With the arrival of Christmas, the tone of public life becomes softer for a few days. Whatever people believe about the holiday, a certain beneficence seems to spread. I am thankful for the temporary de-Scrooging of America. But let’s be certain we keep the main thing the main thing. According to the Bible, Christmas is wonderful because it marks the moment the main character takes center stage. Because of His love, God the Son accepted the humiliating and painful assignment of rescuing us. And in the process, the Creator becomes part of the creation. It’s all quite shocking. Unthinkable really. In fact, my favorite Christmas quote says as much. It comes from Tertullian, the second century North African Christian leader famous for two other quotes: The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church, and What has Athens to do with Jerusalem? The one I like is: We believe because it is absurd. In a world where men want to become gods, who would imagine that God would become a man? Merry Christmas.
Other Quotes Worth Requoting: In addition to citing Tertullian, let me share two Frederick Buechner quotes I ran across this week. (BTW, his named is pronounced Beek’ner)
- Those who believe in God can never in a way be sure of him again. Once they have seen him in a stable, they can never be sure where he will appear, to what lengths he will go or to what ludicrous depths of self-humiliation he will descend in his wild pursuit of humankind. If holiness and the awful power and majesty of God were present in this least auspicious of all events – this birth of a peasant’s child – then there is no place or time so lowly and earthbound but that holiness can be present there too.
- The Words, “You shall love the Lord your God” become in the end, less a command than a promise. And the promise is that, yes, on the weary feet of faith and the fragile wings of hope, we will come to love Him at last as from the first He has loved us.
From the Headlines: College professors are often accused of undermining the faith of their students, but several new studies suggest that the majority of religiously unaffiliated collegians reject religion during their early teen years.
Articles Worth Citing: I’m sure you are tired of discussions about evangelicals in the age of Roy Moore, but you shouldn’t miss Timothy Keller’s piece in The New Yorker. It’s titled, Can Evangelicalism Survive Donald Trump and Roy Moore?
Praises:
- David Weil reports that ReNew Communities (RC) – the 501©3 we started to help us partner with other churches, existing NGOs and government agencies – logged a few wins this week. Abbott committed $20K to RC and the City of North Chicago sold us a lot for the cost of some minor transactional fees. (We needed an empty lot to pilot a “new construction” project).
- I just heard a wonderful story about a woman (let’s call her “A”) who reached out to another woman (B). Years ago, B had been very cruel to A. A was deeply wounded. A week ago, A saw B attending Lessons and Carols and reached out to her. Walls came down. A is rejoicing that God could soften both her heart and the heart of B. B has decided to bring her family to church starting in January.
Prayer Requests:
- Christmas Eve is one of the few times where the fish swim to the net. Those who do so, often do so to appease someone (usually Mom) or to lean into tradition. Pray that God surprises them and changes their life.
- Pray that the Christ Church staff – and the staff at other churches – have a relaxing break between 12.25.17 and 1.2.18. They will be going hard until late on 12.24. And 2018 looks to be very busy.
- I have arthroscopic knee surgery next Friday (12.29). By the way, that means no Friday Update next week.