A Little Go and Tell

Remember "Show and Tell" on the first day of school? I had one classmate who told tales of Disney World vacations every year. I was so jealous.
Somewhat less exciting to me is the Jersey Shore.
The upsides: breezes that fluff and cool sweaty heads and steamy air. We enjoy breakfasts with a view, family face to faces and digging holes in the sand, wide and deep. The tide always washes them away. I take walks and watch baby clams gobble down and down. Every day, my husband paddles out and catches rides back in...out, back, out, back - for hours.
The downsides:
Seagulls hungrily snatch sandwiches and cheese curls from your clasp and pretty beach snacks, gone in a blink. This particular year, our small entourage attended the worst play possibly ever written, escaped before it ended and then tried to forget!
Another week on the Jersey Coast has ended.
Vacations have highs and lows; they come and go. Things come and go, come and go. People come and go. That's life.

Luke 2: 25-35 Simeon was an old man who knew that before it was time for him to go, He would see the Christ come.  On the day Jesus was dedicated by Mary and Joseph, there sat Simeon, waiting and longing, tired and hopeful. He recognized Jesus as "The Consolation of Israel" who would console him and his people for all that they had lost and suffered...Jesus was the greatest high in Simeon's life.
"Now I can go in peace" he said. (v.29)
"Now I see what I have believed without seeing...trusted without experience;
You God are a God who is making everything right after all for all.
This Jesus marks the going of what has been and coming of what was meant to be."
Simeon had to shout about it!
There was a woman at the temple who also noticed Jesus and saw what Simeon saw. She had been there night and day since the loss of her husband...surely over 50 years of devotion. Anna, a prophetess (spokeswoman for God) joined  Simeon in the affirmation of Jesus as Israel's redeemer, making sure the people who were waiting for Him would know that He had come to set them free.
Her people had let go of all God offered them as His children but the day they laid their eyes on Jesus was the day God was giving it all back...to Israel and to ALL His children.
Anna had to talk about it!
In Jesus, God accomplishes what no one can do for themselves,
forgiveness and restoration.
He not only saves us from our corruption, He makes it possible for us to live out the mission we were made for:
To know Him and make Him known.

Isaiah 52:9-10 
Break forth together into singing, (shouting, talking, blogging) 
    you waste places of Jerusalem,
for the Lord has comforted his people;
    he has redeemed Jerusalem.
10 The Lord has bared his holy arm
    before the eyes of all the nations,
and all the ends of the earth shall see
    the salvation of our God.

However...
all of the coming and going, losing and gaining, highs and lows in life cause us to view God skeptically,
the illusive rhyme and reason for non-sensical pain, the outrage of heartbreaking injustice...why would we want to know such a God? And IF we could know such a God, why would we want to compel others to know Him?
I believe God, well aware of His reputation,  sent Jesus to shine a light on who He really is.
The Old Testament itself, the whole history of Israel and the church provides more than enough excuse for us to say :"No thank you. You say "come" Lord...but I think I'd better be going!"
 Jesus, the perfect representation of who God is, the perfect reflection of this baffling God's heart, speaks comfort:
"Do not let your hearts be troubled.
Trust in God- trust also in me." John 14:1

With all this coming and going, losing and gaining in life
I am so thankful for Jesus, our Comforter, our Redeemer.
That's why I have to blog about it!

"With my own eyes I’ve seen your salvation;
    it’s now out in the open for everyone to see:
A God-revealing light to the non-Jewish nations,
    and of glory for your people Israel." Luke 2:30-32 The MSG

If we long to be comforted in our losses, if we hope for better understanding of what we're made for-
Like Simeon and Anna we must come, "Taste and see that He IS good" Ps. 34:8

then- "Go and tell this great news". Mark 16:15

An Other Birth

We are anticipating a birth in our family. Crazy! Crazy the emotions that go with such an announcement. This is not just another birth...this is an "other"- adding, expanding our family!
Birth...
Anticipated 
Imagined 
Celebrated 
Feared
Human
Matthew and Luke recount for us the most conspicuous birth of all time.
Anticipated for hundreds of years
Imagined by Israel
Celebrated by billions
Feared by the powerful
Human arrival of the Creator of humanity...
So much more than just another birth.
God secured relationship with us through giving Himself in the man, Jesus.
What kind of relationship does He want with us?
Well,
To the ones waiting, listening, anticipating like Mary and Joseph, He promises: "The Lord is with you." Luke 1:28
and He comforts: "Do not be afraid..." Matt. 1:20

“No eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined what God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Corinthians 2:9).

