Advent Circumstances

When we ask for intentional, we are bound to get circumstances that produce it.

That’s often why we don’t ask – We fear the condition under which that fruit we desire might come.

Ask for patience and we’ll find ourselves amidst frustrating situations and people. Ask for joy and we find ourselves discovering what true joy is. It’s a scary thing, but it is the sieve through which our heart conditions itself not to our demands, but to Christ’s.

All throughout Advent, I’ve been knee deep in Bonhoeffer, Lewis, and Northwest Bible… Each source revealing old truth in a new way. The Lord is faithful to put in front of us in writing the very nudging our hearts need to be compliant. There is a safe pause in words that allows our heads to nod in agreement and our hearts that extra second to catch up. Advent is about catching up.

Simply put – Advent has been a revelation of how my passions, decisions, motives, and strategies have sprinted a little faster than my prayers, my patient endurance, and my being still.

This morning I read this statement: “Our lesser glory (flesh) may get its way, but God’s great glory and abundance will not be there to distinguish us.”

Ouch. So true.

What are the ambitions, the plans, the way I am setting for the new year? What have I set before God feeling fairly certain that He’s on board before I’ve pulled away from the dock? Have I said in my heart “I know the plans I have for me” without even pausing to consider that God says “I know the plans I have for you”?

The discipline of pausing and asking this of our hearts is essential lest we might arrive in a place where we get our way, but our way will have no godly distinction set upon it. The discussion in our household of late has centered around the common notion that God will not give us more than we can handle… And how this simply isn’t true. God often gives us more than we can handle as a method of binding our hearts to His. Our God came to overwhelm, not merely to placate the status quo.

It is because of this desire to overwhelm that we are led to Luke 2.

Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

It is here that Billy Graham says, “The greatest sermon ever preached was delivered by angels on this historic night. It has always been interesting to me that this message was delivered at night. It wasn’t night because the sun had gone down. It was night because the world was surrounded in spiritual and moral gloom.”

We find ourselves in night when we make a decision to veer, even if only slightly, from the path that God has set for us. A slight veer jettisons our hearts quickly towards the temporal leaving us undistinguished in the forest of earthly gloom. Our hope is in the sermon of angels, the birth of a baby, and a life distinguished through proximity to Christ.

May we spend this Christmas with a bent knee towards the Christ who gives circumstances meant to overwhelm and overpower our hearts towards His.

Merry Christmas, friends.

Handling Logistics...

Logistics may be the single biggest hindrance to personal growth in the Lord. For logistics, is the machine that busies our hands and idles our hearts. Logistics is a mask that safely says, “I’m doing” tricking both our own selves and the outside world that we are properly handling all that God has for us. Busyness itself is not sinful nor is it in direct opposition to Christ. The Lord himself was busy. However, the Lord was never rushed.

At a certain point in our walk with the Lord, we recognize the obvious deception of social commitment. Being at a community is not the same thing as being in a community and so as the long list of social obligations continues to cover our calendar we find ourselves tired, run down, and empty. The logistics of a life filled with social appointments does not tend to brush us up against the savior.

Then there is the less obvious and seemingly more innocuous pull of the things that are good. Investing in the lives of others, ministry work, obligations to job, school, and family, etc. Yet even these, can without notice, consume our lives and can become what we call our walk with Christ when really, they are merely things that fill our days and consume our thoughts. The things we have to take care of, the things that are necessities get priority... They become our end. When we can finish them, fix them, participate in them, we feel satisfied and lay down in our bed of false comfort only to awake and participate again the very next day.

These logisitics – They consume us and strangle our growth.

BUT, the truth is, that logistics are life’s reality. We should make time for friends, for family, for school and work commitments, for ministry assignments, for small group, etc. But, how do we answer the call of logistics while still being an active participant in conversations with Christ?

Consider these questions:

Do we have time in our schedule to wrestle with Christ over something?

Do we go to our knees willingly or does the Lord have to bring us there through trials and circumstance?

Do we have the time to relate God in such a way as to explore His full worth?

I read a poem recently, that helps us ask the hard questions of our heart. It’s called $3 Worth Of God by Wilbur Reese...

