The Gift of Receiving

I recently heard a story about a missionary who was working in a farming community of a very economically depressed country.  One day, one of the local men the missionary had gotten to know asked if he had a farm back at home.  The missionary lived in a large city and replied that he did not have a farm and then thought no more about it.  Several days later when the missionary was getting ready to return home, this man came to him and, with very sincere concern, told him that he and his wife decided to give the missionary some of their land since, because he had no farm where he lived, he was obviously in greater need than they were. 

As poor as this family was, their priority was to give of what little they had.  It would have been an understandable response for the missionary to refuse the gift, to assure the man that he had no need of the land.  After all, the missionary’s purpose was to give, not to receive.  Fortunately, the missionary understood the value for this couple in being able to give as well as receive.  His response was to thank this man for his generosity and accept the gift.  Wisely, before the missionary got on the plane to return home, he requested that the man and his wife do him a great favor and care for “his land” as their own since he would not be able to do it himself.

How comfortable are you with receiving?  I can only speak for myself, but I don’t do it very well.  Whether it’s a compliment offered after a project I’ve completed or a birthday gift given to me by one of my children, I tend to deflect.  “No, it was really nothing.”  “Seriously, you guys shouldn’t have done that.” 

As a Christian, I believe giving is a part of who I am called to be.  However, I think the unintentional message I may send when I don’t receive well is that those extending their kind words or gracious gifts actually don’t have anything of value to give me.  And that’s the furthest thing from the truth. 

The Christmas season is a time of gift giving, but it’s also a time of gift receiving.  God is the greatest Gift Giver, and the only appropriate response for the gift of Jesus is a humble, “Thank you!”  Maybe these are the only words needed as we learn to acknowledge the great need we have for each other as well.

Tami Cinquemani

Looking for Thomas Kinkade

I've always enjoyed the paintings of Thomas Kinkade.  Also called the Painter of Light, Kinkade is known for glowing warm light and idyllic picturesque settings.  Many of his paintings evoke in me a sense of cozy warmth and love, with family members gathered around a warm fire while the snow falls outside.  It’s an ideal Christmas setting, and one for which I find myself wishing at times.  

And yet, every year at Christmas, the reality is quite different.  Schedules are hectic, stores are crowded, and money is tight.  Family get-togethers are often busy and over too soon.  Even the music that I love so much can start to get old.

But before you label me a Scrooge, please understand that Christmas is actually my favorite time of the year.  I love the picturesque images from Thomas Kinkade and Norman Rockwell not because they are real, but because they are a glimpse of the ideal.  At Christmastime you can see acts of kindness towards strangers, gifts of love to family, and simple joy and wonderment in the eyes of a child.  You may have to look past the selfishness and greed that are also prevalent at this time of year, but it is there. 

Glimpses of divinity in the midst of human brokenness; a fitting description of what happened on the first Christmas 2000 years ago.

Chad Hess

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

   

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

Christmas Lights by Chad Hess

My oldest son is three years old. He is finally old enough to really appreciate and enjoy Christmas lights, so we have taken several opportunities to drive around or walk around and look at the lights. He gets so excited, and I love watching that excitement. There is one man on our block that does a massive Christmas light display spanning several houses. He has been working on setting it up for the past month, and my son asks to drive past it every time we enter our neighborhood. An incredible amount of time and money go into doing this every year . . . so why does he do it? Why do people put so much work into decorating the outside of their houses? I see the lights on our house when I get home from work, and often that's it, but I didn't hang those lights for me. I did it for others – for all the boys and girls (and adults) that drive around in awe and excitement at all the lights.

I think that's one of the things that I like best about Christmas. It is one time of year in which we are typically more thoughtful of others. American culture is so focused on the individual and the self that we tend to lose sight of those around us, but during Christmas, our attitude is different. We give gifts to others, we hang lights for the enjoyment of others, and we do random acts of kindness for others. We remember the ultimate gift that was given to us 2000 years ago.

