Wrapping Up Christmas, or where is Jesus?

“How long, O Lord...how long?” Just like the Psalmist of old and many others before me, this has been my complaint for some time. If I am honest with myself, it drives me away from writing and sharing more quickly than anything else. Although I may have used the mental busy-ness of studies and family needs as a convenient excuse, deep down I find myself finally admitting that the struggles of continued waiting on God has had far greater impact.

More recently, the compelling urge to write has surfaced again, and so, in the post-Christmas down time, I find myself with time and energy to put fingers back to keyboard. In the middle of all this, somewhat unsurprisingly, I also found an answer to my own struggles that simultaneously met with my desire to find some meaning in the over-commercialised "holiday" we call Christmas.

As I reflected on and reconnected with the birth of Christ during December, a few things came together (as they often do), resulting in God speaking directly into my heart. 

The book of Revelation ends with a promise from Jesus that He will return, that He is coming soon. This Christmas, I was reminded again of how much of a parallel this word has with the promises the Jews (and others) were waiting on some 2000+ years ago. The promise of a Saviour was embedded deeply in their faith, and God's people often cried out to Him to send this Saviour to alleviate their suffering, to bring in His Kingdom.

Today, the promise of a Saviour is still relevant. Whether we are looking to Jesus’ ultimate return or simply for Him to ‘turn up’ in our present circumstances, to fulfil promises either specific or general in our lives, we long for His presence to be manifest with us and to see the in-breaking of His Kingdom in our world. Maybe we would like Him to turn up and ‘fix’ our circumstances, bring healing or blessings, or to ‘fix’ the world. Maybe we simply want to feel or experience His presence with us. Or perhaps, like Simeon and Anna at the temple, we are waiting to see the fulfilment of a promise or vision.

This Christmas, I was reminded of two things. The first is that when Jesus first came, it was in the fullness of time (see Galatians 4:4). He came then at exactly the right time for His purposes, and when He brings His purposes into our lives, again, it is at exactly the right time - not a moment too soon or too late.

The second is that, as I read my Bible and look around at both my own experiences and those of others, I realise anew that Jesus has already come, He does come, and He will come again. He is trustworthy, faithful and true. I can wait in the full assurance that in His timing, He will come into all my circumstances and He will bring His fulfilment of His vision and promises.

Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!

Living in spin.The truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

"Mum! There's nothing in this house to eat!" "You never wash my clothes!" "You never buy anything good to eat!" "You're/we're always late!" As a parent of a teenager, words like these are really good at pushing my buttons. Reflecting on why it gets to me me so much, I realise it is partly because it is usually blatantly untrue (therefore unjust!), but also, I think it is because this way of speaking seems to have become the norm for so much of our society. Not specifically, of course, but the style of exaggerating so much of what we say way past much semblance of the truth.

Actually, one of my pet hates at the moment is the excessive and inflated use of certain adjectives, particularly those such as "awesome", "fantastic" and "amazing". While I agree that it is good to be positive about and grateful for the various aspects of our lives, we can amplify this completely out of proportion to reality, or we use these words so often that they become ordinary; they lose their impact and sense of the special. For those listening (or reading) it can end up having the effect of making them feel as though their lives really could never match up (even though they are not too different). Alternatively when something truly out of the ordinary happens, we have no language left to use.

While, certainly, much of this hype has its source in advertising, where more and more outrageous claims seem to need to be made to be heard above the clamour of "consume, consume, consume", over-the-top adjectives and spinning the truth out to get a good emotive story appear to have become the norm in many facets of life. Media thrives on this (we are ever amused to hear an advertisement about a story on one or other of the current affairs programs which seems to bear little similarity to the actual story that appears, or has no substance underneath), as do our politicians. I have to say that I find it quite disturbing how little of the messages we get from politicians seem to be based on actual fact rather than innuendo and truth stretching.

