[thoughts during advent] waiting...

"whoever does not know the austere blessedness of waiting - that is, or hopefully doing without - will never experience the full blessing of fulfillment."

- dietrich bonhoeffer

advent is about waiting.  we are waiting for christmas day.  we are preparing for this day. preparing our our homes, our food, our travel plans, our gifts, and our hearts. but waiting is something that we as a culture do not do well.  we want what want, when we want it, and we want it right now! our culture does not know what it means to wait, because our culture does not have hope beyond this present moment and these present shiny objects.  out culture has no promise to stand on for tomorrow. but as christians, we can wait.  we have hope in something beyond.  we can do without, because we know the Provider will always give what he promised. and we know that he always gives good things.

as believers in jesus, we are always in a state of advent.  much like israel was waiting for the babe in the manger, we are waiting for our king to return.  we do not have to give in to culture.  we can wait because we know that fulfillment in him will be the most joyous experience we will have.  so this christmas, as you wait and prepare, may you be reminded that as we struggle and endure, that we are hopefully waiting.  let the fact that god is in the manger be a reminder that he is good to deliver on his promise to return.

[thoughts during advent] just like he said...

“Blessed be the Lord God of Israel

for he has visited and redeemed his people

and has raised up a horn of salvation for us

in the house of his servant David,

as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old,

that we should be saved from our enemies

and from the hand of all who hate us;

to show the mercy promised to our fathers

and to remember his holy covenant,

the oath that he swore to our father Abraham, to grant us

that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies,

might serve him without fear,

in holiness and righteousness before him all our days. 

-Luke 1:68-75

as i continue this season to prepare my heart to celebrate the coming of jesus, who takes away the sins of the world, i read the scripture above this morning.  it is zechariah's song. i can only imagine the excitement he is feeling as he gets to see this plan unfold!  the one who has been promised for so long is almost here! the deliverer from genesis 3 is coming! the lamb whose blood would save us from god's wrath was coming.

years and years and years earlier, god had even described his son, the deliverer he would send. the book of isaiah has so many promises from god about what he would be like. and they are so accurate that one is tempted to think they were written after the fact. god gave his people this message of hope because he knew things would get worse before they got better (especially for the contemporary readers of isaiah because they were about to go into babylonian captivity).  and he wanted them to know how much he loved them.  that a deliverer was still coming. that he had not forgotten about his promise.

this is not just cool for us to see because we know jesus was born, but it should also be encouraging to us.  we already know jesus has come, but we (like the israelites) long for the day that he will come back and rescue us forever!   revelation is to us like isaiah was to them. god wanted us to know that he has a plan, and the birth of his son is a reminder that he will do exactly what he promises.

i often have to remind myself that the lord’s promises are true, his promises for my future and his promises to give me what i need today.  his promises for justice his promise that one day this world broken by sin will be restored! i have to remember that his plans are greater than my little mind can comprehend, even when things seem to only be getting worse. when i don't see how he could be keeping his word.  i hope that this message is one that encourages your heart and reminds you that he is good.  what promises have you forgotten or what promises have you given up on? he who began a good work, will be faithful to complete it!

(For more reading check out Isaiah 9:2-7, 53:1-12 and “Operation No More Tears” from the Jesus Storybook Bible)

[thoughts during advent] the lamb of god...

“Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
(John 1:29)

so before you think i have my holidays mixed up, i wanted to clarify that i do in fact know that it is christmas and not easter. and that even though i am about to talk about passover and moses and the movie "ten commandments" comes on at easter, its message is just as wrapped up in jesus' birth. just hang with me here.

to set the back story, israel is enslaved by egypt.  they moved to egypt during the great famine of joseph's time, but years later the new pharaoh thought they were too numerous. he grew fearful and made them slaves. god raises up moses to free the israelites from slavery and take them into the promised land.  pharaoh would not let the people go, no matter how nicely moses asked.  so god sends 10 plagues to egypt to show his power over probably what is one of the strongest nations in the world at this time.   

