God is in the Neighbourhood

Christmas is upon us once again. What goes on in our minds when we think of the Christmas season? Is it the crowds descending on you and your family, to invade your home and cram your space? Is it the excitement of receiving family and friends, loved ones you have not seen for some time and excited about the privilege of offering hospitality in your home? Is it the drag of shopping, jostling for space in the malls and supermarket aisles, trolleys crashing into you at every turn? Noise, joy, love, food, drink, traffic jams, accidents, presents, parties, loneliness, sadness, money, bank balance. Stop the world, I want to get off! Is this what Christmas is all about? If we are to stay with reality, this is what it is about for many people; a mixture of experiences, emotions and feelings which can make this time taxing in our lives. Thank God that it is not all about these things, but primarily about God’s action and work in the life of the world. It is all about Jesus whom God gave to the world because he loved us so much (see John 3:16). The first chapter of John’s Gospel is one of those wonderful passages, which point us to what the coming of Jesus is all about. The chapter contains those beautiful words in verse 14; “The Word became flesh and lived for a while among us.” (N.I.V)

In Revelation 21:3 there is a wonderful image of God coming to dwell among us. This is what the different versions of the Bible say:

“Now the dwelling of God is with the people, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.” (N.I.V.)

“See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them as their God; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them.” (New R.S.V.)

Look! Look! God has moved into the neighbourhood, making his home with men and women! They are his people. He is their God.” (The Message)

God in the neighbourhood means that God has come to be as close as possible to us, to be involved in our lives in a much fuller and meaningful way. Neighbours are supposed to live together in peace, to care for one another, to look out for one another, protect one another. God in the neighbourhood has come to do just that! When you are in trouble, God will be with you; when you are sick, God will be with you. When you have cause to celebrate, God will be with you in your joy. There is nothing that will come over you that God will not know about because he is as close to you as your neighbour.

Our joy as Christians needs to be in the knowledge that God is present among us at all times, therefore we need not be afraid. We need to live our lives in such a way that we will witness to the presence of God among us. The Christmas season is a time to celebrate this presence, but this is always forgotten as the world gets caught up in the commercialised Christmas. We hear the ringing of tills more than the sound of the angels’ song. We see the elaborate decorations more than the star of Bethlehem. Lest I sound like a joyless creature, let me say that I love getting presents for Christmas and I enjoy the decorations in our homes, but I have to keep reminding myself to look beyond these things to the reason for celebrating Christmas. That is to look towards Jesus. I used to resent the fact that some people who do not believe in Jesus also have the benefit of the Christmas season. Every one, Christian or not look forward to “Christmas holidays”. I have grown out of that resentment to see that in fact, even while they do not believe in or accept Jesus, there is an acknowledgement, even unknowingly of the his Lordship. Jesus still influences their lives, at least once a year.

The word became flesh and dwelt among us is also Immanuel – God with us; born in a stable, to ordinary folk – a carpenter and a young woman from Nazareth; thus identifying with all humanity in our weakness, our suffering, our pain and poverty. This is the Servant God who comes into our lives to say “I understand and know your hurts and your pain”. For there is nothing as helpful as someone who will come to you when you are hurting to say, “I understand, I know what you are going through, I have travelled the same road too”.

If you are hurting at this time for one reason or another, let me offer Jesus to you. He knows what it is to be homeless, lonely, rejected and to suffer pain. May I also offer a suggestion; do yourself a favour and find someone who is also hurting, someone to whom will be like Jesus – a servant and healer. Do something that will make Immanuel real to the person. I do not suggest, by any means that this will take away your pain, but I know it will make you feel better for giving care and compassion to someone else in need.

This time also helps us to rediscover our ability to love and care for one another. We do our best to spread goodwill and love to others. We abandon ourselves to the spirit of giving and sharing, and in that process discover that we are actually good people, capable of these wonderful acts. We give thanks to God for reminding us that we can be such good people. Our prayer is that it does not end here, but that the same spirit is carried beyond the festive season, so that every day actually becomes like Christmas. May God with us, Immanuel, the Word who became flesh be with you and your loved ones now and every day of your life. Peace be with you.

Themba

Quote From C.H. Spurgeon

“An individual who has no geniality about him had better be an undertaker and bury the dead for he will never succeed in influencing the living.”

