“He Leadeth Me”

Psalm 23

   In a magazine article a few years ago, Christian author Pegi Tehan told of an experience she had in which one of her children unknowingly taught her a deep theological lesson.  She writes:

“One day I decided to take my three children to an ice skating party in a nearby town, but after several wrong turns and stops to ask directions, I pulled over to the side of the road and suggested that we all ask God to help us find the rink.  (Prayers completed,) when we finally arrived, we were nearly an hour late.  The following week, as we got into the car to go skating again, my five-year-old son exclaimed, ‘Mom, let’s pray now and save time!’”

“Let’s pray now and save time!”  Smart kid.  Check in with God before you get going!

Well, this is something of what I’d like to discuss this morning:  Getting directions.  Or, perhaps, more specifically:  Seeking God’s guidance for our lives.

The hymn we are considering this morning (in the second-to-last installment of our study of great Christian music) is the hymn “He Leadeth Me: O Blessed thought.”  The story behind the hymn is this:

In 1862, Rev. Joseph Gilmore, a Baptist minister, intended to preach on the text of the 23rd Psalm during a Wednesday evening service at the First Baptist Church in Philadelphia.  As he reflected on the Psalm, the words “He leadeth me” kept coming to his mind:  “He leadeth me beside the still waters.”  “He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness.”

“He leadeth me.”

After the Wednesday evening service, Pastor Gilmore went to a church member’s home for refreshments.  While there, the words, “He leadeth me,” continued to run through his mind.  So he took out paper and pen and quickly jotted the words to poem that had come to him- the words of the hymn that we now know.  He handed the paper to his wife, and quickly forgot about it.

At home, his wife looked at the poetic words her husband had written and she thought very highly of them.  And so, without consulting him, she submitted his poem to a Christian Magazine.  They published it without his knowledge.  A composer by the name of William Bradbury saw the text and felt moved to write a tune to it, and he submitted it for inclusion in some new hymnals that were being printed.  Again, all unbeknownst to Joseph Gilmore.

Well, several years later, Rev. Gilmore was guest preaching at a church in Rochester, New York, and as he was preparing for the service, he went to one of the pews and pulled out one of the church’s hymnals to see what music he could use.  The hymnal opened right to the hymn, “He Leadeth Me” – his own hymn!  He later said of the incident, “That was the first time I knew that I had written a hymn – and that it had found a place among the songs of the church.”

Through a whole series of unexpected twists and turns – the Spirit moving and people responding; Joseph Gilmore was led to a blessing far beyond his imagining.

This, of course, is the whole point of the hymn and the great text upon which it is founded – the 23^rd Psalm:  God offering guidance, seeking to lead our lives into blessings far greater than we can even imagine.  Wanting such wonderful things for us, if we will only open ourselves to his direction.  As with the opening illustration:  The wise person seeks direction, they don’t just “take off” into life.

So how do we do this?  How do we discover God’s direction?  It’s a big subject that, of course, we all often struggle with.  How do we discern God’s guidance, not only in everyday events, but in the larger questions of our lives?

Well, from our text (and hymn) today, I’d like to offer a couple of thoughts – 3 suggestions for discovering God’s guidance into blessing…

(I)

   Suggestion #1:  SEEK THE PATH OF RIGHTEOUSNESS.

One author writes:

“As we go about our lives, most of us are often like the preacher who was on a diet and prayed as he drove to work, ‘Now, Lord, if it is your will for me not to have any donuts this morning, you make sure there are no parking places in front of the donut shop.’  Said the pastor later in the morning, “Lord, I ate three donuts today, since obviously it was your will that I have them – after all, there was an open parking spot right in front of the donut shop… and it only took 8 trips around the block for it to open up!’”

This, of course, is where we all so often tend to start and it gets us into all sorts of trouble, generally gets us very lost:  We decide what we want and then work (by any means necessary) to make God’s will fit this; rather than approaching things the other way around, namely:  Seeking to discern God’s will and making that what we want.  This is where we must begin…

Our discussion of God’s guidance starts with this line of the Psalm: “He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.”

Notice, the text is clear:  God doesn’t just lead us toward what we want; God leads us towards righteousness – that is: Towards what is right, what God wants, what works God’s love in the world and glorifies him.

This is where we must begin if we are ever to discern God’s direction for our lives.  Now, we talked about this a little last week:  “Seeking after righteousness” – seeking the perfect will of God.  So how do we do this, how do we even begin to determine what is God’s will?

Well, a great Christian by the name of Thomas Merton can help us. In his book, Thoughts in Solitude, he offered 15 lines that have become known as “The Merton Prayer.”  And it goes like this:

“My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going.  I do not see the road ahead of me.  I cannot know for certain where it will end.  Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so.  But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you.  And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing.  I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire.  And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it.  Therefore I will trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death.  I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.”

Wanting, above everything else, simply to please God.  This is where we must begin to discern God’s will (and, perhaps, all we can ever really do) for if this is always before us, God can use our lives, in right steps and even in wrong steps, to lead us to what pleases him.  And thus, this is where discerning God’s guidance through seeking after righteousness begins:  In simply wanting to please God – in everything we do, great and small.  And notice a couple of things about this:

First, such an approach to life doesn’t see the whole journey ahead – it doesn’t even try!  It simply seeks the next step along the path.  It’s like walking in a dense fog (which is often what life is like):  We can’t see the whole path before us, but we can see the part that is immediately in front of us; and if we’re ever to get anywhere, we have to take that small step.

Frequently, in seeking God’s guidance for our lives, we make the understandable mistake of wanting to see the whole picture first; and out of fear and doubt we won’t take a step unless we can see the whole thing, the ending point.  But life doesn’t work that way.  In fact, it doesn’t even have to.  As people of faith, the “ending point” of our lives, the destination, is already firmly established:  It’s Jesus Christ!  To get there, all we have to do is constantly want him, in everything – and he’ll take care of the rest!

Seeking to please God first challenges us to let go of the unnecessary need to see the whole journey.  And then, secondly, it puts before us the question:  What pleases God?  I mean, think about it:  If the goal in finding our way through life is, first, to want to please God…  What then pleases God?

Well, obviously, whenever we care for others, help those in need, it pleases God.  But also, when we ourselves are happy it pleases God.  As it is written:  “The Lord longs to give you the desires of your heart.”  Like any parent, God loves to see his children happy!  So often we picture doing God’s will, “seeking after righteousness”, as being some kind of dreary, unpleasant thing.  The people who don’t believe in God seem to be having a much better time!

But such is exactly the opposite of the truth!  What did Jesus say?  He said the entire law, all the commandments of the Bible, can basically be summed up like this:  “Love the Lord your God will all your heart and mind and soul and strength.”  That is: Want, above everything else, to please God.  And then “Love your neighbor as yourself.”  That is:  Live this out by helping others in ways that bring you joy!

A great theologian once put it this way – he said that “where your deepest joy meets the world’s pain, that is God’s calling for your life.”

Basically, in discerning God’s direction for your life, you begin like this:  You look at the things in your life – the talents, the gifts, that bring you the most joy.  Then you look at the world and consider the problems that most move your heart.  Then you say, “Lord, I want to please you above everything else.  Show me a way that my gifts can  be used to help your world.”  And then, in whatever, even tiny little, way you can see moving towards this, you take that step – trusting God to take care of the big picture.  One author offers this example – he writes:

“I am a surgical assistant—the surgeon’s right-hand man. At one point in my career, I lost my passion. I wanted a job with spiritual significance, and I prayed for that.  Imagine my shock when God led me to a position in plastic surgery.  Why would God want me in a hotbed of vanity? I wondered.

“During my quiet times, the Lord assured me that this was part of his plan, and that I should wait upon his direction.  So I obeyed, continuing to pray that the Lord would use me in this job and give me excitement for the work I love once again.

“The first thing I heard him say when I started my new position was, ‘Gather and pray in my name.’  There were only a few Christians who worked in the plastic surgery department, but I started with them.  ‘I’m going to start praying for our workplace each Monday, 15 minutes before we clock in,’ I told them.  ‘I’ll be in Operating Room 2, and I hope you will join me.’

“We met each week, praying for our work, our colleagues, and our patients.  Soon we were praying boldly for opportunities to witness.  By the end of that year, God had answered many prayers, which included 10 friends who accepted Christ as their Savior!

“God has blown me away with his answers, and he has given me a purpose far beyond patient care.  He expanded my circle of influence by transferring me to the main surgery department, where I now rotate through all four surgery departments in the hospital campus.  I have been able to start several prayer groups throughout the hospital.  Each group focuses on inviting the Holy Spirit to move in their department.  They encourage each other in Christ, pray for opportunities to witness, seek God’s will, and ask that Christ be glorified in their work.

“I don’t know if I’ll always work in a surgery department, caring for patients who are under anesthesia most of the time I’m with them.  But since I realized that I could advance the kingdom of God through praying at work, I have found renewed passion for my job, as well as for the opportunities for ministry it provides.”

Suggestion #1 in discerning God’s guidance:  Seek after righteousness.

(II)

   Suggestion #2:  STOP AND REST.

The next line to consider in our text today is this:  “He leadeth me beside the still waters…”

Now, obviously, the point of this line is not quite the way it literally sounds: that the shepherd leads his flock alongside the still waters – as if they sort-of look at the waters as they pass by.  No!  The meaning here is that the Good Shepherd (our Lord) leads his people to places where they can stop and be refreshed, drink in the waters.  The image is one of stopping, for a time, along the journey.  And this is very important.  Think of it this way:

Out on the road, as we drive our cars, there are traffic lights at intersections.  Now, on these traffic signals, are there only green lights?  No, of course not, there are also yellow and red lights.  Sometimes we are told to go, sometimes we’re told to slow down and stop.  If there were only green lights there would be nothing but accidents!

Same thing with life itself:  When people do nothing but go, go, go, they crash and burn!  Very important spiritual principle:  Sometimes God’s guidance is seeking to direct us toward where we need to go next.  But just as often, God’s direction is to go nowhere – to just stop for a moment along the journey.

And why?  Well, for a number of reasons:

First, obviously, unlike God, we are finite beings, we have limited resources of energy.  We regularly need to stop and rest that we might be refreshed.  As it says in the psalm:  “He restoreth my soul.”

Secondly, there’s also the issue of timing:  Frequently, God’s working on some absolutely wonderful thing for our lives but the pieces required to make this happen aren’t quite in place yet.  It takes time.  God’s saying:  “I have something wonderful in store for you, but you need to wait for a moment.  Let it happen.”

Most importantly, though, the issue is generally one of simply receiving the gift of life.  That is:  So often we’re so busy racing along, so hung up on looking at where we need to get to, the problems we need to resolve; that we fail to receive the blessing of where we are right now!  We’re so hung up on getting life that we actually miss it!

So God comes to us and essentially says:  “My direction for your life today is to go nowhere.  Trust me, I will get you where you need to be, I will get you to life abundant.  But to ever get there, you need to learn how to receive life itself.  Instead of taking the next step in your life, try looking around at where you now are:  Kiss your spouse, hug your kids, enjoy the meals you eat today, spend time with friends…  The journey will wait for you, learn to wait for it.”

Author Eugene Petersen says this:  “Busyness is the enemy of spirituality.  It is essentially laziness.  It is doing the easy thing instead of the hard thing.  It is filling our time with our own actions instead of paying attention to God’s actions.”

This is one of the hardest parts of following God’s guidance:  Obeying the instruction to stop!  This morning, as you are seeking God’s instruction for the next step in your life – perhaps desperately; how, today, might God simply be instructing you to just stop for a moment?  And are you obeying that instruction?  Consider the following true story:

About a decade ago, at a Christian conference in Houston, Texas, speaker Marti Ensign, a missionary to Africa, told of bringing, many years ago, some African pastors to the United States for a big meeting.

During their free time, these pastors wanted to go shopping.  Now, they were from a very rural part of Africa and had never spent much time in a modern, industrialized city, and Marti knew that there was a chance someone might have difficulty or get lost. So she gave them her phone number for such an emergency.  In less than an hour the phone rang and one of the pastors said, “We are lost.”  Marti said, “Well, go to the nearest intersection, find out the names of the two streets at the corner, then tell me, and I will come and get you.”  In a few minutes the pastor came back on the line and said: “We are at the corner of ‘Walk’ and ‘Don’t Walk.’”

Marti said she had to chuckle.  Obviously, these visitors to the big city had never seen pedestrian crossing lights and were mistaking these for street signs!  But the event also taught a great lesson:  Not only of how often, in all of our lives, do we make the mistake of taking our directions from the wrong signs?!  But even more, that, in life, sometimes the instruction is to “walk” and sometimes it is “Don’t Walk” – just stay still where you are!

Suggestion #2 in discerning God’s guidance:  Stop and rest.  And finally…

(III)

   Suggestion #3: ENTER THE VALLEY OF SHADOWS.

Christian author Peter Chinchen offers the following reflection:

“My brothers and I had traveled to the western edge of Zimbabwe to raft the Zambezi River.  We boarded our raft at the base of the Victoria Falls.  Massive amounts of water spilled over the top of the giant falls and dropped almost a thousand feet; the roar was deafening.  The falls are the largest in the world, more than a mile wide and three hundred feet high.  Mist from the spray that fills the air like fog can be seen for fifty miles; the locals call it ‘Smoke That Thunders.’  The water from the falls rushes down the gorge in torrents, creating the world’s largest rapids.  In the United States, the highest-class rapid you are allowed to raft is a Class 5. The Zambezi’s whitewater rapids can top 7 and 8.

“As I sat on the edge of the eight-person raft, all suited up in a tight, overstuffed jacket and a thick crash helmet, I felt like an overcautious tourist about to mount an overpowered moped in Honolulu or rent roller-blades on Huntington Beach. The Zambezi can’t be that dangerous, can it?

“But then our guide [said], ‘When the raft flips…’ It wasn’t ‘If the raft flips’ or ‘On the off chance we get flipped’; but ‘When the raft flips.’  He went on, ‘(When the raft flips) stay in the rough water.  You will be tempted to swim toward the stagnate water at the edge of the banks.  Don’t do it.  Because it is in the stagnate water that the crocodiles wait for you.  They are large and hungry.  Even when the raft flips, stay in the rough water.’

“(I got the lesson that day – and for my life): Stagnancy will kill your spirit…  God needs us out there in the rough waters, pouring out our lives… Live in the whitewater.  Live where it’s just a little bit uncertain and unsafe.”

Sometimes the calm place is not the best place for us.  Something of our final point here today…

Last line of the Psalm to consider:  “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me.  Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.”

Notice:  The guidance of the shepherd is not around the valley of death, avoiding it; but rather, through it.  The shepherd leads his flock into and through.  And consider what is found in the dark valley: a “table in the presence of mine enemies.  My cup runneth over.”  A banquet!  Some of life’s richest blessings are found in the midst of those hardest, scariest, most dangerous places.

The point, of course, not being that we should seek such places out.  That would be crazy!  But only that we need to know that God’s guidance of our lives never seeks to avoid such places but to take us into and through.

And what are such places?  They are the “valley… of death.”  Death – that’s an ending.  But not the complete ending of our life, just the “shadow of death,” the text says.  “Shadows of death” as we continue on with our lives (eternally in Christ) – moments and places that end as we move on to new places.

In understanding God’s guidance of our lives it’s finally important to realize that endings are part of life.  There are all kinds of endings – and even the most anticipated are difficult; but they are all part of life.  And that’s why God does not keep us away from such “valleys of shadow of death” but realizes that, to live – to journey through life – we have to go there.

Basically, the final point here is:  In seeking God’s guidance for your life, don’t simply look to have things be safe, easy, go well, get exactly what you want…  this may be the worst thing for you!  Look instead, to the difficult moments: the times when things hurt, when they’re scary, when they don’t seem to be going right, you’re not getting what you want… look to the “endings.”  And realize that God doesn’t bring such hard times upon us, but does to work within them – knowing that, within such “breaks” are where new blessings can burst forth.

Thus, in such scary, transitional times, ask:  “What is here?  What new thing are you trying to give me, Lord?  How are you calling me to be somehow different – either in a new place or simply as a new me right where I am?  Lord, how are you somehow trying to call me out of my comfort zone – and into life?  Out of stagnancy that can kill me, and into the whitewater?”  In her book, Abundant Gifts, Diane Eble writes:

“Jack Stone is a musician who teaches at a large university on the West Coast.  He feels God has called him to be involved in many kinds of music, including leading a church choir and conducting the university orchestra.  But Jack began to grow uneasy because his responsibilities left him little time for his greatest love: performing as violinist.  He began to wonder about his priorities and to reevaluate the talents God gave him.

“But still, his work with the orchestra was so comforting and fulfilling… and sure.

“One day a former member of the orchestra appeared on Jack’s doorstep unexpectedly.  The student shared how Jack had helped him with his music career.  When the student left, Jack reflected on several letters he had received that week from former students, thanking him for his input in their lives.  He went to his office that day feeling good about his work.  This is where he was meant to be.  What he was supposed to be doing.

“That’s when Jack saw the letter.  It unexpectedly and immediately dismissed him from his position as conductor of the orchestra.  He couldn’t believe it.  Stunned, Jack drove to the beach to walk, pray, and try to sort out the implications of this news.  On the way, he turned on the car radio.  The music he heard was the first piece he had conducted with the orchestra years before.  Jack switched off the radio; he couldn’t listen to it.

“The following week Jack was scheduled to leave for vacation.  He talked to his boss about his dismissal, then went home.  As he got into the car to leave with his family, he again turned on the radio.  This time the music he heard was the last piece he had conducted with the orchestra.  At that, Jack suddenly felt God was communicating with him.

“God used the music to frame the negative experience of dismissal with symbolic manifestations of his care; Jack later reflected. ‘(In effect, God) said, “Your ministry with the orchestra (this part of your life) is complete.  On to something new.”

“By God’s design, there was a symmetry to the events much like that of a musical form: introduction, beginning, middle, conclusion.  He still wasn’t sure where he was now headed, but a sense of closure and ending, allowed Jack to rest in the rightness of things, even through pain and fear.

“He now looks back on this time as evidence of God’s personal love and guidance, as he has now gone on to a new place in his musical career and life on to new blessings.”

God wants so much more for our lives than even we can imagine.  This week, put God in control, let God lead you into life’s richest blessings:  Seek after righteousness.  Stop and rest.  Enter the valley of shadows.

“God Will Take Care of You”  Matthew 6:25-34

Have you ever heard the fable of “The Timid Little Mouse”?

There once was a mouse who was tremendously afraid of cats.  This little mouse spent every day consumed with anxiety over the thought of being eaten by a cat.

