by Elizabeth | Dec 25, 2010 | Learning Story
Children, as so often with matters of the kingdom of God, have it right. Christmas is a great day to play. Yes, the story leading up to Christ’s birth is fraught with shadowy themes, and indeed, the story following — all the way to the Cross, has plenty of conflict. But it is a TRUE tale inviting celebration from beginning (“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God!” (John 1) to the end:
“When you were stuck in your old sin-dead life, you were incapable of responding to God. God brought you alive—right along with Christ! Think of it! All sins forgiven, the slate wiped clean, that old arrest warrant canceled and nailed to Christ’s cross. He stripped all the spiritual tyrants in the universe of their sham authority at the Cross and marched them naked through the streets.” (The Message, Colossians 2:14-15)
Many children will play hard and play well today. If you, like me, need a reminder to laugh at the joy and great humor of what this day is about — really, that God would become man, take 3:53 and enjoy this video of the Christmas story brought by St. Paul’s of New Zealand:
by Elizabeth | Dec 24, 2010 | Learning Story
Is it too soon to sing “Away in a Manger”?
When my children were little, I used to sing each one of them a song when I tucked them in. (For those who have heard me ‘sing,’ yes, I know, it could have done great harm to their ears. Once they got older, they politely suggested I read to them instead:).
One night when she was about 4, our eldest daughter, Jackie, sang ME a song:
“Be near me, Lord Jesus, I ask thee to stay,
close by me forever, and love me always.
Bless all the dear children in thy tender care
And fit them for heaven to live with thee there.”
I had NEVER heard this stanza of “Away in a Manger,” and at first thought (being the proud mother that I am:), that perhaps she made it up. Then she told me she learned it in pre-school.
This stanza of simple little Christmas hymn has become one of my “go-to” prayers. When a day is getting a little rough, when I am met with insurmountable difficulties, when I hear of sorrows in a dear friend’s life, I pray so very simply, “Be near me [her, him], Lord Jesus…I ask you to stay close by FOREVER.” Even saying the words reminds me that he is indeed near, for God’s nearness as a human is what we celebrate at Christmas.
And as I am blowing my cool because I’m trying to make everyone in a household happy or because I’m worried about my sick dog, it is so good to remember that I don’t even have to ask Jesus to “love me always.” He does — when I’m the Christmas crank or the stubbornly-relenting-repenter.
The prayer reminds me that he is “fitting us for heaven” and that one day we will live eternally in restored shalom of renewed creation. Try it. Sing, ever so softly if you must, but let the breath exhale as you proclaim this little Christmas prayer of adoration and worship of our Savior-Child.
Away in a manger,
No crib for His bed
The little Lord Jesus
Laid down His sweet head
The stars in the bright sky
Looked down where He lay
The little Lord Jesus
Asleep on the hay
The cattle are lowing
The poor Baby wakes
But little Lord Jesus
No crying He makes
I love Thee, Lord Jesus
Look down from the sky
And stay by my side,
‘Til morning is nigh.
Be near me, Lord Jesus,
I ask Thee to stay
Close by me forever
And love me I pray
Bless all the dear children
In Thy tender care
And take us to heaven
To live with Thee there
NOTE: In my hymnbook, only three stanzas were listed. When I looked for the lyrics on the internet, I found it broken up differently and a couple of additional ones. Enjoy them all:)!
by Elizabeth | Dec 22, 2010 | Learning Story
As many times as I hear the Christmas narrative, new questions always come to mind. This week I was wondering whether or not Mary ever wondered during her pregnancy if this child would really be born. Most moms have at least a slight fear of miscarriage. So I just wondered.
My wondering probably has more to do with my own fears and sins that keep wanting to take back what I have offered to God (i.e. control over my life-story, including the health of all my beloved ones, the way my shoulder rehab goes, and when and how God chooses to fulfill plans for my ministry He has shown me.)
Because of my “Lord I believe, help my unbelief,” this song finds itself on my lips and in my hearts with frequency these days. It reminds me to open my clenched fists, to wait for the King to move powerfully again as He has done before.
Come, thou long expected Jesus,
born to set thy people free;
from our fears and sins release us,
let us find our rest in thee.
Israel’s strength and consolation,
hope of all the earth thou art;
dear desire of every nation,
joy of every longing heart.
2. Born thy people to deliver,
born a child and yet a King,
born to reign in us forever,
now thy gracious kingdom bring.
By thine own eternal spirit
rule in all our hearts alone;
by thine all sufficient merit,
raise us to thy glorious throne.
by Elizabeth | Dec 20, 2010 | Learning Story
It’s that time of year…the time to pause in the rush, to “hurry toward Jesus,” to think about some of the words we actually sing at Christmas-time. Each day I will post some of the powerful lyrics from one of my favorite Christmas songs. What are yours? What good news do they bring to you? (Notice, I’m inserting returns between each line. The hope is to read them slowly, perhaps aloud, and engage our imaginations to see the power and majesty of the One we are singing about:)
Hail the heav’n-born Prince of Peace!
Hail the Son of Righteousness!
Light and life to all He brings
Ris’n with healing in His wings
Mild He lays His glory by
Born that man no more may die
Born to raise the sons of earth
Born to give them second birth
Hark! The herald angels sing
“Glory to the newborn King!”
by Elizabeth | Dec 17, 2010 | Learning Story
Read it with me one more time: Isaiah 35. Then enjoy Eugene Peterson’s thoughts on why we join this magnificent chorus.
“The word that stands out in Isaiah 35 is sing. There’s singing at the beginning, singing at the end, and singing at the center. The reason for the singing is clear. The Holy Land — which had been subjected to repeated sacrilege and, as a result, became a wasteland — now blossoms. What had been a barren and windswept wilderness becomes a land filled with forests and carpeted with flowers.
Better yet, bodies are restored: Blind people see, deaf people hear, the lame leap, mute people sing. All the ailments that mar the image of God in men and women are cured.
Best of all, people return. The long separation between the people of God and the place of God is over. A way is created for the exiles to return home to God.
If God is the blazing center of all these realities, then all the things we once began in his name are worth continuing: acts of love, covenants of commitment, habits of faithfulness, songs of joy.”
I invite you to join me in pausing, taking it all in, considering what God has done in Christ and what Christ will one day complete. And SING. Even if it’s the Muppets’ 12 days of Christmas, there is reason to sing!
by Elizabeth | Dec 15, 2010 | Learning Story
In the midst of the silent, dark nights of the soul or the turbulent, chaotic, harsh days of trial, how can we imagine a day when something as unlikely as a lush, tropical land arising out of a dry, barren wasteland?
Back to Isaiah 35 for just the first two verses. If we stop. Truly STOP. And think about these verses, read them aloud, imagine them, picture them, we find the core narrative of Christmas hope. This is really what we have to “be glad” about — the desert has bloomed (If you don’t believe me, just google ‘desert bloom’ in Google Images.) The light has come. And it will come again one day to bring a new creation falling all over itself with wild, burgeoning glory:
“Even the wilderness and desert will be glad in those days.
The wasteland will rejoice and blossom with spring crocuses.
2 Yes, there will be an abundance of flowers
and singing and joy!
The deserts will become as green as the mountains of Lebanon,
as lovely as Mount Carmel or the plain of Sharon.
There the Lord will display his glory,
the splendor of our God.”
Isaiah 35:1-2
To ponder:
1. What wildernesses are you currently living in (or what wildernesses are some dear ones living in?)
2. What does it look like to hope that the desert will bloom in those wildernesses? For you creatives, write a poem or song or create a visual of what it will be like in that day.
