to "get" Christmas

So, why did You do it? 

Why did You come?

I'm not getting it this year.

Nothing is sinking in.

Is this it?

There You were

Looking down at us

Wanting more for us

So You decided

To come

To show us

Your heart

Your love

To show us what God is like

To rescue us

To save us

Wanting to change the way You related with us

To come close

To expand Your reach

More effectively

Beyond just one people group

So that we would forever know

And get it

I'm starting to 'get it'

And yet I don't

I've been thinking (again) recently...

The older I get

The less I have answers that would seem 

   to make sense 

   to anyone else

But the older I get

The more deeply I am also convinced 

Of... 

   my need for You

   and the 'proof' within

The goodness You are, that draws me

And this, in itself

Must prove I have been somewhat changed

To recognize You for who You are

I choose faith again

(And I guess I'm on a bit of a Chris Tomlin roll today)

Rejoice for God is with us!

Yes, today was the first day this year to deliberately play Christmas music, so I guess it's the start of the Christmas season! (It can be as early as May or June for me, or as late as October.) This song brings a smile to my face every time I hear it, and it did again today. 

"Rejoice for God is with us!"  

Peace on Earth

Jesus, Messiah
Peace to this earth
You came to bring

Fill my heart
Fill my life
Continue the transformation
You have begun

Lead me
Lead us all
By Your Light
Out of our darkness

And joy
Fill our lives with your joy
For the journey is long
And hard
As Yours was much more so
But for the joy set before you...
You endured
And finished well

So may we live with joy
And worship
And live with Peace
In Light
So may I live with joy

Christmas Eve, Then and Now

"Then" was Mary, Joseph and Jesus, in a stable. "Now" is me in an airport. How similar? How different?

We're all on a journey, spending the night away from home in less than comfortable surroundings. Glad I'm not nine months pregnant--giving birth in such a place, and thankful that the smell here is quite...normal--no barn smells. Although I'm pretty exhausted, the rigours that have caused mine are different from theirs.

They didn't seem to complain, at least we don't hear about it. I haven't been complaining either. Kind of used to this routine. Perhaps we've all learned to trust God as the one over and above our circumstances...well, sometimes I can trust Him this way.

Mary, travelled accompanied by her loving husband, in the company of other travellers in similar situations, and in the presence of God...inside of her. I wonder if she felt like she was in the presence of God. No husband here. I am in the company of others whose flights have been delayed. I, too, travel in the presence of God, though I have had virtually no 'inspiring thoughts' or meaningful impulses. As much as I had wanted to enjoy advent meditations, and be moved and reflective, jetlag and a head cold have dulled all such thoughts. No sense of connection with God, being led by Him, or what He might be saying to me this day, at this season.

As they travelled was it in the awareness of the great purpose they were to fulfill, or just because they had to? They were aware of part of the purpose of their situation. Did they remember the Bethlehem part of the prophecies? Or did they fulfill important purposes just in the living and doing what needed to be done each day? My purpose in this trip is not nearly as grand as theirs, but theirs was for them and mine is for me. I'm aware of some of the purpose, but wonder if there might be more that I don't know.

Welcome to our world

Every year I want to see it fresh.
Every year something new does seem to stand out.

Okay, so it's not new... I'm just thankful that He came into our world, into our lives, my life, the way it actually is. He is King, walking in the dirt among common people. He honours lowly shepherds...the only ones that get a birth announcement at all (well...except for the star and the wisemen). He makes a huge sacrifice, without ever making a big deal of the sacrifice. You never hear Him say, "Don't you know what I left behind for you?" Nope, He wasn't at all focussed on His lot. He could handle the crap, the sin, and not turn away. He's the only one who really does enter the mess of our lives and offer to be "with us" in it all.

My world...just the way it is. He's willing to come, join in, be a part. I want Him to, but I'm kind of embarassed about ... so many things. And yet He comes.

Welcome to our world... Jesus. Welcome to our world.

*Thoughts crystalized after listening to "Welcome to Our World" (song by Chris Rice, sung by Michael W. Smith) last week.

Tis the season

For a Friend, Away from Home at Christmas
(written Christmas 2005)

In all the hub-bub
--the trees, the gifts, the cards, the busyness
even in “Charlie Brown’s Christmas”
(trying to discern Linus’ message from the tree)
we keep trying to regain
that sense
what it was really like
what it was really about
that first Christmas

Yet somehow
in trying to explain
to others
where they have misunderstood
I wonder if
once again
we overlook our own omissions

And so I want to know
about one other
this idea
that is never questioned
along with the others
but perhaps it should be

From where did it come
this idea
that we need to be
“home for Christmas”

When did the season
with its sparkle and snow
become a time to seek
comforts
and community
those who know us best
and love us most

It was not like that
at the start
the first Christmas
a couple travelling
Mary—no Elizabeth to help her birth the child
Wise men, sent wandering
after a star

And the babe
as far as could be
from his Father’s embrace
in pursuit of something bigger and better
(though it looked so small
just a baby in manger)

And you dear friend
though bitter, may it also be sweet
this Christmas
so far from home
in pursuit of something bigger and better
(though it looks so small
just hanging out with kids)

this barrenness
this desolate
is a little closer
tastes a lot like

the
first
Christmas

May your Christmas, and mine, be blessed will all that was real and true about that first Christmas. If we get to be warm and cosy with those we love, thank Father for the extra blessings. If the season is a struggle, and hard. If there is sacrifice, and joy through travel, pain, tears and sacrifice, then maybe (only ‘maybe,’ not guaranteed) we’re getting closer to what it was really about. In any case, follow the star, to the Baby, and learn from Him how to live the season all over again.