Well, one day, the little mouse wished that she could become a cat instead, and suddenly her wish came true and she turned into a cat.  No sooner had she done so, however, when she saw a dog and became afraid once again and wished she were a dog.  With that, her wish was granted and she turned into a dog.

As a dog, her master took her on a hunting trip.  There in the jungle she saw a lion and she was terrified by its power and strength and wished she could become a lion so that she would not have to be terrified of the lion.  Her wish was granted and she became a lion.  But then she saw a man with a gun about to shoot her with his gun.

You can imagine what happened next.

She wished she could become a human being, and so she did.  Now, she finally felt content, at the top of the food chain, no more fears, no more worries.  But as she was sitting at her kitchen table one day, a mouse suddenly raced across the floor and the woman (who was once a mouse) leapt up in fear.  And at that moment she suddenly realized that, allowing herself to be led around by her worries, she wasn’t getting anywhere!

Do you ever feel exactly this same way: being led around by your worries and not getting anywhere?  We all have those moments, don’t we?  Sometimes seemingly endless!

Well, this is our topic this morning, a subject applicable to us all: Overcoming worry.

Our hymn today (in our continuing look at great Christian music) is the hymn “God Will Take Care of You.”  The story behind this hymn is fairly straightforward:

Civilla Durfee was a woman born in Nova Scotia.  She taught school for several years, then married American evangelist Walter Stillman Martin.  With her musical gifts, she was a great support to him in his ministry, and they collaborated on the writing of a number of gospel songs.  She wrote the texts and he wrote the tunes.  One of their most famous gospel songs being “His Eye Is On the Sparrow.”

Regarding the hymn “God Will Take Care of You,” it was a comment made by their son that led to its writing…

Civilla had taken sick, and was unable to accompany her husband to a preaching appointment as she commonly did.  He hesitated to leave her alone.  She was nervous about being left alone.  But as they were discussing their concerns with one another, and obviously, growing increasingly anxious about the situation; it seems their young son was listening in, and, wanting to help the situation, he suddenly stepped up and said, “Don’t worry, Mother, God will take care of you.”

Civilla and Walter looked at each other and realized that despite all their words of faith, they were not living the faith.  Their son had spoken true belief!  Out of the mouths of babes: “Don’t worry… God will take care of you.”  And so God did.

Before Walter Martin returned that evening in 1904, Civilla had written the words for this song.  She gave them to Walter, he read them over and eventually composed the tune.

It’s a very simple song centered around the repeated line “God will take care of you” – and that’s part of its charm, and its ultimate message:  That no matter what happens, no matter how things go, no matter where you find yourself, God will take care of you, will see you through.  The repeated line trying to drive that thought into our heads to make it stick!

The hymn mentions various challenges to this, different images for God’s care; but I would just note that there is one line in the hymn that often causes some trouble.  Verse 3 – it says: “Nothing you ask will be denied, God will take care of you.”

Now, obviously, there are things that we ask for that God doesn’t give us – requests that are denied.  It’s like… for instance:  I remember, while growing up, constantly fighting with my sisters.  I mean, if God had granted all my childhood requests, my sisters would have died many times over!  Some requests are denied!  So is this just some “poetic license” – or worse, an outright falsehood, that undoes the great message of the hymn?

No, the point that has to be remembered is that, in asking for things from God, the only things that God will give are those things that are in accordance with his will.  God will give everything that is asked that is in keeping with his plans – obviously, ultimately knowing what is best for us.  Our problem is that we generally get things backwards:  Believing that God needs to get his will in line with our requests; rather than that we need to get our requests in line with God’s will!

In all, the hymn, while not containing any direct quotes from Jesus’ teachings on the matter of worry, is, however, commonly taken as sort of an outline of his discussion of this topic from the Sermon on the Mount – our text for today.  It encapsulates themes and images of the text.  Jesus’ point (as with the hymn):  “God will take care of you!  Don’t let worry get in the way of this, take this peace and confidence from you!”

The challenge, the call:  Counter-acting the worry that seek to take from us the peace God offers.  So how do we do this?  How do we get this repeated idea “God will take care of me” locked into our hearts and minds – actually live it?  A couple of thoughts – 4 suggestions for combating worry:

(I)

   Suggestion #1: TURN ON THE LIGHTS.

To begin with, have you ever noticed how worry generally most strongly overtakes you at about 2:00am in the middle of the night, laying in bed, in the dark?  Your mind becomes consumed with thoughts and anxiety.  Everything seems hopeless.  You toss, you turn.  You can’t sleep.  A few hours later, the alarm goes off, you get up – exhausted after such a miserable night; but in the light of day, suddenly all the thoughts that you couldn’t seem to put out of your mind a few hours ago, don’t seem like such a big deal – and you go about your day.  Only to repeat the pattern the next night!  It’s weird!

What is terrifying in the dark seems far less so in the light.  Well, the lesson would thus seem to be obvious:  Turn on the lights earlier!  That is…

It’s symbolic:  In the dark, things are abstract, formless, and imaginary – monstrous.  In the light, we are able to see them as they really are.  And this is the first thing we need to do with our worries:  Hold them up to the light of scrutiny.  See them for what they really are.  This is Jesus’ repeated instruction in our text:  “Look around!  Look at how things really are!”

Do you know that, in numerous studies it has been discovered that the average person’s worries can be broken up into the following percentages:  60% of all of our worries are about things that are totally unfounded – illogical things that will never happen.  20% are about things in the past – done and gone, can’t change them.  10% involve issues so small and petty that even if they come true they will have virtually no real effect on our lives.  The final 10% involving real problems – which can be split up 50/50: 5% are issues we can do nothing about and 5% are issues we can do something about.  And, obviously, if it’s a problem we can do something about, then it’s not really a problem!

In effect, only 5% of what we commonly worry about is even worth worrying about!  We spend so much of our lives worrying about things that don’t even matter – if we’d really look at them!  It’s like the old saying:  “At age 20, we worry about what others think of us.  At 40, we don’t care what they think of us.  And at 60, we discover the truth that they’ve never been thinking about us at all.”

We need to look at our worries in the light of day, see them for what they really are!  I mean, if you treat every situation as a life and death matter, you will die, unnecessarily, a lot of times!  Try to keep it to just one!

It’s been said that we human beings are terrible at assessing danger.  We obsess over issues that don’t mean anything while we glibly accept, without even thinking, the most outrageous ideas.  One preacher put it this way – he said the following to his congregation one Sunday morning:

“I didn’t observe any of you come into this room and examine your pew before you sat in it.  You just automatically committed yourself by faith to the pew, assuming it would hold you – which, with these old pews, may or may not be true.  Most of you got here by car; you slid in the car and turned on the ignition and away you went.  You don’t have a clue as to what goes on behind the scene.  You can’t explain the process.  You just trust it.

“The last time you went to a doctor, he wrote out a little prescription.  You couldn’t read it.  In fact, you wondered if anybody could read the thing!  Then you took it to your pharmacist, and you gave it to him.  Have you ever noticed that when you give a pharmacist a prescription, he always disappears behind a screen?  That shakes me up.  I often wonder what in the world the guy is doing back there.  I wonder if he slept through his course in pharmacy school.  But he gives you the little bottle and says, ‘Take it three times a day,’ and by faith you do exactly what he tells you to do.  Faith is woven into the system.  Why do we accept what a human being says or does; but won’t trust the promises of Almighty God?”

Faith is woven into the system.  Why don’t we start putting that faith in God?  First step in combating worry:  Turn on the lights.  Bring your worries into scrutiny in the light of day, resolve to see them for what they really are:  Real, or imaginary?  Hopeless or possible?  Get perspective.

Let me put this challenge before us all:  This week, whenever worry starts to overtake you, before you allow yourself to become obsessed with thinking about some problem, you have to ask yourself – and answer – the following question:

Exactly one year ago today, at exactly this moment of the day, what was I worried about?

Think about that…   Odds are, to begin with, it will take awhile to even remember what day of the week it was and what you were doing.  But perhaps you’ll be able to remember and even to remember your worry – although now you will probably see that either that worry never came to pass, or that it did and you actually survived it – I mean, you’re here right now!  But, most likely, you won’t even be able to remember precisely what you were worried about.  Think about that… One year ago, some worry absolutely consumed you, it threatened to destroy you, your life was coming to an end.  Now you are hard-pressed to even remember it.

One year from today, what absolutely horrible, overwhelmingly hopeless thing in your life this morning will you be hard-pressed to even remember?

Suggestion #1 in combating fear:  Turn on the lights.

(II)

   Suggestion #2: BREAK THE RULES.

In reflecting on his own struggles with worry, comedian Carl Hurley offers the following curious illustration – the story of trying to throw out a garbage can.  He writes:

“Some years ago, I set an old rusty garbage can out at the street one morning thinking the garbage man would understand that it needed to be thrown away.  But when I came back that afternoon the can was stacked up with the rest of my empty trash cans.
“So the next week I put it out again and this time I turned it upside down so they could see that the bottom had several holes in it and it needed thrown away.  When I came home, however, it was stacked up next to the empty cans again.
“The next week I took a sledgehammer and I beat the can in pretty good and I left it out front and when I came home not only was it stacked up next to the other empty trash cans but the garbage man had actually tried to beat it back into shape.
“Finally I did the only thing I could do.  I went to the hardware store and bought a heavy duty chain and a padlock and I chained the old can to a large tree in my front yard. And sure enough, that night somebody stole it.”

The lesson?  Worry is a lot like that trash can.  We want to get rid of it, but it’s not so easy to accomplish.   The trick is doing the opposite of what seems logical – doing the opposite of what the situation would seem to demand!  Break the rules!

Simply put:  The second thing that we need to remember about worry is that worry is a control freak.  It exists solely by taking control of your life – your thoughts, your emotions, your actions.  If it doesn’t have this, it has nothing.

Its primary weapon in this is inactivity: keeping you from actually doing anything about your situation, taking any action to change things.  Just keeping you worried – and stuck there.  And it will continually try to convince you that this is the case – endlessly whispering in your ear:  “There’s nothing that can be done.  It’s hopeless.  Don’t even try!”

The solution?  Obviously:  Take action.  Refuse the command you worry is giving to you, break the rules it is setting up for your life.  Take any action you can in opposition to it.  Basically, when things go wrong, don’t go with them.  It has been said that “you can’t wring your hands and roll up your sleeves at the same time.”  Notice how Jesus’ instructions here are filled with action words:  look, consider, strive.

Break the rules that worry is setting up for your life.  Most particularly, do the opposite of what it demands of you:  If it says, “Be miserable”; make a point, instead, to do something fun.  If it says, “Stay in”; resolve, instead, to go out.  If it says, “Hold on”; decide, instead, to give away.  In his book, The Hole in the Gospel, Christian author Richard Stearns offers this reflection:

“In 1987, the largest, single-day stock market crash since 1929 took place.  In one day [my wife, Renee] and I lost more than one-third of our life’s savings and the money we had put aside for our kids’ college education.  I was horrified and became like a man obsessed, each night working past midnight, analyzing on spreadsheets all that we had lost, and the next day calling in orders to sell our remaining stocks and mutual funds to prevent further losses. (Of course that turned out to be the absolute worst thing I could have done.)

“I was consumed with anguish over our lost money — and it showed.  One night when I was burning the midnight oil, Renee came and sat beside me.  ‘Honey,’ she said, ‘this thing is consuming you in an unhealthy way.  It’s only money.  We have our marriage, our health, our friends, our children… so much to be thankful for.  You need to let go of this and trust God.’

“Don’t you hate it when someone crashes your pity party?  I didn’t want to let go of it.  I told her I felt responsible for our family and that she didn’t understand. It was my job to worry about things like this.

“She suggested we pray about it — something that hadn’t occurred to me — so we did.  At the end of the prayer, to my bewilderment, Renee said, ‘Now I think we need to get out the checkbook and write some big checks to our church and other ministries we support.  We need to show God that we know this is his money and not ours.’  I was flabbergasted at the audacity of this suggestion, but in my heart I knew she was right.  So that night we wrote some sizable checks, put them in envelopes addressed to various ministries, and sealed them.  And that’s when I felt the wave of relief.  We had broken the spell that money had cast over me.  It freed me from the worries that had consumed me.  I actually felt reckless and giddy: ‘God, please catch us, because we just took a crazy leap of faith.’  And catch us, God did.”

Suggestion #2 in combating worry:  Break the rules.  Which leads us into…

(III)

   Suggestion #3:  LET GOD BE GOD.

Preacher Kyle Idleman writes:

“When I started a new church in Los Angeles County, California, I found that I was overwhelmed with pressure and stress.  I was working more than seventy hours a week.  My wife would ask me to take a day off, and I would say, ‘I can’t.’  I wasn’t sleeping at night, and I started to take sleeping pills.  When the church was about a year old, I woke up in the night, and I had this strange sense that God was laughing at me.  As I lay in bed, I wondered, Why is God laughing at me?

“It would take five years before I finally got an answer to that question.  Here’s how it happened:  When we moved into our current house, I saved the heaviest piece of furniture for last — the desk from my office.  As I was pushing and pulling the desk with all my might, my four-year-old son came over and asked if he could help.  So together we started sliding it across the floor.  He was pushing and grunting as we inched our way along.  After a few minutes, my son stopped pushing, looked up at me, and said, ‘Dad, you’re in my way.’  And then he tried to push the desk by himself.  Of course it didn’t budge.  Right then I realized that he thought he was actually doing all the work, instead of me.  I couldn’t help but laugh.

“The moment I started laughing at my son’s comment, I recalled that middle-of-the-night incident and I realized why God was laughing at me.  I thought I was pushing the desk.  I know that’s ridiculous, but instead of recognizing God’s power and strength, I started to think it all depended on me.”

We tend to think it all depends on us, instead of recognizing that God is doing all the hard work of keeping us alive, we need only do the little bit of effort that is within our power.

Central theme in Jesus’ teaching on worry:  God knows our needs and is taking care of them constantly.  We just need to do the little part that is required of us to receive this.  Focus simply on what is the one thing before us this day, the one thing we have to do right now.

Remember how Jesus says:  “Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own.  Today’s trouble is enough for today”?  Or, as some older translations put it:  “Let the day’s own worries be sufficient for the day”?

Now, on the surface, this sounds rather pessimistic:  Like, no matter what we do, every day is going to have worries.  Well, part of this is simply a statement of fact: that there will always be problems in life.  I mean, what’s the old saying:  “We all experience moments absolutely free from worry.  These brief respites are called panic.”?

There will always be problems in life.  But notice, really, the deeper point in this:  That God – the eternal – has a hold of the whole thing, we just need to tend to the day.  Take life in 24-hour portions.

“Today’s trouble is enough for today,” our Savior says.  In effect:  “That’s all you can handle.  God knows this and has a hold of the rest.  Let God be God and you be you – okay?  Quite swapping positions and everything will work out just fine.”

To put it another way:  When worry seeks to overtake you, let everything go except what is right before you – today.  The task the Lord has for you right now – to care, to work hard, to do your job, to be faithful, to sacrifice, to hope… whatever.  One preacher writes:

“Several years ago, the Wall Street Journal carried a story about Sally, an overly conscientious youngster who made herself miserable and anxious over the smallest failures and setbacks and obstacles.
“Early one fall, while the leaves were still on the trees, there was an exceptionally heavy snowstorm.  Sally’s grandfather took her for a drive and said, ‘Notice those elm trees, the branches are so badly broken that the trees may die.  But just look at those pines and evergreens.  They are completely undamaged by the storm.  My child, there are two kinds of trees in the world, the foolish and the wise.  An elm holds its branches rigid.  As it becomes weighted down, eventually its limbs break.  But when an evergreen is loaded, it simply relaxes, lowers its branches, and lets the burden slip away.’”

We live surround by pine trees – if anyone should get this message it should be us!  Lower your branches and let things fall away!

It has said that “For true peace of mind, resign as General Manager of the Universe.”  Suggestion #3 in combating worry: Let God be God.  And finally…

(IV)

   Suggestion #4:  MAKE IT MINISTRY.

In the end, notice Jesus’ primary instruction in our reading today: “Strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things (everything you need) will be given to you as well,” Jesus says.

Jesus’ ultimate command:  Strive after the kingdom, after righteousness.  That is, instead of worrying, seek to do something for God, try to get in on what God is doing in the world.  Most especially, seek to turn your problem, your worry, into an opportunity to be used in the work of God.  Make it a ministry.

Ruth Graham, wife of Billy Graham, is quoted as saying that “worship and worry cannot exist in the same person.  The two are mutually exclusive.”  Notice her point:  When we’re worshipping God, when we’re doing something that praises and glorifies God, worry can’t get a hold of us!  We’re too “filled up” with greater things.  Final thought for us today:

How can we turn our worries into worship?  Take our problems and make them into ways that serve the saving work of God?  Loss turned into a way to reach out to others who grieve; financial problems as a chance to redirect the priorities of our lives; health issues as an opportunity to meet new people and share God’s love with them?

Take your worry, and resolve to make it a ministry.  In closing, consider the following true story – reading from an article in Time magazine:

“While staying alone in her convent, an 85-year-old Catholic nun got trapped inside a broken elevator for four nights and three days.  She tried pushing the inside elevator door, but the electricity went off.  She had her cell phone with her, but there wasn’t a signal. Fortunately, she had carried a jar of water, some celery sticks, and a few cough drops into the elevator.

“At first she said to herself, This can’t happen! Get me out of here!  But then she decided to turn her elevator into a personal prayer retreat.  ‘It was either panic or pray,’ she later told an interviewer for CNN.  She started viewing the experience as a ‘gift.’  (Conversing with God, praying for all sorts of people and issues, feeling herself drawn out of herself and into these other lives, and the very heart of God.)  ‘I believe that God’s presence was my strength and my joy — really,’ she said. ‘I felt God’s presence almost immediately.  I felt like he provided this as an opportunity for a closer relationship.’”

Someone once said that “worry is like a rocking chair: it gives you something to do, but it doesn’t get you anywhere.”

This week, don’t let worry get the better of you, keeping you trapped going nowhere.  Instead, turn on the light, break the rules, let God be God, and make it a ministry.

“Lord, Speak to Me”  Romans 14:7-10

   Preacher Gordon MacDonald, one time pastor of Trinity Baptist Church in Manhattan, tells the following story:

“For years I rode the same bus daily from my home to my church in New York City.  One day the bus driver complained to me – he said: ‘You know, you’ve got it a lot better than me.  You have an interesting job and travel different places.  I just drive this bus up and down the same streets every day.’

