TerryLema

My daughter and son-in-love blessed my heart for my birthday this year. They ordered angels to add to my outdoor nativity set. They were shipped from Orlando, Florida. They were supposed to be here by December 1.

They were delayed to December 2. Then I was notified they were in Colorado and would be here on December 4. On the 4^th, they were in Salt Lake City and would arrive on December 5. (Bob said they could have flown here faster.)

They finally got here December 5, five days late, and were immediately added to the nativity scene.

It led me to think about the real angels that glorious night. When Jesus was born, an angel suddenly appeared to Shepherds with a wonderful message. “Today a Savior, who is Messiah the Lord, was born for you in the city of David. This will be the sign for you: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in cloth and lying in a feeding trough.”

Then a multitude of heavenly hosts joined the angel praising and saying: “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and peace on earth to people He favors!” [Luke 2]

That first Christ-mas morning, the angel and heavenly hosts arrived right on time. Just as God always does.

Don’t you love children’s letters to Santa.  One little boy wrote, “Santa if you brining presents with batteries bring the batteries.” That sounds like a child who has had to wait in the past for his parents to do a rush trip to a store before he could play with his toys.

One little girl wrote, “You better bring my pony this year. Or there will be consequensis.” She even drew the pony and everything so Santa could get it right.

But my favorite is one I read a few years ago and shared with The Way congregation at the time. “Dear Santa, there are three little boys who live at our house. There is Jeffrey; he is 2. There is David. He is 4. And there is Norman; he is 7. Jeffrey is good some of the time. David is good some of the time. But Norman is good all of the time. I am Norman.”

 Norman is good all the time. I have never been a ‘Norman.’ In fact, I have almost always been a ‘Norman-opposite.’ I have seldom been good. Growing up I was the one who was in trouble all the time. My younger brother, Mike, was more a ‘Norman’ than I was. That did not always serve him well since it often drove me to get him in trouble or blame him for what I had done.  (Thankfully, he still loves me, and I was able to make up for some of the things I did to him long ago!)

One day, I will stand before God. And I will give an account of my life. “So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God.” [Romans 14:12 HCSB]

When that moment happens, I will not be able to claim I am a ‘Norman,’ who is ‘good all the time.’ Neither will I be able to “make up” some of the bad stuff with good stuff like I did with my brother.

But I will be able to claim something even more remarkable … I have placed my trust in Jesus!  Hallelujah! Amen!

Psalm 3 is a song written by David as he was fleeing from the rebellion instigated by his son Absalom. It is in two parts. In the first part, David beseeches God on account of his enemies. In the second part, David expresses his confidence in God’s deliverance and protection.

It is all about finding peace amid storms. You can hear David’s confidence in God throughout the song, but my favorite verse, the one I repeat when I am in the midst of a storm, is verse 3.

“But You, Lord, are a shield around me, my glory, and the One who lifts up my head.” [HCSB]

Whatever the storm, we can boldly say … “But You, LORD ….” 

No matter how great the storm, we can boldly say … “But You, LORD, are a shield around me….”

No matter how strong the enemy facing us, we can boldly say … “But You, LORD, are … my glory ….”

No matter how much life and the enemy of our soul wants to bury us with discouragement and distress, we can boldly say, “But You, LORD, are … the One who lifts up my head.”

The Christ-mas season is oft a time of struggle for many. But no struggle, no matter how great, is greater than our LORD. He will be strong on our behalf if we but call upon Him and trust Him.

I turn 77 years old today, whether I want to or not, whether I like it or not! We can fight the aging process, but in the end, it is going to win. I remember reading a sign once that asked the question: How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you are?

That sign annoyed me when I first saw it, it still annoys me. I know how old I am. My body reminds me every day. All I must do is pass a mirror or catch a glimpse of my reflection in a window. I am reminded also when I climb out of bed with most of the same aches and pains I went to bed with – or sometimes even with new ones.  Sometimes I Feel ancient.

