MANNA: 12/18/12

Third Week of Advent

Luke 1:13
But the angel said to him, "Do not be afraid, Zechariah,...
Luke 1:30
"And the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary,..."
Matthew 1:20
An angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream saying, "Joseph, son of David, do not fear..."
Luke 2:10
And the angel said to [the shepherds], "Fear not..."

If your church is like mine, then your church is preparing to be visited by...angels, as well as the whole cast of characters in the children's Christmas pageant.  Angels are described in traditional interpretation as innocent and beautiful.  Well, I ask you...is there anything that strikes the soul with more innocence and beauty than a child dressed up in white and gold with a halo and wings?

Angels are an intrinsic part of the Christmas story.  Christmas simply would not have happened without these God-sent messengers.  In truth, we don't know whether or not the angels were clothed in white robes, whether they had halos or even whether or not they flew with wings.    What we do know is that these angels carried the heart of God to frightened people whose roles were instrumental in the story of Christmas.

Angels appear four times in the traditional Christmas story and each time, although they carried different pieces of information concerning what was to happen, their message always begins the same way, "Do not be afraid!"  It was what the angel said first to Zachariah, then to Mary, then to Joseph and finally to the shepherds on the hillsides of Bethlehem.

"Do not be afraid!"

I believe that this is the message before the message, of Christmas.  Before we can believe that God entered human history in the vulnerability of an infant boy...we need to hear the heart of God say to us, "Do not be afraid!"  Before we can believe that God is with us, preparing us, sustaining us, empowering us for whatever life throws at us next, we need to hear the heart of God say to us, "Do not be afraid."

As we consider the horrible evil that befell Sandy Hook Elementary, we hug our kids, and ask, "WHY?"  And the question, like so may other questions of despair, remain unanswered...Yet, still, God does not remain silent as so many mistakenly assume.  He comes to us with the message of the angels, "Do not be afraid."  Before we can embrace the possibility that God truly does enter a fallen world to heal the deepest wounds, comfort the deepest hurts, bridge the widest chasm of despair, we must first hear and believe that we need not be afraid.

Prayer:
As we send our kids to school...As we face personal trials...As we answer God's call...As we grieve...May the message of angels remind us that we need not be afraid.  Amen

MANNA: 12/14/12

2nd Week of Advent

Luke 3:15-17

"He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire."

While Danielle and I were visiting my family back home in Wheeling, we made a stop at Oglebay Park.  We toured the mansion and glass museum, and got to watch a local artisan blow glass into a beautiful Christmas Tree ornament that we purchased.  It is now a cherished ornament that hangs on our tree.

Our Blown Glass Ornament

Have you ever watched someone blow glass?  I don't think you can fully realize the artwork and the skill that goes into this craft until you actually see someone do it.  Sand is the primary ingredient.  It's heated in a fiery furnace until it forms a molten lava.  Using a long pipe, the blower scoops out of the furnace a glob [that's the technical term, I'm pretty sure.:-)] of this lava.    He then begins his craft.  He blows, and turns...re-heats, molds, blows, turns...over and over, until the idea in the artisan's imagination comes to be.  I remember when the glass blower presented this Christmas ornament to us, the look in his eye was one of pride and joy for what he was able to offer us.  In that moment I realized that this was so much more than another glass ball for our Christmas tree.  This was a gift!


This memory comes to mind when I try to understand what John the Baptist meant by saying that Jesus would baptize us with the Holy Spirit and with fire.  When we're nothing but a shapeless, purpose-less glob in the fiery furnace of life, Jesus scoops us up.  Like a master glass blower, he breathes the Holy Spirit into us, inspiring us and encouraging us to new life.  He then turns, molds, re-heats, blows, turns...day after day, year after year.  Life is series of moments some are heated, some inspired, and some turned.  Through all of life's joys and sorrows, celebrations and failures Jesus is there, God with us, Emmanuel...blowing, turning, molding.  Over time, we begin to become what the Master imagined us to be.

Sometimes...when it's hard to see the miraculous work of God in the gift of our lives, I think it helps to look past our self ..to see the Master still at work.

May you see the Master still at work with you, using fire and the Holy Spirit to craft you with pride and joy.

Blow, turn, re-heat, and mold me, Lord, that your pride and joy might show through me like a cherished ornament.  In Jesus' name.  Amen  

MANNA: 12/12/12

2nd Week of Advent

Luke 3:7-18

BEEP..BEEP..BEEP..BEEP..BEEP..BEEP

My alarm clock is not my friend.
I am definitely not a morning person.  Waking me from my cozy dream world, where I am warm in bed, will rarely garner appreciation from me.  Whether you're a morning person or not, I think we could all agree that the alarm clock's duty is never going to be one that is too fondly welcomed.  

Every year, by the second week of Advent we are fast asleep in our little Christmas dream world, buying presents, decorating the house, preparing for guests, planning meals.  Every year, we fall asleep, denying the reality of our lives, our finances, and our time.  Then, like an alarm clock, the Baptist shows up in our Sunday worship service.  His announcement is a harsh reminder of realities of life and sin.  His cry is a wake up call.  He calls us out of our comfort zones, and re-directs our attention away from the image of cozy and warm child in the manger, to a cold world in need of forgiveness and mercy...the grace found in the gift of naked and cold man who dies on a cross.  It's no wonder the likes of Herod and others found him so offensive, and had him beheaded.  They too were sleeping in the denial of reality, and John wanted to wake them up.  

