Another (new) year ...

I ran in the cold, rainy mist on the next to last day of 2009. Normally, not a big deal, but following a year of a slow to heal calf injury and missing the Rock n Roll Marathon in June (a shot at qualifying for the Boston Marathon falling by the wayside), slowly getting back into the routine, and on a less than optimal day was, for me, anyway, a major achievement.

And it was a pretty nice way to end a year that, for a lot of us, didn't go the way we had hoped.

Dave Griffin said this in an article for RunningTimes.com, "Why Stepping Out the Door on a Cold Rainy Day Is Important":

I imagine as December moves us towards Christmas and then the New Year, you’ll be doing some reflecting. Another year is over, and with it leaves the promise its days offered. Sometimes, that kind of reflection can lead to regret. Don’t let it.

Instead, focus on the year ahead and the unwritten chapters of your life. What is it that you want to do? And, perhaps more importantly, who is it that you want to become?

For me, it brought to mind one of those "life verses" that some of us have written not only in our heads, but our hearts as well:

Isaiah 43: 18-19 (NIV)

“Forget the former things;
do not dwell on the past.
See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the desert
and streams in the wasteland."

In more modern terms, as Eugene Peterson’s The Message (paraphrase) has it:

“Forget about what’s happened;
don’t keep going over old history.
Be alert, be present. I’m about to do something brand-new.
It’s bursting out! Don’t you see it? There it is!
I’m making a road through the desert, rivers in the badlands."

We who believe in and follow God know that He is faithful to carry out what He says He will do. And He is constantly making new things and renewing other things (like us). We need to have an attitude of worship and awe, to know that He is the one true God, and that he became flesh and blood in the form of Jesus to save us from ourselves. And because of that act of forgiveness and redemption, we shouldn't dwell (or focus) on the past – both our successes and failures – because there are some new things the Lord is constantly doing in us and around us.

So, we acknowledge what has happened. We learn the lessons we need to learn. If it’s some success that we’ve had, praise God for that success. Most of all, remember that He is God and you and I are not … and MOVE ON.

We move on because He’s doing a new thing. In the context the book of Isaiah, the new thing is the work being done to bring the Messiah through the nation of Israel to redeem all mankind. Also, because He is God, He knows that after the Babylonian captivity (which God foretold through a list of prophets, such as Isaiah, in the Old Testament) He will bring His people back to their land … and in the BIG Biblical picture … the new thing is the coming new heavens and new earth foretold in Revelation.

Interesting to note: this is NOT the first time the Lord says this. In Isaiah 42:8-9:

“I am the Lord; that is my name!
I will not give my glory to another
or my praise to idols.

See, the former things have taken place,
and new things I declare;
before they spring into being
I announce them to you.”

When you read the Bible closely, not only do you realize that the one true God is THE Creator (Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth …”) He also renews and makes things new again.

Revelation 21:5
He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”

Stuff to think about as we move into 2010:

Don’t beat yourself up over past failures, past sins. And don’t allow others to do that to you. Know, as a follower of Christ Jesus, that you are forgiven. Turn away from that past.

2 Corinthians 5:17
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”

Move on! It sounds really elementary, yet how many of us are actually getting up, leaving the past behind an allowing God to lead us to the new thing?

Philippians 3:12-14
“Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”

Look ahead. God’s got something really cool in the making. We just need to be paying attention. It is, after all, a new year ...

The Charlie Hall Band
Jan. 1, 2009
Charlie and the guys play "New Year" backstage in a giant exhibit hall in San Jose, CA, right at the turn of 2009 ...

Link for the Facebook note:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gd9BTMjcEBE

New Year
Charlie Hall, Kendall Combes © 2008 worshiptogether.com songs (Admin. by EMI Christian Music Publishing) sixsteps Music (Admin. by EMI Christian Music Publishing) CCLI Song No. 5208359

My heart beats like a drum
Flying up with the sun
I grab your hand again renovated with life
My eyes again bright and You are radiant

Where hope can hold the hand of sorrow
And we can walk into tomorrow
Where peace is found in troubled days
And the joy of Jesus carries pain

This is a new year
This is new day to rise, shine
Lift up your eyes
This is a new year
This is a new day to rise, shine
And point the way to God's great life

I'm held in a place a beautiful space
Where heaven meets the earth
My heart opens wide and the Father pours life
Deep inside my soul

So, this is Christmas ...

It's the morning of Christmas Eve. I just had my coffee, and now, as I write this, I'm wrestling on whether to go on a run in the chilly air, or sit by the space heater keeping my feet warm. So far, the feet are winning.

