"Strengthen the Feeble Hands, Steady the Knees That Give Way."
Christmas
The Quite Understated Way
Dec 29th
We all sat wondering why the choir had not returned from the break until the sound of their voices rose from behind the tall white walls. “Silent night. Holy night,” they sang, and the thick walls swallowed the sound of the ninety-person choir. From outside we heard only their muffled whispers. “Round yon Virgin mother and child.” And we all sat silent.
I wondered who had conceived that great illustration of the Silent Night. The power of the choir was not in their volume, but in their very understated position behind the wall—isolated, hidden, and yet still with us.
“Understated!” I thought, “That’s what it is! Understated.”
Understated describes God sending His Son to be born, not in a castle, or a mansion, not alongside the famous who might claim him as their own, but in a manger where he went unnoticed.
Understated describes God choosing a poor carpenter to surrogate The Son.
Understated describes the Father choosing a confused Jewish girl to birth The Son.
Understated describes The Son born in ignoble Bethlehem, not Jerusalem.
Understated describes The Son, for what it was worth, homeless at His birth.
Understated describes Mary giving birth in the cold stable, no nurse, no doctor, no sedative.
Understated describes the visitation of Continue Reading >>
Zacahariah’s Doubt
Dec 22nd
Zechariah had a problem, he was elderly and his wife Elizabeth was elderly, yet the angel Gabriel was telling him Elizabeth would have a baby. He was a righteous man, a Godly man, but when Gabriel spoke—Zechariah doubted. Read more as we head towards the celebration of our Lord’s birth. “Zechariah Doubted”
On Being Made Part III
Dec 16th
It was as though the whole universe was pressed into the size of a baby’s fist; as if eternity was forced into a moment of time; as if all goodness, grace, and love took human form; as if the All-Powerful One somehow made himself quite vulnerable; as if the all knowing one dressed himself in ignorance and walked among us. There He was, the One through whom all things were made, frail and needy, being held ever so cautiously in the crook of Mary’s arm. What do we make of the maker becoming one of the made?
It is understandable that we are being made. It makes sense that we are being transformed into His likeness with ever-increasing glory. That is because we are frail creatures, faulty and broken souls. We desperately need to be remade—God does not. It is we who have a need to be made new, a need to be made more human. It was for our sake that Christ became human, for our sake—Bethlehem!
I have many friends in many places and I love them all. But there are moments, hours, days of self doubt in which I might cling to the closest soul if they would just Continue Reading >>
On Being Made – Part 1
Dec 8th
Between our yesterdays, what we were and what we are to become, between our failings and our perfection—is the place of being made. While I am certain that one day I will be who God has me to be, I am hardly comfortable with His means of my perfecting. I am not at ease with the kneading, the pressing, and the cutting. I often wonder why He will not leave me alone, why He won’t leave me to be what I might become. Then, as if shocked into consciousness I recall—He loves me.
He will not let me become just anything because He has plans for me, plans to prosper and not to harm. Instead of the hapless growth I conceive, He prunes me for hope and for a future. Between the yesterdays and the tomorrows, drawing them both together into one unique whole—is the Father’s love, the Son’s sacrifice and the Spirit’s tending. Because He loves me, what I might become is simply not good enough.
Make no mistake; it is the resistance of the clay that prolongs the becoming. There is no lack within the artist for His hands are strong. Should He press just a little more—I would be crushed. Continue Reading >>
