The angels’ song: glory

But God became human

Luke 2:8-20

After college, I worked for a time at Tyndale House Publishers. Artist and calligrapher Tim Botts generously designed for Dave and me our wedding invitation and program. He and Handel can tell the story of the angels’ song better than I can. Without doubt, this is one of the most spectacular “But God” moments in history, witnessed by a group of sleepy shepherds in a quiet field outside the village of Bethlehem.

My photos of pages December 22, 23, 24 by Tim Botts, from “Daily Portraits of the Word” calendar published by Inkwell Greetings

Listen: 39:15-43:35 on this recording of Handel’s Messiah by the Academy of Ancient Music and choir of the Queen’s College, Oxford

When the angels had returned to heaven, the shepherds said to each other, “Let’s go to Bethlehem!” … And there was the baby, lying in the manger. After seeing him, the shepherds told everyone what had happened and what the angel had said to them about this child. … The shepherds went back to their flocks, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen (Luke 2:15-20).

I wrestled with this passage, and its tragic aftermath told by Matthew (chapter 2), while writing Three-in-One: The Mysterious Friendship of Derry and Benny, which I hope will be out by Easter. Peace on earth? Good will among men? Fear not?

Like Mary, in quiet moments I ponder the age-old questions. Advent reminds me that we don’t yet know the end of the story. And that God is writing a comedy, a grand romance, not a tragedy.

The ending of Earth’s story will be but the beginning of glory that surpasses even the angels’ song. For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

10:25-13:15 on this recording of Handel’s Messiah by the Academy of Ancient Music and choir of the Queen’s College, Oxford

Sitting in darkness

But God’s light breaks in

Luke 1:68-79 Zechariah’s song:

Praise the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has visited and redeemed his people.

He has sent us a mighty Savior from the royal line of his servant David,

Just as he promised through his holy prophets long ago. …

So we can serve God without fear, in holiness and righteousness

For as long as we live. …

Because of God’s tender mercy,

The morning light from heaven is about to break upon us,

To give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,

And to guide us to the path of peace.

Do you, too, “sit in darkness”? How would you describe that darkness: anxiety and worry, fears for the future, stuckness over wounds in the past and harmful habits in the present? Do you, too, long for guidance to a path of peace?

Shutterstock: Vlue

Last week the prophet Zechariah from the Old Testament spoke to us about a Day of the Lord bringing life-giving waters to our parched souls. Five hundred years later, the Holy Spirit prophesied through another Zechariah, a priest, father of John the Baptist (Luke 1:67), this time about the gift of light breaking through our darkness.

Three months before Zechariah gave this prophecy, the angel Gabriel informed Mary, newly pregnant with Jesus, that another miraculous pregnancy had taken place: her barren elderly relative Elizabeth, Zechariah’s wife, also expected a baby!

Mary hurried to visit Elizabeth, who by the Spirit recognized the baby growing in Mary’s womb as her Lord. “You are blessed because you believed,” Elizabeth told Mary, in contrast to her husband, who had spent the last six months unable to speak because of his early, shocked disbelief in Gabriel’s message to him. Mary responded with a song of praise we call the Magnificat. We’ll look at this song next week.

After his son John was born, Zechariah prophesied that his child would prepare the way for the Lord, a mighty Savior who would provide salvation and forgiveness of sins to his people. Quoting Malachi and Isaiah, Zechariah foretold Mary’s baby’s birth as light from heaven about to break upon them, offered to the dark world through the tender mercies of God.

Two surprise visits from the angel Gabriel. Two miraculous pregnancies. Two sons. Four celebratory songs. A host of angels. Multiple shepherds. Two elderly witnesses. The fulfillment of ancient covenants and prophecies.

Luke compressed unspeakable wonder into the first two chapters of his Gospel. No wonder Mary needed to take a step back and ponder all that had broken into her heretofore unremarkable experience (Luke 2:19).

Advent offers us space to do the same: to consider the marvels of her baby’s first coming and what they mean to us. To open our hearts in hope of receiving the Spirit’s tender mercies. To welcome his light into our darkness. To deepen our hope as we anticipate his return in glory. And to find the path to the Prince of peace.

