Shopping Carts

The other day I was in Canadian Tire looking for a Mother’s Day gift…  (I know eh?  I married the perfect woman!) …any ways, I’m in Canadian Tire when a dad passes me pushing his little girl in a shopping cart.  I’ve always really liked the way shopping carts are set up – it’s intimate.  Not shopping ☻ but being face-to-face with your child.  I don’t know who designed the first shopping cart but they have my thanks!

So, there’s this dad and his daughter inside this Canadian Tire and just as they passed me I hear the little girl whine, “Daddy, I don’t like this… this is boring.”

I don’t know how long they had been in the store, but their cart was empty.  I can’t imagine they had been there very long (that’s ‘man-think’ I know).   We were well into to the store.  They would have had to pass through the automotive section and then the athletics department.  The little girl, positioned in the cart as she was, had a clear picture of where they had been.

“Daddy, I don’t like this… this is boring.”

She’s young I know, but I wonder if there might come a day when she longs to be in that seat facing Daddy.  Feeling safe, protected.  Will she regret not appreciating the ‘boredom’ of shopping with dad?  Will she regret not taking more time to look him full in the face?

There is a parable there.  To be situated in life in such a way that I am always looking Daddy in the face!  To let Him dictate where we go.

Of course, if I’m not looking at my Father, like the child in the cart, I end up looking over Daddy’s shoulder at where I’ve come from… the past… and so I base all my prayers, my statements, my complaints on the assumption that what was, is what will always be…

“Daddy, I don’t like this… this is boring.”

…what she didn’t see, and what we often miss, is that we are moving in a direction that will take us out of our past and into a place of joy and delight.  See, dad was heading for the toy section.  If only she could have turned her head to see, she would have found the bright blues and reds and pinks and greens of a section more to her liking!

Sometimes we are so focussed the past, we forget it’s the past – it’s what we’ve left behind. 

The Father is taking us somewhere…

The Father is taking you somewhere…  or …He wants to.

my 2c

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The Perfect Me

I was reading “UnBranding” a clever and informative book by Scott & Alison Stratten. 

(I could go on gushing about how much I enjoyed the book but you don’t know me so my recommendation means nothing to you… unless… you do know me in which case you’ve already stopped reading this and are off to find a copy☻)

People didn’t start trying to project the perfect image of them selves with the advent of social media.  (That’s not a direct quote but it’s pretty close). 

Trying to pawn ourselves off as better than we are is as old as the human race.  What’s different, what technology allows us to do, is to project an image of ourselves far beyond the circle of people who know us. 

Even that might not be so big of a deal if we didn’t also allow, invite… encourage… these complete strangers to rank and rate us.  It’s the rating that we chasing…

Why are we ranking ourselves and others?  Why are we creating 4-point, 5-point and 10-point scales by which to imprison our exceptional individual personalities?  How have we become so deceived as to believe our humanity, our uniqueness can be contained, reduced, enslaved by an arbitrary number.

The God I believe in created you to be you! …to be uniquely you.  Of the 7.44 billion people on the planet (and the billions of others who have lived and died) there has never been and will never be another you.  EVER!  (this is the real tragedy of abortion) You might find your doppelganger… you might find a soulmate who is so-o-o similar you feel you’ve known each other since forever… you might even be an identical twin… but they are not YOU!   …they will never be you.

You cannot compare your ‘rating’ to anyone else’s because no two people occupy the same scale.  God did not create you to sit in a balance judged by or against those around you… 

He placed you, His child, in a swing because He loves to hear your giggles and laughter as you fly back and forth.

my 2c...

 

Control - Tenth Avenue North

Mangers and Crosses

Protestants take great pride in their symbolic piety… or lack thereof.

In recent years we’ve abandoned the table… removed the cross… hymnals and bibles and stain-glassed windows…

“It’s not about the symbols” we’ve said, “It’s the truths they represent!  As followers of Christ,” we’ve continued, “we live the truths of the symbols!” 

(…I’m not sure that’s true but we like how spiritual it sounds and anyways that isn’t the theme of this post so I’ll let it slide). 

In truth, the symbols simply cost too much in time, energy and money to maintain… and we have other things (better things?) to do with our time… our energy… our money…

...it’s convenient how God no longer expects me to make a sacrifice of the things that I want for myself (that’s a different post too… I’ll let it slide).

Get to the point!

Surely, you’ve noticed how the protestant cross is always empty.  Catholics use a crucifix – a cross with an likeness of Christ still attached.  Protestants insist, “He is no longer on the cross!”  So, we shun crucifixes.  Some go so far as to call them idolatrous.

…which is ironic given our love of placing some sort of likeness in mangers at Christmas.

We prefer the baby Jesus to the crucified Christ.

Is that because we imagine we prefer a god we can control?  Because a manger-bound baby is safer?  Because a god-in-a-manger won’t challenge my attitudes, my spending, my busy-ness, my reveling, …and if he does I can always coo-coo-coo and pretend I don’t understand.

