Brown's Daily Word 12/15/14

Praise the Lord for this season of wonder and the season of miracles.  Alice and I love this season.  We love the sights and sounds.  We love the celebration.  We love the worship that is the center of the season.  Our people gathered at Wesley Saturday evening for celebration and fellowship.  He blessed us in His House yesterday.  We went out caroling last night, singing joyful carols of Christmas.  The group took packages of homemade cookies and Christmas pastries to be given to the families.  After the caroling we all gathered at the Church Fellowship Hall joining in impromptu sharing.  It was a great blessing.  Today we picked our 2014 Christmas tree; it was 11 feet tall and very big.  I had to trim down from the top.  Now there is a small place for the angel.  The tree is aromatic and gorgeous.

     Today our daughter Laureen is celebrating her birthday.  We praise the Lord for Laureen.  I remember the day she was born.  One of the distinct feature Laureen was born with were her long fingers.  I "prophesied" then and there that Laureen would be a great piano player.  Laureen has grown to love Jesus and worship Him and play piano in a way that honors Jesus.

    Praise the Lord for the Christ of Christmas who transforms people.  He transforms Scrooges into born again men, who are both generous and joyful.  Christ still transforms people today at times through the witness of His people.

    While working as a journalist for the Chicago Tribune, Lee Strobel was assigned to report on the struggles of an impoverished, inner-city family during the weeks leading up to Christmas.  A confirmed atheist at the time, Strobel was mildly surprised by the family's attitude in spite of their circumstances:

The Delgados—60-year-old Perfecta and her granddaughters, Lydia and Jenny—had been burned out of their roach-infested tenement and were now living in a tiny, two-room apartment on the West Side.  As I walked in, I couldn't believe how empty it was.  There was no furniture, no rugs, nothing on the walls—only a small kitchen table and one handful of rice. That's it.  They were virtually devoid of possessions.

In fact, 11-year-old Lydia and 13-year-old Jenny owned only one short-sleeved dress each, plus one thin, gray sweater between them.  When they walked the half-mile to school through the biting cold, Lydia would wear the sweater for part of the distance and then hand it to her shivering sister, who would wear it the rest of the way.

But despite their poverty and the painful arthritis that kept Perfecta from working, she still talked confidently about her faith in Jesus.  She was convinced he had not abandoned them.  I never sensed despair or self-pity in her home; instead, there was a gentle feeling of hope and peace.

    Strobel completed his article, then moved on to more high-profile assignments, but when Christmas Eve arrived, he found his thoughts drifting back to the Delgados and their unflinching belief in God's providence.  In his words: "I continued to wrestle with the irony of the situation.  Here was a family that had nothing but faith, and yet seemed happy, while I had everything I needed materially, but lacked faith—and inside I felt as empty and barren as their apartment."

    In the middle of a slow news day, Strobel decided to pay a visit to the Delgados. When he arrived, he was amazed at what he saw.  Readers of his article had responded to the family's need in overwhelming fashion, filling the small apartment with donations.  Once inside, Strobel encountered new furniture, appliances, and rugs; a large Christmas tree and stacks of wrapped presents; bags of food; and a large selection of warm winter clothing.  Readers had even donated a generous amount of cash.

    But it wasn't the gifts that shocked Lee Strobel, an atheist in the middle of Christmas generosity.  It was the family's response to those gifts. In his words:

As surprised as I was by this outpouring, I was even more astonished by what my visit was interrupting: Perfecta and her granddaughters were getting ready to give away much of their newfound wealth.  When I asked Perfecta why, she replied in halting English: "Our neighbors are still in need.  We cannot have plenty while they have nothing.  This is what Jesus would want us to do."

That blew me away!  If I had been in their position at that time in my life, I would have been hoarding everything.  I asked Perfecta what she thought about the generosity of the people who had sent all of these goodies, and again her response amazed me.  "This is wonderful; this is very good," she said, gesturing toward the largess.  "We did nothing to deserve this—it's a gift from God.  But," she added, "It is not his greatest gift.  No, we celebrate that tomorrow.  That is Jesus."

