Advent Reflection: Joseph
Imagine men, if you will, your engaged to a women that you absolutely love. You have read all of the "true love waits" books that your youth pastor has given you. Despite of your desire for this woman, your desire for God is even stronger. So you wait. Then she becomes pregnant. What do you do? Do you yell at her? Do you call her every name that you have learned applies to "those kind of women"?
If your Joseph, the father of Jesus, you suppress your anger and hurt and still try and do right by Mary. You try and divorce her quietly. You struggle with the question of how to shield her from shame, instead of heaping it on. What you don't do though, is believe her story about God impregnating her. How can that be? God doesn't work like that! God would never make us endure that kind of shame for Him!
Then you sleep.
And you dream.
Mary, your love, is no liar. She is no slut. She was chosen to carry Immanuel.
Joseph was a good man. Better than most I know (including the one I see in the mirror!). I usally think he endured some rough times when Mary was pregnant. How small my perspective is! Galilee was a small town. Word travels in small towns. Even though Mary went to Elizabeth, I am sure that people heard the whispers; "Joseph and Mary are pregnant before getting married", "Is Joseph even the father?". This would be a tough road for a 1st century Jew.
But he was a 1st century Jew. That same pride that made the whispers so hard to endure, also had to endure Roman rule his ENTIRE life. He never experienced the nation of Israel in its glory. He never saw David. He never knew a free life.
Now he was going to raise Immanuel.
Joseph probably never saw the ministry of the child he raised. He never saw his little boy give Pharisees fits, or make the blind see. Yet he had hope that extended far beyond the wounded pride that was caused by the whispers. He saw the Christ as a baby. He taught Him how to be a carpenter, and was able to witness the spark of so much more.
Joseph is not given a lot of face time in scripture. He was probably a simple man. Not especially learned, or rich. Yet we know that his faithfulness was crucial for his wife and adopted son. His role in this season cannot be overlooked.
Wednesday, November 30, 2005
Tuesday, November 29, 2005
First Advent Thought
Have you ever really thought about the whole "God becoming man" thing? I mean really, really reflected on it? Talk about a claim worth investigating! John 1:1-18 basically lays it all out. "The Word (Jesus) was with God and was God", then Jesus became a man. However, before he could be become a man, He became a baby. A crying, sniffling, pooping helpless baby. If this is true (which I believe it to be) this is absolutely HUGE. This IN AND OF ITSELF completely disproves and simply destroys any and all argument that God is some sort of aloof, distant and angry God. Instead God is like a parent, willing to get on the ground and crawl, in order to teach His infant how to do so. I have been a Christian for a long time. Yet I always forget how absolutely mind blowing this is. I guess that is what it is like to be an infant who needs to be taught how to crawl.
To sum up my first Advent thought: Advent is a season to recognize that Jesus was willing get His hands dirty, in order to teach us how to live. Or, to cut even closer to it, Christmas is a time to thank Jesus for doing the whole man thing; Easter a time to thank Him for doing the God thing.
(Funny blogspot note. The word "blog" is not in its spell check dictionary. Mind you, this is a BLOGGING site)
Have you ever really thought about the whole "God becoming man" thing? I mean really, really reflected on it? Talk about a claim worth investigating! John 1:1-18 basically lays it all out. "The Word (Jesus) was with God and was God", then Jesus became a man. However, before he could be become a man, He became a baby. A crying, sniffling, pooping helpless baby. If this is true (which I believe it to be) this is absolutely HUGE. This IN AND OF ITSELF completely disproves and simply destroys any and all argument that God is some sort of aloof, distant and angry God. Instead God is like a parent, willing to get on the ground and crawl, in order to teach His infant how to do so. I have been a Christian for a long time. Yet I always forget how absolutely mind blowing this is. I guess that is what it is like to be an infant who needs to be taught how to crawl.
