What do we have to look forward to? From C S Lewis

 

What do we have to look forward to?

Thoughts from C S Lewis...

     For it is not humanity in the abstract that is to be saved -- you are,  the individual reader, John Stubbs, or Janet Smith. Blessed and fortunate creature, your eyes shall behold Him, and not another's.

     All that you are, sins apart, is destined, if you let God have His good way, to utter satisfaction.

     Your place in heaven will seem to have been made for you and you alone, because you were made for it - made for it, stitch by stitch, as a glove is made for a hand.

                                                     -- From Problem of Pain

[Think of it: we are destined for 'utter satisfaction' ...WOW !!!]

Memorizing Moments

Today is New Year's Eve. The weather is warm and ambiguous -- cloudy for a while and then clear and sunny. I can watch the clouds scurrying across the sky, moving as if they had a place to go and a certain time to be there. Perhaps for an important appointment for which they could not be late.

I am thinking of a song we sang many years ago. It was popular for a while.....My Cup Runneth Over With Love. It is romantic and poignant. It is a true love song. (I guess some people might call it a "girly song," but I just think of it as a wonderfully romantic 'til death do us part' kind of song).)

Sometimes in the morning, when shadows are deep
I lie here beside you, just watching you sleep
And sometimes I whisper what I'm thinking of
My cup runneth over with love.

Sometimes in the evening when you do not see
I study the small things you do constantly
I memorize moments that I'm fondest of
My cup runneth over with love.

In only a moment we both will be old
We won't even notice the world turning cold
And so, in this moment, with sunlight above,
My cup runneth over with love.

I think often of the line I memorize moments that I'm fondest of.....and remind myself that the moments I should memorize are the good moments...

Summing it all up, friends, I'd say you'll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious--the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse....
Philippians 4:8 (The Message)

The moments I should NOT memorize?

I Corinthians 13: Love...keeps no record of wrongs.

So I guess that's it: my resolution for 2020...Keep good moments recorded and cherished in my memory.

Throw out the record of slights and insults and perceived misbehaviors of others, and remember all the goodnesses that have been--and are--shown to me, almost 100% of which I did not--and do not--deserve, but are graciously given to me by people who mercifully overlook my wrongs and misbehaviors....

friends and family who have not kept a record of my wrongs.

Robert Cottrill - Who are the Merry Gentlemen?

One of the chapters in Robert Cottrill's book, Discovering the Songs of Christmas, is about the old carol, "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen."

[This is such a delightful book, and if the author had not responded to one of these blogs, I would never have known about the book --  and I would have missed a real treasure!]

Anyway, here's the story about that carol.

It was written about 500 years ago.

Our wonderful English language, with its vibrant words and phrases, is in constant change, and this carol is an example of how the meaning of many words changes through the years.

The text does not refer to  "merry gentlemen," as though they were some giddy revelers. Nor is the word "rest" used as it is today. Five centuries ago it meant "make" or "keep."  A modern paraphrase of the words might read, "May God keep you joyful, gentlemen. May He fill your hearts with gladness!"  -- Robert Cottrill

[Also, there should be a comma between "Merry" and "Gentlemen" and many publishers forget to put that important punctuation in place.]

The poem then reminds us of the words of the angel in Luke 2:10: Do not be afraid, for I bring you good tidings of great joy. And then in verse 11 we find the reason for that great joy: For there is born to you...a Savior....

So let's all sing it -- like Anna would have sung it -- sing it loudly and joyfully --  (Remember God loves to hear us sing -- He must, because He keeps reminding us to sing to Him and about Him!)

God rest ye merry, Gentlemen

Let nothing you dismay

Remember Christ our Savior

Was born upon this day

To save us all from Satan's power

When we were gone astray

O tidings of comfort and joy

O tidings of comfort and joy!

P.S. During the time of the Reformation (1500's) carols were very popular among the people. They were not sung in church, but were sort of folk songs -- expressing the joy of the common people during the Christmas season, and, in fact, they were sung throughout the year. (Maybe they understood the Gospel message better than most of the churchmen and religious leaders in those days.)

Then in the 1640's the Puritans took over the government of England and the Puritan Parliament outlawed the celebration of Christmas and all festivals -- saying they were all too pagan and worldly. Christmas carols could not be sung anytime. (My ancestors came to the New World from London in the 1640s -- I don't know exactly what prompted their voyage to this wilderness, but maybe they just wanted to keep singing Christmas carols!)

About 175 years later Queen Victoria came to the throne (1837) and she revived the practice of carol singing. She loved the carols herself and urged the clergy to begin teaching them to the congregations, and "God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen" was one of the first!

That's why much of our Christmas imagery today has a "Victorian touch" - a reminder that Queen Victoria restored Christmas! And what a celebration it became!

P.P.S. Remember the White Witch in Narnia? While she ruled, it was "always winter and never Christmas." What a sad state of affairs....always winter...but never Christmas....