"I would like to buy $3 worth of God, please.
Not enough to explode my soul or disturb my sleep, but just enough to equal a cup of warm milk or a snooze in the sunshine.
I don't want enough of Him to make me love a hated man or pick beets with a migrant.
I want ecstasy, not transformation.
I want the warmth of the womb not a new birth.
I want about a pound of the eternal in a paper sack.
I'd like to buy $3 worth of God, please."

So, as this old year closes and the new one begins, we should consider asking ourselves if we fear that too much of God will explode our soul or disturb our sleep? Are we pleasingly filled with the logistics of life and a just small portion of God? Are we prizing comfort and the satisfaction finishing a to-do list over transformation?

When I think about this, I am reminded of a piece of scripture from Isaiah 50 that says:
“The Lord [a]GOD has given Me the tongue of disciples,
That I may know how to sustain the weary one with a word.
He awakens Me morning by morning,
He awakens My ear to listen as a disciple.
5 The Lord GOD has opened My ear;
And I was not disobedient
Nor did I turn back.”

I pray that as we are awakened morning by morning that we are neither inclined towards disobedience nor turning back. That the busyness of our days would not become the definition of our days and that we would know that God can take care of any and all logistics, but we are responsible for participating in our relationship with him. Let us not be satisfied to merely brush against him, but to sit as his table and feast in His full worth.

Look Up And Raise Your Heads...

Have you ever started something and, halfway through, realized you’re not really doing that thing anymore? Or, have you ever begun a new thing with momentum and inspiration only to realize that the surrounding world didn’t get the memo and it’s you that’s left to fight and decide to keep something sacred and a priority?

That’s kind of how I feel about Advent. It started so strong. So much absorbing, so much taking in... And then, as I told my small group, Satan must have found out about my intentional advent and began to concoct a plan to deter me. But, unlike the cardboard calendar with its boxes untouched, all is not lost if I’ve done more meandering than marching in these last few weeks. Life has a funny way of happening and; truly, I’ve caught a glimpse of how my plans are not His Plans and how God has intended this advent for something far different.

Most people hate the word discipline. To many, it conjures up thoughts of rules, punishments, and various other violations of what the self wills. And though the truth is that discipline often takes effort, maybe pain, and a death of the personal will, the end result of discipline is comfort. When life is crazy, when my walk with God is feeling off, when sin abounds and it feels like I’ve lost control, I find myself walking back to discipline to begin again.

Discipline, to me, is sort of a promise. A promise with action steps. A promise that says, if I genuinely lay down my will, desire, etc. for one moment in prayer, in study, in journaling... Then I have a chance to taste and see and be renewed again. To me, the spiritual disciplines are this safe harbor where my ship can rest, be restored, and go out again. There are promises from God that I find challenging to believe, but the promise that seems to be apparent is that when we draw near to God, then He draws near to us too. Amen?

In the midst of searching out discipline and casting off the chains of the temporal, I also crave to be in the classics. There is a sweet spot with the saints that have both lived and died in Christ and their words shape us in ways that others can’t. So, when I was searching for some words to prompt me and my thoughts at the onset of this weekend, I turned to Bonhoeffer (No surprise there...) and found this advent gem...

“Let’s not deceive ourselves. “Your redemption is drawing near” (Luke 21:28), whether we know it or not, and the only question is: Are we going to let it come to us too, or are we going to resist it? Are we going to join in this movement that comes down from heaven to earth, or are we going to close ourselves off? Christmas is coming—whether it is with us or without us depends on each and every one of us.
Such a true Advent happening now creates something different from the anxious, petty, depressed, feeble Christian spirit that we see again and again, and that again and again wants to make Christianity contemptible. This becomes clear from the two powerful commands that introduce our text: “Look up and raise your heads” (Luke 21:28 RSV). Advent creates people, new people. We too are supposed to become new people in Advent. Look up, you whose gaze is fixed on this earth, who are spellbound by the little events and changes on the face of the earth. Look up to these words, you who have turned away from heaven disappointed. Look up, you whose eyes are heavy with tears and who are heavy and who are crying over the fact that the earth has gracelessly torn us away. Look up, you who, burdened with guilt, cannot lift your eyes. Look up, your redemption is drawing near. Something different from what you see daily will happen. Just be aware, be watchful, wait just another short moment. Wait and something quite new will break over you: God will come”

–Dietrich Bonhoeffer


Look up and raise your heads dear friends. Our redemption is drawing near.

