Are you Ready?

Hey, I know Christmas isn’t here yet but, a new year is just around the corner!

Happy New Year!

What that means in this neck of the woods is that... well... that the sun went down (like it normally does) and came up the next morning (like it normally does)... and ...well... I don't know.

Face it... it's just another day - a day off from work and school... but still, just another day.

I don't know if you engage in the ritual of writing out resolutions or not...
...stop smoking
...lose weight
...spend more time with family
...make more money
...spend less money
...get out of debt
...find a job
...move out of Mom's house and find a place of my own...

the usual...

Here's my question.  When you make those resolutions what are you actually saying?  It seems to me that a resolution is an acknowledgment of a couple of things:

 First, that something in my life is busted.  Something needs to be changed.  an unhealthy habit needs to be broken or a healthy one needs to begin.  Right?  Resolutions are a call for change...

Secondly, I would say that resolutions are also a plea for help.   You waited for this magical date... January 1st. Why didn't you quit smoking on December 8th or started the diet on the 17th?  ...because you didn't have the strength to... but now... after January 1st... the year is new... the sun is new... you are new and you suddenly have the strength to go through with that diet..

No you don't...  you need help... more help than a fresh calendar can provide.

So stop what you're doing.. stop what you were going to go back to after reading this... and call someone close to you... a sibling, parent, child, friend, spouse and tell them, "I need your help with something.. this year I want to [insert something you need help with]... and I cannot do it on my own.  Will you help?"

If you don't do that now - then print this off and put it somewhere where you will find it January 1, 2016.. you're going to need it again...

…just sayin…

The Baby in the Manger.

Protestants are adamant about their crosses. 

Maybe you haven’t noticed. 

Catholics typically use crucifixes.  The term “crucifix” is of Latin origins and essentially means ‘fixed to a cross’.  So most Catholic crosses contain some representation of Christ affixed to the cross. 

Protestants on the other hand, typically employ naked crosses.  That is, crosses without a body.  “Christ,” many are eager to declare, “is risen!  He is neither in the grave nor still fastened to a Roman cross!”

The funny thing is that Protestants have no problem putting a baby in the manger of their nativities.  In fact, you’d probably be surprised at the level of anxiety caused by annual “kidnappings” of  “baby Jesus” (do a Google News search of “baby Jesus stolen”).

Why, when we are so adamant about God no longer being cross-bound, are we OK with God being manger-bound?

…because a manger-bound god is easier to control… easier to fit into our holiday… our schedule…  our lives…

The manger-god asks only that we provide a manger, bow like shepherds, light some candles to remember the star and sing “Glory to God” to remember the angels. 

Baby Jesus is safe!  No… He’s contained!  No worries.  No stress!  He’s just a baby! Nobody fears a baby.  We fuss.  We don’t fear.  And in spite of the example of the Magi we don’t worship babies either. 

It’s hard to worship a God who is lying in a manger with a poopy diaper!

We prefer the Christ-baby!   So, each year we pause to celebrate our tiny, manger-bound God – wrapped in swaddling clothes. Then we congratulate ourselves for “keeping Christ in Christmas”

I often hear people talk about “getting”, or worse, “letting” God “out of the box”.

If that’s you, you need to get over yourself.  Fact is, you are too small to put Him in a box!  You haven’t the strength to put Him in a box!  And you certainly don’t have the capacity to see Him fully!  The best you can do is ask Him to blow whatever confines and restrictions you currently view Him through.

Now that would be an awesome Christmas present!  

_{(parts of this blog come from a sermon preached by Rev. P. N. Woodburn during Advent 2013)}

Power

I can’t remember how old I was… probably old enough to know better. 

It was Christmas morning. 

That year one of my gifts was a tin Indy 500 race car.  It might have had flames on the fenders.  I remember red, white, yellow and blue detailing and big fat tires but what made it special was that it was powered by a spring made of high tension steel.  No batteries required!  All you had to do was pull it back and let it go! 

 

Man, did that thing go! 

It didn’t take long before I wanted to see how far it could go on one pull.  Then I had to find out how fast it could go on a single pull.  Then I realized I didn’t have to pull it back at all!  If I wound the power wheels up and held them tight while setting it down I didn’t have to bother with dragging it halfway across the family room!

I was mechanically inclined enough to realize that the tighter I wound it the faster and further it would go so naturally each time I retrieved it I attempted to wind it up more…

…you know where this is going right?

I broke it!

Less than an hour of play… probably more like 30 minutes and I busted it.  I turned my wonderful high-tech, powered without batteries, once-in-a-lifetime toy into a paper-weight with wheels.  Of course, it still looked the same mind you.  It just couldn’t do what it was designed to do because the wheels had been cut off from their power source…

It doesn’t matter what a thing is… doesn’t matter how it’s powered – battery, solar, gas, diesel, wind, electric… spring…  Separate a thing from its power source and it becomes ineffective… useless…

So…

…what’s your power source?

…just sayin’