Now that I am an adult, I feel all the stress that also accompanies this time of year. Fortunately, my son reminds me to stop and enjoy the season. As we were out looking at lights last weekend, my son noticed a nativity scene set up in someone's yard. "Hey look, everybody! It's baby Jesus! Come look!" I pray that, in the midst of the craziness of this season, we all will find the baby in a manger, and that we will stop and look.

Chad Hess

Prayer for Newtown, CT by Andy McDonald

This week’s blog is a transcript of the beginning of the December 15 sermon at the Florida Hospital Church.  The prayer offered is on behalf of all those affected by the tragedy experienced this past Friday in Newtown, Connecticut.

Sermon:  “All I Want for Christmas Is…Joy” by Andy McDonald

Scripture:  Luke 2:10

Today’s sermon title is “All I Want for Christmas Is…Joy.”  Yesterday, a lone gunman short-circuited joy in Newtown, Connecticut, with the horrible tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary. The sadness, the loss, the inexplicable nature of the crime, the age of the victims, the proximity of so many young minds to the tragedy, the season of the year, all combine to compound the pain.  The guilt of those who are overwhelmed with joy that their children are safe while the neighbor or friend or workmate have just the opposite experience—these people all need our prayers.

I want us to continue our day of service by serving this distant community with our prayers.  Silently for a moment, pray for the people in Newtown, Connecticut, and for all of us across this country.  Pray for comfort, sanity in face of this crisis, the ability to frame random acts of cruelty without allowing them to define us. And then, after the silent prayers, I’ll pray for us corporately.  Let’s pray.

Father, we don’t understand.  You are the God of all creation.  Your intention for humanity in our creation was so different from these events, from this pain and suffering and hurt and senseless destruction. However we frame this, however these families and community closest to the tragedy frame this, please protect from the off-loading of this upon you.  Father, we sense, maybe more than ever, the significance of those often rushed-by words in the prayer your son taught his disciples—“Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”  That is what we want, and this isn’t it. 

We long for a day when sin will be no more, when the promise is fulfilled, and all things are made new and there is no more crying for all this is far behind us, and you will make all things new. Father, in our little spheres of influence, teach us how to usher in your will being done on earth as it is in heaven.  Show us how to love and to teach love, and to demonstrate and be love in this world that so desperately needs it.

Right now, we pray for comfort and strength, for healing and forgiving, for some sense of hope to be ministered to the hurting people in our world through your Holy Spirit. All across this nation and around the world, restore the joy of your salvation and uphold us.  We recognize we have no hope outside of you, so we cast ourselves and all our cares on you, and we trust that you will make all things new.  In Jesus name we pray, Amen.

Do You Hear What I Hear by Richard Hickam

An annual Christmas favorite, this song has been famously recorded by the Harry Simeone Chorale, Bing Crosby, Johnny Mathis, and Carrie Underwood . . . to name just a few.

From the whispering wind to people everywhere, "Do You Hear What I Hear?" asks several questions including: Do you see? Do you know? and Listen to what I say – all referencing the Christ child. What is less known about this song is that it was written as a peace effort by husband-and-wife team, Noel and Gloria Regney, in 1962 during the Cuban missile crisis. Not necessarily what you would put together, is it?

I was recently reading Leonard Sweet's book, Nudge, and he had this to say about it:

Christianity is not about “Do you believe?” but “Do you hear?” Do you hear something different from what the world hears? Followers of Jesus hear something different . . . “Do you hear what I hear?” rings the Christmas carol. Evangelism is not getting people to believe this or that and they will be saved. Evangelism is getting people to hear it for themselves. Christianity is a nudge to the listener: “I’m hearing something amazing. Do you hear it? I hear a star … do you hear what I hear? I hear a song … do you hear what I hear? I hear a child … do you hear what I hear? I hear cries of goodness and light in midst of badness and gloom … do you hear what I hear? I hear a cross … do you hear what I hear?” One of the greatest compliments a nudger can ever receive is this: “I can hear the song/star/child/cross in your voice.”

So, in the coming weeks as you hear some artists’ rendition of "Do You Hear?" ask yourself, "What is it that those around me are hearing from me?"

Richard Hickam