Christmas as a subversive feast!?

Fr. Barron a wonderful priest from Chicago, who I podcasted last year, recently released a Christmas video where he contends we shouldn't domesticate Christmas - since it is truly a radical subversive feast! A very good look at the real powerful implications of Jesus' birth.

Oh, and you may wonder why are we still blogging on "Christmas." Wasn't that over on Dec 26. No way man! We the Church celebrate it till this upcoming Sunday, the Baptism of Jesus!

Shadows Prove the Sunshine

So begins the fourth song on Switchfoot's album "Nothing is Sound." And isn't it true, somehow in the darkness of this day - we find ourselves looking heavenward with open hands - to the Savior of all mankind?

I went to mass today the second day of the great Feast of Christmas with my girlfriend and afterwards a few guys invited me to go downtown into Baltimore to feed the homeless and pray with them. Brilliant idea!

One interaction particularly impacted me. A man named Tony who was sitting under the roof of some stores. He looked 50 or so. We gave him some food, socks, hugs, kind words, prayer, and medical attention. He was visibly moved, shaken to tears to sobs in gratitude to Jesus.

He used to be an organ player for his church and we closed by singing "amazing grace" with him. Very powerful.

This interaction in the "shadows" of Baltimore really impacted me. As I changed his socks and smelt the urine and funk in which he sat - I knew I was serving Jesus Christ in "the least of the brethren." And he was so blessed by the food, etc. - but it seemed our prayers for him and the song we sang with him - impacted him the most. And not just the exterior fact of our "prayers" - but God himself, I believe, was speaking to Tony - calling him out by name and speaking his love into his heart.

I share all of this to really give glory to God how a homeless man in the shadows can "prove the sunshine." I share to encourage myself, to encourage you, to reach out to the poor around you with your material generosity and with your spiritual generosity. And lets pray for Tony and all those, especially the poor and lonely and spiritually sick, who are far from God's embrace in Jesus this season.

Finally, and fyi the whole idea of combining evangelization and works of mercy is beautifully expressed in a ministry of a couple in the Bronx called Lamp Ministries. Check them out.

The Reason for the Season!

ChristLife's most recent podcast has some excellent content especially in regards to this Christmas season. Jean, a friend of ChristLife, shares a powerful conversion story, and there is some great Christmas gift ideas from a group called Advent Conspiracy. Advent Conspiracy's goal is to transform the consumerism of Christmas into the message of compassion laid out by Jesus Christ!
This podcast is very inspiring and you can listen in here, or click play below to listen.

Why did shepherds get invited to His birth?

And in that region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear. And the angel said to them, "Be not afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which will come to all the people; for to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a babe wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger." And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom he is pleased!" When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us." Luke 2:8-15

Why Did Shepherds Get Invited?

Have you ever wondered why shepherds, - out in a field on night watch, minding their own business, - were the first to receive the good news that the Savior of all people, Christ the Lord had been born?

Why them? Why did God tell them, why did He invite them to see the Birth of all Births? The Miracle of all Miracles,- the Incarnation of God!

What do you think?

I have some personal thoughts, from meditating on this passage and study, that I wanted to share with you on why they were invited. But before sharing them, I can tell you a personal reaction, - wouldn’t it have been awesome to have been there with them that night!? Wouldn’t you have loved to have been there? Can you imagine it! Put yourself there! That is part of how we start to prayerfully enter into why they were invited.

So why shepherds?

God has an affinity for shepherds.

Think about it. Abraham, Issac and Jacob were shepherds. So was David (he may have shepherded in the same fields where these guys were when the angel appeared to them). God was referred to by his people, as the Shepherd of Israel. The Psalmist personally exclaimed, “the Lord is my shepherd.” St Peter referred to Jesus as the Chief Shepherd. Jesus referred to himself as the good shepherd who was willing to lay down his life for the sheep (that includes you and me). See John 10. He is the Shepherd King of all humanity, and by the way, he happens to have a special love and longing for straying, misbehaving, knuckleheaded, lost sheep (that includes you, me and our family and friends and non friends)! See Luke 15.