The last couple of months have been pretty interesting, in a fun sort of way. I mean, I really haven't felt this "Christmas-y" in a long time, and I didn't even have to step in a mall to get that way as I have in years past (gosh, that's a sad thought). As I shared with people at church, the Christmas season the past few years or so for me often started out in a semi-Scrooge state, bordering on Grinch-like. And for an associate pastor who leads the worship music on Sundays, that's not a very good place to be. Eventually, I got to where I needed to be with a lot of prayer and just spending time with God and His Word.

I guess I was struggling a lot with what the culture was saying Christmas is, and seeing devoted followers of Christ fall right into that to the point of forgetting the real reason why we have Christmas at all. And despite my encouragements, sharing of Scripture, sharing of songs that point to the Gospel message, it seemed to fall on deaf ears as I saw them stressing out over stuff along with the culture.

This year, I came across the Advent Conspiracy, a movement started by a group of churches a few years ago that sought to take back Christmas from what the culture - our culture - had turned it into. It's more than "Putting Christ back into Christmas" by shopping at stores whose workers say "Merry Christmas" instead of "Happy Holidays." I mean, I appreciate that, but why should I expect the checkout clerk at Target or Macy's or Barnes and Nobles (or extend it out further, corporate America) to remind me of the Christmas story? As a Christ-follower, isn't that my responsibility?

Anyway, the idea of the movement revolves around four points:

Worship Fully: It starts and ends with Jesus, His story, why He came to earth at all. If He's not in it, then Christmas is just a time of giving gifts and being nice for a few weeks out of the year. That's OK, but it's not lasting. Don't believe me? Watch what happens with people in general a month from now.

Spend Less: Gift giving is NOT discouraged by any means, despite what some media coverage of Advent Conspiracy may have hinted at. Instead, it encourages WISE spending, wise gift shopping, and really takes aim at discouraging people from going into debt - which, let's face it, a lot of do during this time of year, and spend a good chunk of the next year trying to pay it off.

Give More: As we spend less, we have more to give toward causes that help the least of these, those who are worse off than we are. Did you know that the vast majority of the world lives off $2 a day? A DAY. That's not even a grande cup of coffee at Starbucks that most of us spend without a second thought. Anyway, with the money that some of the people didn't spend on extravagant gifts, they donated it to dig drinking water wells in impoverished countries . Sounds kind of elementary for us - and I bet many take that for granted with our bottled water in our backpacks and tote bags - but it's huge for people in Africa, Asia, South America. At my church, we directed donations to three ministries we support in the Philippines and a reserve for any local causes for the needy. The point is, find a way to give more to the least of these.

And "give more" translates also into giving more time to family and friends … reconnecting with them in meaningful ways - maybe even getting together to actually MAKE Christmas presents for others. The idea is that when God came to earth, He didn't give us stuff … He gave us Himself. And we should follow the example. Stuff is nice, but isn't spending time with family and friends more lasting?

Love All: Simple to say, but hard to do. Yet, if Jesus is in it (love the Lord with all your heart, all your soul, all your might, all your strength, all your mind - to worship fully), as difficult as it may be to love all (especially that person who just cut in front of you at the supermarket as you were shopping for your family Christmas dinner), if Jesus is in it, it's a whole lot easier.

And, Worship Fully, Spend Less, Give More, Love All becomes something we do all year, not just at Christmas time. (And I am praying that really becomes the case.)

Anyway, the idea of Advent Conspiracy just lit up in my brain, and the church leadership allowed us to pursue it this year. While it wasn't a huge thing - it was, after all, new and introduced the Sunday after Thanksgiving - it did, I think, get people moving back toward what Christmas is.

It's not about us, necessarily, but about the eternal One, the perfect One, the Holy One, the Creator of creation, who stepped into time, who "put on skin," grew with us, ate with us, worked with us, smiled with us, wept with us, hurt with us ... and ultimately died for us - all to redeem us from the darkness we put ourselves in, the darkness we would never have escaped if the reason for Christmas had never happened.

If you're so inclined, visit the news page at my church's Web site, where we have an entry called "Christmas Is …"
Or, just take a few moments to check out the video links below.

Here's to praying that the true meaning of Christmas becomes something you re-discover this year.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas in a Nutshell
Link for the Facebook note: http://www.worshiphousemedia.com/mini-movies/16143/Christmas-In-A-Nutshell

That's Christmas
Link for the Facebook note: http://vimeo.com/2549637

Christmas is: "God became one of us. ... That means that someone as supremely as powerful as God has taken the initiative to come and get to know us. That's Christmas. Without that, really, there's not a lot left." Hmmm. Ponder that one as you watch the video from St. Helen's Bishopgate in London.

That's Christmas (Short Film) HD from St Helen’s Church on Vimeo.

My Soul Magnifies the Lord, Chris Tomlin
Link for the Facebook note: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XelCdB8NOT8