The Star or R-A-T-S

“If spiritual things become a drag and the message of Christmas is dull you can be sure the problem is not in the message but in your loss of awe and wonder at the message.” Dag Hammerskjold 

One pastor of a small church was directing the children’s program on the Sunday night before Christmas. He was especially excited about the final scene of the production in which four children would give recitations using letters that they held up: S-T-A-R which stood for Shepherds, Trees, Angels, and Redeemer. The scene opened with “Silent Night” playing softly in the background as the children filed onstage holding the posters. The narrator solemnly spoke into the microphone, saying, “And now, four of our children are going to tell you how they feel about Christmas.” On that cue, the youngsters turned over their cards, which should have spelled the word STAR. Unfortunately, they had lined up backward, and instead, the letters said…RATS! 

  Sadly, isn’t that the way that many people feel about Christmas? High prices, snarled traffic, rushed trips, long check-out lines, extra chores, more debt, blown diets, countless Christmas parties, and cold weather. Many just want to get it all over with. Yet, if we fall into that thinking we lose the power of that first Christmas – we lose wonder!

  It’s said that “familiarity breeds contempt. More often “familiarity breeds indifference.” The more familiar we become with something the less fascination we have. The newness fades and we lose the wonder.

  That happens with us at Christmas. We’ve heard the nativity account so many times that the wonder of what happened 2,000 years ago begins to dim. We no longer marvel. We’re no longer amazed. The old story has become just an old story. Yet if we stop and truly contemplate that first Christmas, we’ll find that we’re once again filled with awe and wonder.

  God became one of us. Joan Osborne had a hit song, “One of us.” It asked what if God was one of us.   

What if God was one of us?
Just a slob like one of us
Just a stranger on the bus
Trying to make His way home.

That’s one of the wonders of Christmas, the Incarnation. God did become one of us. The Creator of the universe stepped into space and time and became one of us. The eternal Son of God didn’t merely add flesh to His deity, He is not just God in a body. God became flesh, human flesh. He became a creature. He didn’t give up anything, He added humanity. It’s why His disciples saw His glory. They saw grace and truth incarnate.

  What does God look like? Since God is invisible He can’t be seen. In Jesus, though the invisible God became visible.

  What does grace look like? What does truth look like? Because they’re abstract concepts, they’re unseeable. But in Jesus, grace and truth became visible, in His person, His words, and His works.

  At His birth, the shepherds and Magi desired to see Him. Throughout His life, the poor, the vile, the rejected, the disenfranchised, and the oppressed were attracted to Him. Sinners flocked to Him. And today, frightened, ashamed, hurting and guilty people still long to see Him. God’s Son is our hope. He is the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6).

  Christmas is the commemoration of the moment when Jesus, the eternal Son of God, was born into this world to be our Savior. He didn’t come for a visit. He made His dwelling on this earth. This world is now His home. After the cross, when the work of redemption was complete, according to the Apostle John, “I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and He will dwell with them. They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God’” (Revelation 21:3). That’s wonder!

  That first Christmas was filled with wonder. Zacharias wondered how he and his elderly wife could give birth to the forerunner of the Messiah (Luke 1:18). Mary wondered how it would be possible for a virgin to give birth to a baby (Luke 1:34). Joseph wondered why he and Mary were chosen to be the parents of the Messiah (Matthew 1:18–25). The shepherds wondered about the angels that appeared to them and what their message meant (Luke 2:13–15). Those in Bethlehem wondered about the story that the shepherds were spreading through the village (Luke 2:17–18). Mary wondered about everything that was happening at the birth of her son (Luke 2:19). Simeon wondered at the blessing of being able, before he died, to see the child-Messiah (Luke 2:25-32). Mary and Joseph “marveled” at the words prophesied by Simeon about their baby (Luke 2:33–35). Those in the temple wondered about the words of Anna, who spoke of the redemption to come through this child (Luke 2:36–38). The Magi wondered about the newborn King for whom they brought gifts (Matthew 2:1–12). Joseph wondered about his dream warning him to take his young family and flee to Egypt (Matthew 2:13–15).

  Those are the moments of wonder recorded in Scripture. Think of how many more moments of wonder there must have been among those who were witnesses to the first Christmas. It was overwhelming wonder!

  Wonder was the message of one of the great hymns of the 20^th century called “The Wonder of It All.” 

There’s the wonder of sunset at evening,

the wonder as sunrise I see;

But the wonder of wonders that thrills my soul

is the wonder that God loves me.

  That’s the greatest wonder of Christmas – God loves us! It’s why He gave the first Christmas gift. Have you accepted God’s gift? “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” A wonderful God, His wonderful love, and a wonderful gift! Wonder!

 Can we help you spiritually? Please check out more resources on our church's web page, Gracechurchwi.org. Or call us at 262.763.3021. If you'd like to know more about how Jesus can change your life, I'd love to mail you a copy of how Jesus changed my life in "My Story." E-mail me at Carson@gracechurchwi.org to request a free copy. Please include your mailing address. 

