There’s no money in peace.
We live in a world where the absence of peace means making a living for far too many. From a trillion-dollar world military complex, to drug companies, to health food stores, to ‘safe’ toy makers, to political activists, to culture-warring Christians, ‘seeking peace’ can mean a wonderfully full cash flow, a guaranteed profit margin, and a spot on the nightly news. And it only costs us something we don’t really know anyway.
People in a fallen world aren’t wired for peace. Sin has made peace impossible on all fronts: no peace with the world around us, no peace with each other, and no peace with God.
The only true peace people could look forward to were fleeting moments seeking and worshiping God and hoping for peace in the end: the end of life, the end of the world – neither of which were particularly good prospects and neither rarely came soon enough.
This changed however, for at least two people 2000 years ago. A teenage virgin found out she was pregnant in a culture ready to shun and even kill her for it. Her older fiancée faced social shame and mockery. These two people found peace on earth when they found out who this child would be. The child they helped bring into the world in a stable brought peace to isolated shepherds on the night of his birth. 2 years later, men from the East came and peace was upon them.
Later this child grew to become a man of peace for thousands, and upon his death, granted the opportunity for peace to all. We may now know the beginnings of reconciliation with the world around us, the people around us, and with God.
Peace can be yours now because of Christmas.
WK
This entry was written by , posted on December 9, 2009 at 4:11 am, filed under Christianity, Life and tagged Advent, gospel, peace. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.
I have some friends going through really hard times.
They are seeing relationships of all kinds falter, fade, and dissolve before their eyes. It hurts me to see them hurt so, and while I’m praying for them to see the light eventually, the only other thing to do is help bear their burdens. It’s a hard thing to do and sometimes, it’s hard to see the other side of the pain.
What of Advent?
As the Israelites waited for the Messiah, Romans ruled over them, the sick and lame lay in the street, and God still kept them in Exile. Their hope was only for the Messiah to come and bring them from the darkness of exile back to the light of God. There were many hopes for what this Messiah would do – militant action, religious purification – but what I love about the Messiah who came, was that he attended to the true needs of the people, bringing them from the exile of relationship with their God. In doing so, as he said, he bound up the broken hearted, preached freedom for the prisoners and set the captives free.
This is the hope I try to bring to my friends: that Jesus has come to bind up the broken-hearted people of the world. Hopefully, in this season of advent, we can look to the hope of healing that came with Jesus’ arrival in a little manger. In this week of reflection on hope, I think of the hope for now and the future time. I hope that my friends who are hurting can hope for healing in their lives by looking to the arrival of the binder of their hearts.
WK
This entry was written by , posted on December 3, 2009 at 5:26 am, filed under Christianity, Life and tagged Advent, hope, Relationships. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.
Hello everyone!
Today is the first sunday in advent, which means that it is advent/christmas blogging for my blog. I’ve been doing this at various levels for 5 years now, and this year I’m going to theme each week by advent candle. This week will be ‘hope’, so expect musings, memories, songs, and videos relating to the Hope of Christmas coming.
To start us off, here is what I believe is the most hopeful song in the history of Christmas hymns. It says everything I would want to say about it, so here it is:
O Come O Come Emmanuel
O come, O come, Emmanuel
And ransom captive Israel
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.
O come, Thou Rod of Jesse, free
Thine own from Satan’s tyranny
From depths of Hell Thy people save
And give them victory o’er the grave
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.
O come, Thou Day-Spring, come and cheer
Our spirits by Thine advent here
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night
And death’s dark shadows put to flight.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.
O come, Thou Key of David, come,
And open wide our heavenly home;
Make safe the way that leads on high,
And close the path to misery.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.
O come, O come, Thou Lord of might,
Who to Thy tribes, on Sinai’s height,
In ancient times did’st give the Law,
In cloud, and majesty and awe.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.
This entry was written by , posted on November 29, 2009 at 11:53 pm, filed under Christianity, Uncategorized and tagged 2009, Advent, hope. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.
While singing in church during our service on Sunday, it hit me that there’s is a very insidious vein in a lot of modern worship these days, beyond the shallow theology, the ‘Jesus is my girlfriend’ stuff, and the six million chorus repeats without even a key change.
It is the pronoun, “I.”
I think something just broke in me on Sunday. I was singing a song about how awesome God is, focusing on being part of the corporate acknowledgment of his sheer Bigness, that I almost didn’t notice it. But, almost every time, there was a line (near the end/chorus) that brought it back to it being about us – no, that’s not right – me. I think I would be okay if it were we/us/let us, because then it is about the church in general in corporate communion with God. But nooo, it has to be about me.
Those that know me well, know that I admire and respect C.S. Lewis’ ideas about the Christian life, and one of my absolute favourites is that the opposite of selfishness is forgetting about yourself entirely – the removal of the ‘I’ pronoun. To correctly get on the road of selflessness and humility is to find one’s identity in God so much that you forget you are you. And as Lewis says, the great paradox of it all is that is when you become truly your unique self.
But what I am finding is, naturally, the opposite. By emphasizing our individuality now, we become drones to the hive, cogs to the praise-making machine. I’d like this to change.
So let’s just take all the ‘I’s out of our worship music for awhile, at least. Ok Church?
WK
This entry was written by , posted on October 26, 2009 at 10:00 am, filed under Church and tagged Church, Music, worship. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.
Have you ever felt that conflict inside you where you believe that God can do anything, but that he can’t?
And then someone tells you that you are a bad Christian because you have that conflict and you don’t “Have enough faith?”
B.S.
This is reality people. Anyone who says otherwise are lying to themselves and to you. I can totally at once believe that Jesus is Lord of the Universe, as well as my personal Saviour and friend, (to use a myriad of Christianese jargon) and I can also not believe that things will change. Simple as that.
And you believe it, too.
To work through this, to move, ultimately, to hope, I’m trying to concentrate on a few things:
Thomas is known as the doubter, because of John 20:
24Now Thomas (called Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. 25So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!”
But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it.”26A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 27Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”
28Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”29Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
But no one ever remembers this line, from John 11. Jesus is heading back to Judea, where it is quite possible that he will be killed (he doesn’t -not yet anyway):
16Then Thomas (called Didymus) said to the rest of the disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”
Thomas is the first one ready to die for Jesus. No one remembers that one. He didn’t bring the show like Peter; he just decided that he was going all the way with Jesus.
Also,
In Acts 12, Peter miraculously escapes prison and goes to a house of people that are praying for his release. When he shows up, people don’t even believe that’s its him, that this must be his angel. (whatever that means)
They were praying precisely for what happened, and didn’t believe it when it did happen.
Finally, one of the most profound prayers in the Bible, found in Mark 9:24:
I believe; help my unbelief.
Jesus had just told the man that he (Jesus) could do all for those who believe. That was his answer. Jesus healed his boy – even revived him from the dead.
If Jesus will do that for that man, with that prayer, I can come with the same prayer and the same hope.
Hope is a tough thing to focus on, but I’m trying.
WK
This entry was written by , posted on September 27, 2009 at 10:01 pm, filed under Christianity, Life, Spiritual Disciplines and tagged Bible, faith, hope, Jesus, Prayer. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.