Category: Christmas

Christ as King

 In ancient times, kings, priests, and prophets were often anointed with oil to signify God’s choice for a special role. The word Christ means ‘the anointed one’ and for Jesus it is a title signifying his divine anointing to redeem humanity, fulfill prophecy, and establish God’s kingdom.* During Jesus’ time you can understand why the King of Rome and Herod, the Roman Jewish king of Judea, were concerned about being overthrown. But God had other plans.

Power over people seems to be infusing our world today with horrific displays of violence spurred on by unrelenting activism. This power grab is intentionally driven by terrorists. And, too often it is the leadership of Western governments who don’t understand the folly of their policies which select winners and losers for their social experiments thereby inflicting pain in other ways.

I’m done with the violence and these experiments! When Jesus was preaching the gospel to his apostles and disciples he was saying this, that God is done with the powerful who actively work to make you surrender your soul to their will. It’s God’s will be done, not an emperor’s will and not a terrorist’s will. Jesus Christ was born to affirm God’s love for all people. The power hungry always ignore this message because it undermines their control.

There is hard terrorism that uses guns and other weapons of violence against unsuspecting people. But there is also a soft terrorism that uses government policies and court systems to unleash inconsistencies that destabilize peaceful environments. Both are used to adopt a message of fear. God would never envision this for his creation. Jesus knew this.

Consider the prayer that Jesus taught his disciples:

The Prayer (Matthew 6:9-13 / Luke 11:2-4) 

  • “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”: (Praise & God’s Sovereignty) 
  • “Give us today our daily bread.”: (Provision & Daily Dependence) 
  • “And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.”: (Forgiveness & Mercy) 
  • “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.”: (Guidance & Protection) 

Key Themes for Disciples 

  • God-Centered Focus: Start with God’s glory, not just your own needs. 
  • Trust & Dependence: Rely on God daily for everything, like needing “daily bread”. 
  • Forgiveness: Acknowledge your need for forgiveness and extend it to others. 
  • Surrender: Pray for God’s will to be done, showing surrender to His plan. 
  • Spiritual Warfare: Ask for strength to overcome temptation and evil.*

No king of Rome or of the Jewish state needed to be concerned about Jesus assuming their power. Jesus understood that his power was the Word. The only control Jesus had was the ability to ease mankind’s souls. His teachings did this. God anointed him as Jesus Christ. We bow only to God. Is Jesus a king? Perhaps. I would much rather consider him as God’s disciple. This means that each of us can be God’s disciple too.

Happy birthday Jesus. May we understand your love for us all.

*found with the help of Google 🙂

Birth

The process of birth is transformative. Three elements must be involved: (1) conception, (2) delivery, (3) animation. Humans can birth an idea, birth a product or (with the help of the opposite sex) birth another human. Because humans can create in this way, we are said to be created in God’s image. No other mammal, insect, fish or bird can create in all of these ways.

The critical point for us is always at conception. Without this there can be no resulting idea, product or human. Conception is the spark, the Big Bang, the beginning of creation. All of nature is this way, even to the smallest atom. But is there always intention? Think about it!

Intention implies commitment. All of the natural world acts in this way because there is no other way of being. Humans on the other hand may have intention yet can lack commitment and hence give up on their plan after conception.

Our human nature separates us from all of nature. Or does it? Could this be why Christ was born? This birth is a powerful example of God’s commitment to humanity. From John 3:16…King James Bible
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

Jesus immortalized God’s plan for us. His birth and message remains our great hope that no matter who you think you are, God can deliver you (birth you) to an eternity of great Love for all that is, all that will be, and all that can be. Are you open to this Love? Commit to the humility and you can deliver this Love too by animating the grace of forgiveness to yourself and others that is now and forever found in your heart and soul. God’s gift to you. May it be so this CHIST-MAS.

Unto You Is Born This Day…

We all must bear some burden. What is your burden? Is the weight so heavy that your soul is unable to lift your spirit thereby causing literal physical or emotional pain? It’s okay…a baby told us so.

At Christmas time the daylight increases and metaphysical relief is revealed to us, but we must be present to accept the gift. Three wise kings may have had their physical gifts to give, yet only one King could give the Gift of most value. And so it was revealed!

Jesus needed to live a pretty full life before even he understood the meaning of this Gift. His Jewish brethren were responsible for teaching Jesus many truths about human nature as revealed by God through previous decades and centuries. These truths are the basis for spiritual enlightenment which is why religion must always have its place in our physical world. Why would humans ever remove God from our common understanding? Jesus knew the answer to this riddle, and the government of his time definitely didn’t want the answer known.

Truth: history repeats itself! “This Day” is like “That Day” in ancient times when the Roman king wanted no other king but himself. Today we understand that kings, like governments, wholeheartedly enjoy their “privilege” of giving and removing rights for those they “rule”. However, natural rights are God given which means that no human, no matter their perceived “privilege“, can give or remove them. Jesus didn’t die because the Roman king made it so…He died to show us all that our human suffering is limited to the physical world. God has more for us when we understand our metaphysical nature. AND more importantly, Jesus was born to be the ultimate example of a human life lived in the physical world with the liberty of an individual possessing divine worth that is separate from kings or governments and the happiness as expressed by one’s God given talents.

Let there be no doubt about it, Jesus is the reason for Christmas. His Gift is our Blessing. Let’s fulfill this promise by continuing to live humbly in God’s grace. On This Day He shall lift all darkness!

God is For Giving

Ah the Holidays! Traditions that give our existence in the United States a meaning that goes beyond the words we know as Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and New Year. And meaning is so very important to the human species…We all know these dates exist in earthly time, and attached to these dates there are national as well as religious and family traditions, but reverence is definitely the central theme for them all.

Reverence is a showing of deep respect. The Holidays during November through December allow us to set aside time in our lives to dwell on this deep respect. But what or who are we to be respectful of or to? Think about this for a moment, if we secularize these special days then why would respect ever enter into any part of a holiday’s recognition or tradition? The truth is, these are holy days and the secular has no place in them.

God is Love

Oh sure, Thanksgiving can be about turkey, Christmas and Hanukkah about lights and gifts, Kwanzaa about community, and New Years about starting anew. We can even give a “sinister” new meaning to them as Thanksgiving has unfortunately acquired because of our ability to associate current human progress with past human realities…Hindsight is always 20/20.

But a nation needs its traditions in order to build upon its positive communal spirit. And the best way to build a positive communal spirit is to give joy and love to our gatherings. God as the “Great Creator” is the silver lining of our most profound loss and the essence of everlasting Love. To revere God is to give the greatest gift of all which is compassion. A nation that builds upon Godly traditions is at its most compassionate. Secular traditions eventually become divisive because there is no unifying principle to humble the communal spirit. Turkeys, evergreen trees, presents, candles and ball-drops are not unifying principles!

Because God is forgiving, God is for giving. Our nation’s year-end celebrations are meaningful because God has shown us the way. May we be blessed enough to know this Love, respect it, and share it always.