Grains of Sand

Pixabay A flurry of discordant sound announced the arrival of several sections of the bell choir. “Move it, you three. You’re late and we haven’t got much time,” chimed the Bell Master from his place on the bottom rung of the carillon. “Nag, nag, nag,” whispered the D flat to his buddy, C, as they climbed into their places on the top level. “What’s the hurry, anyway? Clang’s got his clapper in a knot for sure this morning.” “Morning? It’s still dark outside,” protested the F major, breathlessly hauling himself up behind the others. The smaller bells finally got themselves into place, just as Clang struck the note that indicated readiness and silence in the ranks. He looked around, carefully checking to make sure no one was missing. Worse than a faulty note was no note at all. “Where’s Tinkle?” he boomed from his assigned spot. Tinkle was the littlest bell of all. Her spot was high up at the top of the carillon. Like an evil wind brushing through the tower, the r...

Pixabay Lovingly, he caressed the smooth surface of the oak. He had carefully cut it, shaped it, and planed it until it lay finished before him—the most beautiful cradle. It was fit for a king. Joseph remembered the stories of old, the story of Abraham sitting under the great oaks at Hebron when the Lord appeared to him. Joshua had prepared a memorial stone and placed it under an oak near the holy place to mark the covenant between Israel and God. An angel had presented himself to Gideon seated beneath an oak. Absalom had met judgment under an oak. Israel’s history was rich in references to the mighty tree. And now, this particular piece of oak would cradle the Son of God. Joseph suffered a moment of doubt. The Son of God? Was any cradle he could make, a lowly worker in wood, worthy of God, the King of kings and Lord over all? But that appeared to be the plan. He’d never forget the appearance of the angel, assuring him that Mary had told the truth—the child...

Pixaby The stage of the universe was set. The orchestra, watching for that first movement of the Conductor’s baton, raised celestial instruments and prepared to play. The score was laid out before them; whole notes and half, quarter notes, rests and full stops, the opus to end them all awaited the Creator’s pleasure. The Maestro raised His arm and then, with His hand marking a gentle downbeat, the music began. The curtains of time rolled back and the sweet Singer of songs stepped forward to take His place on the platform called life. The notes rose to caress the faces of leaves and petals, to brush the hummingbird’s wings and still her frantic flight. They tickled the whiskers of a tiger, tugged the tail of a monkey, and embraced the two jewels of creation as they sat engrossed in conversation with a turtle. The human pair paused, lifting innocent heads to breathe in the sweet smell of the Maker’s passage, to delight in the gentle timbre of His voice singing in the w...

Pixabay If I could have, I would have shoved my feet through the floor of the bus and used my own legs to push it along. If mind ever had power over matter, mine should have forced the driver’s foot to press down harder on the accelerator. The night flashed by, faint outlines of trees interrupted by the occasional house dimly lit by a yard light or edged with Christmas bulbs. The road stretched before me. I willed it to end where I needed it to end, but perversely it refused, one curve morphing into yet another length of highway flecked with swirling snow. The demon of doubt whispered: She’s going to die before I get there . A desperate faith countered: Please don’t let her go before I arrive . Does a minute always take so long? How is it that an hour seems like an eternity? Eight hours on a bus crawling through the night. No flights available this close to Christmas. No trains leaving that would get me there any faster. Faster?   My demon doub...

Pixabay I've lost count of how many times I have told this story—most recently last week at a Seniors' Residence! But here goes once again. Years ago, as Director of Christian Education, in the days when that role for me involved kids, we did a lot of Christmas programs. On this particular Christmas the play was called Three Wise Men and A Baby . In one scene the shepherds (three boys from the Junior Department of the Sunday School) were to be sitting around their fire just minding their own business and talking their long, boring evening away as they watched their sheep. The angel who was to appear to them, was a tall, skinny Jamaican kid. You can imagine what he looked like in his white robes and gold tinsel halo. He was to enter from the choir loft door, above the platform where the shepherds were seated. When the angel appeared he was to introduce himself with the words, " Fear not! " and the shepherds were then to scream in fright! That was exactly what h...

Pixabay Did he know that Yahweh was moving him to participate in the greatest event that had yet taken place in history? Probably not. But God put Caesar Augustus in place to facilitate the birth of Jesus. According to Wikipedia: "The reign of Augustus initiated an era of relative peace known as the Pax Romana ( The Roman Peace ). The Roman world was largely free from large-scale conflict for more than two centuries, despite continuous wars of imperial expansion on the Empire's frontiers and one year-long civil war over the imperial succession. Augustus dramatically enlarged the Empire, annexing Egypt , Dalmatia , Pannonia , Noricum , and Raetia ; expanding possessions in Africa ; expanding into Germania ; and completing the conquest of Hispania ...He reformed the Roman system of taxation, developed networks of roads with an official courier system, established a standing army, established the Praetorian Guard , created official police and fire-fighting servi...