God has the heart of a shepherd. God was coming in person to gather the lost sheep of Israel, and all of humanity to himself. He told the news to fellow shepherds first! There is probably something there that he wants us to pay attention to.

They were the low life's who were not part of the ‘in crowd.’

On the other hand, some Jewish wisdom during the time of Jesus’ birth advised father’s against shepherding as an occupation for their sons. It was not considered a good livelihood. Additionally many Jews frowned upon shepherds. They were looked down upon, not trusted, even scorned. Apparently they were often peripheral to Jewish life and culture. Outcasts. Low life’s.

What was it that Mary exclaimed about God exalting the lowly?

They were certainly not who you would invite to a party. Certainly not to T-H-E BIRTHDAY PARTY!

Shepherds were the types of people you don’t invite to parties. They’re people who were not part of the ‘in crowd’ of synagogues or social groups, and get this,- they were the only ones God invited to the birth of Jesus the Savior and Lord! Gentiles, the wise men, would come later! If it were wise women they probably would have been there in advance and helped to clean up the stable, prepare meals and, help with the delivery!

St. Justin Martyr, a Palestinian, was personally familiar with Bethlehem. He lived a little over a 100 years after Christ and writes that the stable Jesus was born in was a cave in the hillside. That is where the Shepherds would have headed in response to the message of the angel. They were humble folks and I imagine they didn’t even notice the outrageous conditions that the Christ was born into. Most likely they had to bow down to enter the cave,- no problem for lowly shepherds. And they knew who this baby was!

God has come among us.

The Creator of everything became the creature,- fully God, fully man,- so we could see what God is like, up close and personal. And he humbled himself so that EVERYONE could identify with him, even the low life’s of the world. The outcasts, the broken hearted, sinners and totally broken people. God was and, is at eye level for anyone willing to bow down and “see this thing that the Lord has made known to us.”

If you encounter the stirring of grace to know who it is that is born in the manger, in this food trough for animals(the Bread of Life), then you will join the angels and shepherds in adoration.

God had become one of us, in order to rescue humanity and creation!

When the angel told the shepherds this momentous, historic, outrageous, fantastic news that God had personally come as Messiah to rescue humanity, the angel hosts could not contain themselves and burst into our world in adoration. Why?

Because of His great mercy! He had become one of us, in order to die for our sins, so that we might have peace with God! The angels worshipped, singing, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom he is pleased!" Our peace with God is the result of what He has done for us in Jesus Christ. Coming down from heaven, becoming a man to die for our sins, to be raised as the glorious Lord who would pour out His Spirit to empower us to live new lives as his children, at peace with him. It is His gift to you and me to receive, if we respond and acknowledge that Jesus as the Lord and Savior of my life and of all.

It was not hard for the Shepherds. They were the lowly who God exalted. They were use to stooping down to enter stables. They simply responded to the message the angel had told them. You can too! He loves us so much that he became one of us in order to forgive our sins and give us the gift of his peace and of new life.

A couple of closing questions.

Would I (you) invite these guys to the party? Do I share the heart of God the Father for the lost and brokenhearted? For those who are not part of my 'in crowd?'

On the other hand, if I (you) feel like I can identify with the shepherds, not a part of the in-crowd of church or society, do I know that Christmas is all about shepherd types! That you are personally invited to join this celebration and come to know the Savior who is Jesus Christ the Lord? You are invited! It is God's wonderful gift to you right now in this moment! You may feel like you are out in a field by yourself, but there is a party just about to get underway and you are invited!

If you have never known the love that God has for you personally below is a simple prayer you can pray, asking Jesus to be your Lord, to be the leader and Savior of your life. Even if you were baptized as a Catholic-Christian, you may have never known that you can enter into personal relationship with God through what Jesus has done for you and for all of us. You can pray for release of the power of the Spirit given to you in Baptism right now, at this point in your life.

