Monday, December 31, 2012

Prince of Peace


It is still the Christmas season and contrary to current culture the season begins on Christmas Day and goes on for twelve days. Thus, the twelve days of Christmas take us through Epiphany, which is January 6th, not the pre-Christmas sale season. Since we are still in the season it is okay to talk about the meaning of “the season.” There has been much talk lately, due the secularization of this holiday, to remember that Jesus is the reason for the season. This causes much consternation with the secularists because anything to do with Jesus is verboten. But, having come from a denomination that claimed to be Christian yet held Jesus Christ to be optional, one has to ask: “Which Jesus?” There are many neutered versions of Jesus that have nothing to do with the Son of God whose birth we celebrate on December 25th. This is especially true when he is labeled the “Prince of Peace.”
 
 
Having heard it read at Christmas each year, many of us can recite Isaiah’s prophecy about the coming of the Christ-child. Isaiah 9:6 says: “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” Now, he is called more than Prince of Peace but that is the title that has come under much distortion. The notion of “peace” has been so skewed that we cannot envision what it truly means. Since we live in a fallen and tainted world we have never experienced true peace. There are many definitions of peace that we may have experienced personally. Some from Merriam-Webster are: a state of tranquility or quiet; harmony in personal relations; a state or period of mutual concord between governments; a pact or agreement to end hostilities between those who have been at war or in a state of enmity. But none of these go far enough to describe the peace that Jesus brings. The Prince of Peace brings a peace that “transcends all understanding.”(Philippians 4:7) It goes beyond our wildest imagination.
 
 
I cannot count the number of “peace treaties” that have been entered into by warring factions during my lifetime, and I'm not really that old (contrary to what my kids think!). Sometimes those treaties last a long time and sometimes the ink doesn’t even dry before they start attacking each other again. Either way, a cessation of hostilities, while one definition of peace is not the peace we will experience when Jesus comes and ushers in his kingdom. For many of us we just remember the Arab-Israeli conflicts and their attempts at “peace.” Their hatred for each other – or at least the Arabs innate hatred of Israel – makes true peace impossible. The animosity continues even when the bombs and bullets aren’t flying. While they are not physically attacking each other, the hatred remains. While there may be mutual concord they are devising new ways to get retribution. The conflict is not occurring externally but inwardly the battle rages on. What really happens is that people try to pretend that everything is copasetic - the Rodney King gospel of “why can’t we all just get along?” – but they are just waiting, hoping for an opportunity to try to overwhelm and overpower the enemy. The opposition remains because deep down they continue to be enemies. When one reads Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) we find the rules for kingdom living, living in peace with one another. It can be summed up as turning enemies into friends. That is when true peace is possible.
 
 
The prophet Isaiah gave us a vision of how this peace that Jesus brings will finally be lived out on earth. In two different chapters he gives us this picture of peace. Isaiah 11:6-7 tells us: “The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them. The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. The infant will play near the hole of the cobra, and the young child put his hand into the viper’s nest. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.” And later in chapter 65, he says: “The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox, but dust will be the serpent’s food. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain,” says the Lord.” (v. 25) Think back on any National Geographic special about Africa or the wilds anywhere for that matter. How many times have you had tears in your eyes because a young animal has become food for another animal that is too ugly to appreciate? The picture Isaiah draws for us is something that is humanly impossible. No human endeavor at peace could ever achieve this kind of harmony in nature or civilization. But the animal kingdom will one day live at peace and harmony together. I maintain that part of the fall was having carnivores. And Isaiah 65 seems to add evidence to this conclusion. It is hard to conceive of Isaiah’s perfect world when we look at the world around us. A friend in seminary told us his dad, an overly educated man, finally agreed that he saw no hope of man ever perfecting himself. It took the collapse of the World Trade Center to bring him to that pronouncement.
 
