The Year Looking Back

 During this final week of 2022 we pause to remember the year that is rapidly slipping away. Looking back is important. Remembering helps us put in perspective the things that are to come.

In many ways 2022 has been difficult. We are slowly recovering from the latest economic collapse. The pandemic bailouts in 2020 resulted in an unprecedented market that bulled its way into 2021.  But, in 2022, we “paid the piper." The massive infusions of cash during Covid unleashed inflationary forces that spun out of control. We face 2023 not knowing whether the economy will slide into recession or experience a rebound.  Millions are still struggling. Low-income families pinch pennies to buy gas and groceries.  Retirees have watched their annuity investments plunge. And yet there have been celebrations: graduations, weddings, and the birth of babies!

Looking back long term helps us handle the present and the future. It helps us avoid arrogance and pride, despondency and despair. Some of us have a lot to remember. We lived through the war in Vietnam, the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr., the cold war and the space race. We lived through runaway inflation and the 1970s energy crisis when gas was rationed, and cars stretched around the block waiting for a pump. We survived Watergate and Richard Nixon’s resignation, Desert Storm, the dot com bust, 9-11, the Iraq war, Afghanistan and the Great Recession of 2008. We have learned that things will get better. We have learned that God is faithful in every crisis and every difficulty. We know from experience that his promise is sure: “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” (Jeremiah 29:11).

When times get tough, it is easy to forget. We need to be reminded about God’s faithfulness. The Passover was established to help Israel remember how God delivered them from slavery. We celebrate Christmas to remember God’s gift of his only begotten Son, a light shining in the darkness. Jesus gave us the Lord’s Supper to help us remember his death, burial and resurrection.

Just as important, the Bible tells us that God remembers us. When we feel forgotten and alone, thinking that no one cares, God remembers. Every rainbow reminds us that God remembered us when the greatest calamity in history struck the earth, a flood so great that it almost wiped all life from the earth. (Genesis 8,9). God never forgets. “He remembers His covenant forever, the promise He made, for a thousand generations.” (1 Chron. 16:15). Jesus said, “Are not two sparrows sold for a cent? And yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father.  But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So do not fear; you are more valuable than many sparrows.” “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

Finding Christmas

 The anticipation has been building for a month.  Christmas is at the door.  Twinkling lights illuminate windows, roof tops and lawns.  I like the concerts, the majestic music celebrating Christ’s birth. I like the brightly wrapped gifts full of suspense and promise collecting under the tree. 

 Christmas is the time to communicate and gather with friends.  The gathering part can be a challenge. Office parties, church groups, close friends and family quickly fill the calendar.  We travel great distances and juggle schedules to spend this special time with family members we have not seen in a year.  It isn’t easy.  All of this communicating and gathering challenges us for control of our time and our lives.  When our continuing duties for work, school and family are overlaid with Christmas commitments we sometimes find ourselves weary and exhausted, feeling that our lives are spinning out of control.

 We search for Christmas in the spectacular: the spectacular event, spectacular lights, the spectacular gift. We want to re-create the perfect Christmas card moment that we wish exemplified our lives. 

 The first Christmas had little resemblance to our contemporary traditions. The birth of Christ occurred in the chaos of the common and the ordinary: a common stable surrounded by common animals in a common village.  Few took notice. There was no extravaganza staged in the cities. The angels’ announcement occurred in a remote region with only a few simple shepherds present.  The Magi, who observed the star in the east, came and went almost unnoticed.  

 It was for the common and the ordinary that Christ came.  He grew up in a carpenter’s shop in the remote village of Nazareth.  He owned no house and had no possessions.  He had no place to lay his head.  And, after a brief public ministry in which he healed and taught thousands, he died upon a common cross outside Jerusalem and was buried in a borrowed tomb.  In birth, life and death, Jesus redeemed the common and the ordinary and elevated each of us to an extraordinary relationship with God. 

 The first Christmas was an “out of control” event for Mary and Joseph.  The tax summons that took them to Bethlehem could not have come at a worse time.  The baby was due.  She was in no condition for such a long and arduous journey. When they arrived, the town was a bedlam of people.  No one wanted to be there.  They had come because they were obligated under Roman law. Of course, it was not out of God’s control. What appeared to be an onerous obligation and an inconvenient time was actually a fulfillment of prophecy that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem. 

 Perhaps God planned it this way to teach us that His intervention must be experienced in the common and the ordinary chaos of life. When we look for Christmas in the spectacular, we can only experience it once a year. But when we discover Christmas in the common and the chaotic, it can change our life every day.