Pixbay " My soul praises the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me—holy is his name. His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation. " (Luke 1:46-50). So begins what is sometimes referred to as the "Magnificat" or Mary's song. It is her response to her cousin Elizabeth's words: " Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished! " (Luke 1:45). Praise is the ultimate result of faith. It's how we say that we believe. Praise is not the logical response to our circumstances. For Mary, it was not logical to praise God for being an unwed pregnant girl whose only explanation was that the Spirit of God had overwhelmed her and given her a child who was the Son of the Almighty and Saviour of the world! But faith is of...

Pixabay I used to be the first one up on Christmas morning. Long before day officially broke, I'd quietly come downstairs and turn the tree lights on. Then I would sit and wait, and wait, and wait! Life is all about waiting, because we are always waiting for something. I have spent most of my life using public transportation so I always seem to be waiting for a bus, or a train, or a plane. We wait for doctors' appointments. We wait for good news, bad news, any news at all from family and friends! We wait for Spring. We wait for raises, and for the right house at the right price in the right place. We wait for the right gal or guy to come along (or we wait for the wrong gal or guy to go away—far, far away!). In Venezuela, people wait in long lines to get basic foods and medicine. In other parts of the world people wait for rain, or peace, or freedom. Some wait for the pain to go away. For Mary, nine months must have seemed like an eternity. But like every other pre...

Pixabay Back in my first year in seminary, I boarded with a family who were originally from Newfoundland. It was while I was living there that I first learned to drink tea! The daughter of the house was also a first year student. While she was at school she met a young man in his final year. They began to date steadily and seriously. He owned a "bug" as they were then called. One evening we were out for a drive—her with her boyfriend and me with...well, that isn't at all interesting. We got out of the car at one point, leaving the lovebirds behind. We weren't gone long—not long enough! When we arrived back at the car, I opened the door and to my amazement and embarrassment I discovered my friend sitting in the backseat with her boyfriend on his knees in front of her, proposing. Try doing that in the backseat of a Volkswagen! I excused us and closed the door, allowing them a little more time to finish their undying declarations of love. My timing was a little off...

Pixabay Has anyone ever asked you who you think is the person who has made the greatest contribution to society? Answering the question is made easier if I specify the field in which this person has contributed. If I specify the medical field, someone will suggest a particular doctor or researcher. For example, Alexander Fleming is famous as the discoverer of penicillin. In the area of technology, another Alexander, as in Graham Bell, might get the nod for the telephone, the great-great-granddaddy of the cell phone. If I mention sports, James Naismith, the inventor of basketball, might come to mind. But the answers to these questions will certainly be varied. Not everyone thinks of (or is old enough to think of ) a Fleming, a Bell, or a Naismith. And if I ask who has made the greatest contribution to religion, the answers will be equally varied.  Because it's me asking the question my guess is that you will think I am hoping that you'll say: "Jesus!" But no...

Pixabay A few years ago I joined Ancestry.ca in order to track down and document my family's genealogical history. My mother's side wasn't hard, but Dad's was another story. My great-grandfather had worn out three wives on the farm and no one seemed to know what their names were, or anything about the children of the first two. Records were obscure—immigration authorities seemed to have a hard time with spelling many of the names of those coming from Europe back in the day. But in the course of searching out more recent family history I discovered some cousins that I had had never known, and about whom no one had ever spoken—two young boys in one family who had died young. Genealogies are interesting, revealing, and sometimes even important. So they were in the time of Christ. Matthew begins his gospel, a message particularly directed to the Jews, by reciting the genealogy of Christ in order to prove a direct line back to Abraham, the father of the nation (Matth...

Pixabay She lay in her bed shivering. "I can't get warm," she said. I turned up the heater as far as it would go and covered her with a third blanket. The room was stifling hot, but she was shaking with cold. I went to the desk to ask someone to get her yet another blanket. As concerned as I was about her physical coldness, I was more worried about her spiritual well-being. But at that moment, her mind was too engaged by her physical needs to allow room for anything else. This morning, as I prayed for her, I remembered again the promises of Scripture that are associated with the coming of Christ. He came to heal the frozen heart and the broken spirit. The last book of the Old Testament tells us: " But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in his wings. And you will go out and leap like calves released from the stall " (Malachi 4:2). Who could have imagined that a baby, born without rank or privilege, could hold t...

