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The King is coming, the King has comeMonday, December 18, 2006
Jeremiah 23: 5-7 At the church where they are both ministers, Chris and his wife Melissa presented the communion meditation today. They shared one of Chris' childhood stories. For a few years Chris thought that Chris-tmas was his birthday. Everyone was having a party for him. Great celebrations honored him. People exchanged gifts, and gave some to him, because it was his birthday. This confluence of birthdays brought Chris close to Jesus quickly. They were children, Marc and Chris. They fell in love with Jesus. They expected the world to be ruled wisely and justly by Jesus their friend, Jesus their king. In the years since then they have discovered what we all discover, that they don't always accept Jesus' wisdom and direction so well. What seemed easy to them when they were three or four years old can now be difficult, exhausting, frustrating, even boring. God's kingdom just doesn't look like a fairytale. Our refusal to accept doesn't change Jesus' righteousness, refute his wisdom or reverse his direction. His kingdom proceeds as planned. Satan is no longer the ruler of this world. I am free to rejoice, to proclaim, "He's alive!" My re-borning birthday brings me close to Jesus. The day Jeremiah wrote about has come. The kingdom of heaven has come to earth, Lord. You have brought it. It is not complete, yet, I know, but you have already made all things new. Open my eyes every day to your glory. |
This was a big weekend for our family. Yesterday was both Chris' 26th birthday and Marc's day of graduation from the University of Illinois. With pictures of Marc's childhood flashing across the computer screen I remembered the Easter Sunday when he rushed out of Sunday School class shouting, "He's alive! He's alive!"