The 12 Days of Christmas

Forty-Eight hours from now, most of us will have completed or be near the end of our typical Christmas Day traditions. Granted, they may be different this year, but I would wager a guess that they will still include early(ish) mornings, presents, and family. If you're like me, Christmas Day tends to end all too quickly and you're left wistfully staring at the last 6 days of the year, wishing you could go back to the 25th and all the joy (and presents) it brings.

What if I told you that the 25th was just the beginning of the party? 

This is no ruse! According to the liturgical church calendar, the 25th of December is the first of the 12 Days of the Christmas Season. Yes, just like the song (hopefully with less birds, though...). So, I want to help you lean into the lengthier (though still not long enough) Christmas season. Get your Christmas sweaters and wooly socks on, grab a warm Christmas beverage, and get ready to drag this party out. 

What follows is a list of Scripture passages to read and activities for you to try out in order to help you celebrate on each of the Twelve Days of Christmas (you can also follow us on instagram @newheightswhbc for daily reminders).

Day 1 | Friday, December 25

Read: Isaiah 11:1-9

Do: Open and enjoy any gifts you've been given!

Day 2 | Saturday, December 26

Read: Luke 1:26-38

Do: Watch a Christmas movie with family or friends

Day 3 | Sunday, December 27

Read: Matthew 1:18-25

Do: Worship with your church body or at home with your family.

Day 4 | Monday, December 28

Read: Luke 1:46-56

Do: Enjoy or play some Christmas music—maybe even go caroling!

Day 5 | Tuesday, December 29

Read: Luke 1:67-79

Do: Take a nap or sleep in; rest.

Day 6 | Wednesday, December 30

Read: Luke 2:1-7

Do: Read a book with a nice Christmas drink.

Day 7 | Thursday, December 31

Read: Luke 2:8-21

Do: Enjoy a meal with family or friends and celebrate New Year's Eve.

Day 8 | Friday, January 1

Read: Luke 2:22-38

Do: Go ice skating or sledding—maybe start a snowball fight!

Day 9 | Saturday, January 2

Read: Matthew 2:1-12

Do: Bring order to some area in your home—clean your room, do the dishes, organize somethign, etc.

Day 10 | Sunday, January 3

Read: John 1:9-14

Do: Bake Christmas treats

Day 11 | Monday, January 4

Read: Colossians 1:9-20

Do: Write and send a Christmas card/letter

Day 12 | Tuesday, January 5

Read: II Corinthians 5:16-6:1

Do: Give one final Christmas gift to someone

More than just reading and doing these activities, though, I pray that the reason for the celebration of Christmas—the coming of our King, Jesus—would carry on in your heart, that you would learn to live your lives in the joyful celebration of God coming to earth, and that your days would be filled with love, joy, and peace. 

Merry Christmas!

Intro to COVIDisms

What a time to be alive. 

I mean, seriously, have you stopped for a moment to just consider the fact that you are living through a moment in history so significant that your grandchildren will have entire chapters in their history books dedicated to it? There will be entire books written about the COVID Crisis. Your children and theirs will ask you what it was like to live through this moment.

Now, grab a bag, breathe into it, don’t hyperventilate. That sense of smallness, of uncertainty, of a lack of control, is a sign that you are beginning to grasp the opportunity of the moment you are in. 

Perhaps, like me, you’ve had moments where you have been completely overwhelmed by the uncertainty, the foggier-than-normal future, the overwhelming amount of information that may or may not be true, the mass of opinions and everyone turning on each other over the way they express them. Perhaps (also, like me) you’ve had moments of complete numbness. Moments where the facts of this situation are just so big that you can’t let yourself think about them so you just robotically do whatever is in front of you to do—make dinner, change diapers, watch tv. Then there is everything in between: anger, sorrow, ironic laughter, exhaustion, fear, wanting to touch strangers for no reason at all, and much, much more. These are the perfectly normal side effects of living in such crazy times.

But what is next? What is at the end of this? Those ridiculously impossible questions are questions that we need to ask—but not just about the world economy, not just about our physical health, not just about how and whether we will gather together or if we’re allowed to hug our grandparents—but about ourselves and the way we live our own lives. 

It would be a great tragedy if after all of this we had learned nothing, if we came to the end when life goes back to whatever we mean by normal and we just blindly jumped back onto the train. 

This crisis has us asking a million questions that simply have no answers and neglecting to ask the basic questions regarding our own personal, spiritual human growth. If we believe that no moment in history is beyond our good Creator and Father, then that means this is not just a time to survive, but a time to thrive. A time to learn to walk better in the Way of Jesus, rather than just longing to get back to how you used to do it. 