To her, this child in the manger was the undeserved gift that meant everything—more than material possessions, more than comfort, more than security.  And at that moment, something inside of me wanted desperately to know this Jesus—because, in a sense, I saw him in Perfecta and her granddaughters.

They had peace despite poverty, while I had anxiety despite plenty; they knew the joy of generosity, while I only knew the loneliness of ambition; they looked heavenward for hope, while I only looked out for myself; they experienced the wonder of the spiritual, while I was shackled to the shallowness of the material—and something made me long for what they had.

        Or, more accurately, for the One they knew.
—Lee Strobel, The Case for Christmas (Zondervan, 2005)

    Perfecta knew the words of God declared in Jeremiah 29:11: "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

    While I have been in the ministry for the last several decades I have seen our Lord  perform miracles.  I've seen angry, bitter people discover the healing power of forgiveness; I've seen hopeless marriages restored; I've seen the wealthy young rulers of this day discover more joy from giving away their money than they had in making it; I've seen people healed of diseases; and I've seen people with the same diseases discover the joy of the Lord in the midst of dying.  I can share that  the next leg of the journey is better than the last.  Thanks be to Jesus.

In Christ,

 Brown

http://youtu.be/yAyplzXmjVE

Brown's Daily Word 12/12/14

     Praise the Lord for the gift of Advent and the Christmas season.  Alice and I frequently go the Mall for our evening walk in the winter.  The mall is decked and decorated wonderfully.  It is full of joyful shoppers and, best of all, joyful children.  During this season of seasons various musical groups present Christmas concerts  in the mall.  One of large groups with full orchestration was presenting their concert yesterday.  It was brilliant.  We will be presenting the Living Nativity on Saturday the 20th of December  from 5 PM to 7 PM.  We will be singing all Pure Christmas Carols. Yancey Moore, one of the gifted Musicians, will be leading at the Grand Piano.  We will sing the "Hallelujah Chorus" at 6:30 PM. We" are inviting  all musicians to join for singing the Hallelujah Chorus, " Flash Mob" style.  Please come.  If you do not come , the Lord might forgive you BUT we will not.( Just Kidding).

    Yesterday while walking in the mall I heard  the song, "Last Christmas I gave you my heart"  When I looked I saw a young girl of perhaps 5 years singing with a big smile...  ... "This year, to save me from tears, I'll give it to some one Special".. I said to myself, "Let us give ours Jesus this year ..  He is very Special."

    I have been once again reflecting on the words of C.S. Lewis" Always winter…but never Christmas."  Try to imagine that for a moment.  Always winter…but never Christmas.  In the land of Narnia, as C.S. Lewis described it in “The Lion,the Witch, and the Wardrobe,” winter has not seen an end for a hundred years.

    How awful indeed would it be to have 100 years of winter, but no Christmas.  In the story Narnia was once a lush and beautiful land, but evil had reared its ugly head in the character of the White Witch.  Her reign of terror keeps the land in eternal winter. 

    C.S. Lewis knew a thing or two about evil and a reign of terror, since “The Chronicles of Narnia” were written not long after the end of World War II, in the lingering shadows of Nazi tyranny and oppression.  Living in Europe, C.S. Lewis saw that first hand with echoes of his experience reflected in the reign of the White Witch in his stories.  It is a reign of terror, indeed, where secret police whisk away suspected traitors who are never seen again, where fear and intimidation keep those who hope for freedom underground…sometimes literally, where the pervading sense of hopelessness, darkness, and despair are captured perfectly in just five words: Always winter…but never Christmas.

    Yet, even in the midst of the terrible, long winter, there remained the faint whisper of an age-old prophecy, which brought hope to the people gripped by the terror of oppression and darkness. 

