JR. Forasteros - August 3, 2014
Habakkuk
We live in a world of towering evils; they overwhelm and paralyze us. How are people who love God to respond to evils too big for us to address? According to Habakkuk, we do what we can. We act faithfully. We do the next right thing, even if it's small. Our faithfulness to God is grounded in God's faithfulness to us, and we have the confidence to trust God is restoring and will resurrect us!
From Series: "Major/Minor"
We live in turbulent times - from endless war to a slowly recovering economy to a looming educational crisis and ineffective government. While we take care of our lives one day at a time, we can't help but sense a storm gathering on the horizon. In this, we are much like the Jewish people who lived at the time of the prophets. Surrounded by forces outside their control, God called them to remain faithful in their daily life, to trust him to handle the big stuff. God spoke through prophets. Because their books are so short, we call them the Minor Prophets. But while their writings are short, their message has major implications for our lives today. Welcome to Major/Minor!
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When I was a kid, we had some pretty specific Christmas traditions: on Christmas Eve, we would go to Blockbuster and each of us three kids would get to pick out one movie. Then we would all go home. My dad would make CORN DIP and my mom would make CHRISTMAS SURPRISE DRINK – a feast we only got on Christmas Eve. We’d watch each of our movies and one-by-one drift off to sleep. Our parents would put us to bed eventually and we’d wake up on Christmas morning, rushing out to the living room to see what Santa had brought us.
It was a great tradition… until my parents divorced.
Then we had two Christmases – which parent had us on Christmas changed every year. My parents tried to keep the traditions alive, but having Corn Dip twice in a week felt weird, and Dad didn’t make Christmas Surprise Drink.
Our Christmas traditions changed.
They changed again when each of us kids moved out of the house, and again when we each got married. We learned the recipes for Corn Dip and Christmas Surprise Drink, so we can have them whenever we want.
These days, we more often do Christmas in July than anything else, and we have a whole new set of traditions: each of the kids gets a children’s book. We read the Christmas story, and we read the kids’ book. And maybe we sing Silent Night.
No matter how traditional our traditions are, they change.
The one constant in our world is change, and that goes for Christmas, too. We often face the reality of change with anger, fear or worry. We long for the good ole days, a simpler time. We’re torn by the hustle and bustle of the holiday season. Maybe we have a new relationship or a new job with a new, less-holiday-friendly schedule. Maybe someone’s not going to be by the tree this year like they once were. Maybe someone moved out, or welcomed a new life. Maybe things are looking up this Christmas and the only stress you have is the stress of change.
So whatever your Christmas traditions look like, no matter how old they are (even if they’re brand new!), we’re going to meet the Christ who is the eternal center of all those traditions.