And we are probably all familiar with the idea of the use of spin in public relations, but it is alarming how accepting we have become of this. In a discussion about the idea of a 'just war', John Howard Yoder says that the control of information or "spin" has become a "science and an art". However, he also states that "disinformation and spin control invalidate...administrators’ claim to legitimacy." The problem is, when we start to rely on "spin" to control the people around us, whether it be our parents, our children, or in wider organisations, we sacrifice our integrity and our credibility. People around us either start to tune out to anything we say, or simply become very sceptical and cynical about us and whatever we represent. 

Personally, for quite some time I have endeavoured to remove the words "always" and "never" from my vocabulary (except, of course, in relation to mathematical constructs!). Of course, to my analytical mind  these words are rarely true, and we can't prove it anyway, quite apart from the knowledge that this type of language tends to be unhelpfully inflammatory in personal discussions. I am reminded of Jesus' words in Matthew 5:37, where He says, "Let your 'Yes' be 'Yes' and your 'No' be 'No'". Although this was in regards to making promises, I think we can safely extrapolate it to mean 'be honest'. Tell it how it really is and don't dress it up to make other people happy or to manipulate them in any other way. Keep your integrity and credibility intact. Genuine honesty is such a rare commodity today and I think people really appreciate knowing that what you say is the truth, nothing more, nothing less. 

Winter...a poem

So it has happened.
Winter has come.
And its coldness and barrenness
Have shocked you, saddened you.
Even though you saw the signs,
Heard the warning,
The emptiness stretching ahead 
Without sign of abating
Seems to have the power to shrink your soul
Even just thinking about it.


How will you survive?


Just asking the question seems to open up a glimmer of a vista,
An iota of hope.
How have you survived winter in the past?
What did others do?


So instead of simply enduring, hibernating
It is time to be overt, proactive.
Seek out those places, people of warmth
Where conversations are filled with life
That will sustain and carry you.
Contemplate anew past promises for the future.
And above all, remember: 
The dying that is Winter 
Is essential
Before the New Life 
That is Spring
Can usher in

A new season.

Signs of the Seasons

I love Autumn. I love the mild, sunny days, the chill of the mornings and evenings, the smell of smoke drifting across, but most of all the changing trees. The colours of the leaves against the deep blue of the sky, or with the sun shining through making them even more vibrant floods my soul with joy and peace. And the way the leaves float lazily to the ground or fall in a flurry, like rain, with a gust of the breeze fills me with wonder. I find myself amazed by this whole process of the trees losing their leaves.


I have heard a number of scientific explanations, such as the fact that the leaves don't actually fall off, but are pushed off by next Spring's leaf buds. (This is how you know when a tree is dead as the leaves die but don't fall off.) Another explanation is regarding the sensitivity of the trees to the subtle changes in the weather, shorter days and cooler temperatures, that we as humans are largely unaware of or remain unaffected by.


Thinking about this I find myself reflecting again on the parallels between the natural world and the spiritual world. I am reminded of a couple of places in the Bible where Jesus also draws this parallel. In Matt 24:32, He says' "Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near." And in Matt 16:2-3, He rebukes the religious leaders looking for a sign, saying, 'When evening comes, you say, "It will be fair weather, for the sky is red", and in the morning, "Today will be stormy, for the sky is red and overcast."' He goes on to reprimand them that they have no problems working with the 'natural', but when it comes to the spiritual they, who are supposedly the experts in such matters, have no understanding.


When Jesus talks to His disciples in Matthew 24 about the signs they should expect in the 'end times', there is a sense of comfort rather than condemnation. I think that in our 'natural' state, we can tend to get fearful about what will happen in these times, rather than simply being informed. Something I read this morning triggered the thought that when we worry and fear our circumstances, the things happening to us and around us, we are actually behaving in a way that is not trusting God. Trusting Him is not something that is automatic, or our natural bent. We have to work at it in the little things - like a muscle, trust gets stronger and grows as we use it. It also comes from relationship. We will struggle to trust those we do not know well.


