Christian Counseling Service -- Devotions

As little children

Friday, December 14, 2007

Matthew 11:16-19
"To what can I compare this generation? They are like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling out to others: 'We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge and you did not mourn.' For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, 'He has a demon.' The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, 'Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.'

"But wisdom is proved right by her actions."

In a wonderful column last week that is well worth the time it takes to read it entirely (http://www.tmsfeatures.com/tmsfeatures/subcategory.jsp?file=20071204ctngk-a.txt&catid=1945&code=ctngk), Garrison Keillor wrote about teaching Sunday school, New York and baby Jesus. "How 17-year-old kids should mesh New York with the Nativity, I was not able to tell them. God prefers admitted incompetence to fake authority. But explaining the universe to them was not my job, only to love them, which I do, utterly."

Keillor and Jesus have that love in common. Jesus saw children, in contrast with so many adults then and now, as free of hypocrisy and pride, able to enjoy God's creativity and participate more fully in it. Even their skepticism is refreshing, because they are not yet defined by it.

Of the Nativity story Keillor wrote: "This magical story is a cornerstone of the Christian faith and I am sorry if it's a big hurdle for the skeptical young. It is to the Church what his Kryptonian heritage was to Clark Kent - it enables us to stop speeding locomotives and leap tall buildings at a single bound, and also to love our neighbors as ourselves. Without the Nativity, we become a sort of lecture series and coffee club, with not very good coffee and sort of aimless lectures."

If not from the mysteries, where does Christianity get its power? Certainly not from the Golden Rule, which is common to nearly all religions and often practiced best by non-religious men and women who "believe" in humanity. Instead the Bible insists that God is in charge, and we are not. Paul quotes God, "My power is made perfect in weakness" (2 Cor 12:9). And God says to Isaiah: "My thoughts are higher than your thoughts" (Isaiah 55).

I want to understand, and will always try to understand. But if I understand God, can he really be God? As I get older, asking good questions is much more satisfying than hearing answers. I don't seek closure so much as a way to go deeper. Mystery might frustrate my mind, but it stimulates my spirit.

This mystery of the Nativity is one of the most wonderful. Again, Keillor writes, "On Christmas Eve, the snow on the ground, the stars in the sky, the spruce tree glittering with beloved ornaments, we stand in the dimness and sing about the silent holy night and tears come to our eyes and the vast invisible forces of Christmas stir in the world. Skeptics, stand back. Hush. Hark. There is much in this world that doubt cannot explain."

Hark the herald angels, sing! Glory to the newborn King.

Devotions Archive

As little children

Friday, December 14, 2007