joy to the world at 300

“Sing to the Lord a new song all the earth!” (Psalm 96)

Isaac Watts was a minister and musician in England in the early 1700's, and he thought it was time for the church to have a new song. But he didn’t just come up with one new song; he composed a whole host of them. Known as the “Father of English Hymnody,” he is credited with over 700 hymns, many of which are still in use today. In 1719, he published a collection entitled “The Psalms of David,” a new paraphrase which included a hymn based on Psalm 98. It would become his most famous hymn, especially when it was later paired with a tune by Handel. We know it today as “Joy to the World,” and this year, it turns 300 years old.

Joy to the World; the Lord is come!
Let earth receive her King!
Let ev’ry heart prepare Him room,
And Heaven and nature sing.

Joy is the second fruit of the spirit mentioned in Galatians 5 and is also found in many other passages throughout the Scriptures. C.S. Lewis famously said that “joy is the serious business of heaven.” After we believe and receive God’s love for us in Jesus Christ, we are full of joy and gratitude over our newfound faith. But we must also remember that this joy is not just for us; it’s a joy that is meant to be shared with the whole world! Why? Because the Lord himself has come down to bring the kingdom of heaven to earth with the offer of free forgiveness and full salvation for all.

Joy to the earth, the Savior reigns!
Let men their songs employ;
While fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains
Repeat the sounding joy.

We don’t have to wait until the last day for Jesus to begin his reign. He is ruling and reigning over all things right now and has been ever since his ascension into heaven. That’s why some people have said that this is more of an ascension hymn than a Christmas hymn. And though the whole creation is indeed groaning as it awaits the consummation of all things, it is still full of worship and praise at the glory of its Creator. All creation joins together to repeat the sounding joy.

No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make his blessings flow
Far as the curse is found.

It’s fascinating to think that the thorn, one of the signs of the fall, would also be instrumental in the event that would reverse the curse of the fall: namely, the crown of thorns placed on Jesus’ head before he was crucified at Calvary for the sins of all the world. He wore a crown of thorns so that we might wear a crown of life. He comes to make his blessings flow far as the curse is found.

He rules the world with truth and grace,
And makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness,
And wonders of His love.

Truth and Grace: two of the most foundational truths in the whole Bible. Another way for reformation-type folks to say it is, law and gospel. This is what the entire grand story of God’s salvation is all about: the truth about ourselves as sinners and the truth about our gracious God and  love and mercy and compassion towards us in his Son, Jesus Christ. Because of his first advent, we can be full of hope and joy as we await his second advent, when we will, together with all the saints, behold the glories of his righteousness and wonders of his love.

Joy to the World, the Lord is Come!

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son of abraham

“Father Abraham had many sons, and many sons had Father Abraham. I am one of them, and so are you, so let’s all praise the Lord.”

Many of us probably remember singing the song, “Father Abraham,” as children in Sunday School, but have we ever really thought about the words? Father Abraham? How am I a son of Abraham? How can we New Testament Christians possibly say that we are sons of Abraham? Well, that’s what Christmas is all about Charlie Brown.

“A wandering Aramean was your father.” That’s how Moses describes Abraham at the end of the book of Deuteronomy (Deut 26:5). He was a wanderer, all right. He traveled all the way from the land of Ur, to Haran, to Canaan, to Egypt, and then back to Canaan. Abraham’s life was full of twists and turns, setbacks and surprises. The biggest surprise of all came when he was nearly 100 years old when God told him that Sarah would bear him a son in her old age. His name would be Isaac, and he would be a child of the promise.

Another surprise came a few years later when God told Abraham to sacrifice his son, Isaac. Tim Keller makes the point in a message entitled, “The Story of the Lamb,” that Abraham may not have been as surprised as we think. He would have known that this child was God’s child and that as his firstborn son, God had the right to his life. But Abraham also knew that this was a God who kept his promises. Even if Isaac had to die, his God would have to raise him to life again.

“Father?”
“Yes, my son?”
“The fire and wood are here, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”
“God himself will provide the lamb, my son” (Gen. 22:7-8).

That is exactly what happened. The angel of the Lord (the pre-incarnate Christ) intervened just in time, staying Abraham’s hand and providing a ram for the sacrifice. Abraham called that place Yahweh Yireh, the Lord Will Provide. We know it as Mt. Moriah - the mountain on which the temple of Jerusalem was built - where Jesus would come to die as the Lamb of God for the sins of the world. The Lord will provide, indeed.

“The angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven and said, “I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me” (Gen 22:15-18).

When he first called Abraham back in Genesis 12, God said that he would bless him to make him a blessing to all people. Now that Abraham passed the test of faith, God again promises to bless him and his descendants, declaring that through Abraham’s offspring, all the nations of the earth would be blessed.

