Merry Christmas! It’s quiet in the Sandlin house this morning. My teenagers don’t bounce out of bed as quickly as they used to. That’s ok. In the quiet of the morning, I’m able to reflect on the greatest of gifts, the gift of the incarnation. What was it like for God to become a baby? Continue reading Merry Christmas!
Marilyn Chandler McEntyre, in her book Caring for Words in a Culture of Lies, makes the claim that curiosity is a form of compassion. She argues that it is an act of love to show interest in another person by asking them, “What is it like to be you?” And so it is. What does it feel like to you when someone notices you? What does it feal like when someone remembers your name, or your birthday, or some tidbit of information that you volunteered about yourself the last time you were together? Or how did it feel the last time someone asked you a good question and then stuck around long enough to truly hear your answer? There is nothing more encouraging, more soul enriching, than for another person to take a genuine interest in you. Continue reading The Gift of Attention
One of my great joys of beign a pastor is participating in baby dedications. I love the fact that it serves as a powerful reminder of one of our most basic doctrines: Every one of us is made in the image of God. I also love walking a baby down the ilse of the church for all to see because it instantly changes the mood of the service. It doesn’t matter if the sermon was too long or a little boring, if I walk a baby down the isle for all to see, everyone leaves happy. Babies just have a way of changing things. The grumpiest of people brighten up a little bit. The most serious make fools of themselves as they ooh and ah over the child. Continue reading Delight
C. S. once wrote, “To love at all is to be vulnerable.” I was reminded about that truth a few years ago by the brave and vulnerable actions of a young friend. We were at birthday party where there happen to be dancing. At first, only the adults took to the dance floor. While it can be a brave thing for an adult to take to the dance floor, for most of these adults it was not because most of these adults were married. Once you’ve gotten a girl to say she’ll be your bride, it’s not that much of a risk to ask her to dance. My young friend is not married. On this evening he did see a young lady he wanted to dance with. Continue reading The Risk of Love
Yesterday, we lit the fourth Advent candle, the candle of love. In the Bible, love is not a feeling so much as it is an action. It is not so much a sentiment as it is a saving act. Those who love seek the welfare of others. Christmas is the story of God’s love for us. John put it this way in his first letter, “This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him” (1 John 4:9). Continue reading Advent: Love
Joy and singing go hand and hand. That’s perhaps one of the reasons this season is filled with music. If we pay attention, we’ll notice that the Bible is also full of singing. The longest book of the Bible, the book of Psalms, is nothing but songs. Miriam and Moses belted out a tune after the crossing of the Red Sea. David’s many songs include a sorrowful lament over the death of his friend Jonathan, a hymn of praise over a victory won, and a heart confession over sins committed. The Song of Solomon is a sultry love song that could make that most worldly of us blush. Isaiah melodically unfolds a story of judgment and deliverance. Paul and Silas fill their prison cell with notes of praise and hope. And it all crescendos in the book of Revelation with “every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing: To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be; praise and glory and power for ever and ever” (Rev. 5:13). Continue reading Sing for Joy
With shipping becoming more difficult, more and more people are headed back to the stores for last minute shopping. They scramble on these last days before Christmas, searching now not for that perfect gift for the ones they love, but simply for a gift so that the tree will not be bare. Continue reading The Joy of Gratitude
One Christmas season, Alyson and I spent almost a week turning the house upside down looking for a diamond earing that had gone missing. The pair wasn’t large or expensive, but it was an early gift from me to her. We were upset to lose one of them. We crawled around the house looking in the carpet. We pulled all the cushions off the couch and stuck our hands down into the cracks. We even sifted through the dirt in the vacuum cleaner. Despite our best efforts, we didn’t find the missing earing. Continue reading The Joy of Finding that Which Was Lost
This weekend we were blessed with having Laura Story with us in worship. You may not realize that she brought her young son, Timothy, with her. I happened to peak in the Gym why she was warming up and saw Timothy running through that big space with an opened umbrella in his hands. He shouted with glee. I was reminded how much I miss having rooms full of children at church. Continue reading Joy is the fundamental thing
Yesterday, we lit the third Advent candle, the candle of joy. Joy is a state of delight and well being that results from knowing and serving God. We do not make ourselves joyful so much as we experience joy as we encounter God’s presence in our lives. Continue reading Advent: Joy
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