Category Archives: advent

The Shepherd ‘Keeper’

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Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24

For thus says the Lord God: I myself will search for my sheep, and will seek them out. As shepherds seek out their flocks when they are among their scattered sheep, so I will seek out my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places to which they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness. I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land; and I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the watercourses, and in all the inhabited parts of the land. I will feed them with good pasture, and the mountain heights of Israel shall be their pasture; there they shall lie down in good grazing land, and they shall feed on rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I will make them lie down, says the Lord God. I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, but the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them with justice. Therefore, thus says the Lord God to them: I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. Because you pushed with flank and shoulder, and butted at all the weak animals with your horns until you scattered them far and wide, I will save my flock, and they shall no longer be ravaged; and I will judge between sheep and sheep. I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd. And I, the Lord, will be their God, and my servant David shall be prince among them; I, the Lord, have spoken.

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James Rebank is Twitter’s most popular shepherd.  He lives in the Lake District of England in Matterdale.  His story is fascinating.  Oxford educated and now an accomplished author, Rebank gives insight in the life of a real shepherd in a modern world.  Helen MacDonald writes about Rebank’s book The Shepherd’s Life, “It’s not a romantic retreat to a blurred, vague, green, imagined nature.  Working with livestock is real and unsparing and beautiful and hard. It’s a book full of mud and blood and groundedness and community.”

I have no idea what it meansto be a shepherd, but Rebank gives me some insight I never would have imagined.  No longer is the shepherd this type of artificial, nostalgic carved wooden figure in my nativity or some awe-struck, wage earner of the first century staring in the sky as angels sing.  The are real and gritty…and teach some lessons we all should learn.

Shepherds are KEEPERS.  They keep watch over their flock.  They keep the flock fed.  The keep the flock from danger.  They keep them bound together.  Psalm 121 says, “The Lord is your keeper.”  In Hebrew, the word can mean “to have charge of, to guard, or to protect.”

On Thanksgiving, all I could think of were the shepherd “keepers” of my life.  In addition to God the Shepherd Keeper, I thought of my “mema”, my mother in law, and other people in my life who have ‘kept’ me connected to my family, my faith, my friendships, and my responsibilities.  They have had ‘charge over me’.  They ‘guarded’ me.  They ‘protected’ me.

I am not one who naturally longs to be ‘kept’ by anyone, but I find that this characteristic of God is vital in our spiritual lives.  With all the “mud and blood and groundedness and community”, I find that havinga ‘keeper’ in my life is vitally important to my well-being.

Love and Hate

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Luke 2:25-35

25Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; this man was righteous and devout, looking forward to the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit rested on him. 26It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. 27Guided by the Spirit, Simeon came into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him what was customary under the law, 28Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying, 29“Master, now you are dismissing your servant in peace, according to your word; 30for my eyes have seen your salvation, 31which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, 32a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.” 33And the child’s father and mother were amazed at what was being said about him. 34Then Simeon blessed them and said to his mother Mary, “This child is destined for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be opposed 35so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed—and a sword will pierce your own soul too.”

Love and hate are intimately linked within the human brain, according to a study by Professor Semir Zeki of University College London. Zeki studied the brains of people who profess deep hatred towards a person and deep love and here is what he discovered.  When people looked at the images of those they hated, it involved specific areas in the sub-cortex of the brain. One area they already knew was connected to contempt and disgust. But they found these same areas of the brain were involved in deep feelings of love. Zeki proposes that this may be connected to the preparation of aggression that may come when you feel someone you love is threatened.  While love and hate are found to be at work in the same area of the brain, there is one interesting difference. Zeki and his research team found that the areas of the brain associated with judgment and reasoning become deactivated during love, whereas very little of the area is deactivated in hate.

Zeki concludes with this hypothesis…love seems to be less critical and less judgmental toward those loved. Hate is more judgmental, more critical, and more calculating…seeking ways to injure, harm, or exact revenge. The other interesting find? Hate could be objectively quantified in the studies. Love could not. There was no way to objectively quantify love.

Zeki could have saved a lot of time if he had just read the New Testament…

Christmas is the time of year when we celebrate the coming of the fullness of love to the world. For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son… Christmas is the time we celebrate when love came down from heaven. And this is a season of love. There is something warm and cozy about Christmas. Families gather, meals are shared, we reach out to those who are not with us by phone and Christmas cards.

