Joy to the World and What it Means

No more let sins and sorrows grow.  Nor thorns infest the ground:

He comes to make His blessings flow

Far as the curse is found, far as the curse is found,

far as the curse is found.

These words were written by Isaac Watts, the famous English hymn writer and composed by George Frederick Handel.  The first two stanzas lead us into joyful, thankful worship.  This third stanza speaks to the purpose of the Savior's coming.  It takes us back to the Garden of Eden where Adam and Eve's disobedience separated them and us from all the blessings of fellowship with God.  It speaks of the growth of sins and sorrows.  The thorns infesting the ground must be speaking of how man's work would be made more difficult because of Adam and Eve's sin.  So our world both then and today, apart from the Savior's coming, is afflicted with the growth of sins and sorrows, and our work is made more difficult by sin's grip.  Even nature is engulfed in sin's grip.  This certainly describes the world we live in today.  Sin's curse is spread thick over all humanity and even of nature.  Although the great work of tracking down and destroying the curse actually ends at the cross, the Savior's coming begins at Bethlehem, where Jesus is born into the world.

The Savior's coming changes the game.  He comes to make his blessings flow in no limited fashion but to everywhere the curse is found.  The blessings that come with the Savior's birth are meant to chase down and overtake the sins and sorrows of this world in as powerful a manner as those sins and sorrows were first released into this world.  So the questions for me are will I believe that the blessings of God's coming are big enough to replace the evidences of the curse in my own life, and the lives of all the people I know no matter what the evidences of that curse are in their lives?  

No One is Beyond the Redemptive Reach of Jesus

My wife and I were inspired by many scenes from the Sight & Sound Theater https:www.sight-sound.com production of Jesus in Lancaster, PA in summer 2018.  However, the scene I most remember was Jesus' encounter with the Demoniac covered in Luke 8:26-39.  This occurred right after Jesus demonstrated his authority over the potentially destructive effects of the nature, calming the storm on the Sea of Galilee.  In the production he and the disciples were sailing through a dismal fog when they approach the shore of the Geresenes.  The story of this troubled man was remarkably displayed on stage and his pain and suffering were obvious.  Jesus is not at all intimidated by the man, his condition, or by the demons that possessed him.  By the end of the story he's entirely transformed by Jesus' redemptive work, such that he was found to be clothed and in his right mind.  Although the man begs Jesus to leave with him and his disciples on the boat, Jesus instead commands him to return home and tell his family what God had done for him.  How would I have reacted to the demoniac in this story?  How do I react to people I come into contact with who are not entirely well mentally?  Answer: not well.  This story reminds us to put before Jesus the very people who we would rule out as being beyond the reach of anyone's help, and not just those with mental illness.  But that is not the case with Jesus.  There's no situation that's daunting to him.  So let's take that most troubled person we can think of, or that person who's in a situation that appears to be the most hopeless, and place them in the hands of Jesus to seek healing for them.     

There's a sad subplot to this story involving the residents of this community.  They were so troubled by the upset caused by the healing of this troubled man that they asked Jesus to leave!  So the Savior, who heals and restores the most troubled person in their little village upsets them so much that they ask him to leave.  They are so used to the troubled condition of this man, so resigned to the permanency of his condition, so stuck in their own ongoing lack of compassion and faith that he could be healed that their little world is tipped upside down and they can't take the healing Jesus brought.  My hope is that we would never be satisfied with the things that are plainly out of kilter.  Sadly, apart from the hope we have in Jesus we become far too apathetic.  So let's remember to place our hope in the redemptive hands of Jesus.

The Self-Made End up Broken But Jesus Saves

My people have committed two sins:

They have forsaken me,

the spring of living water,

and have dug their own cisterns, 

broken cisterns that cannot hold water.

Jer. 2:13

Early in Jeremiah's message to Judah, he speaks these words, on behalf of God to God's  wayward people.  These words speak to mankind's nature, because the people of Judah, like us, were decendants of Adam and Eve.  People need water, for sure, but so many questions follow from this verse.  Why would people who could partake of a spring of living water choose to forsake such a gift?  Why would someone prefer stagnant water over flowing water?  Why would someone take the time to build a cistern and then improperly build it properly so it fails to hold water?

