daily java

Daily Java:

And while they were there, the time came for her baby to be born. She gave birth to her first child, a son. She wrapped him snugly in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no lodging available for them. (Luke 2:6-7)

The King of the Universe lying in a feed trough. Although it was probably more comfortable for him than what passed for inns at the time. They were known to be lice-ridden and a place for thieves to operate.

But Joseph and Mary didn’t have to worry about that. There was no lodging available for them, so they stayed in a manger. But the manger had the advantage of being warm and probably a lot less expensive.

So the King of the Universe comes. Born to young people, but conceived out of wedlock, born in a transient shelter, lying in a feed trough, surrounded by animals.

You would think that he would come in all the pomp and circumstance God could make. But the point was, his life would never be fancy. It was humble and common. Jesus didn’t come to impress us with his life; he came to save us by his death.

He came to share with us in life. And as he mentions again and again, there were a lot more poor people than rich. To identify with the world, he wouldn’t come as a king in luxury.

To identify with us, he came as a commoner, one born in humble surroundings, just like we are. And in so doing, he gave us God in the flesh.

As the song says, “What a strange way to save the world.”

daily java

Daily Java:

You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.
 Though he was God,
      he did not think of equality with God
      as something to cling to.
 Instead, he gave up his divine privileges;
      he took the humble position of a slave
      and was born as a human being.
   When he appeared in human form,
    he humbled himself in obedience to God
      and died a criminal’s death on a cross.
 Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor
      and gave him the name above all other names,
 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
      in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
      to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:3-11)

I suppose that there is nothing worse in this world than a church whose members are all trying to be in charge.

In almost every church, there are those who want to be in control and they will bend heaven and earth to get their way. They will even go so far as to tear the church up to be the boss.

Contrast that with the attitude of Jesus.

John 13. The apostles were sitting around with Jesus after dinner. A couple of them began to argue over who was the leader of the group.

Jesus got up, took off his coat, put a towel around his waist and began to wash their feet. It startled them, as this is the job of a servant. Washing feet was common since most people wore sandals and it was a dusty climate. But the washing was a job of a servant. Jesus was the master.

They sat very still as he washed their feet, afraid and not knowing what to do. It was embarrassing to them. This was out of the ordinary.

Peter decided that he would have Jesus wash all of him and he would have something to brag about to the rest, since they didn’t think of it. Jesus tells him to hush and just let him do his job.

Afterwards he tells them,

Do you understand what I was doing? 13 You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and you are right, because that’s what I am. 14 And since I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash each other’s feet. 15 I have given you an example to follow. Do as I have done to you. 16 I tell you the truth, slaves are not greater than their master. Nor is the messenger more important than the one who sends the message. (John 13:12-16)

Jesus says, if I am in charge and I can do this humble thing, you as my followers do not have anything to brag about.

Jesus had the attitude of humility that the rest were lacking. It was not that they were stupid or bad or necessarily egocentric, it was that they were human and didn’t understand.

Jesus gave up all he had, all of the Godness he had since eternity, and became human in order to reach us and bring us back to God. He was humble enough to give up being God to reach us.

Most of us need an attitude check. We need to remember that we are not in charge, God is. And he sent Jesus to show us the way.

And Jesus is Lord. He is our Savior and our Master, but he came as a servant. We are servants of a servant. Kind of puts things into perspective.

snow and designer fashions

It is snowing outside. Beautiful big fat white snowflakes, the kind like you see in pictures of snow. This weekend we had the driving pellets that feel like a sand-storm. That are absolutely no fun. It feels like it will abrade the skin off your face and then, to add insult to injury, will give you frostbite.

Sunday afternoon, we went to an outdoor mall in Lincoln, one of those that are designed to look like a little upscale city. It was about 38 or 39, no wind and the snowflakes were falling straight down. I had on a sweater and my fedora and it was perfect. It was the kind of day, although overcast, that was beautiful.

We walked around and looked at the stores and had a good time. On Monday, when we left to come home, the wind was blowing at 20-25 mph, it was 18 and the snow was blowing again like a sandstorm. As the song says, what a difference a day makes. One day it is almost a picture and the next a horror movie.

On that note, one of the stores we went into was called Von Maur. It was a store like Nieman-Marcus or Nordstrom’s. I usually don’t want to go into stores like that. I have never enjoyed conspicuous consumption, so I have never enjoyed those kind of stores. As we went through it to get to the other side, three girls came by, dressed in the current height of fashion, things that by their obvious worn look had cost big bucks. I thought about kids growing up in that kind of setting, where they bought basic things from an upscale store. After a while, they would feel entitled to that kind of place and will, undoubtedly have a lot of trouble if their future husbands could not support that habit. Being forced after a while to buy things from Dillards’, or JC Penney’s or Sears or, horror of horrors, Wal-Mart.

I have never really gotten into designer fashions. That is probably a good thing since I am 6’3” and tend toward gargantuan. I suppose that there isn’t a big and tall fashion store anywhere and I would be reduced to having to have my stuff tailor made. Rough life. Having to go 2 or 3 times a week to have the tailor take more measurements and fit me again. Easier to go to Wal-Mart and buy what I need. Of course, JC Penney and Dillard’s both have big and tall departments where I can find some good stuff on sale occasionally. As I told my son one time, not having a lot of money makes smaller things more fun. Of course, that could be rationalizing. Since I am a pastor and they do not exactly get a lot of money, I have had to make do. The funny thing is that my family has always been well-dressed. I pride myself on that.

Or I would if I weren’t so humble. Once I got a medal for humility, but they took it away when I wore it. Oh, well.