 
Like much in this life, people are looking for peace in all the wrong places. They want to have “the peace that passes understanding,” without having the one person who is capable of giving it, Jesus Christ. This is impossible and we have a whole decade to prove it. The 1960’s were called the decade of peace. Many people adhered to the mantra of making peace not war. (Some advanced the notion of making love not war because that was easier to do than to make peace.) They took John Lennon’s song “Imagine” as a sort of proto-Isaiah portrait of the peace they so desired and wanted to work towards. “Imagine” is a sentimental version of peace. The song itself is certainly a godless version of peace and fairly impractical. It is a partial truth because it does not take into consideration the underlying cause of the problems of the world: fallen humanity. It is a partial truth because it does not consider the ultimate solution: Jesus Christ. He is the peace that Isaiah foretold would come. While the song contains some laudable objectives, many of which will one day happen, they cannot be come into being apart from the person and work of Jesus Christ. He will be the one who will bring about those achievements. St. Paul summed it up perfectly. In his letter to the church at Ephesus he wrote, “For he (Jesus) is our peace.” (2:14) He does not impart peace, teach peace or inspire peace. He doesn’t preach about it, write about it or pontificate upon it. He is it. He IS peace, he IS the Prince of Peace. It not just part of his character, it is who he is. Looking for peace anywhere else or in anyone else is futile. You can imagine all you want but it ain’t going to happen. The peace we seek, we desire, is available in one and only one place, one person, Jesus Christ. All other forms of peace are counterfeit and will not satisfy our desire for peace. This Christmas you can find the “peace that passes understanding.” But you can only find it in the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ. This year, don’t imagine it, experience it!

Monday, December 17, 2012

Coal Again!


In the Christmas season we find a more than usual amount of accountability about what we have done during the year. I cannot tell you how many parents I have heard coaxing their kids by saying that if they aren’t good Santa will not bring them anything on Christmas. This Christmas coercion usually begins about the Black Friday. The other night I was kidding a young man about a video game he was playing. The idea of the game was for Santa’s reindeer to kick him in the bottom and knock him down the chimney. I jokingly said to the kid that if he knocked Santa too much he would get coal in his stocking. I guess it was the vacant stare I received that made me realize he had no idea what I was talking about. Being raised on “A Charlie Brown Christmas” I knew too well the supposed disappointment at having a stocking full of coal. The idea of coal in the stocking was to signify that the person who received the coal was not good during the year. However, it seems rather cruel to give someone coal so it is not done much, if at all.

The impetus behind coal is the recognition that our behavior has consequences. It seems we only worry about this just before the Christmas season. It is only then that we worry about our conduct and what it may mean to our stocking contents on Christmas morning. It reminds me of a story about the Visigoths. When they became Christians they would have four priests – two on each side of a river – and the Visigoths would walk through the river holding their swords above the water line. They would be baptized up to their swords which allowed their swords to continue to conquer and pillage without eternal consequences or reprisals. They devised a loophole to continue their way of life and still be “Christians.” We contort things to avoid an avalanche of coal on Christmas.
 
Our accountability ends up being a year-end review. We see this examination as a chance to rationalize our actions throughout the year and try to justify them. It is amazing how short our memories are when we are involved in this type of situation. It is also amazing at how lucidly we can create rationalizations for each and every misstep. Personally, I can barely remember last week, much less last month or last January. While I am sure this saves me from suffering from too much guilt I am sure it does not saves me from the need for confession and repentance. This is why it is good to keep short accounts with God. I may not remember what I have done but God surely does. If the contents of my stocking are based solely on my year-long behaviors, without Jesus Christ in my life I would get coal, coal, coal! In fact, there is not enough coal in all of West Virginia to fill my stocking to the level of my misdeeds. Even if the coal deposited in the stocking was just symbolic, the stocking would still need to be full. Coal is actually a sign of our need for a Savior, even one born in a manger. There is a song by the Newsboys that says: “When we get what we don’t deserve, it’s a real good thing. When we don’t get what we deserve, it’s a real good thing.” This is especially true on Christmas. Just think of the run on coal if all of loved ones had to be honest and give as our deeds deserve. Thank God he does not act like that. 