“Well, having encountered many people in the past with similar complaints about their jobs, I quickly told the bus driver that his job could be an exciting, vibrant Christian ministry too.  I offered him this advice, I said: ‘Every day, when you first get on this bus, before anyone else gets on, dedicate this bus to God for that day.  Declare it to be a sanctuary for God for that day.  Consecrate it to God’s glory, and then act like it is a place where God dwells.  Don’t just work.  Work for God.’

“Several weeks later I returned from a trip and saw the bus driver.  ‘You’ve transformed my life,’ the man said, beaming. ‘I’ve been doing what you said every day, and it has made me see my job in an entirely new perspective.  I’ve been part of some real miracles in people’s lives recently!  Right here!  I used to hate going work but now I actually look forward to it.  I have discovered that I’m not just in the transportation business; as a Christian, I’m in the God business!’”

The dramatic life-changing power of getting outside ourselves and instead, into working for God – getting into the “God Business”.  This is what I would like to discuss this morning…

Today, as we continue our study of classic Christian music, the hymn we are considering is “Lord, Speak to Me”.  This hymn was written in 1872 by poet Frances Havergal.

Francis Havergal was a preacher’s kid – the daughter of a very “musically-inclined” pastor in the Church of England.  Frances and her father being very close – particularly following the death of her mother, who died when Frances was only 11 years-old.

By all accounts, Frances was an extremely bright and well-educated person – learning to read and write at a very young age.  Unfortunately, however, like her mother, she was also prone to be very sickly.  She only lived to age 42; but in those four decades she helped bring many people to Christ, primarily through the force of her personality.  It is said that she had the kind of charming, outgoing, joyful way about her, even amidst all her own troubles, that people were drawn to her.  She was one of those people you just like to be around – and through her example people found Christ.  Which was her constant goal – following her conversion experience at age 13.

She wrote many hymns.  Some of the other familiar ones being “Take My Life and Let it Be” and “Truehearted, Wholehearted”.  All of her hymns seem to be almost autobiographical – an expression of the way she herself lived; but none more so than our hymn today.

On Havergal’s manuscript for this hymn, her original title is “A Worker’s Prayer”.  That is, she saw this hymn as a kind of musical prayer for the person who is seeking to work for God – not just in the activities around the church, but wherever one may find themselves, whatever kind of work they are doing.  “A Worker’s Prayer” to help those striving to be in the “God Business”.

As she noted at the top of the manuscript – a Scriptural quote, the opening line of our reading today:  “None of us liveth to himself…”  The central line within a lengthy discussion by Paul in which he is trying to get the reader to see that their self-centeredness and self-involvement is hindering the work of Christ in and through them.  There’s too much separation!

Havergal, like Paul, realizing that this is the heart of life, most especially of the Christian life:  Not just living for ourselves; but living for Christ – and through him, to the world.  Seeing ourselves joined to one another – to everyone – through Christ.  The hymn expounds upon this idea, from this one line of Scripture.

The hymn originally had 7 verses – sort of, one for each day of the week, a full week’s work for God in the lives of people.  But in most modern versions (such as the one in our hymnal) this has been shortened to 5 verses – which is, itself, I suppose, something of comment:  That perhaps, we don’t want quite the same level of commitment that Havergal sought?

Whatever…  The hymn is a great prayer for every Christian – to help us, in our daily tasks, to get out of ourselves and into working for God, into the “god Business” (where life is truly found).  Each verse is a request to God for some form of help in this.  And what I’d like to do is look at each verse in turn, and see what it is requesting – the prayer that is being made…

(I)

   Prayer #1:  “Lord, take charge of MY MOUTH.”

The hymn begins – verse 1:  “Lord, speak to me, that I may speak in living echoes of thy tone; as thou has sought, so let me seek thine erring children lost and lone.”

Havergal begins by focusing on speech:  She wants God to speak to her, to give her words, so that when she speaks it will be God’s words not her own, that she will sound like God – “living echoes of thy tone.”  And this will be a reoccurring theme throughout the hymn.  She rightly understands that this is where everything begins and ends: in our words.  She knows the power of speech.  She asks God take charge of her mouth.

How about us?

It has been said that “when we go for a medical check-up, one of the first things the physician does is ask to see our tongue.  A spiritual healer is wise to do the same thing.”  To get (and stay) healthy, first, check your tongue.  Unfortunately, far too often we don’t.

What’s the old saying?  “If your mind goes blank don’t forget to turn off the sound.”  Let’s face it, so much of our speech is so un-godly and it is the source of most of the pain and brokenness of everything around us.  As it is written in Scripture:  “How great a forest is set ablaze by a small fire!  And the tongue is a fire.”  We deliberately say mean things.  We hold back the good words.  We speak without thinking.  We often go out of our way to say hurtful things that don’t need to be said.  Even here in church – gossiping, complaining, criticizing.  Instead of seeking the mind of God we more often “speak our minds” – with deadly result.  Little to say, but a whole lot of talking going on.

You know, there’s a great story that is told about Albert Einstein.  It seems that Einstein was once the featured speaker at a dinner given at Swarthmore College.  When it came time for him to speak, he astonished everyone by standing up and announcing, “I have nothing to say.”  Then he sat down.  A few moments later he stood up and added, “In case I have something to say, I will come back and say it.”  Well, six months later he sent a message to the president of the college: “Now I have something to say.”  Another dinner was held and he gave his speech.

Only speaking when there’s something worth saying.  Havergal begins by having us focus on our mouths – to get them under God’s control.  This is where we must begin.

How?  Well…

Frances Havergal once described her method of hymn writing.  It was very simple.  She never wrote a line without first praying over it.  She said:  “I believe my King suggests a thought, and whispers me a musical line or two, and then I look up and thank Him delightedly and go on with it.  That is how my hymns come.”

Pray before putting a single word out there.  Great advice. For hymn writing – and speaking  Think of it this way:

We’ve all seen the “WWJD” signs – What Would Jesus Do?  Well, how about, this week, even better, we live by the rule “WWJS”: What Would Jesus Say?  Constantly asking:  Is what I’m saying what Jesus wants said?  Is it something he would say?  Do I sound like him?  One scholar writes:

“How carefully do you monitor what goes into your mouth, compared to what comes out of it?  For example, do you follow a low-fat diet?  Do you obsessively track the grams of fat going into your body?  Do you watch the number of calories that you consume?  Do you avoid refined sugars?  Do you limit your caffeine?  Do you buy organic milk?  Use sea salt instead of table salt?  Drink bottled water from the island of Fiji?
“The bad news is that you can do all of those things, and you’ll still die.  Their value is limited.  These practices may make you a little healthier, and definitely a little poorer, but their value is temporary.  None of the foods that you are avoiding or limiting can defile you.   They can’t make you any less pleasing to God.
“Now, compared to the care you take in controlling what goes into your mouth, how careful are you to control what comes out of your mouth?  Do you apply as much energy, and planning, and self-discipline to controlling your speech as you apply to controlling your calories, or your fat grams, or your carbohydrates?  If not, then you’re focusing on the wrong thing.  Because Jesus says that, ultimately, it’s what comes out of your mouth, not what goes in, that defiles you.”

Prayer #1 for getting out of ourselves and into the God business:  “Lord, take charge of my mouth.”

(II)

   Prayer #2:  “Lord, take charge of MY OBJECTIVES.”

True story – reading from a news article of a number of years ago:

“Matt Emmons had the gold medal in sight.  He was one shot away from claiming victory in the 2004 Olympic 50-meter three-position rifle event.  He didn’t even need a bull’s-eye to win.  His final shot merely needed to be on target.  Normally, the shot he made would have received a score of 8.1, more than enough for a gold medal.  But in what was described as ‘an extremely rare mistake in elite competition,’ Emmons fired at the wrong target.  Standing in lane two, he fired at the target in lane three.  His score for a good shot at the wrong target?  Zero.  Instead of a medal, Emmons ended up in eighth place.”

The lesson?  It doesn’t matter how accurate you are if you are aiming at the wrong goal.  Our second point here:  Aiming at the right thing.  The second verse of the hymn:

“O Strengthen me, that while I stand firm on the rock, and strong in thee, I may reach out a loving hand to wrestlers with the troubled sea.”

In this line, Havergal asks for strength – as we all do in our lives; but notice what she requests this strength for:  Not simply for her own survival, her own needs; but so that she may help others who are struggling.

We, however, tend to make our faith all about getting what we need, right?  After that, if there’s something left over for others, alright; but first and foremost: meet my needs.  And, in point of fact, when our needs aren’t being met, when it isn’t all about us, this is when we tend to get most upset at each other and at the world… and at God!

You know, in a recent survey, 1,000 church–going Christians were asked “Why does the church exist?”  89% said that the purpose of the church “is to take care of my family’s (and my) spiritual needs.”  Only 11% said that the purpose of the church “is to win the world for Christ.”

We’ve got it all backwards.  It’s not about us – we’ve got Jesus!  It’s about helping someone else who doesn’t have him!  Hevergal secondly instructs us to pray that God might take charge of our objectives, make us seek the right thing:  Not just our own welfare, but the welfare of others.  Is this our objective, our goal every day: to help someone else in need?  It often doesn’t take much – just the willingness, the objective!  One author writes:

“It was one of the worst days of my life.  The washing machine broke down, the telephone kept ringing, my head ached, and the mail carrier brought a bill I had no money to pay.  Almost to the breaking point, I lifted my one-year-old into his high chair, leaned my head against the tray, and began to cry.  Without a word, my son took his pacifier out of his mouth and stuck it in mine.”

You see, he naturally understood:  Use what you have to help someone else in need.

Prayer #2 of people in the God business:  “Lord, take charge of my objectives.”

(III)

   Prayer #3:  “Lord, take charge of MY EDUCATION.”

Third verse:  “O teach me, Lord, that I may teach the precious things thou dost impart; and wing my words, that they may reach the hidden depths of many a heart.”

Havergal thirdly requests instruction, and this has two parts to it:  First, she wants to be taught.  That is, she is aware of the fact that she doesn’t know everything, that she may have faults, errors and gaps in her education and discipleship; and she wants God to correct her, to teach her new things, that she might grow and perfect her faith.  It’s a rare desire: seeking correction.  Let’s face it:  Generally it’s fun to give correction, but not so much fun to receive it, right?  I’m reminded of a story that is told about Methodism’s founder, John Wesley:

In his day, John Wesley was considered a rather spiffy dresser.  Well, one Sunday morning he wore a bow tie that had long ribbons that hung downward.  After the sermon was over a woman walked up to him and said, “Brother Wesley, are you open to some criticism?”  He said, “I guess so.  What would you like to criticize?”  She said, “The ribbons on your tie are entirely too long and inappropriate for a man of God.”  And with that she took out a pair of scissors and cut the ribbons off.  A hush fell over the people standing there as Wesley calmly replied, “May I borrow your scissors for a moment?”  As she handed them to him, he said, “Ma’am, are you open to some criticism?”  She answered, “Well, I suppose I am.”  He said, “All right then… please stick out your tongue.”

Are we willing to just give – or take – correction from God?  Are we open to discovering ways we have been wrong, and changing our path?  Havergal instructs us to seek instruction, and then from this, notice the second part of this:  Her goal in being is taught is so that, through what she learns, she might, again, better help others who are in need.  She wants to put into practice what she is taught.

Key step in all learning:  Putting things into practice.  Confucius said:  “I hear and I forget.  I see and I remember.  I do and I understand.”

Big mistake we so often make:  We hear God’s instructions but we don’t act on them.  You want to have a powerful, truly miracle working faith this week – and every week?  Than simply take any one thing you learn in worship each Sunday: maybe some thought, some idea, some teaching you learn in a prayer, or a hymn or the scripture, or even in the sermon (imagine that!) and actually put it into practice that day.  Don’t just think about it – do it!  It is on this step where most Christian lives fall flat.  Consider the following:

A boy once said to his father, “Dad, if three frogs were sitting on a limb that hung over a pool, and one frog decided to jump off into the pool, how many frogs would be left on the limb?”  The father replied, “Two.”  “No,” the son replied.  “There’s three frogs and one decides to jump, how many are left?”  The father said, “Oh, I get it, if one decides to jump, the others would too.  So there are none left.”  The boy said, “No dad, the answer is three.  The frog only decided to jump.”

A lot to times we may decide to follow Christ, we just never actually get around to doing it.  One moment of obedience is worth a thousand moments of deep inspiration.

Prayer #3 of those in the God business:  “Lord, take charge of my education.”  Which leads us into…

(IV)

   Prayer #4:  “Lord, take charge of MY ATTITUDE.”

Verse 4 of the hymn: “O fill me with thy fullness, Lord, until my very heart o’er flow in kindling thought and glowing word, thy love to tell, thy praise to show.”

Many take this as the line that most describes Havergal herself:  As mentioned, even with all her problems, she was a person just so alive with the love of God that it was infectious.  And this is what she is instructing us all to request: that we might be overflowing with the joyful Spirit of God.  Basically, her fourth prayer is that we all might be “full of it”!  “O fill me with thy fullness, Lord…”

Now, there are, of course, a lot of Christian’s who are “full of it” (!) but… not necessarily in this way!  Basically, Havergal is saying:  “Lord, help me to have this kind of overwhelmingly positive, upbeat attitude that sees the best in life and makes me a person people like to have around – and through this, a person who draws people to You.”

Now we talked about exactly this subject two weeks ago – having a positive attitude, so I won’t rehash that; but I would simply ask:  Have we put it into practice?  That is:  Are we making a point to have the kind of abundantly joyful, positive attitude that draws people to us – and through us, to God; or are we more turning people off to Jesus – in general nastiness?  One author writes:

“A lot of trucks have a sticker on the back that says, ‘How’s my driving?  Call 1-800-whatever to report.’  This is supposed to make the driver accountable.  I read that in Ireland, most people drive very, very courteously.  They have roundabouts where people have to let others in the circle.  This is something that doesn’t work well here.
“One Irish man said that most people drove very well and were courteous except for one group that he called ‘white van men.’  These were people who drove company vehicles which were frequently unmarked white vans, and they didn’t care how they treated the vehicle, let alone what havoc they cause with others.  Because there was no company name or logo on these vans, they were anonymous drivers.
“Some Christians are like these van drivers.  We don’t care how we act or who we hurt, we’re anonymous.  I remember a lady who was turning right at a light one day, as I, directly across from her, was turning left.  If you read your driver’s handbook you’ll find that the rule is that when you are turning right you turn into the inside lane and the person turning left into the outside lane. This is to keep traffic flowing.  Well, I turned into my lane but it seems it was the lane this woman wanted because she flipped me off and cussed me out.  The funny thing was that on the back of her car was a sticker that told the name of the church she attended!
“If God were to place sticker on your back that asked, ‘How’s my living?’ or ‘How’s my attitude? Call 1-800-He-Lives to report’; what would others say about you?  Are you making people want God in their lives or out of their lives?”

Prayer #4 of those in the God business: “Lord, take charge of my attitude.”  Which brings us to, finally…

(V)

   Prayer #5:  “Lord, take charge of MY SCHEDULE.”

The final verse of the hymn:  “O use me, Lord, use even me, just as thou wilt, and when, and where, until thy blessed face I see, thy rest, thy joy, thy glory share.”

In the final verse, Havergal essentially sums up the whole thing:  “Use me, Lord.  Use me for your purposes in the world.”  And notice what she says about this:  “Just as thou wilt, and when, and where.”

Basically, she puts herself entirely at God’s disposal.  She undoubtedly has her own plans; but those plans, as far as she is concerned, are open to change and redirection as God wills.

One final time:  Are we so willing?

So often we finally miss out on the great thing God wants to do in and through us because we’re so hung up on our schedules we’re not receptive to going “off script”, ad-libbing what God wants us to do in the moment.  The greatest blessings in life are lost in this way.  True disciples are, finally, willing to have their lives interrupted for God.  Used “just as thou wilt, and when, and where…”  In closing, consider the following fable:

A wealthy man decided to leave his thriving business to one of his three nephews, his only living relatives.  He told them:  “One of you shall inherit my business.  I have a problem, though.  And he who solves it best shall be my heir.”

He handed each of the young men some money, with this instruction:  “This is a large room.  I have given each of you an equal amount of money.  Go buy something that will fill this room as full as possible, but spend no more than I have given you.  I shall be waiting for you at sunset.”

All day long the young men searched through the market-place.  As the shadows lengthened they returned to the house of their uncle, who asked to see what they had purchased.

The first nephew dragged a bale of straw into the room, and untied it.  The pile hid two walls of the room.  The others complimented him.  The second brought in two bags of thistledown, which filled half the room.  They cheered him.  The third was silent for a moment before he said:  “Uncle, I am afraid I have completely failed you.  I went searching for something to fill this great room, but in my search I happened upon a poor young boy, begging in the street.  My heart was moved by his plight, so I gave him half of the money.  I then went into the church to pray for guidance, but God gave no answer.  As I left, I saw that they were collecting for war widows.  I felt drawn to give to this cause.  So I put almost all the rest of the money in the collection box.  All I had left were a few coins with which I bought these few matches and this small candle.”

With that, he struck the match and lit the candle – and every corner of the room was filled with its light.

The old man blessed him and turned over to him his entire business.

Someone once said:  “No life is so small as the one that is wrapped up entirely in itself.”

Instead of having a small life, have a great big, full life.  Key life skill, key discipleship skill:  Getting out of ourselves and into the God business.  This week pray the “Worker’s Prayer”:  “Lord, take charge of my mouth, my objectives, my education, my attitude, my schedule.”

“Precious Lord, Take My Hand”  Isaiah 41:1-13

   Many years ago, the great musician Ira Sankey, music director for the Dwight Moody Evangelistic Campaigns (back at the turn of the last century), told the following story of a scene he once witnessed, involving a young boy and his father, who were out for a walk on a cold January day.  He said:

“It was in Scotland, in the winter.  For the first time the little fellow had on an overcoat in which there were pockets.  With his father the boy was walking in a somewhat slippery place.  The father said to him, ‘My boy, you had better let me take your hand.’ But the boy’s hands were deep in the pockets of the coat, and so he kept them there until a rather bad fall on the ice showed him that his father’s advice was good.

“The tumble brought down his pride somewhat and he said, ‘Okay, I will take your hand,’ and he reached up and took hold of his father’s hand in a somewhat feeble, uncommitted grasp.  But once more his feet hit ice and down he went.

“So he tried again, now resolving to hold on to his father’s hand with all his might.  But again, his feet slipped; and his hand, not strong enough to support his own weight, gave way and the boy fell.

“At this, the father said, ‘Son, I didn’t invite you to take my hand.  I asked if I may take yours.’  Deeply humbled in spirit the boy raised his hand and said, ‘Yes, Father, please take my hand.’

“And so it was that the father’s strong hand now held the child up when the slippery places came.

