Don't Forget the Glow

Here is a poem my Granny wrote and pasted inside Grandpa Hamby’s preaching Bible. The Bible was given to me by my Uncle Warren when I was ordained twenty years ago. It is a priceless treasure.

My Uncle C.P. is also an ordained minister, and she wrote this poem for him. It blesses me when I ponder ministry. It’s also dear to my heart during the season of Epiphany.

We are called to be people of the light, following the star of enlightened magi and being pervasively changed. 

DON’T FORGET THE GLOW

I stood beside him proudly,
So much he’d learned to know;
And yet I dared to whisper,
“Son, don’t forget the glow”.

The glow that feeds the hunger
Of restless human breasts.
The glow that gives the answer
To life’s long, ceaseless quests.

The glow that’s so rewarding,
When through the preach’d word
They breathe a prayer of “Thanks, Sir”
For the won’rous things they’ve heard.

Always put it in your message.
Hungry hearts, of God’s lost sheep,
Reaching out for strength and courage,
Need soul-food to climb the steep.

The glow by which your father
Led countless souls to see
The “glow-ry” of the gospel
As it’s surely meant to be.

A diamond studded highway
Whose end is sure reward.
So keep it bright and shining,
The glory of His Word.

Mother
1959

The Spirituality of Mystery

It is exciting to see a new year come. It’s a great time to look forward to what God might do as well as a personal time of starting off the year with anticipation. For me, it is not so much about typical New Year’s resolutions. I do have ideas about next year’s adventures, but what really delights my soul is not thinking of the things I want to do. It’s imagining the surprises the year will bring, the mystery that will unfold.

Mystery. It’s a word we crave because it gives us hope that there is meaning beneath the surface and adventure to discover around the bend. Yet we are uncomfortable with mystery at the same time. It can be disconcerting when we are reminded that life is beyond our control.

In recent months, I have been sharing some of my spirituality on blog posts from time to time. As we move into 2012, I would like to share about my “Spirituality of Mystery.” I believe there is so much more we don’t understand than what we can hope to fathom. Life is a great mystery to be explored, and ultimately God is mystery. God does not spell everything out. God beckons. God coaxes and calls. And when we respond to that magnetic yearning God has for us, we enter more deeply into the vast ocean of grace.

In today’s technological culture, we tend to keep our faith “above the neck”, an exercise in the head instead of letting it descend to the heart. We reduce our religious affections to the realm of politics, morality, or philosophical exercise. Since a deep encounter with God transforms us, this is a defense mechanism, another way of keeping God at bay. We search the scripture for ideas that support our pre-conceived notions, and we approach the Bible in hopes of mastering its information.

But what the heart needs is not more information. It’s FORMATION. There is a beckoning call for us to grow comfortable with mystery in an age fixated on certainty. When we encounter God as mystery, God’s love transforms us in a way that delights the soul.

In Christ, God is mystery revealed. Jesus did not come to reveal information about God. He came AS the revelation of God. God is mystery, and the mystery is love. I light a candle at many church meetings because I am passionate about the mystery of Christ’s presence. It changes everything about our life together when we recognize it.

Your Light Has Come

Join me in traditional services at 8:30 or 10:45 at Saint Mark starting January 8 for my new sermon series, “Your Light Has Come!”

What difference does Christmas make if it doesn’t change us? Are we really living our "true self"? How does Christ show us the way to who we really are?

My series will explore our core identity as children of the light. It makes all the difference in how we treat God, treat each other, and treat ourselves.

Associate Pastor Don Cross will also be sharing an exciting new series at The Hillside (in the gym at 10:45) on the movie "Soulsurfer." All are welcome at any of our three morning services. Start the year off right. We hope to see you in worship.

Jesus Got an iPhone for Christmas

Every year, something whimsical delights my soul during Christmas. It is as if something random and not-so-sacred becomes a window showing me the true light of the season.

This year, it happened at the Living Nativity at the church I serve. This was my maiden voyage with a Living Nativity. I was learning how to be the backstage manager, running lights and directing the cast into their places. A recording of the Christmas story played over the radio as the people came in drive-in theater style.

