusty boxes of tinsel and glitter sit in freshly vacuumed living rooms waiting to spew their contents over scrubbed walls and perfectly polished credenzas. Lists and menus, scribbled and dog-eared lie beside pristine figures of a holy couple and the Babe --the manic and the manger. It all seems so paradoxical. And why shouldn't it?

The King of all kings enters our presence. Life comes to die. The Hope of Nations is born on a map dot. A child born to a virgin. Radiant angels announce His birth in the skies over grimy sheep and their equally grimy custodians. The anticipated, longed for Messiah will be rejected by His own people --people He chose to be His people!

This is a season of dark and light. The Son of God, the Light of the world, came to broken human beings separated from God by sin, people walking in darkness. The glory of light is made more glorious when placed squarely in the center of darkness. Twinkling pinpoints of burning gas gleam in a barren black sky. The light that represents the ferocious presence of God boldly interrupts the darkened drunken debauchery of Belshazzar's Feast by Rembrandt. The single lamp post, defiantly stakes its claim against the pitch-black of night. Our faces are awash with the advent candle's glow as we contemplate the arrival of Hope of Glory. But when we really look, when we really stop to see, we discover there is no paradox at all: darkness serves the light.

Arise, shine;

For your light has come!

And the glory of the Lord is risen upon you.

~ Isaiah 60:1

The Light has come. But it is best seen --He is best seen when the world is dark. So many around us are paralyzed by hopelessness. Friends who are despairing, neighbors who are terminally ill; homelessness and financial ruin. Our world is crying out for Light, leaning forward, peering into the darkness. He is here! He has come! The darkness must be there so they can fully appreciate the light. The darkness serves the light. Tell them! Share with them the Light. They are waiting to see Him, to dance and sing and sit in silence and treasure His peace. They have been brought to this place of darkness that they might see the Light and He might be made all the more glorious.