willing

in my last post, i talked about carefully "unwrapping" the Christmas story so that we don't take it for granted. i shared that our church follows a theme every Advent to help us look deeply into a different aspect, or from a different perspective of the well-known Biblical account.

each year, i don't like the theme, at least to start. it takes me about three weeks to really appreciate the thought and inspiration that someone has had. (kind of the 'no idea is a good idea unless its your idea'). that may be why i also take each year's theme and break from it's prescription. a lot of the focus for this year's theme is on Mary. but i think that Mary wasn't the only one that this theme applied to -- she wasn't the only one who had to be or become willing

i also like to take the time from the New Year to Easter and walk through a Gospel, preaching and teaching on the life, ministry, and instruction of Jesus Christ. our Gospel study for 2006 is from Matthew, and as part of a larger invitation program to our community, we're using the theme "from the crib to the cross"

so, since November 27, we've been focusing on this "willing" theme to lead into our Gospel theme -- taking our instruction from Matthew's text, and looking at the key players in the Christmas narative.

we began with God--long before Mary's willingness, was God's. Matthew 1 begins with a genealogy that we usually skim or skip altogether. but the genealogy is the story of God's relationship with His chosen people -- a relationship that was to be a source of blessing for all people. as we look at Matthew 1:1-17, we see that God the Father was...

WILLING TO BE merciful (as you look through the genealogy, you have commentary without the commentary--additional notes and mentioning of women that wouldn't necessarily be a part of a legal genealogical record. Tamar, Rahab, Ruth weren't original chosen people. "by the wife of Uriah" references the affair and murder by David; "the deportation to Babylon" referencing the whole nation's lowpoint after continual disobedience. yet God maintains relationship through all of this)

WILLING TO SERVE individuals (i was sure to read the whole record, every name. God saw fit to preserve this list because each life, each generation mattered to him. God cared for, listened to, interacted with, and loved each individual -- we're so quick to rush through the Christmas crowds, that we don't take time to look as God does, person to person.)

WILLING TO CHANGE the Covenant agreement (God has planned and proclaimed that a new covenant was coming, no longer an outer conformity to the Law, but one of heart change that would lead to a desire to obedience [Ezekiel 36]. but in the Matthew account, it references 14 generations from Abraham to David, 14 from David to the Exile and 14 from the exile to Christ. but count again and you will find that the last list only has 13. though much debate exists over this missing generation, i like to think that we have become that 14th generation. that we have become a part of God's redemptive pattern as we are reborn through faith in Christ, spiritual heirs to the original promise to Abraham and participants in the family busines, the redemption of the world.)

more to come on this theme of the willing...

taken for granted

as a coffee drinker, i get coffee mugs from time to time as a gift. as was the case last Christmas, when i received two identical coffee mugs, "the golfer's excuse mug". each came in the box as pictured, and each found a place on a shelf.

the first was given from another pastor, and i opened the box, looked at the mug and laughed kindly. i reboxed the mug and it sat in my office

the second, i received from my sister who has in recent years spent a great deal of time and money on our children and us in Christmas gift-giving. when i received the box, i opened it to make sure it was indeed a mug, and it was. with all the other presents given and received, it also found a place on a shelf in our home, until last Saturday night

my wife and i were late to a class Christmas party -- at this time of year, we're attending every party as the pastors. while in the car, Kel remembered we needed to bring two white elephant gifts from home. we hopped out of the car and back inside to quickly wrap two gifts.

i wrapped up "the golfers excuse mug" (sorry sis!)

we were having a great time at the party when the gift-exchange began. a flashlight, a tote bag, a Christmas decoration -- the ususal suspects being opened around the room. the host of our little shin-dig opened the golfer's excuse mug at the urging of my wife (he's a golfer). everyone laughed as he held it up for all to see -- someone suggested he read some of the excuses, so he took out the mug and began to read them

when he went to replace the mug, he saw a note in the bottom of the box, "for a free game"

from inside the note he pulled out a tightly rolled $100 bill

the surprise was on his face, amazement hit the room, and the joke was on me!

our host graciously returned the note, and bill, as i told him i would treat him to golf in the near future -- quite a gift-exchange!

i had taken the gift for granted, after all, i had received a similar one

i think that's what we often do with the Christmas story. we've heard it, read it, seen pageant after pageant, nativity scenes, and sang the story many, many times over. each year we receive a similar dose of the greatest gift ever given...

...and we often take it for granted, perhaps missing a real treasure inside, worth more than a $100 bill

each year our church participates in Christ Birthday Observance theme to help us unwrap the story a little more carefully so that we might find new insight or inspiration each year. i preach according to that theme for the season of Advent, devotional guides are supplied to help underscore it, and all our publicity for the month carries it's theme or logo as a reminder

what are you doing to unwrap the greatest gift ever given a little more carefully? take warning from this comic little event lest you miss out on more than i did

how you give

i was reading this story from my web-browser and was struck by some of what was said.

Liz Pulliam Weston wrote the article, perhaps with some inspiration by Miss Manners, who she quotes as saying that gift certificates and gift cards are "a pathetic compromise convenient to people who do not trust their judgment about selecting the right present for those whose tastes they ought to know."

though i would have to disagree with both, because we recently received a lot of gift cards/certificates that were given in a most thougthful way. our church surprised us in October (pastor appreciation month) with several gift cards to a variety of restaurants AND a set of Baby-Sitting certificates. Both were given so that my wife and i could enjoy some dates together -- a gift that was thoughtful (they knew we would jump at the chance), sacrificial (they have to keep our three kids for several hours), and meaningful (essentially saying 'the health of your relationship matters to us and we want to encourage you both').

we've been using up our gift cards, and our baby-sitting -- and have been grateful for the thought and effort our church went to in this surprise appreciation. it's not just about the gift, but how the gift is given

back to the article...

what immediately struck me about and drew me into the article was the following initial statement:
"Holidays have rapidly devolved into what amounts to an exchange of cash. A gift card says nothing about the personality of the recipient -- but it says lots about the giver."

in the midst of all the craziness that has become the Christmas shopping season, the devolution of the Greatest Gift into the convenient gift, or at least the best bargain gift, may be the saddest commentary on our understanding and appreciation of this Holy Day of Christmas. it may also contribute to our decreasing effectiveness in communicating the significance of Christmas to our society

in this season of Christmas, i'm not against gifts, gift-giving, or even gift cards. my wife cannot tell me fast enough how much freedom i have in purchasing gifts for her and our family. i think about it for weeks heading into Thanksgiving and when i get the okay, i proceed to purchase as many of the things i can. then there's the problem of waiting and waitng and waiting until Christmas -- not to get my gifts, but for the joy of seeing them open theirs

if we go back to that first Christmas, the Greatest Gift given tells us a lot about the Greatest Giver -- love. "God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son...Behold what manner of love the Father has lavished onto us that we should be called the sons of God." (John 3:16, 1 John 3:1). The Gospel equivalent to a gift card is a Gospel tract. i know that some people have benefited from a randomly placed gospel tract, but as a rule, it's not good evangelism because there's no relationship. God thoughtfully, sacrificially gave His Son, not a tract, that we might enter into relationship through love with Him

in our gift giving, we (as Christians) ought to model the heart and character of God so that our gifts will convey love. and just as God's greatest gift came as the Word made flesh -- let our gifts come with words of love, life, and truth to edify the receiver, and to spur them on to love and good deeds, as well

but most importantly, let us celebrate, highlight, and in every way possible make the love of God and the gift of His Son known to a watching, wondering, and otherwise clueless world.