2011 Christmas Letter

Advent 2011

 

 

Dear Members and Friends of First Reformed Church of Saddle Brook:

 

 

“But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.” Luke 2:19

 

 

For as long as I can remember, there is a single moment I long and wait for every Christmas Eve…

 

It’s after the service, after gatherings we might attend, it’s after everyone else has gone to bed…

 

In the sacred quiet of this miraculous night, I sit and try to treasure up “all these things and ponder them in my heart” – the wonder of God coming near – Emmanuel.

 

As this season continues and we approach this night of wonder, I invite you to please join us for the following:

 

            Sunday, December 11 – 10:30 am           Worship on the Third Sunday of Advent

            Sunday, December 11 – 4 pm                 Annual Vespers Program with Dinner

            Sunday, December 18 – 10:30 am           Worship on the Fourth Sunday of Advent

            Saturday, December 24 – 5:30 pm          Christmas Eve Service

            Sunday, December 25 – 10:30 am           Christmas Morning Worship

 

I know, I know, we live in a cynical, non-stop time; and to say that I am still amazed and in awe may be surprising. But if you think about it, no matter how many Christmases that we share and experience, the story, the event, the miracle is still as awesome as it was at the first one. God chose to come to us and to save us. It takes my breath away when I go there and sit with Him in the quiet of that night.

 

As the heavenly messenger proclaimed with a light that conquered the darkness that night, “Do not be afraid, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord (Luke 2:11).” If there was ever news too good to be true…and yet it was and is true. The hopeless, hapless shepherds lives are turned upside down as they are told to go see the proof – a baby wrapped in cloths lying in a manger (Luke 2:12). He came to us. In just one night as the Son of Heaven bent down to dwell on earth – the separation from God was being bridged, being poor was never the same, being hopeless and grieving were never the same, being on the outside was never the same, sin and death would never be the same either.

 

And He still comes to us, while we are still sinners, while we forget about Him, while we are distracted, while we despair, while we think this is “just another Christmas.” I invite you this year more than ever before, to take all these things – His arrival, His promised return, His sacrificial and transforming love, His death and resurrection and His Kingdom and reign – and “treasure up all these things and ponder them in your hearts.”

 

After the trees, lights, gifts, carols, cookies and food; in the quiet of Christmas Eve and in the quiet of our hearts and souls – the hope, the peace, the joy, the love – the wondrous, once and yet eternal gift of God in Christ can come alive again.

 

 

In Christ’s Love,

 

 

Pastor Christopher B. Wolf

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Presents and Presence

Maybe it’s just easier…

Maybe it’s just easier to believe that a jolly old elf flies around the world in one night driven by reindeer, somehow comes into every home undetected, consumes tons of cookies and milk, and makes and brings billions of gifts to good girls and boys everywhere.

(Sounds even wilder when described like that!! LOL)

And yet, in a just a few days, children will believe in that with their whole hearts, and all of us willing accomplices wink and play along. And beyond that, it’s not just a parent and child thing – it’s a cultural cornerstone.

I know, I know, Santa is safer. Believing in or going along with Santa doesn’t require any risk – it doesn’t cost anything (soul-wise). Giving gifts and bringing joy – these are all good things!!

But there is something better…

If it is outrageous or silly to believe all this Santa stuff (unless you’re a child)…what about the outrageous, ridiculous, comical, and delusional idea that Jesus, the Son of God, the second person of the trinity, the Word of God, who was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit, born of a virgin – was the child born in Bethlehem some two thousand years ago? And that He dwelled among us, presence, in the flesh and was full of grace and truth? And, that all of this came from God’s steadfast love – that He loves us this much?

Now when we truly believe in Him and it affects our lives – it is risky and it does cost us. That’s the difference between the commercialized Christmas and the real one – between presents and presence. The real one asks us to believe in people and things that aren’t visible – that we can’t prove with scientific methods. It asks us to love the unlovable, it asks us to give of our time, money and talents to what the world views as losing causes, it asks us to forgive and then forgive again and again.

Listen, Santa’s nice and generous, but he wasn’t born to save us from our sins and lead us to live a transformed, God glorifying, truly satisfied life.

So, on that magical night, in which the hopes and fears of all the years are met, can you and I believe with our whole hearts, minds, strength and soul that this gift of Jesus is real and that it is for you and me and for others; and can we believe in and live in ways that show His presence shapes our lives in the present?

Because after all the wrapping is thrown away and food is cleaned up everybody goes home and the tree comes down and it’s all over, there is still one gift there, the best gift of all.