But other times I Feel like a child. Christ-mas, hearing the carols, seeing the nativity scenes, watching the snow fall. When I see the little kids in the neighborhood playing, I wish I could play too. When I see the young people in church jumping for joy in the presence of the LORD, I want to join in. Of course, I don’t jump anymore, my knees have forgotten how … but I still want to!

I also Know that deep inside me, in the part of me that really counts, I am now and will eternally be a child of God. The calendar that counts the years cannot change that. The body that refuses to jump when told cannot change it either!

1 John 3:1:  How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! 

One of the new customs for the Christmas season is to read one chapter a day from the Gospel of Luke beginning on December 1. I was amazed by Luke 8, the chapter for tomorrow. It begins by telling us that women who had been healed and delivered were supporting Jesus and His Disciples. Then Jesus gives the Parable of the Seed and the Sower, along with a reminder that we are to be light for all to see. At one point, Jesus’ mother and brothers came to see Him but were unable to get through the crowd. 

The part of the chapter that truly touches me begins in verse 22.  After a long day of preaching and ministry, Jesus got in a boat with His disciples and told them to go to the other side of the lake. He was so exhausted He fell asleep and did not even awake when a fierce windstorm arose and threatened to swamp the boat. [Luke 8:22-25]

Finally, the disciples woke Jesus and told Him, “Master, Master, we’re going to die!” [vs 24 HCSB]

Jesus got up, rebuked the wind and the raging waves and they immediately obeyed Him, and the storm ceased. In its place was a great calm. Of course, that frightened the disciples even more than the storm did.

As I thought on that passage all of a sudden I saw the storm in our country that is going on right now, and I started to chuckle. Let me explain why I laughed. Every politician, from local mayors to state governors, to congressional leaders, president, and president-hopefuls think they can calm the storm with their proclamations, directives, and strategies. But they cannot. They think – in a way – that they have the power over the storm when they are really in the same boat as the disciples! “Master, Master, we’re going to die!”

Only Jesus has the power and the authority to stop the storm. Even when He was at a low point, exhausted from ministry, He only had to say a word and the cosmos obeyed. After quieting the storm Jesus had one question for His own, “Where is your faith?” [vs 25 HCSB]

We might ask ourselves that same question!

As we get closer to Christ-mas I am thinking about the wonder of Christ’s birth. Merriam-Webster defines wonder as the quality of Exciting, Amazed Admiration. We’ve heard the Christ-mas story so many times, perhaps we’ve lost a bit of that Exciting, Amazed Admiration.

Joseph and Mary had to travel eighty miles to Bethlehem. God orchestrated through a heathen kingdom (Rome) their arrival to that insignificant village where seven hundred years earlier Micah had prophesied the Messiah would be born (Micah 5:2)

It would have been a miserable journey with Mary full term. It ended up in a place that was more than likely filthy and smelly. Inns in those days were mainly a series of partially enclosed stalls that opened into a shared area where the animals were kept.  When Luke said there was no room for them in the inn, he meant there was no room for them in those stalls. They likely ended up in the yard where travelers secured their animals.

Mary had traveled all this way, far from her family, far from the female support system she would have had at home. She was probably around 14-16 years old. She was alone, except for Joseph. She had no birthing coach, no meds, no clean sheets, no soft music playing, no attendants – just Joseph. His hands would have been calloused and rough from his work. He was good at working wood, probably not so good at midwifing.

And into this miserable, wretched, dishonorable scene, the Son of God was born. “She gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.”  [Luke 2:7]

If that doesn’t take our breath away in Exciting, Amazed Admiration, I’m not sure anything will.

The King became a pauper. God became a babe, completely dependent upon a young teenager for sustenance and a rough carpenter for protection. Wonder of wonders! 

Tim McGraw sings a song titled, “It Wasn’t His Child.” It is a song about Joseph, the oft forgotten member of most manger scenes.

