Welcome to Pastor Jack Buckley's weekly blog and podcast.
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Tuesday, December 26, 2006
Presents and Promises
Micah 5:2-5; Luke 1:39-55
Christmas is all about presents. Not so much the ones we give each other, wonderful as they can be, but rather God's great gifts to us. This week we listen in on Mary and her cousin Elizabeth celebrating God's amazing generosity embodied in their two miracle babies.
Listen to the GODcast!
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CHRISTMAS MAGIC
There's something magical about Christmas.
Of course, I mean at least the joyous sound of familiar carols, the warm glow of candle light, the contagious spirit of fellowship and family we feel when gathered together in the church, by the tree, or around the dinner table.
But there's much more to it than these emotional markers of something extra special in the air.
For the truth of our Christmas story is that God has come among us in the birth of Jesus, born to poor parents in a borrowed stable, an animal's feeding bin his only cradle. So small, so weak, so open to all sorts of injury. But God-with-us, Immanuel.
The devout Oxford scholar C. S. Lewis spoke of the mystery of Incarnation this way:
"In the Christian story God descends to re-ascend. He comes down; down from the heights of absolute being into time and space, down into humanity; down further still, if embryologists are right, to recapitulate in the womb ancient and pre-human phases of life; down to the very roots and sea-bed of the Nature he had created. But he goes down to come up again and bring the whole ruined world with him." (Miracles: A Preliminary Study, chapter 14, "The Grand Miracle")
In Christ, we're told, God stooped down low to join our human experience, then lifted us and all creation to the highest of heights. In him we get to see and hear the essence of God's eternal light, life, and love. (See the Gospel of John 1:14-18)
On Christmas Eve we concluded our worship by singing "Silent Night." The darkened Sanctuary was gradually suffused with warm light as, one by one, we lit all our little candles from the flame of one tall white "Christ candle."
"Son of God, love's pure light," Jesus once more lit up our hearts and our minds with God's own grace and truth, peace and joy, boundless eternal life.
Pure magic.
posted by Jack Buckley at
10:56 AM
Monday, December 18, 2006
One Silent Night
No message on MP3 this week...
Sunday morning's "sermon" was a sweet Christmas Pageant, "Carriers of the Light", featuring our Sunday school kids with Music Director David Zechman at the keyboard. There stood Mary and Joseph, angels and wise men, shepherds and assorted livestock, all singing their hearts out to welcome Christ the Newborn King!
Best sermon I never preached.
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ONE SILENT NIGHT
Each new Christmas creates within our hearts and minds a brand new set of lifelong memories.
Sometimes we work almost frantically at making sure they'll be happy ones. Often enough our share of "joy to the world" catches us by quiet surprise.
I'm remembering now that latter kind of Christmastime moment, from when I was in first or second grade. A day or two after Christmas itself.
Had the big day been especially happy or not? I don't remember. Where were my brothers and sister now? My Dad? I can't tell you.
What I can describe in detail, though, is this:
I'm lying on the floor with my new coloring book, carefully filling in the pictures with my 24-color collection of crayons.
My mother sits a couple of feet behind me, off to the side a bit, in a rocking chair. She's quietly knitting away, totally absorbed in her handiwork.
In fact, the whole scene is absolutely quiet. And dark.
No, not dark really. For the tree in front of us is filled with colored bulbs, and Mom and I are all awash in their soft glow. What's serenely dark are the corners of the room, just beyond our small circle of light.
Our family in those days struggled with numerous shadowy problems. So, all told, this may well have been a less than merry Christmas.
But this one peaceful scene is what my heart remembers all these years later. It is enough. For in its details I find the seeds of my whole lifetime's worth of happy Christmas memories.
All is calm. All is bright. Thanks be to God.
posted by Jack Buckley at
4:41 PM
Monday, December 11, 2006
Do You Hear What I Hear?
Malachi 3:1-4; Luke 3:1-6
Sometimes it seems a prophet just can't depend on God to keep his promises. Or make good on his threats. Either way, John the Baptist got the surprise of his prophetic life when Jesus finally went to work on fulfilling John's dire predictions.
Listen to the GODcast!
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WHAT THEY DID FOR LOVE
I took my kid sister for a joyride in our father's car. I was 16, she was 13. It was a 3 year old Pontiac sedan with power everything.
You might be surprised that she and I remember differently just how we decided to take the car out for a spin. The truth must lie somewhere in between.
Our family had dinner guests. Patty and I were restless, hanging out in the back yard while dessert and table talk dragged on forever inside. Next thing you know, there I was in the driver's seat with her riding shotgun.
Funny thing. I didn't know how to drive.
A block from home we crossed the drawbridge into downtown, where I proceeded verrry carefully this way and that, finally heading back home across the bridge. A fast left turn, half a block, then a quick right into the alley behind our house.
Well, not exactly into the alley.
I sideswiped a power pole at the alley's entrance, over-corrected, then plowed into the back wall of a store on the opposite side of the alley.
