Christmas – Page 5

For the last about 25 years we have been putting up the numbers on this countdown. Whoever was the first child up in the morning got to put the number on the bear countdown. Whitney always hid the 22 because that is her birthday. And yes, the number 6 has been missing for the past few yers. The countdown was a good visual as we anticipated Christmas Day.

Anticipation–A feeling of excitement about something that is going to happen; expectation or hope. (Merriam Webster) For some people the anticipation of Christmas does not bring excitement but dread or sadness because of a lost loved one, or family stress, or financial issues.

I am anticiapating the birth of my first granddaughter, grandchild number 6, any day now. I am very excited as I wait! The birth of each grandchild is exciting. Something I have been waiting for about a year finally was completed this past Friday. It was a long wait.

At the end of The Old Testament, there was 400 years of slience. Nothing from God. Then God took on human form as a babe to be the people’s Messiah. The Jews were anticipating that the Messiah would come and deliver them from Roman bondage and set up a kingdom where Israel would be the preeminent nation of the world. They were looking for a political Savior, a King, who would reign over Israel forever, freeing them from the Roman government.

The Jews were not looking for a Messiah to pay for their sin. They were anticipating a ruler to free them. Jesus did not fit who they expected the Messiah to be. In fact, most of what Jesus did ran contrary to their view of a Messiah. For example, the Jewish religious leaders held strictly to the Old Testament law against working on the Sabbath. Jesus, however, healed people on the Sabbath. They also thought Jesus should think and behave more like themselves. However, Jesus hung out with theives and prostitutes. Jesus spoke harshly against the hypocrisy of the Jewish leaders. They didn’t take too kindly to Jesus’ claim that he came to give them eternal life if they believed in him. No, Jesus was not who they anticipated as their Messiah.

Many Jews rejected Jesus as their Messiah (Matt. 27:22) causing a veil of spiritual blindness to fall upon these previously spiritually discerning people. Do I have a blindness because what I’m anticipating is based on my expectations? The angel of the Lord appeared to the shepherds to announce the birth of Jesus. The Bible tells us that they hurried off to see this thing that had happened (Luke 2:8-16). A babe maybe was not what the shepherds had expected as the answer to their Messiah, yet they hurried off. They could hardly wait to see the Savior that was born. Do I anticipate meeting God everyday in prayer, through His Word or in blessings throughout the day?

Since Neal’s death I have thought more about life after our time here on earth. Philippians 3:20 says, “But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ.” I anticipate eagerly seeing Jesus face-to-face. “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come,” Matthew 24:42.

I can “bear”ly wait for Christmas. I can “bear”ly wait for the birth of this granddaughter. I can “bear”ly wait to meet The Messiah daily and for eternity. May I not be blinded by my own expectations that I miss what God has in store for me. What can you “bear”ly wait for?

On the journey,

Trish

Do you every feel as though God is trying to teach you something through events that seem to have a shared core? That happened to me last week.

Last weekend I went to a suburb of Chicago to help my son, Karsten, look for an apartment close to his work. On Sunday we went to Willowcreek Community Church in Barrington. The teaching that week was about carry for those in prison. Bill Hybels message stressed that no one is beyond hope. At the end of the service we packed 32,000 bags, between all the services, with books and snacks for the prisoners in Illinois.

Praying for the prisoners who will receive the bags

On Monday I flew to Dulles Airport i Washington DC to spend some time with long time friends of Neal’s and mine. Jim works for Prison Fellowship. Chuck Colson was founder of Prison Fellowship, Colson Center for Christian Worldvew and “Breakpoint” that aired on the radio. Colson served as Special Counsel to President Richard Nixon. Mr. Colson spent seven months in prison after pleading guilty to obstructing justice in the midst of Watergate. Prior to his inprisonment he gave his life to Christ. Following prison his radical life change led him to leading Prison Fellowship, the world’s largest outreach to prisoners, ex-prisoners and their families and the Colson Center, a teaching and training center focused on Christian worldview thought and application.

