reflections | the blog of Time to Revive
God created a good world. He created a paradise, a garden of delight called Eden, and He placed man there.
Man walked with God and with his perfect companion in Eden. The man and woman enjoyed responsibilty as caretakers and boundless creativity; they were rich with resources and beauty.
Man and woman were where God designed them to be, overseeing a creation that operated in perfect harmony, a place where God was present. Life; it was good. But the man and woman had to leave.
Some think all that is a myth. Not just the God-created-the-world part, but Eden. It’s like the North Pole – a place just too good to be true.
And yet, the evidence for this place is running through the bloodlines of history. It’s in the common longing all people share for a place called home where we don’t feel alone. Where we don’t feel small. Where we don’t feel disjointed or lost. We only feel a sense of fullness, of communion, of calling.
Take anyone as a case study – you will find a longing for a home, a lover, a purpose, and, whether they know it or not, a Father God…Eden. Earth like heaven.
Can our longing ever be satisfied for this long-lost, not-at-all-a-myth place?
Jesus tells us to pray for a kingdom to come to earth that reflects heaven’s harmony – like the place called Eden from long ago. He tells us to open our eyes, that even now, the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Can it be that Jesus is restoring that place our hearts are craving? Indeed, He is restoring home as God created it.
Eden is not a myth and paradise is not lost. We get to go home.
May we tell any person who is longing for something this good news.
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When the Virgin Mary first heard the news that God would bring a Messiah to His people through her womb, we know she was faithful. We know she was obedient and humble. We can’t get past her words: “Behold the bondslave of the Lord; let it be unto me according to your word.” We are in awe of her soft and yielding spirit.
Yet this is not to say that she was quiet. She went directly to her cousin Elizabeth and their family to share in the good tidings. She magnified the Lord with a song that remains sacred and cherished today. She did not keep the secret to herself.
But when Christ is born, we find Mary less vocal. “Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.” This brief statement woven into Luke 2 is found bookended by a description of the shepherds – those men who dashed around Bethlehem singing praises to God and telling people about the baby king. The shepherds were loud. Mary was silent.
Not all was silent that night, but between the mother and the Son something beyond words and beyond noise was happening.
I can’t say for sure what it was that happened, or what Mary felt. But what I know is that in her silence she experienced God, with deep-down wonder and awe. She collected treasures that night that could never be vocalized because she was silent enough receive them.
I want to learn the lesson of the shepherds without neglecting the lesson of Mary: to become silent in the presence of holiness, to intimately know the God I proclaim.
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The shepherds feared and trembled,
When lo! above the earth,
Rang out the angels chorus
That hailed the Savior’s birth
Go, tell it on the mountain,
Over the hills and everywhere…
God purposefully chose to give a message of good news to shepherds. His army of angels appeared before these working men and communicated the Gospel: a Savior has come.
Shepherds were a forgettable class of people in the first century, blending into the backdrop of the hills. They were the working class folk, and although these shepherds had an important job – to tend the lambs dedicated for temple sacrifice – they were disregarded as a sketchy sort. Their day and night work kept them from fulfilling all of the ceremonial laws and expectations. They were generally grass-stained and far from the temple steps.
God chose to speak to these – essentially the ones in service jobs we tend to look past while they keep our lives smoothly running along. The shepherd was not the one ascending to the pulpit but rather the one cleaning under the pews after church or changing the sanctuary light bulbs.
To God, there was no distinction. These were His messengers. And they were faithful to what God has long been calling people to do – to tell someone and everyone the news of what they had seen and heard.
How appropriate that the song Go Tell it on the Mountain was first on the lips of African-American slaves. Classified somewhere underneath everyone else, a group of enslaved people made joyful music about Christ. He chose the people who were washing the dishes, working the land, tending the animals, to be messengers.
While we might be waiting for a respected leader to enlighten the masses with the Gospel from the temple steps, God is actually calling shepherds, slaves, and anybody who has had an interaction with God to open their mouths and tell their story.
