Christmas Wonder

“Mankind will not perish from want of information; but only from want of appreciation. The beginning of our happiness lies in the understanding that life without wonder is not worth living.”

– Abraham Heschel, Man is Not Alone (37)

It's here...Christmas Eve! I'm not sure who's more excited me or our kids! Having children completely changed my experience of Christmas. Seeing their excitement and wonder has been so helpful in the midst of bad traffic, grumpy shoppers, and relentless marketing campaigns. It's not easy, but I understand why Jesus says child-like faith is the key that unlocks the doors of the Kingdom...kids haven't lost their sense wonder. In fact...they live from it! What a blessing to see and experience.

This year God has added a whole new level of wonder to our lives. Adopting a child has also transformed my experience of Christmas. Every morning I see his stocking and can't help but be humbled that God has allowed us to be a part of something so amazing. My wife has done an amazing job chronicling our journey...you can check it out HERE. The imagery and allusion in my own life is undeniable...I can see God's rescue and adoption of my own heart and soul in the eyes of our son...what an amazing story we find ourselves in.

I hope and pray today and tomorrow are filled with awe and wonder at God's hand in your life. Merry Christmas!!

The Companion of Christmas - Thoughts from Henri Nouwen

I read this this morning, great way to start the day...

"God came to us because he wanted to join us on the road, to listen to our story, and to help us realize that we are not walking in circles but moving towards the house of peace and joy.  This is the great mystery of Christmas that continues to give us comfort and consolation: we are not alone on our journey.  The God of love who gave us life sent his only Son to be with us at all times and in all places, so that we never have to feel lost in our struggles but always can trust that he walks with us.

The challenge is to let God be who he wants to be.  A part of us clings to our aloneness and does not allow God to touch us where we are most in pain.  Often we hide from him precisely those places in ourselves where we feel guilty, ashamed, confused, and lost.  Thus we do not give him a chance to be with us where we feel most alone.

Christmas is the renewed invitation not to be afraid and to let him-whose love is greater than our own hearts and minds can comprehend-be our companion"

- Henri Nouwen, Gracias

Back in Action...

Hey everyone (okay, maybe that's a little much...how about hey to anyone who happens into my humble little blog ;-) )

For those who were unaware, I took last week off and journeyed with the family to Disney World for Christmas. This was a HUGE vacation for us (really our first solo trip as a family in 10 years) and an even larger blessing! Tracie, my wife, did an awesome job of chronicling our adventures on our family blog The Ancelet Family. Check it out!

Tonight we are ringing in the new year with some friends, hope you are doing the same...HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Quote for Thought...

I think that we have hardly thought through the immense implication of the mystery of the incarnation. Where is God? God is where we are weak, vulnerable, small, and dependant. God is where the poor are, the hungry, the handicapped, the mentally ill, the elderly, the powerless. How can we come to know God when our focus is elsewhere, on success, influence and power? I increasingly believe that our faithfulness will depend on our willingness to go where there is brokenness, loneliness, and human need. If the church has a future it is a future with the poor in whatever form.

- Sabbatical Journey, Henry Nouwen

Immanuel

Immanuel
By Paul Thomas Thigpen

He said a Guest was coming
so we swept the temple bare,
compiled our sacrifice reports
and memorized each prayer.

But while we tidied up the altar,
dusted off the pews,
a sound came from the city streets
to smash our stained-glass views:

No hymn or mighty chorus
but an Infant’s startled cry
and the simple, homely comfort
of a mother’s lullaby.

Immanuel!
A priest, we could anticipate;
a prophet, we might tolerate;
philosopher, evaluate;
a prince, we could applaud.

But who had thought to see the day
when Potter climbed inside His clay,
when Monarch in a manger lay,
when Heaven walked the sod?

Immanuel!
You send us running home again
to wash our windows clean,
to sweep our floors and open doors,
to break the tired routine.

You drive us to the streets and squares
to glimpse you passing by.
You beckon us to follow there—
and wait for our reply.

Joy To The World

The silence of Zachariah, has revealed to me that I’ve lived with a longing to be heard by human ears, hoping to cure the ache of loneliness that at times swallows whole portions of my life. It’s not constant, but it is chronic.

I’ve lived with the lie that I am alone in this plight, shamed into silence. Who would listen? Worse yet, what if ears hear but hands do not act…

But the message of Christmas is that I am not alone. I am heard; my words borne on wings that rise to rest on Love’s ear. More amazing still, Love acts...

