Claus, Krampus, or Christ?

I am fully aware that Christians of good faith may have dramatically different positions on the person of Santa Claus, Saint Nicholas, Father Christmas, or any of the other names the Jolly Old Elf may have around the world. We think of Santa with his naughty and nice lists. In our childhood wonderland, we struggled to comprehend just how he could track all the children in the whole world, how he could fit all those toys into one sleigh, and how he could manage to get the whole job done in just one night! It was just amazing.

 

Of course, in our western version of Santa Claus, every child eventually gets on the nice list, and every child SHOULD get a present from Santa. However, it turns out that in other parts of the world Santa has a sidekick and not every child makes the nice list. According to Bavarian tradition Krampus follows after Santa and punishes those children who are not on the nice list.

When it comes to the secular portion of the Christmas story, it’s obvious that the theology just doesn’t match up. While we like to think of good people of all ages during the holiday season, we know that it is because we are exactly the opposite of good that Jesus Christ came in the first place. We are, all of us, adults and children, male and female, every race, every culture, every nationality, in desperate need of forgiveness. So, because your name and my name, indeed every single one of our names are absent from the “nice” list, Christ came into the world to give the greatest gift of all, His righteousness.

We know this is the greatest gift of Christmas, not I-pads, X-boxes, or a Lexus, not whatever is hot with Neiman Marcus this season. The simple gift that no one can top, the gift of a clean heart, not a reward for having a clean heart, but actually granting that change of heart we all need. This means the greatest gift you could ever give this Christmas is the gift of introducing someone to the Child in the manger, the Savior upon the cross, and the King rising from the grave.

Merry Christmas!

Pastor Craig

Wisdom

Our Bible study has been looking at the Scripture passages from the New Testament leading up to and including the events of the birth of Christ. Take a moment and run through the Christmas story in your mind. Who are the main characters? Angels. Shepherds. An innkeeper and his family. Other holiday travelers. Foreigners on a long journey. Almost everyone was going about their daily routine with little or no thought about a Messianic encounter. Most of them seemed rather apathetic.

When the magi came to Herod to find out more information about the birth of this king they were seeking, Herod called all the priests and teachers of the law to answer the question for him. We have no record of any interest on the part of the priests or the teachers of the law as to why Herod would be asking this question. Granted, he probably did not tell them about the visitors who had been following the signs in the sky, but still. . . Herod sent no ambassador or representative. We don’t have any record of other people who were in Bethlehem for the census wondering who these people were and what they were doing in this out of the way community. Maybe everyone was fast asleep when the shepherds came into town and no one asked them what demanded their trip in the middle of the night or why they had left their sheep relatively untended in the field.

No, the first Christmas was story was made up mostly of average, rather unimportant people. In fact, most to the Bible is that way. It is a story of salvation, but it seems as though that salvation and God’s interaction with humanity quite often begins at the most common levels.

Peter, James, and John; Samuel, King David, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob would be less than footnotes in the history books if they had not been touched by the work and person of the Almighty God. Paul seems to indicate that God takes great joy in using the everyday, both people and things, to astound the entire world. I Corinthians 1:26-29 says,

Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. . .so no one may boast before him.

In this Christmas season take great comfort that you can never rise so high as to rise above your need for Jesus Christ; nor can you sink so low as to fall from his love and compassion.

Pastor Craig

Celebrate

When you read this on Sunday morning we will be in the season of Advent. Thanksgiving and Black Friday will be behind us. During the days leading up to the Advent season I wondered, “Just what does it take to have a Happy Thanksgiving?” Thanksgiving involves, for most of us, unhealthy portions of food, football, and festivities. At times, it is easy to let the formality get in the way of the family. Is this what it takes for us to have a happy Thanksgiving? The first Thanksgiving was preceded by the death of more than half of the original pilgrims who set out on the Mayflower. The rest would have perished as well if the Native Americans had not had compassion on them and share their stores and shown them how to plant and cultivate.

The first Thanksgiving was not a day to celebrate plenty. It was a time to celebrate grace and mercy, compassion and deliverance, survival and recovery. In reality the pilgrims were probably much more frugal with their use of food than we have been over the last few days.