Shine Jesus Shine, Graham Kendrick

Using God’s gifts to serve others, with Peter Johnson, Hershey, PA

But God gifts each of his children

Hosea 2:8 [The Lord said] It was I who gave her everything she has … But she gave all my gifts to Baal [an idol].

1 John 5:21 Dear children, keep yourselves from idols [anything that might take God’s place in your hearts NLT].

The thing about the prophets is that they smack us right between the eyes. They have the courage (and often pay a high personal price) to confront us with our wrongdoing and to detail its consequences.

So the immediate question is, what are the gifts God has given me? And what have I done with them? And what are the name(s) of the idol(s) that tempt and seduce me into squandering those gifts and dishonor their Giver?

I won’t drag you through the sordid list of idols that the enemy uses to war against my soul. Instead, I want to give you a positive picture of a person who has overcome all kinds of obstacles because of his love for Jesus. He doesn’t bemoan what he doesn’t have. Instead, he uses what he does have, the gifts God has given him, not to serve himself but to serve others and to honor his Lord. Here’s one example from Christmas, when Rev. Peter Johnson stood outside for hours in winter weather night after night to listen to and pray for people. Pete describes it like this:

“A few weeks ago Hanoverdale Church hosted its annual Drive Thru Bethlehem. For several nights hundreds of cars drove through our church yard experiencing different stations of the Bethlehem Christmas story. From paying taxes to Caesar, to seeing the Christ child with his parents at the manger, to listening to the angel choir, and interacting with wisemen, shepherds, Roman soldiers and townspeople, the story of Christmas came alive.

The photos are dark because it was a dark night, but they give you an idea of Drive through Bethlehem.

“As pastor, I got the opportunity to pray for people in their cars at the last station before they left to continue their journey.

“Is it worth it to stand and interact with folks in the cold? Oh, yes!!! I met people who were asking for prayer last year and came back this year to tell how God answered those prayers. One couple asked that God might allow them to become pregnant and this year they introduced me to their baby. Another asked for comfort and healing for a sick loved one on hospice with cancer, and this year they wanted me to meet the one who did not die but was healed.

“After praying for hundreds of people over two weekends, who knows those whom God answered with a different answer. But I declare to you that God is still in the prayer answering business!!!

“If you live in central Pennsylvania and are looking for a place to worship, a place where the Bible will be studied and believed, give us a try. Hanoverdale Church, 577 Hershey Rd in Hummelstown, PA, 9:00 a.m.”

Advent 3, Joy: and darkest night

Hebrews 12:2-3 … keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross

Hebrews 5:7 While Jesus was here on earth, he offered prayers ad pleadings, with a loud cry and tears, to the one who could rescue him from death. And God heard his prayers because of his deep reverence for God.

Psalm 116:10 I believed in you, SO I said, “I am deeply troubled, Lord.”

My daughter Rachel invited me to a “Darkest Night” gathering at her home tomorrow evening. Here’s part of her invitation:

“As we approach the longest night of the year on 12/21, we remember that in the midst of Christmas joy we also hold distress, loss and longing – sometimes especially at holiday times when there’s a face missing from around the table or we recognize distance from those we love or we realize that there is darkness just outside the candlelight of our world.”

How does joy fit together with grief and trauma?

The first Christmas week after Karis died, I lay on the couch where she had so often rested, trying to get myself together enough to do my part toward making Christmas happy for the rest of my family.

While I still had not managed to overcome my grief enough to pull out the Christmas boxes, a friend came to visit me. She looked around at the absence of decorations in my home, and said, “Debbie, I am so disappointed in you. I always thought you were a woman of faith.”

On that note, she left me. Oppressed by an added layer of guilt and shame, and the sense that I had another loss to grieve—the loss of trust in my friend—I returned to the couch.

In stark contrast, another friend appeared at my home. She quickly discerned my condition, and said, “Debbie, talk to me. Tell me what you’re feeling.” She wasn’t shocked or offended by my outpouring of grief and tears. She didn’t say, “If you only had faith, you would get your act together.”

She said, “What is the most important thing you want to do for Christmas? I have time. I’ll help you do it.”

This friend understood and shared my grief. She didn’t take it on herself, but she walked with me through it.