For those of us who have received the Gospel message -- it is always Christmas!

Hanging On or Letting Go?

I am re-reading Perelandra, by C. S. Lewis, one of my favorite ways of beginning the new year.


This is what I am looking at now: God sends His goodness to us in packages, or in waves, that just keep coming and keep coming.  But if we try to cling to one too long or too hard, we might miss the next one coming our way.

The idea is too plunge ourselves into the wave of blessings He sends. To plunge in with our whole hearts and souls and minds. And then open our hands and hearts for the next one... It will be even better.

Here is part of that thought in the Lady's words:

"I thought," she said, "that I was carried in the will of Him I love, but now I see that I walk with it.   I thought that the good things He sent me drew me into them as the waves lift the islands; but now I see that it is I who plunge into them with my own legs and arms, as when we go swimming...It is a delight with terror in it! One's own self to be walking from one good to another, walking beside Him as Himself may walk...I thought we went along paths--but it seems there are no paths. The going itself is the path."

The conversation goes further and she speaks about grasping or clinging to one wave and when she does that she can't meet the next wave and then misses it.

It reminds me that so much of life is learning to take God's gifts with a light hold - grab them and treasure them, and then let them go as He gives us new gifts. Perhaps pass them on, but not to grasp and hoard them.

So much of life is letting go....releasing our hold on people, pets, homes, dreams.....just learning to let go and take the next gift, because there will always be another coming at us.

Sometimes we can't take hold of a new dream unless we let go of the one we are attached - like a balloon -- let it rise and float away -- treasure its memory and watch it leave our hands - then grab the next -

We have lost a number of precious people in our church this year. But God has brought others in for us to love and cherish. We don't ever forget the ones who are no longer with us. We just learn to live
with their memory and thank God with grateful hearts for their time with us --  and then reach out to embrace new ones He brings us.

We must learn to hold God's gifts, not tightly and tenaciously, but with open hands.

Open your heart for the gift I am bringing says the song.

2 Kings 2 gives us the story of Elijah getting ready to leave Elisha, and, in fact, to leave his ministry and this earth. Elisha knows what is going to happen, but he refuses to leave Elijah.

Elijah tells him to "Stay here." Elisha says, "as surely as you live and the LORD lives, I will not leave you."

When Elisha is told, "Do you know that the LORD is going to take your master from you today?" he replies, "Yes, I know. But do not speak of it."

"As they were walking along and talking together, suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind.....and Elisha saw him no more."

"...separated the two of them...."

Elisha tried to hold on to Elijah. When he couldn't, he tore his clothes and then picked up Elijah's cloak that had fallen.

He went to the bank of the Jordan, took the cloak and struck the water with it. "Where now is the LORD, the God of Elijah?" he asked. When he struck the water, it divided to the right and to the left, and he crossed over.

The company watching said, "The spirit of Elijah is resting on Elisha."

But even they would not let go. The verses tell us they decided to go looking for Elijah. Elisha told them not to go. But they went anyway. Fifty men spent 3 days searching for Elijah.

When they returned without finding Elijah, Elisha said, "Didn't I tell you not to go?"

Elisha had finally learned that it was time to let go. 

(I just love those words, "Didn't I tell you..?" They remind me of my father so many times telling me something, I argued, went my own way, failed, and then he said "Glorya, didn't I tell you...?" As I remember it, it was always spoken in love, maybe some exasperation, but always in love.)

Much of life, I am finding out, is learning to let go.

Not too early to begin to reflect - James Montgomery Boice

....If you make room for Christ, then from this day on, the world will have no room for you.

We see this in Luke 2:7. For, notice, it does not say "because there was no room for him in the inn." It says "for them." That includes Mary and Joseph as well as the infant Jesus.

And who are Christ's mother and father and sister and brother today? Are they not those who do the will of Christ's Father, as He told us in Matthew 12:48-50?

He replied to him, "who is my mother, and who are are my brothers?" Pointing to his disciples he said, "Here are my mother and brothers. For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.

Are they not those who open their hearts to Him and follow Him?

Well, then, if you have followed Him, the world will have no more room for you than it had for Him.

You must not think that if you follow Jesus you will be praised for doing so. The "angels will rejoice over every sinner who repents," no matter how insignificant in the world's eyes.

But the world will not rejoice.

The world will scorn your decision. The world will seek to put you down. Then, if it cannot get you to renounce your decision or compromise your stand, it will turn its back on you and go its own way, shutting you out.

That is what Jesus foretold. It was He who said, "If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you" (John 15:19).

Jesus said, "Woe to you when men speak well of you" (Luke 6:26).

Jesus said to His disciples, "In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world" (John 16:33).

To be Christ's follower is to be a person without a country. A displaced person. It is to follow Him into the poverty of the early years at Nazareth, the loneliness of the itinerant ministry, eventually to the cross, all the time knowing that the disciple, like the Master, has no place to lay his head.

Taken from The Christ of Christmas, by James Montgomery Boice