Archives by: Gary Hoag

He came unto His own, and His own received Him not. John 1:11

“In Advent, the Christian community sees the beloved arrive at the window…He came to His own, and His own received Him not. Well, again He comes. And again. He is all around to be seen, to be welcomed, to be fed and clothed, to be cared for and protected…

What good news have we for the poor in our society who cry out in their misery or boredom? If the coming of Christ brings a message for the bereaved, the jobless, the discarded and retarded, is the Christian church announcing a message to them? Is the company of His disciples incarnate, as the Lord was?

…The spirit of Advent is one of generosity, of giving in return for, in thanksgiving for, the gift we have joyfully received, and that is the Lord God of hosts in physical shape. God is as close to the world as a handshake is. Truly Emmanuel. The Lord has wished to offer humanity a sign of peace.”

Thomas McCarthy in “The Spirit of Advent” in Celebrating the Season of Advent, edited by Eltin Griffin (Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 1986) 4-5.

My challenge to the church this Advent, to readers everywhere, is to incarnate or take the physical shape of Jesus. We celebrate the incarnation of the Christ of Christmas with thanksgiving and joy, but do we demonstrate our love and obedience by being His hands and feet to minster to those around us?

I scheduled a phone meeting with an Aussie yesterday afternoon because he could not meet on Tuesday morning as He serves the homeless every Tuesday morning. That convicted me to schedule time to serve others who cannot help themselves. What would it look like for you to take physical shape among the broken?

Over the next three days, Jenni and I will lead a retreat for the staff of Christian Super. This staff works diligently to serve about 25,000 followers of Christ. As we take physical shape among them, pray that the spiritual exercises we have planned will result in staff enrichment that launches them to live, give, serve, and love like Jesus.

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11

“Your call to me these days, Lord God, is not so much to wallow in nostalgia, to break out in a sudden rash of generosity and gift giving, to get all caught up in the rituals with candles, incense, and the like. You invite me to entrust myself, to place my story within Yours, to set my future firm beside the manger where Your Son may claim it for His own.”

J. Barrie Shepherd in A Child Is Born: Meditations for Advent and Christmas (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1988) 37.

As we focus on love in week two of Advent we come to grips with the reality that we must set our plans for our future beside the manger, realizing our story only has meaning when located within the story of Jesus Christ. If that sounds too lofty, consider this idea in plain terms.

If your Advent is a “sudden rash of generosity and gift giving” and you are all “caught up in the rituals” then your Christmas will be empty. Such people just consume the gospel rather than find life in it. This is not an insignificant point, but rather a common trend in consumeristic America.

Here in Australia, similar distractions are present, however, the situation differs a bit since Christmas comes during Summer break. Down under, the weather is just heating up so the holiday can easily become about getting out and having personal experiences focused on self rather than on the birth of the Savior.

Wherever we find ourselves on this planet, if we set our stories beside the manger, which means to find them as part of God’s story, we find life and continue to do good and live generously long after the holiday is over. God invites all of us to find our future in the Christ of Christmas. Will you?

When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward Him, He said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?” He asked this only to test Him, for He already had in mind what He was going to do. Philip answered Him, “It would take more than half a year’s wages to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!” Another of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up, “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?” Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” There was plenty of grass in that place, and they sat down (about five thousand men were there). Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish. John 6:5-11

“The world likes things to be large, big, impressive, and elaborate. God chooses the small things which are overlooked in the big world. Andrew’s remark, “five barley loaves and two fish are simply not enough.” But for Jesus they were enough….Jesus distributed the loaves and the fish “as much as they wanted”…There is enough plenty for everyone — there are even many leftovers. Here a great mystery becomes visible. What little we give away multiplies. This is the way of God. This is also the way we are called to live our lives. The little love we have, the little knowledge we have, the little advice we have, the little possessions we have, are given to us as gifts of God to be given away. The more we give them away, the more we discover how much there is to give away.”

Henri Nouwen (1932-1996) in The Road to Daybreak: A Spiritual Journey (New York: Doubleday, 1990) 170-171.

Advent begins with anticipation. Our focus is hope. Today marks the start of the second week. Our thinking shifts to consider the love of Christ.

In today’s Scripture reading Jesus performs a miracle known widely as the feeding of the 5,000. As the account unfolds, the thinking of the disciples seems deeply rooted in scarcity, which is the framework of the economy of this world. With the miracle, Jesus illustrates the abundance mentality that characterizes the economy of God.