It’s more than a jolly old elf bringing gifts. It’s more than a holiday. It’s more than the gifts and time with family and friends. It’s that God, who didn’t have to and on many levels doesn’t make any sense in doing, came to dwell with us – to be present with us, to love us, to save us and to open the way to Heaven for us.

Can we believe it?

Can we share it?

Merry Christmas and Amen.

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The Right Relationship

 

 

 

“The Word of God became flesh and dwelled among us.” John 1:14

 

In many ways, our lives are defined by our relationships. Certainly we are all individuals. But our times, the substance of our lives can be seen through our connections or lack thereof with others. Relationships at their best can literally be life-giving; relationships at their worst can be heartbreaking or worse.

 

For me, I have been shaped and influenced by so many relationships. Loving others, being loved, sharing the highs and lows of life, learning together. Obviously, my parents and brother Ryan to aunts, uncles and cousins; friends, teachers and coaches. All the people I have worked with at many different jobs. From my first girlfriend (second grade) Christina (who is a faithful Living Water reader today) to all the people I’ve had the privilege to serve as their pastor in a church or from a distance. And, of course, my wife and my children. And that is just in nearly 40 years. I have been very blessed with these key human relationships. Bu there is one relationship above them all…

 

See, so much of our time revolves around relationships – building them, protecting them, putting them back together, enjoying them, and figuring them out. We are frequently wondering how are relationships are doing or seeking the “right” one. Most of the joys of life flow through relationships – life enjoyed through and with others. We are relational by design – by God’s design.

 

Which is why, with the sending of Jesus into this world – God got personal.

 

The whole idea of the Word became flesh and dwelled among us was that God became fully relational with human beings by becoming a human being. No more pillar of fire, no more voice from the mountain, not speaking through prophets, but in the flesh…

 

From his birth, the child in the manger – to his personal encounters with people – healings, teachings and attending weddings – to the last supper, where he asked his friends (and us to this day) to remember him – to the crucifixion and his death and then his bodily resurrection. All lived out by a person who was God and human.

 

I keep thinking about how he was sitting at the Passover meal with his disciples and transforms that sacred meal from a remembrance of the saving power of God during the Exodus into this simple but powerful and personal, “Remember me.” God getting personal.

 

Or I think of this liturgy I use at funerals that includes, “Through his death, Jesus sanctified the graves of the saints (those who believe).” Despite the sadness, it is a beautiful thought and only possible by God becoming flesh and living and dying among us. God getting personal and enduring all things human.

 

Not a theology, not an idea, not a theory, not a hypothetical, not a building, not a tradition or denomination, not a doctrine; but a person. All the things we have made God and religion often make us miss the point that God became flesh and dwelled among us to invite us into a saving and sustaining relationship with him.

 

He came in the flesh for two main purposes – he assumed flesh to assume the sin of the world so by going to the cross and dying – the power of death and sin – that which separated us from God – would be destroyed and the door to a relationship with God could be restored. “It is accomplished,” as he said.

 

And when we think of relationships, it is the most important one. I mean, if you we don’t have this relationship right, then what do we have? Whether you liked or agreed with the book The Shack, one clear message that came from readers was a reminder that God desires a living relationship with us.

 

Relationship involves unconditional love, trust, communication, sharing, serving, encouragement, authenticity, presence. Jesus was and is God to us in all of these ways.  

 

But there was another purpose to his coming “in the flesh.” And it was demonstrate how to be Christ to one another and to the world.   

 

Think about that for a moment. To be Christ to someone. What does that mean?

 

Because he lived in the flesh among us…we can live…because he was divine as well as human, we can see what it was to be human in the best terms as well as to be Christ to one another.

 

To love others sacrificially, to serve them, to open ourselves fearlessly, to see the best in others, to want the best for others, to be instruments of God’s healing and grace – this is to be Christ to one another.

 

But it all starts with a relationship. A few years ago Chase Bank’s slogan went something like this, “The right relationship is everything.”

 

And so it is for us. God got personal with us through Jesus – he initiated the relationship. And it’s about having the “right” relationship with God by believing in his son Jesus, and from that saving and sustaining, primary relationship, all of our other relationships can be “right” by being Christ to others – to embody him to others, from his flesh through ours.

 

Amen.

 

Discussions Questions

1. How is your relationship with God? Is it healthy or dysfunctional? Is it through Jesus? Would you like to know more about this?
2. How are you relationships with others? How do you evaluate relationships? What is that based on?
3. What do you think of being Christ to others? How can we do this?
4. How has God been personal with you in your life? If you feel like he hasn’t, how would that look if he did?

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The Unlikely Rescuer

 

It’s seems easier and easier to get lost in what Christmas isn’t about…

 

Black Friday, gift cards, parties and other events are all well and good. And in religious terms, we talk about joy, hope, peace, love (sounds a little 60’s doesn’t it 😉 and things like the Incarnation.

