Brown's Daily Word 12/18/15

   Hallelujah what a Savior that was born on that glorious first Christmas to save us, to deliver us from our sin and bondage.  Here we are, just a week away form Christmas day.  May Jesus the Christ of Christmas quiet our hearts and still our souls as we prepare to celebrate His birth.  May He shine on us with His glory.  May He make all "the rough places plain" in our lives and in our homes.

    In The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the character Edmund Pevensie personifies gluttony, the sin of excessively using things, normally associated with the appetite, and, in effect, making one's belly the god he serves (Phil. 3:19).  This is just one of the sinful areas in his life.  Jadis, the White Witch, exploits Edmund's weaknesses when she meets him in a snowy wood, offering him a warm drink and Turkish Delight, his favorite candy.  From the first bite, he is hooked, for each "piece was sweet and light to the very center and Edmund had never tasted anything more delicious."  As she pumps him for information regarding his brother and sisters, he readily replies, driven by an insatiable hunger for more and more Turkish Delight.  "At first Edmund tried to remember that it is rude to speak with one's mouth full, but soon he forgot about this and thought only of trying to shovel down as much Turkish Delight as he could, and the more he ate, the more he wanted to eat, and he never asked himself why the Queen should be so inquisitive" (p.32)….

    Edmund's gluttonous desire has deadly ramifications…. While Edmund is saved by the intervention and intercession of Aslan, (the Christ figure in the story)  the cost is deadly to the latter.  Lewis' point in emphasizing Edmund's gluttony, (one of the seven deadly sins), is to illustrate vividly the effects of sins in general and this sin in particular; over-indulgence blinds us to the truth, turning us inward, making us slaves to our own insatiable desires.

    May the newborn King make us generous in giving, passionate in worship, zealous in service, and radical in our hospitality.  We are so blessed and privileged to celebrate His birth once again.  He emptied Himself and came that we might be full; He became a servant to make us a royal priesthood. 

    This comes to you with our deep love and gratitude to all of you for your love and affection over the years.  Let us once again join our hearts and minds to sing glorious carols and triumphant hymns, so that Satan might tremble and flee away, and the world might know once again that the Savior reigns. Amen and Amen.

 In Jesus our Lord.

  Brown

https://youtu.be/HPydOWczIQE

Brown's Daily Word 12/17/15

The sounds and sights of the Christmas Season surround us.  It would be impossible to miss them (even if you wanted to).  This morning we were watching a musical celebration of Christmas in Germany and Austria, hosted by Dianne Bish, who was formerly the organist for D. James Kennedy's church for many years.  What a thrill to watch children carry their lanterns to view a historic nativity scene and be a part of Christmas.

    It is impossible to miss the supernatural element in the birth of Jesus.  Angels pop up all over the Christmas story.  An angel told Mary she would give birth to Jesus, who was to "save his people from their sins".  An angel told Joseph to call the baby's name Jesus. An angel warned Mary and Joseph to flee to Egypt.  An angel told them when it was safe to return to Israel, an angel announced the birth of Christ to the shepherds, and then the angelic choir serenaded them.

    Angels certainly were a supernatural presence multiple times in the Christmas story, but the mysteries went further.  There was also the mysterious star that led the Magi from some distant land all the way to Bethlehem to the very house where they found the baby Jesus. Also, the Magi were warned in a dream not to return to Herod but to go home another way.  Angels, stars, and dreams with their accompanying mystery, awe, and wonder would lead us to say that at the first Christmas the Supernatural was everywhere.  We believe in something absolutely amazing.  It seems at times that we have heard these things so often that we have forgotten how astounding they are.  

 

    As Christians we believe that this world that we inhabit is not the “real” world. This is just the “temporary” world. This ball of earth we call home will not last forever.  We believe this world is temporary; only God is eternal.  We believe there is “another world” that is the “real” world.  It’s the world of God and of the angels, of Christ and the Holy Spirit, of heaven and the saints who dwell in glory.  These two worlds exist side by side.  We live in one world but we believe in another world.  Or to use a New Testament word picture, we live in this world but our citizenship is in another world.  That’s why the Bible calls us “aliens” and “strangers” on the earth.  We are pilgrims on a journey from this world that is passing away to a world that will last forever.  We are looking for a city with eternal foundations, whose builder and maker is God.

 

    The world you see around you will not last forever.“ The world is passing away, along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever” (I John 2:17 ESV).  Nothing golden lasts.  We are here today, gone tomorrow.  Heaven and earth will pass away but the Word of the Lord will stand forever.  The Bible is very specific about how this world will end.  Revelation 16:17-20 speaks of a vast earthquake in the last days that destroys all the cities of the earth.

Everything that man builds collapses before his eyes. So it is with everything that is of this world. Here are some lines from a poem called “Gray’s Elegy” written in a country churchyard in England:

 

    The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power

    And all that beauty, all that wealth e’er gave

    Awaits alike the inevitable hour

    The paths of glory lead but to the grave.