The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is also the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all - how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?” (Rom 8:32).

God spared Abraham’s son, but he did not spare his own Son. He sent his one and only Son down from heaven to earth on a rescue mission to save, deliver, and bless the whole world. This Son was born in Bethlehem, came up out of Egypt, and then grew up in Nazareth. He was baptized by John in the Jordan river and was tempted by the devil in the wilderness. During his three year ministry, he blessed the children, taught the crowds, healed the sick, and raised the dead.

Finally, the time of testing came for him, and this Son of Abraham obediently picked up the wood and marched up the hill. But this time, there was no ram in the bramble bush to take his place of sacrifice. Instead, Jesus himself is the sacrificial lamb who dies to take away the sins of all the world. In him, all the nations of the earth will be blessed. In him, as adopted sons of Abraham, we are blessed.

As you read the Christmas story from Matthew this year, may I suggest that you begin at the beginning?

“A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham” (Matt 1:1).

"Father Abraham had many sons, and many sons had Father Abraham. I am one of them, and so are you, so let’s all praise the Lord!

Blessed Advent and Merry Christmas!

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back in time

There are certain dates that are emblazoned into our collective memory:

Dec. 7, 1941 - the attack on Pearl Harbor.
Nov. 22, 1963 - the assassination of JFK.
Sept. 11, 2001 - the collapse of the Twin Towers.

Everyone remembers exactly where they were when these tragedies took place. I remember my dad talking to us about Pearl Harbor, and telling us how he heard the news as his family was returning home from church on Sunday afternoon. I distinctly remember the morning of 9/11 being a bright and beautiful fall day as several of us drove to a circuit pastors meeting in rural Kansas. The radio was off, and the conversation was hearty, so we didn’t find out what happened until we arrived at the church later that morning.

It’s almost as if these moments are captured and frozen in time, indelibly inscribed upon our memory. Earth-shattering events like these have a powerful impact on us at the time that they happen, but they also have a way of haunting us as they shape and mold our world for generations to come. There’s always a part of us that wonders, “Why did it have to happen in the first place?”

What if there was a way to go back and change history? What if someone was able to come in from the outside to change things for the better?

That’s the premise of Stephen King’s 2011 novel, 11-22-63. The story is centered around a teacher named Jake Epping, who unwittingly finds a time-travel portal in the closet of a local diner. He and the diner owner get together and concoct a plan to travel back in time to stop Lee Harvey Oswald and save President John F. Kennedy’s life. There are many misadventures along the way, but eventually, Jake completes his mission and becomes a national hero (for a while at least).

Interestingly, JFK was not the only national figure who died on November 11, 1963. Though his death certainly took up most of the headlines, the acclaimed writers C.S. Lewis and Aldous Huxley also died that day as well. All three men were well known at the time, but for very different reasons. They were all diametrically opposed to one another in philosophy, outlook, and worldview. Kennedy was a secular humanist, Huxley was an atheist, and Lewis was a Christian apologist. And yet they all sought to answer the question: “What if someone was able to come in from the outside to change things for the better?”

In 1944, Aldous Huxley wrote a novel called, Time Must Have A Stop. It is a story about a young poet named Sebastian, who is living the high life on holiday in Florence with his rich atheist uncle. When his uncle unexpectedly dies, Sebastian resorts to thievery and ends up selling one of his uncle’s paintings to get by. Consumed by guilt over what he has done, he seeks out another relative for help, his distant cousin Bruno, a religious bookstore owner. Bruno is able to help him get back the painting that he had stolen but at a high cost to him and his life. Transformed by Bruno’s sacrifice, Sebastian embarks on his own spiritual journey by the end of the book.

In 1943, C.S.Lewis published, Perelandra, the second book in his popular Space Trilogy. Dr. Edwin Ransom travels to Perelandra (or Venus) at the behest of the ruler of Malacandra (or Mars), whom Ransom encountered in the first book of the series, Out Of The Silent Planet.

Ransom’s mission is to counter an attack on Perelandra by the ruler of Thulcandra, or Earth. This satanic attack on the paradise of Perelandra is like Satan vs. Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, except on a different planet. Ransom eventually takes on a man named Weston, who has traveled there to do the Tempter’s bidding and lure the innocent king and queen of the planet into iniquity. Ransom (as the Christ figure) finally does battle with Weston and defeats him in mortal combat, leaving Perelandra pure and unstained by sin.

So what if there was a way to change history? What if someone was able to come in from the outside to change things for the better?

As it turns out, that’s exactly what happened. It is in the life, death, and resurrection of the God/Man, Jesus Christ, that the curse is reversed, every evil is undone, and everything sad finally comes untrue. It is indeed the one true myth – the one event that seems too good to be true – yet still actually is.