We always talk of Mary and, of course, the Christ Child. We speak of shepherds and angels and stars and Magi. We do not talk about Joseph. He is the silent one. While none of his words are recorded, his character and obedience are.

Matthew Chapters 1 and 2 tell us most about Joseph. He was a righteous man. He was also a kind man as evidenced by the fact that when he found out Mary was pregnant, he did not want to publicly shame her. We see his obedience when the angels appear to him in dreams three times and tell him what to do and he immediately gets up and does it.

He takes Mary as his wife. He takes his family to safety in Egypt. He brings them to Nazareth when it is safe. (Read Matt 1 & 2 today)

We know he took Mary and Jesus to do the things prescribed by law when Jesus was dedicated. We know he anxiously searched for Jesus when as a 12-year-old He disappeared on their trip to Jerusalem. He was a father who cared. (Luke 2)

What we assume from the culture of the day is that Joseph would have taught his son his own trade, carpentry. He would have taken him to synagogue and educated him in the things of God. All this, knowing that Jesus was not his child.

As I listened to the song, I thought, isn’t it amazing that Jesus, God’s Son, was adopted and raised by Joseph as his child here on earth and that now we are adopted by Father God as His children through Jesus His Son.

I have a hymnal called “Hymns of Glorious Praise.”  The Table of Contents for that hymnal tells me it is laid out by theme. The first section is worship. “O, Worship the King all glorious above, and gratefully sing His Power and His love.” (Franz Joseph Hayden, 1732-1809)

Right after the worship section in this hymnal come the songs of the Incarnation, songs of Christ-mas. Yet too soon, following the Christ-mas songs come songs of the cross.

It was for the cross that Christ came. It was for the cross that He abandoned all the rights and privileges of His divine nature and came to earth as a babe. It was for the cross that He took upon Himself the sins of this world and surrendered Himself to death, even a death on a cross. [Philippians 2]

And the cross was for us. To fully appreciate the babe born in the manager, we must always do so in sight of the cross. If Jesus were only a great teacher, a good man, or a prophet, celebrating his birth would not be much different than celebrating the birth of any other good teachers or good men.

But Jesus was not only a great teacher, a good man, and a prophet. He was and is and always will be God the Son, and He came to Bethlehem that wondrous night for a single purpose, to reconcile man and God. That reconciliation meant the giving of His very life’s blood on a heathen cross, the one true spotless sacrifice offered for the sins of men.

Both the star over the stable and the cross on the hill cast shadows that stretch through all eternity to remind us of what our salvation cost our God.

I love laughing with old friends … or with new ones! I love laughter. I love laughter that is so hard my ears and stomach muscles ache. What had me laughing today was my skewed view of Elizabeth in Luke 1.

When Mary came to visit, Elizabeth called her blessed three times. She said that Mary was blessed among women. And that Mary was blessed for the child she would bear. And also, that Mary was blessed for believing that what the Lord spoke to her would be accomplished.  [Luke 1:39-45]

What got me laughing was my take on that meeting and Elizabeth’s last blessing of Mary for “believing what the Lord spoke to her.”  

 I had just read the Song of Zacharias, Elizabeth’s husband. Zacharias unfortunately did not believe what the Lord said, and the consequences of that unbelief was that he was mute for nine months until John was born. In my imagination I could hear Elizabeth say to Mary … blessed are you for believing what the Lord spoke … all the while thinking … unlike this man of mine who did not believe and now sits over there unable to speak.

 I am not sure that is what Elizabeth really thought but it is what I would have thought! I wonder if it is something Elizabeth and Mary discussed while they were together … all the while Zacharias looked on sheepishly quiet.

We need to remember that the people in the Bible were real people, with thoughts and emotions just like us. They are not superheroes, they are people empowered by the Spirit of God, just like us.

We can learn from Mary’s example of faith and obedience what TO DO and learn from Zacharias’ example of unbelief what NOT TO DO.