Wait on Lord

Lying in a Manger — 2014 Ornament

“This year’s 15th annual ornament, “Lying in a Manger” speaks to 2014, a “What’s wrong with this picture?” kind of year – odd, puzzling and periodically disturbing….

Last Christmas, I was six months into a promising new position that abruptly ended in early January. Following another ten months of career-searching, I turned to simply finding a job and landed a part-time position with a major retailer in early November where I presently work.

As the rest of the year teetered through a series of ups and downs and in-betweens, Christ was my anchor along with my wife, church and family.

RBC Ministries ‘Discovery Series’ booklets are among several favorite sources of Biblical teaching and context including “The Real Gift of Christmas” by Dan Schaeffer that gave rise to this year’s “Lying in a Manger” ornament inspiration that speaks into the “What’s wrong with this picture?” dilemma. I pray it and my message offered below (on explanation card for ornament recipients) resonates with any and all oddities in your picture as well.”
— Glenn (“FarmingtonGlenn”) – Christmas 2014

2014 "Lying in a Manger" ornament

Lying in a manger...

While the baby Jesus “lying in a manger” is the central point of the tranquil scenes we prominently feature among our Christmas decorations, the actual birth event was probably not so tranquil for first time parents Joseph and Mary. The story told in Luke presents the manger crib as a concession because there was “no room at the inn.”

Luke declared that “the time came for the baby to be born,” suggesting no time to second-guess the unlikely birthing place. Perhaps in the quiet after the birth, Mary and Joseph’s thoughts turned again to reconciling the lofty claims offered by angelic messengers to both of them just nine months earlier with this birthplace fit well for animals of labor but not so well for a redeemer king. Had they somehow missed an important cue between then and now?

Could the cards be any more stacked against their baby to enter into the world to be saved at such a disadvantaged position? Where had they gone wrong?

Meanwhile another angelic disturbance was underway in the night sky above the dark pastures surrounding Bethlehem. This time a group of shepherds is the odd audience for a heavenly host of angels heralding a Savior born in the town of David who is Christ the Lord. He is to be found “lying in a manager.”

This time, “lying in a manger” is a sign given to find the right baby among many babies in Bethlehem that night due to families streaming into town to be counted in the census imposed by Caesar Augustus. No other baby would be “lying in a manger,” only Jesus, the one they sought.

But why shepherds? And why send them off to seek the baby in the manger?

God laced every moment of that evening with message and meaning, suggests Schaeffer. To shepherds, lowest on the Jewish societal strata, were given the honor to be first to see the Savior and then to release news of his arrival to the community. What comfort for them to seek their redeemer in a place that they of all people would know where to look and not feel unfit to visit?

Still, imagine their wonder as they searched. What kind of Savior arrives in a stable birthing room and a manger crib that would be unusual even in their own time? Indeed, what kind of Savior?

Then what of Mary and Joseph? Queried Schaeffer, “When the rugged shepherd worshipers arrived to see their child, did Mary and Joseph sigh in relief? Did the joy of confirmation flood their souls, washing away any doubt that might have accumulated in their hearts?”

“I think it did,” he surmised. “The heavenly-inspired visit by the shepherds was an additional confirmation that their present circumstances were exactly what God had deemed.”

So this Christmas, permit this “Lying in a Manger” ornament to be a sign for you as well, an invitation. Nothing about your situation is the least bit odd to God. Rest assured that he is working for His glory and your good. So bring your stuff and yourself to him whatever your current state. Like the shepherds, you are welcome and fit to visit.

Notes:

  1. COMMENTS WELCOME and ENCOURAGED here about how the ornament and/or message struck you ESPECIALLY from ornament recipients. IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO RECEIVE a 2014 “Lying in a Manger” ornament, simply request one by emailing me at FarmingtonGlenn@gmail.com.  No guarantees but if I can get one to you, I will.  If shipping is required, I may ask you to cover those costs.
  2. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:
    1. The inspiration for this ornament came from my reading in September 2014 of “The Real Gift of Christmas”, an RBC Ministries ‘Discovery Series’ booklet by Dan Schaeffer.  Link: http://web001.rbc.org/pdf/discovery-series/the-real-gift-of-christmas.pdf
    2. Star charm: Finishing touch, the “Antique Brass Star Outline” charm http://www.artbeads.com/bba-ch002.html
  3. LYING IN A MANGER SCRIPTURES:

    The anchor scripture is Luke 2:12 but for context, read Luke 2: 4-19.