“So likewise, happy is the believer who knows that he is in the mighty grasp of God, and who has placed his hand in the hand of our Savior.  For it is He, the Son of God, the Lord of glory, who says, ‘My sheep… shall never perish, neither shall anyone pluck them out of My hand.’”

Holding hands with God.  This is something of what I’d like to talk about this morning.

The hymn we are considering this morning (in our ongoing look at great Christian music) is the hymn “Precious Lord, Take My Hand.”  This hymn was written in 1932 by composer Thomas Dorsey.  And right off the top, it’s important to note that this is not the Thomas Dorsey that many people commonly believe it to be.  This hymn is frequently “misappropriated,” if you will.

If you are a fan of big band music, you, of course, know the name of Tommy Dorsey.  He was a famous trombonist and band leader – many of Frank Sinatra’s earliest hits were with the Dorsey band.  But this is not that Tommy Dorsey.  Despite the fact that we are discussing a piece of music written in the 1930’s, by Thomas Dorsey… it is not that Tommy Dorsey!

This Thomas Dorsey was poor preacher’s kid, born in 1899, who went on to be an itinerant Baptist preacher and blues musician.  He wrote hundreds of R&B and gospel songs, some of the most familiar being “Peace in the Valley,” “Riverside Blues,” and “Georgia”.  But the story behind our hymn today is this:

In 1921, at the age of 22, Thomas gave his life to Jesus.  Almost immediately he left the jazz clubs and began writing Gospel music.  He took great effort to circulate his musical scores, but it was three long years before anyone started to notice.  Little by little his reputation grew, not only as a songwriter but as a church music director.
In 1932, while the now Reverend Dorsey was leading a church service, a man came up to the platform to hand him a telegram.  The telegram said that Dorsey’s wife, Nettie, had just died in childbirth.  As if this wasn’t bad enough, within 24 hours the newborn baby boy died also.  Thomas quickly spiraled downward into the depths of despair, doubting the goodness of God and determining never to write another hymn.
A week after that horrible, life changing day, Thomas was deep into his grief, sitting alone at a piano, in a friend’s music room.  Into the room, Dorsey later recalled, there suddenly came a peace such as he had never known before.  As that comfort and peace seemed to envelope him, Thomas felt the urge to play the piano.  His fingers began to move across the keys and the words to “Precious Lord, Take My Hand” began to well up from his heart and to spill out of his mouth.  God had given him a song that would not only lift him from despair, but would also change the course of his music career.  He went on to become known as “The Father of Gospel Music”.
“Precious Lord, Take My Hand” has been translated into more than 40 languages, has been sung by some of the biggest names in Gospel music, including Mahalia Jackson and Elvis Presley, and it was Dr. Martin Luther King’s favorite hymn.

The heart of the hymn, of course, is (as with our opening illustration) the idea of holding hands with God.  Most especially, the idea of reaching out to let God’s mighty hand take hold of ours that we might not slip and fall in times of danger.

A sentiment expressed all over the Bible, most notably as mirrored in our Scripture reading this morning in which the people of Israel are struggling greatly.  Held in captivity, homeland destroyed, enemies taunting them… oppressed, in danger, afraid.  They are bravely trying to make it under their own strength but they’re failing.  So God essentially says to them (through the prophet):  “Quit trying to go it on your own.  You’ve reached out to everything but me!  I can hold you up.  Let me take your hand.”  “I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my victorious right hand!” God says.

The “key” to making it across “slippery” terrain:  Letting God take your hand.  Holding hands with God.

What does it mean to actually do this, to “hold hands with God”?  A couple of thoughts of what our hymn and text today suggest to us…

(I)

   First, LOOK AT GOD’S HANDS.

Remember the old story about the young boy and his mother who, one day, went to the local general store?  While they were there, the very kindly shop owner showed the boy a large jar of candy and invited him to reach in and help himself to a handful.  Quite uncharacteristically, the boy declined, so the shop owner reached in and pulled out a handful for him.  Once outside, the boy’s mother asked why he had suddenly been so shy and wouldn’t take a handful of the candy he loved so much, and had forced the store owner to do so for him.  The boy replied, “It’s simple, he has a bigger hand than I do!”

The boy knew enough to put his life in the biggest hands!  This is where we begin…

As we think about holding hands with God, the first thing I would have us do is think about the hand that reaches out to us – the hand of God.  Across the Bible, God’s hands are described in many different ways:

First, of course, they are described as being incredibly powerful – stronger than any other force in creation.  For instance, throughout the story of the Exodus, Moses repeatedly refers to God’s delivery of the people of Israel out of slavery in Egypt as having come about through the incredible, unconquerable might of God’s hands:  “So,” Moses says, “the Lord brought us out by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm.”

God’s hands are described as being strong, but also amazingly gentle.  The Psalmist says: “(Lord), you have given me the shield of your salvation; your right hand has held me up, your gentleness has made me great.”  To which the prophet offers this image of our Savior:  “He will feed his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms, and carry them in his bosom, and gently lead the mother sheep.”

Strong, gentle; yet, curiously, also covered with writing – “crib notes”:

<Isa 49:14-16>

   Our names are written on God’s hands – we are always before him, continually on his mind.  When you look God’s hands, you see your name – he knows your life, he lives for you!

Which leads us into, most importantly of all, the hands of God that the first Christians saw on Easter Sunday, the hands Thomas was invited to touch:  Living hands marked forever with the scars of the nails that had pierced them for our salvation.  Hands that took upon themselves everything that might ever keep us from life!

Strong, gentle, marked, scarred…  Hands that seek to say:  “Be not afraid.  No matter what life throws at you, no matter what comes your way, I can overcome it.  You are always on my mind, your needs my constant concern.  I will take on myself whatever you can’t handle so that you may be victorious.  Nothing can defeat you in my hands.  Trust this!”  One author writes:

“A vacationing family is driving along in their car, windows rolled down, enjoying the warm summer breeze of the sunny day.  All of a sudden a big black bee darts in the window and starts buzzing around inside the car.  A little girl, highly allergic to bee stings, cringes in the back seat.  If she is stung, she could die within an hour.  ‘Oh, Daddy,’ she squeals in terror, ‘it’s a bee!  It’s going to sting me!’
“The father immediately pulls the car over to a stop, and reaches back to try to catch the bee.  Buzzing towards him, the bee bumps against the front windshield where the father traps it in his hand.  Holding it in his closed hand, the father waits for the inevitable sting.  The bee stings the father’s hand and in pain, the father lets go of the bee.
“The bee is loose in the car again.  The little girl again panics, ‘Daddy, it’s going to sting me!’
“The father gently says, ‘No honey, he’s not going to sting you now.  Look at my hand.’  He opens his hand to his daughter – the bee’s stinger is there in his hand.
“The Apostle writes:  ‘Where, O death, is your victory?  Where, O death, is your sting?  Thanks be to Christ who gives us the victory!’  Jesus says to us, ‘Look at my hands.’ He has Satan’s sting, the sting of death, the sting of sin, the sting of pain, the sting of sorrow and hopelessness.  Jesus has all of those stingers in His hands.
“When you see that nail-scarred hand, realize that, on your behalf, Jesus took all the pain that Satan could throw at Him.  He reduced Satan to a big black bee that has lost its stinger – all Satan can do is buzz.

“Let Satan buzz.  When life gets scary, look to your Father’s hand.”

In learning to hold hands with God that we might not slip and fall when life takes us in dangerous places, we are invited, first, to look at God’s hands.

(II)

   Secondly, we are called to KEEP MOVING.

In the hymn, it’s interesting to note what Dorsey focuses upon in picturing himself holding hands with God.  He writes:   “Precious Lord, take my hand, lead me on, let me stand, I am tired, I am weak, I am worn; through the storm through the night, lead me on to the light…  When my way grows drear, precious Lord, linger near, when my life is almost gone, hear my cry, hear my call, hold my hand lest I fall…  When the darkness appears and the night draws near, and the day is past and gone, at the river I stand, guide my feet, hold my hand:  Take my hand, precious Lord, lead me home.”

Notice that his imagery is always that of being held up – made able to stand, and lead on – guided.  Now, in holding hands with God, we might imagine sitting and holding hands with God.  A very comforting thought – as with any time: in the hospital waiting room, in a doctor’s office, in a funeral home – where we sit and hold hands with someone we love.

A beautiful idea, yet this is not what Dorsey chooses to particularly focus us upon.  His imagery emphasizes motion: being lifted up and kept moving.  And in this, I believe he makes a very important point:

Not that there isn’t a time to just sit and be comforted; but rather, the other equally important side of things, namely:  That in times of trouble and sorrow, one of the most important things we need to do is keep moving.

Hard times, scary times, will often bog us down, bring us to stop.  We get stuck there.  Dorsey seemed to know this – and know that it’s deadly.  He knows he has to keep moving on with life, and so he looks to God’s hand to help him to do precisely this!

And, in this, think about the story of this hymn:  How did God keep Thomas Dorsey moving in his time of incredible heartbreak?  Through music – through his gift, through the piano that was in front of him.  This is what was in his hands at that moment and what God used, how God was present, and reached out to him.  It begs the question:

What is in your hand today?  That is, what is right before you: the situations, encounters, tasks of the day?  How might God use these things to keep you moving through life?  How might you offer them God for his use – to keep you going?

Life can, very easily, stop us dead in our tracks.  Or, we can offer our hand – what life has given us – to God to take hold of, to use, to keep us moving on to life.  Consider the following true story:

In 1809, Simon Renee Braille and his wife Monique welcomed their fourth child into the world – a lively boy named Louis.  They lived in a small stone house near Paris where Braille was the local harness maker.  Leather working tools are dangerous, so the toddler had been instructed not to go into his father’s shop alone.
But when Louis was still small, he slipped into the shop and, with curiosity, started to handle all the fascinating tools.  As Louis was inspecting an awl, the sharp tool used to punch holes in leather, he slipped and fell and punctured a part of his eye with the tool. The injured eye became infected.  The little boy could not keep his hands from rubbing and scratching the wound, and soon the infection spread to his other eye as well.  When Louis was only 4, he became completely blind.
Louis was fortunate enough to study at the Royal Institution for Blind Youth in Paris.  He excelled as an organist, and at twelve years old began asking the question “How can the blind read?”  Over his summer break at home, Louis was determined to find the answer.

Now, he had experienced the system of raised dots that the French Military used on their equipment as what they called “night writing”.  He felt that this concept held the key: raised dots on metal, or paper, or something.  He went into his father’s shop in search of the right tool for this task, and as he moved and groped around, the awl presented itself as perfect for the job.
And thus, with the very instrument that had blinded him, Louis worked and worked until he had created a system of dots whereby the blind could read and write, work math problems and compose music.
What is your awl – the thing that has crippled you, either by your own doing like young Louis, or by something beyond you?  Is it a divorce, the death of someone you love, an illness, a failure, a lost career?  What is in your hand?  Let God take it, and use it in your life for good — to reshape you or comfort others.  Don’t let your life stop, let God take hold of you and lead you on.
In holding hands with God amidst the dangerous places of life, we are, secondly, called to keep moving.  And finally…

(III)

   Thirdly: We are required to OPEN OUR HAND.

One scholar writes:  “There is a story that is told about a child who, one day, was playing with a vase his mother had left on the table for a few moments.  When the mother turned at the sound of her son crying, she saw that his hand was in the vase and was apparently stuck.  She tried to help him and pulled and pulled until the child cried out in pain. But the hand was stuck fast.  How would they get it out?
“The father suggested breaking the vase but it was quite valuable and the child’s hand might be cut in the process.  Yet he knew that if all else failed there would be no other alternative.  So he said to the boy, ‘Now, let’s make one more try.  Open your hand and stretch your fingers out straight, like I’m doing, and then pull!’  At that, the boy replied, ‘But Dad, if I do that I’ll lose my penny!’
“It seems the boy had had a coin in his hand all the time and was holding it securely in his tight little fist.  And he wasn’t prepared to open his hand and lose the penny.  But once he opened his hand it came out of the vase easily.
“What are you holding onto so tightly as to hinder your walk with Jesus?

“That vase can be likened to the entrance to the Kingdom of God.  It is narrow but quite easy to pass in, but first you must open your hand to God and allow earthly things to fall.  If we keep our fists closed and hold fast to what we now have, we will be unable to take hold of the ‘Hand of God’!”
Final point, simply put:  To hold hands with anyone – especially God – we have to be willing to open our hands.  We can’t hold hands if our hands are closed.  We have to be willing to let go of whatever we’re holding on to so that another may take hold of us.  This, of course, finally, so often is the greatest obstacle in our lives:  We won’t let go.  We won’t let go of control, of what we want, how life “should” be; in favor of how it is – and, even better: of just holding on to God and receiving him!

You know, someone once said that “at any given moment in life, there are four main things you can do with your hands:  You can wring them in despair.  You can fold them in idleness.  You can clench them in anger.  Or you can open them to give and to receive.”

Final lesson:  Open your hand.  That is, give up some of the tightly held control, and seek more just to receive however God is coming into your life today.  Christian author Bob Perks offers the following reflection:

“’Whenever you cross the road hold hands.’  How simple.  How powerful.  Imagine what life would be like if we always did that?  You might think that rule applies only to children.  You’d be wrong.
“It’s a big world.  Walking alone, crossing life’s highways, darting out in front in this fast paced world is a dangerous thing.  Life at the speed of ‘it only counts if you come in first’ leaves a great deal of destruction behind.
“’Hold my hand.  We should always hold hands when we cross the street,’ the mother said.  The little boy reached up and held her hand tightly, knowing that if mom said so, he’d be safe.
“I’ve crossed a lot of streets.
“Like when I walked my children to their first day of school.  I remember letting go and it hurt.
“Like when I held my mother’s hand as she lay dying.
“Like when I walked down the aisle with my wife and we began walking together through life.
“Like when I held her hand until the very last second when they took her into surgery for breast cancer.
“Like a few years ago, on a Father’s Day Sunday, when I held out my hand and my son Keith gave me a stack of papers and a note.  (The note) read, ‘Hopefully this time next year I will be joining the ranks of fatherhood, too.  I hope also I will have had as much impact on my kids as you have had on us.  Letters, notes, cards, and words like these are all part of what made me who I am today…  I love you!  Happy Father’s Day, Keith.’
“I looked at the pile of papers and found every single note I had ever given him.  He saved them all.
“He reached down and held my hand that day because it was shaking with joy.
“I now realize that I have always had a hand to hold on my journey.  Whether it was someone I loved or the helping hand of a stranger, I was never alone.  When I fell on my face and questioned where God was, I was reminded he didn’t let go, I did.
“You can either be reaching up for help, out to give support or down to lift up the weary.  But keep your hand open – it’s the only way to hold hands!”

This morning, we once again prepare to “cross the street” – to cross over another week before us.  It can be scary.  It can be dangerous.  Remember to hold hands – most especially, to hold hands with God, to be held secure in his firm grasp:  Look at God’s hands.  Resolve to move forward.  And open your hand.

“O God, Our Help in Ages Past”  Psalm 90

   Do you ever dream of winning the lottery?

I realize that is an extremely “un-Methodist” question with which to begin a sermon!  But, hey… let’s be honest:  Methodist or otherwise, don’t we all, at times, have those dreams of winning the lottery, of “hitting it big” and being set for life?

Well, imagine you won the lottery and the payout is the following:  $864 dollars a day, every day, for the rest of your life.  However, there’s one stipulation:  Every day $864 is deposited in your bank account, and you are free to withdraw it and use it as you wish.  But, at the end of the day, whatever you have not withdrawn is taken away.  That is, there’s no “rollover”, you can’t carry anything over into the next day.  At the end of each day your account “zeroes out”.  And then, the next day, a new $864 is deposited.

If this were the arrangement, and you really wanted to have a lot of money to do some truly great things with; what would you do?

Well, obviously, if you’re smart, every day you’d make a point to get all the money out of your account.  In fact,   this would probably be the first thing you’d do every day: Go to the bank and withdraw it all.  Get it working for you!  Only a fool would leave any money in there to be lost!

$864 a day, every day, with no roll over.  That’s 86,400 cents.  Well, what if I were to tell you that we all have actually “won the lottery” and the “payout” is precisely this same number?  It’s true!

The “lottery” we have all won is called life and the payout is in time:  Every day we are each given 86,400 seconds to do with as we wish.  But there is no rollover.  We cannot store the time up and go and get it later.  Every day, the account “zeroes out” – it’s done, over.  Use it, or lose it!

Obviously, the wise person, who wants to maximize their winnings, taps the account dry: seeks to make the best possible use of the time given them each and every day.

Time – this is the topic I would like to consider this New Year’s morning – as we close out the year past and look to a new year ahead…

The hymn that we are considering today (in our on-going study of great Christian music) is all about time.  It is the hymn “O God, Our Help in Ages Past” – which was written in 1719 by poet Isaac Watts.

Isaac Watts is generally considered to be one of the greatest (if not the greatest) hymn writer of all time.  He is often referred to as “The Father of English Hymnody”.  In fact, in the early days of our nation, some churches sang nothing but Watts hymns.  Some of his more familiar compositions are: “Marching to Zion”, “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross” and “Joy to the World.”  His hymn writing career came about in this way:

In England in the late 17^th century, the Puritans were in charge.  And the Puritans, of course, hated anything fun.  As far as they were concerned, as a Christian, if you weren’t miserable you were probably doing something bad.  And a part of this sort-of “anti-happiness” movement, one of things they did was outlaw all forms of sacred music except the ancient style of chanting the Psalms.  No other music was allowed – not even Christmas carols!

Well, Watts didn’t agree with this.  He felt that people should be free to express their faith in their own way.  And as part of his (and other’s) movement to counter the dreary singing of the Psalms that had taken over the church, Watts set about rewriting all of the Psalms in his own interpretation.  This was found to be incredibly popular.

Our hymn today is one of these “psalm-hymns”.  It is Watt’s take on the 90^th Psalm, and, as mentioned, it is all about time.  The text (and the hymn) contrast the fleeting nature of human life – the lack of time; against the eternal nature of God – the endless time.  And, on first reading, both text and hymn seem somewhat pessimistic – sort-of like:  “Life is so short and difficult and lousy.  What’s the point?”  But if we look closer, we see that the meaning is far deeper than this:

Against this struggle with the brief, transitory nature of human life, the Psalmist (traditionally understood to be Moses – who had lived a long life and learned a lot) – his key line (which is at the center of the Psalm, the “pivot”) is:  “Lord, teach us to number our days.”

Understand, by this the writer isn’t just saying:  “Teach us to count off each day.  To cross off another day on the calendar on our way to our death.”  No, in effect, he’s saying:  “Teach us to make the most of each day we’re given.  To get the maximum out of our time.”