To sum up my first Advent thought: Advent is a season to recognize that Jesus was willing get His hands dirty, in order to teach us how to live. Or, to cut even closer to it, Christmas is a time to thank Jesus for doing the whole man thing; Easter a time to thank Him for doing the God thing.
(Funny blogspot note. The word "blog" is not in its spell check dictionary. Mind you, this is a BLOGGING site)
Monday, November 28, 2005
Advent
The Christian station now only plays Christmas music. TV commercials are all about sales at the mall. My apartment smells like a tree lot.
Ahhh, Christmas.
I love Christmas. The smells, the lights, the music, I really like it all.
Yet, I am kind of troubled this year. Not with Christmas per se, but more with the Christmas season. I mean what is this season really supposed to be about?
(by the way, I am not trying to get into the classic Jesus vs Santa debate here)
Watch some Christmas movies. Some will tell you that Christmas is stressful. Others will tell you it is about family. Still others, forgiveness. As a Christian I feel like I know this answer; Christmas is about the birth of Jesus.
Duh.
But this is where I am troubled...why is that really important? I follow Jesus' teachings. I believed that I am saved by His death and resurrection, and I don't celebrate that until bunny day. Even if I do give special meaning to the birth, should that really warrant a whole season? Shouldn't a day suffice? (well and a night before with candles at church).
My church doesn't follow this logic, they insist on a whole season called Advent, which I believe is about waiting. See they believe that the birth of Jesus was (and is) a REALLY big deal. That this Messiah business should be thought about. That we should talk about it every day between yesterday and Christmas. Mostly they believe that we should learn patience and wait.
On some level this still seems silly to me. How can it be that valuable to try and mimic the Jews waiting of hundreds of years, with thirty or so of our own? Yet I do crave meaning and value in this season. So if waiting on Jesus will help, then I am going to try it. I will attempt to blog my adventures in Advent. They may be reflections on scripture, thoughts on God being born as a man, what I think about Jewish people still waiting, or whatever is bouncing around in my head at the time. I am praying and hoping that perhaps I will gain greater insight into this season and be able to share it with you.
Have a great Advent.
The Christian station now only plays Christmas music. TV commercials are all about sales at the mall. My apartment smells like a tree lot.
Ahhh, Christmas.
I love Christmas. The smells, the lights, the music, I really like it all.
Yet, I am kind of troubled this year. Not with Christmas per se, but more with the Christmas season. I mean what is this season really supposed to be about?
(by the way, I am not trying to get into the classic Jesus vs Santa debate here)
Watch some Christmas movies. Some will tell you that Christmas is stressful. Others will tell you it is about family. Still others, forgiveness. As a Christian I feel like I know this answer; Christmas is about the birth of Jesus.
Duh.
But this is where I am troubled...why is that really important? I follow Jesus' teachings. I believed that I am saved by His death and resurrection, and I don't celebrate that until bunny day. Even if I do give special meaning to the birth, should that really warrant a whole season? Shouldn't a day suffice? (well and a night before with candles at church).
My church doesn't follow this logic, they insist on a whole season called Advent, which I believe is about waiting. See they believe that the birth of Jesus was (and is) a REALLY big deal. That this Messiah business should be thought about. That we should talk about it every day between yesterday and Christmas. Mostly they believe that we should learn patience and wait.
On some level this still seems silly to me. How can it be that valuable to try and mimic the Jews waiting of hundreds of years, with thirty or so of our own? Yet I do crave meaning and value in this season. So if waiting on Jesus will help, then I am going to try it. I will attempt to blog my adventures in Advent. They may be reflections on scripture, thoughts on God being born as a man, what I think about Jewish people still waiting, or whatever is bouncing around in my head at the time. I am praying and hoping that perhaps I will gain greater insight into this season and be able to share it with you.
Have a great Advent.