Being informed also involves deepening our relationship with God. We need to practice hearing in the Spirit, spending time listening to God and asking the right questions, so that like the trees, we increase in our sensitivity to the signs of the times, we recognise the changing spiritual seasons. We then need to place those signs in the right context of our Biblical understanding, so we are not afraid but informed. The signs are not there to bring judgement or condemnation on us, but to help us to live with the changes as they happen. Just as Autumn, in the natural, is a sign to prepare for the hardships of winter, stocking up, harvesting, preparing a warm cosy place, so are the signs we see in the spiritual world there to help us be prepared, like the wise virgins of Matt 25. 

Its Always Darkest Before the Dawn

So justice is driven back, 
and righteousness stands at a distance; 
truth has stumbled in the streets, 
honesty cannot enter. 
Truth is nowhere to be found, 
and whoever shuns evil becomes a prey.

Is 59:14-15a

As I read these words as a facebook post a few days ago, they resonated with my spirit in that way where you know God is saying something. While I had no problem understanding the picture that is painted and how relevant it is for the culture we live in, I was not sure what to do with it.

Reading through the whole of Isaiah 59, I was further disturbed. Words such as "No one calls for justice; no one pleads his case with integrity. They rely on empty arguments and speak lies..." and "They...spin a spider's web...Their cobwebs are useless for clothing; they cannot cover themselves with what they make" describe so well our society where spin is king, where people have a belief that if they say something often enough and loud enough, it becomes true or that hiding or modifying the truth is justified by the ends they desire to meet. However, these words remind us that God is not deceived, God sees through all the webs we spin to cover ourselves and we reap the consequences (see verse 2).

Reading this, I have a sense of outrage that justice, righteousness, truth and honesty seem to have been rendered powerless. The words "evil prospers when good men do nothing" come to mind, and I wonder why, as Christians, we seem so ready to accept powerlessness as our lot? While a part of me wants to rise up and defend justice, righteousness, truth and honesty, though, I realise equally that they need no such defence. By defending or explaining the Truth I bring the focus back on me, and the Truth loses its power. However, equally I should not fear the Truth, but simply present it and allow it to speak for itself. As verses 19 and 20 promise us, remind us: God's glory will be revered, He will act.

Verse 21 follows with the promise that God's Spirit will come on us and His words will be in our mouths and that neither will ever depart from us. Chapter 60:1-3 completes the picture, noting that it is not so much our action or behaviour that brings this about, but the action of God on our lives as we lay down them down to join with His:

"Arise, shine, for your light has come,

and the glory of the Lord rises upon you.

See, darkness covers the earth 

and thick darkness is over the peoples,

but the Lord rises upon you

and His glory appears over you.

Nations will come to your light

and kings to the brightness of your dawn."

At times it can be easy to be overwhelmed by the darkness around us and to wonder if there is any hope. However, it is in times like this that we must stand boldly for what we believe, hold onto the Truth and not deviate one bit. We cannot afford to get distracted by what is going on around us, by the ebbs and flows of human opinion, but must keep our focus on God and what He is doing. There will come a time when the darkness will become irrelevant in the light of His glory and grace.

Faith and Patience

Sometimes when I am reading I come upon something that is profound and yet obvious at the same time. This morning was one of those times. One of the books I am reading at the moment is "There Were Two Trees in the Garden" by Rick Joyner (a book I would recommend without hesitation). In it he quotes Hebrews 6:12 as exhorting us to "be imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises". Joyner goes on to point out that "True faith cannot be separated from patience." Indeed, our ability to be patient (or not) is actually a measure of our faith in God; do we really believe that He is faithful and true to His promises? 


The alternative is that we are impatient and like Abraham, give birth to our own 'Ishmaels', symbols of our lack of patience and our belief that we need to work out our own answers rather than waiting on God. And there it is again. Waiting. Waiting takes patience. I would rather be doing. 