 

But beneath of all that, like the bulbs beneath the snow, there is something wonderful and mysterious, just waiting to emerge. It’s the true meaning of Christmas…

 

Madelyn’s Jesus Storybook Bible calls it “The Secret Rescue Mission” that God had been planning all along. And so we all think that if God is planning a rescue mission it is going to be perfect – all the necessary resources, personnel, and well planned. Maybe the first century version of Jack Bauer? 

 

True on all the right stuff and the right person. But I think we would all say on some level, it certainly didn’t look like it at first. I mean, to rescue us all…sending a baby born out of wedlock to a virgin, in poverty, in a stable with an animal’s feeding box as his bed? This doesn’t sound like a good start to a worldwide rescue, right?

 

It has to make us wonder what this really was all about.

 

Christian recording artists, 4 Him have a song that I have been hearing on the radio recently. It is called, “Strange Way to Save the World.” Amen. Here are some of the lyrics, “But this is such a strange way to save the world; To think of how it could have been/If Jesus had come as he deserved/There would have been no Bethlehem/No lowly shepherds at his birth/But Joseph knew the reason/Love had to reach so far…”

 

It is a strange way to the save the world, isn’t it? When we think of trying to save the world today, we would think of power, or influence or money or bailouts. But to save us from our sins and the accompanying carnage, as it was then and is now, no amount of human influence nor wealth could save us from rescuing our rebellious hearts.

 

Like the song says, if the Son of God came into this world as He deserved, it wouldn’t have been in Bethlehem, or in the quiet of night, and instead of shepherds there would have been kings and rulers (and probably celebrities) gathered at his arrival.

 

See, God has this inclination of using unlikely people, things and circumstances for accomplishing His purposes and revealing His character in this world, then and still today.

 

Back then he used people like Abraham (the old guy from nowhere with his barren wife) to be the father of God’s people. Moses, the guy with the speech problem to be God’s spokesperson? The smallest guy of the family (David) slays the giant and becomes the most favored king of Israel. Joseph and Mary? Why are these people being picked for this important stuff? Why? Because when God uses the unlikely person or thing, it is more recognizable that it was God at work than if it were the expected or the powerful, right?

 

And today? Well, what I think is that God frequently shows up in the worst circumstances to demonstrate His best about Himself and His people. Let me say that again, God works and shines through the worst circumstances to demonstrate His best – God’s love, comfort, light, power and are all most visible in our worst times – that is the heart of the Gospel aka Good News.

 

For example, no one wants to see a young man with a family diagnosed with a terminal disease – that is not what God intended when He created the world. And yet, when this member of our church was diagnosed with a terminal disease almost two years ago, our congregation was led to demonstrate the love of Christ by thousands of prayers and by helping his family with everything from meals to cleaning to an purchasing an accessible vehicle and building them a house. And in turn this young man and his family have experienced the love of God in ways there never could have imagined, and so have all the people who have prayed and helped. In the worst of circumstances, God’s best has become very, very visible. God’s grace is always most visible when we are broken and in need.

 

And we think, there has to be a better, easier way for God’s best to be made visible. Why does it have to be this way, this unlikely, strange way?

 

Let me try. See, we live in a broken, broken world full of sin, evil, violence, disease, vanity, lust, corruption, hunger for power and wealth – all the things that aren’t of God. Our vision is blinded by all of these things. Our lives are contaminated and infected by them. So much so that we often long for and turn to and rely on very human, obvious, and likely prescriptions or answers for them – rather than turning to God.

 

And you know that God could fix all of this in an instant (and ultimately will fix it all one glorious day) but until then He chooses to work not around, not over, but through all the brokenness.

   

So the “love had to reach so far” (or be so humble) because the sin and brokenness goes that wide and deep. And Jesus’ arrival into this world had to be so unlikely and strange so it could be seen and remembered. So that thousands of years later, it would still be as mysterious and wondrous and curious as it was the first time.

 

In a world of bad news, in a world of often the worst news, in a world where the news is often forgotten the next day – somehow this strange, unlikely way of saving the world is still good news, still the best news we have.

 

And because of that best news, and in spite of all the bad news, we can still see and believe and hope and rejoice that God came to dwell with us in the flesh in order to save us…that above all, is Christmas.  

 

Amen.

 

Discussion Questions

1. Have you ever wondered why God uses unlikely circumstances to reveal things about Himself?
2. Do you have a story of when God moved in a “worst time of your life?” What happened?
3. What can we do to open our hearts to this mystery and make it like new?
4. Have you grasped why the “love had to reach so far?”  

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