The Obscure Years II

Jesus, who was conceived in Nazareth by the Holy Spirit, had impact on those around Him even before He became visible to the human eye.  When Mary made the visit to Elizabeth to see if she indeed was pregnant, the Word says, "When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the child leaped in her womb."  (Luke 1:41)  The child was Elizabeth's unborn child who was to be called John and would become known as John the Baptist.  In a moment of unbelievable mystery an unborn child responds to the presence of the Holy One who was still without any form in the womb of Mary.  

And then an even greater mystery unfolds as we contemplate the story of the angel coming to Mary and Joseph telling them that the child about to be born would not be a child of human passion, but a child of the Holy Spirit.  The child would be holy and would be known as Son of God.  When the moment of birth came, these two young parents no doubt looked at their newborn son to see if they could see the extraordinary in Him, but alas, He only seemed as ordinary as any child.    When they began to live out their lives in Nazareth with this son sent from God, they surely must have felt such a tremendous responsibility for this boy who seemed very much like any boy.  

The presence of this holy child in the womb of Mary and then around the hearth of their home impacted their lives in ways none of us can imagine.  After the visit of the angel, they were never the same.  And, surely, this was even more true after they returned to Nazareth from Bethlehem and began to teach their son the ways of growing up.  From conception to birth and beyond, this holy One sent from God had life changing power there in the village of Nazareth.  

The Obscure Years

Most of what we know about Jesus centers on the last three years of His life.  The biggest part of the story begins with His baptism and ends with the cross and the empty tomb.  The other part which is documented in the gospels is His birth, a trip to the Temple when He was twelve years old, and the fact that He grew up in Nazareth.  In between age twelve and age thirty, nothing is really known.  What is often spoken of as fact about those years is really conjecture based on likelihood.  Nazareth speaks of the obscure years of Jesus.     

The first time we see a record of Jesus being in Nazareth is shortly after the visit of Gabriel to His mother and His miraculous conception.  Historical records tell us that Nazareth was not much of a town.  No more than 400 people called it home.  Its most famous visitor was Gabriel, the angel of the Lord, and then Jesus, the Son of God.  After Mary receives the Word of Gabriel she goes to a nearby town to see her kinswoman, Elizabeth, whom she has been told is pregnant also.  The trip had a practical purpose.  It provided external validation of what Gabriel has said to her to be true.  If Elizabeth who was very old was pregnant as Gabriel had said, then all the rest he said could be true as well.   

It is on this visit to Elizabeth that we see the first evidence that the Son of God has become flesh to dwell among us.  The gospel writer Luke speaks of that moment midway through the first chapter, "In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth.  When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the child leaped in her womb.  And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, and exclaimed with a loud voice, 'Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb.' "  (Luke 1:39-42)  This is Luke's announcement that Jesus had come.  The obscure years had begun.  

Make Hay

I grew up hearing it said, "Make hay while the sun shines."  I suppose I had some idea of what I was being told, but only after I got to the farm and started growing hay did I really understand.  Everyone around here who has hay to harvest has been busy this week.  For the past month it has rained nearly every day.  A few days of dry weather sent everyone with hay to cut into the field. There are many moments when those who grow stuff on farms are reminded of the creation and these days have been such a time.   

For those who do not know, when the green hay is cut it lays in the field for a day or two so the sun can dry it out.  Baling wet green hay makes for spontaneous combustion which is not a good thing.  The sun and the heat does the work of drying out the green grass before the baler is taken into the field.  And the other side of the process is that when hay is cut and the rain comes before baling, the quality of the hay is diminished and moldy hay can become the end result which is not a good thing for the farmer or the cows.    

Yesterday we finished baling the hay fields and now 37 bales stand ready for winter feeding.  The small herd of cows which share the farm will be as grateful as cows can be.  And, if the cows are not capable of gratitude, this novice to the farming community is more than grateful.  Seeing the hay fields bare except for the bales waiting for winter is a reminder of the blessing of a partnership with the Creator.  It is His dirt which nurtures the grass.  It is His seasons which create conditions for harvest.  It is His rain which feeds it with needed water.  It is His sunshine which drys it and makes it ready.  And it is His grace to sustain His human partners with strength for the tasks that are a part of being a responsible partner.  Today I am grateful for the hay.   Today I am more grateful for the life giving power of the Creator.  

Every Moment

Every day is special.  Every day is unique.  Every day is something which has never before been a part of our lives.  It is also true that every day is a day in which God reveals Himself to us.  It is a day in which He will speak to those who have ears to hear and a spirit that is open to holy expectations.  In the gospel we hear Jesus promising to always be with us.  It is a promise which is not good for some days, but all days.  Yet, we often go around as if He must be sought, or is only going to be present with us in the set aside moments of our day.   