    Even in the darkest of times in Narnia, there was hope.  Even in the darkest hours of the Nazi terror and oppression there was hope.  Even in the darkest moments of our lives, when we are gripped by the winter of our situation, there is hope.  Words of hope have no doubt echoed in similar situations throughout the ages.

   In our world today there is a diabolic oppression against Christians around the world.  Christians are crucified, brutally murdered, forcibly converted to Islam, "The Religion of Peace".  Children are beheaded because they refuse deny JESUS  Many Christians are denied basic human rights.    We can hear it in the hearts of those who long for peace and freedom.  For seventy years Communist ruled over the Soviet Union.  For the Church in the USSR it seemed like a very long winter.  The church waited for the long-expected Jesus.  He came with truth and grace.  The communist regime collapsed without the shedding of any blood.  It all started to happen during the Advent season in 1989.  

Once more the world and the church are facing the terror of the enemy all around.  Many are longing .. Many are anticipating.. Many are expecting.  To us the words of prophesy come afresh and anew: “Comfort, comfort my people, speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for.  Every valley will be raised up, every mountain and hill made low, the rough ground will be level, the rugged places plain, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,and all flesh shall see it together.”
    When C.S. Lewis writes about it being “Always winter…but never Christmas,” he was not just describing the reign of the White Witch, or echoing the tyranny of Nazi Germany, but our human experience.  Until the birth of Jesus Christ, sin kept humanity tightly in its grip.  It was God’s intent in sending Jesus Christ, not to end political or cultural tyranny, but as Paul writes, to set us free from the power of sin and death.

    The harsh realities of our world don’t take a break during this time of the year.
At Christmas Jesus came to a world that was cold and bleak, just as He comes to us in our darkest, most difficult times and points to God’s eternal promises of love, forgiveness, and comfort.  Then at Easter Jesus gave His life for us, and in doing so broke the power of sin’s winter and brought new life, just as he offers new life to each of us who would put our faith and trust in Him.

    Peterson paraphrases from Psalm 147: “He breathes on winter, suddenly it’s spring!”

Like the words of the hymn (poem) by Christina Rosetti:

    What can I give him, poor as I am?
    If I were a shepherd, I would give a lamb.
    If I were a wise man, I would do my part.
    Yet what I can, I give him…Give my heart.
In Christ,

  Brown

http://youtu.be/z6yevmluq2M

Brown's Daily Word 12/11/14

       Praise the Lord for this wonderful season of Advent and Christmas that is celebrated around the corner and around the globe.  When I was young boy growing up in a remote village in India, I recall the joys of waiting for Christmas. While growing up we did not have electricity, there were no telephones, cell phones or ipods.  There was no television where you can watch Christmas movies beginning at Thanksgiving and all through the month of December.  I recall listening to Christmas stories.  My dad, my mom, my grandpa, and my uncles told us the Biblical stories of Christmas.  There were also times they told us the fairy tales.  We did not have any books with fairy tales so these  stories were passed down to us through oral tradition.

     As a young boy I thought that the Christmas story was a beautiful fairy tale that turned out to be very true.  In a way this is the story of a Mighty prince who becomes pauper so that when we receive Him we become Royal princes and princesses .  

    Søren Kierkegaard, famous Danish theologian, told it this way.  There once was a mighty king who from a distance fell in love with a humble maiden.  He was a mighty king!  Every statesman in the world trembled in awe of him.  No one dared speak a word against this king, who could crush nations with his power.  Yet the heart of this mighty ruler melted with love for a humble maiden.  Oddly enough, it was his kingliness which tied his hands.  If he brought her to the palace, crowned her head with costly jewels and bedecked her in royal robes, of course she would not resist, because no one dared resist him.  But would she love him?

