The List by Kim Johnson

During my childhood years my parents always required us kids to make a list of what we wanted for Christmas. It had to be comprehensive and specific. One year, at age 8 or 9, I rebelled and said, “I’m sick of making lists. You won’t be getting any list from me!” They implored but I remained firm.

Christmas morning I opened my gifts with the usual gusto, but there was nothing I liked. After shoving the final undesirable gift aside in disgust, I stood up and told my parents in no uncertain terms that this had been the worst Christmas I ever had, then stomped angrily back upstairs to my room.

For years afterward I felt occasional twinges of guilt over that unfair outburst. My parents had sacrificed to put those gifts under the tree and done their best at guessing what I might enjoy.

Much later, in my late twenties, as another Christmas approached and my wife and I searched for gifts for our own child, my mind drifted back to that long ago incident. I felt the time had come to take care of what I considered to be unfinished business in my loving relationship with my parents. It was a mar that needed to be mended.

I composed a lengthy poem recounting the “no list Christmas.” It ended with a long-overdue apology and an expression of appreciation for all of their countless acts of generosity. I typed it on special paper and placed it in an elegant frame.

I then sent it to my parents for Christmas wrapped in silver paper with a large white bow. I phoned the afternoon of Christmas day eager to hear their response. My mother answered the phone and said, “Well, this is all very nice Kim. But, frankly, your father and I don’t remember that happening at all.”

I was initially surprised. And then I thought how their reaction captured the spirit of Christmas so perfectly. The season is indeed all about grace, new beginnings, and memory-erasing forgiveness.

Kim Johnson
Director of Resource Development at the Florida Conference of Seventh-day Adventists
FHC Member

   

Enjoying the Journey by Tami Cinquemani

My family took a road trip this past week.  Our son completed his master’s degree at a university in Michigan, and we drove up north to load him up and move him back to Florida.  Unlike many (more sane) families who make this long of a journey, we make as few stops as possible, driving through the night until we arrive at our destination – a total of approximately 20 hours.  

My driving shift on the return trip took us through the Smokey Mountains at around 2:00 am.  It was dark, and only a vague shadow of these beautiful mounds could be seen.  As anxious as I was to get back home, I was disappointed that the view was wasted.

My game plan for staying alert during the early morning hours consisted of a large Panera coffee and podcasts from my iPod; it was a winning combination.  One of the podcasts I enjoyed was a sermon given by Leonard Sweet at the Kentucky Chapel of Asbury Theological Seminary.  Len told the story of the only eight individuals in history who could honestly say they were students of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.  Dr. King was asked to teach a class on Social Philosophy at his alma mater, Morehouse College, in 1961.  This class had been open to the entire student body, but only six men and two women signed up.  

These students have periodic reunions to share the privilege of the experience . . . and the regret at what they missed.  You see, not one of these students thought to save a syllabus or a graded paper from the class.  Not one has a photo with their instructor or any evidence at all that they took the class beside their name on a register as taking the class and the fact that they received a grade.  So many people passed up the opportunity to be a student of Dr. King, and those who did take the class mourn the fact that they saved nothing – partially due to the fact that even a signature from this great man demands about $10,000.00! Len commented, “One of the worst things you can say about anybody is that greatness passed by, and they missed it.”

It’s like driving through the Smokies in the dark and completely missing the greatness right in front of me.  It made me consider how mindless we, as Christians, can sometimes be about the greatness that God puts in our path.  There is a world before us of beautiful creatures created by God.  But we may not see them because we find it hard to accept what we have so long believed to be unacceptable. They genuinely know and love Jesus but experience him with different disciplines, different expressions, and sometimes even different biblical understanding.  The longer we insist “true Christians” must read the Bible, live their faith, or worship exactly like we and/or our ancestors did, the more likely we are to miss the opportunity to experience the greatness they have to offer.

We may be heading in the right direction, but whether we like it or not, the Smokies are a necessary pathway.  If we take a good look and embrace what’s before us, I think we’ll get a beautiful view of the greatness of God . . . and maybe learn to better enjoy the journey.

Tami Cinquemani

What Does God Want for Christmas? by Bill Crofton

So, have you finished your holiday shopping?  Maybe you haven’t even begun?  Deciding on the perfect gift for someone is tough, right? Because it’s possible to get something for somebody that you think they want, but it’s not what they really want at all.