Sadly there must be something about the human condition that causes us to turn our backs on the spring of living water, which comes from God the Father and his son Jesus.   But we cannot leave it at that because whatever the living water represents, we seek that water to survive.  So then we attempt to meet those basic needs with our own ability, with disastrous consequences.

The story doesn't end there, however, because Jesus, by giving believers the Holy Spirit causes them to become vessels of living water.  Through Jesus' work and his gift of the Holy Spirit, we are delivered from digging out our own failing cisterns to holding the living water we crave, to becoming vessels from which living water flows.

On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, "Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink.  Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.

John 4:37 - 38

Experiencing God's Presence in Quiet

Elk Lake viewed from atop Nippletop (El.4620)

There's lots of quiet when you're hiking in the Adirondack High Peaks region of New York.  The rugged beauty of the lakes, brooks and mountains quiets me.  During my recent hiking trip, I experienced the welcomed afternoon breezes that swept over me, that cooled and refreshed my body and soul.  Those breezes felt like the presence of God, and reminded me of Genesis 3:8a, which has been paraphrased or translated in ways that reminded me of what I felt during my hike.  Here are the translations that most captured what I experienced on the hike:

And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool [afternoon breeze] of the day (Amplified Version)

When they heard the sound of OD strolling in the garden in the evening breeze (The Message)

Late in the afternoon a breeze began to blow, and the man and woman heard then LORD God walking in the garden (Contemporary English Version)

And when they heard the voice of the Lord God going in paradise at the wind after midday (Wycliffe Bible)

The idea that God, the creator of the world and the garden of Eden, was walking about in the garden, that he had a voice, that he would be heard by his beloved creatures, Adam and Eve, is a wonderful picture of the relationship He aims to forge with us.

Sadly, however, this verse is immediately followed by the verse that describes Adam and Eve attempting to run and hide from God.  Instead of running to Him in trust and free communion, as they had on previous days, their disobedience earlier that day brought shame, which caused them to run from Him.  Instead of being their highest delight, communion with the heavenly Father was no longer their highest delight, but was shunned as something evil.  On top of that, their minds become so disturbed that they actually thought they can hide from an omniscient and omnipresent God.  

So although its on me that I miss God's presence by my own missing the mark, the saving grace of Jesus Christ restores me once again.  With His restoring work, I can again hear the voice of God, and hear him strolling nearby not just in the cool breezes of the Adirondack High Peaks, but in the many other places and situations I walk.

Lord, who is my neighbor?

Le bon Samaritain Aime-Nicolas Morat, 1880

When we visited France in 2018, we saw many, many works of art, but none inspired me more than this one depicting the Good Samaritan.  This large and overpowering work begins when an expert in the Jewish law asked Jesus "What must I do to inherit eternal life?" to which Jesus replied by instructing the man to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and, your neighbor as yourself.  Thinking that he might be able to find some boundaries on the extent of love he would need to show others, he asks a dangerous question, "And who is my neighbor?"    

This painting shows the extent to which Jesus' followers are called to love others.  Our neighbor is the person who needs our help and whom we are able to help.  There are no limits to those who we are to be a neighbor to.  Jesus' story should have rocked the expert in the Jewish law because the expert in the Jewish law would likely have nothing to do with a half breed Samaritan, yet it is the Samaritan who exemplifies the kind of neighbor Jesus calls us to be.  Jesus assigns the characters of the story roles that challenge the cultural norms, because truly being a neighbor means reaching out in love to the person who might be least likely to share your views of life.  