 

    It is right at this point that Christmas becomes so important to us.  We are a dying race living on a dying planet.  All that we see around us will someday vanish without a trace.  Despite our best efforts, there is nothing we can do to save ourselves.  If we are to be saved, salvation must come from somewhere else. It must come from outside of us.

 

    Many miracles surround Christmas—the angels, the star, the dreams, the prophecies, and most of all, the virgin birth, but those miracles are just signs pointing to the greatest miracle of all, that we who live in this world have been visited by Someone from the “other world.”  Someone from the world of light came to the world of darkness.  Someone from the eternal came to the temporary. Someone from heaven came to live with us on earth!

 

    As Martin Luther put it, “He whom the worlds could not enwrap yonder lies in Mary’s lap.” That’s the Incarnation—it’s the central miracle of the Christian faith.  If we can believe that God visited our planet as a little baby 2,000 years ago, we will have no problem with the rest of what we believe.  Richard Dawkins, the famous atheist, does not believe this because he doesn’t believe there is “another” world. He thinks this world is the only world there is.  He is so wrong.

 

    I close with the words of Bishop Hillary: “Everything that seems empty is full of the angels of God.”  Sometimes the world around us may seem empty and we may feel entirely alone, but now and then—Suddenly!—when we least expect it—when we’ve almost given up hope—when we’re tired or bored or fearful or disgruntled—God breaks through and the angels start to sing.  They sang for some startled shepherds one night in Bethlehem over 2,000 years ago and they still sing today for those who care to hear them.

 

    Can you hear the angels singing?  They bring good news from the other side, good news of great joy, the best news the world has ever heard: Joy to the World, the Lord is Come, Let Earth receive her King!

 In Christ,

    Brown

https://youtu.be/O_41X5CrODc

Brown's Daily Word 12/16/15

 I have been enjoying spring-like weather here in Central New York.  Our daughter Laureen celebrated her birthday in Washington, DC yesterday.  It was one of the warmest days  on which she celebrated her birthday.  We praise the Lord for Laureen, one of the sweet singers of Jesus and a fervent servant in His kingdom.  We are getting reading for our Christmas Eve service.  All our daughters and their families, including all our grandchildren coming home over Christmas.  Thank you Lord.  Our church will host a Christmas banquet today starting at 4.30 PM.  This for the whole community.  We are excited.  Praise the Lord for this glorious season.  It is the season of dreams and miracles.  It is the season of homecomings.  It is the season of giving and receiving.  It is the season where the Lord "fills us with good things".  It is the season of  mystery and wonder, of giving and receiving, of anticipating the best. 

 

    I love the story of the Nativity of our Lord.  I get excited reading it.. I get  excited proclaiming it.  The event of our Savior's birth is so mundane yet so divine.. it is human yet it is so heavenly.  It is so earthy yet it is so celestial.  That story changes everything.  It changes the way we think about God, as well as the way we think about ourselves, our neighbors, and even the whole world.  When the Child is born, all heaven breaks loose.  Angels appear to shepherds watching over their flocks, and the sky is filled with light and singing, "Glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace to all people of goodwill".  Then, to add to the general chaos, the shepherds leave their sheep on the hillside and run to Bethlehem to see the child.
Of all who know the story, who doesn’t love that story and what it means and what it transforms?

    God comes to us, not in dramatic displays of power but in the ordinary stuff of human life—like the birth of a child, like parents trying to make a home for their baby with whatever they can find, like an inn full of guests enjoying hospitality and one another’s good company late into the night; like shepherds— economically marginal, somehow sensing that something important is happening, dropping whatever it was they were doing and running to Bethlehem.  God comes into our lives when love is given.  The Christmas story is a story about God, not merely an event that happened 2000 years ago.  It is more than a story — it is a sign of how God continues to come into history.  It reveals how God intersects with human life, with your life and mine.

    William Placher, in a fine new book on what the church believes about Jesus Christ and what difference it makes, says that the birth of Jesus Christ, the incarnation, changes all the rules, transforms the humanity of the least of persons. The members of the Stroke Club, the homeless woman pushing her grocery cart ahead of her, the child in Cabrini-Green spending this night alone in front of a television set; The U.S. Army corporal on watch in a remote corner of Afghanistan, the patients in the ICU, the people of Palestine and Israel, the beleaguered people of Bethlehem—what happened in Bethlehem transforms the humanity of every one of us.
 Revel Howe wrote, “We do not find love by looking for it.  We find it by giving it"?’ I would answer, ‘Go find someone to love and you will find God.’”  In other words, we need to love in order to find love.

    Those who know and love Jesus know and love the story of Bethlehem and the holy birth and the angels and shepherds, but the purpose of the story is not simply to make us feel good but to change you and me, to transform us into the kind of women and men God wants us to be.  The purpose of the story is quite personal, actually.  It is to tell each one of us that we are loved with an infinite love.  God’s purpose is to transform us into agents of that love and through us, and through all who this night "travel to Bethlehem" to transform our families, our neighborhoods, our cities, indeed the whole world.