To the ones who imagine freedom from an iron caste like the shepherds, He gives hope:
"I bring you good news of great joy which will be for ALL people!" Luke 2:10 
Ephesians 2:14-16 "He has broken down…the dividing wall of hostility…making peace…through the cross” 

To the ones who seek and celebrate understanding like the wisemen, He leads them into understanding. Matt. 2:1-12

“We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true." 1 John 5:20

To the ones who fear the loss of power and influence like Herod, He is greater. "...this was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophets..." Matt. 2:23
 Isaiah 14:27 "For the LORD Almighty has purposed, and who can thwart him?"
James 4:6 "But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

To all humanity, Jesus came: 
John 3:17 "For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved (rescued and restored) through him."

How's Your Hearing?

I have disjointed thoughts from the week's studies...it often feels like God is not fulfilling His end of the deal. 
He is being too quiet!
Anticipation jump starts the writing process on Monday mornings. Every week my anxieties become over-ruled by the fact that I think I think God IS saying something;
but I have to start punching these keys to hear it. Punching keys helps me ponder.

We are in the Gospels; 
attempting to chronicle Jesus' relationships.
We are beginning with His family, because family is where relating begins.
Jesus' extended family were the first to hear the long anticipated message that God was indeed ready to hold up His end of the deal.
And what was His end? We need to go all the way back to Genesis 12:1-3, when God broke another period of felt silence and promised Abram (Abraham) to give him a really, really big family; big enough to be its own nation in fact with its own land. And this family of Abraham's would actually be so special in the world that EVERY family would be "blessed" by them.
God's end of the deal was honoring this promise. 
Abraham's family though, had repeated hearing problems.
They were human after all. How many of us walk away from times of relating with our loved one's with several different versions of one interaction?
The Old Testament is full of Israel's spin on what God said and who He was. 
Abraham himself had lived in a world of idol worship and godless practices. No wonder God had to send him up on top of Mt. Moriah to sacrifice Isaac. 
That's the kind of "god" Abraham knew...gods demanded blood to make them happy. 
But instead, the God of the promise said, (my version) "I can see that you fear me...but I am not like other Gods. I am not just a god who simply demands to be appeased. I want to love you and I will provide the sacrifice myself, so that you can feel my love; 
love me because I love you Abraham 
not just because you're scared witless."
Abraham made so many mistakes. His listening skills were tainted by his history and his humanity. 
His family continued in this cycle of spiritual deafness, misdirected worship, severe consequences, cries for help, and divine intervention for a very long time before the silence between the Testaments. 
But thousands of years later,  some family members were still waiting to hear God's voice in faith that the promise would be kept.
One of them was Mary.
The Gospels talk about her "pondering" over and over again.
She had developed her listening skills and given her heart completely to God.
Luke tells us that God sent Gabriel to speak on His behalf. Mary heard clearly that God was indeed going to forgive Israel, fix their relationship with Him and make them a gift of His mercy to the world... in a son, Jesus. 
The devastation of sin on the whole human family was about to be reversed so that the family relationship could be restored and reset.
What hope!
She could not contain her excitement!
"My soul exalts the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior." Luke 1:46-47
Thousands of years later God still speaks. Maybe not through an angelic visit, but 
He still let's us feel the consequences of sin to say: 
"Everything and everyone else will always come         up short, but Me!" 
He still presents us with moments of profound beauty to say: "You were made for more...it's ME!"
He still calls to us through the Scriptures: "I came that you may have life, and have it abundantly" .(John 10:10)
He still promises: "This is MY body broken for you, this is MY blood, shed for you..."

Are you listening?