“Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.”

‭‭Romans‬ ‭13:10‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

I’ve been thinking a lot about love today. Love in all of its forms: the way I love my dog, and the way I love the folks who come out to Bible Study, and the way I love my parents and the way I love movies. 

There are many different ways to love. But ultimately love means wanting the best for the thing you love. Wanting to be with it, wanting to see it succeed, wanting to see it grow, wanting others to experience it and to love it as you do. 

Love leads us in the right direction. Love makes us give of ourselves. Love lead Jesus to eat with those who were unloved, to heal those who were hurting, to teach those who would listen. 

Love lead Jesus to the cross. For you. For me. For that person who you cannot stand, but who is dearly loved by God. 
This Lent, may you know that you are dearly loved by God. May you let that love lead you forward. May you let it change you. May you let it make you more like the One who loved us all enough to lay down His life for us. 

“Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and he will give you everything you need.”

‭‭Luke‬ ‭12:31‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Sometimes on our journey of faith we find ourselves in great need. We are weary and worn. We don’t seem to be able to continue on. 

I remember a retired  colleague of mine telling me about a low place during his life in the ministry. He said he found he couldn’t pray. He just couldn’t find the words or the te strength to say them. What once had been a great comfort to him was now gone. And it might have destroyed him. 

But he confessed to a friend that he’d lost the ability to pray. And his friend said, “That’s ok. I’ll do it for you. Until you find your ability to pray again.” And his friend was faithful, praying for him daily. Lifting up the things that my colleague couldn’t lift up to God. 

And slowly, more slowly than my colleague would have liked, his ability to pray returned. It was like climbing out of a great valley – one painful step at a time. But he knew he wasn’t alone in his journey, and that made all the difference. 

When we are in a state of need, we are reminded that God is the great Provider. God shows up – not always in the way we might expect – and provides for our need. For my colleague, it was a friend who faithfully prayed in his place. 

It’s a good practice during a season like Lent to look back at the times when you have been in need and see how God has provided. I suspect you’ll find there are things that God brought your way that you wouldn’t even have known how to ask for. 

This Lent, may you know that God is providing for you. May you be surprised in the way he does it. And may you be drawn closer to him as you recognize his faithfulness. 

I love this quote from Fred Rogers (he of Mr. Rogers Neighbourhood, a popular children’s television program when I was a kid). A friend posted it on Facebook this week and I thought – I need to blog about that. 

I was asked recently to define what it is to be a friend for one of the Sunday School classes at St. A’s. My opening sentence went something like: friends are the people who’ve seen you at your worst, but still think you are the best. 

That is certainly true of my closest friends. I don’t have to ask them what they think of me – they tell me in many different ways that they think I’m awesome. Even when they’ve seen me at my worst – the moments when I’m petty, when I’m mean, when I’m careless. 

This Fred Rogers quote made me realize that the way my friends appreciate me, is a holy thing. And trust me – I return the favour.  Ask me about my closest friends and I will speak of them in glowing terms, because that is how I see them. As the wonderful, intelligent, funny, caring, considerate, rock-solid people that I love. That just happens naturally on friendship – you become friends because you appreciate each other. 

Sometimes, as people of faith, we struggle with participating in Holy things. We underestimate our ability to be involved in Godly actions. We think that the things of Heaven, the things of Jesus, the things of God, are beyond us. How can our mundane, ordinary lives be part of God’s work in this world

But the thing Mr. Rogers points out here is that participating in the Holy is as simple as appreciating someone. That when we see the best in another, we are doing what God does. It actually IS that simple to practice the presence of God, to become more like Jesus, to elevate the ordinary into the extraordinary. 

This Lent, may you see the best in others. May you have a friend and may you be a friend. May you know that God appreciates YOU, and may you be grateful. 

“Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.”

‭‭Colossians‬ ‭3:12-14‬ ‭NIV‬‬

“When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.””

‭‭John‬ ‭8:12‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Most people associate Lent with giving something up. Traditionally this was a means of self-denial in order to focus on one’s relationship with God. By sacrificing something from their daily routine, the individual could be reminded of Jesus’ sacrifice and all that they have gained through it. 
In recent years this practice seems to have lost its sognificance for some. And some Christians have struggled with the question of what to do with Lent – of how to observe it in a meaningful way. 