the final plague is a horrific one. god is going to kill all the firstborn sons in the land!  god had moses tell the israelites that only one thing could save their firstborn sons; they kill a perfect lamb and put the blood of that lamb on the door frames of their houses.  then when the angel of death comes to kill the firstborn sons, he would pass over those houses because of the blood.  he would not punish them because he will see the blood of the innocent lamb. 

 we know that for years after this, people celebrated the passover only hoping for another lamb that would save them once for all, rather than the continual sacrifices that they had to make.  many still live like this, but we know we don’t have to!  we know that in lowly manger in a small town, a baby was born whose blood would save us all!  rather than seeing our sin and our rebellion, god would see the blood and the righteousness of his son and his wrath would pass over us, just as he passed over the houses of those with blood on the door frame! wow!

the lamb of god who takes away the sins of the world, came to us! immanuel! let us not forget to celebrate that this season!

[thoughts during advent] mary...

    In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin's name was Mary. And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”
    And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?”
    And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God. And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. For nothing will be impossible with God.” And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.
(Luke 1:26-38 ESV)

have you ever thought about mary's reaction to this news? "behold, i am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word."

she was just told that she was going to have a baby, as a virgin, betrothed to a man who is going to think this is crazy and likely leave her. her life dreams were all changed by this proclamation. people would think differently of her. she would lose many friends and be talked about.  this is exciting, but make no mistake, it was going to be quite costly!

and mary just says, let it be to me. how was she able to respond this way? i know i would have responded more like zechariah did when the angel told him that elizabeth would conceive or like sarah did when god told abraham that sarah would have a son. a response out of what i can know or experience. a response of one that forgets that my god works in the supernatural. a response of one that has forgotten the promises of god.

mary is not some wonder woman with secret powers that you and i do not have. she is human just like you and me. it is god who gives her the faith to trust him. one of my prayers this week has been that he would transform and renew me each day and give me faith like mary. that when he calls me to something, rather than laughing at its impossibility or being fearful of all that it will require of me, i too can say, "behold, i am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word."

oh emmanuel - god with us! your nearness is our good. help our unbelief! give us faith to trust your promises and know that they are good.

[thoughts during advent] waiting...

the advent season is about preparing our hearts to celebrate the arrival of jesus (emmanuel - god with us) and to remind us to look forward to his triumphant return. it was hard for israelites before jesus was born. there was a very long time between isaiah's prophecies (or even genesis 3) and jesus' birth. and it is hard for us now. it has been some 2000 years since jesus said he was coming back. so we wait.

but waiting is hard. it is easy to get distracted when we are waiting. shiny things catch our eyes and they cease to fixed on jesus. or we hear the serpent tempting us with the same lie as eve, "did god really mean that? he is holding out on you." we all at some point will or have forgotten what we are even waiting for.

henri nowen says, "fearful people have a hard time waiting. ...the more afraid we are, the harder waiting becomes." ("waiting for god" watch for the light"). a very true statement. our impatience is often rooted in the fear of losing something, not having something, not getting something, something bad happening to us, etc.

so how do we remedy this? nowen says, we must remind ourselves of the promises of god. we have no need to fear when we know what we are promised and that the one making the promises always is true to his word. this also keeps us from being distracted from other things that claim to be as good or better than god or his promises.

god is so good to us! giving us promises to give us hope! and boy do we need it!

nowen also says that this needs to be done in community.  he uses the story of mary and elizabeth as an example. they are able to encourage one another during the time of their pregnancy, reminding each other what god had promised. 

likewise, we need people around us reminding us what god has promised. calling us out when we run after other things or believing lies. we are waiting for our jesus to come back, but we need help. i hope you have those around you who are in your life and can remind you of god's promises (if not this is a good time to start). and i pray that during this season you get even more time to dig into his word and learn more and more about his promises. cling to them, even in hardship. he always comes through!

[thoughts during advent] he shall bruise your head...

    Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made.
    He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.
    And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. But the LORD God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
    The LORD God said to the serpent,
 
    “Because you have done this,
        cursed are you above all livestock
        and above all beasts of the field;
    on your belly you shall go,
        and dust you shall eat
        all the days of your life.
     I will put enmity between you and the woman,
        and between your offspring and her offspring;
    he shall bruise your head,
        and you shall bruise his heel.”
 (Genesis 3:1-15 ESV)

this is familiar story for many of us.  we know that adam and eve messed up, ate the fruit and got kicked out of the garden of eden.  but there is much more to this story!  first, let’s look at the lie that was told to eve.  the serpent told her that she would not die, but that rather she would be like god.  he was telling her, “god doesn’t love you.  he is holding out on you.  just try it and you will see.  just a little.  it won’t hurt.” mind you, she was in PERFECT relationship with god.  she had everything!  but the fruit looked better, so she ate. and from that moment on, all of mankind has struggled with this same lie!  we want our autonomy and independence or something we feel god is withholding from us, so we sin and leave god.  we are all like adam and eve.  we have gone astray and sinned.  we have all either lived or desired to live independent of god because we have thought that something was better.

i love how the jesus storybook bible puts it, “in another story, it would all be over and that would have been THE END. but not in this story. god loved his children too much to let the story end there.  even though he knew he would suffer, god had a plan – a magnificent dream. one day, he would get his children back.  …one day god himself would come.” 

oh how he loves us!  as god is telling adam, eve and the serpent their punishments for this sin, he tells the serpent that someday, a child would come from a woman that would bruise/crush his head!  this is the first we hear of the gospel!  the promise of a deliverer! a child that we know years later would be born in a manger, live a perfect life, empathize with our weaknesses, die on the cross, and rise again as he took and defeated the punishment we deserved!!!

we have hope because we know this deliverer!  i would encourage you to take some time this week to confess and repent, maybe even fast.  spend time confessing your sin and dwelling on the god that does not leave us even though we have left him. i think it will do wonders for your heart in as we prepare to celebrate christ's birth this year.

if you have kids, or even if you don't have kids, i would highly recommend reading "the terrible lie" from the jesus storybook bible. sally lloyd-jones essentially says the same things i have said here, but much more eloquently.

jesus storybook bible...aka best book ever!

this blog is long overdue! i cannot believe that i have not blogged about this before.  but another great resource for advent, and for life in general, is the jesus storybook bible by sally lloyd jones. seriously if you have kids, you need to buy this ASAP.  if you do not have kids, you still need to buy it.  it will definitely help you love jesus more.

this book goes through most of the stories in the bible and explains them in a way that is fun and engaging for kids and puts it in a way that is understandable for them.  but the best thing about this book is that it takes every story and shows you how it points to jesus or god sending jesus.  this book has helped me see how each story is a reminder of god's never ending, relentless love for us in keeping his promise to send his son.

this year in preparation for advent, we are using several of these stories to prepare the kids for the birth of jesus.  this book helps us see how the plan for jesus to come has been from the beginning. 

and just a fair word of warning, this book has made me cry many times! if you are reading it to kids or just to yourself know that tears can happen at any time.  so go ahead and order it, for yourself, your kids or as a gift!

you can also order this book in spanish here: Biblia para ninos, Historias de Jesus / The Jesus Storybook Bible: Cada historia susurra su nombre / Every story whispers his name (Spanish Edition)

come thou long expected jesus...

this is another book that i purchased in order to do research on advent.  it has 22 readings in it from authors such a martin luther, john calvin, jonathan edwards, and john piper. i have only read a few so far, but it has been good for my heart to stop and focus on what this season means.

glory in the highest & behold the lamb...