So, how do we do this?  Well, drawing on themes in the text and the hymn, I would like to offer few suggestions as we start this new year.  And for the purpose of memory I’m going to organize things around the word TIME: T-I-M-E.  4 key concepts to keep in mind to make the best possible use of our time – to “increase our winnings” – in the year ahead:  T-I-M-E — Thankfulness.  Investment.  Movement.  Eternity.

Concept #1: THANKFULNESS.

Someone once said: “Everyday God gives us 86,400 seconds.  Can’t we take at least one to say ‘Thank-you’?”

In the Psalm, the author says: “Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, so that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.  Make us glad as many days as you have afflicted us…”  Notice what he’s saying:  “Life has its struggles; but every day, Lord, make sure I see the good, the gift of the day, that I embrace your love and blessing.”

The first key step in using time:  Drawing out the blessings.  Seeing the good in each day we’re given.  And what’s important to understand is that we can train ourselves to do exactly this.  How?  Well, have you ever heard of the “Reticular Activating System”?

Behavioral scientists have discovered that we usually see things that we are prepared to see.  This is all centered in a network of nerve cells called the “Reticular Activating System.”  Everybody has this system.  It works like this:  Once something has been brought to our attention, and we have been prepared to see it, we will see it virtually everywhere we go.
For example, you decide to buy a new car.  You make up your mind that you are going to buy a certain brand, a certain body style, and a certain color.  Now, suddenly you see those cars everywhere.  You see them on the roads, in TV ads, in newspapers and magazines.  They’re everywhere.
What has happened?  Well, they were always there, the difference is that, the moment you were prepared to see them, your Reticular Activating System kicked in, and suddenly you saw them everywhere.
It happens in other areas of life, too.  We see what we are prepared to see.  If we are prepared to see doom and gloom this year, then that’s what we’ll see.  If, on the other hand, we have prepared ourselves to see sunshine and opportunities, then that’s what we are going to see.

First step in making the best use of time:  The day is given.  Resolve to see the treasure, not just the struggle.  There is a gift in every day!  So many people miss it and, in response, throw away long stretches of their lives in sorrow and defeat; rather than being filled with the joy God longs for them to have!  Consider the following illustration (one on behalf of we bald people everywhere!):

There once was a woman who woke up one morning, looked in the mirror, and noticed she had only three hairs on her head.  “Well,” she said, “I think I’ll braid my hair today.”  So she did and she had a wonderful day.  The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror and saw that she had only two hairs on her head.  “Hmm,” she said, “I think I’ll part my hair down the middle today.”  So she did and she had a grand day.  The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror and noticed that she had only one hair on her head.  “Well,” she said, “today I’m going to wear my hair in a pony tail.”  So she did and she had a fun day.  The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror and noticed that there wasn’t a single hair on her head.  “Yea!” she exclaimed, “I don’t have to fix my hair today!”  And with that, she went to have a great day.

How are you choosing to see things?  The first concept to keep in mind to make the best possible use of the time given in this new year ahead, to empty out the account and get the richest “winnings”:  Thankfulness.

Concept #2: INVEST.

One author writes:  “There are 168 golden hours in each week.  The average person will spend about 56 of those hours sleeping, about 24 eating and bathing, and about 50 working or traveling to work.  That means there are only about 35 hours a week of ‘discretionary’ time left over.  That’s about 5 hours per day.  Where are you investing those hours?
“If I were to follow you around and observe you for those 5 hours, after about 10 days, I could tell you what is most important in your life.  You might not like it, or agree with it, but for some, surfing the Internet is most important to you.  For others, watching television, or reading magazines is what’s most important…  Studies have shown that, over a lifetime, the average person will spend eight months opening junk mail, two years playing phone tag, and five years waiting for people who are trying to do too much and are always late.  Is this really how we want to spend our time?

“Make no mistake:  If you don’t manage your time – someone, or something, else will manage it for you.  Some people, for instance, complain they just don’t have enough time to spend with their family, or to go to church, or to help someone in need.  Well, the truth is they’ve got exactly the same amount of time as everyone else; they just aren’t managing their time wisely.  They need to own up to the choices they are making and quit blaming others.  They need to face up to the ways they are choosing to invest their time and realize that some investments yield rich dividends, while others yield nothing.  If you don’t like your life, look at how you are investing your time.”

The second crucial issue here:  In both the Psalm and the hymn, the over-riding idea is that the authors both think their time is being wasted, lost.  They want to learn how to make better use of it.  They realize the issue is investment:  Not simply the amount of time; but using their time for activities that yield the highest payment.

How about us?  How are we spending our time – throwing it all away, or investing it in the things that really matter?  What changes might you make in this regard in the year ahead – making your life more about the things that matter to you?

Do you remember the old Harry Chapin song, “The Cat’s in the Cradle”?  The first verse says, “My child arrived just the other day.  He came to the world in the usual way.  But there were planes to catch and bills to pay.  He learned to walk while I was away.  He was talking before I knew it, and as he grew he said, “I’m going to be like you, Dad.  You know I’m going to be like you.”
The second verse says “My son turned ten just the other day.  He said, “Thanks for the ball, now come on let’s play.  Can you teach me to throw?”  I said, “Not today, I’ve got a lot to do.”  He said, “That’s OK.”  And as he walked away, he smiled and he said “You know I’m going to be like you, Dad, you know I’m going to be like you.”
The final verse says:  “I’ve long since retired and my son’s moved away.  I called him up just the other day.  I said, “I’d like to see you, if you don’t mind.”  He said, “I’d love to, Dad, if I could find the time.  You see, my new job’s a hassle and the kids have the flu, but it’s sure nice talking to you, Dad.  It’s been sure nice talking to you.”  And as I hung up the phone it occurred to me, he’d grown up just like me.  My boy was just like me.”
Undoubtedly you’ve heard the song, but here’s the rest of the story:  Harry Chapin’s wife, Sandy, actually wrote the words to that song after their son Josh was born.  It became a self-fulfilling prophecy.  When their son was 7, Harry was performing 200 concerts a year, and Sandy asked him when he was going to take some time to be with his son.  Harry promised to make some time at the end of the summer.  He never made it.  That summer, a truck hit Harry’s Volkswagen beetle and he was killed.
The second concept to keep in mind to make the best possible use of the time and get the richest “winnings”: Invest.  Which leads us to…

Concept #3:  MOVEMENT.

Have you ever heard of the word “entropy”?

Entropy is a term used in physics that refers to the amount of energy available within a system – specifically, the amount of energy not available to do useful work.  The idea is that, within a closed system, the amount of energy available to make something happen, naturally decreases over time – and will continue to diminish to nothing unless new energy is brought in from the outside.

Basically:  In Creation, things can’t remain stationary.  They are either decreasing and dying; or being enlivened by the influx of new input.  A law not only of the physical world but the spiritual:  You’re either growing or you’re dying.

And we see this happen every day:  People who lock into one moment in their lives, one thought, one way of being, refusing anything new – slowly dying off.  While others who are continually seeking some new experience, some new thought, some new challenge – seemingly forever young!

Which will it be for us in the year ahead?

Driving the thought in both the text and the hymn today: the authors want to use their time not just to survive but to get better, to grow.  They see how things are, how they are, and they don’t want to remain this way, they want to get better.  A crucial goal!

Third key concept – simply put:  Grow!  Do something this new year that makes you somehow new.  And understand, I’m not just talking about making some sort of “New Year’s Resolution” here.  The problem with most New Year’s Resolutions is that they tend to be negative: the time ahead seen almost as a curse – in which bad things are gotten rid off; rather than a blessing – in which good things are taken on.  It’s like…

I once heard this one woman’s reworking of the familiar “’Twas the Night Before Christmas” – done over for the New year.  She writes:

“‘Twas the week after Christmas, and all through the house, nothing would fit me, not even a blouse.  The cookies I’d nibbled, the fudge I did taste, all the holiday parties had gone to my waist.  When I got on the scales there arose such a number!  When I walked to the store (less a walk than a lumber).  I remembered the marvelous meals I’d prepared, the gravies and sauces and beef nicely rare.  The pies and the cakes, the bread and the cheese, and the way I never said, ‘No thank you please.’  As I dressed myself in my husband’s old shirt, and prepared once again to do battle with dirt – I said to myself, as I only can, ‘You can’t spend the winter disguised as a man!’
“So away with the last of the sour cream dip, get rid of the fruit cake, every cracker and chip.  Every last bit of food that I like must be banished, ‘till all the additional ounces have vanished.  I won’t have a cookie, not even a lick, I’ll want only to chew on a long celery stick.  I won’t have hot biscuits, or corn bread, or pie, I’ll munch on a carrot and quietly cry.  I’m hungry, I’m miserable, and life is a bore; but isn’t that what January is for?  Unable to giggle, life no longer a riot…   Happy New Year to all – and to all a good diet!”

Can you relate to that?!  Major mistake:  Seeing the time ahead simply as a time to get rid of things; rather than, far better, a time to take on new things – to keep becoming new.

Don’t give in to entropy!  Do something new!  Read a book, take a class, take a day trip to see some place you’ve always wanted to see, take up a musical instrument, try your hand at panting, challenge yourself with some new way of serving the Lord… whatever!

Returning to our opening discussion of the lottery…  Do you remember the old joke about the man who prayed every day that he would win the lottery?  Day after day, year after year he prayed: “Oh, Lord, please let me win the lottery.”  And day after day, year after year his prayers went unanswered.  Finally, one day, after decades of frustration, the man angrily shouted at God: “Lord, for 20 years I’ve been praying that you’d let me win the lottery.  And after 20 years – nothing!  What’s the deal?”  With that, a voice suddenly came from heaven saying, “Well, after 20 years, could you at least meet me half way – and actually buy a ticket?!”

The point?  If you want something new and wonderful to happen, you have to do something different!  Infuse new energy into your life.

The third concept to keep in mind to make the best possible use of the time in this new year ahead: Movement.  Make this new year new!  And finally…

Concept #4: ETERNITY.

A number of years ago a study was done in which people in their 80’s and 90’s were asked to reflect on their lives.  “If you had it to do over again,” they were asked, “what would you do differently?”  There was a multiplicity of answers, but three responses dominated.  They were:

First – “I would reflect more.”  Many felt that too much of their time was spent in “doing,” and not enough spent thinking about what they were doing and why.

   Second: “I would risk more.”  Many felt that important opportunities had been lost due to fear or procrastination.

And third:  “I would do more things that would live on after I died.”  At the end of their lives, many now wished they had devoted themselves to something bigger and more enduring than their own existence.

Reflect, risk, and leave a legacy.  The first two, of course, mirror some of the things we have just considered.  So, in closing, let us consider the last…

As noted at the outset, our text and hymn today are based around a juxtaposition of humanity’s fleeting time versus God’s endless time.  We seem to have very little time while God has all the time in the world.  How do we get greater time?  The answer?  It’s easy:

Get our lives on God’s time!  That is:  Get out of our own mortality and more into God’s eternity.  Basically, make our lives more about eternal things than temporal things.  This is how we finally best use our time – indeed, expand our time!

Final thought for the year ahead:  Choose some way that you are going to be working for something beyond your own existence, something that will outlive you, something that is part of God’s eternal work, and your time in the year ahead will be most richly blessed.  It may be something simple right within the personal relationships you already have, it may be something out in the world at large; but whatever, seek some cause, some purpose, bigger than yourself.  One author writes:

“In 2005, when Thomas Cannon died of colon cancer in a hospital in Richmond, Virginia, he was 79.  Thomas described himself a ‘poor man’s philanthropist.’

“When Thomas was 3-years-old, his father died. Once Thomas’ mother remarried, the family of six lived in a three-room wooden shack without running water or electricity.

“As an adult, Thomas went to work with the postal service. He never made more than $25,000 a year.  Upon retirement, he and his wife lived very simply.  Yet over the course of 33 years, Thomas gave away more than $156,000.  His gifts were mainly in the form of $1,000 checks given to people he read about in the newspaper who were going through hard times or who especially exemplified courage or kindness.  A youth worker in a low-income apartment complex, a volunteer faithfully serving at an elementary school, a Vietnamese couple wanting to return home to visit, and a teenager abandoned as an infant were some of the recipients of Thomas’ benevolence.

“Thomas’ motivation came from an incident that happened as a young man while away at Naval signal school.  When an explosion at Chicago’s Port took the lives of many of his shipmates, Thomas concluded ‘he had been spared to help others.’  This led to his passion for giving.

“Coates and his wife lived very simply, even frugally; but they were well known for being extremely happy – it seems, because they had discovered the secret to having the time of their lives: live for a purpose that outlives you!”

“Lord, teach us to number our days,” says the Psalmist.

A New Year is before us – we have each won the lottery!  Let’s collect our winnings, make great use of the time ahead of us.  Remember: T-I-M-E – Thankfulness, Investment, Movement, Eternity.

“Go, Tell It on the Mountain”  Luke 2:15-20

In a recent magazine article, Christian author Debbie Harmon tells of a discussion she had with her young son, a few years ago, around Christmastime.  She writes:

“My three-year-old son, Grant, came home from church and told me that he learned a new song in Sunday School all about the animals at the first Christmas.  Specifically, the goats.  I told him I had never heard of any song about ‘Christmas Goats’, so I asked him to sing it.  He began: ‘Goats tell it on the mountain, over the hills and everywhere.  Goats tell it on the mountain, that Jesus Christ is born.’”

As far as he was concerned, it made perfect sense:  Goats were the first evangelists!  At the first Christmas, even the animals shared the message of Jesus’ birth.  It was news too good to keep in!

How about us?  Are we going to share the message of Christ’s birth which we celebrate this day?

Our topic for this morning:  Letting people know that a Savior has been born.  And our hymn (in our continuing look at great Christian music):  “Go” – not just the goats but all of us! – “Go, Tell It On the mountain.”  The background to his very popular Christmas carol is this:

This hymn is the product of the prayers and faith of an unknown slave (or slaves), at some point before the Civil War.  During the shameful period of slavery in our country, unknown African American slaves, held in chains, humiliated and cruelly treated, longed for freedom.  In spite of their plight, or perhaps because of it, God inspired some among them to produce songs of incredible majesty and haunting beauty.  Most slaves could obviously neither read nor write, so their songs were preserved only in the vocal tradition – passed down person-to-person from the fields to small slave churches, eventually coming into white churches and even concert halls.
Many of these songs have been saved, however, because of the devotion of John Wesley Work, a African American church choir director in Nashville, Tennessee.  One of the few educated African Americans in the South, Work decided that the next generation needed to know and learn the songs their ancestors sang during the days of slavery, that this great art should not be lost.  Work’s brother, Frederick, is credited with being one of the first to recognize the power and potential of the song, “Go Tell It on the Mountain.”
The song captures the feeling of an unknown slave from whose heart these words sprang.  Probably unable to read the Bible, but having heard the story, this anonymous poet imagined the reaction of the shepherds as the great light from heaven shone around them at the first Christmas.  He pictures them receiving the message from the angels and going to see the child, and then, being so overcome by what they have witnessed, running off to tell everyone they meet!

It is a song of incredible joy and exuberance.

Think about that…

It is a song written by a slave.  By a person’s whose suffering and hardship is beyond our imagining.  Yet, while we bemoan every single problem in our lives, continually cry out that our existence is so difficult; this person who has nothing – less than nothing – is overflowing with joy.

And why?

Because he knows what he has:  He has Jesus in his heart.  And thus he has the message of Jesus to share.

It’s the greatest gift you can possess and the greatest gift you can give.

Today is all about giving.  Are we going to offer this greatest gift?

Some 200-or-so years ago, an anonymous slave, a person who had nothing, saw himself as rich because he knew what he had – and he knew that the only way to really posses it was by giving it away.  He had learned the lesson of the shepherds 2,000 years ago – again, individuals who came to the birthday party of our Savior with nothing to give; but who realized what they now possessed: a message to share.  Writes one scholar:

“Luke tells us that after the shepherds saw Jesus: ‘…they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child; and all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them.’  Imagine that!  The first evangelists on earth were those lowly, foul-smelling shepherds.  They were the very first to say: ‘We have seen the Lord!’
“In these times of much fear and anxiety, the next time someone asks, ‘What do you know that’s good?’ don’t just mumble something like ‘Nothin’ much.’  Say ‘God is good, all the time,’ or just share something that the Lord has done in your life recently.  No one’s asking you to preach.  Just to look for opportunities to offer Jesus.  Trust me, God will honor it and through his Holy Spirit use it.
“The shepherds spread the good news all over the Bethlehem region.  Surely you and I can spread it through our homes, and offices, and neighborhoods.”

You know, I once saw a church signboard that read:  “Keep the Faith…  But not to yourself.”  Good advice.

So how do we go about sharing the message of Jesus?

Well, sometimes it involves outright telling people about Jesus – what we know of him, what we have experienced and learned  of him – as with the shepherds at the first Christmas.  Sometimes, it involves just being a joyful, happy people in the midst of a frequently very cynical and depressed world – again, as with the shepherds.

But, drawing even deeper on the example of the shepherds in our text (for whom our hymn for today would have us focus upon) I would like to offer two suggestions, this Christmas morning, for going forth and giving the gift of Jesus today – and every day…

Suggestion #1:  BE DIFFERENT.

Luke tells us that after the shepherds visited the Holy Family and saw the newborn Jesus, the fulfillment of what the angel had told them:  “The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.”

The shepherds went back, back to their job, back to their work – but they went back different people.  They had been changed by the experience.  They had been changed by drawing close to Jesus.

A famous preacher once said:  “The greatest proof of the truth of Jesus Christ is a changed life.”  Coming into contact with Jesus should change us:  Change things within us, of how we have been behaving – putting aside those things that are wrong with us, in favor of the ways of Christ.  And we should be different from the world around us.  We should stand out.  This is central to the experience of Christ and the sharing of Him.  As it has been said:

“To be a witness does not consist in engaging in propaganda nor even in stirring people up, but in being a living mystery.  It means to live in such a way that one’s life would not make sense if God did not exist.”

One of the best ways to proclaim the message of Jesus Christ is just being different people – a difference that draws people to want to know what we have experienced.  “Liv(ing) in such a way that one’s life would not make sense if God did not exist.”

Unfortunately, Christmas, which is supposed to be about becoming different, more often than not just brings about more of the same.  Often even more of the worst of the same.  As one author writes:

“Christmas shopping was wearing thin.  The little girl was about three years old, obviously tired and pushed beyond her limits.  The long line at the register was moving slowly.  Her mother’s patience was stretched to the breaking point, and her voice was impatient.  ‘Straighten up and be nice,’ the mother said as the child began to cry and whine.  ‘Mommy,’ came the reply, “I’m all out of nice!’”

