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Being this is the first Sunday
after Christmas we are seeing a picture of the Holy Family needing to take a
great leap of faith to save themselves from Herod’s diabolical plan of the
slaughter of the innocents and journey to safety for a time to Egypt. I was reading a few things about this evil
event of Herod’s speculating if it truly happened or not. The vote is still out
on some of the details of it. As we know some in our contemporary culture
challenge with speculation, the horrors of evil that took place during WWII
with other maniacal leaders driven by a different fear of God… When we take an
even greater look at Jesus entering into our humanity, we can see how our fears
and our mustard seed faith have fought a brave spiritual battle into simply
just making that great leap of faith, taking that giant step forward.
Taking that giant step forward is
why we even gather together breaking bread, praying and studying together under
the providence of God’s Word. It’s been
2,000 something years since the Lord was here journeying on earth, ministering
to His wayward children of Grace and Promise.
He was here is not accurate because He IS truly here with us now as the
Holy Spirit. The third person of the Trinity
we have a very hard time listening to yet alone understanding all the times He
provides for us, but we are still stuck within our needing clarity. When should
I do this? Where do You need me to go
Lord? Help me, I keep getting confused!
The bride of Christ is His church and we are a living tribe of nomadic
individuals acting at times like the same Israelites complaining in the desert
while poor Moses needs to be their spiritual director leading them through the
wilderness…
With the Holy Family, Joseph’s
faith had three amazing convicting dreams that first helped him to marry and
protect Mary and the infant Jesus.
Joseph’s second dream was also a doosey as they say because he was told
to flee to Egypt because Herod was out to kill Jesus. Joseph had a faith that moved a few mountains
in the sense that he had a wisdom and a fear of the power of the Lord who was,
who is and reigns—Jesus. Returning to the present, our calendar, being BC and
AD and so much more are but a few fingerprints of the reality and impact of God
with us, Jesus. As a former agnostic for some seventeen years, God was pretty
patient with me as I wandered through my own wilderness of growing into who I
am today—a minister and a messenger of His Gospel to my little corner of the
world.
Being a “faith leaper” you could
say is something we battle with when we allow the world to rule and oppress our
deep inner convictions. Sometimes we allow our lives to be shaped by an
oppression we create when we stray away from the very real providence of God all
around us and yes, within us! Being sent with a purpose and a mission in the
world as a follower of Jesus we don’t give ourselves enough credit to wrap our
hearts’ understanding around. All people
are called and gifted with moments, miracles and dreams that CAN become
reality. Making these things into
reality is being a visionary, a church planter, caregiver, pastor, missional…
At least these are now a few descriptive elements of my faith that God has
built me up to begin moving mountains of doubt with. We have to remember that
most often we’re the ones stamping God’s plans out of our hearts. These are
radical things to think about but when you think about the egomaniac that Herod
was, why would he be threatened by the rule of love and peace coming into the
world—Jesus? That’s the nature of evil though, greed and indifference are the
substructure to all sin and to the “unholy trinity of I, Me and Mine.” His fear and self-preservation were a
delusion of grandeur at the expense of innocent children being massacred.
The season of Christmas is our time
of growing as disciples into the very real truth of God WITH us, Jesus. The man
of Nazareth, the Divine redeemer, savior taking with Him our sins to the cross
and beyond with the resurrection. This is a very real truth we need to be
reminded of especially during our moments of wavering faith as His children of
Grace and promise. When we are wandering
the valleys of our lives’ journeys we have to leap occasionally over those
chasms of impossibility and doubt. And
those moments of doubt can be pretty great where everything seems to make you
question the very notion of a God who truly provides for us as His loving and
Gracious Spirit within us!
The other day I was assessing a new
hospice situation with a grieving wife and her beloved husband whose mind was
beginning to disappear to the ravages of end stage Alzheimer’s disease. Her husband could no longer speak yet alone
walk anymore. What is typical of the end stages of this terrible disease is the
grave fear of others that the patient exhibits.
Mistrust and a deep paranoia manifested with continual silent screams
coming from his contorted face when I simply began to introduce myself to him
and try to explain how I was to be there for both him and his wife. A huge part of me wanted to bolt out the door
as snap “old nature” reaction of feeling over my head. I began to pray an inner
prayer as I talked with the wife about what her next plans were to be for him.
God quieted my fear and brought me back to realize His guiding presence to help
me minister to this couple. Beyond the
thoughts I had had, I also heard the evil within my own heart having me doubt
not only myself but God. Why would that
even flash into my stream of thoughts? The world for one moment revolved around
me and I wasn’t reaching out to this couple as I had learned to do in training
years ago as a Stephen’s minister.
Stephen’s ministry has a beautiful image of the Stephen’s minister
holding onto the tree of Christ while reaching down to those in the pit needing
to be spiritually rescued, aided and loved.
Just having God remind me of that right after those bad thoughts put me
back on track.
There will be other days to journey
with this couple as well as other couples I am doing marital counseling
for. Every day is brand new with unknown
twists, turns and whatnot to them… But as the Psalmist this morning has to
share with us: Be and DO—"Let us praise the Lord, giving Him thanks with
our whole heart,” (our whole selves fully engaged each and every day)! Thanks be to God, alleluia and amen I say.
Rolling with the punches or olive branches as I prefer to say, is continually
making leaps of faith that God truly guides you with. This is the difference and the potential
endless joy that the Christian can truly claim with thinking about God with us,
Jesus, the Lord—Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
When we sang our Christmas hymns of “Happy Birthday” to Jesus this past
Wednesday and then opened those presents one by one from friends and family did
we pause upon that moment and wonder?
Beyond what’s in it for me, did we see and believe in the unknown future
for just one moment with hope and faith? Probably or most likely? Be honest.
That’s a great way to look at
things isn’t it? Every day is a present from God, His Living Word, the bow that
entices us to unravel it and reveal His plans for us inside our hearts and out
into the wilderness of the world. We must thank God for the amazing faith that
Joseph had to persevere in acting upon a message from a dream to protect Mary
and Jesus. With the turning of another year, we must see it with hope-filled
and visionary, missional eyes no matter what we’re currently doing. Remember what I said in my Christmas message
from this past Wednesday—the world may say no to you, and you may let this
“Bogart” your heart with doubt and questioning…
but we are truly not alone, God always provides.
Being the church in the world is
being a visionary, is harboring a faith that can move mountains and shepherd
others to the truth of New Life and abounding love that yes, we can make a
difference in the world, doing! Jesus told His disciples in another Gospel to
come and follow Him. Many followed,
lived and died with Him. Many triumphed
and failed with His Gospel… The most
important thing though is that they were willing to try and DO. Even as an infant, Jesus’ reality told His
earthly parents that they needed to protect Him from Herod’s evil. The
vulnerability of an infant, the almighty providence and power of God… we will
still be a people wandering and wondering to understand but its beautiful truth
remains: God IS with us, for us, loves and provides for us.
Let us Pray,
Loving and Gracious is the Lord our
God,
Whose providence we need to shape
our visions into action
Our love into lifting mountains and
our hearts into reaping a mustard bush of faith!
You are our present, each and everyday,
O Lord.
Thank You for everything You have
us grow in and experience
Even those valleys… Your Holy
Spirit is our guiding Grace
May we come to praise You with our
whole hearts and grow to reap
A wisdom that has us realize our
place as Your children of Grace and Promise
In Your most Holy Name, we lift
this prayer—
AMEN
Here's a link to a variation message via youtube delivered at the Grace Hub at 11:30am:
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