Again, every day is a day in which He reveals Himself to us and in which His voice can be heard.  And to carry the truth a little farther is to realize that it is not just every day, but any moment within any day that has within it the possibility of such holy presence and revelation.  Too many of us live with such low expectations when it comes to experiencing the holy.  The holy is not just experienced on Sunday in worship, or in the moments we set aside for daily devotions, or when we are involved in some spiritual act of devotion or service.       

Imagine for a moment how different our lives would be if we actually were not surprised when God suddenly showed up in the midst of our circumstances.  Imagine for a moment a day in which we hear ourselves conversing with the Holy One who is present with us even as we might converse with the person who is physically present with us throughout most of the day.  Is it possible for us to accept by faith the promise of the One who promised always to be with us and then to give that faith life by actually living as one who abides in an intimate relationship with the Holy One who first breathed life int us?     

Shimmering Moments

I remember the first time I came across a reference to shimmering moments in our daily life.  What the author was writing about was the fact that if we are paying attention to all the things and everyone around us, we will see things, or people which grab our attention.   A shimmering moment can happen as we take a walk down a familiar path and suddenly see what we have seen a thousand times, but never really noticed.  Or, it may happen as we are reading the Scripture and find ourselves captivated by a few words, or maybe even a single word.     

The world is shimmering all around us, but we so often fail to see.  Like the rain droplets which stand out on leaves or the hood of our car, so are there things which show up fresh and new and never before seen.  Some folks might walk out of the house and mutter something about the fact that it has been raining and others see  the mysterious way things are made clean and shimmer in the bright sunlight.    

God has created a marvelous world all around us.  He has put us in the  presence of some ordinary people who bring along with them extraordinary experiences and insights.  When we really pay attention to all that He has put out there on the path He has called us to walk, we are likely to see those things which shimmer.  And when we do, we can know that it is His gift to us.  All may seem ordinary around us, but there is nothing ordinary about the moments God has laid out for us.  They are all extraordinary.  Some of them are shimmering, calling for our attention, and point to the presence and revelation of the Almighty Creator.  

Going Home

One of my favorite moments in the movie, "Shawshank Redemption," comes as the old con meets with his parole board and tells them what he would tell the younger version of himself.  Those of us who have ben  blessed with a longer life than some could give an ear full to the younger version of ourselves if such a thing were possible.  Of course, life is not about do-overs, it is not about looking over our shoulders, or trying to see if we missed something in the rear view mirror.   

Life is about going forward.  It is that way since the moment of conception.  At that single moment everything starts changing and everything starts moving toward the end.  This is not a pessimistic or fatalistic view of our life.  It simply speaks to how it is as we walk the road from our beginning to what some might declare to be our end.  The truth is we do not walk toward our end.  We walk toward what God has planned for us which means that at some point on the journey it is His intention for us to join Him in a way that we cannot be joined with Him while we are in this physical life.  

The clearest Word we have about this reality comes from the Words of Jesus as He said to His disciples, "In my Father's house are many dwelling places.  If it were not so, would I have told  you that I go to prepare a place for you?"  (John 14:2)  I cannot begin to count the number of times I have read these words of truth and assurance to those who mourned at graveyards.  The graveyard never has the last word.  It did not on that Sabbath morning after the crucifixion of Jesus and that great victory still has and always will have prevailing power.  One day we are going Home.  

Shore Pondering

The shore is not a place for being in a hurry.  It is instead a place for sitting, watching, and looking.  Of course, such are the things of an old man and not the young boy who used to run up and down the beach and dive without caution into the roaring surf.  The old man can hardly remember the young boy and the young boy could never have envisioned the old man; yet, both are a part of the same creation.  Life is constantly changing.  It is a steady movement from one state to another, or from one season to another.    

When we move through the pages of the Scripture, we see an unfolding story of God declaring the younger version of the old man and the older version of the young boy as being of value in the plan of the Kingdom.  Abraham and Sarah who were mostly wrinkles and worn out were called to give birth to a nation which would be known as God's people.   And David who was a shepherd boy was called to be a giant killer and a builder of a great nation.  

The list is endless of the old and the young who were instrumental in moving forward the plan of God.  All of this reminds us to look at one another as people who bear the essence of God instead of to look as our throwaway culture might cause us to look at one another.  Whether we are close to the beginning of life on this earth or nearing the end of it, God still looks at us and sees us as creations of His who are of great value.  As He looks at us, may we look at one another.  And as He finds worth and value in us, may we do so with one another.