Vince Deagler

 wow, it has been a few weeks since i sat down to “blog”.  no one reason explains this lapse, it has been a cumulative effect.  as i mentioned in my last post, it all started with the death of my father in law.  but then there was thanksgiving, a visit to pennsylvania to see family, return trip and the inevitable catch-up, and now christmas is upon us.  time sure flies.

i don’t know about you, we have had a very busy few weeks, and that probably won’t change for at least 2 more weeks.  and that leads to a very real danger.

when we are busy, when we have a bunch of things going on at once, it is easy to get caught up in what some have called the tyranny of the urgent.  before we know it, we do not control our schedule, our time, our use of resource, our energies (whether physical, emotional, or mental), etc.  instead we are controlled, we are enslaved, we are driven.

is this the time of year to be driven?  enslaved?  i say no.  this is a time to step back and consider what christmas is all about.  i have been spending some time thinking about the christmas story and what it all means.  one of the thoughts that has jumped out at me is how the wise men can teach us an important lesson in regards to our approach to christmas.

first, they recognized god was up to something.  some have conjectured this is the result of the babylonian captivity, the ministry of daniel, etc.  the homeland of the wise men had access to the old testament.  the wise men were actually astrologers.  when they saw the star associated with the birth of christ they saw it as an unusual phenomena and sought an explanation.  some have suggested they connected this star with the prophecy of balaam in numbers 24:15-17.  i cannot say this is how they connected the dots with any degree of certainty, but i do know they began a journey of some 1200-1500 miles in search of jesus as a result of this star.  they recognized god was at work, he was intervening in history.

when they came to this realization, they basically dropped everything and began a journey that spanned approximately 2 years just to find jesus.  sure we are busy, but if we are so busy we do not have time to seek jesus, we are tooooo busy.  the wise men dropped everything because they saw god was at work, they concluded messiah had come, and they wanted to be with him (even though they wouldn’t get there for some 2 years…didn’t matter…they wanted to be with jesus.)

i believe they acted this way because they understood they were created to worship.  the story is clear, they traveled over a 1000 miles, following a star, bearing precious gifts, all so they could worship jesus.  wow.  is that what i do?  you do?  i know i fall short.  it is too easy to let busyness crowd out the drop everything to worship.  so i’m trying to do a better job of responding to all life is throwing at me these days.  can i drop everything?  probably not.  but can i break away from the tyranny of the urgent to live out all that god created me to do and be.  you betcha i can.

i know we all look at christmas in differing ways.  some of you are completely dismissive.  you are secularists, humanists, naturalists.  there is no god, no supernatural, so no christmas reality.  well, enjoy your winter solstice.  i won’t even try to change your mind at this time.  if you can look around the universe and not see the hand of god, all my arguments will be lacking.

some of you are sentimentalists.  well enjoy your rudolph’s, jingle bells, santa, and eggnog.  but at least ask yourself how all this came to be.  why would we break with routine if there was no substantive reason behind it.  independence day, thanksgiving day, labor day, memorial day, etc.  all have an historical foundation.  isn’t it reasonable to conclude a christmas or an easter would too.  i think so, and if there is, and i believe there is, shouldn’t that reason be upheld and celebrated instead of covered over with santa, elves, and reindeer?

finally, i believe in god, many of you do too.  for us christmas is a recognition of god intervening in human history, sending his son to be our redeemer.  we can learn an important lesson from the wise men…as the saying goes…”wise men still seek him”.  i hope you will, and i hope it will be wonderful.

blessings.  vince