It all happened in real-time, in a real place, to real people. And the best part? It still happens for us today as we come to him in faith and gather around his word and his supper, and as we join together with all the saints in every time and place, from every tribe and nation who surround the throne saying, “Blessing and honor and glory and might be to our God forever and ever. Amen!”

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the way home

We were lost. We didn’t know where we were going or which way to turn. We had been driving around in circles for hours with nothing to show for it. And now we were lost, not sure how to find our way home, and losing hope by the minute.

My family and I were living in Germany at the time while my father finished up course work at a church music school in Westphalia. While we were there, my dad was determined to investigate our German heritage and to find some of the old ancestral farms. So one day we set out in our little green Ford Taunus in search of German relatives. Dad supposedly had some directions on how to get to this certain family farm, but it seemed to be of little help. So there we were, lost and in the middle of nowhere, somewhere in Northern Germany, like strangers in a strange land.

I have to tell you that not only were we physically lost at that point - I was personally feeling pretty lost inside as well. Here I was 9 years old, in a strange country, with a foreign language, a new school, and no friends. Things had changed, everything was different, I felt lost, like I was far away from home.

That's how many people in East Germany felt after World War 2 when the Border Wall was constructed in 1949, and later the Berlin Wall in 1961. They found themselves far from relatives, far from freedom, far from prosperity, and far from home. I remember the stark contrast between East and West Germany on a family trip to Berlin. It was especially noticeable driving through Checkpoint Charlie – away from modern and colorful West Berlin – into drab, dreary, and gray East Berlin. The armed soldiers placed strategically on towers throughout the city made quite the impression as well. It was a place straight out of The Great Divorce by CS Lewis – somewhere between purgatory and the edge of heaven. The sign above the gate from Dante's Inferno says it best – “Abandon hope all who enter here”.

As I think back on the experience, Jesus' words from the Gospel of Jobn 14 come to mind, words of comfort and hope for fearful followers during trouble times. “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. I go there to prepare a place for you , and since I’m going to prepare a place for you, I will come back for you and take you to be with me, that where I am there you may also be. You know the way to the place I am going.” Thomas says, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” Jesus says, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” 

There are other statements in John’s gospel that are mile markers or sign posts, but this is the giant billboard on the highway of life for the disciples and for us. Jesus doesn’t just point us in the right direction or lead us on the right path. He Himself is the Way, the one and only way home to the Father. He has bridged the great chasm of fear and death that once separated us from God and from our true home in heaven. He has gone the way of the cross and the empty tomb in order to make straight the path to God and prepare for us a home in heaven.

So as we were driving around Westphalia just about to give up any hope of finding a family farm, there approached a man on a tractor in the field next to us. As my dad slowed down the car, he rolled down the window, and in his best German yelled out, “Hallo! Do you know any Dierkers around here?” (Dierker was my grandmother’s maiden name.) The farmer paused, looked a bit puzzled, and then answered, “Ich heisse Dierker”, which means, I am a Dierker!

We all looked at each other for a moment and then just started laughing at the absurdity of it all. We were related to this guy on a tractor who just happened to bump into us in the middle of nowhere. Now we were no longer lost, but going the right direction, and on the way home.

Some years later my brother was able to return to Germany as an exchange student in college. While he was there in 1989 a monumental event occurred - the Berlin Wall came down. It was an historic event for everyone because it meant the reunification of a once divided Germany. The celebration that ensued was unprecedented and my brother and his friend wanted to make sure to get in on the experience. As they were driving toward the border of East and West Germany, cars began to stop and spontaneous celebrations erupted right there on the highway. There was music, singing, dancing, fireworks, you name it. And when my brother began talking to some of the other people in the midst of all the celebrating, he realized the reason for their joy was not just that Germany was united again, but that they would now be able to see their family again. They would soon be on their way home.

Jesus has lifted the barrier of sin and death that once separated us from our true home. He takes away all of our fears and worries, and replaces that with peace, hope, and joy. He now makes His home in our hearts as we look forward to that day when He will come back for us, to bring us home to the place He has prepared for us.

Do not let your hearts be troubled, believe in God, believe also in Jesus - for He is our way home.

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a gracious invitation

I've got a confession to make. I'm not very good at praying. Sure, I pray regularly for my church and my family, as well as for those who are sick and in need. I'm a pastor so obviously I do a lot of praying, but I wouldn't say I'm particularly good at it - not like those "prayer warriors" you sometimes see in other churches or on TV. When asked about his prayer life, Frederick Buechner said that it was "meager, random, sporadic, inarticulate, and mostly blubbering". I can relate to that.

