Tag Archives: Advent

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Tis the Season…for Flashmobs and Orchestras.

Part of Advent for me is the music.

Poetry, music, stories…these are part of what move us, part of what reach us in a different way than logic and working out our salvation with diligent thinking. Both are necessary, but during this season, there are so many opportunities to participate in worship and in some form of music which draws us in. So many different forms…there has to be some that you can find that will inspire and reach you.

We have always enjoyed going to see Handel’s Messiah, and the symphony hall here is wonderful, however, there are countless versions online:

People are more open to hearing the Gospel … and yet we also know that there is an ache and a loneliness in so many around us during this season as well. Still…this is one of my all-time favorite flash mobs:

One of the most outstanding Christmas presentations for us has been Andrew Peterson’s Behold the Lamb of God. It would be much better for you to watch this short video and let him explain:

The really awesome thing, is that every year Andrew puts up a player online so that you can listen to the album online. For free. So, go listen.

Of course, this is also the season for some just joyful, wonderful music. Sometimes, it is nice to have music which simply brings a smile…and yet also carries with it the reality of the Incarnation.  Truly, it is rather amazing that as we go around through the shopping centers and we go through restaurants and all around…everywhere…we might complain that the stores are flooded with Christmas music constantly, but it also means that words of truth are being shared. I know, I know there are some very cheesy Christmas songs, and there are some that hold little to no truth. Still, every year the classic songs are played and sung and the reality that Christmas is about a savior who was born as a baby cannot be escaped.

Even if everyone says Seasons Greetings.

So, take the time to immerse yourself in some of the music of the season. Even if some is simply just for the joy of the music. Like this one that is bouncing around FaceBook…

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I Resent that Spotlight!

The fish died.

Yep.  I pretty much have been side-tracked on a multitude of other necessities and I didn’t get around to cleaning out the fish tank. We were down to just two…we’ve lost a few lately…and one of them died. We were actually buying new filters while this little guy gave up.

Nate took it in stride; actually I think he expected it considering the fact the water was so murky lately we could barely find the two fish each night when all the boys went up to bed.

And what does this have to do with Advent?  Stay with me…

I realized something yesterday. Or maybe it is just that I allowed myself the freedom to admit something. There are times I resent my kids.

Yep, I just said that outloud.

When we start out our homeschool day and I am not prepared. I resent them…not hate them, not mad at them, not that want-them-to-go-away resentment…but I resent them because in that moment they are spotlighting my weakness and my inadequacies.

My reaction? Oh, highly spiritual. I usually bark at them and get irritable. Because, well, I hate having my weaknesses and inadequacies spotlighted.

Kids will do that, though. Just by being themselves they will make you aware of all the areas where you fall short. Suddenly you are completely vulnerable and insecure and they are wondering why you are over at the computer whimpering and tearing up while they are just goofing around.

The fact is, most days I am not prepared for the day. The lessons may be written down but there are other things that will throw me. Calls will come in that someone is sick, or a friend has made life-altering choices and suddenly all I want to do is pray. There are days the weight of the awareness of my mother’s intricate and powerful mind decaying away to dementia leaves me feeling without any enthusiasm to take on the homeschool endeavor. The laundry constantly interrupts us. Or the fish dies.

They are not earth-shattering events, but they pick at me and I find myself irritable and on edge because I just can’t seem to get ahead of it all.

Advent? Yes…I’m getting there.

A babe in a manger. Silent night. Little Drummer Boy.

These have all become so familiar to us we do not let them impact us when they should completely drop us to our knees. The spotlight is on.

400 years of silence the Jews had been waiting through. God had been awfully quiet. Had he forgotten all those promises? Had he not noticed that we just keep seeming to be inadequate in our attempts to fix things?

God had noticed. The long anticipation was over, Messiah was coming. But he came in the most extraordinary and unexpected way. God pulled the rug out and surprised everyone.

See…Advent should be about joy and about wonder. It should fill us with moments when we are stunned by the glory of the whole story. But there is more. It spotlights our inadequacy and our need. God had to come to redeem us…we simply could not do it ourselves. And he came in a way that completely took everyone by surprise, and left all the glory to God.

He walked in the room, crying like a baby.

Angels shouted. Stars led the way. Creation noticed.

And God entered creation with the baby-born wail…and I am sure hell shuddered at that infant’s wail.

We can resent God for showing that we are inadequate, as I sometimes resent my kids for spotlighting (without even knowing) where I fall short. We can shake our fist and be angry because He has called us sinners first. We can be mad that the mere fact that there is an Advent season or a Christmas celebration calls attention to the fact that there is a God who noticed we needed redemption.

Or, we can hear those songs and that simple story of the babe in the manger, of the silent night…and we can drop to our knees. We can allow ourself the freedom to admit we desperately need that redemption and we just can’t fix things on our own.

We have 20 more days. Be still with the story for a bit. Don’t rush it. Let the spotlight rest on your and don’t turn away…don’t resent the fact that your inadequacies are being noticed. Rejoice that our inadequacies and sin were noticed…and were overcome.

O come, O come Emmanuel
within this fragile vessel here to dwell.
O Child conceived by heaven’s power
give me thy strength: it is the hour.

