Happy New...What?

It’s that time of year again.  We say goodbye to one calendar year and welcome a new one.  It’s been 360ish days since we did this last.  Went fast, didn’t it?  Once again we find ourselves in that small window of time giving a nod to the wisdom of Socrates:  “The unexamined life is not worth living.”

Do you remember the movie The Bucket List?  It came out a couple of years ago (I think).  As movies go, it is loaded with life themes.  You could spend a year at Starbucks talking with your coffee buddies about the one-liners, conversations and experiences that happen in this movie.  Simply put, it’s one of those movies that makes you think about your life.  Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman, both terminal with cancer, come up with the “bucket list” – a list of things they want to do before they die.  And, what a list they come up with.  It’s the kind of stuff you do if one of you is a gazzillionaire!  But, off they go into the wild blue yonder of adventure.  They take their spectacular list and check"em off one at a time.  Along the way they share perspectives of life, hopes, dreams, and regrets, and they do it acutely aware that time is in short order.  The movie is loaded with laughs.  But I think it is one Socrates would have watched and enjoyed talking about.    

We don’t like to think about our mortality.  It’s…well…morbid.  We prefer the “now."  So…for the time being, let’s give the inevitability of our own mortality a rest.  In fact let’s not presume 2012 will happen in its entirety.  Sound a little weird?  Perhaps unsettling?  Behind all the parties, Times Square celebrations, and cute conversations about what we plan to do differently in 2012 is the defining reality of the biblical view of time.  Scripture says “time” is in the Father’s hands.  It was Jesus who said, “Be on the alert.  Watch!”  The apostle Paul talks about fighting off sleep and staying awake “in the Spirit."  We often talk about making a difference with our lives or mapping out all the things we want to accomplish in our “lifetime,” all the while assuming that we will have the presumed 70-80 years (and then some) to get it all done.  But, that is not the consciousness that should frame our perspective of life…of bucket lists.  We have the “now."  The window of December 31 – January 1 isn’t big enough to contain it.  Why?  Simply because the now affects every day we are given to live on the planet.  And, that takes Socrates’ familiar adage off the list marked “pithy things to think about on New’s Years Day” and puts it on the “everyday” list.

What does 2012 hold?  God knows.  And, He is the only One who knows.  More importantly, how do we need to surrender ourselves to His calling and purposes for the days that are ahead…however many they may be?  If we think about our lives from a truly Christian perspective a good time to start “the examined life is worth living” would be….well…when?   So what’s on our list “today?"

Father, bless us with an acute awareness of your calling of us today.  May we live “in the moment” every day as your servants.  Bless us with everything we need to be instruments in your hands every day that you give us in 2012.  Through Him who is the same yesterday, today and forever….amen.  

Randy Daugherty

Stephenville, Texas

My Psalm, Too!

Sometimes we may be feeling so many different emotions all at the same time.  Some are joyful and happy with glimpses of fear and sadness.  Sometimes the holiday season brings a whirlwind of emotions for many people.  Perhaps they are feelings of thanksgiving for the precious time shared with loved ones and feelings of sorrow for those who are no longer with us.  Perhaps it’s the bittersweet feelings parents of adult children have when its time for their children to return to their own lives.  Life itself can create an emotional rollercoaster for us to ride.    As individuals given souls and a spirit of love, we may struggle with these varied emotions. 

Recently, I read Psalm 86.  It is a prayer from David.  At that particular moment in time, this psalm gave words to all of my feelings.   I ask that you read it slow, as it is a conversational prayer with our Father; the one being that is supreme and has the power and the authority to work in our lives.   In some ways, it’s a challenge – to live in accordance to His will, to have a heart of a servant and to glorify God in all I do.  I found such comfort in David’s words even though they are thousands of years old – maybe you will too. 

Psalm 86 (NIV)

Hear me, LORD, and answer me,

for I am poor and needy.

2 Guard my life, for I am faithful to you;

save your servant who trusts in you.