What does this have to do with Advent as we move into week two today? As Nouwen put it, “Here a great mystery becomes visible.”

At Christmas time, the world celebrates things that are “large, big, impressive, and elaborate” and the baby born in the manger arrived in lowly, humble fashion. He loves us so much that He did not send help, He came. And He showed us that “what little we give away multiplies” with this miracle. Soon He will give away His life, which will become salvation for the whole world.

Likewise, you and I represent His hands and feet. We must not focus on what we don’t have, but we must be generous with what little knowledge, advice, possessions, and love that we do have.

“The more we give them away, the more we discover how much there is to give away.” We don’t end up empty, but rather, enriched. We won’t find ourselves destitute, but instead we realize our role as distributors. The only way this happens is if we chose the way of God shown to us by our Lord Jesus Christ. There’s no better time to get on this path than Advent. The way of love is the only way to live!

“I have made no trouble for Israel,” Elijah replied. “You and your family are the troublemakers, for you have refused to obey the commands of the Lord and have worshiped the images of Baal instead. Now summon all Israel to join me at Mount Carmel, along with the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Asherah who are supported by Jezebel.”

So Ahab summoned all the people of Israel and the prophets to Mount Carmel. Then Elijah stood in front of them and said, “How much longer will you waver, hobbling between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him! But if Baal is God, then follow him!” But the people were completely silent.

Then Elijah said to them, “I am the only prophet of the Lord who is left, but Baal has 450 prophets. Now bring two bulls. The prophets of Baal may choose whichever one they wish and cut it into pieces and lay it on the wood of their altar, but without setting fire to it. I will prepare the other bull and lay it on the wood on the altar, but not set fire to it. Then call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the Lord. The god who answers by setting fire to the wood is the true God!” And all the people agreed. 1 Kings 18:18-24

“All of Advent, in the nave and the sanctuary, in the arching dome of a longing heart, it rises like a winding ribbon of incense: “Come, let us adore Him.” Let us leave the wrapping and the decking and the performing and come, awe at God. Your hands need not bring anything of your own making. What God wants for Christmas is simply your bended knee.

They say when you waver between two opinions, between two gods, the literal Hebrew word for wavering means sinking. It’s our wavering between the gods of things and the God of everything – that’s what has us flailing and drowning soundless in it all.

We were made to worship – our internal circuitry wired to worship. Every moment you live, you live bowed to something. And if you don’t choose God, you’ll bow down before something else – some banal Baal. Baal isn’t the name of one particular god; it’s the name of any generic god.

Elijah confronted the people about their wavering, their sinking between the God of Abraham and the Baal of rain. And for us, too, there are other Baals that can be our sinking. The Baal of success and the Baal of Pinterest, the Baal of Perfection, and the Baal of affirmation.

It’s always Baals that keep us from God, the Baal of work and agenda and accomplishment that keep us from prayer. We don’t pray enough only when we are practicing idol worship. You can see how it goes – how there at the altars the Baal worshipers danced for rain. They strove and they flailed and they kept focused on trying to get all the steps just perfectly right – and that is how you ultimately know.

You know you have an idol when you have to perform. You know you have a Baal that needs to be cut down whenever you cut yourself down. Whenever you slash yourself, you have an idol that needs to be slashed down. Because that is what every idol ultimately wants: to make your blood run wild and dance you mad and drive you right into the unforgiving ground. Every idol wants you to be cut open for it.

But if you slow down and still and wait, Advent whispers to you: there is one God who was cut open for you. He let His blood run so you can stop running…Jesus, the Gift, comes to give you freely through His passion what every other god forces you to get through your performance…let everything go. And kneel…O come, let us adore Him…”

Ann Voskamp in The Greatest Gift: Unwrapping the Full Love Story of Christmas (Carol Stream: Tyndale House, 2013) 147-150.

Advent is a time to stop wavering and declare our allegiance to Christ. Perhaps go for a walk to get perspective. Jenni and I shot this header photo on the coastal walk in Sydney, Australia, on which we talked about how we want to make prayer a deeper part of our lives in this next year. We will assuredly need to set aside other things to do this. It’s means tearing down any Baals.

