Moments

  "With the dawn redeeming grace"   Christmas isn't about a child only but the birth of a child who came to be our way to redeeming grace.  He didn't come as Christ our child in the manager but as "Christ the Lord.  "Jesus, Lord at thy birth."   He was already Lord, already our Saviour.  There is much more going on here at Christmas than a simple birthday party for Jesus.  It is something  of a birthday party for us as well because now, because of the Christ child, we can be born again unto newness of life. Merry Christmas because Christ the Saviour is born and, in a sense so are we.

  Things get more different every year with Christmas.  As sanctification goes on over the years, things don't change, but I do.  Christmas is less fanfare but more real each year.  Christmas is the first step to the cross and the angels celebrated His coming.  Do you suppose the angels knew the "rest of the story"  when they announced the birth of the Christ child? He came first to the marginalized: the shepherds, who were  "in the same country."  "We three kings came from a ways off and had to follow a star to get there. And didn't Jesus later say that  "The last shall be first and the first last?"   And then there is the lowly carpenter stepfather Joseph who didn't want to put Mary away when she came up pregnant.  This same Joseph,  angels visited in dreams, and he believed and obeyed.  He must have been a pretty great guy to begin with because God chose him for this task.  He must have been close to God alrea...

  There is a risk in telling a joke. You could look like a fool and no one gets it or they get it but don't see the humor. Based on their life situations past and present, some can't see much joy, happiness, or humor in much of anything. It's easy to fall into that trap.  I've been there before. It is easier and less risky personally, to be negative, and pessimistic about everything. Bah- Humbug is a piece of cake which is why most of us fall into that hole from time to time.  It takes guts, it takes God to find joy in this fallen world.  We may have been beaten up so much in the past, and the future doesn't look that great either.  So consequently, people are afraid to trust happiness, to take the risk to laugh, to smile, to say something is good, and to have the courage not to be turned aside because of the probability that there will be some who will think they are crazy.    Live long enough and we'll find that happiness and joy leave us vulnerable....