 

The "Wonder" of loving the unloveable

“Compassion is the deep feeling of sharing in the suffering of another and the desire to relieve that suffering.”  Jerry Bridges

  Unusually tall and bearing a facial scar, a twelve-year-old girl from Denver was called “Gorilla Scarface” by classmates until she finally snapped and took her own life in the spring of 2014. A week before killing herself, she’d left the following message on Instagram: I’m just not Okay.

  Tragically, it’s not an unusual story. If you Google stories about bullying, have a box of Kleenexes nearby because it will break your heart.

  Recently, Jane and I watched the movie, Wonder. If you haven’t seen it, I’d encourage you to. It’s a powerful story that left us feeling highly moved. Wonder tells the incredibly inspiring and heartwarming story of Auggie (short for August) Pullman, a boy with horrible facial differences who enters fifth grade, attending a mainstream elementary school for the first time. Previously, his mother homeschooled him, to protect him from the taunts and bullying that he’d face because of his abnormal appearance in a school setting. But now his parents want him to attend fifth grade with other kids, so he begins attending Beecher Prep School. Auggie even has the kind of sense of humor that can win kids over—well, most of them anyway. While the Pullman family isn't particularly spiritual, his Mom (Isabel), does pray aloud, “Dear God, please make them be nice to him,” when dropping Auggie off at school one day.

  Both Dad and Mom are united in their love and commitment to their children. The principal at Auggie’s school is very concerned that Auggie be treated well and not bullied. His teachers care. One even has a daily character lesson. At first, all the children dodge Auggie but eventually, they’re won over and not only become Auggie’s friends but defend him against attacks from others. The movie is a transparent account of the burdens and feelings of others, even those without special needs.

  When we finished watching it, I Googled the movie and was disappointed to discover what I’d already suspected – it’s just a good story, a work of fiction. We know from hard experiences that the world rarely works like that. All of us remember the cruelty of school. It’s likely that you personally felt the sharp blades of cruelty pierce your own soul as classmates or a teacher said things to you that were thoughtless or cruel.  

  Yet, I think Wonder is popular because it’s what the world, even a lost one, truly desires. Though our world is cruel, most people don’t want it to be. They want it to be like Wonder, where the odd, strange, are accepted, appreciated and loved for who they are. Yet in spite of all the anti-bullying programs or talks about “being kind,” don’t expect it. It’s nearly impossible to work up that which you don’t already possess inside. This world has little time for those who are different. Love and patience are not the fare a lost world naturally serves up. Sadly, it’s a dog eat dog world that lives out the worldview continually taught, the evolutionary worldview of survival of the fittest.

  Yet, it occurred to me, as I watched Wonder, that it’s exactly what the we, the Church, must be. Scripture teaches that every person is a special creation, made in the image of God and designed by Him, (Psalms 139:13-16). We must not be content with being Pro-life; We must be Pro-living. We’re to be Jesus in a cold, harsh world. Our Lord cared for those who were outcasts or obnoxious. The demon-possessed who screamed for attention. Blind beggars who disrupted His sermon begging to be healed.

  The next time you’re in public and observe someone who is disabled, watch the responses of those around. Rarely is there compassion, but annoyance and impatience. Watch how people react to an elderly person with a walker or wheelchair. In a restaurant, you can almost feel the disdain for someone who is grossly obese.

  And what about children, particularly those with special needs? Then, what about those who’ve been overcome by sin? The immoral, the addict, the drunk, the pedophile, unwed mother, the recently paroled. Our world has “sanitized sins” that are socially acceptable. But violate those standards and you are a pariah. The “No Vacancy” sign is quickly posted.

  In the Church, that must not be us! No one was beyond Jesus’ love and care, not even those who rejected Him. Our Lord continually reached out to them again and again. As they crucified Him, He prayed for them and loved them, “Father, forgive them. They know not what they do.”

  For several decades the Apostle Paul’s words from 1 Corinthians have echoed in my heart, both rebuking and encouraging me: “Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God” (6:9-11). 

  We who have personally experienced God’s love and grace, do we really dare we say to another image bearer of God, “You’re not welcome here! You’re not our kind of people!”? While at Grace, because of the teaching of Scripture, we’re not an “affirming” church, yet we must be an accepting one – we accept any and all sinners who are just as guilty, just as loved and just as reachable by the Cross as we are. A church that truly shares the grace of God really is a Wonder and that’s not just a nice story! 

Can we help you spiritually? Can we help you know Jesus better? Please check out more resources on our church's web page, Gracechurchwi.org. Or, call us at 262.763.3021. If you'd like to know more about how Jesus can change your life, I'd love to mail you a copy of how Jesus changed my life in "My Story." E-mail me at Carson@gracechurchwi.org to request a free copy. Please include your mailing address.