”He was poor, that he might make us rich.
He was born of a virgin that we might be born of God.
He took our flesh, that he might give us His Spirit.
He lay in the manger, that we may lie in paradise.
He came down from heaven, that he might bring us to heaven….

That the ancient of Days should be born.
that he who thunders in the heavens should cry in the cradle….
that he who rules the stars should suck the breast;
that a virgin should conceive;
that Christ should be made of a woman, and of that woman which himself made,
that the branch should bear the vine,
that the mother should be younger than the child she bare,
and the child in the womb bigger than the mother;
that the human nature should not be God, yet one with God

Christ taking flesh is a mystery we shall never fully understand till we come to heaven

If our hearts be not rocks, this love of Christ should affect us .

Behold love that passeth knowledge!”

~Thomas Watson

A Christmas Prayer

Father, when the fullness of time had come,

You sent to us the Son,

by the power of the Holy Spirit.

And all your people say: the Lord is come!

We waited with Israel for a Messiah:

            Now the Savior is here!

We waited with Mary for the child:

            Now the Holy One is born!

We waited in the brokenness of our world and lives:

            Now the Light of the World dawns!

And all your people say: the Lord is come!

For we who have walked in darkness have seen a great light;

we who lived in a land of deep darkness—

on us a light has shined.

You have multiplied our nation,

you have increased our joy.

For a child has been born for us,

a son given to us;

authority rests on his shoulders;

and he is named:

Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

And all Your people say: the Lord is come!

We respond with joy and adoration,

proclaiming in our hearts and with our tongues:

Joy to the World, the Lord is come!

Let earth receive her King;

Let every heart prepare Him room,

And Heaven and nature sing.

Joy to the World, the Savior reigns!

Let men their songs employ;

While fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains

Repeat the sounding joy.

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.

He rules the world with truth and grace,

And makes the nations prove

The glories of His righteousness,

And wonders of His love.

And all Your people say: the Lord is come!

For we do not proclaim ourselves;

we proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord.

For it is the God who said,

“Let light shine out of darkness,”

who has shone in our hearts

to give the light of the knowledge of the Glory of God

in the face of Jesus Christ;

in whose name we pray,

Amen.

in the spirit of Christmas Eve

close your eyes and listen.

I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day

My friend Adam wrote a version of this song and I realized today how beautifully his version portrays the spirit of advent. Click the link and you can hear while reading the lyrics if you want. I think He does a great job setting up all the emotions. 
It gives me chills every time. 
Love you guys.


I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day
Their old familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet the words repeat
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

I thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along the unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

And in despair I bowed my head:
"There is no peace on earth," I said,
"For hate is strong and mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good will to men."

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
"God is not dead, nor doth he sleep;
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail,
With peace on earth, good will to men."

Till, ringing singing, on its way,
The world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime, a chant sublime,
Of peace on earth, good will to men!

Beauty

Today I went to a coffee house in South Bend to work on a few papers in preparation for student teaching. When I was there I ran into a man I met over the summer with a few of my friends that I work with at a summer camp. When we met him in the summer he told us he was an agnostic, and asked us to pray for him for some very serious needs. When I ran into him tonight we began talking and I offered him a ride to The House of Need where he was staying; a house for the homeless. My first warning sign went up in my mind, to not give a ride to a man, alone, in South Bend, at night; yet for some reason I felt a peace about it. We loaded his bags and I gave him a ride to this House of Need. He invited me in, after declining the first time, he asked again and I went in. Another warning sign popped up in my head. I again, didn't listen to the warning sign. As I went in, it was a house of many homeless people and a few guests from Bethel (a Christian college in town). I observed as this random assortment of people came together as a family, prayed together and ate together.

Oh, how they loved each other.

I was humbled by the love that they expressed to one another and me. I stayed awhile and met a few people, heard a few of their stories and shared a little bit of mine. As I was there, I couldn't believe the actions I just took, but nothing inside me told me that it was a bad idea. I thought about the clothes I was wearing, the car I was driving, and the house I was soon coming home to, I felt completely selfish. Selfish and guilty. I complain about being a "poor college student" yet, 1% of the world goes to college. A poor college student is a contradictory expression. I keep thinking about the verse about how the more that is given to you, that much more will be required of you, and confessed forgiveness. I pray that this Christmas I will give more and love more. I felt convicted by Mike's words about encouraging one another and pointing out the Christ in people around us. I want to be better at seeing the beauty and hope in people and not the destruction and brokenness.

I saw so much beauty and hope tonight.

Week 4: Love

We Are All Wanderers

When I was a child I used to give my poor mother fits.  I wouldn't cooperate, I was (am) loud, and I would always go off somewhere without her knowing.  When my family was still living in Grand Haven I snuck out on our front porch.  Such was my ambition to escape that my parents had to put a gate up outside my door, at the top of the stairs, and one at the bottom of the stairs.  I climbed them all.  After a few escapes onto the front porch, past a locked and deadbolted door, my dad installed a hook latch at nearly the top corner of the door.  One morning my parents woke to find a broom on the floor that I had used to flip that hook that was attempting to keep me from my adventure.  


I am a wanderer.


