Thursday, December 29, 2016

born to reign in us

We sing about the Lord Jesus laying down His sweet head. We see it depicted so beautifully in religious art: a tiny hand, an infant’s upturned eyes, a pudgy knee escaping the swaddling…and we like to think on this. To wonder this season how our Savoir came to earth as a baby. Helpless. And soft. Someone to cuddle. We understand babies. We love them. And to think of our Christ this way fills us with adoration and amazement. He chose to come like this, and that is worthy of much thought.  

But in the wonder of the baby Jesus, we can forget He came as king. The King. The long awaited Messiah to rule and reign. Not yet a physical kingdom as His people were expecting, but to set up His rule in hearts that would believe on Him.

And we must also ponder this.

For to accept the arrival of an infant is a task full of warmth and ease, but to accept the advent of a King is not. It means putting oneself under His rule. It means submission and obedience to His words. An allegiance and devotion to His plan.

The problem is, most of us who’ve accepted His reign in our lives, see this allegiance tested on a thousand bristly platforms every day. To keep Him enthroned exhausts us and our resources. (Can’t we just think of Him as a sweet baby?) I mean, we would obey His word, but people frustrate us and do not deserve a soft answer. We would submit to His plan, but to go our own way in this moment would satisfy our lusts. We would speak a word of Gospel witness, but find our hearts distracted and cold. We cringe to find that, when pressed with the matter of allegiance, we end up pledging it to our own selves. There’s this will, you see, this desire to be subject to Him and His Word that is present with us, but how to perform that which is good? That which bows to His rule? In the thick of life we cannot find it.

The Apostle Paul writes about this in Romans 7. He’s bemoaning publically what most of us try to brush under the rug privately: We our failures as subjects. And his frustration whips him to a fevered question: Who can deliver us from this failure? Then he pens a most unexpected answer: I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

How can our King be the answer to our failure? How can the one demanding our allegiance make it possible? Because He is no earthly King.  For when we accept His reign, we also sign up for His victory and His grace. By His death on the cross, Christ worked something we could not:  He put to death the authority and power our sinful flesh holds over us. And because of His resurrection, we are made alive in Christ: empowered to live for Him by that same Divine power that brought His lifeless body back from the dead. That’s what Paul is saying. The very Ruler who demands our devotion, provides the means for that devotion. Strength to do every good thing. Power to bear much fruit. Enabling to resist every temptation. This is the work of our King for us. I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

And so we find the requirements of our newborn King this season to be wonderful and good. Not something to be strained for by countless new year resolutions. Or quietly ignored. His is a reign that we may eagerly submit to. He is a King to whom we may gladly pledge the devotion of our quiet moments and busiest days. And find both the willing and doing of His good pleasure possible as we depend on Him.

A child, and yet a King.

Hallelujah.


Beth

Thursday, December 8, 2016

a matter of mittens

She felt it before she saw it, but with one quick glance she saw it too. Her fingers had gone a whitish numb again. Tis the season, she thought, and sighed as she tried to grip the steering wheel more gently. Funny how something numb can hurt so much. I hope no one shakes my hand as I walk into church…

It’s not that gloves aren’t plastered in every display window this time of year. It’s just that shopping for them takes time, and effort, and money. Three things she didn’t want to think about for the time being. Three things being loudly demanded by other parts of her life right now. Her fingers had survived before. 

They would be fine.
....................

He found them mingled with his. Just as they were the last winter his wife of so many years had worn them: tiny, soft, and thick-knit. A beautiful, glowing cream color in the dim light. Carefully, his wrinkled hands packed them in a brown paper bag to bring to church that morning. She’s so small too. I wonder if…
………………………..

She had exactly 1.5 minutes to set her things down on a sanctuary pew, fly to the ladies' restroom, extricate herself from the bustling fellowship of the ladies' restroom, check the order of service, sandwich herself amongst the altos, and enter the auditorium by way of the front row of the choir loft. 

Miracles can still happen, folks.
………………………...

