Remember

Hi everyone;

Has life been crazy or what? Ha! It’s been a couple of months since I’ve taken the time to sit and write. I’ve had plenty of small inspirations along the way but, well, I guess life kinda got in the way. This morning, though, was a special inspiration for me and I really had to sit down and write this out. By the way, to the newbies…welcome! Grab your coffee and get comfy…this may go on a bit.

First off, to all of you…Merry Christmas! And yes, I know it’s PC to say Happy Holidays; and I certainly hope all my friends of all faiths and walks of life experience a great holiday season – but as a Christian trying to celebrate the birth of one who erases all my darker days, I’m not ashamed to say…MERRY CHRISTMAS!

The holiday season is so much fun. My kids have ramped up their, “dad can I have (fill in the blank)?” I cringe at commercial breaks on TV now because I know there will be 3-4 requests for stuff…heck, I’ve turned it into a joke around this house. A month or so ago I finally watched “Four Christmases” – what a great show. It was about the rush at holiday season…the hustle and bustle of getting to every family’s celebration, the reunion with family, and most of all, the way we wear ourselves thin to make everybody happy. After all, this pretty much sums up the definition of “the holiday season” – doesn’t it?

On my walk this morning, I was touched by yet another old song on my iPod. Some of you have heard it…some haven’t. The song, “Does Anybody Hear Her” is by a Christian band called Casting Crowns. I’ve included the lyrics at the end of this message as usual. The song is about the folks out there searching for hope…some right under our noses. Shoot, some of you may be searching for that same hope. Well friends, I found mine in 7th grade and, while the past few decades have had many detours, “the hope that’s tucked away” in me is in Christ alone. To quote one of my favorite old Baptist Hyms, “The Solid Rock” – ‘my hope is built on nothing less, than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.’

If “holiday season” is defined by gifts, traffic, shopping, eating, reunions, etc., then how would you define Christmas?

I believe there needs to be more than a moment of silence in remembrance. In this YouTube link of one of my all-time favorite Amy Grant songs (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2eKB_fZryY), she prefaces the song with a story about her great-grandmother’s rocking chair and the remembrance of her childhood in the song “If these walls could speak.” I can’t listen to this song without remembering my own childhood…wishing for one minute to rejoin that simpler place in time to play catch with Dad, to shoot all those pretend last-second shots at the basketball goal on my driveway, heck, to just rewind the clock and get a do-over. As Amy says at the end of this story, “Memory is such a powerful thing. No wonder Jesus said, ‘When you eat and drink, remember me.’ No wonder the thief on the cross, dying, next to Jesus said, ‘when you get to paradise remember me.'”

Remember another thing, as Jesus wound down his ministry, he told a story of the final days recounted in Matthew 25. One of my favorite selections is verses 34-40:

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

I titled this email, “Remember” for one simple reason…as you celebrate the holiday season, remember. This is not a message of guilt, but of hope. There are folks everywhere struggling. For the past few Christmases, except for last Christmas when I failed to participate because I let record snowfall talk me out of it, I’ve served at my old church’s Christmas morning at Austin Street Shelter. For a couple of years, I was a regular crew member on fourth-Saturdays. If you’ve never done anything like this, let me encourage you to find a shelter where you can plug in and help out. I’ll be honest – Christmas was my least favorite day to go…that’s when everybody went – 80-100 folks would go to serve at a shelter that held about 500 – it felt like we overran the place. By the same token, I was allowing the holiday season to get in the way of Christmas. Those 4th Saturdays were fun too, though, because instead of 100 people serving 500 people, it was usually just 4 or 5 of us serving that many…you can’t help but be busy. But what was most striking to me, and always has been, was how many of those folks that came through the line and looked just like me. Nice jeans, nice sweater, newish looking tennis-shoes, a jacket thrown over the arm, etc. Homeless aren’t just what we see panhandling on busy traffic corners…there are folks out there who just had some bad turns. And honestly, when Jesus talked about loving “the least of these” – we are not the judge and jury for who, or what, is “least”.

Remember?

The last shall be first.

If shelters aren’t your thing, I encourage you to find a place to plug in. There are any number of non-profit organizations in need of volunteers…year-round.

Christmas is about remembering. In a recent sermon at my church, the minister asked us if we had ever reminisced about how things might have been if this or that had happened. He then hit us with, “Have you ever thought of what would’ve happened if Jesus had never been born?” Personally, I wonder if this “holiday season” would’ve ever become what it is today. And, well…obviously…we wouldn’t have Christmas.

God bless you all,
Tim

***
Does Anybody Hear Her (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEhRucEVzH8)
Casting Crowns

She is running
A hundred miles an hour in the wrong direction
She is trying
But the canyon’s ever widening
In the depths of her cold heart
So she sets out on another misadventure just to find
She’s another two years older
And she’s three more steps behind

Does anybody hear her? Can anybody see?
Or does anybody even know she’s going down today
Under the shadow of our steeple
With all the lost and lonely people
Searching for the hope that’s tucked away in you and me
Does anybody hear her? Can anybody see?

She is yearning
For shelter and affection
That she never found at home
She is searching
For a hero to ride in
To ride in and save the day
And in walks her prince charming
And he knows just what to say
Momentary lapse of reason
And she gives herself away

If judgment looms under every steeple
If lofty glances from lofty people
Can’t see past her scarlet letter
And we’ve never even met her

Never even met her
(Never Even Met her)

(OHHHHH)Does anybody hear her? Does anybody see?
Or does anybody even know she’s going down today
Under the shadow of our steeple
With all the lost and lonely people
Searching for the hope that’s tucked away in you and me

Does anybody hear her? (Does anybody hear her?) Does anybody see? (Does anybody See?)
Does anybody even know she’s going down today?
Under the shadow of our steeple (shadow of her steeple)
With all the lost and lonely people (Lost and Lonely people)
Searching for the hope that’s tucked away in you and me
Does anybody hear her? Does anybody see?

He is running a hundred miles an hour in the wrong direction
***

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