Tag: Advent

A BABY CHANGES EVERYTHING

A few years ago there was a commercial for some baby product…I can’t remember which… that ended with the statement, “A baby changes everything.” There is a giant truth wrapped in those four words. Almost from the moment of conception, things change and they never go back to the way they were. Our family has had four new babies in four years and these four little ones have rocked our world. We have seen our daughter and her husband become grandparents, which means that Jerry and I have become great-grandparents!  That feels like a seismic change. It also means that we are old, but that is a different post for another day.

If you have any expectant parents in your life you know that they take baby preparations very seriously. Everything from pacifiers to pediatrician is carefully researched, compared, and discussed.  And so much baby equipment! What kind of crib? Which type of diapers? And there are so many options for strollers I don’t know how you ever decide. There is even a swaddling bassinet that rocks and soothes baby back to sleep as soon as baby stirs. When I think about my own babies I wonder how they ever survived to adulthood. I remember bringing my newborns home from the hospital in my arms.  In the front seat!

Not everyone is thrilled when they get the news that a baby is coming.  Some may feel that they are not ready to be parents, that the timing is wrong, that they have a different plan for their lives. Others are just plain terrified. I think that is part of the reason God gives us nine months of pregnancy. It takes that long to prepare, to get mentally, physically, and emotionally ready for the new life that will change your life. And even for those who have planned and longed for the birth of their baby, it takes time to move from wanting a sweet little baby to being prepared to parent a demanding, crying infant who entirely depends on you.

For the last several days I have been thinking about getting ready for Christmas and Advent. In fact our pastor began to preach on the birth of Jesus and he talked about Mary, about the unexpected interruption into her life.  I wonder what it was like to get such an incredible announcement. The news the angel delivered was impossible, and yet, nothing is impossible with God. She had a choice to make, and in that moment Mary moved from someone who believed in God to one who believed God.  There is a difference. Even though Mary immediately said yes to God, I can imagine that she needed time to prepare her own heart to become the mother of the Messiah.  A huge task for a young girl, but not too huge for a great God. Mary’s baby would change everything! 

Every year Christmas comes with hustle and bustle. And so many preparations! We get physically ready. We decorate, we shop, we wrap, and we bake. We make lists and we strategize. Just as Mary brought Christ into the world, by and large it is women who bring Christmas into the home. We may need to get emotionally ready to deal with difficult family members or we may be grieving the loss of a loved one.

We make all these preparations, but do we spiritually prepare? This year I want to do more Advent devotionals, and pray more. I want to prepare my heart for more than a sweet baby in a manger. I want to be ready for the King of Kings, the cosmic Christ whose birth changed the world forever. Like Mary, we have been called to bear Christ to the world and I too want to say yes to God.  As my pastor said, God’s interruption in my life is better than any plans I might have. I want to open the door to my heart and say, “Come, Lord Jesus,” and I want to mean those words in all their fullness.

Have you ever said yes to Jesus?

Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.’ Rev. 3:20 NIV

THE SILENT YEARS

It had been four hundred years, four hundred silent years.  Four hundred years with no word from God.  We think of it as the intertestamentary period, that time between the Old and New Testaments.  In the last book of the Old Testament, Malachi, we leave the remnant of Israel trying to restore Jerusalem, still under Persian domination and in a fallen spiritual condition.  For all practical purposes, Israel remained in exile.  The book of Malachi is an exhortation to return to the Covenant, with severe warnings for failure to do so.  And then, God quit speaking until the events surrounding the birth of Christ.  

Those were years with no fresh word from God.  It is hard for us to even imagine how that would be, with our access to so many different translations of the Bible and the presence of the Holy Spirit to breathe them alive to us.  But as we enter this season of Advent, let us try to put ourselves in the place of the ordinary Jew at this time in history.  In fact, my Advent challenge is to put myself in the place of all the characters in the Christmas story.  

Advent is a word I don’t hear very much in my Baptist church, but it is something I try to observe personally.  Oh I don’t do the wreath and the candles, but I do Advent readings in my quiet time.  For me, Advent is a time of preparing the manger of my heart for the coming of the Messiah.  Advent covers the four weeks leading up to Christmas, and this year, in 2020, Advent begins today, November 29.  We think 2020 has been a long and difficult year, and it has.  But try 400 long and difficult years!  And we have had the blessing of the Holy Spirit with us to help us navigate this year, to comfort us in our grief and to encourage us when we are afraid.  As we close this weekend of Thanksgiving, I am thanking God for access to His word and for the presence of the Holy Spirit, for the privilege of knowing Him.

Like many believers around the world, I have spent more time in prayer this year than ever before. And like many, I have clung to the words of 2 Chronicles 7:14:  

“if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”

We tend to hold on to the promise while glossing over the condition: if my people, who are called by my name.  We want God to heal our land, but surely it is those other people who need to repent.  This year I have repeatedly asked God to show me my wicked ways.  Don’t ask unless you are serious.  He has pulled off layer after layer of wicked ways.  It is a part of making room for Christ.  Dietrich Bonhoeffer in his Christmas sermons tells us that Advent “is possible only to those who are troubled in soul, who know themselves to be poor and imperfect, and who look forward to something greater to come.”   I know I am poor and imperfect! 

So I put myself in the place of those post-exilic Jews who were waiting, because this has been a year of waiting.  Waiting for the virus to go away, waiting for a vaccine or a cure, waiting for schools to open, for jobs to return, for things to go back to normal.  But more than these things, like Bonhoeffer I am waiting for something greater to come.  I am waiting for a time when there will be no more death, nor more wars, no more hatred in our streets, no more broken families, no more children going hungry.  Though we strive to make these things happen (and we should), I don’t think we will see the complete realization until the Messiah returns.  While Israel waited for His first coming, we wait for Him to return in glory to establish His eternal kingdom.  Advent looks both back in time and forward.  We remember His first coming to earth as we celebrate Christmas.  But oh how we look forward to His second coming as we sing these familiar words:

O come, O come, Emmanuel,

And ransom captive Israel, 

That mourns in lonely exile here,

Until the Son of God appear.

Rejoice!  Rejoice!  Emmanuel

Shall come to thee, O Israel.