Looking into the soul

This is what I hear on radio some time ago; “Someone who has looked deep into your soul and found gold”. In my book it describes someone who loves another so deeply, so unconditionally that they are able to look way beyond the obvious and often superficial. Someone who looks not only at what everyone can see but discovers that all that is rough, sometimes dirty and grimy hides behind it a jewel, a diamond, a pearl; a precious piece of gold – for aren’t all precious stones hidden underneath rocks and mud and slime? Perhaps it is the fact that they are hidden that they have such great value. Just thinking!

Shalom, Peace.

STAY POSITIVE

I came across a book of poems by Max Erhman on my book shelves. One poem titled “Desiderata” has these words; “You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here.” For me it means we are worth much more than those who reject us, abuse etc would ever think. We know also that God thinks much more of us and places great value in us. Keep the faith!

Shalom

CELEBRATE YOUR FAITH

Jesus enjoyed the company of friends. We know that he attended a wedding (John 2) and on several occasions the Gospels tell us that he spent with people in their homes, enjoying a meal. He is not the person we often hear portrayed ; a religious figure who has no joy in his life. Observing people go about their religion, it is sometimes quite difficult to understand why they keep on with it because there is so little joy they display. We ‘go about our religion’ instead of living out our faith with joy. Then we wonder why people don’t want to join us! Is it because we carry this shadow of gloom about us wherever we go? One writer says, such people are “suspicious of all joy and happiness. To them religion is a thing of black clothes, the lowered voice, the expulsion of social fellowship.”

Do yourself and all people a favour, smile, laugh, sing, put a spring in your step and celebrate your faith and life.

Shalom

The Future

What, when, where is the future? The future is now because you create it. The future is now because you live in the now, the present, today; and how you live now will determine how you live in the future. Create your future, live today as if it is tomorrow; then tomorrow will be in the past. If you live the future today, then you will not live in the past. Enjoy the journey!

Shalom

TO BE HUMAN

The abuse of another person, whether physical, mental or any other form is no different from torture. It is deliberate, prolonged and intended to inflict pain for as long as it is possible and as long as the victim or the abused can still feel the pain. It brings a devilish kind of pleasure, and a false sense of power to the abuser. It is a denial of the other person’s humanity, and cannot happen without such a denial of humanity; the right to dignity and even the right to life. It is inhuman. When one commits such an inhuman act, it is a denial, not only of the humanity of another, but one’s own humanity. To be human is to do acts of kindness, to love mercy and to act justly; to live in peace with others. Peace with others begins within.  How can a person live in peace with others when there is turmoil and war within oneself? Peace begins with me…within me.

Shalom

The Bad Times in our lives

The bad times in our lives are not the worst. If we live to tell the story of our troubles, our trials and tribulations, then we have not gone through the worst. It is when we can’t tell our story that we indeed have experienced the worst, soul destroying things in our lives. So tell your story, however painful, however bad and experience it has been for it is in telling it that others will learn; it is in telling it that someone will be inspired; it is in telling it that someone will say, “I thought my troubles were great until I heard his/her story”. Remember the man who complained that he had no shoes until he met another who had no feet. You may have been through bad times, but not the worst. This is why you are still alive!

Shalom

MOVING ON

Our success in anything we do is determined by the amount of work we put into whatever it is we do. Thus we continue to toil, put in the effort, to add to the pile.But there are times though when we’ve got to acknowledge that however hard we work, however much we try, we will not get results equal to the effort we put in. We can do either of two things; to worry and wallow in the mud of our failure, or to accept that we did our best, and find it within ourselves to live with these “unrealised efforts”. One way to live with “unrealised efforts” is not to give up but to keep on putting in the effort. Like the sower whose seed fell on different ground, we can focus on the seed that did not bear fruit and get depressed, or look at the seed that fell on good soil and celebrate. What and where is your focus? On good soil or on the hard, rocky or thorny places? So we keep on sowing the seed, knowing that there will be seed that will fall on good soil. You see, we can plant the seed, but we cannot regulate the weather. If the seed does not grow because no rain has fallen, then why should we grieve? We do our best, and that is good enough.

Shalom

Twitter

Hi everyone. Just to let you know that I am on Twitter now, catching up with technology. Themba