He found her casting her purse and Bible on the front left sanctuary pew. Was already extending the bag toward her as she straightened up looking a bit like a horse ready to bolt from the gate. Don’t know if you’d have any use for these...a gentle smile spread slow across his face.
…………………………

They fit perfectly. Gloves NEVER fit. And the cable so thick, and the color so beautiful…she took a pair of mittens and a pair of gloves and a hat with a big tassel on top to boot. Then perhaps he startled a bit (and perhaps she did too) to find her arms thrown fast and tight about him as more than the 1.5 ticked on by. He listened contentedly as she gushed something about need, and so busy, and lost my old ones and numb and thank you.

Thank you so much…

…………………………

She will never forget it. How that one cold, rainy Sunday morning God once again took care of her when she was not wise enough to care for herself. How He tipped His hand, dropping another good gift into the hollow of her need. Nor will she forget the spirit of generosity and thoughtfulness behind the one who handed her that simple brown bag. For in that spirit, she sees a crystal clear reflection of her Heavenly Father. One who knows full well that she has need of things like mittens. One who will clothe her, as He clothes all of His creation. 

With so much beauty and grace.


(a well-mittened) Beth

Thursday, December 1, 2016

at this time every year

I could feel it welling up deep inside me last week. Perhaps it began with the annual ‘turning on of the Christmas music’ a few days earlier. Or the dusting off of so many red and green seasonal accoutrements. Or remembering again how I thought for years those three kings came from Ory and Tar. (A bit more exotic than orient are, wouldn’t you say?)


In any case, it happens every year as I’m struck with the beauty of the Christmas narrative behind the festivities. Despite the majesty and theological brilliance of the old carols…despite the 30+ years of Advent sermons, lessons, and dramas that whirl in my head…

Every year I must add my own words.

Every December, it’s as if the narrative is born in me again. A new thing. A fresh life. It’s a living Word after all. And what wells up inside me, must always pour out in words. Stumbling, weak, tepid, halting, crumbling, aggravatingly mortal ones. But still, I must form them and try hard not to break them as I place them on the page. These words will form poems, essays, plays, short sentences—anything as long as they describe Christ’s birth this season. It’s already begun (case in point.)

I write because God’s gifted me a love of and longing to use words. And it’s one of the biggest acts of worship I know to do—this offering Him (again) my fresh understanding of His greatest gift, His Son, to me.

And (if you wonder what the point of all these ramblings is…) I wonder what you will offer this season, dear reader. I’m most curious to know what God has gifted you, and how you will use that to worship Him this Christmas. Will it be with written or performed music? A new sketch or sculpture? Words spoken or placed on a page? A Holy Spirit prompted act of love or generosity? A special time of quiet, long devotion before God?
……………………..

If you think about it, every major character surrounding the Christmas story responded in some definite way to Christ’s coming. The angels burst with song. Mary magnifies God. Joseph determines to do right. Herod panics (don’t do that, k?). The wise men bring gifts. The shepherds offer a bended knee and low bow…

I write feverishly.

What will you do?

Beth


Thursday, November 17, 2016

lest I forget

Lest I forget that He bore all of my sin in His own body on the tree.

Lest I forget that means there is now no condemnation that can be fastened to me. 

That I am accepted in the beloved.

That I am at peace with God the Father because of the sacrifice of His Son. 

That He calls me His child.

Lest I forget that I am dead to sin.

That this means through Christ I may freely do the things I would, and not do the things I would not. 

That there is a way of escape in each temptation. 

Lest I forget that my lust to have and rule and be best is a broken, defeated master.

Lest I forget that God gave up His only begotten as a display of His love for me.

That there is no greater love than this I could possibly experience. 

Lest I forget that I may know the height, depth, length, and breath of this loving kindness in seasons of quiet unrest, and moments of screaming need.

Lest I forget that I am the created and fallen.

But also the redeemed, sanctified, justified, bought, forgiven…

that I am all those things and more that I could never cherish a hope of being without Christ.

Lest I forget these truths are more than mere words on this page. 

More than the spoken stuff of Sunday School and sermons. 

That they are my very identity. My reality. 

The me because of Jesus Christ.
...............................................

Father, today, lest I forget...

Lead me to Calvary.