Tuesday night my friends and I went in to DC to see Charles Dicken’s “A Christmas Carol” in the historic Ford Theater where President Lincoln was shot. Scrooge with his Bah! Humbug! attidude encompasses all that dampens Christmas spirit: greed, indifference, selfishness and lack of consideration of other people. He was a penny-pinching miser who cared nothing for the people around him and mankind only existed for the money he could make of them through explotation and intimidation. He particularly detested Christmas which he viewed as “a time for finding yourself a year older, and not an hour richer.”

Behind me, Jim and Cathy is the box where President Lincoln was shot.

Scrooge is visited on Christmas Eve by the ghost of his former partner, Jacob Marley, who died seven Christmas Eve’s ago. Marley, a miser just like Scrooge, is suffering the consequences in the afterlife and hopes to help Scrooge avoid the same fate. He says, “I wesr the chain I forged in life…I made it link by link, and yard by yard. I gird it on my own free will, and of my own free will I wore it.” Marley tells Scrooge he will be haunted by three spirits: the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future.

Through these spirits visits, memory serves to remind Scrooge of a time when he still felt emotionally connected to other people, before he alienated himself from society. Empathy enables Scrooge to sympathize with and understand those less fortunate than himself, people like Tiny Tim and Bob Cratchit. His fear of death, used by the last spirit, helps the completion of Scrooge’s reformation. Christmas morning finds Ebenezer doing acts of kindness like sending a Christmas turkey and raising the salary of his long-suffering clerk , Bob Cratchit, spending Christmas day in the company of his nephew, Fred, whom he spurned in years past and helping Bob’s crippled son, Tiny Tim.

We sometimes find ourselves feeling imprisoned or in chains, like Bob Marley, of our own making because of choices we have made. Or maybe we are a victim of our circumstances beyond our control, like the poor in “A Christmas Carol.” Either can leave us with feelings of hopelessness.

Author Charles Dickens saw a need with the plight of poor children. In 1839 it was estimated that nearly half of all funerals in London were for children under the age of 10. Those who survived grew up with no education and virtually no chance ro escape poverty. Dickens felt this cycle could only be broken by educating the public, hence the writing of “A Christmas Carol.” Chuck Colson saw a need in the prisons and for ex-prisoners and their families and founded Prison Fellowship and The Colson Center. Willowcreek packed bags of supplies for prisoners to offer Christmas cheer.

What does Dickens, Colson and Willowcreek have in common? They wanted to offer hope to those imprisoned literally or in spirit. Charles Dickens said, “For it is good to be children sometimes, and never better than at Christmas, when its mighty Founder was a child himself.” During the Christmas season what a better time to remember the ultimate gift God gave by sending His son as an infant to offer hope to a broken world. Dickens, Colson and Willowcreek all showed compassion. Jesus showed compassion through tender sympathy to the poor, the despised, the hurt, and the sinful. No one was rejected or ignored by him. Christ payed the price for sin and opened the way to hope and peace with God.

What can I do to offer hope to a broken world? What can you do? This is what God did:

8-12 There were sheepherders camping in the neighborhood. They had set night watches over their sheep. Suddenly, God’s angel stood among them and God’s glory blazed around them. They were terrified. The angel said, “Don’t be afraid. I’m here to announce a great and joyful event that is meant for everybody, worldwide: A Savior has just been born in David’s town, a Savior who is Messiah and Master. This is what you’re to look for: a baby wrapped in a blanket and lying in a manger. 13-14 At once the angel was joined by a huge angelic choir singing God’s praises: Glory to God in the heavenly heights, Peace to all men and women on earth who please him. LUKE 2:8-14 MSG

Peace and hope to you this Christmas season.

On the journey,

Trish

Tag: Christmas

We Can “Bear”ly Wait

A Christmas Carol of Hope