Can you relate to that?  Do you ever feel that way during the Christmas season?  “All out of nice”?!

Christmas should be about bringing out the best in us, Christ coming into the world to transform us, changing for the better – being different from how we have been, different from the world.  It is one of the most powerful ways to proclaim the birth of a Savior – without even saying a word!  How, this Christmas day – and in all the days ahead, might we be different?  Instead of being critical or judgmental or cynical or selfish or resentful or stingy or despairing – whatever the issue most commonly is for each of us; being (instead) joyful and hopeful and merciful and giving and sacrificial… and loving?!  Displaying a difference that draws others to want what we have: the love of Jesus Christ in our hearts.

Suggestion #1 in sharing the message of Christ this Christmas:  Be different.  And then…

Suggestion #2:  RISK BELIEVING.

The shepherds were out in the fields keeping watch over their flocks by night, when suddenly an angel appeared and told them that the Messiah had been born.  From just this, they left their flocks in the fields, ran off to investigate, and told everyone they could what they had seen.

Think about this…

This is very risky behavior!  Could you imagine being willing to look this foolish?  Potentially being laughed at?  Potentially being the butt of everyone’s joke: “I think those shepherds have been smoking something up there on the hills!”  Potentially losing your livelihood – your flocks left alone out on the hills – all on a vision in the night?!

Let’s face it:  Most often we aren’t willing to look foolish at all – let alone on this scale.  An angelic vision in the night we would pass off to wishful thinking – or indigestion.  Risk for the Lord?  You have to be crazy!

Well, from some people’s perspective – then and now – the shepherds were.  But it seems they didn’t care.  They were willing to risk believing.  And understand – this is crucial:  By definition, truly believing in Christ always requires risk: risking to believe in new life, in forgiveness, in conversion, in change, in hope.

If we’re not risking, we’re not believing.

How might we risk believing in Jesus Christ this Christmas?  Risk looking foolish?  Risk caring?  Risk witnessing?  Risk reaching out?   Risk forgiving?  Risk sharing?  Risk sacrificing?  Risk hoping?  Risk believing in someone – that God loves them and can still work miracles in and for them?

How are we going to risk for the Lord today?

In closing, consider the following story recently reported by CBS News:

Every year, CBS News correspondent Steve Hartman goes out with Secret Santa – an anonymous businessman who travels the country at Christmas time.  Secret Santa randomly goes up to people in bus stations and thrift stores and hands out 100 dollar bills.

“We can change the world one random act of kindness at a time,” says Secret Santa.

The reactions from the people receiving money are priceless – from surprise to utter disbelief.  Secret Santa spends sometimes more than $100,000 of his own money on this venture.

Is it worth it?

“You don’t know what these people are going to do with this money,” Hartman asked.  “Do you care?”

“No,” Secret Santa replied.  “Because one of the things that I do is, I do not judge.”

That’s a good thing, because separating the naughty from nice is definitely not his forte.

One of the people Secret Santa gave money to is 30-year-old Thomas Coates.

“I didn’t earn that,” Coates said to Secret Santa.

“You deserve it,” Secret Santa replied.  “Because I can tell you’re a good man.”

Coates started to tear up, and said the last time he was called a good man was “by maybe, um, my mom years ago.”

Coates is a deadbeat by most accounts, including his own.  Addicted to heroin, he recently hocked his own son’s toys for drug money – that’s how bad it is.

Thomas Coates, age 30, struggles with drug addiction in Reading, Pa.  “I haven’t worked in over a year,” Coates said.  “I spent so much time in and out of treatment facilities.”

Why his girlfriend hasn’t left him and taken their son is a mystery – even to her.  But she is now running out of patience.  Which is why the night before we met him – during yet another one of their many fights – she suggested he try something radical: a prayer.

Coates said his girlfriend told him, “Maybe you can shoot a prayer up to God real quick.  I know you don’t really believe in him, but maybe you should start.”

And so he did pray for the first time since his childhood.  Then, out of the blue, Secret Santa shows up slipping $100 bills into his hand.   A display of that kind of kindness from a total stranger the very day after he prayed was too much of a coincidence for this atheist to bear.

“It’s amazing,” Coates said.  “That to me was a miracle. That was God saying, ‘Alright, you had enough now.  I’m going to show you something.’”

After meeting Secret Santa, Coates checked himself into a treatment facility.  And although he’s done it before, he says this will be the first time he’s done it with a higher power at the helm.

A whole bunch of people risked believing: in God, in prayer, in offering another chance, in seeing the good in someone, in tangibly acting to let that person know it, in choosing to try to change.

People risked believing; and rebirth – the very heart of the Gospel first born in Bethlehem – happened!

“Goats tell it on the mountain…”

If they can do it, why can’t we?

The greatest gift one can ever possess and the greatest possible gift we can ever give:  The message of a Savior’s birth.

A lot of gift giving going on today.  Give Jesus.  Share the message of a Savior’s birth.  If necessary, use words; but whatever:  Be different.  And risk believing.

“Hark! The Herald Angels Sing”

Luke 2:8-14

Rev. Clark Lynn Callender, 12/18/11

Preacher King Duncan tells the following story of an event that occurred at one church’s Christmas Eve service a number of years ago.  He writes:

“A mother took her three-year-old daughter to church for the first time.  The church was having its annual Christmas Eve candlelight service.  The church lights were lowered, and the choir came down the aisle, carrying lighted candles.  All was perfectly quiet until this three-year-old started to sing in a loud voice, ‘Happy birthday to you…’

“I guess it was the candlelight, as, apparently, it all just seemed like a birthday party to the little girl.  Needless to say, the very solemn, dignified opening of worship that the pastor and music director had planned was now ruined as, throughout the congregation, people struggled not to snicker.

“But suddenly, members of the choir began to turn to one another, as if all having the same idea at the same time.  And with that, they proceeded to lead the congregation in singing, in four-part harmony, ‘Happy Birthday’ to Jesus.”

It was not exactly the start of worship that had been planned; but it was, perhaps, the most fitting one possible.  What the night was, and is, truly all about:  A spontaneous, joyful birthday celebration.  A royal birth announcement breaking forth in the night.

The royal birth announcement that is Christmas.  This is something of what I’d like to explore this morning.

Today, in our continuing look at great Christian music, the hymn we are considering is “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing.”  And for this hymn we Methodists can take particular pride – for it was written by one of the founders of Methodism, namely:  Charles Wesley.

In the early 1700’s, the Church of England (the Anglican Church) was completely out-of-touch with the needs of the world outside its walls.  Particularly, the needs of the poor.  Poverty being rampant in 18^th century England.

Two Anglican priests, two brothers, John and Charles Wesley were deeply disturbed by this, so they began a movement to reform Christianity in England – particularly in regards to social action: getting out and actually caring for and helping the needy.

Those who opposed their efforts gave their group the nickname “the Methodists” – because the members were so methodical in their work.  The title was originally a put-down, but the early Methodists took it as a badge of honor – yes, indeed, they were methodical: very thoughtful and organized in their good deeds – and so, the name stuck!  Why do you think we have all these meetings all the time?  It’s because that’s what Methodists do: we are methodical!

Well, the Wesley’s never intended to start a new denomination.  Their goal was simply to reform the Church of England.  But eventually, those in authority within the Church declared them outcasts.

The primary leader of this new movement was John.  And Charles, effectively, became the Music Director.  Now, remember, this was a time of widespread illiteracy.  How do you teach people who can’t read the basics of faith?  You teach them through song, you set ideas to music through which they’re easily remembered.  Thus the Methodists became known as “The Singing Church.”

Charles Wesley wrote over 4,000 hymns during his lifetime.  Hymns that are, today, used by Christians of all denominations.  Hymns such as “Christ the Lord is Risen Today”; and “O, For a Thousand Tongues to Sing”; and our hymn for today, one of the most popular Christmas carols of all time.

Written in 1739 (one year after his own conversion experience), “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” is a classic Wesley hymn in that it is cram-packed with deep theology.  There is never any “light fluff” with Wesley.  Think about how the hymn begins:  “Hark!  The herald angels sing, ‘Glory to the newborn King; peace on earth, and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled!’”

In just the opening line Wesley gets right down to what this is all about – the whole event of Jesus Christ:  The reconciliation of God and sinful humanity.  That is, Christmas is not just about warm feelings, and lighted trees, and present and parties; it is about healing the broken relationship between God and humankind.  Wesley goes on to explore this idea in the hymn – touching upon the topics of eternal life, incarnation, virgin birth, healing, salvation, being born again… all in just three verses!

It is classic Wesley in that it is overflowing with ideas all centered around the theme of salvation: God and sinners reconciled – those who are “out” being brought “in”.   And in this, it’s interesting to consider some of the history of this hymn – some of the “twists and turns” it has made in its lifetime…

To begin with, the music that we sing this carol to is not the music Wesley intended for it.  He originally saw this as a very serious hymn and he set it to very somber music.  In this form, the hymn never really took off.

However, a few years after Wesley wrote it, a musician by the name of William Cummings took some music by the classical composer Felix Mendelssohn – music which Mendelssohn had written for a secular cantata celebrating the work of Guttenberg and the printing press, but music which Mendelssohn said would never be appropriate for sacred use.  Well, Cummings put Wesley’s words to Mendelssohn’s music (ironically connecting the Wesley’s tireless work in the field of literacy to Guttenberg!) and it stuck; but most experts say that both the lyricist and the composer would not have approved!

Beyond this, the poetry alone takes a curious path:  In the mid-1700’s a publisher in England was putting together a new Book of Common Prayer for the Church of England.  He had some space to fill and happened to come upon this nice poem by some guy named Wesley, so he put it in.

Now, as mentioned, as far as the leadership of the Church of England was concerned, the Wesley’s were on the “outs”!  They couldn’t have a Wesley poem in the Church’s Book of Prayer!  When the error was discovered, attempts were made to have it removed; but the poem proved so popular that it was allowed to remain.  Thus Charles Wesley’s ideas got in where he himself was not permitted to go!

But even this is not the end of this great hymn’s story.  The most important event happens early on:

Wesley’s original refrain was: “Hark! How all the welkin rings, ‘Glory to the newborn king!’”  The word “welkin” is an old English word and it means “the sky” or “the heavens”.  So Wesley’s original idea is that of all the heavens ringing forth with the birth of Christ.

But early on, a prominent preacher of the time (considered by many to be the greatest preacher of all time), George Whitfield, didn’t like this line and so he changed it to how we now know it: “Hark!  The herald angels sing…”

What’s funny about this is that Whitfield and the Wesleys didn’t get along!  They were the two biggest names in the religious world at the time and they had begun as friends but had had a serious falling out over issues of faith, and ended up constantly arguing about theology.  Often declaring each other to be downright evil – totally wrong about faith in Jesus Christ!

For artistic, and personal, reasons Wesley did not approve of Whitfield’s change, but it stuck.  Thus, forever, two opposing sides: Whitfield’s words and Wesley’s theology – joined together.  And notice, this is basically the over-riding theme of the entire history of this hymn:  Opposing sides, different factions – each declaring what’s right/ what’s wrong; who’s in/ who’s out – in music, in the church, in personal relationships; being brought together – united!

The history of the hymn itself oddly playing out the primary message of the hymn: “God and sinners reconciled” – those who are “out” being brought in!  And in this, notice why Whitfield’s change is so particularly important:

As mentioned, Wesley’s original words sang of just a kind-of general celebration of the heavens.  But in changing the words to: “Hark!  The herald (that is, the messenger) angels sing,” the song now focuses us upon a specific moment in the story of salvation:  The moment, on a hill overlooking Bethlehem, when the messenger angels announced Jesus’ birth.

And who did they announce it to?  Who was first to be notified?

Some shepherds.  And this is crucial…

We tend to have this kind of beautiful, pastoral image of shepherds.  But, in Jesus’ day, this was not the case.  In ancient times, shepherds were considered to be the lowest of the low.  Unclean, smelly, kind of shiftless and shady characters.  They were not allowed to give testimony in court – because they were not considered trustworthy.  They were not permitted to worship in the temple – because they were unclean.  If your daughter came home and announced that she was marrying a shepherd, you would probably would have had her disowned.  To put it in modern terms:  It would be like, today, having your daughter come home and announce that she is marrying a drug-dealer.  This is just how low, and scummy – and outcast, rejected by proper society – they were viewed.

Yet, the royal birth announcement is sent to them.  Not to any world leaders, not to the religious authorities, not to certain pious, devout, “good” people; but to some shepherds hanging out at work!  This is whom God “friends” first!

And why?

Because this is what Jesus is all about!  The “out” to be brought in!  “God and sinners reconciled!”

In this, what does the birth announcement of Jesus, sent first to some shepherds 2,000 years ago (as reflected in our hymn today), mean to say to us?  What message does it have for us today?  A couple of thoughts…

(I)

   First:  the birth announcement that the herald angels sang tells us that WE ARE LOVED.

Obviously, this is where we begin:  By sending the angels first to some shepherds, it is God’s way of saying to everyone everywhere, to each of us:

“No matter what – within you or beyond you – says that you are outside the love of God, rejected, evil, wrong, hopeless; that’s not how I see you.  I come for you.  I give Jesus to you.  This is all for you!”

The first message we are meant to hear from the herald angels:  No matter what we have done, it is not held against us.  We are loved.  In God’s sight we are not tied to yesterday.  We can be new today – because he has come to share our lives and take our wrongs from us, on to himself.  “Born to raise us from the earth, born to give us second birth…  Pleased with us in flesh to dwell, Jesus, our Emmanuel!”  God with us – not against us!  One author writes:

“Once upon a time, a grandfather stopped by his daughter’s house to visit his young grandson.  When he arrived there, he found his grandson jumping up and down in his playpen, crying at the top of his lungs.  As soon as the small boy spotted his grandfather, he reached up his chubby little hands and began calling, ‘Out, Gramps!  Out!’

“As was only natural, the grandfather began to reach down to lift the boy out of the playpen; but just as he was about to do so, the mother of the child stepped up and said, ‘No, Timmy, you are being punished.  You must stay in.’

“The grandfather was at a loss to know what to do.  The child’s tears, and calls, and chubby little uplifted hands reached deep into his heart.  But the mother’s firmness in correcting her son’s errors could not be dismissed.  What was he to do?  He had no idea.  Then, suddenly, it came to him…

“He couldn’t take his grandson out of the playpen, but he couldn’t stand to leave him there either, so he did the only thing he could do:  He climbed into the playpen with him!  And the two had a great time.

Love found a way.  Punishment was rightly pending, but the Father’s love was so great, he climbed in here with us!  The message of Christmas!

What wrong, what failure plagues you – holds life back from you?  The birth announcement of Jesus is first meant to tell us that we are loved – no matter what.  From this, then…

(II)

   Secondly, it tells us that THIS IS WHERE LIFE IS FOUND.

As mentioned, at the very outset of the hymn, Wesley makes it clear what the whole thing is going to be about:  “God and sinners reconciled.”  In other words, the saving work begun at Christmas is not about warm feelings and sentimental thoughts, it is about confronting our sin and forming a relationship with God in Jesus Christ – he who comes to take our sins from us that we may truly be in relationship with God.  The announcement, going first to the shepherds, then reinforcing this fact:  Not going to world leaders, religious authorities but to “average Joes” – most especially, outcasts; making clear that it is, for each of us, our “outer” status – apart from God – that must ultimately be addressed.

To put it another way, the second point here is this:  It’s seeing that this is what we must address:  Our relationship with God – and anything that stands between that relationship.  Everything hinges on this.  If we don’t get this, the rest is pointless.  If we do get this, the rest falls into line.

But, you see, this is often last on our lists.  We generally think getting our life together is about everything but this:  What we need is more money, or a better job, some health problem taken care of, the economy to turn around, a relationship fixed… whatever.  Everything but forming a living relationship with God.  As one scholar writes:

“These days, people tend to reduce things to the temporal and physical.  But it’s curious:  When Jesus came, he could have brought political peace and delivered Israel from Roman rule, he could have put money in everyone’s pocket, he could have fed all the hungry and healed all the sick; but he didn’t – because our greatest problem isn’t physical of political or financial: it is spiritual.  And until we address this we will never get better!”

Let’s face it, we often think this is what we least have to address.  In the extreme, I’m reminded of the letter a little boy once wrote to Santa.  It read, “Dear Santa: There are three boys at my house.  Jeffrey is two, David is four, and Norman is seven.  Jeffrey is good some of the time, David is good most of the time, but Norman is good all of the time.  PS:  I am Norman.  I await my presents.”

Well, I’ve got news for you, Norman:  No one bats 1000!

But you can see the thought, can’t you?  “I don’t need all this.  Maybe others do.  I just need a few things to make my life perfect.  I can handle the rest perfectly fine on my own, thank you very much.”  A very common sentiment – basically:  “I don’t really need all this religious stuff, let me keep it all as minimal as possible.  All I need is enough faith to get my prayers answered.  The rest I’ll take care of myself.”  We don’t want a real claim of the Lord upon our lives – just a superficial acknowledgment!

The problem is God didn’t come into the world as a vending machine; he came into the world as Jesus – as a baby, an infant that immediately had to be cradled in human arms!  Jesus is God in relationship.  It’s what the whole thing is about!  And if we miss this, we miss the whole thing!  Conversely, however, if we embrace it, we embrace the whole thing!

God is saying in the birth announcement of Jesus, “Just want me.  And drive away everything that stands in the way of this: fear, doubt, pride, stubbornness, selfishness, control… whatever.  Just want me, and everything will be yours.”

This Christmas, are you seeking only Jesus – or something else?  Until you are ready to “give up” and just seek only him you will struggle.

I once heard a lifeguard describe his experience in saving people from drowning.  He said that every lifeguard knows that as long as a person is trying to save themselves, you can’t do anything for them; because, in their flailing around, they will only take you under with them.

So, the lifeguard said, when he swims out to a drowning person, he has to wait until they stop thrashing about.  When they finally give up, it’s then easy to reach over, pull their arm over your shoulder, and swim back to shore.  “There’s really nothing to it,” he said.  “But you can’t save someone as long as they are trying to save themselves.”

How are you trying to save yourself?  To keep what Christ is ultimately all about at arm’s length?  His real claim upon your Life?  A living relationship with God?  “Just give me some ‘things,’ Lord, not yourself!”

If, right now, no matter what the problems in your life, something inside you is saying “I just want Jesus in my life”… you are not far from the kingdom of heaven.  Let that one desire take you over completely.

The birth announcement is secondly meant to tell us that this alone is where life is found.

