One Church Blog

It seems to me that almost every Christmas movie or story has one of two common themes.  The first theme has one of the characters forgetting the true meaning of Christmas or losing the Christmas spirit.  Usually, something has happened to him causing him to become jaded, bitter, cynical, selfish, and defensive.  The plot of the story is for the character to rediscover what Christmas is all about.

The second theme is one in which Christmas is in danger of not happening at all.  Either the plot of an evil character, the apathy of the world, or a big snow storm has put Christmas in jeopardy and the world needs someone to save Christmas.  Enter the hero whether it’s a red-nosed reindeer, Cindy Lou Who, or an angel earning his wings.

I was talking with a pastor yesterday and he confessed that he hates Christmas.  For him, Christmas has been 41 years of seeing his family pretend to be something that they’re not and he sees the same hypocrisy in the culture at large.  The materialism, selfishness, and shallowness he sees around him makes Christmas almost unbearable for him.  If it were a movie, he’d be the guy who’s lost the Christmas spirit.  We can probably all relate to my friend to some degree and need to have the true spirit of Christmas joy restored to us.

For some of us, it may seem Christmas is in jeopardy of not happening at all for us this year.  At least not Christmas as we’ve known it or dreamed it to be.  It seems someone has hatched a plot against us and stolen Christmas. He broke in to our our lives and robbed us through divorce, death, strained relationships or financial crisis.  Instead of fullness and joy, Christmas will be an awareness of disappointment, failure, loss, and hopelessness.  We need a hero to show up in our story and save Christmas for us.

The great thing about the true story of Christmas is it’s all about our real hero who has stepped into history to rescue us from our hopelessness, redeem us from our failure, and restore to us the true meaning of life. In this story, he sneeks in to the world through the womb of a unwed Jewish teenage.  He spent his life healing and restoring those broken and wounded by the world and his death and resurrection rescue us from our greatest foes of death and sin.

This Christmas, may we turn to our hero Jesus to rescue us from any disappointment and cynicism and restore to us the joy of Christmas.  May his love and presence so fill our hearts that no matter what our circumstance, this will be the best Christmas ever.

It’s Black Friday and the war has started.   Its been raging for as long as I can remember and I don’t know if it’s ever going to end because we don’t know what winning means and no one is ever going to surrender. I’ll hear of the war and rumors of war in the news, on the internet, through emails and maybe from the pulpit.  My fears will be inflamed.  I’ll get angry, defensive, and then I’ll go on the offensive.  I’ve got to fight to protect what once was.

It’s the War on Christmas.

The battle lines are clearly drawn.  It’s the cultural conservatives and Christians against the secular humanists, liberals and greedy corporate America.  On one side, “we’re” fighting for a time when Christmas was about Jesus, it snowed every Christmas morning, and when you purchased gifts (while never overspending nor making it about material things) the person who took your money said “Merry Christmas” and not “Happy Holidays” or some other trite slogan of pluralism.  Christmas decorations went up after Thanksgiving and you got out of school to celebrate Jesus’ birth and not Winter Solstice.

On the other side, “they” hate anything traditional, especially if it is something that Christians like.  They seem to go overboard in accommodating and validating any and every belief.  They fear committing the postmodern unpardonable sin of offending anyone (except the Christians, of course).  They worship the dollar and bow at the feet of multiculturalism.

This blog isn’t about the reality of the war in our culture.  It’s about the reality of the war that goes on inside of me.  What does the war do to me?  How do and how should I respond in the midst of the war?

I find that most of the times that I choose to fight a battle that it’s rarely about what I say it’s about. I say it’s about values, others, and Jesus.  It’s usually about my rights, my validation, and my fears.  I find that I rarely fight for “what’s right” and usually fight for “who’s right.”

I’m looking for someone to validate me.  I feel they are taking something from me and I’ve got to fight to keep it.  They’re robbing me of respect or value or power and I’ve got to argue for and defend what is mine.

When I compare that to the way Jesus acted at Christmas time, I find that it’s actually a contrast.  Instead of fighting for his rights, Jesus gave them up.  He didn’t demonstrate his power and strength but made himself vulnerable and weak.  He didn’t declare war on culture but proclaimed peace on earth.  He didn’t expect his culture to validate him but rather expected that he would be misunderstood, rejected, and crucified.