    O Holy Child of Bethlehem, descend to us we pray;
    Cast out our sin and enter in, be born in us today.
    We hear the Christmas angels the great glad tidings tell;
    O come to us, abide with us, Our Lord Emmanuel!

In Christ,

 Brown

https://youtu.be/q5n6X9sUznI

Brown's Daily Word 12/15/15

Praise the Lord for this wonderful season of Advent that ushers in the mysterious and glorious Christmas season.  It has been unusually warm around the region.  It is so warm that the iconic Cherry trees in Washington, DC have started blossoming.  It is interesting how the Lord can usher in a taste of spring as the winter season draws in.  The Lord blessed us with a wonderful Sunday, His day, in His house in worship, in songs of the season, and in fellowship.  We had a Christmas Open House in the Parsonage in the evening.  It was a blast, with lots of food and a great fellowship.

 

  This past  Sunday I preached from Mary's Song from the book of Luke chapter 1.  We know these few verses as "the Magnificat".  The Magnificat was spoken while Mary was visiting Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist.  She is praising God for his great mercy to her personally.  Her words are personal and her point of view is turned inward.  Mary seems to fade from view; she is praising God for the effects the coming of Christ will have on the world.  Her point of view is outward and her words are global in their scope.  “For he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant.”  The word “humble” refers to her age, her background, her economic condition, her lack of social standing.  In short, She was just a poor Jewish girl, one among thousands.  In all of Israel there was no one less likely.  Mary was overwhelmed by the thought that she has been chosen by God.  Surely God didn’t have to do it that way!  That’s the wonder of Christmas.  It is a statement about the sovereign grace of God.  Mary was praising God because he chose her despite all the things that made the world overlook her.  As God has done great things by choosing such an unlikely person, he would now do great things in unlikely ways. 

 

    When Mary spoke about herself, she used the present tense, but when she talked about the world, she used the past tense—"He has performed, He has scattered, He has brought down, he has filled.””  Mary was talking about Jesus Christ.  When she said “has,” she was talking about what Christ would do.  She was so utterly convinced about what her Son, the Lord Jesus, would do when he was to come that she spoke of it as if it had already happened.  Although it was yet in the future, in Mary’s mind it was an accomplished fact because God had willed it to happen.  Mary described  revolutionary changes that would happen on earth because of the birth of Jesus Christ.  “He has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.” 

 

    The coming of Christ means the end of all human boasting.  It is the end of vanity and outrageous ambition.  His coming means an end to insatiable greed and uncontrolled lust for power.  The mighty are brought down by the strong arm of the Lord.  Indeed, it has so happened across the centuries.  Proud and daring men lift their heads to challenge the Almighty, but he swats them down like flies.  What happened to Saddam Hussein?  What happened to Erich Honecker?  What about Idi Amin?  What about Vladimir Lenin?  Mao Tse Tung?  Tyrants such as these come, they rise to power, and sooner or later, they disappear.  The story of the Tower of Babel tells us how God works.  He lets the proud gather together and in their grandiose schemes, they plan to rise up to heaven.  God watches for awhile, he waits, he seems even to ignore, and in their temporary success they congratulate each other on their cleverness.  But God scatters the proud, and he does so suddenly.   

 

    The coming of Christ brings about a great reversal of fortune in society.   The proud are brought low and the humble are lifted up.  What men would term as luck Mary called the work of God.  When someone loses everything, we talk about bad luck.  When someone "hits the jackpot", we say he had good luck.  It is not so for  Mary.  She understood that behind the faceless mystery called luck stands God himself.  He lifts up, and no one can bring down.  He brings down, and no one can lift up again.  As John Calvin said, the princes of the world do not understand this. They grow insolent, fat, lazy, and greedy. They indulge in luxury, swell with pride and grow intoxicated with power.  They soon forget that all they have comes from God.  Calvin said exactly, “If the Lord cannot tolerate such ingratitude, we should not be surprised.” 

 

    “He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty.” This is the most revolutionary part of Mary’s song.  Not only does the coming of Christ upset the proud of this world, not only does it lift up the humble, but it actually means that the hungry are fed and the rich go away empty.  The gospel is the only hope for mankind—not only for his soul but also for his body, not only for the church but also for the world, not only for the individual but also for society.  Mary’s heart was filled with praise because she knew the world would be a different place because Christ had come.  He will pull down the proud.  He will lift up the humble.  He will fill the hungry.  And the rich will be sent away empty. This is the ultimate reversal of fortune. 

 

    Verses 54-55 bring us to the end of Mary’s song.  She concluded by praising God that in sending Jesus Christ into the world, God was keeping his ancient promises to Abraham.  There is a wonderful phrase in verse 54: “He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful.”  That’s a wonderful way to put it.  God remembered to be merciful.  Jesus was born that way in order to send us a message about how God does business.  Mary’s song teaches us that this is how God always does business. He doesn’t do business with the proud. He doesn’t run with the rulers of the world. He doesn’t side with the rich. God is at home with the humble, the tired, the weak, and the lowly of this world.  He does business with those who fear His  name.

 In Christ,

   Brown