Psalm 5

I love my iPhone. I love that I'm on a bus to New York and can still type up a blog entry. To be honest, it's the longest I've had to sit and think in a while... Well intentioned advents are subject to the worldly reality that life happens and truly we operate in the ministries of distraction and disruption... Neither are inherently bad and it is margin that allows us to adjust and be flexible to what the spirit has for us... Even if our feelings are still lagging behind.
But, praise Jesus, that He gives us circumstances that cause us to be dependent before we want to... Because without that, I'm not sure I'd be able to talk myself into them. Difficulty, surprise, etc... These are things working against the human spirit, but fully aligned with the holy spirit. Though we may wiggle and and wrestle against it, it is through this means that we wind up on our face before God. And it's scary to think that we would wrestle our way out of the things that bring us closer to Christ simply for the sake of our comfort. It's a hard thing, but it's a good thing... So we should not encourage ourselves to let it slip away.

In these things, I am moved to stay in it by Psalm 5.

Read and be encouraged in your heart dear friend!

1 Listen to my words, LORD,
consider my lament.
2 Hear my cry for help,
my King and my God,
for to you I pray.

3 In the morning, LORD, you hear my voice;
in the morning I lay my requests before you
and wait expectantly.
4 For you are not a God who is pleased with wickedness;
with you, evil people are not welcome.
5 The arrogant cannot stand
in your presence.
You hate all who do wrong;
6 you destroy those who tell lies.
The bloodthirsty and deceitful
you, LORD, detest.
7 But I, by your great love,
can come into your house;
in reverence I bow down
toward your holy temple.

8 Lead me, LORD, in your righteousness
because of my enemies—
make your way straight before me.
9 Not a word from their mouth can be trusted;
their heart is filled with malice.
Their throat is an open grave;
with their tongues they tell lies.
10 Declare them guilty, O God!
Let their intrigues be their downfall.
Banish them for their many sins,
for they have rebelled against you.
11 But let all who take refuge in you be glad;
let them ever sing for joy.
Spread your protection over them,
that those who love your name may rejoice in you.

12 Surely, LORD, you bless the righteous;
you surround them with your favor as with a shield.

Close To The Manger

Dietrich Bonhoeffer once said, “For the mighty ones, for the great ones of this world, there are only two places where their courage deserts them, which they fear in the depths of their souls, which they dodge and avoid: the manger and the cross of Jesus Christ.”

I’m not sure where to start. Having discovered only recently that he penned an Advent book and that it was not in my collection left me… Longing. Not longing in a sinful way, but hungry to hear how this saint prepared His heart for the birth of Christ. Christmas must mean something much different when locked in a prison. Where would our hope be given a similar condition? It’s guaranteed that is something we would soon discover as there would be no veil of gifts, of pomp, of holiday cheer to feign a joy incomplete.

Even during this perpetual masquerade of a season, we can, if we allow ourselves, brush up against the authenticity of courage when we willingly approach the manger. It’s interesting to think that the manger itself would be something to avoid, but this symbol of naked humility is truly where fear is exposed and faith is found out. Further, in proximity to the manger is also where we live a faith based not from memory, but from true encounter itself. We may fear the seemingly long bend down from being upright to kneeling beside the manger, but once we’ve bent to see what’s inside a hope is born and a promise is kept.

Bonhoeffer goes on to say, “Who among us will celebrate Christmas right? Those who finally lay down all their power, honor, and prestige, all their vanity, pride, and self-will at the manger, those who stand by the lowly and let God alone be exalted, those who see in the child in the manger the glory of God precisely in this lowliness. Those who say, along with Mary, ‘The Lord has regarded my low estate. My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.’”

This quote makes me restless. Restless in that I fight my own will to be exalted on a regular basis. Restless because I am simultaneously inspired by and resistant to standing by the lowly. Restless because, if I am being honest, I too often have one hand on the manger and one hand on the frankincense and myrrh. Or even worse, are the days when both hands reach for the gifts alone.