The youth and the children did a great job. It was one of the adults that gave me trouble! One was recruited to help out as a wise man. He got to the entrance door behind the manger, and suddenly looked at me in surprise. "I don't have a gift!" He asked if I had it. We joked that he came to the party empty handed. I explained that the gold, frankincense, and myrrh were back in the dressing room in the church building. "I'll go get it", he said.

"Um, I'm afraid you go in about 20 seconds from now, so there's no time." He puzzled for a moment and then his face lit up. He reached into his pocket and pulled out an iPhone. That would have to do. I said "hold it up like this," lifting my hands as if holding something quite precious.

So he went into the manger holding up his iPhone in reverence, knowing that its weight in gold would have been a valuable gift. When it came time to lay the gifts before the baby Jesus, he laid it down beautifully.

That's how Jesus got an iPhone for Christmas.

Christmas isn't about giving the "right" gift. It's not about "getting it right" at all. It's about doing what we can, as human as we are, and giving what we have anyway. It's about the little drummer boy.

We'll never "get it right." Thank God that Christmas is not about giving the right gift at all ... it's about God's GIFT of salvation.

If it were up to us, we could never fix the broken world. We tried to save ourselves for generations and it never worked. All of our great ideas to fix things just end up making a bigger mess. So a great miracle happened.

God didn't just "come up with a good idea". God CAME. He dwelt among us and the simplest things became sacred. The incarnation makes all the difference.

It's funny how an iPhone in the manger scene reminded me of the power of the incarnation.

Nothing Can Take the Joy of Christmas Away

This is my devotional which appeared in the Upper Room Devotional Book today. May you and your family have a hopeful and expectant Advent.

To read it in the Upper Room, see the Upper Room Devotional Website.

Third Sunday of Advent

Read: Luke 1:46-55

A couple of weeks before her last Christmas, my mother announced during prayer time in worship, "Even though I have been diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer and the prognosis is not very good, I want everybody to know that nothing can take away the joy of my Christmas!" Her courageous words are etched in my memory.

Reading Mary's Magnificat each year reminds me that no matter what happens, our lives are part of a bigger picture. Pregnant and unmarried, Mary would have to make a long, uncomfortable trek to Bethlehem on a donkey's back and finally give birth to her son in a barn. Yet after the angel's words, Mary sang--because she knew God was doing something. In spite of her situation, she realized that she was privileged to be part of a larger movement of God's mercy from generation to generation.

Claiming Mary's spirituality as well as my mom's would mean that no matter what happens to us, we can sing. When we keep our eyes on God, nothing can steal the joy of Christmas.

Stephen P. West (Alabama, USA)

Prayer: Gracious Lord, even when we are aware of life's struggles during the holidays, may we find that they are indeed holy days. Let nothing distract us from the joy that the Incarnation brings. In Jesus' name. Amen.

Prayer focus: Those living with cancer

Candle Lit Altar

Altar at "Candlelight" at a recent Walk to Emmaus at Sumatanga. The candlelight tradition of welcoming pilgrims by the communion of saints always feels like a glimpse of heaven to me. May the light of Christ touch each of you during this holy season. 

The Spirituality of Longing

Longing and waiting are difficult concepts for us in our culture. We are used to fast food, fast cars, and fast answers. We are accustomed to having a world of information at our fingertips with laptops and smart phones. We expect pills that will immediately take the pain away. Simply put, we don’t like to wait.

I love Advent for all sorts of reasons, and I’m thoroughly enjoying my first Advent at my new church. I love the music, I love the missions, and I love the families that work and play together as we prepare to celebrate the coming of Christ!

But one of the main reasons I love Advent is that it puts us in touch with a deep spiritual reality that we too often neglect. The things of the Holy Spirit take time. Feasting on the Word is not a fast food meal but an experience to be savored. Prayer is not a quick fix but an invitation to be changed from within over time. Forgiveness doesn’t happen overnight but can be quite a journey. Feeling at home in a local church takes “making a home” there, building relationships that last. A deeper relationship with God is not something we can download instantaneously.

During Advent, we become people who get in touch with that part of ourselves that is empty for God. In a way, Advent is counter-cultural in a time when we expect instant results. I pray that this year, we prepare a manger of the heart for Christ to be born anew.

That’s the spirituality of longing. It can change your life.