4 a.m. CST

It began with the breath.

Wait a minute: This is not supposed to be the story of Creation (Genesis 1) or even a story about Jesus empowering his disciples for the ministry of forgiveness (John 20:19-23). This is supposed to be a story about the blessing of Light.

It began with a breath. I could sense a presence very close to my face. Then there was another breath, warm and moist. Then his muzzle nudged my face and I opened my eyes to see Ash, our Great Dane. It was 3:50 a.m. and he wanted, I guessed, for me to take him outside. By 3:55, Ash was ready to come back inside.

Returning to the bedroom, I noticed that the hall bathroom was brightly illumined by light from outside. As I drew closer to the window I began to see a remarkable pattern of light. I wondered what could be causing the beautiful pattern, but the window would not open immediately. I knelt before the window hoping that the tall window would open if I lifted from its base. Outside, it was a crystal clear night with a brightly shining moon.

I lowered the window. From my knees, I could see the true pattern of the light – it formed a truly majestic cross. I know a bit about the refraction of light through glass surfaces – that’s why I looked out the window. But I was drawn to the window by a sequence of events that led me to experience blessing when I wanted to be asleep.

I decided not to wake Beverly, but decided to take pictures with my cell phone’s camera. I hope that you will ask me to show you the pictures of the blessed Light given to me in this Advent/Christmas Season (Or, you can see it below.). I call the picture “4 a.m. CST” – Christ Shining Through.

May you be awakened. May you discover a blessed Light this Christmas.

Remember: It began with the breath.

Who Is "Coming" This Advent?

“Advent”, from the Latin word adventus, means “arrival” or “coming”. The Advent season begins four Sundays before Christmas – Christ Mass – and serves as a time of preparation for the celebration of the birth of Jesus.

However, radio and television suggest that there might be other “advents” on people’s minds – other “comings” that are on our hearts and minds. Some examples from the radio include:

“Please come home for Christmas, if not by Christmas, by New Year’s night”;

“I’ll be home for Christmas, just you wait and see”;

“You better watch out, you better not cry, you better not pout, I’m telling you why …”;

Perhaps you have seen The Traveler’s Insurance Company’s “peaceable kingdom” commercial during college football games this fall? The commercial shows all sorts of animals – many of whom would normally be food for the animal next to them – living peacefully together on a beautiful day at an idyllic waterhole. Read this week’s Lesson from Isaiah (11:1-10, especially 6-9): The imagery for the commercial may be found there, but the motivation for the commercial (selling insurance) is not quite the same as the motivation for God’s prophet Isaiah.

Isaiah foretells the “coming” of a Davidic king (from the stock of Jesse, David’s father) who will be the embodiment of God’s rule on earth. Prior to the “peaceable kingdom” imagery, Isaiah describes the inspiration and the function of the king who is “coming”:

“on him the spirit of Yahweh rests, a spirit of wisdom and insight, a spirit of counsel and power, a spirit of knowledge and of the fear of Yahweh. (The fear of Yahweh is his breath.) He does not judge by appearances, he gives no verdict on hearsay, but judges the wretched with integrity, and with equity gives a verdict for the poor of the land. His word is a rod that strikes the ruthless, his sentences bring death to the wicked. Integrity is the loincloth round his waist, faithfulness the belt about his hips.” (Isaiah 11:2-5; The Jerusalem Bible)

Christian interpreters have always sensed that Jesus is the fulfillment of God’s vision expressed through Isaiah. In Christ, God fulfilled this prophesy (Read Matthew, Mark, Luke, and/or John.).

In the Body of Christ – the Church, God fulfills this prophesy whenever we live and love, offer healing and hope, or share glimpses of grace in ways that Jesus did. We might never fully replicate the witness of Christ, but when through us His Spirit touches another with His light and love, we reveal the truth about God and all of God’s creatures.

Who is coming this Advent? During this Season of Advent, pray for the “coming” of Christ to another through you!

Advent Is Coming

“Advent”, from the Latin word adventus, means “arrival” or “coming”. The Advent season begins four Sundays before Christmas (In the Year of our Lord 2010, it begins November 28.) and serves as a time of preparation for the celebration of the birth of Jesus. Since the middle of the Sixth Century A. D., Advent has marked the beginning of the Church Year.