i love me some christmas music!  in fact i own 24 hours of it - that's 430 songs - perhaps i have a problem.  anyway, christmas music is fun but not all of it is worshipful. i mean who doesn't love "merry christmas, happy holidays" by nsync or "all i want for christmas is you" by mariah carey??? classics. but not exactly the music that gets my heart ready for the coming of my king.  (nothing wrong with listening to them by the way, i plan on it)

these two albums however, are worth every penny (and they are cheaper on amazon than in itunes right now).  music is one of the ways i connect easily to the lord, so these two albums have really helped me worship christ during this season.

chris tomlin's album glory in the highest takes some familiar christmas songs that perhaps we have forgotten due to their familiarity and calls us back to worship. i love his version of "joy to the world" and "angels we have heard on high."  (we will likely use those in kidstuff)  "come though long expected jesus" is another favorite of mine (and not just because it is sung by christy nockels). anyway, most of the songs you have heard before, but these are some of the most worshipful versions i have heard.  so just go ahead and buy it. you won't regret it.

andrew peterson's behold the lamb of god album is SO GOOD!  it is not your typical, play in the background music.  it is the kind of music that you need to pay attention to.  the entire album tells a story, the story of jesus coming starting with the old testament.  it is PERFECT for advent. in fact , if you have a chance to see this live, you need to go. i got to see it three years ago, and it messed me up! it was by far the most worshipful thing i did that christmas.  it is not a cheesy christian concert (like i thought it was going to be). check here for tour dates. also, you need to buy the whole album, don't pick and choose songs on this one.  you really need to hear the whole thing to hear the whole story.  my favorite songs on the album are "deliver us", "labor of love", "behold the lamb of god".

watch for the light...

i bought this book to use for research on advent.  it is a book with short daily readings beginning november 24th and going through january 7.  i have read a few of the articles in here (mainly the ones by dietrich bonhoeffer and cs lewis) and i like it so far.  i am planning on reading the rest throughout the advent season.  i am sure i will be sharing my thoughts on these as i learn this year.

preparing for advent...

i have spent the last two weeks doing lots of research on advent to write our december curriculum for kidstuff.  until being at the austin stone, i had only heard of advent but i had little to no experience with it. even over the last few years, i have heard more about it, but i still felt my understanding of it was weak - something about a wreath and some candles, maybe some hope, peace, love and joy in there. this was clearly not enough to write children's curriculum from. so i hit the books and it has been so good for my heart!

advent means "arrival" or "coming". the advent season is a time of year when we are to be preparing our hearts to celebrate the coming and arrival of our king and looking forward to his triumphant return. (similar to the way lent is to prepare you for easter).  this is a great time of year to stop and evaluate. to confess and repent. to dwell on our father's relentless pursuit of us. to remember the hope and grace that came to us in a child. taking time for this is something that is hard to do when it is the most wonderful-busiest time of the year. 

so my hope is to post thoughts, songs, books and resources on here that the lord is using to prepare my heart to celebrate his coming.

come, thou long-expected jesus,

born to set thy people free;

from our fears and sins release us,

let us find our rest in thee.

the soul felt its worth...

have you ever woken up on december 26th and felt you missed something? the hustle and bustle of the season is over. if you were honest, the 25 plus day build up came crashing down and it was a bit disappointing. we went to church, saw our family, we got to be with people we love, we have a few new toys, we have mounds of trash and boxes, we ate and drank some christmas goodies at our feasts and parties and we now have a few extra pounds, and it is all over. what next? shouldn't this have felt different? did i miss something? the tree will soon come down, all the christmas decor will be put back up, our family will leave, we will return to work and our lives will feel a little empty. this is not how it should be. after all, as a christian this is like one of the 2 most important holidays of the year, right?

i have felt like this many a years. i try to pretend it is not how i feel. i just ignore it and press on, all the while looking back and thinking i have missed something. sure, i cling to the truth i know and i remember what i felt as we talked about it in church, but it seems anti-climatic. why?

i have my speculations and one is that i simply get so wrapped up in the traditions and fun of the season that i forget the real reason for christmas. now i know this has been my problem, but i have never seemed to be able to find a solution to this. so i try and talk more about christ, read luke 2 a lot, and go on to all my christmas parties. but that does not do it.