And the angel said to them, "Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.

Paradox & Faith :: The Impossible

I can’t believe we are already embarking on our third week in the Christmas season. Once again my head is spinning with the speed at which the days past; and I find myself amazed at how little focused time I spend just enjoying all that this time of year represents. I’m grateful for the gift of fellowship that keeps me moving along by reminding me of what’s ultimately important.

This past Sunday, we (Fellowship Bible Church) continued our stroll through the first chapter of Luke’s Gospel; specifically the birth announcement of Jesus to Mary by the angel Gabriel (Luke 1:26-56). It’s pretty amazing the contrast between Mary’s response to Gabriel’s message and the previous response of Zachariah to his special message. That’s a topic worthy of discussion, but that’s not what captured my thoughts since Sunday morning. There was one simple phrase I’ve heard many times in “Christendom” that is much deeper and significant in meaning than I’ve ever noticed before.

“For nothing is impossible with God." - Gabriel (Luke 1:37)

Over the years I have personally heard this spoken with great impact in people’s lives…for the positive and negative. I realized yesterday that this is a simple truth with profound implications…and for the most part, I don’t get it. When I move past the greeting card/bumper sticker experience of this verse I’m left with the magnitude of it’s message. And as I overlay this truth onto the reality of my life I’m left with more paradox than clarity. Then I received a beautiful sense of clarity from Avery…my six year old daughter.

We were having a discussion about God’s steady hand guiding and protecting us as we walk though life (i.e. she asked some questions I didn’t have answers for). While I was fumbling with how to explain to her some divine, cosmic principle she made a simple but profound observation. She said, “Daddy, God can do anything, but he can’t do everything.” I was dumbstruck at the simple but wonderful insight she had. In that moment God gently, but unshakably spoke to me that in my pursuit to walk in the way of Jesus I was unknowingly abusing my understanding of his omniscience. How…God can’t change me and allow me to stay the same! He can do anything, but he can’t do everything.

I now understand that Gabriel’s proclamation to Mary isn’t a statement of faith as much as it a calling to faith, which always brings us to a crisis of belief…a choice. This realization has left me open and vulnerable before God in ways I personally haven’t experienced. You see I stand before Him and exclaim “Lord…do the impossible in me!”, but then get upset when He calls me to change. In other words I want him to change me and leave me the same, but that is an illusion that must give way to truth. What is that “truth”, that eternal life is meant to be lived, not waited for. That my life’s purpose as a follower of Christ is intrinsically tied to my expression and demonstration of His love in my little world. It’s not enough to “want to change”, I have to surrender to Jesus’ call to be an instrument of change in His hands.

As I try to be more deliberate in my focus on Christ, I am exposed to the extreme nature of His call to “follow me”. My “creed” MUST translate into “deeds”. For the follower of Christ, life is not merely mental ascent to a higher standard, it’s a life spent on loving those Jesus loved, serving those Jesus served; teaching what Jesus taught…living the way Jesus lived.

I’ve learned this from Mary this week. Her world was turned upside down, and she was never the same. I think she understood that to be part of God’s story means you must surrender your own. Maybe a place to start this radical adventure can be found in the words of Mary…

“I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May it be to me as you have said.”

Reflection on the Silence of Zachariah

It’s officially here for me…Christmas season. This weekend we put up the tree, decorated around the house, and as a local church body we started a new series walking through the first 2 chapters of Luke focusing on the birth of Jesus. I’m trying to be “intentional” this year in my approach to celebrating the birth of Jesus. What I mean by that is that I don’t want to sit back passively as the season rolls by, as if it were for my enjoyment; but really view the story of Jesus’ birth as a clarion call to a missional life! With this in mind, I want to share something I learned from Zachariah’s story on how NOT to do it.

To catch ya up…Zachariah is an elderly priest mentioned by Luke to be the father of John the Baptizer (Luke 1:5-25). Luke says he was a very dedicated man and faithful to all God asked of him. As he’s going about his priestly duties Zachariah has an amazing angelic encounter, breaking 400 years of “silence” from God. Understandably shaken by this meeting he asks a question that initiates a transition from the silence of God to the silence of Zachariah. At first I was a little dismayed by what happens. It seems others have asked God questions or for confirmation and weren’t met with such a harsh reply. So why was Zachariah’s question different?