So in this artist's depiction, the Jewish man is beaten, half dead, humiliatingly naked, unable to even balance himself on the donkey.  The Samaritan is looking straight ahead at all of us who need to hear the message of the story.  He has a sober determination to get this Jewish man (a person he would least likely be friends with) to a place of recovery and restoration, even though he's going to pay for it out of his own resources and economically disadvantage himself.  The ground around them is rocky, yet the Samaritan has no shoes, perhaps an indication of his poverty.  Yet, amid this brokenness and poverty, light from almost directly above them beams down on their upper bodies, reminding us of the many paintings of the incarnation.  This is a common yet holy act.

Jesus, in telling the story of the Good Samaritan, shows us that the neighbor he calls us to be is beyond whatever good will we can come up with on our own.  The neighbor we are to be to anyone in need who we can help is something that comes from a changed heart, a heart that's surrendered to Jesus the Savior.  Yes, we too should ask ourselves the question that can move us more into Jesus' arms and more into a life of extending grace to our neighbors. 

Broken Into Beautiful

The Japanese have a centuries-old art form called Kintsugi in which broken pottery is put back together, but instead of being rejoined with a camouflaged adhesive, a special tree sap lacquer dusted with powdered gold, silver or platinum is used to fill the cracks.  This unique repair method celebrates each artifact's unique history by emphasizing its breaks instead of hiding or disguising them. Kintsugi often makes the repaired piece even more beautiful and valuable than the original.  

The popular Christian song Broken Into Beautiful http://www.songlyrics.com/karen-peck-and-new-river/broken-into-beautiful-lyrics/  by Karen Peck and New River, gives the same idea, but in reference to the work of Jesus the Savior.  It contains these words:

if you change worthless into precious
guilty to forgiven
hungry into satisfied
empty into full
and all their lives are shattered
and we believe we matter
when you change broken into beautiful

When it comes down to it, no matter who we are, we are broken people in one way or another.  The putting back together is the work of grace that Jesus the Savior can do in us if we choose to open the doors of our hearts to him.  How might we be of greater value when having been broken, we're put back together by Jesus?

• This putting back together is the work of the Savior, making us new creations.
• Having experienced brokenness in ourselves puts us in touch with others' brokenness.
• Being broken, then restored, gives hope to others who are broken or facing brokenness.
• Admitting brokenness is an act of faith because it frees us to trust our brokenness to Jesus for healing. 

I wonder if we believers were more willing to be seen as Kintsugi-like pottery by the world we say we want to reach, that we would see more non-believers welcome the Savior Jesus into their lives too.  

History is "His Story"

View of restored Ft, Necessity in distance, with wayside display signage in foreground.

As part of Corinne's and my first foray into hauling a hard sided camper to Ohiopyle, PA, I visited the Fort Necessity National Battlefield and nearby Braddock's Grave. These places remember important events in the French and Indian Wars. A 22 year old Col. George Washington, builds Fort Necessity in an open field with no high ground, with tiny redoubts, trenches that would later fill with rainwater, and too close to the forest, where the enemy could take cover behind trees.  A battle between the British and American forces of numbering 400, and French and Indian forces numbering 700 ensued here on July 3, 1754.  After a day of battle, where his forces suffered significant casualties, the French commander offered terms of surrender, that Washington agreed to allowing him and all but two of his men (who would be held for one year as ransom) to leave and return to Virginia.  Surprisingly, the French commander was the brother of the French commander that Col. Washington's unit killed in the Battle of Jumonville Glen on less than six weeks earlier on May 28, 1754. 

One year later Col. Washington returns as an aide to British General Braddock, and in the Battle of the Monongahela on July 9, 1755, Braddock is mortally wounded, and dies on July 13, 1755.  Washington's life is miraculously spared again as the British forces lost more than half of their officers and men.  General Braddock was buried in the military road (named Braddock's Road) so that his body could not found and desecrated by the Indians.  Washington presides over the burial ceremony. 

A little more than 25 years later the British army surrenders to the American General Washington at Yorktown with significant support from the French navy.  America becomes a free nation.  God is the God of history.  He ordains the events of history and uses all of them for His redeeming purposes.  Americans are a fortunate people, a blessed nation.  May we not forget God's hand in the history of our founding and right up to today.