That's why passages in the Bible like 1 Thess. 5:17 tend to cause me a bit of consternation. Depending on how you translate it, the verse reads - "Pray continually", "pray constantly", or "pray without ceasing". So does this mean we have to become like monks and get on our knees and pray all day long? Do we have to go online and order our mail order prayer shawls? Do we need to join an organization where a steady stream of volunteers file into prayer rooms to “pray without ceasing” in the hope of Jesus imminent return? I sure hope not.

Let's go back to the text. "Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus." - 1 Thess. 5:16, 17, 18. When Paul says to rejoice always, he doesn't mean that we have to be happy all the time, but that we can have joy even in the midst of our suffering. When he says to give thanks in all circumstances, he means that no matter what is happening in a given situation, we can have a thankful and grateful disposition toward God. So when it comes to prayer, I think the context of this verse seems to indicate that it is really about an attitude of the heart.

So what does this mean? What does it look like? I think it means having a prayerful spirit. Thinking God's thoughts after Him. Saying back to Him what He first says to us in His Word. Keeping the conversation going with our Creator, Savior, and Friend.

The daily prayer life of the Christian will vary of course from person to person, but these three times of day are a good place to start - morning, meals, and night. Pray the Lord's Prayer and/or Luther's Morning Prayer when you wake up, say a prayer of blessing over your meals during the day, and then pray the Lord's Prayer and/or Luther's Evening Prayer at night, along with whatever personal petitions you may have. Sprinkle in a few psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs throughout the day and you'll be on your way to a fruitful prayer life that will grow as you grow in the grace of your Lord Jesus Christ.

Remember - Jesus gave His disciples the Lord's Prayer as a gift. It's really our prayer when you think about it. His prayer is the High Priestly Prayer in John 17. Our prayer is the Lord's Prayer - so we shouldn't be afraid to use it early, often, and late.

Here's another reminder - scripture and prayer always go together – like salt and pepper, milk and cookies, peanut butter and jelly. Luther said that when he prayed, he always did so with an open Bible in his hand. It's like breathing – inhaling and exhaling – as God speaks to us in His Word and we speak back to Him what He has said.

Praying continually means always being about the things of God no matter where you are or what is going on around you. Asking, seeking, knocking, thinking, pondering – at work, at home, at church, with the kids, on vacation – all the while knowing who you are and Whose you are in Christ. It's a gracious invitation to enter into the inner intimate life of our loving God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Before the children of Israel entered into the promised land of Canaan, Moses said to them in Deut. 6 - "These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the door frames of your houses and on your gates."

Moses wasn't instructing the people of Israel to get out their sharpies and face paint. He was reminding them to think about and talk about the words of God all the time – no matter where they were or what they are doing. That's why they needed to be on their hearts and why their children needed to learn them - so that they could recall them when they were far from home – even in a place like Babylon.

We need to be reminded of this today as well. God has given us His Word and the wonderful gift of prayer, so that we might always remember that He is our God and we are His people, and that we can always come to Him at any time to “pray, praise, and give thanks.”

So then, let us indeed rejoice always, pray continually, and give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for us in Christ Jesus.

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eyewitness of his majesty

He was an old man. He couldn't hear anymore. He could barely see. His body was broken down after a lifetime of hard work ... from foraging to fishing to fishing for men. Though his body was failing him, his mind was still sharp. He could still remember everything - just like the Master had said.

He remembered ...

- seeing the Master and hearing His voice for the first time along the shore of the Sea of Galilee.

- pulling in a big catch of fish at the Master's request - and realizing that this man wasn't just any ordinary man.

- watching Him walk on water and then getting out of the boat and actually doing it himself!

- making a great confession of faith to the Master - "the Christ, the Son of the Living God".

- then enduring a stinging rebuke just a few moments later after trying to keep Him from His mission.

- walking to the top of the mountain with the Master, and along with James and John, and there experiencing something few other human beings have.

- and then, of course, the events of holy week - the arrival, the parade, the temple, the supper, the garden, the betrayal, the arrest, the denial, the trial, the cross.

Actually he didn't remember those last two - the trial and the cross. The others had to tell him about it later. For he had denied knowing his Master, running away in shame and weeping bitterly.

But he did remember Sunday morning! Did he ever! With the arrival of the third day came reports of an empty tomb - and a stone rolled away! "He is not here - He is risen as He said! Go tell His disciples (and Peter) that He is going ahead of you to Galilee - there you will see Him as He said."

There Peter did see Him - and there his life was changed - as he was restored three times for the three times he had denied his Lord. Then came the ascending, and then the sending, and then Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth.

And now Peter was nearing the end - with one last task to fulfill - one more letter to write. Some of his fellow followers in Asia Minor were starting to give up hope - doubting that the Master would ever return. So Peter reminds them (just as the Helper had reminded him) of all the things the Master had promised, and the faith that each of them had been given.