    Of course, she would say she loved him, but would she truly?  Or would she live with him in fear, privately grieving for the life she left behind?  Would she be happy at his side?  How could he know her true feelings?  If he rode up to her cottage in the forest accompanied by an armed escort, with bright banners flying, that would overwhelm her.  He did not want a cringing subject; he wanted a lover, an equal. He wanted her to forget that he was a king and she a humble maiden, and to let their shared love cross the gulf between them.  For it is only in love that those who are unequal become equal.   So the king clothed himself in beggar's rags and slipped unnoticed through the palace gates.  He walked the roads. He tilled the fields.  And later in a marketplace, still in his tattered clothes, his hands now calloused from rough work, he bumped into her and introduced himself.  Then he wooed and won the hand of this servant girl.  On their wedding day he whispered in her ear, "My dear beloved, you are now a queen."  And they were wed in royal splendor, and lived blissfully ever after as King and Queen.

    That is the fairy tale of Christmas. The King of Heaven fell in love with his bride, the church, and humbled himself so that he might win her love.  Christmas, in a sense, is a fairy tale so, like a fairy tale, it takes place in magical land of time beyond time.  In the real story of the Christ child, there isn't a chimney (for Santa to slip down).  The best fairy tales take place at night though in the church we usually meet in the bright light of day.  But that baby was born at night.  The angels serenaded from heaven at night.  Joseph had his dream at night.  So John wrote in his gospel that the Christ boy came as a light into our darkness.  As Simon Tugwell has pointed out, in Jesus God was pursuing us in our night, so when we tried to run away we ran right into his arms.

    Though it seems like such a fairy tale, what brings us and millions of other people together this season is not make-believe.  The incarnation of God in human flesh — in the birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth — was an historical event.  The book of Hebrews describes the Lord of all enthroned in glory: radiant as a diamond, every angel eye was on him.  But then the Lord of all looked down and saw the suffering and pain and heartbreak of our world.  He saw that the terrible diseases of sin and selfishness had broken out and overtaken his beloved creatures.  Knowing the cost of his coming, that in our twisted-ness we would certainly reject the God of light, out of love for us he came anyway.  He came so that tonight we might receive him by faith and have among us and within us the life of God, the eternal indestructible life of God's own spirit.

    Sometimes it seems that in this world we are caught in the bad part of a fairy tale, surrounded by the darkness and evil forces, and there's no way to get out of our trouble, no hope that we will ever break out of that darkness.  Every time we turn on the news, we are bombarded by stories of murder, terrorism, madness and mayhem.  We feel small, insignificant, and helpless, and the darkness seems impenetrable.  Yet, in fairy tales, creatures are ultimately transformed into what they truly are.  The ugly duckling becomes a great white swan, the frog is revealed as a prince, and the beast is transformed by Beauty's love.  At Christmas, my friends, you and I undergo an almost magical metamorphosis into what we always are but sometimes forget to be: children of God.  We are all, in fact, characters in the greatest story ever told. James Patrick has likened the church to the characters in J. R. R. Tolkien's Ring trilogy: out in the world, moving among the forces of evil, surrounded by darkness on all sides, and yet triumphant.

    I read about a Christian family in which there is a four-year-old daughter named Kylie.  Like many other little girls, Kylie wants to be a princess.  After all, she has heard the fairy tales and knows how beautiful princesses are.  One day she asked, "Mommy, can I be a princess?"  A lot of parents would have said, "Someday" or "Maybe," but Kylie's mom is a very smart woman.  Without blinking, she replied, "When you believe in Jesus, you're already a princess."  Silence suddenly engulfed this talkative little four-year-old, because the answer made perfect sense. Of course God would make her a princess.

    In the same way, you and I are sons and daughters of the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.  Though we live as flawed people in this flawed world, as someone has said, we are ragtag royalty.  We are princes and princesses.  It is written in John 1, "As many as received Him to them He gave the power to become the sons and daughters of God."

In Christ,

 Brown

http://youtu.be/71NCzuDNUcg