(III)

   Thirdly, then, it warns us that WE MAY BE PART OF THE PROBLEM.

Simply put:  God goes to the “outs” thus pointing us all to have to see that this is something we all so often, sadly, do:  We separate.  We declare certain people “out”.  It begins early in our lives on the playground and carries right on through into adulthood in our political and social actions.  We do this through outright bigotry and racism; we do this through subtle judgment and condemnation; we do this in personal relationships where we hold grudges and resentments.

The message of the angels?  This is not what God does and neither should we!  It challenges all those ways, in our own hearts, we cast others out – declare them outside the love of God; and it calls us to stand up and fight within ourselves, and wherever in the world around us, someone is being declared “out”!  It means refusing every speck of bigotry within us; it means standing up and challenging any biased statements or actions; it means refusing to hold judgment against anyone – in fact, actively striving to reach out in kindness to those who may have hurt us… it means standing up and fighting for anyone who is being kept out!  Most especially when it doesn’t seem like our cause – because, truly, in Christ, their cause is our cause!

You know, the story is told that, many years ago, in the 1930’s, a woman named Ruth Rosenberg was stranded late one night at a very fashionable resort – one that did not admit Jews.  Well, Ruth came in and asked for a room and the desk clerk had her sign the register book.  But when he turned the book back and saw her name, the bigoted desk clerk, judging her simply by her name, said, “Ah, I’m sorry, ma’am, we have no rooms.  The hotel is full.”  Ruth Rosenberg said, “But your sign says that you have vacancies.”
The desk clerk stammered for a moment and then said curtly, “Listen, you know that we do not admit Jews.  Now if you will try the other side of town…”  Mrs. Rosenberg stiffened noticeably and said, “I have number of problems with this.  But, first of all, I’ll have you know that I am a Christian.”
The desk clerk said, “Oh, yeah, right… Rosenberg.  Well if you’re a Christian, let me give you a little test.  How was Jesus born?”  Mrs. Rosenberg replied, “He was born to a virgin named Mary in a little town called Bethlehem.”
“Very good,” replied the hotel clerk.  “Tell me more.”  Mrs. Rosenberg replied, “He was born in a manger.”
“That’s right,” said the hotel clerk.  “And why was he born in a manger?”  At that, Mrs. Rosenberg said loudly enough for everyone in the lobby to hear, “Our Savior Jesus Christ was born in a manger because 2,000 years ago a jerk just like you in the hotel wouldn’t give a Jewish lady a room for the night!”

The birth of Jesus calls us all to fight for whoever is being kept out of God’s love!  Are we willing to fight this fight – most especially for those we may personally have been declaring “out”?  The birth announcement is thirdly meant to warn us that we may be part of the problem.  And then, finally…

(IV)

   Fourth, it reminds us that SOMEONE NEEDS TO BE WELCOMED IN.  Preacher Bill Bouknight writes:

“I know of a certain family which has for years spent a Saturday in mid-December finding and bringing home the right Christmas tree.  They do not buy a tree off a lot.  Instead, they prefer to go to a tree farm.  There they spend much time selecting the tree that is just right – not too tall, not too thin, with just the right shape.  Then the tree is cut down and brought home.  Last year the choice was very difficult.  Not because there weren’t a lot of beautiful trees available.  The problem was that the youngest member of the family, little Jeannine, didn’t like any of the really pretty ones.  Her attitude was different.  She said, ‘I’m looking for a tree that needs help.  Then I’ll take it home and make it beautiful.’”

She had it down – what Christmas is all about:  God, in Jesus Christ, came looking for those in need that he might make their lives beautiful.  And, as his followers, we are called to do the same.

This is finally what it’s all about:  The message of the angels to those shepherds on a hill all those years ago reminds us today, that, somewhere, someone on the “outside” needs to know they’re in – in with us, in with God, in the kingdom – and we can do that!  And that this is finally what it means to be a Christian: to help someone else to know, today, that they are loved by God, that they are “in.”

Who needs this from us?  Someone failed, flawed, sinful, weak, struggling?  How might we do this, this week?  In a moment shared, in a sacrifice, in a kindness?   Make no mistake:  This week, each and every one of us will encounter at least one person who feels very outcast, someone who desperately needs to feel welcomed in.  Will we go out of our way to make it happen?  In closing, consider the following:

Preacher William Barker tells about attending, many years ago, a Christmas party in a children’s hospital.  Fred Rogers (“Mister Rogers”) and his pianist, Johnny Costa, were entertaining the children.  One little boy who was suffering from cerebral palsy asked to sing a carol.  The child’s speech was halting and uncertain.
When he began to sing “Silent Night,” the sound was wavering and awkward.  The boy not only had difficulty in framing the words for the carol, but shifted key on every note.  As he began painfully to meander through the hymn, the rendition was so impossibly bad that nearly everyone shuddered and tried to shut out the discordant sounds.
Johnny Costa, however, suddenly began to quietly provide background music for the little boy’s solo.  On the hospital’s little portable electric organ, Costa wove beautiful chords with each note the child sang, and no matter how off-key the line was, brought beauty and harmony into the child’s singing.  Eventually Costa seemed almost to be able to anticipate where the little boy’s next croak would be on the scale and worked the boy’s note into one of the most beautiful performances of “Silent Night” imaginable.

When the song concluded, people were in tears, and the boy received a standing ovation.  He beamed with joy.

While everyone else was just waiting for it to be over, Costa did what he could to help someone on the “outside” to get “in” – and Christmas happened.

Will we do the same?

“Hark!  The herald angels sing, ‘Glory to the newborn king!’”  The royal birth announcement of our Savior Jesus Christ, delivered first to some shepherds; reminding us all, this Christmas: that we are loved, that this is where we must go to find life, that we may be part of the problem, and that someone needs to be welcomed in.

“Silent Night, Holy Night”

Luke 2:1-7

Rev. Clark Lynn Callender, 12/4/11

In his book, Twang! The Ultimate (Collection) of Country Music Quotations, editor Raymond Obstfeld tells the following story – he writes:

“Country music star Travis Tritt spent many years playing out-of-the-way joints before he made it big in the music industry.  He reports that many of the bars were dangerous places, with drunk fans starting fights over the smallest matters.  But Tritt found a unique way to keep the peace in such situations.  He says:

“(The Christmas carol) ‘Silent Night’ proved to be my all-time lifesaver.  Just when (bar fights) started getting out of hand, when bikers were reaching for their pool cues and rednecks were heading for the gun rack, I’d start playing ‘Silent Night.’  It could be the middle of July, I didn’t care.  Sometimes they’d even start crying, standing there watching me sweat while playing the old Christmas carol.”

“Silent Night” – the song for bringing calm when everything is falling apart.  Something of what I’d like to talk about this morning.  Our next hymn in our ongoing study of great Christian music:  “Silent Night, Holy Night”.  The story behind this hymn is as follows:

On December 24th, 1818 in the little village of Oberndorf, Austria, the whole town was preparing for the Christmas service, the highlight of the season.  But Father Joseph Mohr, pastor of the church, was more than a little worried.  The Christmas Eve service he had been preparing for weeks was falling apart all around him.  The chapel organ had become broken, and heavy snowfall kept the repairman from the next village from being able to get there.  The Christmas service would be devoid of all the special music that had been prepared.
For months, leading up to this, Father Mohr had wanted to write a new song for Christmas.  But, what with one thing and another, he had never gotten around to it.  Now with all the rest of the music gone, he desperately wanted something unique to praise the Lord.  At that moment, he suddenly recalled a poem he had written two years earlier…

One day, at Christmastime 1816, as he sat at his desk working on his sermon, he saw someone struggling through the snow toward his cabin.  He opened the door and saw a woman, who explained to him that a young couple from over the mountain had asked that he come and bless their first born child who had just been delivered.
Bundling up, the priest made his way to their home.  Upon his arrival he saw the most beautiful scene.  There lay the new mother in her bed smiling as she and the father were looking in the little wooden crib beside the bed that held their newborn son.  The couple was obviously very poor, the surroundings quite meager, but they were so filled with joy and peace as they looked at their new son… nothing else mattered.  The moment moved Rev. Mohr’s heart deeply.
He blessed the baby and the parents.  Then as he trudged home through the silent snow, he began to think of how this family must have been like the scene in Bethlehem centuries before on the first Christmas night.  The words of a poem describing the moment came to him, and as soon as he arrived home he wrote them down.

Returning then to Christmas Eve, 1818…

Suddenly this poem he had written two years earlier came to mind.  He rushed to his friend Franz Gruber, the church organist, and asked him if he could compose a tune to the poem.  Gruber said that he could.  But, of course, without the organ to accompany them, and due to the obvious time constraints upon them, it would have to be something simple, quickly learned, accompanied by just a few chords of a guitar.  And this is how the hymn came into the world:

On Christmas Eve 1818, the little congregation in Oberndorf heard “Silent Night, Holy Night” for the first time.  Gruber accompanied Mohr on the guitar as they both sang.  The song then going on to become what many consider to be the most translated and sung song in human history.  An all-time favorite.  A staple of Christmas Eve services ever since!

A day that began with everything seeming to be coming completely “unglued,” ended in unimaginable blessing.  A day that began with overwhelming anxiety and fear, ended in perfect calm and peace.  The story of this great hymn is one of God providing in a most amazing and unusual way to meet a pressing need.  It’s a story that seeks to speak to us a message of calm when life seems to be falling apart all around us.  That’s the over-riding theme of the whole carol in both word and melody:  “Silent night, holy night, all is calm, all is bright round yon virgin mother and child.  Holy infant, so tender and mild, sleep in heavenly peace, sleep in heavenly peace.”

A call for calm amidst a world that is coming completely unglued.  A message that speaks straight to the story of the first Christmas, as reflected in our familiar Gospel reading today…

If ever there were two people for whom life seemed to be unraveling around them, it was Mary and Joseph.  Engaged to be married, making their plans for their life together, only to have all of these plans being thrown out the window.  She found to be pregnant by the Holy Spirit, having to explain this to him, he having to learn to accept it.  The two then facing the inevitable gossip and rejection of those around them.  The months passing, it’s time for her to deliver; but a census is called and they have to travel many miles right as she has come to term.  And then, as if things weren’t bad enough already, arriving in Bethlehem to find no place to stay, and having to give birth in a stable – being too poor to arrange for anything better.

Everything seeming to be going about as wrong as possible, but God, of course, working within this the greatest blessing of all time.  The message, in both text and hymn:  Calm.  Yes, it so often seems like life is coming unglued; but that’s why Jesus came into the world.

What does the story of the Bethlehem birth, as reflected in the great Christmas hymn, teach us about finding calm when everything seems to be falling apart?  Three thoughts – three invitations…

(I)

   Invitation #1: TRUST.

Have you ever heard of the stress scale invented by psychologist Thomas Holmes?  He developed the scale that helps you measure the stress in your life.  For instance, job loss is 35 points, getting married 50 points, moving to a new city 25 points, etc.   Holmes surmised that just living through a typical Christmas season produced 14 stress points.  You add up all the points, and if your score is 200 or more, you are in grave danger of a nervous breakdown.
Well, recently, Christian author Bridget Kuhns took Holmes’ scale and applied it to the Virgin Mary on the first Christmas.  She calculated that any pregnancy is worth 40 points, and an unplanned pregnancy adds 20 more.  And how many stress points do you get for having to tell your parents that you are a virgin and pregnant?  Mary moved in with Elizabeth (a relative) for three months.  That’s 25 points on the Holmes scale.  Marrying Joseph produced another 50 points.  The family argument that Kuhns says must have happened when Joseph failed to make a reservation in Bethlehem during the holiday season chipped in another 35 points.  Giving birth earns another 39 points.  Kuhns also added points for changes in sleeping and eating habits, 31 points on the Holmes scale.
And then there were all those guests during the Christmas season – angels and shepherds coming and going and three kings from the East calling on the Holy Family.  Holmes reported that people get sick at the 200 point level.  Poor Mary.  Bridget Kuhns calculated her stress level as 424!

Mary must have been completely stressed-out!  The way things were going, she must have figured God was totally against her!  But, of course, God was actually totally with her, about to work the greatest gift in human history!  So likewise, back in 1818, Father Mohr must have thought everything was against him, but God was actually working something wonderful for him.

The first invitation here, when life seems to be falling apart:  Trust.  Simply trust (and refuse any voice that says otherwise) that God is present, that God knows your problem and is working something absolutely wonderful for you- that’s why Jesus came!  One author writes:

“Wes Seeliger, a United Methodist minister, told of one of his family events at Christmas.  They were making a Christmas manger scene and everybody was contributing, putting in the animals and the statues of Mary and Joseph and the little baby.  His five-year-old son, Scott, suddenly ran back into his room and brought out a Tyrannosaurus Rex to put at the manger.  That’s a big dinosaur.  He placed it overlooking Mary and Joseph and the baby.  It looked so menacing, so terrifying in that manger.
“Seeliger said, ‘I was tempted to try to tell Scott, “Look, that dinosaur is out of date.  He lived millions of years before Christ was born.  He wasn’t around during Christ’s time.”’

“(Seeliger) also was tempted to tell his son that it didn’t look good in the manger; it wasn’t good for the decorative qualities of it all.  Then he said, ‘But I caught myself because I realized that, in essence, he had captured a truth of Christmas.  For Christ came precisely to help us face the dinosaurs life places before us – those menacing terrors that seem to be so strong, so powerful.  Christ came to defeat them.’”

The dinosaur remained – and it has every Christmas since!

To find calm when life seems to be falling apart, invitation #1:  Trust.

(II)

   Invitation #2:  LOOK.

Returning to the story of the writing of “Silent Night”…  I think it’s very interesting that Rev. Mohr wrote the words to this hymn two years earlier.  That is, two years before he ever even knew he would need this text, he had been given it.  God was active way before the fact.  God could see what was coming and had prepared for it.  When trouble hit Joseph Mohr’s life, God was there ahead of him.

In a similar way, think about Mary and Joseph:  So much seems to be going wrong; but all of it had been foretold by the prophets centuries before as being part and parcel of the blessing – the virgin birth, the delivery in Bethlehem, the ancestry of David.  God was active way before the fact for that very moment!

The second lesson here:  When life seems to be spiraling out of control, realize that God has gotten there ahead of you and has prepared for you beforehand precisely what you now need – you need only look for it!  It may be in a word of scripture, in a kindness offered to you, in a helping hand, in a knowledgeable authority, in an unexpected beauty, in a gift, in a joke, in the confidence of another, in a moment shared…  What we need is present already, we need only look for it.  Reading from an article by reporter Peter Dobrin of The Philadelphia Inquirer:

“On October 30, 2010, more than six hundred Philadelphia-area singers circulated nonchalantly among the Saturday morning shoppers in the large Macy’s store in downtown Philadelphia.  Dressed in street clothes, the inconspicuous singers mingled with other shoppers.  Then, at exactly noon, the organist at the mall’s historic Wanamaker organ (the largest pipe organ in the world) began playing the opening measures to the ‘Hallelujah Chorus’ from Handel’s Messiah.

“Suddenly, the choir members, sprinkled throughout the store, started singing in full voice.  The video for this event shows the amazed shoppers watching the choir giving glory to the ‘King of Kings and Lord of Lords.’

“This event, called a Random Act of Culture, was organized by the City Opera of Philadelphia.  In addition to singers from the opera company, there were choristers from 28 other musical organizations.

“On November 13, 2010, a similar ‘flash mob’ performance took place in the food court of the Seaway Mall in Ontario, Canada.  Shoppers who paused for a quick lunch were surprised by 80 singers from the nearby Chorus Niagara who started singing the ‘Hallelujah Chorus.’

Think about it…  These two events not only illustrate the power we followers of Christ have in society:  As we go about our day-to-day lives, we have the opportunity to be salt and light in society.  Sprinkled throughout neighborhoods, workplaces, communities, we can point others to the glory of Christ.  Even better, for believers themselves, this reminds us that Christ, and his servants, are all around us constantly, so often unseen, unrevealed, waiting to lift us up to the Lord – we need only open our eyes and ears!

To find calm when life seems to be falling apart, invitation #2:  Look.  And finally…

(III)

   Invitation #3:  SERVE.

In the end, despite all that was going wrong for Mary and Joseph at the first Christmas, all that seems so much against them; what keeps them going?  What is their entire goal?

To serve the Lord.  To do what they believe the Lord wants of them, regardless of the cost to themselves or the immediate personal outcome – good or bad.

In a similar way, think of Father Mohr on Christmas Eve, 1818:  He could have just said, “Oh, the heck with it.  The service is ruined but there’s nothing I can do about it!”  But, you see, he wanted to do something more for the Lord.  He let the desire to serve and glorify the Lord over-ride his own personal struggles of the moment.

In both cases, they simply wanted to serve – and through this they enabled the great thing God was seeking to do through and for them.  And this is the final lesson for all of us here – simply put:  When life seems to be falling apart, merely seek to serve the Lord – to do what you believe God wants of you this day, this moment.  Make this your sole goal and let God take care of the rest.  Don’t worry about getting everything taken care of, all your problems fixed; just seek to serve – “What do you want of me, right now, Lord?” – and God will work a most remarkable blessing.  Something far better than expected.

In an article entitled, “Christmas – As Mysterious As Ever,” author Doris Swehla writes:

“(There once was) a very difficult little girl. Her name was Phyllis, and her Sunday School Teacher tells this story about her:

“Phyllis wasn’t an easy child to love… sometimes I did wish she wasn’t in the particular Sunday School class that I taught…  She never sat still.  She hated to be touched, and she always had to have the last word.”

Her teacher tried to give Phyllis a speaking part in the annual Christmas pageant, but Phyllis refused.  “I’m probably going to a party that night,” she said grandly.  Her teacher’s first thought was, “Thank goodness”; but then something deep within her moved her to pray, “Lord, please help me to love Phyllis.”

Recalls the teacher:  “I said to Phyllis, ‘Well I do have a few more parts if you change your mind.’  ‘I won’t,’ Phyllis said, and she didn’t.”

“At the rehearsal, I heard, ‘Mary doesn’t act like she’s going to have a baby’ muttered by a husky little voice behind me.  Phyllis might not have any desire to be in the program, but she wouldn’t miss the rehearsal.  ‘Shhhh,’ I whispered, reaching back to pat Phyllis’s hand.  She jerked it away, saying ‘Okay Okay.’

“I was having enough problems already.  I didn’t need this.  Lord, please help me to love Phyliis.”