You are my God; 3 have mercy on me, Lord,

for I call to you all day long.

4 Bring joy to your servant, Lord,

for I put my trust in you. 5 You, Lord, are forgiving and good,

abounding in love to all who call to you.

6 Hear my prayer, LORD;

listen to my cry for mercy.

7 When I am in distress, I call to you,

because you answer me. 8 Among the gods there is none like you, Lord;

no deeds can compare with yours.

9 All the nations you have made

will come and worship before you, Lord;

they will bring glory to your name.

10 For you are great and do marvelous deeds;

you alone are God. 11 Teach me your way, LORD,

that I may rely on your faithfulness;

give me an undivided heart,

that I may fear your name.

12 I will praise you, Lord my God, with all my heart;

I will glorify your name forever.

13 For great is your love toward me;

you have delivered me from the depths,

from the realm of the dead. 14 Arrogant foes are attacking me, O God;

ruthless people are trying to kill me—

they have no regard for you.

15 But you, Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God,

slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness.

16 Turn to me and have mercy on me;

show your strength in behalf of your servant;

save me, because I serve you

just as my mother did.

17 Give me a sign of your goodness,

that my enemies may see it and be put to shame,

for you, LORD, have helped me and comforted me. 

Michelle Tittor

Grapevine, TX

The Best Gift

I heard a story Christmas morning at church about a grandmother who didn’t know what to get the grandkids who were growing up and lived so far away so she decided to send them cards with a check in it. She gets it all ready and mailed the cards only to realize a day later that she forgot to include the checks. Imagine the grandkids surprise when they got a card from their grandmother that said “buy your own gifts this year.”  

I love gift cards and I certainly like cash.  As someone who has plenty of “stuff” I want to buy things I need and often those things cost more than someone would be able to pay so just give the ability to go do it myself.  Merry Christmas to me!

On this Christmas day and each day before and after, I’m thankful that God doesn’t send me a card that tells me to buy my own gift or simply give me a gift card or cash so I can go get what I need.  God gave me a gift and the gift is Jesus.  It’s a gift I didn’t deserve, a gift I don’t yet fully grasp, a gift I could never acquire on my own.  

It is possible to experience Christmas all year long by simply remembering God’s gift each day and living a life that shares the joy and hope that comes from his gift to each of us.  

Grace and peace to you.        

Jeff Jones

Decatur, Texas

Incarnation means...?

To state the obvious, today is the day after Christmas. And...what do we do? The day after Easter is easy. Hurrah! Jesus is risen! We can celebrate the gift of salvation, the beauty of life’s victory over death, the relief of forgiveness of sin for as long as we want. But, Christmas. Jesus is born. Then what?

There are many trite things that can be said (and, to be fair, that have been said) about the “true meaning of Christmas” and “the reason for the season.” Those are all good things. But I think there’s a bit more to it than focusing on the nativity, giving and sharing with the less fortunate, and investing valuable time in friends and family, all in the name of the baby Jesus.

There are various feelings that come with the day after Christmas--relief, disappointment, anticipation, weariness, etc. That’s probably because we don’t really know what to do with a baby savior. We don’t know what to celebrate, what to be thankful for, beyond that which comes on Christmas Day, specifically. We know how to anticipate His coming in the days leading up to Christmas. We’re kind of at a loss after He gets here.

But think about it. It is a representation of the full meaning of the covenant that we have with the Lord as His people. Christmas is so hard to comprehend because everything about Christmas says that that which is impossible is, in fact, possible. Gods don’t become human. Gods don’t live like dirty, poor, reviled humans. Gods don’t die. And human bodies don’t rise from the dead. But God says “Yes!” to all of these impossibilities.

Jesus’ birth--this first appearance of God incarnate to man--is the beginning of the promise that we love, the promise that says God is with us “always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20). The name “Immanuel” means “God with us.” This goes beyond the few months between Christmas and Easter. It characterizes the way we walk in faith daily.