He begins the letter with grace and peace - gifts that had been given them by God through the righteousness of His Son, Jesus Christ, their Lord and Master. These gifts imparted divine power that enabled them to "partake in the divine nature", which allowed them to participate in the life and love of God Himself. As they remembered their calling and continued in the faith, He would richly provide for them in this life, and also give them entrance into the eternal kingdom of the life to come.

Peter is reminding them of these things because he knows that his time is short, and he wants them to be able to recall these things when he is gone. So he goes back to one of his most vivid memories - the encounter on the mountain with James and John, Moses and Elijah, when the Master was transformed (metamorphed) into an amazing manifestation of unspeakable brilliance.

Peter is quick to say that he isn't making any of this stuff up. These are not "cleverly invented stories". He and the others had been eyewitnesses to His Majesty. They were there - they saw the shining shekinah glory - they heard the thunderous voice from heaven say, "This is my Beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” It was all true – the teachings, the healings, the miracles, all of it.

And more than that, as great as all that was, Peter reminds them of the sure and true Word of God, spoken of and written by the prophets, and now confirmed by the apostles, as "a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns, and the morning star rises in your hearts."

Until that great and glorious day, we have God's Holy Word, inspired by the Holy Spirit, carried along and written down by men, as a guide to forgiveness, salvation, and eternal life in Christ.

May grace and peace be multiplied to you all in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. Amen.

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"I'm Glad You're With Me"

“How do you pick up the threads of an old life? How do you go on, when in your heart you begin to understand, there is no going back? There are some things that time cannot mend. Some hurts that go too deep.”

The Treaty of Versailles, the official end of World War 1, took place 100 years ago this summer. It was signed on June 28, 1919, exactly five years after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the spark that lit the match that began the great war. Although the armistice of November 1918 ended the combat, it took months of negotiations for the peace treaties to be concluded.

Earlier this year, historian Joseph Loconte spoke at the National World War 1 Memorial and Museum in Kansas City, MO. He was there to present his book, "A Hobbit, a Wardrobe, and a Great War."

Loconte said that when the last soldier was killed just one minute before the armistice, an appalling silence prevailed. That's a good description of what took place in the weeks and months after the war. Despite the parties and the parades marking the end of the war, an appalling silence prevailed.

Historian Paul Johnson has called World War 1 "the primal tragedy of modern world civilization, and the main reason why the 20th century turned into such a disastrous epoch for mankind." As Winston Churchill famously said - "All the horrors of all the ages were brought together there."

World War 1 was called the The Great War. It was supposed to be the War to End all Wars. Some even called it The War to Usher in the Kingdom of Heaven. But it didn't quite work out that way. It was more like the reign of Sauron ushering in the Kingdom of Mordor.

Two of the greatest authors of the 20th century, J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, fought for Britain in the Great War. Tolkien was a 2nd lieutenant in the British expeditionary force, and as such fought on the western front in the war. He took part in the Battle of the Somme, one of the bloodiest battles in human history. Lewis was also a 2nd lieutenant in the British army, and he had what you might call a baptism by fire, unceremoniously arriving into battle on the day of his 19th birthday.

By the time Tolkien returned home due to trench fever, his battalion had been almost completely wiped out. "By 1918 all but one of my close friends were dead." Nearly the same could be said of Lewis. Both of them were literally, physically, and emotionally scarred from the dreadful experience. To the shell shocked veterans who survived the war, the mood was one of cynicism, despair, and disillusionment.

It was a true spiritual crisis in Europe as people tried to cope with the new normal and pick up the pieces of a former life. For Tolkien and Lewis, however, this was not their first brush with tragedy. Before they experienced the horrors of trench warfare, they both had lost their mothers to death at an early age. You might say they both lost their fathers as well - Tolkien's father to death, and Lewis' father to despair and melancholy on the death of his wife. These shared experiences would bring them together and strengthen their bonds of friendship and fellowship.

Although they both fought in World War 1, Tolkien and Lewis did not actually meet until 1926, several years after the war had ended. They met in Oxford, where they had both become professors of English literature. They quickly became friends and enjoyed walking, talking, smoking, and drinking together. They would later establish the writers group known as the “Inklings”, meeting at the Eagle and Child pub each week to read and discuss each other's literary work.

Josoph Loconte writes, "It's hard to think of a more consequential friendship in the 20th century - a friendship that emerged out of the sorrow and suffering of World War 1. What they experienced on the battlefields of Europe shaped the worlds of Middle Earth and Narnia."