Immediately following Thanksgiving, we move to what has become known as Black Friday, a celebration of materialism and greed. A store in Los Angeles saw roughly a dozen people pepper sprayed by a woman seeking an advantage in a battle over an X-box. In our own Wal-mart in Ennis, an employee told me about a fist fight that broke out over an item that was in limited supply. This behavior is so foreign to the Christmas spirit, to the giving and sacrificing of the Christ child, to God putting on flesh in order that we might be able to put on spirit and wholeness. We are in danger of losing Christmas.

Our holidays, all of which are rooted in some grand idea of respect, honor, worship, and recognition, have become sale days.

In these four Sundays of Advent leading up to Christmas we need to do what we can to reclaim our holidays. At the same time we need to recognize our own responsibility for making them that way in the first place. Advent is when we think about the coming of the Christ, not just in the manger, but in our own lives and as the reigning King of the universe. It is a time to recognize how much our Savior loves us and what is expected of us as members of His Kingdom. May our actions, our attitudes, and our words throughout this season reflect that which we truly celebrate.

Pastor Craig

Woefully Inadequate!

Have you ever felt inadequate? How about “woefully inadequate?” I felt this way just this last Thursday. I received a copy of my dissertation back with comments from my Technical Reader. Now before you are too hard on either of us, our whole cohort was given an early warning that Mr. John Anderson was one of the most demanding Technical Readers available. It is his job to be picky. It is his job to get your dissertation ready for public viewing. It is his job to make sure you final product does not embarrass the seminary, the specific program you are in, or yourself as the researcher, so I am not really complaining, just feeling “woefully inadequate!”

His exact words, “Your Chapter Two is woefully inadequate and incomplete.” One of my colleagues said, “I wanted to call him and make sure he was OK after I got mine back because I thought he might have been the victim of a brutal slaying with all the red on my paper!” I consider myself to be in excellent company.

I knew it was woefully in adequate when I sent it in. I was expecting a massive number of corrections and revisions, and that is exactly what I got. I imagine the feeling might be similar to something we might feel in the moments immediately before we appear before God’s throne in heaven. It is time for a reckoning. God is about to evaluate your life.

Actually, Mr. Anderson would be more like Jesus, the Messiah, than God as Judge. The technical reader looks at everything concerning your paper. He actually gets out a ruler and measures the margins and the indentations. He checks your formatting for headings and punctuation. He is the best thing that could happen to you. He is preparing you to appear before the group of scholars who will examine your work and ask you to discuss it and answer questions. You want to make a good impression on them, and you don’t do that with a bunch of typos and errors. He is making sure you have nothing to be ashamed of when you stand before those who will render a judgment on your scholarly attempt.

“Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.”[1] So, when our name is called and we know it is our turn to answer to the King, we will see the doors open wide and recognize our sweet Savior standing by His side and waiting to stand by ours, and we will be comforted with a great comfort!

Pastor Craig

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[1] II Timothy 2:15

A Jug of Milk, A Hammer, and A Tent Peg

The Old Testament book of Judges contains many of the lesser known heroes of the Bible. Three of these can be found in a single extended story contained in the fourth and fifth chapters of the book of Judges. It is one of the Biblical stories where women save the day while the men lag behind in doubt.

The story opens with Deborah. She is identified as a prophetess (4:4) and judge, in that she held court under a palm tree (4:5), for the people of Israel. Being judge meant that she would settle disputes between people. She, probably much like Moses did, heard only the most complex cases, leaving the simpler ones to be decided by judges over certain sections of the people.

In her role as leader she sent for Barak and instructed him, “The LORD, the God of Israel, commands you: ‘Go, take with you 10,000 men. . . I will lure Sisera. . . and give him into your hands.’”

Sisera was the commander of the armies of Jabin, a king of Canaan. The army was well equipped and formidable with over 900 iron chariots. The Israelites, a non-professional fighting force, had zero! This makes it fairly easy to understand when Barak spoke to Deborah and said, “If you go with me, I will go; but if you don’t go with me, I won’t go.” In other words, “Forget the command of God. I only trust people who are willing to stick there neck out, who are willing to back up the words with actions!” Deborah went. 

The Bible tells us “The Lord routed Sisera and all his chariots and army by the sword, and Sisera abandoned his chariot and fled on foot.” Enter the next heroine of the story, Jael.