We are celebrating the fullness of our covenant and the character of our God as we celebrate Christmas, and this goes beyond Christmas Day. This is sacred time, when we are reminded that our God does not stand aloof and separate from us, but enters our lives, willingly and humbly.

So, maybe it is a little trite, but that’s just because it’s almost too simple to be true. God is with us. But that isn’t all. Just as Jesus was God incarnate, we are called to live lives of incarnational spirituality. We are called to live fully in this world and in the covenant that we have with the Father, just as Jesus did. This is the essence of what it means to be a “whole person.”

When we think of “incarnation,” we think of Jesus’ entrance into the world. It’s more than that. Incarnation involves connection and relationship. Jesus’ incarnation is a manifestation of who we are called to be as His disciples--people of connections and relationships, and of connections to God and to man.

Not only does Jesus’ birth remind us of what we are promised, it also reminds us of who we are called to be.

“But to all who did receive Him,
He gave them the right to be
   children of God
to those who believe in His name,
who were born,
not of blood,
or of the will of the flesh,
or of the will of man,
but of God.
The Word became flesh
and took up residence among us.
We observed His glory,
the glory as the One and Only Son from the Father
full of grace and truth . . . .
No one has ever seen God.
The One and Only Son --
the One who is at the Father’s side --
He has revealed Him.”
--John 1:12-14, 18

Amen.

Erin E. Daugherty
Abilene Christian University

A Lesson from Gettysburg

I'll never forget watching an episode of the "Civil War" by Ken Burns and tears welling up in my eyes.  It was the third day of fighting at Gettysburg, in the afternoon of July 3, 1863.  Robert E. Lee chose a fellow Virginian, General George Pickett to organize an assault on the Union center.  Pickett's men had filed into the woods waiting for the signal to move over an open field leading up to Cemetery Ridge where the Union soldiers were located.  At a little after three, Pickett gave the order - "Up men and to your posts!"  Thirteen thousand men started out of the woods toward the stone wall on the ridge.  They were silent, forbidden to fire or to give the rebel yell until reaching the enemy.  A Union officer described..."more than half a mile their front extends, the arms of men, barrel and bayonet, gleam in the sun.  They move as with one soul, in perfect order, magnificent."  Another Union officer stated "it was the most beautiful thing I ever saw."  When the first southerners came within two hundred yards the Union soldiers opened fire.  Behind the stone wall eleven cannon and seventeen hundred guns went off at once.  "Arms, heads, guns and knapsacks were tossed into the air" one Federal officer said.  The Confederate soldiers reached the Union line at only one place.  The fighting was furious, men firing into each other's faces not five feet apart.  Men went down on hands and knees, some falling - legless, armless, headless.  Thousands of Confederate soldiers threw down their weapons and surrendered.  Others staggered back across the field.  Six thousand and five hundred men had fallen or been captured.  The entire battle at Gettysburg was bloody, 51,000 men were killed - 23,000 from the North and 28,000 from the South.

In 1913 a fiftieth anniversary reunion was held at Gettysburg.  Thousands of survivors swapped stories and looked up comrades for three days.  The climax was a reenactment of Pickett's Charge.  Spectators watched as Union veterans took their positions on Cemetery Ridge to await their old enemy.  The Confederate veterans crossed the field, not with rifles and bayonets but canes and crutches.  One photographer, Philip Myers, wrote "as they neared the northern line, they broke into one final, defiant rebel yell.  At the sound, after half a century of silence, a moan, a sigh, a gigantic gasp of unbelief rose from the Union men on Cemetery Ridge.  It was then that the Yankees, unable to restrain themselves any longer, burst from behind the stone wall, and flung themselves upon their former enemies...not in mortal combat, but re-united in brotherly love and affection."

What a powerful example of forgiveness.  But it is a minor one in comparison to what Jesus has done.  As we struggle with feeble attempts to practice love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control, Jesus runs toward us to encourage, support, and reunite us with God.  During this time of year for giving, remember and practice the greatest gift of all, forgiveness.

Doug Burns

Stephenville, Texas