Both Tolkien and Lewis wrote grand tales of epic lands in the midst of a great struggle between good and evil. For Tolkien it was “The Lord of the Rings”, and for Lewis, “The Chronicles of Narnia.” It was their way of taking all of the evil and ugliness they had experienced in World War 1, and turning it into something good and true and beautiful. As the patriarch Joseph famously said to his brothers at the end of the book of Genesis, “Man meant it for evil, but God meant it for good.” It's the answer to Sam Gamgee's question in The Return of the King - “will everything sad finally come untrue?”

This is a picture of Luther's “theology of the cross” – the unexpected and mysterious way in which God orchestrates and delivers His plan of salvation to the world. For it is in suffering, pain, and even death that God chooses to work His deeper magic and bring about redemption, restoration, and new life for all people.

Ultimately it is at the cross of Calvary, through the shed blood of Jesus Christ, the great Lion of Judah, that the stone table is broken, and everything sad does indeed finally come untrue. In the supreme “eucatastrophe” of His death and resurrection, we finally have peace with God, forgiveness of sins, and the promise of life eternal with Him in heaven.

But suffering and death always come first. Crucifixion comes before resurrection. The cross comes before the crown. The glory comes at the end of the story … but oh how glorious it will be.

“For our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.” - Romans 8:18

Though the world wars are over, the world is still very much at war. Here in this first week of September, as we commemorate the day of Tolkien's death, the specter of war is still before us, as it will be until Christ comes again. But even in the midst of the chaos and confusion of this world, Tolkien and Lewis help us to remember that God is still in charge and that Jesus still sits upon the throne. He rules over our ruins, with the promise that a renewed Cair Paravel is coming, and that a restored Minas Tirith awaits.

“I'm glad that you're with me ... here at the end of all things.”

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Christmas in Galatians

Christmas in July is in full swing this week. It's one of those made up holidays that originated at a girls camp in North Carolina in 1933. It has become kind of a big deal over the last few years – and a great reason for shopping centers, strip malls, and online retailers to have mid-summer sales. Even the White House is planning a Christmas in July event. So why not the church? 

For the last few years we have celebrated Christmas in July at our church on the last Sunday of the month. Everyone seems to enjoy the wonderful worship, festive fellowship, and of course, the christmas cookies. (We also try to have a canned food drive for the local food pantry.)

Additionally, this year we find ourselves smack dab in the middle of the book of Galatians in our Adult Bible Class. Just in time for Christmas. Why do I say that? Because when you open up your Bible to Galatians chapter 4, what you find is the Apostle Paul's celebration of Christmas.

Now of course, Christmas as a festival came much later for the early church. Easter was the first great festival of the church accompanied by the first Christian creed, “Christ is Risen”, which was soon followed by “Jesus is Lord”. Only later did the early believers begin wondering about the details surrounding Jesus' birth. Of utmost significance to them was the suffering, death, resurrection, and ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ – as it still should be for us today.

But Christmas is still wonderful – and full of wonder as well. That's why the Apostle Paul gives us this radiant passage in Galatians 4 to illuminate us with the Christmas Gospel. “When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying 'Abba Father!' So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.”

We don't get much Christmas in the Epistles. There is Philippians 2 where Jesus is “born in the image of men”, and Colossians 1 and 2, where in Him “the fullness of God dwells bodily”. But there isn't much else. And aside from Luke 2, there isn't much in the Gospels either. Half a chapter in Matthew 1 and that's about it. But here Paul give us the whole enchilada in just 4 short verses. The mystery and majesty of the incarnation of the Son of God wrapped up into a single package. And guess what? It's got your name on it! Because what God has done my sending His own Son is for you – all for you.

In the fullness of time. What a captivating phrase. It has always been a fascinating idea to me - that Almighty God in His infinite wisdom looked down upon the sons of Adam and daughters of Eve, and as executive director and producer of the entire cosmos, orchestrated everything just so that when the time was right, He sent forth His own Son, to be born of a virgin, to live a perfect life, die a sacrificial death, and rise victoriously from the grave for us and for all.

Talk about mind blowing. That's the kind of thing that can keep you up at night pondering all of the perplexities and intricacies therein. But fortunately for us (and for everyone else) we're not in charge of ruling the universe. Our Three-in-One God has that under control, thank you very much. And because the Son was born under the law to redeem those under the law, we can now have peace with God the Father through our Lord Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit.

“Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through Him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.” - Romans 5

We have peace and joy because we are now sons and daughters of God who are able to call out to Him, “Abba, Father!” No longer slaves, but sons, and if sons, then heirs of heaven.

All that's left for us to do is the same thing we do when receiving a Christmas present. Smile and say thank you. Or as Martin Luther put it – thank, praise, serve, and obey - this is most certainly true.

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CS Lewis and the Return of the British Open

"The longest way round is the shortest way home."