I came across this posted on Facebook as Lent began this week: 

I thought it particularly meaningful and Christ-like. And, after all, isn’t that the entire pount of this Season? To grow closer to and become more like the One in whose footsteps we seek o follow? 

This Lent, may you seek Christ with your whole heart, and may you find Him. 

“I have written this to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know you have eternal life.”

‭‭1 John‬ ‭5:13‬ ‭NLT‬‬

So the Season of Lent begins today. It’s a season of journeying toward the events of Holy Week. A season in which we are invited to contemplate all that Jesus means to us, to reflect on His sacrifice, to recognize our brokeness and ask again for His forgiveness and grace. 
At St. Andrew’s, Brampton we kick off this season with an evening we call the Pre-Lent Event. We share a pancake dinner, spend some time traveling to different rooms to learn about our faith, and gather for an Ash Wednesday service to end the evening. All who come are given resources to help them journey through Lent (there are sticker devtoionals for the kids, adult devotiobals, bible reading plans, a Lenten Activity book, and other goodies). 

This evening was another wonderful, well-attended, meaningful an prayerful event. As a community of faith, God has richly blessed us! 

I will be blogging throughout this Seaon, so keep your eyes on this site for regular posts as we journey together towards Holy Week. 

Messages of hope to carry us through the long days of Lent – made by our participants after they’d been marked with ashes on their foreheads. 

Geoff watches over a participant as she lights a candle in the Maundy Thursday room. 

Participants dipping bread in the cup in the Maundy Thursday room. 

The Good Friday room candles – spelling out the reason that it’s GOOD…because we are forgiven. 

The Palm Sunday route!

The Lenten cross banner marked by this evening’s participants. 

Katie and I with our Ashtags!

“When the angels had returned to heaven, the shepherds said to each other, “Let’s go to Bethlehem! Let’s see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.” They hurried to the village and found Mary and Joseph. And there was the baby, lying in the manger.
Luke 2:15,16 (NLT)

The last 24hrs have been a little crazy for me. I came home from a dinner with my parents and a friend of ours, and found that my stomach was a little off. Then the violent illness began. Food poisoning. On the night before Christmas Eve.

But like those Who’s down in Whoville discovered, I found that Christmas Eve came anyway. Sure, 24hrs ago I couldn’t have imagined making it through the set up and leading of two services (I tapped out before the third one!), but now I have done just that.

The day didn’t go as I had planned when I thought about it in the weeks leading up to tonight. But it went. The set up got done, the people gathered, the story was told in word and song and deed. And I like to think – I hope – that it touched the hearts of those who gathered at 44 Church St. E. this evening.

I like the Shepherd’s impulse: let’s go and see this thing that the Lord has told us about.  Because the Good News was too GOOD to miss. They had to go, they had to be there. Despite all that the night had taken out of them, they just had to BE THERE.

It was good to be with those of you who were at the 4pm and the 7:30pm services. I couldn’t stay away, and I’m so very glad I didn’t.

On this night, and on every night, may you know the Good News. May you experience what it is to BE THERE as God does something beautiful. May you come and see the Messiah, and may you be forever changed.

 

Suddenly, the angel was joined by a vast host of others—the armies of heaven—praising God and saying,
“Glory to God in highest heaven, and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.”
‭‭Luke‬ ‭2:13-14‬ ‭(NLT)

What a joyous sound it must have been! Think of some of the most amazing musical experiences you’ve ever had – those moments when you were at a concert and the fine hairs of your arms raised up and you felt the music thrum deep in your soul – and then multiply that to the power of 10. Maybe we’re starting to get close. 

It would have been like nothing these humble workers had ever heard before. Unlike anything they’d ever hear again – at least in this life. 

Because this was Heaven declaring the birth of the Messiah. There had never been a night like this before!

Now what had been broken in the world for so very long – the relationship between Creator and created – had it’s remedy. That is what the birth of Jesus meant. 

Of course it was a joyful noise – it was hope, peace, joy and love, for all people in all times and places. It was the new thing that God had promised for so long. It was the answer to the cry of the human heart that longs for reconciliation with the One who spoke humanity into being. 

This Advent, may you know the joy of being reconciled to God through Jesus. May you rejoice anew at this wonderful thing that God has done for us. And may you hear an echo of that joyous song of the first Christmas. 