When we repent and confess, God is faithful and just to forgive our sins. (1 John 1:9) The Bible has three promises about our sins that offer us a sense of relief. It says that God puts them as far away as the east is from the west (Psalm 103:12); he puts them behind his back (Isaiah 38:17); and he remembers them no more (Jeremiah 31:34). If you look at the earth, going from north to south you eventually hit the opposite direction. This does not occur however when you are going from east to west. You can keep going east as far as you would like and you will never reach west. When God puts our sins behind his back it means they are no longer in his sight. Now, my mother always said that she had eyes in the back of her head. This doesn’t mean God is incapable of seeing behind him but that once he places them behind his back they are no longer in his line of sight. Finally, the Bible says that God remembers our sins no more. This does not mean he is a giant senile grandfather in a rocking chair and he can’t remember things he should. This is a choice on God’s part that once confessed he will erase the board clean and not recall them ever again. This is eternal coal abatement for those of us that deserve coal in our stocking. So, as we approach Christmas and hang our stocking by the chimney with care, or wherever you hang them if you don’t have a chimney, remember this: God will not give you coal this Christmas. He will give you a Savior!

Monday, December 10, 2012

It’s Just Not Fair


As I drive my son to taekwondo there is a stretch of road that is under construction. One evening while going home, I was fooling with the GPS in the car and not paying the proper amount of attention to the road or that traffic signs. We were taking this route for the first time so I wasn’t familiar with the thoroughfare anyway. Seeing four lanes I just gunned the engine and went. I was traveling at 42 MPH, so I have been told. Until of course, the nice police officer decided to flash his colorful lights in my rearview mirror. He was nice and understood my dilemma about driving my wife’s car, the new road and speed limit and thus he only gave me a warning. I was very thankful because being in a “work zone” the speeding fines are double. In Oklahoma, the law calls for double fines in any speed zone regardless of whether there are workers present or not. That’s just not fair! It’s not like that in other states. Regardless, I got a warning and not a fine. Now, I know there are people who will say, “That’s just not fair!” You may be right. But nonetheless I was upset and I obsess about the speed limit through that section of road every time I drive it. I get upset when I get passed on that section of road by vehicles ignoring the big sign that advises of a speed limit of 25 miles per hour. I cry to the Lord for justice and fairness that they would get stopped like I did. I appeal to his sense of fairness and good that there would be a police officer anxious to apprehend speeders just over the next hill. That indeed would be true justice. That indeed would be fair! It rarely happens (okay never!).

I have been intrigued by the notion of fairness lately as it is an overused and misunderstood word. The Merriam-Webster online dictionary defines fair as: “marked by impartiality and honesty: free from self-interest, prejudice, or favoritism or conforming with the established rules: allowed.” Fairness to me means that it is not arbitrary or showing favoritism to one party over another. Fairness should be equal to all without regard to any other factors or influences. It should affect all parties to the same degree and proportion. Keep this in mind when reading the following. Ask yourself, is it fair?
 
There is a lot of talk politically about the “rich” paying their fair share. While in the US, over 80% of all taxes are paid by just 10% of the population, the battle cry now is for the rich to just pay their fair share. In this parlance, fair means more because that would just be fair. After all, they can afford it. Yet, their tax rate is currently higher based solely on the fact that they make more money. If fair means equal in proportion and degree, then the tax rates would be the same for everyone regardless of how much they make. If fairness means not arbitrary then the rich are already paying more than their fair share. When we look at the Bible, we don’t see God expecting some people to give more just because they have been blessed to make more. The tithe is proportional at the same level for everyone regardless of how much they make. God didn’t give everyone the same amount of talent, but he does expect each person to maximize their potential based on the talents he has given them. God expects each person to return to him the same percentage of what he has allowed them to make as everyone else. The tithe is God's standard and he applies it equally to all based on that standard and not on where or how they obtained it. I must confess that I have been part of congregations that thought that the richer members should carry more of the churches financial burden thus relieving the other members of having to tithe and contribute their fair share just because they can. This is man’s idea not God’s.
 