The Open Championship (or British Open) is one of the four major tournaments in golf and is one of the largest sporting events in the world. It is being held this week at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland - the first time this event has been back in Ireland for nearly 70 years. So what does this have to do with CS Lewis?

Lewis was born and raised in and around Belfast, Ireland. He and his family would often take family vacations to Portrush and the surrounding area, just over an hour away. There were beaches, an amusement park, natural attractions, and yes, even a castle. Just the place for a little boy with a fertile imagination.

One of the main natural attractions in the area is the Giants Causeway - a series of hexagonal rock formations which are the result of ancient volcanic activity. Of course, the Irish have a different story. They say that the causeway was formed by a scuffle between two giants who once lived there. Perhaps this was the place Lewis was thinking of when he wrote about the giant’s territory of Harfang in the Silver Chair.

Dunluce Castle is not far away - sitting high atop a cliff overlooking the Irish Sea. Although now it is just a skeleton of its former self, it is still a majestic sight on the rugged coast. It must have made quite an impression on little Jack when he saw it for the first time as a child. Many believe that this castle was the inspiration for his royal city of Cair Paravel in the Chronicles of Narnia books.

In Narnia, the castle also happens to be right on the edge of the sea. After ruling there during the Golden Age of Narnia, the four Pevensie children return when called back by Prince Caspian. Upon their return the castle is overgrown and in ruins, a mere semblance of what it once had been, but still standing and still evocative.

The Open Championship returns to Ireland this week for the first time since 1951. What else happened that year? Prince Caspian was published as the second book of the Chronicles of Narnia series, which tells about the ruins of Cair Paravel, inspired by Dunluce Castle.

We often think of CS Lewis as an Englishman since he lived and taught in Cambridge and Oxford. That is of course true in part. But he always remained an Irishman at heart, returning to his home country nearly every summer for a holiday by the sea.

These brief times of joy for Lewis would anticipate and finally culminate in that final journey home to Aslan's country, which for him was only the beginning of the real story. All his life in this world and all his adventures had only been the cover and  title page. Now at last he was beginning chapter one of the Great Story, which no one on earth has read, which goes on forever, in which every chapter is better than the one before.

scripture interprets scripture

This graphic is an amazing example of how the Bible speaks to itself and interprets itself. The bar graph on the bottom represents all the chapters in the Bible, while the nearly 64,000 textual cross references are depicted by colored arcs, which correspond to the distance between two chapters.

Stunning ...

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keller on tolkien on fairy stories

"There is a kind of story that all people crave. It doesn't matter if they are religious or secular, there is one type of story that everyone wants to hear. It is a story with a supernatural world where miracles can happen, where you can cheat death and come back to life again. It is a story that show us a love that is eternal, where good triumphs over evil, where the good guy wins in the end after much tribulation, where victory is snatched from the jaws of defeat, and where the victors live happily ever after. It is a story of a sacrificial hero that brings life out of certain death.

Modern critics hate these kinds of stories because they see them as just fairy tales. They say that life isn't really like that so we shouldn't be telling these kinds of stories. But Tolkien points out, on the contrary, that these stories connect to our deepest human longings, to those things that we all hope and dream and wish for.

The impression we are given by our culture is that there is no supernatural world, that evil will triumph over good, that death is the end, and that love is not eternal. But on a gut level, most people know that this is not right. That's not how it's supposed to be.

That is why, even though fairy tales aren't true, most people feel that they are true. Because they point to an underlying reality that is almost more true than the way life is being lived in this world.

And the greatest fairy tale story of them all? The story of Jesus. This one has it all - a supernatural world, a love that conquers all, good triumphing over evil, escape from death, heroic self sacrifice - it's got everything people hope to find in a good story.

But there is one difference. This is the one grand fairy tale story that is actually true. It really happened. It is not merely another story pointing to the underlying reality. The story of Jesus is the reality to which all the other stories point."

- Tim Keller

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rembrandt at 350

I'll never forget walking up to this painting in Amsterdam as a 9 year old kid. I didn't know anything about it except that it was big, bright, and beautiful - and that the figures on the canvas looked like they might walk right out into the gallery and start talking to me. Later on I learned that it was a Rembrandt - "The Night Watch" - one of the most famous paintings in the world.

Rembrandt died 350 years ago this year. If you haven't experienced his artwork before, this might be the year. "Rembrandt goes so deep into the mysterious that he says things for which there are no words in any language." - Van Gogh

winter poem

The wintry west extends his blast,
  And hail and rain does blow;
Or the stormy north sends driving forth
  The blinding sleet and snow:
While, tumbling brown, the burn comes down,
  And roars frae bank to brae;
And bird and beast in covert rest,
  And pass the heartless day.