Maybe not everything we used to do was the best way we could have lived. Maybe “normal” wasn’t the best normal. 

Or maybe it was! The point is, these are questions we need to be asking ourselves. As we chomp at the bit to get back into the world, back with each other (back to the barber!), I fear that we will dive headfirst back into the busy stream of the “American Way” and never pause to ask what we’ve learned in all this about the Jesus Way.

I am asking these questions with you. I am wrestling with my situation, my life, the way I love my community, the way I structure my time, the way I filter information (or deliberately choose to not listen to it). The way I Church. The way I live my life before God.

I will be asking these questions out loud—I hope you don’t mind. It will be like talking to myself, only I hope that you will eavesdrop and have the same conversation with yourself. My hope is to write a series of…things. They aren’t necessarily blogs and they aren’t necessarily articles or chapters of a book or tweets. They’re just thoughts.

I like giving weird names to things, so I have decided to call them COVIDisms. I don’t really know what that means, but it’s an undefined term that will define what we are doing together (does that make sense?). We will ask questions together, and in the end I pray that you will take the necessary time to reflect and answer those questions for yourself. Not by yourself, mind you! But in community and conversation with the Holy Spirit about how Jesus might live were He to fill your shoes.

Let’s thrive together. Let’s grow together. Let’s come out of this darkness renewed in the Light of Christ.

Join me.

Josh

Prepare the Way

When my daughter plays, she plays hard. And, being four, she tends to play with many different things for short periods of time. We try to have her put away the last thing she played with before moving on to the next, but sometimes (and especially when her cousins are over) it seems like by the end of the day every single thing in our house has been played with and is in the middle of the floor. 

Most nights we try to have her clean up her toys before bed, but if you’re a parent of a wee one, you know that oftentimes this involves you doing just as much clean up as they are. I don't know if it’s bad parenting to help her clean, but the options at either extreme are not great. Either I wait for her to do it all herself and hours later when none of us ever went to bed and the house is still not cleaned, we just decide it will be easier to move. Or, I do it all myself and neglect to teach her the responsibility of cleaning up what she played with.

Instead, for better or worse, we have decided that the best option is to partner with her, if you will, in the cleaning process (besides, let’s be honest, I was playing with those blocks, too).

——————————————————————————————————

In Luke 3, we read about the man we call John the Baptist who represents a critical character in the Jesus story that we often don’t think much about. But John plays a huge, prophetic role in Jesus’ first coming and gives us a look at what we should be doing as we prepare for His next.

“The word of the Lord came to John, son of Zechariah, in the wilderness. And he went through the whole region around the Jordan River proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, fulfilling the words of Isaiah:

“The voice of one crying out in the wilderness:

‘Prepare the way of the LORD,

    Make His paths straight.

Every valley shall be raised,

    And every mountain and hill shall be leveled out,

The crooked shall be made straight,

    And the bumpy ways will be made smooth,

And all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’” Luke 3:2-6

If you were like me growing up, you might have thought John was a little pointless. Like, why does God need someone to prepare the way? He’s way better than us. Was He just throwing John a bone and trying to make him feel important?

What if instead, John’s action of “preparing the way for the Lord” not only revealed something deeply marvelous about God’s character, but also shows us how we ought to live as we anticipate Christ in this season of Advent (and our entire lives)?

You see, God doesn’t need anyone to prepare a way for Him, and yet, time and again, God waits for us to clear a path. The God of Creation, maker and sustainer of all life, Cosmic Lord of the universe, doesn’t need us to do anything, yet He asks us to because that’s how He likes it. The God who is wholly self-sufficient likes to rely on us little failures in order to set His will in motion.

He uses John to ready people’s hearts for the coming Messiah. He uses you and me to ready people’s hearts for His Spirit to move in. Since creation itself, God has shown a desire to work through us, not in spite of us. That can be tough to swallow because we’re fairly aware of how often we screw up, but God delights to use us to help Him do His work. It would be easier if God just cleaned up our mess for us, but instead, He comes along next to us in the midst of our mess and asks us to work with Him.

Even when it seems like I need God to prepare my way, God calls me—and all of us—to prepare His way. Prepare the way for His Spirit to move in hearts. Prepare the way for His justice to reach the oppressed. Prepare the way for His peace to reach the overwhelmed. Prepare the way for His love to reach the lonely.