My big conviction today is the idea of how far I wander from my first love!  I became a Christian when I was four, I don't even remember it.  I could tell you the time that it became real to me.  I may just keep that as something special between God and I, time will tell.  In our group we talk about sacred time.  We also talk about how God is closer in some spaces than others.  I would like to add another facet to this concept.  I think that there are sometimes where our hearts are warmed to God more or less.  I suppose we are all wanderers.  I am trying to posture myself at the feet of the manger over this Advent season.  I want to learn to truly love!  This is to be my constant position.  Close enough to hear the baby Christ coo.  


All wanderers can come home.

Home

Honestly, doing my Advent discipline has been harder at home than it is at school. There are so many distractions and so many things I feel like I should be doing. Also, coming home can be hard because it is easy to gossip about people you haven't seen in a while or family members that you don't get along with. Also, complicated past friendships and relationships are pushed back into your life. These things have affected my attitude and I can say that I haven't been loving people the way I should be. This is the week of love, so I intend on paying extra attention to this and asking God to help me love like he loves.

My Advent Call Part II: Living Mercifully

I'm often found a fool.  Living in unrest toward my fellow man, robbed of joy.  This is not the tumultuous inner unrest, rather an outer, directional, personal unrest.  I speak ill toward, and carry mal toward my fellow man.  Only fools run from joy.  Many of my closest friends have heard me utter cynical words toward chapel speakers, or more often worship leaders that do not seem to get the call of Christ.  I am being made aware that this is a reflection of my heart.  The Scriptures implore us saying: "out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks."  Mine is a dirty heart indeed!  


There is a sense in which living mercifully is funded by Advent.  When we learn to live in the rhythms of God's grace and to seek after joy, hope, and peace, we begin to learn the heart of God.  I felt led the other night to begin to live mercifully toward my fellow man.  To begin to have a favorable heart toward the Saints especially.  Beyond the entry level benefit of peace, lies a deeper call, beyond the peace, beyond the mercy.

In the midst of Advent I hear the cry of my Savior.  It is not the mature tears that I invision in His eyes as he prays the High Priestly Prayer over us in John 17, "I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one," ever mindful of the Schism and conflict that await in His Church.  This is the cry of an infant.  Infants can sense unrest in a room.  They feel their parent's moving toward conflict, or an all too argumentative uncle stirring up controversy.  They begin to cry out of a longing for peace.  I know that we are in the week of joy and "rejoicing," yet I cannot help but wonder if there is a logical progression to the Advent wreath...

Must peace come before joy?


So I fledge on.  Seeking after peace in my own life.  The Shalom of Yahweh.  I must find places, times, and moments where peace can be found, therein my joy.  The smile of an infant implores me to this.  To the joy found in the heart of peace.  Mine is a venture not of obligation, but of joy.  Joy to us Saints!  A child is born in Bethlehem!  He will be a beacon of hope in dark places.  Joy to us Saints!  A Child is born in Israel!  He will be a pillar of righteousness!  Joy to us Saints!  A Child is born into the world!  And on his shoulders is Salvation.  Salvation, in the smile of a Child.  Joy in the smile of a Child.  Joy.

My Advent Call Part I: Cherishing Christ

I spent the whole day Saturday babysitting for my little nephew.  He is just over a year old.  Such is the nature of babies that he demanded so very much of my time.  Yet I was in no way bothered by this, not with how cute he is.  After a bath full of bubbles which followed a very messy attempt at getting him to eat vegetables it was time for bed.  He was already moving a little slower than normal and I knew it would not be long before he was sleeping.  I wrapped him up tightly in his blanket, being wrapped tight helps babies feel secure.  And then I rocked him in the chair near his crib.  His little hand came out of his blanket and lightly clenched my t-shirt while he drifted off.  His tiny head was nestled in my chest and I knew he had gone to sleep when his grasp loosened even ever so slightly.  This was the part where I was to lay him gently in his crib and leave him alone to sleep.  I couldn't.  He was so small and I knew him to be completely helpless apart from my care.  So I held him there for twenty more minutes before talking myself into laying him down.  As I quietly closed the door behind me I was so compelled to pray for his safety and well being.

Last night as I was going to sleep I was given two little phrases that I intend to clarify and refine, the first of which I will discuss here and now.  Cherish Christ.  We spend most of our contemplative energies on the adult Christ, the miracle worker and teacher, without ever giving thought to Him in His infancy.  One of my favorite songs to listen to around this time is the song "Mary Did You Know."  Mary had no frame of reference to understand that she was holding Yahwey in her arms.  YHWH!!!  She was actually cradling God.  With the amount of care I felt compelled to give to my nephew Easton, I cannot even imagine hers.  I want to cherish Christ, and dwell upon how much He sacrificed, not just on the cross, but in becoming helpless.  The Child that Mary delivered, soo thereafter delivered her, and the rest of creation.  

Because God WANTED To

So today in church I was reminded why God WANTED to send Jesus to us to save us. This whole Advent season, I have been very focused on why God needed to send Jesus. For example, the extreme brokenness is a reason why God sent Jesus as atonement for our sins. Today, like I said, I was reminded that God wanted to send Jesus because He loves us so much. It's not that I forgot this or that it is bad to focus on the depravity and why we need Jesus, but I was reminded that God WANTED to save because he LOVES us. That seems ties in with the love week pretty well...it's cool how that worked out :)