But restlessness is better than apathy. So, though I am restless, I am encouraged also by this particular Bonhoeffer thought on the battle to wait and associate with God in our own lives:

“The only ones who can wait are people who carry restlessness around with them and people who look up with reverence to the greatest in the world. Thus Advent can be celebrated only by those whose souls give them no peace, who know that they are poor and incomplete, and who sense something of the greatness that is supposed to come, before which they can only bow in humble timidity, waiting until he inclines himself toward us – the Holy One himself, God in the child in the manger.”

Do we exist with the sense of the greatness that is supposed to come? Are we restless because we are poor and incomplete? These are questions that have abound as a result of reading this saint today.

Heaven and Earth

At the risk of being CS Lewis heavy in my advent, I can’t help but associate him with many of my thoughts related to Christmas. Today is the day of the annual CS Lewis Institute Christmas Tea. For two short hours, current and former fellows and their guests gather together to drink tea, share life, and reflect on the positing of Lewis regarding the Christmas season. The day ends with everyone singing carols to one another in a grand display of fellowship and community.

And, for just a brief moment, we feel as if we are living in Oxford and attending some type of Inklings meeting.

I didn’t take any notes last year (Yes, I’ve been known to take notes at something as casual as tea), but I do recall this Lewis quote:

“Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you get neither.”

Not that the notion was nascent, but on that particular day it did strike me.
And, looking ba
ck a year later, I have to wonder if, after it struck me, did it actually change me? Biblical truth is not merely for savoring. It is for marinating, infiltrating, and eventually transforming the fabric of our lives. Life is a challenge and sometimes it seems as if God is asking us to do a little more than we are capable, hurt a little longer than we are comfortable, surrender a little more than we can afford, be humble in a way that is more than conceivable. And despite this, He has never asked for anything more than He has ever given himself.

If He aimed only at earth, there would be no prospect of heaven for us.
Some days, the hope of heaven coming is the only hope that progresses us through the day. Life may be beautiful, but it is not without hardship or messiness. Jesus’ birth meant the rise of authenticity to our lives. With authenticity comes mess, comes grace, comes forgiveness, and so much more.
We can pursue earthly excellence like the Pharisees or we can pursue authenticity with Christ like the disciples. If we choose the former, it’s all we will ever get. If we choose the latter, we get heaven with earth thrown in.

This is not a new notion, but certainly one to consider this advent season.

Praying as we pursue heaven together!

Holy Confrontation

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” John 16:33

A few years ago, I picked up a book called Seven, which juxtaposed the deadly sins against the beatitudes. This book was rare in that its account of the deadly sins allowed me to see myself in all of them. I call this humble recognition. The result of this can be one of three things: wallowing in self-pity, complete apathy, or need for a way out.

Since coming to know the Lord I have learned one lesson repeatedly – I cannot be my own way out. If it’s up to me, I’ll fail all the time. I can be determined, I can be disciplined, I can even be enthusiastic, but the human will cannot will itself to do the things that only God can do. Amen?

So, in the book, it discusses the necessity for good to triumph over evil. But, when we look around we see a different landscape. We see evil winning the head to head match ups on a regular basis. It doesn’t appear that good is winning very often. This is a fallen world, one in need of a savior. And this is where the relevance of Advent and what it leads up to is so important to the human soul.

Because Jesus is born, lives a perfect life, offers it up in sacrifice, dies and rises three days later, good triumphs over evil. And, this is the source of our hope. This is our way out. In the birth of Christ we see a holy confrontation. Jesus has come. He is here to challenge the status quo and to triumph over evil.

In response, as Jeff Cook (author of Seven) says, “… (because of this) we have a reason to walk the hard roads where goodness often leads us. Such confrontations give us hope that, yes, the sacrifices we make, the passions we restrain, the drops of blood we give are not vanity but are marks of the complete and happy life.”

I guess I never really thought that sin would be so central to a focused advent. But, it is. And the rigor of the Christian walk is the very thing that excludes it from vanity and motivates us towards eternity.