I also hear frequently that same sex marriage would be fair. It would offer the same privileges and advantages to same sex couples as their married heterosexual counterparts. The rationale behind this is that love has no barriers so the church and the government should not erect barriers either. How can it be fair to love someone and not receive the benefits and societal protections that other heterosexual couples enjoy? Here fairness has more weight and thus the argument gets cloudy. However, in the quest for fairness the culture is scuttling several thousands of years of tradition. While it may seem fair from one point of view, is it really fair to devalue and tamper with all that history. Can something be fair for one party and not the other? Whose values are to determine which is correct and valid? In the United States, until this recent election, every state that had a marriage amendment on the ballot passed them by overwhelming margins. Is it fair for courts to overturn the will of the people in the name of fairness? Now the Supreme Court will be settling the issue. You know after their decision, someone will cry, "It's just not fair!"

Another cry is that it's just not fair that everyone will not enter heaven as if entrance should be based on some arbitrary, human notion of fairness. God would never be that exclusive, restrictive and judgmental. After all, God is a loving and just God and he should want everyone to “get in (which he does by the way). While this sounds good, it goes against the very nature and character of God. God has set the bar high because he is holy and righteous. He cannot even stand to be in the presence of sin, whether it is a small tiny spot or a large cankerous blotch. Neither can sin ever be in the same space God inhabits. Since heaven is God’s dwelling place, since he is the one who created it and resides in it, he sets the requirements for admission. While many people want to impose on God their view of fairness it does not mean God will accept it. Fairness seems to be a moving target based on what we want. If we do not get what we want, it's just not fair. If it is beyond our ability to reach it, it’s just not fair. If someone who has more talent and ability has “stuff” we want it’s just not fair. Something must be done to level the playing field in the name of and for the sake of fairness. If we don’t like God’s standards because he sets the bar so high, we just need to lower the bar instead of raising our expectations and endeavors. We confuse fairness and love with caving in and being underachievers. Like much of what has been discussed here, it is not God’s plan. It is not God’s intent to lower his requirements to make us happy or give us a sense of fairness. We want the creator and sustainer of the universe to bow to our wishes instead of the other way around. Now, that’s just not fair! And I am sure God has a few things to say about that. The next time you want to complain about fairness, try looking at things from God’s perspective. He sacrificed his Son for us and yet we ignore him, deny him or just plain don't give him a second thought. If anyone has a RIGHT to cry, “it's just not fair!” it is God!

Saturday, December 1, 2012

Oh No, It’s “Oh Ho the Mistletoe”


Last Sunday, on our way to church, one of the local Christian radio stations was playing the Burl Ives song, “Holly Jolly Christmas.” I must confess that hearing that song only three days after Thanksgiving Day was a little disconcerting. Hearing it on the way to church put me in a rather foul mood entering worship. Hearing it on the Christian radio station, well . . . enough said. Then, when we entered worship the first song the praise team played was “O come all ye faithful.” I must admit that my Anglican sensibilities were offended.  What ever happened to Advent, the time of preparation for the coming of the Messiah?

The past two years we have endured so much political commentary and musing that by the time the election came around, we were just worn out and disinterested in the whole affair. We grew tired of all of the posturing and name calling and opinions of people who really had no idea what was going on. We had election fatigue.

