Luke 2:14 Glory to God in the highest,
 and on earth peace, good will toward men.

Some of you who are our age will recall 7 O'Clock News/Silent Night recorded by Simon and Garfunkel in 1966. This recording juxtaposed the music and words of Silent Night with an actual news cast from August 3, 1996. The result was powerful. It echoes the thought of Longfellow’s 1863 Christmas Bells which states, “For hate is strong and mocks the song of peace on earth, good will to men”. 

Going back across the years, from Simon and Garfunkel in the turbulent 60s, Longfellow in the time of the Civil War, and certainly Bethlehem in the days of Herod and his slaughter of the children, the words, “on earth peace” can seem an impossible hope.  In our day of racial tension, terrorism, and growing dread of what comes next, the hunger for peace on earth aches in the hearts of men and women around the globe.

Peace on earth seems so distant as we look at the smoldering, and at times blazing, circumstances of the world around us. But there is the problem. Peace will never be found, and was never intended to be found, in the circumstances. Micah 5, the familiar prophesy of Bethlehem as the birthplace of Jesus, was spoken at another time of political turmoil. The prophet lays out the hope. “And he shall stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God.  And they shall dwell secure, for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth. And he shall be their peace.”

Do you hear it? Do you see it? Peace is not circumstances. Peace is a person. Ephesians 2:14 says it outright: “For he himself is our peace”. And in Isaiah 9:6, “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” Jesus is the Prince of Peace.  Hebrews calls him the King of righteousness and the King of peace.

When the angels announced the coming of Peace to the broken world, that Peace is Jesus himself. Receive Him. He is your peace.  

Snow drifts

As I write the snow is falling. Well, actually it is mostly going sideways.  This is not one of those gentle, big fluffy flakes falling slowly, softly to the ground type snows. This is a blowing, drifting, reduced visibility snow event.  Winter storm warning, blizzard conditions at times...

How can the same precipitation (snow) have such varying personality? There is the gentle, silent snow, and then there is the wild, howling snow like we are seeing today. Yet each has its beauty. Each proclaims God's glory.

Praise the LORD! Praise the LORD from the heavens; Praise Him in the heights! Praise Him, all His angels; Praise Him, all His hosts! Praise Him, sun and moon; Praise Him, all stars of light! Praise Him, highest heavens, And the waters that are above the heavens! Let them praise the name of the LORD, For He commanded and they were created. He has also established them forever and ever; He has made a decree which will not pass away. Praise the LORD from the earth, Sea monsters and all deeps; Fire and hail, snow and clouds; Stormy wind, fulfilling His word; (‭Psalms‬ ‭148‬:‭1-8‬ NASB)

Yes, even the snow fulfills His word.

You have reached your destination

I attended a funeral this week. I hadn't been to the particular funeral home, so I put the address in my phone's GPS app.  It dutifully routed me through the various turns.  At last I pulled up at Church and Chapel Funeral Home.  As I did so, the pleasant voice of the app said, "You have reached your destination."

It struck me how accurate the GPS was. My destination, your destination, every person's destination...

Hebrews 9:27
And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment

Every person on this earth has an appointment, a destination.  Unless Jesus returns first, all will die. And the judgement awaits.

Thank God that 9:27 is not the last verse of Hebrews.

Hebrews 9:27-28
And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:
So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.

The funeral home may be my destination, but not my final destination. For those that look to Jesus, it is just a brief stop along the way to the real destination. Our destination is at the side of Jesus, in his presence forever.

Grace, Mercy and Peace

Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. (2 Timothy 1:2b)

Becky and I read this verse this morning as a part of our Bible reading. The words are familiar, comfortable. Reflecting further, perhaps they are too familiar - part of an opening greeting of a letter from Paul, brushed past in our hurry to get to the real message of what is being said.

But wait! This is the real message. This is God's word, spoken to our hearts and lives. This is God himself addressing the deepest longings of our souls.

Where can humanity hope to find peace? Where can we hope to glimpse grace and mercy? These will be found only as we look to our God who calls us his children and who invites us to call him "Father". They are found when we recognize the anointed One, the Messiah, Jesus.

She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins. (Matthew 1:21)

His name means forgiveness, grace, mercy, and peace. He is the Prince of Peace. And he is Lord.

And what of those three words? How rich, how full of God's heart toward you!

Grace

Mercy

Peace

These words are pulled from dusty storage where they have been packed away with the lights and tinsel, tree stands and ornaments.  "Peace on earth. Good will toward men."

In the next weeks and days, let take these three gifts from the hand and heart of God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. Let's unwrap these gifts. Le't stop in our rush to pack away the ornaments and thoughts of the Christmas season. Let's discover afresh the grace, mercy, and peace that our Father intends to fill our lives.

Too deep for words

Romans 8:26

In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words

My dad's health has taken a turn that make it very difficult for him to express himself in words. He is able, with great effort, to say a few words or an occasional phrase. One phrase that he is still able to say is, "I love you too."  These are words that I treasure.

My dad's inability to express himself in words is a frustration to him.  He so much wants to speak, but most of his vocalization is, like we read in Romans 8:26, groanings.

God hears our groanings. He himself groans with us. In those places where words fail, His Spirit groans on our behalf. He knows intimately the meaning of each cry of our heart. What love, what compassion, what identification and friendship, what understanding...he has taken our groanings upon himself.

Perfect Fear?

In 1 John 4:18 there is a familiar, frequently quoted verse:

"Perfect love casts out fear."

But have you ever turned the phrase around?

Perfect fear casts out love. This is also true.  Proverbs 8:13a says "To fear the Lord is to hate evil".

I am reminded of a Keith Green song: "You love the World and You're Avoiding Me".



God, teach us such a perfect fear that hates evil!

When a song crashes and burns

Today in church, as is my most normal practice, I chose the song for during the offering while listening to the sermon.  I do this to try to target most closely what I sense that God's Spirit is saying to us in our Sunday morning time together.  This morning I picked Keith Green's "How Can They Live Without Jesus".  I have done this song before, but not for a while.  I quickly wrote out the words during the sermon so that I wouldn't suffer from lyrical memory lapse in the middle of the song.

Then I got up to sing the song.  It started out OK until I got to the place where it goes into a different key...and I couldn't find what chord to use.  I kept singing and fumbling with trying to get the guitar back on track...without any success.  It was truly a crash and burn offering song.  I felt sorry for the people who had to listen.  It was painful. I felt sorry for those that I knew were visiting our church for the first time.  What kind of impression were they getting?  Ouch!

So what about when we crash and burn?  What about when our offering falls so far short of what we had intended to share?

Blessed.  Yes, blessed.

Matthew 5:3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. 5 “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. 6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. 7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. 8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. 9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons[a] of God. 10 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Blessed are you when your song crashes and burns, for you will again see clearly your dependence on God. Blessed are you when your song crashes and burns, for you will pray that the message can still somehow reach the hearts of the hearers, despite your weakness (a great prayer to pray when the song goes right too, by the way). Yes, blessed are you when your song crashes and burns.  You are still held in the hands of a loving God whose love is not based on some level of performance, but purely on who He is.

Yes, blessed.