“The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David! And you will recognize him by this sign: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger.”
‭‭Luke‬ ‭2:11-12‬ (‭NLT‬‬)

It must have seemed odd to the shepherds. There they were, surrounded by the host of angels, being told that the long-prophesied Messiah was finally here. Surely he would have arrived in state. Surely he should have been found in a court, or a beautiful house, or at the very least a respectable inn. 

But no, the angels told them they would find the baby, wrapped in stops of cloth and lying in a manger. 

That was the sign that would let them know THIS was the child, this was the Messiah, the LORD. 

What an odd sign, what a strange proclamation. 

The carol says it best: “Why lies he in such mean estate, where ox and ass are feeding?” 

Because this child, this Messiah, this Lord, was – from the very beginning – about sacrifice. About choosing the hard road, so that others wouldn’t have to. About forfeiting his glory (that is, his Heavenly state) to win glory (that is, eternal life) for those who didn’t even deserve it (that is, you and I).  

So, no court or house or inn for him. Instead, a lowly manger. A place where the poor shepherds would fit in. A place where the least could come to worship him. A place rude and bare, but fit for Jesus who humbled himself for us. 

This Advent, may you see the beauty in the strange signs of His birth. May you know the Messiah who comes in humility, from his very first breath. And may you be blessed. 

That night there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby, guarding their flocks of sheep. Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. They were terrified, but the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people.”
‭‭Luke‬ ‭2:8-10‬ (‭NLT‬‬)

The message the angels brought wasn’t  just to certain poor shepherds. It was for all people – to bring them great joy. 

It’s beautiful that this message came from the highest – the very court of Heaven – to the lowest – the shepherds in the fields outside the city. Minding their sheep in the middle of the night. Poor men who wouldn’t be welcome in the high courts of their own country. 

This tells us something about who God is. God is One who likes to take the unexpected route. When the birth of God’s is announced it’s announced to the least of society. When the resurrection happens, it is first witnessed by women who must take the Good News to the doubting and disheartened disciples. 

God likes to work with the least and the lowest to accomplish his plans. I love that, because it makes the point that in God’s eyes the lowest and the least have a part to play – and a crucial part at that. In God’s eyes the labels pasted on us by others don’t count for much. In God’s eyes, it’s where your heart is at that matters. God requires a believing heart and a willing spirit and not a whole lot else. 

So this Advent may you know that however humble your station in life might be, God has a part for you to play. May you see others with the eyes of God – looking at their heart rather than their position. And may you know the Good News of great joy that was (and is) for ALL the people. 

“And while they were there, the time came for her baby to be born. She gave birth to her first child, a son. She wrapped him snugly in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no lodging available for them.”
‭‭Luke‬ ‭2:6-7‬ (‭NLT‬‬)

Since my first trip to Israel (which took place during the first week of Advent in 2013), I have continually been amazed at the experience of reading the scriptures and thinking, “Hey! I’ve been to that place.” 

It comes upon me suddenly and unexpectedly.  I’ll be reading a passage as I prepare to teach about it in Bible study, or write a sermon on it, or write a blog about it…and suddenly my breath catches in my throat and tears burn in my eyes. And with great wonder, I remember what it was to BE THERE. Right there – in the place where this part of the story happened. 

This very thing happened to me as I looked up the next couple of verses in Luke’s Gospel for this evening’s blog. It’s the word “manger” that got me. You see, in North America, the mangers in our nativity pageants and on our Christmas cards are wood affairs filled with hay. And our stables are also made of wood. 

But Israel is a land of stone. The animals would have been kept in a grotto – a small cave. And indeed, when you travel to Bethlehem and walk through the Church of the Nativity and decend the stairs, you descend  to the Grotto of the Manger. The place where Jesus was born. 

It wasn’t a wooden stable or a wooden feeding trough, it was stone. Because the birth of the Savoir took place in Bethlehem in Judea, in ancient Israel. A real time. A real place – one you can travel to, even now – and a real birth. 

This isn’t some strange myth that happened in an imaginary land. This is the true story of God coming among us. Here. On Earth. 

For real. 

This Advent, may you know that the story isn’t imagined. May you know that the saviour isn’t a fantasy. That God’s love for you isn’t made up. It is all true. And it is all real. And it happened here.