Sisera was scared for his life. He came to Jael’s tent and asked he to hide him. She became the instrument of God to defeat the enemies of Israel. She said, “Come right in. Don’t be afraid.” (4:18). Sisera, be afraid, be very afraid! It says she gave him a drink and covered him up so no one would see him. It was while Sisera was feeling all safe and secure in his secret hiding place that Jael “picked up a tent peg and a hammer and went quietly to him while he lay fast asleep. She drove the peg through his temple into the ground and he died.” One version says, “she struck once and did not need to strike again!” Yes, Sisera, be afraid. Be very afraid! God works, sometimes through the commander of the armies and sometimes through a woman with a jug of milk, a hammer, and a tent peg!

Pastor Craig

Veterans' Day

This is a very awkward article to write. How does a pastor write about Veteran’s Day and the birthday of the United State Marine Corps? For those of you who may not know, every Marine’s birthday is November 10^th because 236 years ago the Marine Corps was founded at Tun Tavern in Philadelphia, PA on this date, and for those of you who missed it, Veteran’s Day was Friday, November 11^th. Most of you probably didn’t think about it until you opened your mail box on Friday and found it empty.

What is the appropriate way for one who is a follower of the Prince of Peace to, at the same time, show proper appreciation for those who have helped keep war outside our own borders for the vast majority of our history? A simple thank you hardly seems sufficient. However, even that is more than some vets get.

Throughout these most recent conflicts I struggled as to how to pray for our troops. Many of you know that two of them were my own sons. Oh, I have no problem praying for their success and safety, but, as I do that, am I in fact praying for the death of someone else in a foreign land who may have a spouse and family as well? In a firefight between our people in uniform and those who would engage them on the battlefield I will always ask God for the life, safety, and success of our men and women.

Certainly, the best thing, the greatest gift we could pray for and wish for our military personnel would be that the need for their service would one day pass away from the face of the earth. However, that seems unlikely, and as long as the need remains, I am thankful we have some our best and brightest who are willing to take up the call and respond, putting themselves at risk that you and I can sleep securely at night.

The call of Christ to “Love one another” seems like the impossible dream much of the time. There is no glory in the killing of another human being. There is glory when good triumphs over evil. Sometimes it is difficult to decide if the cause is completely just. So, we do not pray for war. We pray for the men and women who are sent on our behalf to fight the war. We pray for success and safety, and, on days like we had this past week, we thank them for what they have done for us. We pay for the peace that passes all understanding to calm those whose hearts, souls, minds, and spirits are troubled by what they have seen and done. We pray for those who have suffered such great personal loss of a loved one because we are all sinful creatures and are not any closer to a peaceful world than when the angels first proclaimed it for the shepherds one night in a field 2,000 years ago.

So, we continue to preach the Gospel message of love, peace, hope, compassion, forgiveness, and mercy in the midst of a broken and sinful world. We pray for our enemies. We do our best to forgive those who have offended us. We pray for and ask for forgiveness for the ways and times we have offended others, and we long for a world that might be at peace and soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines that can stand-down from their watchfulness.

OCCUPIED!

 

It seems the news is dominated by the Occupy movement these days. In case you haven’t been watching the news for the past several weeks, the Occupy movement contains many different emphases but seems to center around a call for a more “equitable distribution of financial power.” This article takes no stance on the rightness or wrongness of the movement. All of us can recognize the importance of a just, equitable, and fair system with regards to financial power.

The issue I want to take with the movement is the use of the term occupy. Webster’s Dictionary defines occupy as: to take possession and control of (a place), as by military invasion. The very idea of occupying or possessing any material and therefore temporal resource seems somewhat ludicrous. The things of this world are on loan to us only for our brief time on this earth. We best not think of them or speak of them using eternal language.

The Gospel of Matthew tells us, after praising how God cares for such things as the flowers of the field and the birds of the air, "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

We are not supposed to occupy anything on this planet. We are only stewards for a brief period of time before it all goes back to the original owner. No, instead of occupying, we are to be occupied by the Holy Spirit. We are to be sold out to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Yes, we will still need the food and shelter our body requires in order to be safe and healthy in this world, but we are not to be preoccupied with the possessions this world has to offer.

Where injustice occurs, we are called to bring justice, but it is always for others and not for ourselves. When we cry out, we do not cry out to demand our “fair share.” We cry out for salvation and we cry out to proclaim salvation in Jesus Christ.

We should seek to make our financial system fair and just. Where there is injustice we should seek to correct it, but as we correct it we remind everyone that peace cannot come from an abundance of this world’s goods but only from the One who created us all.

Pastor Craig