L’ENCHANTÉ

December 26, 2016

L’ENCHANTÉ

To whom can you compare God?

    What image can you find to resemble him?

Isaiah 40:18

There is a beautiful story recounted every Christmas in the forest of Provence in southern France.  It’s about the four shepherds who came to Bethlehem to see the child.  One brought eggs, another brought bread and cheese, the third brought wine.  And the fourth brought nothing at all. People called him L’Enchanté. 

The first three shepherds chatted with Mary and Joseph, commenting on how well Mary looked, how cozy was the cave and how handsomely Joseph had appointed it, what a beautiful starlit night it was!  They congratulated the proud parents, presented them with their gifts and assured them that if they needed anything else, they had only to ask.

Finally someone asked, “Where is L’Enchanté?”  They searched high and low, up and down, inside and out.  Finally, someone peeked through the blanket hung against the draft, into the crèche. There, kneeling at the crib, was L’Enchanté. – the Enchanted one. Like a flag or a flame taking the direction of the wind, he had taken the direction of love. Through the entire night, he stayed in adoration, whispering, “Jesu, Jesu, Jesu – Jesus, Jesus, Jesus.” (Brennan Manning, The Relentless Tenderness of Jesus, Revell, 2004)

Find time today, the second of the twelve days of Christmas, to light a solitary candle. In quietness, gaze upon the simple candle and allow your heart to become enchanted with “Jesu, Jesu, Jesu – Jesus, Jesus, Jesus.”

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

·        The second edition of  First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Bringing Diverse People Together

December 23, 2016

Bringing Diverse People Together

Then Simeon blessed them, and he said to Mary, the baby’s mother, “This child is destined to cause many in Israel to fall, and many others to rise. He has been sent as a sign from God, but many will oppose him. As a result, the deepest thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your very soul.”

Luke 2:34-35

Luke has done something most story tellers try hard not to do. He’s pretty much told us how the story is going to end before the end of chapter two and there are twenty-two more chapters to go. It doesn’t look like he’s leaving much room for suspense. Why does Luke seem to give away the ending? I think it’s because he knows his first readers would be overwhelmed by the ending, so he is preparing them for the shock.

Like Simeon, many of Luke’s readers had been looking for God to redeem Israel. Unlike Simeon, their expectation of God’s way of redemption was completely different than what God was beginning to reveal through the births of John and Jesus. The first two chapters of Luke are a reminder to guard against thinking I know what, when and how God is going to act. God’s ways are not my ways, and if I allow myself to become rigid in my expectations, I’ll become like the many in Israel who missed the Messiah, because they were intently looking for something else.

One temptation that snares many in our time is the temptation to think that what God did in Christ, he did just for me. Sometimes we’re told to take John 3:16 and substitute the words ‘world’ and ‘everyone’ with ‘me’ and ‘I’. Yes, Christ is my salvation, but he’s not mine alone. At least twelve times in the first two chapters, Luke makes clear that God is at work in the lives of his people; not just Mary, Joseph, Elizabeth and Zachariah, but all of Israel. And, not just Israel; there are also several references to what God is doing for all the nations, all the world, through these miracle births. I am convinced that a major portion of being transformed by the renewing of my mind is in learning to think in terms of Kingdom values, in terms of inclusivity.

God’s Kingdom is revealed by bringing diverse people together. There are the young, Mary and Joseph; and the older, Elizabeth and Zachariah; and older still, Simeon and Anna. There are the well off, Mary & Joseph (the gifts of the Magi made them so); and the poor, the shepherds. There are the people of God (the Church) and other people we didn’t know were included by God, the Magi. The births of John and Jesus brought a very diverse people together for worship and fellowship as a reminder to me; how diverse is my circle of friends, my congregation for worship?

Sē’lah

<><  <><  <><  <><

(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

·        The second edition of  First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Mary Laid Jesus In A Manger

December 22, 2016

Mary Laid Jesus In A Manger

She gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped him snugly in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no lodging available for them.

Luke 2:7

Sometimes when I am throwing toys for my dogs to fetch, they lose sight of the toy. I’ll try to point to the toy, but instead of looking where I am pointing, the dogs look at my finger. They get focused on the sign and miss where the sign is pointing.

Sometimes people make that same mistake. At Christmas time, we look at all the signs, the symbols of Christmas, and miss where the Lord is leading us. Consider the manger. Luke mentions the manger three times in the classic Christmas Eve story, Luke 2:1-20.  Luke says Mary laid Jesus in a manger; the angels told the shepherds they would find the new born Messiah in a manger; and the shepherds went to Bethlehem and found the baby Jesus lying in a manger, just as they had been told.

The manger, which was not made of wood but of carved stone, was a feeding trough. There is some symbolism at work here. Jesus begins his life in a feeding trough in Bethlehem. The name Bethlehem means city of bread. Jesus will be known as the bread of life. At the last supper, Jesus takes bread and breaks it and tells his followers the bread is his body.

Mary laid Jesus in a manger. The angels announce to the shepherds that the Messiah has been born, and if they go to Bethlehem, they will find the Messiah lying in a manger. That’s where they found him. When they knew they had found the Messiah, they shared the news of their encounter with the angels with Mary and Joseph – and any others who would listen. Mary and Joseph were blessed to receive yet another confirmation that God was at work in their lives.

Thus the manger is a sign pointing the way for the shepherds to find the Messiah. The manger, a feeding trough, is also a sign pointing to Jesus’ ultimate gift: “Take, eat, this is my body given for you.”

Sē’lah

<><  <><  <><  <><

(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

·        The second edition of  First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

The Sound of Silence

December 21, 2016

The Sound of Silence

“And you, my little son,

will be called the prophet of the Most High,

because you will prepare the way for the Lord.

Luke 1:76

The day of the big football game had come. The preview show on TV was showing the teams arriving at the stadium. Ninety percent of the players had ear buds or headphones connected to an iPod or similar device. Most of the people walking or waiting at bus stops are also plugged into listening devices. There is not much silence in our world.

In Zachariah’s world, silence abounded. Not just because for nine months Zachariah could not talk, but because there were no electronic devices filling the air with sounds. There were no newspapers or other publications either. News would travel by word of mouth, and after conversations with neighbors and friends, the people were left to ponder the events of their times.

In Zachariah’s world, the people of Israel had been run over by foreigners for hundreds of years. Oppression and brutality by invading forces had become their way of life. Many of Zachariah’s countrymen, in the silence of their own thoughts, produced a harvest of hatred for both the foreigners and the leaders of their own country. Both John the Baptist and Jesus of Nazareth were born into a culture of angry people, but there were still sparks of an eternal hope within the people. Why else would they travel through barren wilderness to hear these two mighty men of God proclaim God’s righteousness?

We too, in this present age, are living in a culture of angry people. The approval ratings of our national leaders reach new lows each week. However, unlike Zachariah, we are not surrounded by the sounds of silence. In print and electronic mediums, we are bombarded with angry messages telling us what to think.

Zachariah’s story is inspiring me to seek the sound of silence during Advent and Christmas. Will you join me in carving out abundant time from our schedules to rest in silence? In our quiet place, away from all the distractions of our culture, let us become counter-cultural and embrace Zachariah’s faith in the ultimate victory of God.

Sē’lah

<><  <><  <><  <><

(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

·        The second edition of  First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.