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The hymn writer Isaac Watts wasn’t necessarily a Christmas carol writer. He wrote “Joy to the World” in praise of Christ’s future return to the earth rather than His first coming in the manger. When Christ returns, there will be such joy! He will come bringing justice and peace.
In that age, Christ will govern all the earth. But do we have to wait until then to have joy?
I vote no. Joy is possible in this age, in this in-between stage, while Christ is yet to take over all earthly governments. The Kingdom of God has already come among us. Because Jesus was born, died, and rose again we may now have His Spirit living in us, reigning in us as our King.
That is why we sing Joy to the World, that the Lord, the King, has already come and we can rejoice.
Who is your king? Who is it that governs your mind? Is it Christ, the One who has come bringing joy? Or is it the voice of culture or despair or depression or doubt? Is it you?
This Christmas, you can choose. Allow Christ to be the One ruling your mind and heart as King. When worry and despair creep up, do not bow down to them. Claim the truth of Christ, the Word of God. And you will find that under His kingship, joy is real, right now.
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Being that I’m not from an agricultural area, I had my basic education on stables, mangers, and lowing cattle whenever Christmastime came around.
I learned from Christmas carols and Nativity storybooks that a manger is a trough for animal feed. It’s the crib alternative for the little Lord Jesus.
To rephrase this, as a child I was educated at Christmastime about dirty animal troughs and the unexpected stable delivery of God in baby form.
As twinkly and snowy and clean as our modern-day Christmas is, the darling little lullaby “Away in a Manger” is about a dirty emergency birth in a barn. The birth of none other than He through whom all matter in the universe was created.
It’s an unexpected collage of ironies, but we sing it as a simple childhood trifle.
I vote that it’s okay to be shocked at the story, even a little offended at the Christmas carols. Did you know that millions belonging to the religion of Islam, while they recognize the virgin birth of Jesus, have no place in their story for a stable or a manger? Did you know that the common Muslim is repulsed at the thought that Jesus died on a cross? Why is this important? Because, so many in the world refuse a sacred story that starts in an unclean trough and hits the climax at a splintery cross where thieves are killed. It’s bloody and dirty and unspiritual. But this is our story.
Why would God be born in a manger, die on a common murderer’s cross, and what does this say about the God we believe in?
Is it possible that God is limitless, all-powerful, transcendent and at the same time tiny, dirty, cold, and hidden away in a manger? Is He simultaneously both great and utterly humble? Does He descend from Heaven to our world’s depths because of love? Perhaps we can hear the childhood songs with new wonder and awe.
Philemon 1:4-7 ”I always thank my God as I remember you in my prayers, because I hear about your love for all his holy people and your faith in the Lord Jesus. I pray that your partnership with us in the faith may be effective in deepening your understanding of every good thing we share for the sake of Christ. Your love has given me great joy and encouragement, because you, brother, have refreshed the hearts of the Lord’s people.”
Today, we get to be thankful for miracles God has done. We get to be thankful for you, because He has done miracles through you.
We have traveled around the country and seen your love and your faith, and that is why we are able to keep going and keep sharing. It’s your prayers, your encouragement, and your support.
Because of your love and faith, Keke from Flint, MI is experiencing true life change. After meeting her a year ago through reviveFLINT, she has given her life back to God and has come so far in improving her life as a single mom of three young girls.
Because of your prayers for REVIVE Santa Fe, Pastor Jimmy has been encouraged to boldly share the Gospel in his community and surrounding areas.
Because of your encouragement, Time to Revive has been able to join with Christ Center Church in Sedona, AZ and see that congregation flourish, grow, and love their community at a whole new level.
Because of your support for Time to Revive, we were able to meet Sam at the Occupy Asheville camp, wash his feet, and watch him surrender to the Lord and even be baptized a few days later.
Keke, Pastor Jimmy, Christ Center, and Sam represent many miracles God has done. Today, we’re thankful for the life changes, for you, for the people of God across this country. Simply take time to thank God that the Spirit is alive and working, bringing hope and bringing the Kingdom in our midst.
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