So this Advent, don’t just sit around passively pointing out the things that are wrong that God still needs to fix. Step into the crooked ways and partner with God in making them straight. Anticipate God’s coming by preparing the world for it.

Advent

I forgot. Of course I forgot. I always forget! It's a little ridiculous really. 

I've learned by now, that if I don't write it down, I will forget it. No matter what it is. I mean, most people who take the time to look at my notes for something, either on the calendar or for a service or program, think I’m a bit insane. I have to write everything down, every detail, or I'll blow right past it in the moment. 

Now before I forget where I'm going with this, I'll tell you what I forgot. I forgot to light the candle. The Advent candle. I didn't write it down, so I forgot. This past Sunday morning as we were talking about starting the Advent season, I did all the explaining, scripture reading, and songs. And I forgot to light the candle.  

Really, it’s fitting that I would forget something when talking about Advent. It is in times of long waiting when it seems especially easy to forget things. When I have something important that isn’t coming up for a while, I have to make pretty extensive notes so that I can pick up on it when it comes. It’s easy to get sidetracked and forgetful when waiting. 

And waiting is what Advent is all about. 

This season of Advent, much like the Christmas Season, has been captured by our consumer mindset. If we have replaced tiny baby Jesus in the manger with Santa’s bag of toys, then it only makes sense that Advent is no longer longing for the baby, but embracing the goodies. Now, there is nothing inherently wrong with the cutesy little Advent calendars that mark the days until Christmas (I’m super stoked for mine and Robert’s Advent Lego Harry Potter Calendar!), but it is a shame when we get so busy worried about all the hustle and bustle of Christmas that we forget to wait. 

In Advent, we observe Israel’s longing for a Savior, the Messiah. As we do so, we are meant to lean into our longing and waiting. Not that we are waiting for the Messiah—He already came—but we are waiting for His return. It is certainly ironic that a season that is meant to remind us that all is not yet well has been consumed by an incessant need to be merry and bright. The “Christmas" season which has replaced Advent has become all about being cozy and comfortable, when it should be doing the opposite—stirring in us a longing for more, reminding us that all is not yet well, driving us to our knees before the baby Jesus who is now the Cosmic King!

We need to observe this season because it’s so very easy to forget during times of waiting. And waiting is what this thing we call Christianity is really all about. We are waiting because our King who saved us is coming back to put everything to rights. 

So during this Advent season, don’t fall for the ploys. Don’t buy into the marketing strategy that says if you just get the right gifts, wear the right sweater, see the right people, and go to the right Christmas Eve service that all will be well. By all means, enjoy those things! Just not as an end in themselves.

Get into the habit of waiting, of longing. Because if we are not longing for Jesus’ return, then it’s quite possible that we don’t actually want what He is bringing.

Last Day

Rafting went well, all had fun, got on the river ( as they say) with 19 and got off the river with 19. Success!  We were able to experience God’s beauty and power as we traveled down the river.

See ya’ll saterday afternoon.

Go Trip Thursday

So post number two!  I’m now doubling the number of posts in my life time.  It has been a great 4 days!  Well for me four and half days, as the teens in my van where all pretty much normal volume on the way out here, maybe two 5 minute bursts of craziness. Tim Townsend ‘s van had maybe 10 minutes of non loud and craziness!

Your teens have done a great job!  Worked hard, spent time in relationship with people (people here like to talk and share), loved on kids, put on the VBS, and they have all been on time even with our 4 days of packed schedules.

At our debriefing tonight there was a lot of sharing. Today we did some physical labor in the morning, then went at a church for the the Shoes of Hope and lastly our final night of VBS at Kimper Baptist.  At shoes for hope there were all kinds of different responsibilities and the team jumped in and served with enthusiasm!  Make sure you ask about this if they don’t immediately share. 3 of our teens and one adult spent their time doing the “feet washing” and sharing the Gospel.

You don’t know the names of the people nor can you see their faces but please spend some time praying that the seeds planted and the lives touched will cause a growth towards God!

In grace,
Tim

Go Trip Tuesday

This old guy finally got all the tech issues taken care of and can post something.
Monday we learned about mountain time so some things where slower to get going on the work projects and VBS went well, tech glitches and all.  The teens (and adults) are a great group that serve well.  Today the work  projects went well, it was hot hot hot.  And some of the teens really nailed it, no literally nailed in siding and trim all day. We are headed to the second day of VBS and I’m looking forward to see how God continues to work though our teens.
Keep them in your prayers, I know you are.

Tim