In 1960, my home church in Metairie invited every church family to embrace the “spirit” of Advent by sharing Advent Candlelighting Devotions as a family in the home. The Lawsons first Advent Wreath and Candlelighting could have been our last. My younger brother wanted to light the candle on the First Sunday of Advent. Sadly, when he struck the match against the box the matchstick shattered and a splinter found its way into his eye. Suffice it to say that the “night” was no longer “silent”.

The Season of Advent can be a wonderful time of anticipation and preparation. However, “Anticipation” and “Preparation” require great “Patience”. It can be very hard for us to wait: It has always been very difficult for the people of God to trust God to act in God’s good time (Read Exodus, the Prophets, the Gospels, or the Letters of Paul). I remember the amazement I felt in late August 1987: Beverly and I entered a shopping mall in suburban St. Louis and discovered that the merchants had decided to “deck the halls” with Frosty, Rudolph, and Santa a week before Labor Day. Waiting for God – trusting God – requires the gift of faith.

What can we do to embrace Anticipation, Preparation, and Patience during Advent?

Trust God to act in God’s time. Make time for God’s unfolding revelation of Christ through prayer. Participate in Advent disciplines like daily devotionals (guidebooks are available at St. John’s) and/or the Wednesday noon devotional times which begin December 1 and continue through December 22. Do not miss a Sunday morning service or special event at St. John’s – glimpses of grace are shining even while we wait. Turn off the television and share time with friends and family or savor a special event in the community. Anticipate and Prepare for the coming of Jesus – but remember the urgency of Patience. In the words of an ancient Psalmist, “Be still and know that I am God.”

Trust God to be present in our waiting, in our time of anticipation and preparation. Invite someone to “wait” with you. Remember that Jesus promised to be with us always – through Advent, into Christmas, and beyond.

Trust God to be patient when we want to “leap” ahead to Christmas and are not certain that we can “wait”.

Trust God!

Certain Signs of Grace

What a blessing it is to share the Sacraments! Ordained clergy know the extraordinary gift of serving as brokers of an exquisite mystery: God's love embracing and empowering folks who choose to trust God -- even when they do not fully understand the depth of God's grace or the "workings" of God's means of grace. Even God's sacramental agents, the clergy, confess that God's "amazing grace" is beyond human comprehension.

"Sacraments ordained of Christ are not only badges or tokens of Christian men’s profession, but rather they are certain signs of grace, and God’s good will toward us, by which he doth work invisibly in us, and doth not only quicken, but also strengthen and confirm, our faith in him.

"There are two Sacraments ordained of Christ our Lord in the Gospel; that is to say, Baptism and the Supper of the Lord. . . .

"The Sacraments were not ordained of Christ to be gazed upon, or to be carried about; but that we should duly use them. . . ."

Methodism’s historic Articles of Religion (1784) were sent from England by John Wesley for use in the new Methodist Episcopal Church in America. Even today, these excerpts from Article XVI, "Of the Sacraments", inform, instruct, and invite.

Baptism is a once-in-a-lifetime event – and yet our life in Christ is invigorated every time we share in the baptism of another. It is “a sign of regeneration or the new birth” (from Article XVII, "Of Baptism"). In awe, we witness God's loving embrace and spiritual empowerment being entrusted to each new child of God.

The Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, Holy Communion, the Eucharist, however, is to be a recurring festival (“as oft as ye shall drink it”) in the life of the church and in the lives of each member. It is not merely our ceremony of remembrance: It is a “certain sign of grace, and God’s good will toward us, by which he doth work invisibly in us, and doth not only quicken, but also strengthen and confirm, our faith in him.”

Sacraments are most abundantly shared in the context of a gathered community -- some are well established in the mystery, others are only becoming aware of it; none are worthy of the Sacrament except that God has provided the means of grace, God has called us to come, and God has urged us to partake.

"The Sacraments were not ordained of Christ to be gazed upon, or to be carried about; but that we should duly use them. . . ."