The motor went dead. So did my hope of any deliverance.
Down the alley came my father on the run, followed by Mom and our dinner guests. Before he reached us we heard a siren getting louder by the second.
Well. After taking a punch at my jaw, Dad sized up quickly that Patty wasn't hurt and the car wasn't totalled. So he laid off of punishing me -- for the time being. By the time the police arrived, he composed himself to do his part in their inquiry about the accident. Before the episode ended, he absolutely surprised me by getting in the face of a reporter who'd begun browbeating me about endangering my sister's life.
Long story short...
Dad made sure I realized my culpability by making me pay off the deductible on his insurance, do extra chores around the house, and generally show myself responsible for a long time to come.
He also arranged with his boss to put me to work after school for enough weeks to pay the insurance bill. And he stood up for me when Mom or my aunt would mutter that I'd proven once and for all that I was a punk headed for a life of trouble. Then he was right there with me in juvenile court when the judge sternly put me on probation for half a year.
Amazingly, I was not out there all on my own. My father, whom I'd betrayed and hurt, was right there by my side each step of the way on my guilt-ridden journey.
A year or so later, I became a Christian. The old gospel story didn't need a lot of explaining for me to "get" it. For I already had a real-life reference point as to how justice and mercy could work together in Jesus' sacrifice of himself to save guilty people from all the bad consequences they deserve.
It was as if a cartoon lightbulb blinked on above my head, a single word inscribed on it: DAD.
Salvation by surprise... Tenacious love... Absolutely free of charge, yet costing everything you've got when you come to appreciate it properly.
We're close to another Christmas. A day for giving and accepting gifts of affection and appreciation. Amidst all that, I hope you'll remember to celebrate God's greatest gift of all. His own Son who caught the world by surprise when he faced down wrath with mercy, and paid off punishment with sacrificial love.
Like my Dad, only more so.
posted by Jack Buckley at
12:19 PM
Monday, December 04, 2006
Watch Out For Christmas
Jeremiah 33:14-16; Luke 21:25-36
It's natural to develop warm and fuzzy feelings about Christmas... Newborn baby in a stable... Angel choir up above... Lowly shepherds first to get the word and see the miraculous scene... To say nothing of family traditions and tender memories of Christmases past. So this Luke passage is a shocker, with Jesus foretelling all kinds of gloom and doom before God gets done with this world. Who chose that text to begin our Advent season of getting ready for Christmas?!
Listen to the GODcast!
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You've got to be careful about knowing what you know about God.
I mean, our Christian faith is based on God's revelation of The Truth, about the world and about ourselves. And The Truth has set us free in every which way.
But it's far too easy to presume that Truth A plus Truth B divided by Truth C must equal Truth D. Pure and simple.
This episode in Luke 21 is a strong antidote to that kind of assumption.
In context, Jesus' disciples are duly impressed with the glory of the Temple in Jerusalem, and they say so. All majestic marble and gold, standing tall and proud for all to admire from every direction, this Palace of the Lord seems eternally secure. And, in its shadow, the people of the Lord are safe as well.
But Jesus warns them the Temple will one day be reduced to rubble, and the surrounding Holy City with it. He then predicts all kinds of doom and disaster sure to come when God gets good and ready. All of that before the Kingdom of Heaven can ever come on earth as promised.
Whew. What's got into ol' Jesus? Has he totally lost his cool and blown his proverbial top?
Well, for one thing, I see him showing the disciples God's long-range view for the world. We can never rush God's schedule, or force God's hand. You might as well try pushing a river to make it flow faster.
He's also preparing them for the long haul of discipleship. Faith is no cure-all in this troubled, troubling world. Hard times will surely happen even if you believe in God with all your heart. Our comfort comes in knowing that God is never surprised by catastrophes, and God is right there with us when they happen.
Jesus also promises, at long last, a full salvation. Temples come and go. They're basically visual aids for the faith of people -- who are going to last forever.
What Jesus does here from start to finish is challenge his followers -- then and now -- to pay attention! Assume nothing, and so be open to learning everything. Watch out for new information, in the details, on short notice, day by day.
Which brings us to Advent, the season of preparing one day at a time for the great festival of Christmas.
Whoever put together the schedule of Bible readings for Advent gets A+ with a Gold Star, in my book. With a hot sharp blade they cut right through our tendency to sentimentalize Christmas, starting the whole season with this cataclysmic prophecy of the second coming of Christ.
If you want to know the whole truth about God's gift to the world in Christ, I read them saying, then watch out about Christmas! Assume nothing. Get ready to learn everything all over again.
I hope each of you gets a lot of good surprises this Christmas. Gifts that say "I love you," gatherings that shape happy new memories, and many more blessings besides.
I hope, even more, that on the way towards Christmas you'll be surprised with new insights about God's way with the world. Some sign from God that says "I love you," more than a few good chances to share that love around, just when and how it's needed most.
Watch out! With open eyes and an open heart.
posted by Jack Buckley at
2:18 PM
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