But as we explore the great paradoxes of Christmas, this week we focus on the second Sunday of Advent’s theme…love. We know that the world Jesus came into was not only a world of love. Just as in Jesus day, we are surrounded by the paradox of a world where God is pouring out His love into a world filled with hate.

The Magi search for the child to pay him homage as a power-hungry king tries desparately to keep power by slaughtering innocent young children.  The angels announce the birth of the Savior to a poor band of shepherds.  Joseph and Mary receive news of the miraculous birth, but their experience is not exactly glorious.  Our world is not different. We see the paradoxes all around us.  Love comes in the midst of a world of hate.  People killing innocent people and calling it faithfulness. People mistrusting those around them and those in authority. We need love more than ever in a world filled with hate.

In today’s passage, we see Joseph and Mary bringing Jesus to the temple as was the custom. Simeon was a righteous and faithful man and very old. God told him he would not die until he laid eyes on the Savior of the world. As Jesus is brought into the temple, Simeon is drawn in and when he lays his eyes on the child, he rejoices! He says, “Master, now you are dismissing your servant in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.”  Simeon sees the light of salvation for all people, including the Gentiles. Love has come down.

IF we ended there, that would be enough. But the Bible points us to another paradox…Simeon continues…“This child is destined for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be opposed so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed—and a sword will pierce your own soul too.”

We see this bitter prophecy played out in the life of Jesus as he confronts the lives and motives of so many.  He called us to examine our inner thoughts as well.  In John 3:19 Jesus says, “And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil.  For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed.  But those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God.”

Jesus was and is the One who reveals our inner thoughts and calls us to choose light and love over darkness and hate.  We are confronted with this Sign everyday.

The good news is that love has come into the world. But that love will call for a decision from the world. A decision to love in the light…or hate in the darkness.

Hopes and Fears…

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Matthew 2:16-18

When Herod saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, he was infuriated, and he sent and killed all the children in and around Bethlehem who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had learned from the wise men.  Then was fulfilled what had been spoken through the prophet Jeremiah:  “A voice was heard in Ramah, wailing and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be consoled, because they are no more.”

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Fisher Price Nativity

My kids always loved playing with the Fisher Price nativity set under our Christmas tree.  It was a good way for our kids to understand the story while being able to handle the characters without fear of them showing up broken around the house.  The wise men in the set were always my favorites.  Not only did they show the diversity of the “peoples of the world”, but they all had these sweet smiles on their faces.  They reflected the story of the wise men I grew up hearing about…visiting the home of Jesus with gifts of frankincense, gold and myrrh.

But just like Christmas cards, the nativity sets don’t tell the whole story…they only reflect the glorious aspects of the birth of Christ.  This isn’t a bad thing, but it leads us to forget the paradox inherent in the season.  The story of the wise men is coupled with the killing of innocent children by Herod in Matthew 2.  Why would Matthew include such graphic and atrocious imagery?  Why do we never really hear or talk about that part of the story?

This is heavy stuff and Christmas is not supposed to be a heavy time.  We work hard at creating ‘winter wonderlands’ and hap-, happiest times of the year for our family, friends and even for ourselves.  But we must remember that Christmas is a season of paradox.  Christmas is a season self-contradiction that expresses the truth that in God comes into a world that is violent, broken, and in desperate need of salvation.  Matthew doesn’t hide this.  Matthew tells the gritty and disturbing parts of the story.  Matthew’s version of the Christmas story isn’t as far fetched as we may like to think.

Emmanuel, God with us, did not just draw near to us in all the good parts of our lives.  God took on our lot and our life – all of it.  He entered into a world of fear, dread and atrocity.  And He continues to enter those parts of our lives.  The good news of the Gospel is this…we do not face this scary world alone.  God is with us.  Even in the midst of a world that is filled with heartache.

Questions for Reflection:

  • Read Matthew 2:1-18 again.  How often have you heard verses 16-18 shared during the Christmas season?  Why do you think we like to steer away from this part of the story?
  • Think about the world we live in now.  What ‘Herods’ do you see around us?  Are there leaders or powers that seek to protect their power?
  • Think about your own life this Christmas season.  Do you find it difficult to be happy in a season that is supposed to be filled with happiness?  Why?
  • Take some time to think about the real, painful aspects of your life.  How does Christ’s birth in a real, gritty, difficult world give you hope and comfort?  Think of ways Christ can be born in your own difficulty and share that with a friend over coffee or lunch.