Christ on the cross confronts my lust and greed and selfishness and busyness and pride and….  Christ on the cross reminds me, “This is for you!”  Christ in a manger?  …He’s cute and cuddly and don’t you just want to pinch His cheeks as you scurry off to buy something else that you don’t need in order to impress people who don’t even know you exist?

Listen, I believe the cross… and the tomb are empty.  He IS risen!

…but the manger is empty too…

my 2c

Celebrating Advent

Your local Christian bookstore should have lots of Advent tools like devotionals, calendars, cards and family activities for families at various stages… and of course there are a lot of great tools available online (some crazy nonsense too so be discerning☻)

Here is one very simple tool that can be easily adjusted for your family.

You’ll need:

·       Five candles

·       A designated time once/week for the whole family to gather

·       A Bible (age appropriate for your family)

·       A fireplace to sit around (just kidding… unless you have one☻)

·       Set aside one night a week.  I suggest right after supper.

·       Gather the family together around the candles (If possible leave the candles (unlit) in place all week as a constant reminder.)

·       If you are on weeks 2-4 you may wish to light the previous week’s candles at this point.  For example, on week two you might light week one’s candle at this point.  On week three you would light two candles – one for the first week and one for the second, etc.

·       Read a few verses of the Christmas story as a family.  You can have the same person read each week but it might be nice to use all of your family’s readers over the course of the season.  Here are some possible selections to read:

o   An angel visits Mary – Luke 1:26-38

o   Mary visits Elizabeth – Luke 1:39-45

o   Mary’s Song – Luke 1:46-56

o   Joseph – Matthew 1:18-25

o   The Trip to Bethlehem – Luke 2:1-7

o   The shepherds – Luke 2:8-20

o   The Magi – Matthew 2:1-12

o   Simeon – Luke 2:25-35

o   Anna – Luke 2:36-40

·       After the reader(s) is finished light the candle for that week.  (The fifth candle is for Christmas day)

·       Offer a brief prayer inviting Christ to be a part of your holiday rhythm.  You may wish to have a different person assigned to pray each week.

No, this is not the strict liturgical way of engaging in Advent but this isn’t about liturgy this is about remembering and inviting Christ into our lives.  Of course this isn’t the only way and you’ve probably got some wildly creative children in your family that can create an Advent tradition that works for you.  Try to include these three things.

Remember – Advent is about remembering Jesus.  Your Advent activities should work to remind you of the following.

·       Who Jesus is…  

·       What Jesus has done…

·       What Jesus is doing in your life, family and the world

·       What Jesus has promised to do

Secondly, this is supposed to be fun so celebrate Jesus!

·       Why not have a party for Jesus.  I’m sure He’d be OK with you celebrating early.  Bake and eat a cake together as a family.  Play some games together conscious of His presence in the laughter and joy.

Finally, share Jesus’ love with others

·       Meet a need in the community – Volunteer with Salvation Army, a local Food bank or a soup kitchen.  Do you know a person or family in need?  Take them a meal, or invite them over to share one with you.  Drop off an anonymous gift/giftcard, etc.

Advent! It’s as easy as 1, 2, 3.

1.    Remember

2.    Celebrate

3.    Share

Gotta Serve Somebody

Our Lord’s first obedience was to the will of His Father, not to the needs of men; the saving of men was the natural outcome of His obedience to the Father.  (From: Chambers, O. (1986). My Utmost For His Highest: Selections For The Year)

It’s hard not to get overwhelmed.

Everywhere you turn there are multiplied needs.  You don’t have to be a Christian or a religious person to see it…

…simply human. 

It’s on every channel of TV (so I’m told), it’s on the radio, in the margins of your browser, check your twitter feed, CBC, CTV, GLOBALnews…

…#troubleintheworld

(I don’t know what that is …it just seemed to fit☻)

I can’t imagine what it must be like to be a police officer (an early dream), Fire and Rescue, Paramedic, Nurse, Doctor… I have challenge enough just trying to journey with people through spiritual challenges! (…and let’s be honest, for the most part those are easy to hide so I’m sure I don’t see more than 10% of those).

So-o-o-o many needy people

So how did Jesus manage?  The first in all of history who could meet every need He saw… heal every disease… cure every illness… restore every broken, lifeless, fragile heart.

John, the gospel-writer, records  an incident in which Jesus visited a place that was crowded with the needy.  According to John 5:3, “a multitude of sick-blind, lame and paralyzed”.  That is to say – the needy, the powerless, the broken, the weak, the feeble and so-on.  Jesus, John records, steps through this multitude and heals one man… a single person from the crowd.

We all think, “If that were me, I would have waved my hand and healed them all!”

…because we are slaves to our own neediness. 

Christ served not the needy… but the Father. 

That’s the point Chambers is trying to make in that opening quote.

The theological knots in this are perhaps beyond my pay-grade but the basic question is one we all need to wrestle through…

Who you gonna serve?

…as Dylan said… You gotta serve somebody…

…just sayin’