Are there any Baals in your life that need to be cut down? In this time of preparation, get rid of whatever makes you perform. This will change your life and your generosity because only those who kneel before Jesus the Gift are positioned to receive and share Him with others. Remember, He is the greatest possible Gift you could ever give another person.

What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. James 2:14-17

“If you have money, consider that perhaps the only reason God allowed it to fall into your hands was in order that you might find joy and perfection by giving it all away. It is easy enough to tell the poor to accept their poverty as God’s will when you yourself have warm clothes and plenty of food and medical care and a roof over your head and no worry about the rent. But if you want them to believe you – try to share some of their poverty and see if you can accept it as God’s will yourself.”

Thomas Merton (1915-1968) in New Seeds of Contemplation (New York: New Directions, 2007) 179.

During Advent most of us will see a person on the street that looks like they need clothing, food, and maybe even medical care. For James, the half brother of Jesus and the leader of the Jerusalem church, our faith is dead if it is not accompanied by care for the physical needs of such people. Some might think those are strong words but as Merton keenly put it, when we “share some of their poverty” we start to see things differently, and perhaps more Christianly.

Think of the first Christmas. There was no place for a pregnant girl and her fiancée to stay so Jesus was born among animals, wrapped in rags, and laid in a manger. He shared our poverty alright, and everywhere He went, He ministered to the destitute, the hungry, and the sick. James (and Thomas Merton long after him) are trying to shake us and wake us to live like Jesus toward the poor to show we have authentic faith. When we do we find joy and perfection.

This is why we have traveled to Australia: to talk about money from God’s perspective. Today Jenni and I speak to the board of Christian Super, whose vision is “to see people living life with financial health and understanding.” Next week we spend time with their leaders and facilitate a retreat for their staff members who serve 25,000 constituents. We will explore themes from Good and Faithful: Ten Stewardship Lessons for Everyday Living.

I also have a radio interview about this book on a Christian radio station here in Sydney later today. Pick up a copy for everyone on your Christmas list if you have not already done so. Why say all this? Sure we’d appreciate your prayers. More than that, we hope you will “find joy and perfection” in resolving to use what you have to show the world you belong to Christ this Christmas. If you know someone in need, share some of their poverty and see what happens in you.

The centurion replied, “Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed.” Matthew 8:8

“The American Declaration of Independence says we have an “unalienable right” to the pursuit of happiness. God created us to be happy and joyful in this world and the next, and Jesus says the same several times in John 14-17. The only difference between the two is that any happiness that is demanded from life never becomes happiness because it is too narcissistically and self-consciously pursued. The joy that the world cannot give always comes as a gift to those who wait for it, expect it, and make room for it inside themselves.

The first is self-assertion, the second is self-surrender. The first is taking; the second is receiving… When we set out to seek our private happiness, we often create an idol that is sure to topple. Any attempts to protect any full and private happiness in the midst of so much public suffering have to be based on illusion about the nature of the world we live in. We can only do that if we block ourselves from a certain degree of reality and refuse solidarity with “the other side” of everything, even on the other side of ourselves.

Both sides of life are good and necessary teachers; in fact, failure and mistake teach us much more than our successes. Failure and success were often called “the two hands of God” or the “paschal mystery.” It takes struggles with both our darkness and our light to form us into full children of God, but of course, we especially resist “the left hand of God” which is usually some form of suffering (read loss of control).

As in our Gospel today, it was the same suffering of the centurion’s servant that brought the centurion out of his comfortable house and that invited Jesus into that house. Suffering and solidarity with the suffering of others has an immense capacity to “make room” inside of us. It is probably our primary spiritual teacher.”

Richard Rohr in Preparing for Christmas: Daily Meditations for Advent (Cincinnati: Franciscan Media, 2008) 4-6.

As you are reading this Jenni and I are somewhere over the Pacific en route to Sydney, Australia. It’s a long flight from Los Angeles. We often say to each other that leaving America has been the most helpful way of seeing cultural dynamics and behavioral patterns within America.

Americans love their comfort and luxury, even if they can’t afford it. The society seems to be structured around preservation of personal happiness. This reading by Rohr helps illustrate a deep idea that we must grasp to prepare to receive the most generous gift of all time.

Again, Rohr states: “The joy that the world cannot give always comes as a gift to those who wait for it, expect it, and make room for it inside themselves.” While everyone in every country surely has their own set of challenges, we must all make room for the joy that has come into the world at Christmas.

