The writings, thoughts and musings of…

Forgiveness. That’s the answer to the Christmas riddle I posted in late December:

The one gift everyone gives, but no one can give;
And every time we give it, we realize we can’t;
But once it’s been truly given, it never needs to be given again.

And kudos to the person who commented; you nailed it!

To hear more on the riddle and it’s bearing on the meaning of Christmas, let me invite you to listen here.

“Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching” (2 Tim. 4:2).

The mainstay of the corporate gathering of the church, and the centerpiece of our life together, should be the ministry of the word through expositional preaching. This requires that we consistently and unabashedly open the Scriptures and seek to make plain their meaning. In this way we discharge our responsibility, as Paul did while in Ephesus, to teach the “whole counsel of God” (Acts 20:27). Moreover, God’s word is honored, and his people edified, when the preacher envisions his task as to declare the “oracles of God” (1 Pet. 4:11).

“And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (Eph. 4:11-13).

Just as the primary task of the gathered church is the edification of its members, so the primary task of pastoral leadership is to equip the saints for the work of the ministry. The pastor is not the one who ministers, while everyone else watches. Rather, ministry is the responsibility of every member according to each one’s gift.

“When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up” (1 Cor. 14:26).

Here Paul speaks quite categorically about the purpose of the gathering of the saints. Interestingly, the New Testament places little emphasis on worship per se as the purpose for the gathering of the church – not because worship is unimportant, but because it is to be continual and pervasive (Rom. 12:1). When the church gathers, however, each has been given a gift to be used for the building up of the body. Or in Paul’s stunning words: “To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good” (1 Cor. 12:7). And what is true of the church locally is also true of the church globally: the varied distribution of gifts are to be used for the building up of the church around the world.

“And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent” (Col. 1:18).

By raising Jesus Christ from the dead God has made him preeminent in everything. The church exists, then, to make Christ’s preeminence known in the world, whether in preaching or politics, science or sexuality, commerce or conflict – all the more in light of the Western world’s increasing religious diversity, pluralism and relativism.

“So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Cor. 10:31).

God has created us for his own glory. All of life should thus be lived in a way that draws attention to the infinite beauty and excellencies of God. There is no domain of life too remote or activity too mundane to not be drawn up into the worship and enjoyment of God. Hence, we must combat in both thought and practice a sacred/secular dichotomy. Whether we eat or drink – all to the glory of God!

At the start of a new year it’s always worth reflecting biblically, prayerfully and self-critically on one’s commitments and convictions. So over the next several weeks I thought I’d post twelve (what I call) biblical priorities that guide my life and ministry.

So Priority #1 forthcoming shortly . . .

Here’s a Christmas riddle for you to ponder.

The one gift everyone gives, but no one can give;
And every time we give it, we realize we can’t;
But once it’s been truly given, it never needs to be given again.

Any guesses?

This Christmas season at Calvary we’ve wanted to listen to what others are saying about what Christmas means to them. So we hung a banner on the north side of the church, facing Lake Street, and have invited people to go to a specially-designed website (christmassurvey.com) to tell us what it means to them.

Here are just a few of the several dozen responses we’ve received:

“Christmas means celebrating the birth of Christ through giving gifts, just as God gave us the gift of his son. It also means time with family and good food!”

“A time of rebirth, hope and joy.”

“What Christmas means: busyness, shopping, parties, spending too much money, decorating, baking, extra stress, spending time with family which almost always results in a huge fight on or around Christmas. This has been true of the Christmas season pretty much my entire life. What I desire Christmas to mean: Jesus- that He is enough for me. That every other activity associated with Christmas always keeps Jesus first.”

“I’m afraid I’ve become a bit of a Scrooge over the years when it comes to Christmas. It is extremely commercialized and media hyped. By the time Christmas actually arrives I’m so sick of the advertising, the crowds of shoppers (myself included), the waste of money, the stress, and the religions trying to force their own ideas of what Christmas is that I just shut myself in the kitchen and cook all day. It’s a good job I enjoy cooking so much. I also dislike the feeling of obligation that I have to family and friends to either visit them or welcome them into my home. It’s not that I don’t like them or don’t want to see them, it’s just that I don’t want to be obliged to see them. It takes some of the pleasure of seeing them away. I know, I’m a Scrooge. Bah! Humbug.”