Keeping in mind’s Eugene Peterson’s 5 characteristics of a story, specifically that nothing is insignificant, I thought it would go a long way to reflect on this for a moment. In this process I noticed something. There is a difference between a question that asks “how” God will accomplish something and a question of “can” God accomplish something. God seems to be perfectly comfortable with questions of “how” because in some ways it is recognition of our own limitations. There is humility, and God honors that (James 4:6, 1 Peter 5:5). But a question of “can” is an affront to him as God. If God says He is going to do or not do something He has the ability to follow through. I think the problem is that the focus of Zachariah’s question is Zachariah. Rather than letting this incredible news germinate and birth life-altering faith (i.e. belief in action), Zachariah jumps ahead of himself and asks if this is even possible for God to do.

The result…silence, except this time not from God, from Zachariah. Imagine, you have the most amazing news in 400 years and you can’t share it. God doesn’t remove the blessing, just the ability to share it and see it multiplied.

I think near the core of this “missional” concept of life is the belief that God really does care and He really is going to do something about this messed up world we live in. And intricately tied to that idea…his desire is to use us! I’m learning that often the reason I am “silent” in life has much more to do with my lack of belief in action (faith) than it does with the knowledge of what to do.

Here’s to hoping that this Christmas, we all don’t find ourselves “silent”.

The Power of Story...

One author who has had tremendous impact on my spiritual walk is Eugene Peterson. His understanding of Scripture as narrative and explanation of this in “Working the Angles” is significant for me this week as I reflect on the story of Christ’s birth. He lists five characteristics of “story” (Eugene Peterson, Working the Angles, p120):

- There is a beginning and an end.
- A catastrophe occurs (marked by conflict, tragedy, brokenness, and woundedness).
- Salvation is plotted (the story unfolds around the redemption/reconciliation/restoration of the conflict).
- Characters develop (either for good or evil…no one stays the same).
- Everything has significance.

One thing that continues to amaze me is the cyclic nature of life. I see this “pattern” played out over and over again in various theaters of my life, and I’m beginning to understand that one trait of maturity is to recognize this and learn all I can for the next leg of the journey. One insight I have gathered is that each end is simply a new beginning. More specifically, a new beginning can happen without a definitive end to what was. Of all the gospels only Luke includes detail on Zachariah and Elizabeth…why? Luke is simply picking up at the “end” of the OT (Malachi 4) with the “beginning” of the next narrative in the story. There is a divine unity to it that once seen is captivating. Zachariah and Elizabeth are a bridge connecting the “old” with the “new” in one beautiful story of redemption. They are a reminder that each moment is pregnant with eternal significance…waiting for us to discover the transcendent in the mundane. There is always a lot more going on than we are aware of.

Looking through this grid at Luke chapter one has helped to bring it to life and tie it more clearly to my own story. I have personally reflected on the “story” of Christ’s birth in 4 spheres: 1.) personally, 2.) with respect to my family, 3.) with respect to the local body of Christ, 4.) with respect to what is going on globally. I think in many ways I feel my life to be once again at a new beginning, faced with new conflicts, resting in the reality of a salvation that “is and is to come”, longing for my growth in character, and finding more significance in every moment than I thought possible. How about you?

Tis the season...

Well it’s here…CHRISTMAS TIME! It’s amazing to me how much this time of year transforms everything around me. But if I’m being honest, it’s not always easy to “keep the main thing the main thing” if you know what I mean. With the onslaught of the commercials and marketing campaigns telling us what we need to be happy, it’s easy to get sidetracked and miss the wonder and awe of the Christmas season. I am on a mission this year to NOT let that happen…both personally and with my family. This longing to recapture the “spirit of Christmas” has led to extended times in study, meditation, and reflection on the events leading up to and surrounding the birth of Jesus as well as what is at the heart of things like wonder and awe. It has already been a humbling and encouraging experience.

God has allowed this to spill over into our local church body here on the “foggy banks” of K-town TN! Beginning December 3rd we (Fellowship Bible Church Knoxville) will be starting a new lesson series at our Sunday gathering. We are going to be walking through Luke 1:1 – 2:20 over the next 4 weeks focusing simply on the supernatural events leading up to the birth of Jesus and the impact these truths have on us today as followers of Jesus. I would also love to share this journey through “Slivers” with anyone that would like to come. I also want to encourage you to be intentional this season in keeping Jesus as the center of your Christmas experience. So during the month of December I will be posting about some of the things uncovered during study, personal prayers and meditations, and would love to hear yours as well. With at little focus, and a lot of help...maybe we all can start 2007 bearing a little more of His image and become agents of change in our world.