This Advent, rather than pursuing happiness (think: trying to make everything perfect over the holidays) make room in your heart for whatever God sends your way. It may range from pure joy to “suffering and solidarity with the suffering of others.” Advent is about receiving what Christ offers; it beats anything else.

For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed — a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.” Romans 1:17

Martin Luther writes: “Night and day I pondered until I saw the connection between the justice of God and the statement that “the just shall live by his faith.” Then I grasped that the justice of God is that righteousness by which through grace and sheer mercy God justifies us through faith. Thereupon I felt myself to be reborn and to have gone through open doors into paradise.”

“In the monastery Luther had come to the end of himself. He had despaired of salvation by his own hand. But by the grace of God he did not give up his longing and his hope. He directed his attention to the one place he hoped to find help — the Bible… God prepared Luther to see the true meaning of Christ and accept it, by stirring up a deep and powerful longing in his heart for consolation and redemption that could come only from Christ.

And this is what God does again and again. He may be doing it for you this Advent season — graciously and tenderly frustrating you with life that is not centered on Christ and filling you with longings and desires that can’t find their satisfaction in what this world offers, but only in the God-man. What a Christmas gift that would be! Let all your frustrations with this world throw you onto the Word of God. It will become sweet — like walking into paradise.”

John Piper in The Dawning of Indestructible Joy: Daily Readings for Advent (Wheaton: Crossway, 2014) 58-59.

I’ve been working diligently to get a number of projects completed by today as my wife and I are flying to Sydney, Australia this evening to serve Christian Super, CMASC, and CMA Australia. We’ve have a full schedule and will be down under from 6-18 December 2017.

Consequently, a few times in the last week I have been both frustrated and filled. I’ve been frustrated with circumstances that have hindered progress on my work. After pondering the situation and the need for faith in every corner of everyday life, I’ve been driven back to the Word and filled. God drove me to Luke 10:38-42.

As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!” “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed — or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

Often, like Martha, I try to do too much. I can be “distracted by all the preparations” as Luke put it. For example, I agreed to lecture at Colorado Christian University today only hours before departing for the airport. That may not have been the best idea when they gave me four date options! Perhaps you can relate.

Pause to ponder with me. Do this to receive a generous Christmas gift from God. Abandon the frustration of trying to do too much. Instead, sit at the feet of Jesus in the Word of God like Mary and be filled. Find life and peace that Luther discovered 500 years ago, and that I discovered this week. It awaits you this Advent.

The people were waiting expectantly and were all wondering in their hearts if John might possibly be the Messiah. John answered them all, “I baptize you with water. But one who is more powerful than I will come, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. Luke 3:15-16

“John the Baptizer bursts upon the Gospel of Luke. That is because it is Advent time. And whenever it is Advent time, we get John. It is not yet time for Jesus. This is still the time for getting ready. Getting ready time is not mainly about busy activity, entertaining, and fatigue. Getting ready time is mainly abrasive…asking, thinking, pondering, and redeciding.

“He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire” (v. 16). Now I imagine that sounds as weird to you as it does to me. We who are relatively affluent and relatively sophisticated do not talk that way and do not welcome it. In truth, however, being baptized with God’s Holy Spirit does not mean charismatic acting out.

It means, I take it, we may be visited by a spirit of openness, generosity, that “the force” may come over us, carry us to do obedient things we have not yet done, kingdom things we did not think we had in us, neighborly things from which we cringe. The whole tenor of Advent is that God may act in us, through us, beyond us, more than we imagined, because newness is on its way among us.

John is not the newness. He prepares us for the newness. And his word is that if we want to be immersed in the life-giving power of God, then we must do as john says: Share your coat and shoes and goods…Manage money in neighborly ways…Quit being the heavy in social transitions…

Advent is not the kind of “preparation” that involves shopping and parties and cards. Such illusions of abundance disguise the true cravings of our weary souls. Advent is preparation for the demands of newness that will break the tired patterns of fear in our lives.”

Walter Brueggemann in Celebrating Abundance: Devotions for Advent (Louisville: WJKP, 2017) 4-5.

Advent is a time of waiting expectantly. That waiting time, as Brueggemann notes, is “getting ready time” because soon, Jesus will be here. Are you ready for Jesus?

On the Advent journey, we find that getting ready is not so much about doing generous acts but about submitting to God’s work in us which produces obedient, kingdom, and neighborly fruit.

