Caution: The following personal thoughts include quotes from both a British theologian AND the wife of a singing cowboy.
I asked one of my co-workers how he was doing the other day and he said, “Tired. I am just plain ‘ol tired Woody.”
I can identify with him.
I look back over the past year and realize we have seen so much good happen; we have made so much progress; and, we have had to confront (successfully) so many things. Still, I sense that I am too tired to really enjoy all that God has done through us and around us.
I must also admit that it has not been a particularly inspiring year for me regarding world events. Somehow the launching of a new video game platform doesn’t make up for the incredibly frustrating things going on in the world. I, the confirmed news addict, am reading more books at the end of the year than I did at the beginning.
I am reminded of something that N.T. Wright wrote in his book, For All God’s Worth:
“Christmas is not a reminder that the world is really quite a nice old place. It reminds us that the world is a shockingly bad old place, where wickedness flourishes unchecked, where children are murdered, where civilized countries make a lot of money by selling weapons to uncivilized ones so they can blow each other apart. Christmas is God lighting a candle; and you don’t light a candle in a room that’s already full of sunlight. You light a candle in a room that’s so murky that the candle, when lit, reveals just how bad things really are. The light shines in the darkness, says St. John, and the darkness has not overcome it. Christmas, then, is not a dream, a moment of escapism. Christmas is the reality, which shows up the rest of ‘reality.’”
That speaks to me this year.
God lit a candle in a backwards Roman province. The first results of that candle light spreading was to reveal just how terrible that time and that place really were.
As the light of Jesus spreads through us it often seems like we have to confront the evil, the wrong and the really difficult.
Susan, Kari and I have been reading and listening (we started out with the book and are now listening to the Podcast) to the Christmas Carol by Dickens. Near the beginning one of the fund-raisers that enters Scrooge’s office says, “At this festive season of the year, Mr. Scrooge," said the gentleman, taking up a pen, "it is more than usually desirable that we should make some slight provision for the poor and destitute, who suffer greatly at the present time. ... We choose this time, because it is a time, of all others, when Want is keenly felt, and Abundance rejoices.”
All of this seems as true today as it did when Charles Dickens wrote his classic.
It also seems true the small candle lit on that first Christmas is still the secret to meeting real needs and to sensing real abundance.
At this point in my holiday ramblings I must confess to something: I am a closet admirer of Roy Rogers. For those of you too young to remember, Roy was “the King of the singing cowboys.” For those of you old enough to remember... I am sorry and apologize for my aberrant tastes.
Roy’s wife, Dale Evans, wrote, “Christmas… is love in action. ... Every time we love, every time we give, it's Christmas.”
My prayer and my hope is that no matter how tired you are or how challenging the things look around you that you may see the flickering candle that represents God come into His own creation. It is also my hope that you will continue to be the action which brings Christmas to life in your part of the world… now and during the rest of your year.
I asked one of my co-workers how he was doing the other day and he said, “Tired. I am just plain ‘ol tired Woody.”
I can identify with him.
I look back over the past year and realize we have seen so much good happen; we have made so much progress; and, we have had to confront (successfully) so many things. Still, I sense that I am too tired to really enjoy all that God has done through us and around us.
I must also admit that it has not been a particularly inspiring year for me regarding world events. Somehow the launching of a new video game platform doesn’t make up for the incredibly frustrating things going on in the world. I, the confirmed news addict, am reading more books at the end of the year than I did at the beginning.
I am reminded of something that N.T. Wright wrote in his book, For All God’s Worth:
“Christmas is not a reminder that the world is really quite a nice old place. It reminds us that the world is a shockingly bad old place, where wickedness flourishes unchecked, where children are murdered, where civilized countries make a lot of money by selling weapons to uncivilized ones so they can blow each other apart. Christmas is God lighting a candle; and you don’t light a candle in a room that’s already full of sunlight. You light a candle in a room that’s so murky that the candle, when lit, reveals just how bad things really are. The light shines in the darkness, says St. John, and the darkness has not overcome it. Christmas, then, is not a dream, a moment of escapism. Christmas is the reality, which shows up the rest of ‘reality.’”
That speaks to me this year.
God lit a candle in a backwards Roman province. The first results of that candle light spreading was to reveal just how terrible that time and that place really were.
As the light of Jesus spreads through us it often seems like we have to confront the evil, the wrong and the really difficult.
Susan, Kari and I have been reading and listening (we started out with the book and are now listening to the Podcast) to the Christmas Carol by Dickens. Near the beginning one of the fund-raisers that enters Scrooge’s office says, “At this festive season of the year, Mr. Scrooge," said the gentleman, taking up a pen, "it is more than usually desirable that we should make some slight provision for the poor and destitute, who suffer greatly at the present time. ... We choose this time, because it is a time, of all others, when Want is keenly felt, and Abundance rejoices.”
All of this seems as true today as it did when Charles Dickens wrote his classic.
It also seems true the small candle lit on that first Christmas is still the secret to meeting real needs and to sensing real abundance.
At this point in my holiday ramblings I must confess to something: I am a closet admirer of Roy Rogers. For those of you too young to remember, Roy was “the King of the singing cowboys.” For those of you old enough to remember... I am sorry and apologize for my aberrant tastes.
Roy’s wife, Dale Evans, wrote, “Christmas… is love in action. ... Every time we love, every time we give, it's Christmas.”
My prayer and my hope is that no matter how tired you are or how challenging the things look around you that you may see the flickering candle that represents God come into His own creation. It is also my hope that you will continue to be the action which brings Christmas to life in your part of the world… now and during the rest of your year.
1 comment:
Woody, weary greetings to you my friend. Like you, I find Christmas filled with expectations and distractions. I look forward to those couple of days, (or even a few moments) when the pace slackens enough to really reflect and focus on the 'candle lit in backwoods Israel'.
Ah, but then, it is a new year and every new year has such pristine, untouched promise. Perhaps this year Woody, perhaps this year ...
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