Christ Came for Everyone

 Several years ago, my wife and I spent the summer in Nuremberg, Germany serving an English-speaking church  We were surrounded with history, culture and beauty. The church was composed of young adults from Germany, Ireland, England, Romania, Ukraine, China, Cameroon, India, Sweden, Austria and others. Many were starting their careers in Nuremberg.  

The church reminded me that Jesus Christ was sent for all people of every nation in every age. When God called Abraham, He promised to make him a blessing to all the nations. Isaiah said, “Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him, and he will bring justice to the nations.” (Isa. 42:1) And again, “The LORD will lay bare his holy arm in the sight of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth will see the salvation of our God.” (Isa. 52:10).  Those promises are fulfilled in Jesus.

The visit of the Magi after the birth of Jesus reflected God’s intention to send the Messiah for all the world.  Magi in the first century served as advisers to kings and rulers.  They often were students of the stars, searching for signs that would indicate significant historical events.  In this case, they discerned the birth of a new king in Judea.  They set out from the region of modern Iran or Iraq, searching for the new king.  From Herod’s advisers they were directed toward Bethlehem. A low-lying light led them to the place where Mary and Joseph resided with their infant son.  God used extraordinary means to include these men who represented all nations.

When John saw the vision that he recorded in Revelation, he declared, “After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. 10 And they cried out in a loud voice: “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.”

Clearly, God wants people from every nation to experience His salvation in Jesus Christ. To accomplish this purpose, God is moving people all around the world and exposing them to opportunities to hear the gospel. According to a recent studies, the fastest growth of Christianity is in Asia and Eastern Europe. We are living in one of the most exciting eras of human history, when more people are discovering faith in Christ from all over the world than ever before.

A few years ago our daughter went on a mission trip to Andhra Pradesh in India. At the same time I visited Lubbock, Texas. When I checked into the hotel, the clerk who greeted me was from Andhra Pradesh.

Whether we are in Dallas, Houston, Lubbock or Nuremberg, Germany, every believer needs to reach out to international visitors around them, to welcome them, to love them, and to share with them the life-changing difference Jesus Christ makes in our lives.

Special Time of Year

 Strings of light have been stretched across rooftops, lawns and windows, illuminating otherwise dark neighborhoods. Boxes packed away a year ago reappear from the attic where they have waited patiently.  Candles, candy canes and crocheted snowmen take their places, surrendering center stage to the nativity. Limbs on the tree that stands proudly in the window bend with the weight of memories: cardboard stars created by chubby little hands, the artists’ names printed with an occasional backward letter; souvenir ornaments reminding us of vacations where we laughed and played; ceramic candy canes, wreathes, rocking horses and angels.  Stockings hang on the fireplace mantle, annual symbols of expectation.

 Tiny Tim, Bob Cratchit and Scrooge take the stage to remind us once again that life is more than money. Christmas carols play in the shopping malls. Choirs and orchestras, surrounded by poinsettias and greenery, assemble to perform the Nutcracker, the Little Drummer Boy and Handel’s Messiah. The world is alive with the music of hope and celebration.

A large part of Christmas is preparation, expectation and anticipation. It feels right to me. The decorations and songs remind us that this is a special time of year, a time when something extraordinary happened.  Something that changed everything about the way we see ourselves and our world.

 God sent his Son after centuries of preparation and promise. It was a special time, the most extraordinary moment in human history.

The prophets foretold His coming centuries before. From Genesis to Malachi, the Scripture points to Him. Isaiah said, “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel,” (Isaiah 7:14). “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given and the government shall be upon his shoulder; and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace,” (Isaiah 9:6).

When Jesus was born, Joseph and Mary took the child to Jerusalem where they met some remarkable people who had been waiting for this moment. They met an old man named Simeon who had been looking for God’s promised Messiah. The Spirit of God had revealed to him that he would not die until he saw the Lord’s Christ. When he saw the child, Jesus, he took the baby in his arms and blessed God saying, “My eyes have seen your salvation which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light of revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel.” (Luke 2:25-35).

Mary and Joseph had hardly recovered from Simeon’s amazing declaration before they met Anna. She had been a widow for 84 years and spent her time fasting and praying in the Temple, waiting for the Messiah. “At that very moment she came up and began giving thanks to God and continued to speak of Him to all those who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.” (Luke 2:36-38)

That is why I like this time of year with all the decorations, music and drama. It reminds me of God’s preparation and God’s promise. It reminds me of the One who is worth waiting for!