Pixabay Yesterday, during our worship service, we lit the first candle in the Advent Wealth. It represents the prophets who announced the coming of the Messiah long before the event actually happened. As I was finishing up my reading of the Book of Romans this morning, I came across this verse written by Paul: " The root of Jesse will come, even he who arises to rule the Gentiles; in him will the Gentiles hope " (Romans 15:12). It's Paul's paraphrase of Isaiah 11:1 which says: " A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him—the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of power, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord—and he will delight in the fear of the Lord " (11:1-3a). In his letter to the Romans, Paul wanted to remind the Gentiles of the privilege that was theirs to be part of God's family because of Jesus Christ. Before he quote...

huffingtonpost.com (Google Images) Mary and Joseph arrived at the temple in Jerusalem to complete the requirements demanded by the law. In Mary’s arms rested her baby, Jesus, so named following the instructions of the angel (Luke 1:31). Because he was their firstborn the parents had to be prepared to “redeem” their son for the price of five shekels (Numbers 18:16). An offering was also to be made and because Joseph was not a rich man, his offering was that in keeping with his economic status—“ a pair of doves or two young pigeons ” (Luke 2:24). But the pomp and ceremony of these presentations were not the highlights of this special day. Here, in the most sacred of all Jewish places, the parents of Jesus were to meet two extraordinary people through whom the future of their son would be further revealed. The first was Simeon, “ who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel ” (Luke 2:25. Alfred Edersheim comments that Simeon had three characteristics of t...

asweawaken.wordpress.com (Google Images) In their theography, Jesus , Leonard Sweet and Frank Viola make a fascinating commentary on Bethlehem, the village where Jesus was born. God chose to announce the birth of His Son to shepherds watching their sheep on the Bethlehem hillside. The shepherds were an unusual choice considering the glory of the announcement. But the sheep they watched also deserve our attention. Bethlehem lay only a short distance from Jerusalem and the Temple where hundreds and thousands of sheep were regularly sacrificed as the Old Testament prescribed. According to Sweet and Viola the sheep on that Bethlehem hillside, along with their lambs, were no ordinary sheep. They were special animals, destined for the Temple and for the ultimate sacrifice. They were carefully tended because the sacrificial animals had to be perfect without any blemishes and without any injuries. So careful were the shepherds of these special animals that particularly fractious lambs were...

Google Images “ The Word began flesh and made his dwelling among us ” (John 1:14).’’ We know the story. Perhaps its familiarity is part of what keeps us from taking the time to revisit it and to think again about the implications of it. The busyness of the season—what others have made of the season—sweeps us away and before we are aware it’s January and we have forgotten to REALLY stop and pay attention to a baby in a cattle shed. Think again with Paul about what this “God with skin” is all about—what He did for us and what He wants to do in us. Think, and worship. “ ...All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing, just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and understood God’s grace in all its truth...For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And we pray this in order that you may live a life worth...

Google Images Memories. Some of our seniors shared memories of Christmases past at a recent event. Memories can be sweet. They can also be sorrowful. As Saturday, December 21st morphed into Sunday, December 22, I remembered those same dates and days 22 years ago when my mother passed into glory. But I also remember much more pleasant things about Christmas past. For those whose recent memories fade with time, it is often those things from the more distant past that remain in the mind and heart. For Mary, the mother of Jesus, remembering the events surrounding the birth of her Son would leave an indelible mark on her. After the long trip from Nazareth, the birth in a stable, the visit of the shepherds, the Scriptures record: “ ...Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart ” (Luke 2:19). The shepherds went out to tell the world what they had seen, but Mary, the mother, kept silent. Most mothers are never reluctant to sing the praises of their children so it see...

Google Images How is it possible? I wonder how many times I’ve said or thought those words? Life is never perfect but it helps if it is predictable. For Zechariah, life was predictable. He fulfilled his priestly duties every day. And once in a while, when his turn came, he went up to the temple to offer incense to the Lord. He and his wife, Elizabeth, were growing old as gracefully as they could. Even their childlessness was predicable—they were long past conceiving children. Perhaps the bitterness and disappointment of that reality had faded in time, though it appears that they had prayed for a son (Luke 1:13) to carry on the line. Then Gabriel came along and announced a change in the whole equation. While Zechariah was performing his duties in the temple, the angel of the Lord appeared to announce that he and Elizabeth would have a son in their old age. If Gabriel had appeared to me I probably would have doubted too. “ Zechariah answered the angel, ‘How can I be sure of this? I a...

Google Images The fact that we are within a few weeks of Christmas and the celebration of Christ’s birth makes these verses all the more meaningful: “ Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil—and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. For surely it is not angels he helps, but Abraham’s descendants. For this reason he had to be made like them, fully human in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people ” (Hebrews 2:14-17). Fully human. Fully engaged. Fully committed, so that we could be fully free. God puts on skin to save our skin. That’s Christmas.

Reading: 2 Peter I was researching the Celebration of Advent the other day and came across something that impressed me. Advent, according to its original purposes, is a celebration of the birth of Christ when He came as Saviour. But Advent is also celebrated in anticipation of that moment in the future when He will return as King and Judge. The author writes: “In this double focus on past and future, Advent also symbolizes the spiritual journey of individuals and a congregation, as they affirm that Christ has come, that He is present in the world today, and that He will come again in power. This acknowledgement provides a basis for Kingdom ethics, for holy living arising from a profound sense that we live “between the times” and are called to be faithful stewards of what is entrusted to us as God’s people” ( http://www.crivoice.org/cyadvent.html ). That thought stayed with me as I read these verses from 2 Peter earlier this morning. In the last chapter of the letter, Peter r...