What was on your Christmas list?

What a privilege!  Sharing with hundreds people on Christmas Eve - trying to help all the activity of Christmas connect spiritually with people on the night before Christmas.  The fun thing for me is that it didn’t end on Christmas Eve, God was still sharing with me the next day.  Letme’splain...

First, you need know (if you don't) that I'm a pastor, and on Christmas Eve our church has 3 services. And you need at least a thumbnail of my evening message:

• Making Christmas lists - there are things we want which you can’t go out and buy, there are some things which society can’t give you.  That is what Christmas is about, God giving what the world can’t give.
• There is a biblical promise that God will give you want’s on your Christmas list.  Here’s the biblical phrasing “God will give you the desires of your heart.”  But there is some “fine print.”

Trust in the LORD and do good; Dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness.   Delight yourself in the LORD; And He will give you the desires of your heart.   Commit your way to the LORD, Trust also in Him, and He will do it.  Psalm 37:3-5

• It’s part of a package deal, and as we trust, cultivate, delight (worship), and commit our list gets better, and we are more ready to receive what God can entrust to us.... if you want to hear the whole message (about 20 minutes long) be my guest....DRC Media Player

But here’s the deal, I admit that my dad and I have tool issues.  And as a result, if I put a tool on my list, my dad can’t help but to buy it.  But this year I didn’t put any tools on my list (actually, I didn’t really make a list - sorry family).  Those who wanted to give me presents did a great job.  But then I was blown away by the present from my parents.  In a little box was a slip of paper with a picture of a generator on it.  Yep, a generator - now maybe that isn’t top on your list, but for someone looking to build a cabin in the woods it is perfect!  I really wanted a generator, but I knew it was more than I could reasonably ask for or expect.  And I hadn’t even asked for one...

My parents are not God, they are great people, but like all of us, perfection has yet to be attained.  But what a follow up to my thought of the reality that the closer we get to God, the more we receive the desires of our heart.   My relationship with my parents is close, close enough that they know what I’m into, what I want (could really use) even without me specifically asking.  

If this is true of earthly imperfect parents, how much more so of our heavenly Father?  It doesn’t mean I get everything I want, when I want it - refer back to “God is not Santa Claus”  but the more we trust, cultivate, delight and commit - the closer we are to God, the more we receive the desires of our heart.  This is something the world cannot give. Indeed, a Merry Christmas!

I can't even sleep like I want...

I am 39 years old, and I can’t sleep like I want to.  My young boys can sleep in any position they choose, from sprawl to a ball, front, back or sideways.  They wake up in the the morning, and they are good to go.  Upon returning from Israel, it was confirmed, this is no longer true for me.  Let me explain, and then share my life corollary.

For some time my neck and upper back have been funky.  When it would get too bad I would go and get straightened out by our great chiropractor.  He would ask about my sleep positions - back: good, side with enough pillow: good, stomach: bad.  I didn’t sleep on my stomach, I slept on my side with an additional ¼ turn (i.e., a pillow under one arm and shoulder).

Well, for my two weeks in Israel it was a twin bed every night (and no beautiful wife, but that is unrelated to the matters at hand).  At 6’4” I don’t fit well on twin beds, and there was absolutely no room for a side+1/4-turn sprawl.  So it was back or side, and ya know what - my neck was better.  Now maybe it was a miraculous Holy Land healing - but I have a hunch God wasn’t working overtime on this one.  Once I was back in a queen sized bed (with a beautiful wife) the pains started again.  So as not to start any spurious rumors, my wife is not a pain in the neck.

Forced discipline was required to sleep only on my back or side.  I had to take away my beloved extra pillow, and push through a few restless nights.  I wanted to go back to the comfort of side+1/4-turn sprawl, for I knew that in a few moments I could be sound asleep, but what I wanted and what I needed were not the same thing.  And so, as I laid there awake, desiring comfort but going for well being, I thought:  Isn’t this true beyond my pain in the neck...

We are led to believe that we can figure it out for ourselves, just by relying on what feels right.  We are led to believe that our intuition can be trusted to take us to the right place.  We know what we need, and what is going to be best for us - right?  It doesn’t appear so.  The obesity epidemic of America speaks against this.  The highest rate of incarceration in the developed world speaks against this.  The dramatic increase in the use of anti-depressants and psychoactive drugs speaks against this.  Left to our own devices, we feel good in the moment, but are left bent out of shape in the long run.

So as I pursue God, I work hard not to create God in my image, but rely on the most trustworthy resource I have found, the Bible.  But even in that, it is clear I need the help and guidance of others who have more wisdom, and the corrective nature of true friends.  When I parent my children, I must use sources beyond their desires, beyond my best intentions, seeking what will guide them to be the men of God which I believe will be in their best interest.  When I make financial decision... when I choose my diet... when I decide how to sleep - I can’t even sleep how I want to...unless I want to be bent out of shape.  Thus my joy that God has reached into this world, revealed divine wisdom, and not left us to our own devices.  The joy of Christmas!

God is like Santa Claus for adults

God is like Santa Claus for adults

I don't watch Glee, but my nieces do, so I have seen it from time to time to stay in the loop (and be entertained). Two months ago there was one I just had to watch, “Grilled Cheesus.” The face of Jesus appeared on grilled cheese – and another main plot line was that Kurt's (a central character) father had a major heart attack and was comatose in the hospital. God, Jesus, high school students, teachers, life & death, atheism, all with the cast breaking into song throughout – gotta love it.

Well, I'm sure some didn't because while the Christians portrayed in the show came across as great people, Christianity as a larger abstract idea took a beating at the hands of wonderful one-line zingers delivered by atheists. And the one-liners were allowed to stand unanswered... but hey, it's TV.

Now that it's December, I'm reminded of one of them.

Kurt says, “I think God is kind of like Santa Claus for adults.”

I'm now realizing why it was it wasn't answered. Not that it can't be answered, but any one pithy statement will sound either defensive, naive, like blind faith, too strong or too weak... but I don't have to be limited to one line.

Yep, for many people God is kind of like Santa Claus – and that's a problem. The God for some people has about as much in common with the creator of all, as Santa Claus has with a 4^th century Greek Christian bishop from Myra in Lycia (coast of present day Turkey if you're wondering). Oh, his name was Nicholas, and he was famous for his generosity to the poor. He was a Christian man who put his faith into action. Of note, he kept girls out of sex-trade by providing dowries so they could marry. No red suit, no cookie belly, no toys to children of white middle class neighborhoods... okay, I'm starting to kill the holiday buzz – I really like the fun of Santa Claus, and he still fills stockings in the Gieser household...

Santa Claus is as far from Bishop Nicholas of Myra, as many people's god is from the infinite eternal God. (okay, the two Nicks are actually a lot closer). So unfortunately, for many, God is kind of like Santa Claus for adults...and then when the right present isn't delivered they feel like the curtain has been pulled back. The modern day Santa is just what we want him to be, and for many God is as well... and this doesn't cut it when the dark valley comes, when all the pieces don't fit together, when we need a God who is bigger than it all. The God revealed in the Bible, is big enough, complex enough, strong enough, true enough, revealed enough – for any adult, in any situation, in any time.

Enjoy Christmas, have fun with Santa, and know that Jesus came to allow us to better understand and connect with the God of all. As Pastor Dave Corlett said, “the inconceivable God was conceived by a virgin in Bethlehem.”