In a word, all this is the “newness” that the Holy Spirit brings. Use your “getting ready time” to ponder (like Mary in Luke 2:19), and then step into the “newness” following God’s leading!

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. Luke 2:8-11

“Long before the Magi arrived with appropriately royal gifts, Jesus was heralded by lowly shepherds. Despite all human attempts to co-opt Him, the real Christ of Christmas defies commercialization. He can neither be packaged nor purchased.

While all the weary world recycles ways to remove Christ from Christmas, we can simply tell the truth. Linus did it back in 1965 when he recited part of Luke 2 to Charlie Brown. We can remind ourselves and those whom we meet that God’s love is the only essential gift of Christmas. We do not need reindeer, Santa, or even a budget, but we do need a return to the love that only comes from relationship with God…

Perhaps this Advent, we should contemplate the sub-culture that was the early church. What rocked the Roman world was not Christianity’s economic potential or its appeal to sophisticated consumers of religion. It was love. Followers of Jesus loved one another and their enemies as well. Instead of embracing the ultimately unsatisfying holidays or railing against them in anger, let us reclaim our holy days by finding ways and persons to love.”

Elodie Ballantine Emig on “Defying Commercialization” in The Glory of the One and Only Son (Devotionals from Denver Seminary for the Advent Season, 2017) 9.

Emig unwraps the commercialization and reveals the heart of Christmas for us. The love of Christ rocked the ancient Mediterranean world, and it is just what every person on the planet needs today.

What might “finding ways and persons to love” look like for you this Christmas? How might you join Jesus in defying commercialization and show love to someone generously, perhaps even to an enemy this Advent?

As the “super moon” rose over the local elementary school on our evening walk (pictured above), I could not help but think of the Magi who followed the heavenly sign to meet Jesus.

Just like the star pointed the way, so can we through our generous words and actions. When we find ways and persons to love, we remind the world “that God’s love is the only essential gift of Christmas.”

When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. In a loud voice she exclaimed: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!” Luke 1:41-45

“Elizabeth asks, Why am I so favored? Why would God shine upon me? What have I done to deserve this? God’s favor rests on those whom He loves. Elizabeth has spent a life of devotion to God, a life of worship, of everyday faith, or carrying on in her circumstances. Her life may not have appeared very overly faith-filled, but she carried on, day after day. She made mistakes, she doubted, she wondered.

And yet, she receives God’s favor. What have I done to deserve this favor? We do not receive an answer in this text. It is possible the answer is simple: “nothing.” God has favor upon us. His people who do not deserve His majesty, love, or grace. God grants to us what He gives us out of sheer love and abundance. Why are any of us so favored? We tarry on, we move through our days, we make faithful decisions (or at least we try). We try to honor God with our lives, but none of this adds up to “deserving” God’s favor.

Blessed are those upon whom God’s favor rests. As we settle into this season of Advent, waiting and longing for the favor of God, let us be ever present to the fact that God’s favor is an undeserved gift we receive and His presence can knock at our door at any moment.”

Tracey Bianchi on “Why am I so favored?” in The Glory of the One and Only Son (Devotionals from Denver Seminary for the Advent Season, 2017) 6.

Welcome to Advent. Think of this as the season of anticipation. It will culminate with the greatest gift we could ever receive: Jesus, God with us. Receiving it positions us to offer the world the most generous gift we can give: life with God. It comes as a result of God’s favor.

The starting point is critical to grasp, otherwise our generosity will be warped. We must receive this favor freely. As Bianchi states, out of God’s “sheer love and abundance.” That’s what positions our giving to flow freely. May God form in us hearts that give with “sheer love and abundance.”

In God’s providence, a friend who reads these daily meditations showed us favor yesterday. As you may know, Jenni and I have been sharing one car for three months as I gave my car to Sammy when his broke down. The car (pictured above) belonged to his late wife. As a conduit of blessing he shared the car with us freely.

By God’s grace I now drive a 1999 Chrysler 300M. While it may have a lot of miles on it, it’s obvious that it has been cared for quite well over the years. It looks like a new car. What a gift from God after three months of waiting on Him and trusting in His provision.

Advent is about waiting. With Elizabeth I ask myself But why am I so favored?  The answer is not that I did anything to deserve it but that I am loved by God. Friends, the fact that we all deeply loved by God – each and every one of us – is what Advent is all about.