Abide in Me — 2011 Ornament

“WAIT, REST, TRUST, ABIDE:

Three years after I was separated from my position of 30 years, my life remained in “stuck” mode still. So I plowed ahead, one step at a time, clinging to my faith in God. He was faithful. He provided. He spoke.

But His messages were confusing: Be Still – Wait – Rest – Trust. This is not what the career-search gurus are advising. (Apparently, God and them are tuned into different channels.)

I turned to trusted advisers including the pastor of our church, Doug Walker. But Doug and God were in cahoots. (Apparently, he and God are tuned to the same channel!)

So, in honor of God and Doug, the message of my 2011 “Abide in Me” ornament is this: Listen for God and cling to Him. No matter what life brings, don’t let go – Ever.”

2011 "Abide in Me" Ornament

Doug’s message on April 10, 2011 regarded Jesus’ teaching found in John’s gospel.  “I am the true Vine,” said Jesus. “Abide in me, and I in you.”  (John 15:1,4)  This term rested at the center of Jesus’ description of the kind of relationship He and his Father (God) have with each other and that each believer is invited to share.

The setting was significant as Jesus was sharing Passover supper with his closest friends, the last supper they would enjoy together before Jesus execution the next day.  Perhaps while lifting a cup of wine, Jesus used a grapevine metaphor to illustrate this “abiding” concept. He is the “true” vine, whereas God the Father is the vinedresser.  Believers are branches who “bear fruit.”

“Abide in me,” said Jesus, and you will “bear fruit.”  What fruit? The kind that flows from a branch, a person who clings to the Vine, to Jesus.  The fruits of the Spirit are listed in Galatians 5: 22-23: “love, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control.”

I appreciated Doug’s message, but it wasn’t making me feel very fruity. I was struggling.  Life wasn’t working for me.  Then Doug offered Jesus’ explanation about how fruit production occurs – by simply staying connected to the vine, to Jesus.  Through thick and thin, we cling, hold on, never let go and fruit will flow, “much fruit.”

And then he talked about “the catch.” About how “abiders” who bear fruit get PRUNED.  Why?  So that more and better fruit will grow.

Pruning.  Jesus friends would know about pruning. They were Jews, people of the land and sea – shepherds, fishermen, and vintners. The language of the land was in their marrow.

They would know how pruning worked, and why.  In the metaphor of likening a vine branch to a person, they would know that a person being pruned would not take to the treatment very kindly.  Pruning hurts.  It’s not fun.  Think about recovering from an incision.  The dang area hurts.

In my Twitter profile, I describe my journey as, “Negotiating the perils of earth life using a Bible as a flashlight.”  Life is full of peril. Cindy and I are living in that peril right now.  When God is the flashlight, the way he shows is often not the same way as what we hear in the culture around us.  The Christian life is not easy or for the feeble of heart.  Believers live in that tension.

But this is the life God has given us to live and Cindy and I are committed to walking with our God through every moment of it.

Christmas is, first and foremost, about the birth of Jesus Christ who we Christians believe to be God’s own son. Messages like these that are scripted in the lore and language of every day people reflect a very personal God.  But Jesus’ arrival on the scene was God’s most dramatic demonstration that people matter.

Of all the “matter” conceived by God, the so-called “Intelligent” creator, people are the matter that matter the most.  The God of Jesus is a personal God to each and every person who ever lived and ever will live.  For God, everything is personal!

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser…Abide in me, and I in you.”
— Jesus (John 15: 1, 4a; Context: John 15: 1-8)

In All Things — 2008 Ornament

“FOR THE PUZZLED

As Christmas ornament-making has become a tradition for me, I periodically jot down ideas about what God is doing in my life. But this year, the process was clouded by my feelings about being jobless for the first time in my life after being unexpectedly dismissed from my position as President of CLF just three months short of my 30th anniversary!

Turning to prayer and the Bible for inspiration and guidance, I ran across Romans 8:28 and held onto its promise – “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”

This Christmas, I dedicate this year’s ornament, “In All Things” to offer hope to everyone puzzled by life about how God’s view is clear even when ours is not.”

2008 "In all things..." Ornament

That life is puzzling to us but not to God really bugs me sometimes.  You see, God holds this trump card – He is “sovereign.”  This means that he is able to work things out to advance his own purposes.  Wouldn’t you just love to be sovereign in that way?

Now God’s sovereignty is not only good news for him but also those of us who follow him.  Why?  Because God made everything “good” including humans who were made in his image and charged to rule creation in the same manner as he(Genesis 1:26-31).  Those are his purposes.