last year for the first time in a long time and maybe ever, i think i actually experienced the real meaning of christmas. no we did not get rid of all of our gifts, of course we went to parties (i even hosted a few of my own), i had fun decorating and i listened to fun christmas music 24/7. it started with a wake up call one sunday in church. we were singing o holy night and i was just singing along to this familiar christmas tune. then our pastor got up on stage and called us all out for just mouthing the words to this song without thinking about what it means. i mean when was the last time that the story of the birth of christ made me fall on my knees? read through the lyrics as a worship song and not a christmas carol.

o holy night
o holy night! the stars are brightly shining,
it is the night of the dear saviour's birth.
long lay the world in sin and error pining.
till he appeared and the soul felt its worth.
a thrill of hope the weary world rejoices,
for yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.
fall on your knees! oh, hear the angel voices!
o night divine, the night when christ was born;
o night, o holy night, o night divine!
o night, o holy night, o night divine!


truly he taught us to love one another,
his law is love and his gospel is peace.
chains he shall break, for the slave is our brother.
and in his name all oppression shall cease.
sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we,
with all our hearts we praise his holy name.
christ is the lord! then ever, ever praise we,
his power and glory ever more proclaim!
his power and glory ever more proclaim!

the difference was that for the first time i was pointed to and experienced the story of the birth of christ. i then went to see andrew peterson's behold the lamb of god tour. a friend insisted and even bought my ticket. i was a little skeptical, not because of his taste, but because i typically don't enjoy cheesy christian christmas plays, and i thought that is what this would be. but i could not have been more wrong. it is simply a series of songs that andrew peterson wrote that tell the story of the coming of christ from the old testament through luke 2. you have to really listen to the words, it is not mere background music. if you have not seen this, you must!! live is best, but if you cannot, you can buy the dvd or the music on itunes. i wept when i saw it the first time and i only got to see the dvd this year and i still teared up. it prepared my heart for christmas the most last year. here is one of the songs from it below.

deliver us by andrew peterson
our enemy, our captor is no pharaoh on the nile
our toil is neither mud nor brick nor sand
our ankles bear no calluses from chains,
yet Lord, we're bound imprisoned here,
we dwell in our own land

chorus:
deliver us, deliver us
oh Yahweh, hear our cry
and gather us beneath your wings tonight

our sins they are more numerous
than all the lambs we slay
these shackles they were made with our own hands
our toil is our atonement and our freedom yours to give
so Yahweh, break your silence if you can

chorus (2x)

"jerusalem, jerusalem
how often i have longed
to gather you beneath my gentle wings"

i promise i am about to wrap this up, bear with me. this song and the song called labor of love bring me to tears every time. i cannot imagine what it was like when God was silent for so long. i cannot imagine the despair. during the easter season a few years ago i got to attend a sader supper (which is a jewish meal eaten during passover). we had someone explain to us all the meaning of each of the items we ate. there were lots of cool things that i can’t quite remember, but what i do remember was having an empty seat at each table. at the end, they told us that the empty chair was saved. saved for messiah in hopes that this would be the year he would come. he then said that traditionally they look at the empty chair and say, “no messiah this year.” The words, “no messiah this year,” made my heart sink. for the first time ever, i began to think about the despair and the despondency that they felt and i kind of felt it. There was no hope without messiah. god was silent and they were just waiting, hope waning i am sure.

i absolutely cannot imagine my life without jesus. as much as i take him for granted and do not understand the depth of all that he has done, i do understand the hope that i have in him. it is easy to be so familiar with this story that we forget the significance of what happened that night. we think about a few times as blow through the season, but we forget what that baby has delivered us from. i hope that this season, this truth resonates in your heart and he reveals more of himself to you. and that on december 26th you don't wake up in a depression that season is over, but rather wake up with a renewed love and passion for the one who came in a manger so that we night be delivered.