Lord God,

Please forgive me for all the things I have done wrong. I turn to you and turn away from sin (here you can pause to think of anything particular you might want to ask forgiveness for).

Jesus, please be the center of my life. I welcome you personally as Lord and Savior of my life.

I ask you Holy Spirit to fill me and empower me to live as a son/daughter of God. I want to have your grace to truly live a new life.
Thank you, Lord! Amen!

If you do pray this prayer for the first time, entering into personal relationship with the Lord Jesus, please contact us so we can support you and help you connect with the Church!

Have a very blessed Christmas!

ChristLife
12280 Folly Quarter Road
Ellicott City, MD 21042, USA

Join the Advent Conspiracy

A pretty neat movement of Christians called Advent Conspiracy [AC] has launched a campaign to restore the true message of Christmas. From their Web site, we read in stirring simplicity "Christmas was meant to change the world. Advent Conspiracy is an international movement restoring the scandal of Christmas by worshipping Jesus through compassion, not consumption."

Checkout out the following video. It is excellent! The whole point is to spend less this Christmas so we can give more to others relationally and to the poor. On their Web site they also have a list of relational gift ideas that may be helpful in considering gift-giving this Christmas.

Beyond this I really like how the dude on the video shares his faith in a simple and down-to-earth (kinda like the incarnation) way :)

Be not afraid... A Savior is born, Christ the Lord!

We are about to enter the season of Advent this Sunday. The time of potential, prayerful and active preparation for the first and second comings of the Lord Jesus!

We are told by St. Luke that an angel of the Lord declared to shepherds, who had the night shift, "good news of great joy "(see Luke 2:1-20). These men who were minding their business out in a field, were quite freaked out by directly encountering the glorious presence of God, can you imagine, wouldn't you be? The angel reassured them and told them why he was there, to announce what God was doing right there in Bethlehem. Further the angel told them, they would find this good news in a cave, in a manger, and that the good news was a new born baby, who was Messiah and Lord! Many of the heavenly host who apparently were listening in, couldn't contain themselves any longer, and burst upon the shepherds praising God for his great glory and for initiating his long awaited saving mission of all creation in ultimate humility becoming a human child.

The shepherds ran to "Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened!" They stooped to enter the cave. Stooping is no problem for shepherds who are use to living a lowly and out of the lime light type of lifestyle. But for some of us, the idea of humbling ourselves to stoop down to see this good news..? Well, it just doesn't seem right or in keeping with our views of greatness, what we see 24/7 on the tube or perhaps aspire to for our own way of living! MTV's show, Cribs will not be carrying this crib, for sure! This is not the type of 'crib' the messiah should be born in or that I should be found hanging around. Well it was.

Humbling ourselves to see Jesus is something worth praying for during this season. Drawing close to the Word who created all things, and has now become human and gladly humbled himself to be born in manger for me and you. Who was seen by the lowly and poor, who gladly bowed down to see this sight. Lowering ourselves in gratitude, praise and worship of Emmanuel, the Messiah and Savior, Jesus, the Son of the Most High. Take the opportunity to carve out specific time on your calendar, in this busy season, to prayerfully read the infancy narratives in Matthew and Luke. Place yourself in the fields with the shepherds and in the cave before the Son of God, pondering with his mother what all of this means for me.

One other observation, the Shepherds having seen this miracle of God become man, "made known the saying which had been told them concerning this child;and all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them." (Luke 2:17-18) They could not keep it to themselves, they personally encountered God's work of salvation and told others the good news they had heard and seen.

Advent and Christmas is a grace laden season, where many people who are broken hearted, lost and confused approach the 'holidays' with apprehension. Many are brought to a place where they can stoop to see this thing that God has done, if only some messenger of the Lord would tell them the good news. Be open and praying for opportunities to make known what was told to you! This Good news of God's love becoming a man, Jesus, born to save each one of us, and how he loves you!

During this Advent, let's give glory to God, like the angels and shepherds and, make known his love to those around us in words and witness of his love.

And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them. (Luke 2:20)