So this Christmas, I’m surrendering.  I’m letting go of any expectations that culture is going to validate my beliefs.  I refuse to get angry at “too much” commercialization and “not enough” Jesus at the mall.  Instead, I’ll rest in the knowledge that Jesus is enough for me.  The unconditional love and acceptance he gives me is enough.  The value he’s placed on me is enough. 

If I could live in that reality, I would have a very different Christmas. Instead of a soldier fighting for my rights, I’ll be a servant free from the need to be right and free to show others what Christmas is all about: a God who surrendered to save his enemies and who lost so that I could win.

Jesus performed his first miracle at a wedding celebration. The party had run out of wine so Jesus (following the “suggestion” of his mother) turned some water into wine to keep the party going.  It’s a pretty familiar story but here are some things I’m thinking about today.

I imagine that it would have been incredibly embarrassing for families to run out of wine.  It would have said that they hadn’t planned well enough, didn’t have enough money, or weren’t good enough.  If you’re married, you remember the stress of making sure your wedding was planned down to the last detail and the embarrassment you feared if you didn’t have enough of anything. Maybe that’s why Mary was so insistent that her son rescue his friends from the shame of their insufficiency.

There’s no indication in the story that the bride and bridegroom even knew what had happened.  What if they never even knew that they had run out of wine?  What if they never knew that Jesus had provided so graciously and abundantly for them?  What if the first time they learned about it was when they first heard John’s story of his life with Jesus?

Today, I find myself very aware of some things that I’d like for God to do for me.  Most of them would be dramatic,  impressive, and more “spiritual” than turning water into wine.  The kinds of things I would do if I were God.  What I am sensing is that I need to rest in the abundant ways that he has already provided, ways in which I may not even be aware.

I rest in him because he has rescued me from the shame of my insufficiency and inability to provide for myself.  Before I even knew I had a need, he had provided himself for my self.  Though I am not enough, he has completed me and hidden me in himself.  He has given me his “enoughness.”

And right now, he is sustaining me and my life in more ways than my mind can ever grasp, ways that may not even seem that spiritual.  While I slept last night, he watched over me and cared for me when I was not even conscious of what I needed. Every breath and every beat of my heart is an expression of his provision.  Joy warmed my heart last night when I watched my daughter come alive to  how God has designed her.  Laughter filled our house at bedtime as my other daughter delighted in teasing her daddy.  My father loves me.  He cares for me.  He cares about me.

Will you join me today in resting in what Jesus has already done and what he is doing instead of stressing over the things we think he is supposed to do?  Will you trust that he is good, maybe better than you could ever imagine?  He loves you.  He cares about you.  He cares for you.

To answer your first question, Bob Loblaw was a character played by Scott Baio (aka Chachi, aka, Charles in Charge) on the TV show Arrested Development. I chose to name this blog that for a couple of reasons.  First of all, it’s an attempt to be funny and to prove that I’m a hip, relevant pastor.  Secondly, “bah, bah, blah” kind of expresses one of my fears as I enter into the world of blogging.

The fear is this: will you care about what I have to say and if you do, will you still accept me after you know what I’m thinking about and what is going on in my heart.  It feels risky to “put it all out there.”  It’s one thing to process things internally and even to share them orally to a community of people.  It feels like another thing altogether to post them on the internet and allow indiscriminate access to me.

So how can a pastor who leads a church that is “serving the world by leading people to freedom in Christ” become so enslaved to fear of blogging?  I got here by believing that if you accept me and approve of what I have to say then that somehow validates me as a man and as a pastor.  Conversely, if you reject me then I have somehow lost the admiration and respect that my flesh craves so much.

This fear tells me that I’m not living life loved by God.  I am substituting your approval with the pleasure and approval of my Father.  His perfect love drives out fear.   He completely accepts me.  He loves me completely.  He approves of me completely.  Why? Because I am one with Jesus and he is one with me.

How about you?  Is there anything that is keeping you from putting it “out there” today?  Are you hiding yourself because you fear the rejection of others?  Is the fear of failure robbing you of the joy of living your life?  Does it do anything to your heart to know that you are completely loved and accepted by your Father right now?  You cannot do one thing after reading this blog that would make him love you one bit more or one bit less.  You can rest in his favor.  Jesus has made you acceptable and you are free to be and do and say whatever he has put in your heart.