On the first Christmas of our married life, I bought my wife, Jane, a dress.  I just knew she would like the dress.  I had seen her wear dresses before, so I went to the store, and I picked this particular dress out all by myself using only the fashion, taste, and judgment I had acquired from growing up in Nashville, Tennessee.   I gave it to Jane, and I watched her unwrap it.  I’ll never forget her response.  She said, “Honey, this looks just like something your mother would wear.”  It took me approximately 10 years or so to realize that wasn’t exactly a compliment.  

I raise this issue because there is a question I’ve been thinking about.  What should we get God for the holidays?  Christmas is when many celebrate God’s greatest gift to the world: the gift of his Son, Jesus.  When you love somebody, you want to give to them, correct?  We love God, so what should we give God?  We need to start by figuring out what God might want.  If you want to find out what God wants, Scripture is a great place to look.

The Bible is all about life with God as a reality here on earth, focused on the person of Jesus.  Over and over in the Bible, God tells the human race what he really wants:

Isaiah 61:8:  “For I, the Lord, love justice . . . ”  

In the Psalms, it says, “For the Lord loves justice . . .”  

He gets called, “Might King, lover of justice, you have established equity; you have executed justice . . .”  

At the very beginning of the Bible, when Moses is giving the people instructions, God says to him, “Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality . . . Follow justice and justice alone . . .”  

All through the Bible, hundreds of times, the word “justice” gets lifted up as something precious to God.  What does God want?  God wants justice.  

That leads me to the next question.  What is justice?  What exactly does the Bible mean by justice?  For me, this is really important.  One of the most famous passages in the Old Testament is from the prophet Micah:  “. . . what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love (mercy), and to walk humbly (before) your God?”  

These are not three separate things. What is interesting is that they’re all connected with each other.

One of the best books about biblical justice I know was written by a great Christian thinker (a philosopher) at Yale by the name of Nicholas Wolterstorff, simply titled, Justice.  Wolterstorff says the fundamental principle of biblical justice is that you should never treat a human being as if they have less worth than they have.  In fact, this is kind of core to justice.  You should never treat anything as if it has less worth than it does.  Justice means recognizing and honoring the excellence of all God has made.

He says, “Good things, even things that excel in goodness, are all about us.  There are excellent sunsets, excellent football games . . . excellent prayers, excellent meals, excellent automobiles, excellent musical works . . . excellent specimens of the dachshund . . .”  

Justice begins with seeing, and prizing, and nurturing, and honoring the excellent worth of the God who created everything and then prizing the excellent worth of his creation.  God says what he values above all else in his creation is human beings—people.  How about it . . . what are you going to give God this Christmas?

Bill Crofton

Working Together by Chad Hess

This year I decided to let my four-year-old son help decorate our Christmas tree for the first time.  He loves Christmas as much as I do, so he was very excited about helping.  I separated which ornaments he could do (the not-so-breakable) and which ornaments I would do (the breakable) and let him start hanging them.  

Since he's less than four feet tall and since he is too young to understand the fine art of tree decorating, we ended up with about a dozen jingle bells in one section at the bottom of the tree.  When I suggested to him that we spread them out on the tree, he told me that it was fine how it was.

I have to admit that my first reaction was to move the jingle bells.  In fact, I planned to rearrange them that night after he went to bed.  But instead, I decided to leave them.  I realized that his involvement was more important than having a "perfect" tree, and now I love looking at the section of jingle bells because it reminds me of my son.

Just as it would have been much easier for me to do the tree by myself, it would be a lot easier for God to do the work of spreading the gospel by Himself.  In fact, I'm sure He would be a lot better at it than we are.  God wants to work with us, not because we are the most qualified or because we can do an amazing job, but in spite of our abilities.  He wants to spend time with us, just like I wanted to spend time with my son.  God wants us to be involved in the work, just like I wanted my son to be involved in the decorating.  Just like I augmented my son's decorations to make the tree look good, God takes our efforts and wraps them in His power and makes it into something beautiful.  

But I'm really not like God; I'm the child.  God takes my cluster of jingle bells and weaves it into a beautiful tree.  God takes my mess of a life and makes it into a beautiful story of redemption.  God doesn't need my abilities, but He wants to work with me. God joined with humanity; it is the story of Christmas, and it is the plan for spreading the gospel.

Chad Hess