The Coffee Psalm

I love when I find new ways of expressing ourselves to God. In looking for a way to teach my kids Thanksgiving and worship I came across this psalm.

There could be the thought, that this psalm is making trite (overused and consequently of little import; lacking originality or freshness) the worship of God. In fact this psalm is doing the opposite. It is relating to God in a new way. Expressing to God our inner thoughts based on what we know, have, and enjoy.

So enjoy this little cup of praise.

The lights are on . . .

Isn't it great to drive around and look at all the houses with Christmas light. (Except for the Pagans, who sneakily hang their lighted Pentagrams in celebration of the Winter Solstice.) We have a practice of criticizing the glistening strings that adorn peoples humble houses. We especially like to make fun of trees. Have you ever noticed the terrifying floating swirling mass of lights people string around the outside of their tree in the front yard with no leaves. They've done it for years and haven't added any strings so the swirl stops halfway up, because the tree kept growing. That drives me nuts. What doesn't drive me nuts is that all of it is an attempt to "Spread the Light of Christmas Joy"

I know, the celebration of lights goes back for thousands of years. The Romans even had a celebration (Dec 25th) to commemorate "The Invincible Sun". The Egyptians, Celts, Norse, and many others all had celebrations to end the long nights and welcome back the sun for longer days, fertility, and agricultural prosperity.

All of this is a great attempt, and shows our need, as fallen people for a new light in our lives. It shows how all people are searching for and have a deep desire to worship God. We realize we live in a dark world and need something greater than us to save us from the darkness. Though it falls extremely short of what is truly needed for us.

The prophet Isaiah, and others, taught about our need and promised a solution, "the people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned." (Isaiah 9:1-2)  Jesus told Nicodemus, an expert in Jewish religion, "Light has come into the world, but men love darkness instead of light because their deeds are evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear their deeds will be exposed." (John 3:19-20) A little later Jesus 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)

So if Jesus is the "Light of the World" lets look back at a few of those verses again, but we are going to replace "light" with "Jesus".

Isaiah 9 The people living in darkness have seen a great [Jesus].
John 3:19-20 [Jesus] has come into the World, but men love darkness instead of [Him] because their deeds are evil. Everyone who does evil hates [Jesus], and will not come into [Him] for fear their deeds will be exposed.

This year, since it is the celebration of new beginnings, lets put our faith into the one who is the Light of World. Let's celebrate the true "Invincible Son" who proved it by showing his power over death and still lives today. He isn't scary at all (at least not for those who are in him) and welcomes everyone into his life and light. "But if we walk in the light [God the Father], as he [Jesus] is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, His Son, purifies us from all sin." 1 John 1:7

As we see the lights on houses, weird looking trees, and lined driveways with candy canes, remember they are all an attempt to show the True Light of the World that offers life, Jesus.

Ponder a while

In Luke’s account of the birth of Jesus he describes the angels going to the shepherds and then the shepherds going to see Jesus. “So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. 17When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, 18and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. 19But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. It seems everyone else was amazed and surprised at what the shepherds said, except Mary. You see Mary had been visited by an angel. Joseph had been visited by an angel. Mary’s cousin’s husband had been visited by an angel. Maybe this was starting to become a normal thing for the young couple. 

The greek word used for “ponder” means “to put one thing with another to consider circumstances”. So Mary took all of these events that happened over the last months to form her conclusion as to what was happening. So she added this event with the shepherds account. In eight days, when they go to the temple, she will add more. When the magi come to the house with the gifts she will add more events to her treasure of circumstances. That would have helped since they had to pack and flee for their lives in the middle of that same night. Then when Jesus stays behind in the Temple, and scares his parents to death, Mary treasures these things as well. 

John, immersing people in the Jordan, would call him “The Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world.”

Later on when Jesus was older and being crucified between common thieves she would have had to pull these memories together to consider what was happening right then in light of everything that happened up till this  point in their lives. 

She would remember the Angel telling Joseph, “You will name him Jesus, because he will save people from their sins.” and she would remember the shepherds coming bowing before the infant king, just as the centurion dropped to his knees and proclaimed, “Surely this was the Son of God.” Which would have brought back the angels words to her, “He will be called the Son of the Most High”.

As they poured the myrrh on his body to bury it, she remembered the Wise men that came and brought the gifts of Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh. 

Jesus returned to life three day later and when she saw her boy on the path, the words from the angel continued, “The Lord God will give Him the throne of his Father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his Kingdom will never end.”

Nothing that happened with Mary, Joseph, and Jesus was an accident. Everything that happens in our lives is seen and known about by God. 

It isn’t an accident that you are reading this. It isn’t an accident that the weather was like it was this week. It is all a part of God drawing us to Him. What we have to do is what Mary did. Look at all of the events that happen in our lives and ponder, put them all together, to see how God is working. 

Jeremiah wrote 31:3 “The LORD appeared to us in the past, saying: ‘I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness’.” 

Peace on Earth

“Therefore since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Romans 5:1)

Peace with God. I don’t know if you think the way I do, but I have a hard time excepting peace, forgiveness, and grace for myself. I know what goes on in my mind. I know what rises up in my heart. I even think the way I smell after working outside all day is repulsive. I wake up with morning breath and think, how could anything, much less an all knowing God, want a relationship with me.  I know the feeling I have and all the ways in which I lack in my maturity in Christ. and I know the conflict that goes on in my mind over my salvation. 

Now, I can give peace and forgiveness. I can even tell you, quote scripture, and pray and lead you to salvation. I can give you scripture of God’s reconciliation and desires to be in a right relationship with us as humans. But I have a hard time excepting it for myself. 

Now this is not peace of mind. Where your mind is clear and calm, and flowers are blooming and birds are singing and everything is good and right with the world. this is a peace in this verse of an end to conflict. 

Peace with God means that we have been reconciled with him. There is no more hostility between us, no sin blocking our relationship with him. Peace with God is possible only because Jesus paid the price for our sins through his death on the cross.A perfect example of the definition of peace, proving you care more about others than winning an argument.” 

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In Chapter 5:8 it says, “God demonstrated his love for us in this; while we were still sinners Christ died for us.” 

I can get that. but then he goes on. 

verse 10 “For if, when we were God’s enemies we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!” If Jesus was willing to die for us as sinners, how much more will he do for as as his brothers and sister. That is his ministry now, to keep us in relationship with him. This is a fact I remind myself of often. Not as much as I use to.

As we stop everything, and try to get a little peace of mind to sit and talk with God, remembering his sacrifice. Remember that he has reconciled us to himself. He Got rid of everything that did keep us from him. The details are different for each of us, but the basics is sin. 

You might be like me, having to remind yourself, God does want me, loves me, and has given me a peace treaty he won’t break. 

You might be totally different from me, its something you have complete confidence in, and it never crosses your mind. Enjoy your time. 

Or, You might be sitting there having never accepted his love for you. You’ve never accepted his reconciliation. Give in. He is a God that has this absurd love for humanity. It doesn’t make sense to me. But he does and he proved it.