“In the last scene, only a spotlight shone on the holy family, and the children hummed ‘Silent Night.’  It was beautiful – but who was that moving in front of the manger?  Phyllis.  You never knew where that child was going to pop up next.  Now she stuck her hand into the manger, squeezed the doll’s arm, and disappeared back into the shadows. ‘Phyllis,’ I called, ‘what are you doing up there?’  ‘I’m just looking,’ she said, ‘Besides it’s not a real baby.  It’s just a doll.  I felt it.’

“Oh Lord, please help me to love Phyllis!”

“Come Christmas Eve, by 6:45 the air was bristling with excitement backstage…  There was no Phyllis to be seen and I began to relax.  As the organ chimed the beginning of the service, I took my prompters seat in the front pew. With the opening strains of ‘Watchman, Tell Us of the Night,’ the lights came up on the manger scene, and the narrator began. I felt something bump my knee and give me a little shove.

“’Move over,’ muttered an all too familiar voice.  ‘I decided not to go to the party,’ Phyllis said.  The angels sang to the shepherds.  The shepherds went to Bethlehem and took a lamb for the baby.  The Wise Men went to see Herod and then to the stable.  And Mary sat there, ‘pondering these things in her heart.’

“Cues were being missed, lines dropped, the whole thing was a bit of a mess, I was kicking myself inside; but, it was what it was.  Phyllis sat beside me so quietly that I forgot all about her, and when I realized she was gone it was too late.  She stomped her way right up to the manger, just as she had done during rehearsal.  But this time she stiffened, awe-struck, then turned, eyes wide with wonder, and came hurrying back to me.  ‘He’s alive’ she said to me in a penetrating whisper.

“What she didn’t realize was that, for the actual performance, the doll playing Jesus at rehearsal had been replaced by a living baby from one of the families in the congregation

“Across the aisle, someone asked, ‘What did she say?  What did she say?!’  The reply came, ‘She said, “He’s alive.”’

“Like ripples in a pond, the word passed from pew to pew, all the way to the back of the sanctuary.  ‘He’s alive…  He’s alive…  He’s alive…’

“At that, a spontaneous round of applause erupted from the congregation.  ‘He’s alive!’

“I put my arm around Phyllis.  ‘You were the best part of the program,’ I whispered into her ear.  Remarkably, for once, not pushing me away, she replied, “But I wasn’t in the program!’  And I thought, ‘Yes, you were, child.  You were what the whole thing was about.”

“Silent night, holy night, all is calm…”  A great hymn that speaks right to the heart of the coming of Christ Jesus our Savior.  When life seems to be falling apart all around you, let God bring calm to your soul.  Trust.  Look.  Serve.

“O Little Town of Bethlehem”

Micah 5:2-5a

Rev. Clark Lynn Callender, 11/27/11

Phillips Brooks was burned out.

Brooks was known as the most dynamic and inspirational preacher of late 19^th century.  In fact, well into the 20^th century, his sermons were required reading at many seminaries.  But in 1865 the vitality of his spirit had left him, his faith was struggling, and he couldn’t seem to recover.

In the early 1860’s, Brooks had become pastor of Holy Trinity Church in Philadelphia.  Shortly after his arrival there, he recruited a super salesman named Lewis Redner to be his Sunday School Superintendent and organist.  Under their combined leadership the church exploded in growth.  They began with 30 children in the Sunday School and within a year there were 1000.  The next two years the numbers continued to increase in all the ministries of the church, partly because of Brooks’ dynamic preaching, partly because of Redner’s music.
But then the Civil War came and the mood in the church became somber.  The national spirit was dying, women were wearing black due to a husband or son killed in battle, and darkness fell over every facet of the worship services.  Brooks tried to be inspirational and encourage his church but it was draining him.  When the war ended he thought the vitality and joy of his faith would return but it did not.
Abraham Lincoln was assassinated and the pain intensified.  Phillips Brooks was not the President’s pastor, but because he was such a famous orator, he was asked to preach the President’s funeral.  He reached down deep and found the appropriate words to say for the moment but later he was so used up that he could not rekindle his own spiritual flame.  So he asked the church for a sabbatical and took a trip to the Holy Land.
On Christmas Eve, 1865, he found himself in the great city of Jerusalem, there amidst all the great history of Christianity yet still feeling so far from the Lord.  On a whim, he hired a horse and went off riding.  At dusk, when the first stars were out, he rode into the tiny village of Bethlehem a few miles outside of Jerusalem.

The town had changed little since the birth of Christ.  Quiet, rural, insignificant.  Brooks walked the ancient streets.  He came to the Church of the Nativity – a church constructed centuries ago on the location that is believed to be the birthplace of Jesus.  Brooks could hear voices within singing carols – common, everyday voices practicing for the evening service.  It lifted Brooks’ spirit to simply be within a few feet of the very spot where Jesus was born and suddenly he felt completely surrounded by the Spirit of God.  He went in and worshipped there that night and was revived.
Brooks wrote of his horseback journey from Jerusalem to Bethlehem on that Christmas Eve: “I remember standing in the old church in Bethlehem, close to the spot where Jesus was born, when the whole church was ringing hour after hour with splendid hymns of praise to God, how again and again it seemed as if I could hear voices I knew well, telling each other of the Wonderful Night of the Savior’s birth.”
When he returned home he wanted some way to express the stirring in his soul that had restored his faith and he decided it would be best communicated in the form of a poem.  That was when the hymn (our closing hymn for today) “O, Little Town of Bethlehem,” was written.

His spirit renewed, Brooks went on to a quarter century of even more dynamic ministry.  But always, returning for revival to that quiet simple moment in Bethlehem.  He eventually gave the poem he had written to Lewis Redner who composed the music and the famous Christmas carol was first sung in Philadelphia on Christmas Eve, 1868.
Phillips Books – burned out, used-up, struggling in his faith – found the Lord not in the mighty city of Jerusalem but in the little town of Bethlehem.

How do you struggle this Advent season?  Might you journey to Bethlehem as well to find the Lord.  Something of what I would like to talk about this morning…

Centuries before our Savior’s arrival, his birth in Bethlehem was foretold by the prophet Micah (as noted in our reading this morning.)  And notice the prophet’s fundamental point:  That Bethlehem seems like nothing.  A tiny little nowhere place of no particular significance, then and now.  Yet here is where God chose to enter our world.

And why?

Because this is what the Savior is to be all about:  Not just coming for mighty people, great people, learned people, devout people; but for average, everyday, forgotten, struggling, lost-in-the-cracks people.  Everyday people in very real, down-to-earth lives.  Coming to meet us there – to know and to live our struggles that he might rescue us from them.

And the great lesson of Bethlehem being:  This is where you best find the Lord!  Not in grand, bombastic moments and places; but in quiet, simple, tiny – to the world, almost completely insignificant – moments and places.  As Phillips Brooks so eloquently puts it:

“O little town of Bethlehem, how still we see thee lie, above thy deep and dreamless sleep, the silent stars go by.  Yet in the dark streets shineth the everlasting light.  The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight.

“How silently, how silently, the wondrous gift is given; so God imparts to human hearts the blessings of his heaven.  No ear may hear his coming but in this world of sin; where meek souls will receive him, still the dear Christ enters in.”

In a world deeply asleep, oblivious, Jesus sneaks in.  Silently arriving.  There.  Present.  Alive!  Found by the meek, humble soul that quiets itself enough to listen and look.

And this is my simple suggestion as we start the season of Advent:  That, like Phillips Brooks a century before us, and shepherds almost 20 centuries before that, we might go to Bethlehem to find Jesus and be revived in our faith.  Go to the little, insignificant places.

And what does this mean in a practical sense?  Two thoughts:

(I)

   First:  DON’T GET LOST IN THE HYPE.

Let’s face it:  We all naturally tend to want a great deal out of Christmas.  For this very reason many people find the holiday season more one of depression than of joy – simply put: the hopes never seem to come through.

The expectations and hopes are high.  We want miracles to occur, deep emotional moments to overtake us, perfect parties, awesome gifts, wonderful experiences.

We want a lot.  And we run around frantically trying to make these great things happen.  But Bethlehem reminds us that Jesus is not found there.  He’s not found in spectacular events but in the tiny “lost” places.  It reminds us to look there, to not get lost in all the hype but to pay better attention to the details.

How often do we miss Him because we’re so busy racing around trying to get what we want?  It’s like that recent news story of the woman at a Wal-Mart in California two days ago who pepper-sprayed her fellow customers to beat them out of a sale.  We may say, “How outrageous!  How ridiculous!”  But, in this season, don’t we al go a little crazy, in our own way, and often undo the presence of Christ in our world; rather than make it happen?

I once heard a fellow preacher tell of being out shopping one year on Black Friday.  She was in Macy’s, amidst all the crowds rushing and pushing, when she happened to notice a small boy who was transfixed, looking at a little nativity set that was on display.  The boy called out to his mother, “Look, mommy, it’s Jesus!”  To which the very frazzled mother yelled back, “We don’t have time for that, we have to get everything for Christmas!”

We don’t have time for Jesus because we’re too busy getting ready for Christmas.  How might we slow down, quiet down, get small and find Jesus this year?  Instead of trying to make “perfect” things happen; make a point to pay attention to the tiny moments and make little things happen there – Jesus arrive?  To stop and listen, smile, offer a kindness…?  Think about the tiny moments.  Pay more attention there.  Author Max Lucado writes:

“They were too busy.  The day was upon them.  The day’s bread had to be made.  The morning’s chores had to be done. There was too much to do to imagine that the impossible had occurred.  God had entered the world as a baby.
“Yet, were someone to chance upon the sheep stable on the outskirts of Bethlehem that morning, what a peculiar scene they would behold.  The stable stinks like all stables do.  The stench of urine, dung, and sheep reeks pungently in the air.  The ground is hard, the hay scarce.  Cobwebs cling to the ceiling and a mouse scurries across the dirt floor.  A lowlier place of birth could not exist…
“Meanwhile, the city hums.  The merchants are unaware that God has visited their planet.  The innkeeper would never believe that he had just sent God into the cold.  And the people would scoff at anyone who told them the Messiah lay in the arms of a teenager on the outskirts of their village.  They were all too busy to consider the possibility.
“Those who missed His Majesty’s arrival that night missed it not because of evil acts or malice; no, they missed it because they simply weren’t looking.  Little has changed in the last two thousand years, hasn’t it?”

Rule #1 in going to Bethlehem to find Jesus:  Don’t get lost in the hype.  And then…

(II)

   Rule #2:  GIVE AS BETHLEHEM GIVES.

Let me ask you:  Is your Christmas shopping done yet?  I see some people nodding yes; most giving me a look of “Are you kidding?!”

Well, whether done or not yet even started, as an even more important question:  What is on your gift list?  What are you looking to get those you love?  Is it what they really need?  Even better, is it what would really make Christ born among us this Christmas?
Think about what Bethlehem gave to the story:  A tiny moment of service lost in insignificance to the world at large.  Yet in that tiny moment… the Messiah born.

How might we give the same – give something tiny, seemingly insignificant, something maybe even lost to the world at large; but something that ultimately makes Jesus happen among us?  Instead of just giving store-bought gifts or the latest technological wonder; what if we were to stop and tell someone we love them, or to apologize, or to just sit and listen, or to send a note to a co-worker telling them how much we respect their work, or to take time to visit with someone who is lonely or in need?

To find Jesus, don’t just give presents, give like Bethlehem gives.  Little things that mean everything.  The smallest gift is often the most important.  Will we give it?  In an article entitled “The Quarter of Remembrance,” preacher Mike Cope writes:

“I actually got to meet Dr. Channing Barrett (the renowned physician), though I don’t remember the meeting because I was too young.  But that doesn’t change my picture of him as a young man walking a marathon of miles every weekend.  In my mind, I see him returning home to Blissfield, Michigan around the turn of the century.
“Channing Barrett was one of eight boys and was the first ever in the Barrett family to go to college.  From his medical school, he walked twenty-five miles home each weekend, always returning a couple days later with clean clothes, a food packet, and a dollar.
“Dr. Barrett became one of the first ob-gyns in Chicago, practicing at Cook County Hospital.  He was known widely both for his innovative surgical techniques and for his ambidextrous skills that allowed him to change hands during long procedures.  There was no patient he wouldn’t accept.  He delivered many tenement babies for fifty cents and many babies for the wives of Mafia dons for a good bit more!
“With a growing, respected medical practice, a wonderful wife, and three children, this young physician seemed to be living the idyllic life.  He enjoyed riding horses and lifting weights, and was an early member of the Polar Bear Society – that ‘unique’ group that takes to the chilly waters of Lake Michigan in January each year to prove – well, who knows what they’re trying to prove?
“And then World War I interrupted this Norman Rockwell life.  Dr. Barrett left Chicago to run a field hospital in France, followed shortly by his 17-year-old son, who fought in the trenches.
“As long as he could, Barrett sent money back to his wife and daughters.  But by the last year of the war, his funds were nearly exhausted.  He had no more to mail home.  Mrs. Barrett sold most of what they owned, trying desperately to keep her daughters fed and clothed without having to lose their house.
“By the time Christmas rolled around in 1918, there were no presents to place under the tree.  They were lucky to have a place to live.  But Mrs. Barrett had managed, despite all the financial scrimping, to save two quarters.  So on Christmas morning, when the girls emptied their stockings, under the paper dolls their mother had cut out for them and under a couple pieces of candy, they each found a coin.
“Previous Christmas mornings had been more lavish, filled with frilly dresses and expensive toys.  And there would be more such mornings in the future.  But this was the Christmas the family would always remember.
“In the future, even during the years of plenty, when the girls emptied their stockings, they always found – under the apples, oranges, nuts, and candy – a quarter.
“It was a reminder – a reminder that some years are good while others aren’t too good.  Some years deliver new babies, promotions, raises, and great promises.  Other years offer sickness, failure, death, and deep disappointment.
“The quarter reminded them about both possibilities.  It warned them not to write off all the pain of the past as if it didn’t exist.  It taught them that the sorrows and wounds of their lives had shaped their characters as much as their joys and accomplishments.
“Anyone who takes seriously the Christmas stories of scripture knows that the first Christmas had more than angels, shepherds, wise men, and a mother nursing her baby.  There was also the anguish of childbirth.  There were the pungent, impolite odors of an animal pen.  There was an old man who held the baby and told his mother, ‘A sword will pierce your own soul too.’  There were the voices of many mothers screaming for their baby boys being slaughtered by a demented ruler named Herod.  There was a breathless escape to Egypt.
“The entrance of God’s Son into the world meant peace – but it didn’t assure that people would get along.  It meant great joy – but it didn’t mean we’d always be happy.  And it meant unconditional love – though it never implied that everyone would act lovingly.
“And so one family, year after year, continued dropping a quarter of remembrance into the bottom of each child’s stocking.
“At least one of Channing Barrett’s children picked up that tradition.  Every year through the ’30s, ’40s, and ’50s, her five children, Dr. Barrett’s grandchildren, pulled their stockings off the chimney on Christmas morning to find quarters buried under fruit, nuts, and candy.  And at least one of those five passed it on to her four children.  And at least one of those four is passing it on to his children.
“The quarter has mysteriously tied this family together – binding even generations who never met.  Together they have remembered that bad year in 1918 and other bad years since.  One year brought the safe birth of a new nephew; another brought the self-inflicted death of a relative who couldn’t keep fighting the demons of his life.  One year brought the thrilling news from the gynecologist that a baby was on the way; another brought the news from the pediatrician that the baby wasn’t developing right.  Some years brought joy; others brought deep, deep pain.
“The quarter is a remembrance that the meaning of Christmas is deeper than our triumphs and sorrows.  It is a joy that can’t fully be expressed, a peace that passes understanding.
“For years my children have followed this tradition started by their Great, Great Grandmother Barrett.  Together, we’ve experienced the love of God, woven through the fabric of good days and dark days.
“Eleven Christmases ago the quarter represented a burden that was crushing our hearts.  Not long before Christmas of 1994 our ten-year-old daughter, Megan, took her last breath in the pediatric ICU.  Her death was surely the darkest moment in our lives.  We felt very connected to Matthew’s Christmas story, the one that tells of ‘Rachel weeping for her children.’
“And then five Christmases later, our family returned to that grief, for in June of 1999 my brother’s son, Jantsen Barrett Cope, died suddenly and unexpectedly after lifting weights with his high school football team.  We barely survived as we gathered in my parents’ living room that Christmas without my nephew’s big, joyful laugh.  Fifteen is too young to die.  Our quarters were quarters of grief.
“But by God’s grace, we have survived.  We’re still together, we still love, we still hope, we still believe in that one who was born in Bethlehem.
“This Christmas there is still that gaping hole of absence.  And yet our quarters will also represent joy.  For when people gave money as a memorial to Jantsen, my brother and sister-in-law prayed about a place to let that money be used in the name of Christ.  Through a ministry of their church, they traveled to Vietnam to visit an orphanage.  They only went intending to give money.  But there in a foreign country, across an ocean, on soil where American and Vietnamese soldiers had died, my brother looked into the eyes of a little guy whose name was Vihn, but is now Vincent Cope.  A year later in the same place they looked into the eyes of a sweet Vietnamese girl who is now Tatum Cope.
“It is written, ‘Christmas does not deny sorrow its place in the world.  But the message of Christmas is that joy is bigger than despair, that peace will outlast turmoil, and that love has crushed all the evil, hatred, and pain the world at its worst can muster.’
“That’s why this Christmas Eve, late in the evening, my wife and I will slip a quarter into the bottom of the stockings of our boys and our daughter-in-law.  The quarter will always remind them of a story that is truer than life: that God so loved the world he gave his only begotten Son. There in that simple manger in Bethlehem, ‘the hopes and fears of all the years’ found their fulfillment.  God had broken into a world of great darkness with the light of his Son.
“And yet while the Kingdom of God came in Jesus Christ, we haven’t yet experienced it fully.  That’s why the church has continued to pray for 2000 years, ‘Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.’ In the meantime, in the words of scripture, we groan, we long, we wait, we hope.  We live in the belief that our simple acts of kindness and giving are not without meaning because Christ has come.  And we live in hope that one day the Lord Jesus will come again and all tears will be wiped from our eyes.
“That’s the story of Christmas.  I know it’s true…  I’d bet you a quarter!”

Someone once said:  “The first Christmas is a miraculous story of the eternal God becoming of no reputation and then humbling Himself to accept a cruel death on a cross.  Sure there were angel choirs.  Kings came from far away to worship Him.  But the true Christmas story is about smallness, humility and servanthood.  Let us consider becoming unknown and squeezing into small places in the lives of those around us who have great need to know this babe from Bethlehem, Jesus Christ.”

Let us begin our journey of Christmas by resolving to go to Bethlehem to find Jesus.  Don’t get lost in the hype.  And give as Bethlehem gives.