Saturday, November 26, 2005
Ephesians 2: 1-10
1 And you he made alive, when you were dead through the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience. 3 Among these we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, following the desires of body and mind, and so we were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 4 But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up with him, and made us sit with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God-- 9 not because of works, lest any man should boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
1 And you he made alive, when you were dead through the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience. 3 Among these we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, following the desires of body and mind, and so we were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 4 But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up with him, and made us sit with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God-- 9 not because of works, lest any man should boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
Dead
Dead in sin.
Rotting.
Decaying.
Stinking.
I try to walk forward, but the muscles in my ankle have lost their form, so I fall.
I want so scream for help, yet my deteriorated jaw lay next to me, my flesh can no longer hold it in place.
I know what I need.
Thread.
And a needle.
I can sow myself, I have done it before.
I will be handsome again.
No one will know I am dead.
No one will know.
Once my jaw is sown, I will again use my smile to seduce.
With a fixed ankle I again will be able to run away from my problems.
Rotting.
Decaying.
Stinking.
I try to walk forward, but the muscles in my ankle have lost their form, so I fall.
I want so scream for help, yet my deteriorated jaw lay next to me, my flesh can no longer hold it in place.
I know what I need.
Thread.
And a needle.
I can sow myself, I have done it before.
I will be handsome again.
No one will know I am dead.
No one will know.
Once my jaw is sown, I will again use my smile to seduce.
With a fixed ankle I again will be able to run away from my problems.
No one will know.
Monday, November 21, 2005
how to respond to hardship
http://www.relevantmagazine.com/god_article.php?id=7012
Read this article, then I'll basically restate it in my own words.
You done?
Rejoicing in the midst of struggle. What an odd concept. I am not sure I actually understand it all that well. I immediately think about all of the frustrating times that someone has said to me in the most shallow and condescending way "its all in God's will" following some personal trauma of mine. I still struggle with ever trying to comfort anyone who is sad or angry. I am scared of being that shallow guy.
But what if it doesn't have to be that way? What if we, truly as people of God, can be so transformed that we can actually praise in the midst of struggle. In the face of death say "amen". Sickness? "hallelujah!". Financial hardship? "Praise God!". Does this sound shallow? Maybe...But what if it is the key to victory? I say that my life belongs to God, but so often when tragedy strikes, I can only see my own life, the way this tragedy effects my. In short, the tragedy consumes me, knocks me off track. But to praise God in the midst of the crap? Isn't that the most freeing thing anyone could ever do?
Maybe losing your life to find it makes more sense than I ever thought.
(Sorry I have been silent for so long. It is hard for me to keep up on this kind of stuff. Funny thing though, I feel a lot better when thoughts are able to come out of me and reach the page. I hope this starts a new period of writing for me. So if your still checking this thing, I should post more often from now on.)
http://www.relevantmagazine.com/god_article.php?id=7012
Read this article, then I'll basically restate it in my own words.
You done?
Rejoicing in the midst of struggle. What an odd concept. I am not sure I actually understand it all that well. I immediately think about all of the frustrating times that someone has said to me in the most shallow and condescending way "its all in God's will" following some personal trauma of mine. I still struggle with ever trying to comfort anyone who is sad or angry. I am scared of being that shallow guy.
But what if it doesn't have to be that way? What if we, truly as people of God, can be so transformed that we can actually praise in the midst of struggle. In the face of death say "amen". Sickness? "hallelujah!". Financial hardship? "Praise God!". Does this sound shallow? Maybe...But what if it is the key to victory? I say that my life belongs to God, but so often when tragedy strikes, I can only see my own life, the way this tragedy effects my. In short, the tragedy consumes me, knocks me off track. But to praise God in the midst of the crap? Isn't that the most freeing thing anyone could ever do?
Maybe losing your life to find it makes more sense than I ever thought.
(Sorry I have been silent for so long. It is hard for me to keep up on this kind of stuff. Funny thing though, I feel a lot better when thoughts are able to come out of me and reach the page. I hope this starts a new period of writing for me. So if your still checking this thing, I should post more often from now on.)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)