Joy

Surprised by Joy is the title of a book by C.S. Lewis in which he describes his journey from atheism to faith in Jesus Christ. Without any specific connection to the book other than the title, this phrase came to mind as I reflected upon my evening's activities because joy is the only suitable word to describe what I felt. A stunning, overpowering, and yes, surprising joy. It wasn't that the circumstances didn't merit joy, but I just didn't expect to be so inundated by this welcome emotion. So, what brought about this state of joy, you might ask? I recently began renting a room in the home of a couple who six months before had opened their home to a woman who had just gotten out of a drug rehab program. This woman has struggled with a drug and alcohol addiction all her life. That is, up until six months ago. Tonight, celebrating her six months of sobriety, her church family and numerous other individuals who have poured into her life, gathered to lavish her with love and encouragement and to give glory to God for His great work in her life. Amidst food and joyful fellowship, various individuals shared words of encouragement, Scriptures, and testimonies of how this woman's journey had impacted their own lives. And I was overcome with joy. The kind that brings tears to your eyes and a surge of longing in your heart for something that you can't even describe, because in that moment you know you are experiencing but a taste of something that is still yet to come. These friends had fought with this woman. They had agonized over her. They had loved her consistently, even when doing so disrupted the normalcy of their lives. This woman had endured abuse, homelessness, and a lifelong enslavement to drugs and alcohol. But tonight, surrounded by a group of people of all ages and from diverse backgrounds, but brought together by the life of one woman and the reality of one God, we celebrated. I think that the reason this night brought so much joy is because it was a concentrated dose of what should daily permeate our lives--celebration for the deliverance that God brings and has brought through Jesus Christ, and the outpouring of love of God's people on one another. This joy is what Heaven will be filled with, and perhaps, after God has made all things new, this joy will no longer come as a surprise. Rather than breaking through as clean air in the midst of pollution, pure, untainted joy will be the very air we breathe. I will treasure the memory of this night, but I have come away with a greater longing for what John Bunyan called the "Celestial City," and a desire for God's people to mirror on this earth the reality of the perfect unity, love, and joy that we will one day experience around the throne of the Lamb.

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

Hebrews 11:1

For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we eagerly wait for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

Romans 8:22-25

Jesus, What A Friend of Sinners

"Any church that will not accept that it consists of sinful men and women, and exists for them, implicitly rejects the gospel of grace." -Brennan Manning

I've been wondering lately about why so many churches in America are filled with people who (at least outwardly) appear to have it all together. First of all, this is an illusion, because nobody is without weaknesses, trials, besetting sins, disappointments...the list goes on. So, if so many of us seem to have it together, but we all know the truth that we don't, why do I (we) still fall into the trap of believing that other people don't have problems like we do, that other people's families don't have issues like ours do? I confess, looking at some people's blogs or pictures on facebook sometimes gives me the impression that there are some perfect families and perpetually happy people out there. But, seriously? Those are just pictures. My sister and I laugh sometimes when we look at Christmas cards with pictures of families with perfectly coordinating outfits, sitting serenely in a field or in front of a fireplace. A moment frozen in time where everyone looks happy and everything looks great. But if pictures could talk, we might hear the children complaining, the baby crying, the parents scolding. Don't get me wrong, I love photography and enjoy looking at pictures of friends and their families, but I have the sneaking suspicion that the "picture face" we so easily wear for photo shoots is all too often worn as we interact within the Body of Christ.

Jesus knows we aren't perfect, so why do we try to pretend that we are?

The fact that the church is filled with people who seem to have it all together is disturbing to me for another reason: Jesus was a magnet for the outcasts of society. He was labeled a friends of sinners, not as a compliment, but as a derogatory term for one who did not fit the mold of the religion of his day. As people who have been given the task of continuing His mission, as those who have His Spirit within us, shouldn't we also be known as friends of sinners? Shouldn't we attract those whose lives are not only inwardly messy (however carefully concealed that fact may be), but also those who are outwardly messy, modern day tax collectors, adulteresses, as well as the physically sick and financially impoverished?

What a privilege it would be to love such people, for in loving them we are loving Christ (Matthew 25: 31-40).

We have no reason to hide. May Jesus help us to honestly live before one another, thankfully free from the fear of exposure, and joyfully welcoming of all those who Jesus would be found loving. May we too become known as the friends of sinners. And may we not forget that Jesus is not only the Friend and Savior of "other" sinners; He is Savior of the religious who realize that their faith has become hollow. He is Rescuer of the hypocrites (I think that's all of us) who hate the fact that they so often say one thing and do another, who hear a great sermon and then have forgotten it by lunch time. He is for all of us who find ourselves struggling both with outwardly and inwardly messy lives. He is the Friend of Sinners who invites us to be friends of one another that His love and compassion might flow through us.

But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.

