Home for the Holidays - Part 17

Fall-la-la-la

As October comes to a close and Day Light Savings follows close behind, the days get shorter and the nights get longer. The temperatures drop, sometimes steadily, but more often than not, seemingly overnight.

I find myself driving in the dark at six o'clock in the evening, looking much like six o'clock in the morning - driving through darkness. Car headlights and taillights illuminate before me. It feels like more than usual, but then again it is after-work traffic and probably not a higher volume of cars but what I'm experiencing is the power of light in darkness. This echoed by honking horns. The holiday bustle has begun. A surge of impatience and intolerance sweeping in with it. I push back.

I continue on my way through busy intersections and traffic lights until I come to a series of four-way stops. Still a steady amount of cars passing through the stop signs but admit-ably a bit more peaceful. I chase the peace, longing for home - longing for rest away from the crowds and busyness and loudness. I press on to find peace and quiet.

The neighborhoods surround, still dark, and I long for something more - light. I drive by one neighborhood in particular. Thankful my commute has brought me this way today. Oh, yes, passing by this neighborhood will become my preferred way home for the foreseeable evenings.

Not that Oklahoma is known for hills but the houses here are nestled in a valley of sorts. The days count on and soon, it's one house, then a couple more, the neighborhood entrance is next, and soon what I've been waiting for appears. Driving down the adjacent road, the land coated in darkness, this little neighborhood lit up like a quaint Christmas village. If I could surround it with glass and raise it up to give a good but gentle shake, I'm certain flakes of snow would fall and this little Christmas village snow globe of my imagination would ignite wonder and awe, a moment of childlike wonder, a drop of peace, a yearn for home.

It comes with almost no conscious effort of my own - a domino effect of changing circumstances which lead me to anticipate Christmas - a season of miracles which starts hmm, now isn't that interesting and most certainly profound? The season of miracles both literal in our calendar year and those we pray for - start with darkness. A thrill of light beckons us forward with hope. Hope begins to stir within us.

And nearly always, the next stirring comes with the tree. Before our tree is up, before it's even out of the box, this stir within begins. This time it comes through conversation. Here and there, with people I know well and with those which pass by without a formal greeting, I've been known to share a similar conversation. Not with everyone, not even most, but I find myself talking with some about "the tree" - and this time of year, the topic focuses on our plans of when to put it up. Whenever it's right for you, I believe is the answer to this question. Never too early and never too late to invite coziness and warmth, a touch of light into our homes.

November to me is summarized most plainly and festively as "Fall-la-la-la" - the time when seasons merge, both pumpkins and maybe trees. By no effort of my own, only through means of a gift received, there is fudge in the fridge. Fudge, of all things, has been our first sign of the holidays this year. The anticipation of Christmas just around the bend.

And soon conversations move from the tree to holiday plans, and with it, the holiday "F" word is mentioned. Family.

A friend posted a meme the other day which illustrated a family of pumpkins ringing the doorbell as they arrive for a family gathering. Inside the curtains, we get a peek of their relatives, none other than a bunch of gourds. It's laughable because this is how many feel. So much so, many grow to hate or wish to skip the holidays so they can skip the holiday drama. Opinions, hurts, habits, hang-ups, we've all got 'em. Our families included. It may not be the whole crew we'd like to avoid but perhaps one or two. And with it being an election year, woof. Not going may seem like the best gift we could give another ...or ourselves.

And you know what is so interesting to me? Gathering around a tree with our beloved pumpkin and even the gourded relatives is part of God's design. Family was the very first institution God established in Genesis. Follow this thought with me...

In ancient days, it wasn't your financial credit nor your profession which mattered most when explaining who you are. Instead, it was a line you likely didn't choose for yourself. Your family line is the line that mattered most. Though we have no say in the family of origin we are a part of, Jesus did. And, He didn't opt for the prim and proper, everything in its place, everyone in line, no blemishes or bruises kind. Nope, because that didn't exist ...and it doesn't exist now (even though some try to pretend and put on as if it does).

Get this: Jesus chose a family of fallen-shorts, mess-ups, adulterers. Those with closets full of skeletons and where family feud wasn't the board or television game but the reality of the family dynamics. Anger, hurts, habits and hang-ups that would make get-togethers, well, it's fair to say... a bit like ours today. Grin and bear-it type or avoiding certain people or conversations like the minefield they appear to be.

Here's my point and the absolute sheer beauty of it all - like the glimmer of light in the darkest valley - the family line, or as we will refer to it in the coming weeks - the family tree of Christ - gives us hope.

Not manufactured hope, real hope. We find hope in Christ because He humbled Himself to become one of us. Jesus, the one who spoke the world and everything in it into being, lowered Himself and attached Himself to the uterus of a virgin, faithful and submitted but not without her own sin.

