Put the Lights on the Tree

We are a little over a week into our Advent conspiracy to give away something everyday of Advent. So far it has been...uneventful. We've been somewhat faithful to our pledge, selecting something each day but waiting to give a lot of it all at once. So we haven't actually given anything away, yet.

The sad thing is that we're starting to realize that 30 or so days are not enough. We can easily see reaching Christmas day and not having felt a bit of discomfort in our giving, not a bit of sacrifice. We simply have too much stuff.

We've begun to dare to dream of if we could do this for an entire year, til next Advent. Perhaps then we might actually begin to feel the pain and release of simplifying.

Regardless, Christmas is so much more fun with a two-year-old. Mary Grace is determined to see every Christmas decoration in the Rockies. Tonight as we listened to Sufjan Stevens' and put lights on our tree, she exclaimed with sheer joy, "Its Christmas!" Despite our seeming inability to make room, her hospitable heart is making up for it when she she says "Happy birthday, Jesus!"

It's Christmas Time Again!

This should be the most wonderful time of the year. I look out my window and see houses adorned with lights, Bing Crosby is singing Joy to the World, and the air is getting crisp even for Colorado. But I find myself more like Charlie Brown wondering what Christmas is really all about, wondering why I'm not happy at the happiest time of the year.

Yesterday was the first Sunday of Advent, a time of celebration for Jesus' birth into our world and a time of expectation of his triumphal return. I've come to relish the duel nature of the season; for so long Christmas was simply about me. Then I discovered that it was about Jesus, that he came to us in our darkest hour and filled our greatest need. But I sometimes wonder if that need is really being met; in the midst of decking the halls, I wonder how we'll pay rent on them.

So much of this season is still focused on us, our greed, over-consumption, feelings of inadequacy, and I wonder if Jesus' birth really accomplished all that much. And yet, I look within my own heart, an I know he is birthed there. The bonds of slavery to self-worship and self-hate have been broken and a promise has taken root.

Its this promise that holds my heart captive. A promise to be fulfilled in God's rebirth, His second coming into this world to give the final gift and perhaps the first gift as well. In this current season we find ourselves in the tension of the two Advents. We are children of the not-yet-but-soon-to-be-fully-realized promise. So we wait.

But we do not wait passively. The realization of that inaugural promise is to be achieved in some wondrous way, through us, the children of promise. We are and are becoming the instruments of the change all of our hearts are waiting for. We pray, we turn the other cheek, we go the extra mile, we love our enemies, we give our last mites, we "birth" Jesus into our neighborhood manger.

This season of Advent, I believe God is calling us to another act of Christ-imitation: Simplicity.

In a season when people pepper-spray each other to get the best deal on presents, could we 'birth' Christ into our mess by refusing to be carried away in the 'getting' season.

Our family has begun to wonder if there is enough room in the 'inn' of our home for this birth. After a few years of marriage we have accumulated simply too much stuff. So we're going to give it away.

Each day this Advent we are giving away one thing, not trash, but meaningful items. We're not sure what this looks like or how hard/easy it will be, but we feel compelled to make room. Each week I'll write about our adventure in giving. Please join us as we seek more through less.

Come Lord Jesus.

Whatever is Lovely

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Philippians 4:8

Well now that the Christmas wrapping carnage has been cleared away and the vertigo has begun to subside I wonder about tomorrow, the day after.  December 26th is a lot like a hangover as we feel the pain inflicted upon ourselves by over-indulging.  I get a little depressed after "Joy to the World" as I begin to think of getting back to normal.  One of the ways I cope is to reflect upon the good this year has brought.  While it had definitely brought its share of bad, 2010 also gave me moments that offered me a bit of hope for the next year.  I wonder what fed you this year? What piece of art or literature moved you to look outside of yourself? What relationship changed the way you felt about life? How did you live a better story in 2010?  I hope that in this last week of 2010 we can, as Paul says in the scripture above, dwell on the good and, in so doing, ignite a passion to reach for the lovely this next year.

Being a bibliophile (look it up) one area I love to dwell on is what I read this past year.  Here are some of the  books I read that made an impact on me in 2010:

Patched Together by Brennen Manning
A fictional rendition of Manning's story, this simple read exposed my doubts and wickedness and also yet awoken a greater sense of gratitude for such a wonderful Savior.

A Million Miles in a Thousand Years by Donald Miller
I reviewed this book in detail here.  In trying to turn his life into a movie, Miller is faced with reality that his is not a good story.  This memoir challenged me tho view my life as a story and to know the author and to live a better story.

The Practice of the Prescence of God by Brother Lawrence
This medieval devotional classic pressed me to know God in a very intimate and immediate way.  I perhaps will always wrestle with this book and with my God but I thank them both for drawing me into the match.