Several weeks ago we began our sermon series listening to what Mary had to say about Christmas. “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary said in response to the angel Gabriel’s announcement that she will bear a son, “May it be to me as you have said” (Luke 1:38). From these words of the mother of Jesus we learn that Christmas is a time to serve.

Two weeks ago we looked at what the angels said at Christmas from that famous passage in Luke 2. “Glory to God in the highest” (Luke 2:14), was what they said – or rather, what they sang. And that was the lesson learned: the angels taught us that Christmas is a time for singing and for celebrating the wonder of the Incarnation: God become man in Christ Jesus.

This past Sunday we turned our attention to another set of characters in the Christmas story: the shepherds. They’re perhaps the most unlikely characters to appear in the story of Christ’s birth. Angels we would expect. Joseph and Mary we would obviously expect. Pious and expectant Israelites like Simeon and the prophetess, Anna, we would expect. But a lowly band of working-class Palestinian shepherds! This we don’t expect, not least as those to whom the birth of the child Jesus is first reported!

What did the shepherds say at Christmas? “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about” (Luke 2:15). So we learn from the shepherds that Christmas is a time to see: a time to see “this thing that has happened,” the Word made flesh, the gift of the God-man, Christ Jesus.

Won’t you join us next Sunday as we continue in our series, What Does Christmas Mean to You? We’ll be taking a look at Simeon, who said, “Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you now dismiss your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation” (Luke 2:29). For Simeon, Christmas is a time to . . .

This Thanksgiving I’m taking stock of everything for which I am thankful, and topping the list is the Body of Christ at Calvary Memorial Church, Oak Park, where I have the privilege of serving as Pastor.

My own gratitude for the community at Calvary was especially stirred-up after reading some choice sections of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Life Together. May they have a similar effect on your own heart this Thanksgiving.

Because God already has laid the only foundation of our community, because God has united us in one body with other Christians in Jesus Christ long before we entered into common life with them, we enter into that life together with other Christians, not as those who make demands, but as those who thankfully receive. We thank God for what God has done for us. We thank God for giving us other Christians who live by God’s call, forgiveness, and promise. We do not complain about what God does not give us; rather we are thankful for what God does give us daily. And is not what has been given us enough: other believers who will go on living with us through sin and need under the blessing of God’s grace?

Thankfulness works in the Christian community as it usually does in the Christian life. Only those who give thanks for little things receive the great things as well. We prevent God from giving us the great spiritual gifts prepared for us because we do not give thanks for daily gifts.

If we do not give thanks daily for the Christian community in which we have been placed, even when there are no great experiences, no noticeable riches, but much weakness, difficulty, and little faith – and if on the contrary, we only keep complaining to God that everything is so miserable and so insignificant and does not at all live up to our expectations – then we hinder God from letting our community grow according to the measure and riches that are there for us all in Jesus Christ.

And a final word that really struck a cord with me, a rather direct word to pastors:

Pastors should not complain about their congregation, certainly never to other people, but also not to God. Congregations have not been entrusted to them in order that they should become accusers of their congregations before God and their fellow human beings. When pastors lose faith in a Christian community in which they have been placed and begin to make accusations against it, they had better examine themselves whether the underlying problem is not their own idealized image, which should be shattered by God. And if they find that to be true, let them thank God for leading them into this predicament. But if they find that it is not true, let them nevertheless guard against ever becoming an accuser of those whom God has gathered together. Instead, let them accuse themselves of their unbelief, let them ask for an understanding of their own failure and their particular sin, and pray that they may not wrong other Christians. Let such pastors, recognizing their own guilt, make intercession for those charged to their care. Let them do what they have been instructed to do and thank God.

Humbled, prayerful, and grateful this Thanksgiving for the Body of Christ at Calvary!