I was totally overwhelmed. Mind going around and around on an endless track of useless thoughts: Now what? What if? How? I hardly slept. I could barely eat. I couldn’t focus on anything, much less God. No way I could pray.
Yet, I had never needed to pray more.
Have you ever felt this way? You’re in the deepest pit, and God is your only salvation. You know you need to pray. But you just can’t. And that makes you feel even worse. Like you’re a failure.
It’s Christmas. And I’m on a diet.
Due to a genetic tendency toward insulin resistance, I’m not supposed to eat certain foods… white flour, white rice, white potatoes, white bread, regular pasta, corn, and yes, sugar in any form. That includes brown sugar, molasses, honey, and agave nectar.
Most of the year, I’m pretty good at this. After all, my health is at stake. Eating these things leads to wild fluctuations in my blood sugar levels, headaches, mental fog, and ultimately diabetes. I really don’t want to go there!
However, as the fall approaches, it gets much more difficult to avoid temptation. Starting in mid-September, our family celebrates birthday after birthday, culminating on December 23 with our son-in-law Jeremy. All those birthdays include some sort of special dessert.
The gifts were wrapped and stacked under the tree, but my friend seemed strangely uninterested in the ones with her name on it.
“Oh, I don’t pay attention to which gifts are for me. I think of it as a family thing… we exchange gifts. I don’t get excited about getting presents.”
My first thought was, “I sure do!” I love to receive gifts.
Our church just announced this year’s Christmas Eve “Experience.” It will truly be an event, with an official title (for promotional purposes, I assume), a huge cast, handcrafted costumes, well-built scenery, lights, carols—even ice skating!—plus a reenactment of the nativity and a candlelight service. Thousands of people will come to each of the three performances, and I’m sure they’ll be impressed.
The church we attended when our kids were young was much smaller—350 people instead of 10,000. There was no way we were going to compete with the huge productions of much larger churches. Instead, our Christmas program was pretty much the complete opposite.
“We know how to celebrate Christmas. We’ve got that down to a science. We just haven’t figured out how to celebrate Jesus.”
This quote is from Matt, who blogs at TheChurchOfNoPeople.com. While his posts are always thought-provoking and entertaining (yes, he manages to accomplish both!), this statement really got me thinking.
It’s true. Our culture is so bound up in Christmas that we miss Jesus. Even in the church, we sometimes focus on the Christmas program, the poinsettias for the platform, the gifts for missionaries, the songs, the turkeys for the poorer part of town, the lights, and all the other holiday accessories, that we just don’t have time for the birthday boy. Have we even invited Him to the party?
“My goal is that everyone in this church go on a short-term mission trip.”
Our Mission Pastor was talking to the “Global” Sunday School about our church’s mission strategy. I was sitting there, mostly nodding, until we came to this declaration. Everyone? Does God want that?
The Great Commission is a familiar passage to most Christians: “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you….” (Matthew 28:19-20)
Did you know that God loves a good party?
If the average Christian is asked to describe God, we usually come up with terms like holy, perfect, provider, healer, good, all-powerful, all-knowing, loving, and so forth. Of course, these are all accurate, and we do well to keep them in mind.
Non-believers are often less upbeat. God has quite the reputation as a glowering wet blanket, someone who thinks that if it’s fun, it’s sinful. Unfortunately, churches with rules such as no dancing, no playing cards, (and certainly no alcoholic beverages), build into that stereotype. It appears that God really needs a new PR firm. (Oh, wait, that’s the Church’s job!)
This may come as quite a surprise, but I’d like to point out that God really is a fun sort of guy.
Last time I examined some reasons people give for going to church. Today I want to talk about why I go. It isn’t the singing, although that’s important. And it isn’t the sermon, although I enjoy listening and learning. It isn’t even because of the many times I’m intensely aware of God’s presence during the service, although that’s a side-effect of being together. (God meets me in other circumstances as well.)
The main reason I go to church is because that’s where the body is. Following God is something we just can’t do alone.
As I wrote a couple of months ago, I was particularly struck by this passage in 2 Peter 1:5-8. It could be viewed as God’s steps to success:
… make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
I’ve shared some of my thoughts about faith and goodness; the next quality Peter mentions is knowledge.
After all the work I put into cleaning the house last week, I need to do it all over again. The company came. The company stayed. The company left behind linens to be washed, a bathroom to be cleaned, and crumbs on the carpet—not to mention the dog drool on the furniture, paw prints on the floor, and fur everywhere.
Of course, it was wonderful to get together, and we’ve very, very happy that everyone visited. But now it’s back to the housework. Houses, especially houses that are lived in, don’t stay clean for long.
Funny how this ties in with my recent reading in the gospels…
Compost 