This time of year, we could all use a wake up call.  It's too easy to doze off, allow ourselves to over-indulge on so-called "holiday cheer", then find ourselves drowning in credit card bills, overwhelmed with preparations, stressed the point of yelling at our kids, and generally missing the real gift of Christmas.  

Our alarm clocks are not our friends, but we need them to wake us up so that we might see the light of day.  Likewise, John the Baptist is not a welcomed friend, but we need his cry of preparation to wake us up from our holiday dreams, so that we might see the light in the good news that Christ is with us, even now...Emmanuel!

So.......WAKE UP!!   

God is with you....Emmanuel!  

The only thing, truly necessary for Christmas, is a prayer...

Open my eyes, Lord, I want to see Jesus.
To see him caring for the sick, feeding the hungry, comforting the bereaved.
Open my hands, Lord, I want to help Jesus.  

MANNA: 12/7/12

First Week of Advent

Luke 1:46-55:  Mary's Magnificat

Luke 1:68-79: Zechariah's Song of Prophecy

The Good News of Jesus Christ is announced with songs that cannot be kept from singing.

Luke's gospel begins with the announcement of God doing a new thing with two miraculous births.  One is to Zechariah's wife Elizabeth, and the other is to a virgin named Mary.  Zechariah bursts forth with a song of prophecy at what God has done in the birth of John.  And Mary cannot keep from singing her Magnificat at the announcement that she will give birth to Jesus, the long awaited messiah.  Then, in chapter two, a choir of angels sing to shepherds their song of announcement that Jesus has been born in a manger.  The gospel of Luke is bursting with songs that announce the coming of Christ.

The season of Advent finds us bursting with songs as well.  Choirs caroling at the mall.  Christmas music played on the intercom in department stores, during TV commercials, over loud speakers in the city, on the radio during your commute.  Everywhere you turn there literally is music in the air.  Christmas music is familiar music, too.  So familiar to all of us that we might find ourselves unable to resist the urge to sing along.   And the latest new thing is the flash mob.  If you find yourself suddenly surrounded at a public place by a group of strangers serenading you with Christmas carols, well, just go with it.  Sing along and consider yourself blessed.  Then, go home and see if you can find yourself on YouTube.  :-)

What's fascinating about all of this music is that much of it is actually the sacred music of the church.  Sure there's songs about reindeer, snowmen and a fat guy in a red suit, but "Silent Night", "Away in a Manger",  "O Little Town of Bethlehem", "Angels We Have Heard On High", "O Come, All Ye Faithful", "Joy To the World" are all found in our Lutheran Book of Worship.  These, and many others, are hymns of the church.  They are songs that announce the gospel message...that Jesus was born, and he is the Son of God, Savior of the world.  At any other time of the year, if a choir were to sing sacred hymnody at the mall or any other public place they would quickly be asked to stop.  If they didn't do so I'm sure they would be arrested for disturbing the peace.  But not now.  Not during this very special season of the year.  During this season, the world seems to be unable to resist the urge to sing about Christmas....the birth of Christ, the Savior of the world.

Whether people realize it or not, God is announcing the coming of his Son to us and to the world, and just like the days of old, He does so with songs that the world cannot keep from singing.

Prayer:  Lord God, thank you for the gift of songs that announce your Son's birth.  Open my ears to hear your choirs of angels announcing, even now, that Christ comes to bring peace on earth, and open my heart that I might sing along to share your joy with others.  In Jesus' name, Amen!

MANNA: 12/6/12

First Week of Advent

Philippians 1:3-11

"I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ."

Paul wrote this to his friends in Philippi from a prison cell.  There is little we know for sure of the treatment this "ambassador in chains" received during his two-year stay as prisoner in Rome.  But, it goes without saying that the circumstance of prison itself would have posed considerable pain and suffering.    Yet, he writes not of his discomfort or plea for help, but of his confidence in God's completion of his work in his friends.  

That is a sure and certain hope!

Before my grandmother died, she had a short time of conversation with us.  She was 93, dying of cancer, and we had all made peace with it as she laid unconscious in a hospital bed.  But, for a brief moment, she spoke to us from a kind of semi-lucid state that seemed almost crystal clear.  Emerging from her fog of  morphine induced dementia, she looked up at those of us who were gathered there and began to ask us things...the kinds of things a mother asks her kids before they leave her for an extended period of time.  "Do you have all that you need?"  "Are you happy?"  "Do you know the way?"   As strange as this moment was to us, we quickly responded, "Yes" to her questions, reassuring her that we were going to be alright.   This seemed to satisfy her and she drifted back into her unconscious private world.  She died a couple days later.

She was not asking us if our lives were full of parties. She wasn't asking if our lives were without difficulties or challenges. She wanted to be sure, before she went to be with Jesus, that our lives were heading in the right direction...the same direction she was heading.  Before she left this life, she wanted to be sure that we would meet up again in heaven.  Looking back, it was with the same sure and certain hope we find in Paul's letter to his friends in Philippi that we were able to say "yes" to her that day.

We buried my grandmother next to my grandfather.  We commended both of them to Almighty God with a sure and certain hope!

Thank you, Lord, for the sure and certain hope you give to us in Jesus Christ.  Amen.