After she helped me put up my family’s stockings, each with their name, including Karis’s, my friend left me. The comfort of her presence and compassion lifted my spirits enough that I continued decorating my house. Later, my two daughters completed what I didn’t manage to do. I hold their kindness in my heart as the most precious gift of that Christmas.

The invitation to lament, to acknowledge and express grief, can open space in our souls for joy.

Advent 1, HOPE: Let go. Look up!

Advent ABC playlist

But God gave each of us a race to run

Hebrews 12:1-2 Since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith …

Luke 21:34 Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with … the worries of this life, and that day [Christ’s return] catch you unexpectedly (NRSVA).

Image by my friend Carol Amidi https://www.carolamidi.net/

On Monday evenings, I meet on Zoom with women from Argentina, Chile, and Venezuela who are leaders in their churches and denominations. This week we are memorizing Hebrews 12:1-2 (in Spanish, of course). I realized yesterday how fitting this passage is for Advent, this interesting time in the year when we anticipate Christ’s return in glory while preparing to celebrate his first coming as an infant.

This year in particular my heart has been weighed down with many concerns. (Yours too?) I asked a prayer team for intercession yesterday about how to handle high stress and at the same time focus on the hope Advent offers us. As our pastor Peter reminded us, Advent hope is rooted in the fact that we know Jesus is good. We know him, his tenderness and compassion, his faithfulness and gentleness—this One who will return one day as a mighty warrior, defeating all evil, to reign in justice. We’ll be able to look into his eyes and know that he is the one who has been our friend and companion all our lives.

My main takeaway from the wonderful prayer offered on my behalf is that I am to live from a center of peace, daily entrusting to Jesus my burdens and worries, both those over which I have a measure of control and those I can’t control at all.

Let go and look up. Accept the support of those whom God has placed around me, and cheer each of them on in their own God-designed races.

Hope. All will be well.

Since he himself has gone through suffering and testing, he is able to help us when we are being tested. … So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most (Hebrews 2:18, 4:16).

I invite you to savor again the wonderful music (5 hours!!) on my Advent ABC playlist:

Advent ABC: It’s Christmas!

My Christmas gift for you: A playlist of all the wonderful music we’ve been listening to this Advent! Go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpeaoAOPcUc&list=PLPKlZ6WXGYq_MRnOY6hH_YadWaIwg-jnX

The link is also on the home page of ButGod.blog. Enjoy!!

Christmas celebrates one of the biggest But God moments of all time.

I couldn’t find a video with lyrics of the song I chose for today, Sandi Patty singing Carol of the Bells, so here’s my attempt to transcribe them. Enjoy!

Hark how the bells, sweet silver bells, all seem to say, throw cares away

Christmas is here, bringing good cheer to young and old, meek and the bold,

Ding-dong ding-dong, that is our song with cheerful ring all caroling

One seems to hear words of good cheer from everywhere filling the air

Oh how they pound, raising the sound, o’er hill and dale, telling their tale

Gayly they ring while people sing songs of good cheer, Christmas is here

Merry, merry, merry, merry Christmas …

(Repeat first section)

On, on they send, on without end, their joyful tone to every home (repeat) …

Gayly they ring …

Merry, merry, merry, merry Christmas …

On, on they send …

(End with) Hear the bells ring, Christ the Savior is born! Hallelujah!

Carol of the Bells, adapted and arranged by David Hamilton, from the Ukrainian “Shchedryk” by Mykola Leontovich , sung by Sandi Patty

Advent ABC: God of all the earth

Isaiah 54:5 (Acts 3:25) For the Lord is the God of all the earth.

I’ve been invited to write a chapter for a book on patriotism. Perhaps because I was born and grew up in Guatemala, have lived in several countries and have visited many others, when I think of patriotism, I first think of Jesus saying the Gospel would preached to every nation.

Shutterstock: magr80

The Lord is God of all the earth, with sons and daughters in every country who are my brothers and sisters. This makes every war feel to me like a civil war. Does this impact my sense of patriotism? Of course, it does. One day the “artificial” boundaries between countries that matter so much to the world today will no longer divide us. Advent helps us anticipate that day.

Come Let Us Worship the King Sandi Patty