O come, thou Wisdom from on high;
like any babe at life you cry;
for me, like any mother, birth
was hard, O light of earth.

O come, O come, thou Lord of might,
whose birth came hastily at night,
born in a stable, in blood and pain
is this the king who comes to reign?

O come, thou Rod of Jesse’s stem,
the stars will be thy diadem.
How can the infinite finite be?
Why choose, child, to be born of me?

O come, thou key of David, come,
open the door to my heart-home.
I cannot love thee as a king–
so fragile and so small a thing.

O come, thou Day-spring from on high:
I saw the signs that marked the sky.
I heard the beat of angels’ wings
I saw the shepherds and the kings.

O come, Desire of nations, be
simply a human child to me.
Let me not weep that you are born.
The night is gone. Now gleams the morn.

Rejoice, rejoice, Emmanuel,
God’s Son, God’s Self, with us to dwell. -Madeleine L’Engle

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Hashtags and Hopes.

I am not sure there are many who would know the true sense of Advent…of that waiting and anticipation…as would Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Or others who have sat in prison and waited for their release. Waited for their rescue.

Like Pastor Saeed. He is an Iranian American who travelled to Iran to work on an orphanage he was helping to organize. He travelled there with the approval of the Iranian government. Then he was arrested an imprisoned without a trial, and has been sitting in prison for over a year simply for his faith.

Can you imagine?

Can you imagine the anticipation? The hope? The waiting?

There is an enormous push right now, #FreeSaeed, with over 20,000 committed to posting on FaceBook and Twitter and Pinterest about the plight of Pastor Saeed. The hope is to place pressure on our government as they make deals with the Iranian government to not forget this American citizen who sits and waits in an Iranian prison. The hope is that Pastor Saeed will know he is not forgotten and that there will be a flood of hashtags and a flurry of comments that remind the world that this one person is important.

And in that moment we remind everyone that they are important. We remind ourselves that we are in this moment of Advent. Of waiting. Yes, we are taking a stand for this one specific pastor and we are saying that he should be freed and no one should be imprisoned for their faith. More than that, though, we take a stand to say, especially as Christians and part of the Body of Christ, that we have not forgotten our brother. We are all in this moment of hush of Advent and it is holy.

We are in this moment that reminds us that the story is true. God has broken in to the prison and set the captives free, and that empowers us and gives us hope. It gives us hope to stand and believe that shouting out hashtags on social media means something. It gives us hope that standing together and raising our voice means something. It gives us hope that the traditions are more than platitudes and bobbles.

When we see that those who are imprisoned and beaten and forgotten do not forsake the One who came, we realize this Hope is true. In these moments we are more deeply aware of the depth of the Holy.

Listen to Bonhoeffer:

“Christ is knocking. It’s still not Christmas, but it’s also still not the great last Advent, the last coming of Christ. Through all the Advents of our life that we celebrate runs the longing for the last Advent, when the word will be: “see, I am making all things new.” (Rev 21:5).  The Advent season is a season of waiting, but our whole life is an Advent season, that is, a season of waiting for the last Advent, for the time when there will be a new heaven and a new earth.”  – Bonhoeffer “God is in the Manger”

So, Pastor Saeed…we pray that in that dark cell you know that you are not forgotten by us, and that somehow this flurry of social media reaches your ears. We pray that it reaches the ears of those with the power to pressure for your release. We pray even more so that the One who we wait upon gives you grace in your waiting, ministers to your wounds, bears witness to your guards that He is faithful and true and that your hope is made sure when you come home.

Tomorrow, December 4th, please consider raising your voice as well. Join the event on Facebook. Use the hashtag #freesaeed or #savesaeed  on Facebook or Twitter. Talk about him and pray for him.

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Hope.

It begins today.

Did you catch it, even just a whisper. Or did you catch a full shock of it?

The breath of hope.

Living, breathing hope.

Not the hope of stores that offer sales that bring people in droves, climbing over each other. Stomping each other and shoving each other in the desire to get ahead. Not the hope of bettering themselves and getting ahead. No. Not that hope.

Not the hope that some help is on the way from government or employment or education or…any other work of our hands.

No. Living hope.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you,5 who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory,9 obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls. -1 Peter 1:3-9

Advent.  Anticipation.  We are on our way. Set your eyes toward Bethlehem.

God has broken in to our world. The Creator has come into our midst. Living Hope is ours.

Amazing. Indescribable.

Hope.

More than we can imagine.

And He did it in the most amazing way. We never could have dreamed this up. A stable. A young girl. A baby. Take the time to think about this. Take the time to focus, even just for a moment, on what this season is truly about. Take the time to realize what our hope is all about.

Too Much To Ask
by Luci Shaw

It seemed too much to ask
of one small virgin
that she should stake shame
against the will of God.
All she had to hold to
were those soft, inward
flutterings
and the remembered sting
of a brief junction- spirit
with flesh.
who would think it
more than a dream wish?
an implausible, laughable
defense.

And it seems much
too much to ask me
to be part of the
different thing-
God’s shocking, unorthodox,
unheard of Thing
to further heaven’s hopes
and summon God’s glory.