But things didn’t work out that way because humans decided they wanted to rule their own way – contrary to how God prescribed.  So humanity and creation is broken and pretty much existing apart from God, in opposition to his purposes.

But God is still sovereign and, because he is so, he WILL achieve his purposes.  He has a plan that he revealed immediately when humans decided to go their own way.  In Genesis 3:15, as he admonishes Eve for her participation in disobeying him, he also includes a promise – that the power of “sin” would one day be crushed by one of her descendents!

Down through the ages that followed, the plan unfolded as God “sovereignly” caused seemingly unconnected plots and subplots to “somehow” bring his plan to fruition.  The promised descendent finally arrived on the scene in the form of Jesus.  And then, through Jesus, God “crushed” the power of sin as 1stCorinthians 15: 21 summarizes: “just as death came into the world through a man (Adam), now the resurrection from the dead has begun through another man (Jesus).”

So God getting his way is why we have Christmas but what has this to do with my hope in the midst of unemployment and the challenges that you are facing in your life? Well, look back to Romans 8:28 – “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” 

Those who love God also desire what God desires – his purposes.  So as we believers conduct our lives in pursuit of His will, all things that occur, even the most evil and painful ones, will “work” for our good and to fulfill God’s purposes for our lives.  That’s the promise.  Now as to HOW God makes that happen, well – only He knows!

Since the passage says that God works in all things, he is surely working in mything as well. My part of the equation is to love him and to align my life with his purposes – even when I don’t fully understand how his purposes will be achieved through me.

To reflect that idea, the ornament is three sections of a puzzle with the “next” piece “missing.”  When life is a puzzle, we don’t know what piece is going to fit in that spot, hence the bulb dangling there with a question mark (?) on one side.  God working out the answer (in the background) is represented by the exclamation point (!) on the other side of the bulb.

All believers may rejoice this Christmas that God has our backs.  At the same time, let us pray for family, friends and colleagues who are not yet believers.  Since unbelievers are on their own, apart from God, pray that they soon begin to follow Jesus along with us so that they too can have the assurance that God has their backs as well!

Now God’s sovereignty is not only good news for him but also those of us who follow him.  Why?  Because God made everything “good” including humans who were made in his image and charged to rule creation in the same manner as he(Genesis 1:26-31).  Those are his purposes.

But things didn’t work out that way because humans decided they wanted to rule their own way – contrary to how God prescribed.  So humanity and creation is broken and pretty much existing apart from God, in opposition to his purposes.

But God is still sovereign and, because he is so, he WILL achieve his purposes.  He has a plan that he revealed immediately when humans decided to go their own way.  In Genesis 3:15, as he admonishes Eve for her participation in disobeying him, he also includes a promise – that the power of “sin” would one day be crushed by one of her descendents!

Down through the ages that followed, the plan unfolded as God “sovereignly” caused seemingly unconnected plots and subplots to “somehow” bring his plan to fruition.  The promised descendent finally arrived on the scene in the form of Jesus.  And then, through Jesus, God “crushed” the power of sin as 1stCorinthians 15: 21 summarizes: “just as death came into the world through a man (Adam), now the resurrection from the dead has begun through another man (Jesus).”

So God getting his way is why we have Christmas but what has this to do with my hope in the midst of unemployment and the challenges that you are facing in your life? Well, look back to Romans 8:28 – “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” 

Those who love God also desire what God desires – his purposes.  So as we believers conduct our lives in pursuit of His will, all things that occur, even the most evil and painful ones, will “work” for our good and to fulfill God’s purposes for our lives.  That’s the promise.  Now as to HOW God makes that happen, well – only He knows!

Since the passage says that God works in all things, he is surely working in mything as well. My part of the equation is to love him and to align my life with his purposes – even when I don’t fully understand how his purposes will be achieved through me.

To reflect that idea, the ornament is three sections of a puzzle with the “next” piece “missing.”  When life is a puzzle, we don’t know what piece is going to fit in that spot, hence the bulb dangling there with a question mark (?) on one side.  God working out the answer (in the background) is represented by the exclamation point (!) on the other side of the bulb.

All believers may rejoice this Christmas that God has our backs.  At the same time, let us pray for family, friends and colleagues who are not yet believers.  Since unbelievers are on their own, apart from God, pray that they soon begin to follow Jesus along with us so that they too can have the assurance that God has their backs as well!