In today’s consumer society, we tend to get seasonal fatigue because the Christmas season begins after Halloween or sooner and not Thanksgiving as it used to be not too long ago. By playing Christmas music, viewing Christmas ads, and seeing Christmas displays everywhere we turn, we seem to get sick and tired of the whole season long before Christmas day comes. We are robbed of our Christmas joy by retailers who want to rob us of our hard earned dollars by having Black Friday deals continue for three weeks. The new Christmas theme is "more is better." Instead of not participating, we endure it all for the sake of the kids and try to pretend it does not affect us. Well, ask yourself, how is this long Christmas season working out for you? If we are all honest, we would admit that while we don’t like to admit it, it has caused us some consternation and aggravation.

As an Anglican, I enjoy the season of Advent as a time of preparation for Christmas. I need time to get into the mood and leave the rest of the world behind and get ready to welcome the Christ child. I also need the time to remind me that, as I look back to the manger and Christ’s birth, I must look forward to his coming again. I must not only look forward to it with joy, I must assess my life to find out if I am ready when he finally does come. This is an important time and it brings the future into the present as a reality that will one day soon be upon us. As a period of reflection and correction, this is time well-spent.

Seasons are an ever-present reality in life. We may not notice the change in seasons until it is too late, but they do actually occur on a schedule. No one season is extended, delayed or otherwise changed on the whims of our pocketbooks or thermometers. Each one happens like clockwork at its prescribed time. Never early, never late, but they happen right on schedule. We can change the method of observing time – like daylight savings time - but that does not stop time from rolling on. The seasons exist for a reason regardless of how we think or feel. Often it is better to participate in the season than to ignore it. Advent requires the same response from us. We don’t jump ahead to Christmas too soon and get worn out about it by the time it comes. We get to prepare and absorb the enormity of what we are going to celebrate.

The problem with Christmas, especially when it is all about what happens before, is that we quickly forget the reason for the season the day after Christmas is over. We do not celebrate the joy and appreciate the meaning long enough for it to have a profound impact on our life. The Christmas season actually begins on Christmas Day and ends 12 days later at Epiphany. Those are the true 12 days of Christmas. That is the season to celebrate the birth of the Christ child. But during this time period we focus only on the consumer driven excitement of the cashing in gift cards and the exchange of unwanted or foolish gifts. The celebration ends and we get back to normal as quickly as possible. In my house, my wife has to have the Christmas tree up right after Thanksgiving and down right after New Year’s Day. She gets mad – actually tired of the Christmas mess – when we keep the signs of the season up until Epiphany. She becomes fatigued with it and I really do too. To date, I haven’t been able to get her not to decorate for Christmas any later than the middle of December. A nice compromise but even with this the fatigue still sets in.

Now, please do not call me a Grinch. I really love Christmas. I love all of the Christmas hymns and music. But Christmas is more than just about the music, the presents and the decorations. Our secular world would like us to believe otherwise. To diminish the “reason for the season” is to remove from Christmas its identity and meaning. To take it lightly means we see only a babe in a manger and not the Son of God. I was once told by a wise bishop about the purpose of pre-marriage counseling. He said we should be more concerned about the marriage than the wedding. The same principle should be applied to Christmas. We must be more concerned about who the Christ child is rather than when or how he came into the world, if we even recognize those parts of Christmas at all. I am not advocating the mass distribution and dissemination of Advent music, but the proper use of an Advent wreath can add meaning to the Christmas preparation. Most of those hymns are unsingable and sound more like funeral dirges. The contemporary Christian music scene would never gravitate to this suggestion. Instead of using Christmas music, maybe we should just forego it until we get closer the day and continue it through the true Christmas season. 

It is tough not to cave into the secular environment which we inhabit. But that is the call of being a follower of Jesus. Let us prepare wisely for the season of which we are looking forward to. Sunday December 2nd is the first Sunday of Advent. Participate in the preparation. Enjoy the experience so that when Christmas comes, you can not only appreciate what God has done and will do, but you will be ready for it like Jesus calls us to. I am holding tight to a new motto this time of year, “Experience Christmas again for the first time!” Make this the best Christmas of your life by preparing for it properly and intentionally. Focus and enjoy because Jesus is the Lord of Life.