“The sweeping blast, the sky o’ercast,”
  The joyless winter day
Let others fear, to me more dear
  Than all the pride of May:
The tempest’s howl, it soothes my soul,
  My griefs it seems to join;
The leafless trees my fancy please,
  Their fate resembles mine!

Thou Power Supreme, whose mighty scheme
  These woes of mine fulfil,
Here firm I rest; they must be best,
  Because they are Thy will!
Then all I want, O do Thou grant
  This one request of mine,
Since to enjoy Thou dost deny,
  Assist me to resign.

- Robert Burns

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something excellent

After Jesus performed a miracle in Mark 7, the people said of him, "He has done all things well."

The same could be said of His entire ministry - even His entire life. Everything Jesus ever thought, said, or did was perfect. He was excellent in all of His ways. This part of Jesus life is almost inconceivable to those of us who seem to sin every minute of every day. But the Scriptures are clear that it is in His perfect life of active obedience to the Father that Jesus fulfilled the law for us on our behalf - culminating with the words "Thy will be done" in the garden on the way to the cross. (His suffering and death for us on the cross constitute His "passive obedience.")

Although as the eternal Son of God He possessed all the excellencies of heaven, He lay aside His glory in order to take on human flesh, to live and suffer and die for us, that we might be forgiven of our failures and lifted up to new life in Him forever.

God the Father has given us His very best in the sacrifice of His Son on our behalf. We now in faith give our best back to Him.

"If anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things, and the God of peace will be with you." - Phil. 4

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something admirable

At one point in His ministry, Jesus was walking with some of His disciples around the temple courts in Jerusalem. A few of them were admiring the noble stones, the costly materials, and the great workmanship of Herod’s newly renovated temple. It was a sight to behold - one of the wonders of the world at that time to be sure.

"Look Teacher, what wonderful stones and buildings!" After hearing all of this, Jesus drops a bombshell on them. "You see all these huge stones and buildings? Not one of them will be left on another." After a generation passes, this whole thing is going down.

The beautiful temple in Jerusalem they were admiring that day eventually did topple at the hands of the Romans in 70 AD, just as Jesus had predicted. But the temple of His own body was about to begin a major reconstruction. The body that had come riding on a donkey into the city of Jerusalem to great pomp and circumstance, would soon be torn apart and ripped to shreds in His suffering and death on the cross. But in His glorious resurrection, His risen body would become the new temple of the Living God.

As Jesus died on the cross on Good Friday, the curtain in the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The time of the temple was over. The greater temple, the temple of the body of the Son of God, was now established in His death and resurrection. From now on, God is only to be approached through the death of His Son. No longer in a building, no longer through the blood of bulls and goats, but now through the body and blood of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. That is the place we now go to meet God.

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something beautiful

Pascal once said that we are all made with something like a god-shaped hole, a space in our being that only God can fill. A space that seeks relationship, that creates longing, that looks for something greater, something beautiful. Something that CS Lewis simply called "Joy".

No matter who you are or where you come from, everyone has this urging, this longing, this sixth sense for something higher, something better, something beautiful.

One of the ways this manifests itself is our delight in beautiful things. We all have different ideas of beauty of course - whether it be music, art, nature, or physical appearance. Luckily my wife thinks that bald is beautiful. ;-)

As Christians we have a different sense of what is beautiful. We find beauty in things and places where the world doesn't.

When we go below the surface and dig deep into God's Word, we find that even things like pain, suffering, and even death can be beautiful. Even broken things can become beautiful.

So what is the most beautiful thing in the whole world? This time the sunday school answer is the right one - Jesus. But not just the risen and living Jesus with white robes, flowing hair, and pearly white teeth. It's also the black and blue and bloody Jesus hanging on a cross dying for all the sins of all the world.

For as ugly and painful and terrible as that scene was - it was also good and true and beautiful. That's why we now call the day that it happened Good Friday. Because now, on this side of the resurrection, we're able to look back and see that it was indeed ... something beautiful.

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(ht - tony cook)

something pure

Pure - free of contamination - not mixed or adulterated with any material or substance - without any extraneous and unnecessary elements. Clean, clear, fresh, sparkling, pure.

It's pretty hard to find something or someone that is pure these days. But it's always been hard. That's because there has only been one pure, perfect, holy man that has ever lived. His name was Jesus. The only way we can be pure is through Him. 

David says in the Psalms - "Create in me a pure heart O God."
Jesus says in the Beatitudes - "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God."
And John says in his epistle - "All who hope in Him purify themselves as He is pure."

There is a health and nutrition organization called PURE - People United Reaching Everyone. I think that would be a good slogan for the Christian Church - People United Reaching Everyone.

May we reach out to all people this season with the pure good news gospel message of the love and forgiveness of Jesus Christ.

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