The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell
This one was hard for me.  This fictional account of a failed Jesuit mission to an alien planet was haunting and disturbing.  Yet, it made me ask some hard questions about my faith, like if we thank God for good things should we not blame Him for the bad.  I was forced to evaluate what I thought about Providence and mercy and came out the other side knowing my God all the more closer.

What did you read this year?

These next few days I will talk about other areas that inspired me in 2010 like music and relationships.

Advent Reflections - Part 3

Each week of the Advent season a different aspect of our anticipation of the coming Lord is emphasized. This week's focus is upon Joy. While many of us would be quick to list joy as a major Christian attribute, less of us understand it or even worse have ever truly experienced it. For some of us, we even wonder if there is anything to be joyous about at all. So what is this whole joy thing about anyway?

When I think of how joy and waiting mingle, especially during this season, I think of Christmas Eve when I was a little kid. I could NEVER go to sleep. As hard as I tried, sleep seemed to always allude me those nights, but it really didn't matter; I was just so anxious about what the dawn (and Santa) would bring. While presents were high on my list, the whole experience excited me. The glow of the tree in the low light of early morning, everyone in their underwear and jammies, hair all a mess, a delicious breakfast of biscuits and gravy made by my favorite chef (mom!), the huge pile of waste accumulated by the end of the unwrapping session, rummaging through what seemed like a bottomless stocking, seeing the rest of my family open the gifts I had picked out, and the afternoon trip to Grandma's for even more fun. It was the highlight of my year and sleep simply could not compare. I knew that just around the corner was a day unlike any other, a day of peace, excitement, and joy.

Yet, I grew up. I have lost much of that sense of wonder from my youth. I now know better about jolly old Saint Nick and mom is a thousand miles away. I will probably sleep quite soundly on December 24th. Often my only real hope for the holiday season is that I might actually enjoy it. Is this what we call maturity? Dear Lord, I hope not. I believe we could all learn quite a bit from our younger selves. They would tell us to play some more, to imagine, and to laugh. They would tell us to let go of our pride and shame and run into our daddy's arms when things hurt. Oh to have the faith of a child, Lord have mercy on me.

We need these lessons from of former selves because our present selves have incurred the burden of what we call "the real world." There are bills to pay, things to clean, papers to be written, calls to make, and we alone are responsible. We have awoken to the reality that life is hard. And in this midst of what used to a joyous season, we've heaped more burdens upon our shoulders: debt, stress, plans, worries, and strife. We fill the mall parking lots hoping to fill our hearts, only to find we've been lied to. We strive and strive looking for "something," waiting for "someday" that will set us free, that will awaken that sleepless child from Christmas eve. Yet the more stuff we amass and the more things we do, we still can not find it. A wise man once said "I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it, and behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun."

Where are the glad tidings of joy? What will set us free from this body of decay? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!

A new favorite song of mine is called "Embracing Accusations" by Shane and Shane (take a few minutes to listen to it then come back; just click the play button at the top of the right column). In this song, the singer is being attacked by the accusations of the devil : that we are cursed and that there is nothing we can do to save ourselves. The singer then realizes that "the father of lies is telling the truth, that he is singing the song of the redeemed" We are indeed cursed and nothing can save us form this body of death. Yet the singer reminds us that the devil is so eloquent at singing the first verse of the song, but he has forgotten the refrain: Jesus Saves!

I, like my younger self am often in sleepless state but for altogether different reasons. I find rest hard to come by in a world like the one I know. So I wait. Not idly, but actively. I hope, not fleetingly but confidently. Just as Jesus came at just the right time, He shall come again. Lord knows that there is a day, right around the corner, that will change everything, a day of peace, a day of excitement, a day of Joy indeed! The following Scripture from Romans 8 fully embodies this Advent idea of joy in waiting.

"This resurrection life you received from God is not a timid, grave-tending life. It's adventurously expectant, greeting God with a childlike "What's next, Papa?" God's Spirit touches our spirits and confirms who we really are. We know who he is, and we know who we are: Father and children. And we know we are going to get what's coming to us—an unbelievable inheritance! We go through exactly what Christ goes through. If we go through the hard times with him, then we're certainly going to go through the good times with him.

That's why I don't think there's any comparison between the present hard times and the coming good times. The created world itself can hardly wait for what's coming next. Everything in creation is being more or less held back. God reins it in until both creation and all the creatures are ready and can be released at the same moment into the glorious times ahead. Meanwhile, the joyful anticipation deepens." (Romans 8:15-21 MSG)

The Apostle Paul knew what was right around the corner and he knew that in the waiting was joy. That deep down inside each of us (and even all of creation) there is an intense longing for "someday." In Christ, we can know that that "someday" is coming, that He is coming. And we can join all creation in singing the joyous victory song, "Free at last, free at last, thank God Almighty we are free at last!"