II Corinthians 4: 7

Christmas Is In the Air...

The other day I set out on a spontaneous road trip to Austin to visit a friend. By the time I arrived in San Antonio I had made it through my favorite songs on most of my cds and remembering that I had a Christmas album in the console of my car, I decided to pop it in the cd player. As I listened to the music, I was struck with how profound the story of redemption truly is. Here is a sampling of what I heard afresh.

The Lord God said when the time was full
He would shine His light in the darkness
He said a virgin would conceive
(Is. 7:14)
And give birth to the Promise
For a thousand years the dreamers
dreamt
And hoped to see His love
But the Promise showed their wildest
dreams
Had simply not been wild enough...

The Jews had been awaiting a Messiah who would save them from the oppression of their enemies. As Philip Yancey points out, "Audacious as it may be to dream that a tiny province wedged in among great powers would produce a worldwide ruler, nonetheless Jews believed just that. They staked their future on a king who would lead their nation back to glory." But even this wasn't wild enough. God had a plan that would prove to be much more difficult for people to wrap their minds around. God coming to earth as a baby? Anyone who has been around a baby for any amount of time knows how vulnerable they are, how dependent they are upon others for their very survival. This is one of the reasons child neglect is such a horrific crime. Leave a child to itself and it will die. And yet God entrusted Himself to the womb of a peasant girl. Like any other baby, He derived his nutients from the umbliical cord of his mother. Like any other baby, He had to be nurtured and cared for. He needed to be comforted when He cried. He needed affection to feel secure. He needed to be taught proper manners. No wonder He was overlooked by so many as the Messiah.

And to whom was the arrival of this baby Messiah announced?


Shepherd's watch, listening to
lamb's bleat
Tired backs, worn out and cold feet
All life long living like outcasts
All life long, longing for life

Again, Yancey helps me see this scence stripped of the romance of Christmas pageants and greeting cards:

"For just an instant the sky grew luminous with angels, yet who saw the spectacle? Illiterate hirelings who watched the flocks of others, "nobodies" who failed to leave their names. Shepherds had such a randy reputation that proper Jews lumped them together with the "godless," restricting them to the outer courtyards of the temple. Fittingly, it was they whom God selected to help celebrate the birth of the one who would be known as the friend of sinners."


The song continues with the angels telling the shepherds to not be afraid and giving the announcement that their Savior has come and that the sign to identify him will be that He is "wrapped in rags, asleep on the hay." The music builds and every time I have heard this song I have been touched at this point, but this time I found myself unexpectedly moved to an even greater degree.


And all at once the air filled with angels
Glory shone, of holiness they smelled
"Glory be to God in the highest
And peace on earth to all those He loves."

"Lord, You cared about the Shpeherds!" I found myself saying. Of all those He could have announced the birth of the King of Kings to, He chose a group of dingy men in a field. My heart was stirred witht affection for a God who would show such tenderness and compassion to those who were outcasts of society. He acknowledged those who had been treated as insignificant. He raised them up and allowed them a very special glimpse into his plan for the world. Think about it. It would be like going out into the street and inviting the crack addicts and prostitutes to come into the hospital room as you are holding your firstborn for the very first time. New parents are usually very concerned with sanitation when it comes to their newborns and aren't afraid to ask visitors to wash their hands. I wonder if the shepherds held Mary's new baby. Interestingly, I really don't think God would have minded if they had. I wonder if any of them were there the day He was nailed to a Roman cross.

These are some of the thoughts that were going through my mind as I listened to songs celebrating the themes of Christmas. Removed from the typical context of "the most wonderful time of the year," I could hear them not as songs that accompany a season of commercialism, but as reminders of the kind of King that I follow and the Kingdom that He has inaugurated and is continuing to bring to fruition.

So what will be your answer?
Or will you hear the call?
Of Him who did not spare His son
But gave Him for us all
On earth there is no power
There is no depth or heaight
That could ever separate us from the love
Of God in Christ

Immanuel
Our God is with us
And if God is with us
Who could stand against us
Our God is with us
Immanuel.

Jesus is God with us. All the time. So, maybe you could dust off your Christmas albums and listen to them in the middle of the summer. Better yet, you could open the Bible (it's okay if you have to dust it off too...or even if you have to go buy one. Half Price books is great for that!) to one of the Gospels and think about who Jesus is and what that means for you. If you haven't grown up in church, you actually have the advantage of imagining for the first time what the birth of Jesus must have been like. If you have grown up in the church and the reality of Jesus seems to have become lost in religious activity, I encourage you to go to the Gospels and start fresh. Try to think through how your faith has become shaped by the culture around you...even your church culture. If following Jesus has become dull to you maybe you're trying to follow someone else's version of Jesus. Let Jesus shape how you see him. Let him shape how you live. He'll meet you there. He is Immanuel.