What God, what power, does that?

And even more, He chose to come - holy and perfect - for a people who were wholly imperfect.

What God, what power, does that?

For Him, the answer was simple and clear - for family. The eternal, forever kind. Family of you and me with Him and the Father forever - both here and in the life to come.

What God, what power, does that?

Only the God and the power of Love would dare do such a thing.

The Giver of the universe, the Giver of life, the Giver of all things good and beautiful and true - we worship Him this Christmas as we remember the greatest miracle of all: when the Giver became the gift.

Like many, this Christmas we’re praying for a miracle. A miracle for peace, for truth to be known, for love to win.

A miracle has already appeared in the mess.

And for this, we rejoice.

Isn’t this what Christmas is celebrating?

One miracle appeared in the mess. Jesus came in the trough, in the brokenness of sin. He came unseen.

This is so very important for us to remember when we’re waiting on a miracle in one or more areas of our lives. The miracle of Jesus - the redemption of mankind - came unseen. The miracle we’re asking God for may come the same way. The miracle is already begun, for God is working behind the scenes in all the places we cannot see. 

A convicting thought came as I studied the story of Jonah and the parallel of this Old Testament event to the story of Christmas - Jonah spent three days in the belly of the fish. Jesus spent three days in the belly of death, for us.

If I can believe in the miracle of God saving Jonah’s life from the fish, if I can believe in the wild miracle of Christmas, why not trust God with this miracle too? For those of us raised in church, we hear this so much, the miracle of Christmas almost loses its awe. May God rekindle the awe within us once again as we pray the prayer of a father who came to Jesus desperately needing a miracle for his son: “I believe, help my unbelief.”

Here we are saying it with him thousands of years later, “I believe in the wild miracle of Christmas, help my unbelief in the miracle of _______.”

Our God comes unseen and He opens eyes and ears to see and hear Him. May we pray desperately to have our eyes and ears opened this year, that we may know the truth and the truth will set us free.

I leave you today with a word of hope - the geneology of Christ. Out of the brokenness and pain, God's plan prevailed. In a family of strife and sin and real heartache and wounds, the Savior of the world chose to come and be a part - all in hopes we would choose to become part of the family of God with Him forever.

There's so much more for us to uncover in the weeks to come, but may this genealogy mean more to you today than it has before.

Matthew 1:1-18, commentary added:

This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah the son of David, the son of Abraham:

Abraham was the father of Isaac,

Isaac the father of Jacob, (the "heel grabber" who wrestled with God)

Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers,

Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar, (the trickster)

Perez the father of Hezron,

Hezron the father of Ram,

Ram the father of Amminadab,

Amminadab the father of Nahshon,

Nahshon the father of Salmon,

Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab, (the prostitute)

Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth, (the widowed Moabite who pleaded for a redeemer)

Obed the father of Jesse,

and Jesse the father of King David. (the adulterer, initiator of a murder-for-hire plot, and yet a man after God's own heart)

David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah’s wife,

Solomon the father of Rehoboam,

Rehoboam the father of Abijah,

Abijah the father of Asa,

Asa the father of Jehoshaphat,

Jehoshaphat the father of Jehoram,

Jehoram the father of Uzziah,

Uzziah the father of Jotham,

Jotham the father of Ahaz,

Ahaz the father of Hezekiah,

Hezekiah the father of Manasseh,

Manasseh the father of Amon,

Amon the father of Josiah,

and Josiah the father of Jeconiah and his brothers at the time of the exile to Babylon.

After the exile to Babylon:

Jeconiah was the father of Shealtiel,

Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel,

Zerubbabel the father of Abihud,

Abihud the father of Eliakim,

Eliakim the father of Azor,

Azor the father of Zadok,

Zadok the father of Akim,

Akim the father of Elihud,

Elihud the father of Eleazar,

Eleazar the father of Matthan,

Matthan the father of Jacob,

and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, and Mary was the mother of Jesus who is called the Messiah.

Thus there were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to the Messiah.

This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit.

May we find strength to hold onto hope for the miracle we're praying for as we remember the mess and the darkness from which the greatest miracle came to us. May our joy for family grow within as we cling not to the imperfections of our earthly family and those friends we come to know as family but as we accept these while clinging to the holy and perfect One who made a way for us to be part of God's family. May peace flood the places and spaces of discord and may we rest as we continue the genealogy of Christ through thousands of generations to today and see our name has been penned in with grace. Hallelujah! Christ is born and the gift of family is what He has come to give us!

The good life, well it starts with a good day. Then another. Then another. Let's choose to live #TheGoodDay one day at a time.

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