Personally, I have felt like I am in the waiting room for a number of years now. Every now and again, I wonder if I have missed something, if I should be doing something different. It's usually when I see others going out and all the pieces seeming to fall into place for them and I wonder why it is not happening for me, why my promised 'child' is so slow in coming. But each time, as I step back, I know that I don't want to run ahead of God. Even though there may be some immediate rewards and benefits (like human approval), long term I know I will not end up where I want to be. As a wise friend pointed out the other day, if we deviate only one degree off the course of walking beside Jesus, the further we walk down that path, the further away from Him we get. 


As I continue on with my studies looking at spiritual formation, I am reminded again and again that it is not about what we do or what we know but about Who we know and what we do with Him. One of my favourite pictures from Jesus is of the vine and the branches in John 15:1-17. Jesus repeatedly affirms that it is as we abide or remain in Him that He remains in us, and that this is where true fruitfulness will come from. The more time we spend abiding with Jesus the more like Him we will become and the more faith and patience we will find we have.

His faithfulness is sufficient

This semester my studies are focussed on spiritual formation, perhaps most simply put as being about our growing in Christ-likeness. A discussion in many of the readings is that ever difficult line between what has already been done for/in us in Christ through grace (a free, unmerited gift) and the idea that this grace should change our behaviour and attitudes. The problem is that we have a tendency to measure God's approval and favour of us by what we do. We measure how loved or lovable we are (or someone else is) by various aspects of behaviour, from morals and behaviours to even our 'spirituality', 'anointing' or 'giftedness'.

It is a difficult question, though. I mean, if I am truly impacted by the love and grace of God, I will behave differently, won't I? I will be more loving toward others, more in tune with God's will, hear more clearly from Him. Surely?

On the flip side of this, however, I have wondered about how it seems to be possible to appear to hear from God and yet seem not to be transformed by Him. Then I realised that there is a huge difference between 'hearing from the Spirit' and 'walking in the Spirit'. It's all about what we do with it. Are we mere hearers, or do we actually do what we hear? (James 1:22-25)

Added to this, our hearing can be very selective. We can listen to the bits that support us, that help us maintain our position and ignore or remain deaf (blind) to those bits that challenge us to change. One of my readings talked about the idea that we even form "theologies" that enable us to ignore injustice either around us or even caused by us, to keep us in our comfortable place were we don't need to truly suffer or feel the pain of those who do. In the midst of this we walk another fine line of whether we can truly experience God's love and yet not truly love others (see 1 John 4), which might be demonstrated by standing with them in their suffering.

In the midst of this I am challenged by my own lack of love or compassion for others, particularly those who I see as perpetuating injustice. How do I truly love those who behave in ways that I see as damaging to others around them, whom I perceive as perpetrators of injustice and hypocrisy without joining them? I am reminded of the story of the unjust steward (Matt 18) and realise that I lack understanding of the size of the debt I have been released from which is why it is so easy to condemn others. 


A number of times more recently, I have been impacted by the idea that our culture has forgotten (or would rather forget) the importance of grief and lament and that even if we do acknowledge our need for these in the process of repentance, we often skip through it, we don't like to dwell there, and so move quickly on to focussing on the fact that we are forgiven and never properly comprehend our true inability to do good, to do what is right and so never fully appreciate what has been done for us on the cross. 


And that brings us to yet another of those fine lines, between condemnation and conviction. Perhaps we have experienced way too much condemnation (which says 'try harder' and 'you are not good enough') rather than conviction, where in the midst of understanding that our behaviour/attitudes are not acceptable, we experience being accepted and loved. 

Tying all this together, I got a great picture from one of my readings which has stuck with me. It is a quote from Hendrikus Berkhof as he discusses the role of grace in us, coupled with our faith (which, in turn is not ours but a gift!), and our inability to bring about any transformation in ourselves. He says:

"His faithfulness also consists in the fact that he creates and seeks our faithfulness and realizes his faithfulness in and through our faithfulness and so causes it to triumph. We do not persevere, but he perseveres, by constantly calling us, disturbing us, inspiring us ."

As much as we would like to think we have power in and of ourselves over any aspect of our lives for transformation, the reality is that He is gently pursuing, guiding and helping us every step of the way. We really don’t have to do anything but cooperate. How’s that for freedom!