Manger Throne

You could have stepped into creation
With fire for all to see
Brought every tribe and nation to their knees
Arriving with the host of heaven
In royal robe and crown
The rulers of the earth all bowing down

But You chose meekness over majesty
Wrapped Your power in humanity

Glory be to You alone
King who reigns from a manger throne
My life, my praise, everything I own
To Jesus the King on a manger throne

You could have marched in all your glory
Into the heart of Rome
Showed them splendour like they'd never known
But You wrote a better story
In humble Bethlehem

Creator in the arms of common men

… From heaven to the cradle
From cradle to the cross
Let heaven and nature sing
This is our King
But the grave couldn't hold Him
Our God has overcome
Let Heaven and nature sing
This is our King

Lyrics from part of the song, Manger Throne by Phil Wickham 

Advent is the season of waiting. Waiting to celebrate Jesus’ first coming and looking forward with great anticipation to his second coming. 

For centuries the Jewish people had been waiting for their Messiah to come. Isaiah had prophesied about him 700 years before, and they wanted one who would come in clouds of glory and put everything right. In Jesus’ day it was a Messiah who would drive out the hated Romans, but it could just as easily be the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Persians, any of those nations who had oppressed God’s people. They wanted a Messiah who would arrive as the song above suggests.

However, what no one was expecting was a baby born in humility, born to poor, righteous parents and having nowhere to place their precious baby but a manger. Goodness knows what Mary thought of giving birth to the Son of God in such conditions. 

The first recorded visitors were shepherds, those who were almost certainly looking after the sacrificial lambs for the temple. What wonderful symbolism that they should come and worship the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world by the ultimate sacrifice of his perfect life upon a terrible cross. The great shepherd of the people (Hebrews 13:20) visited by shepherds. 

Then many months later, the magi arrived in an exotic caravan bearing fabulously expensive gifts, no doubt causing quite a stir in small town Bethlehem. 

The Messiah had been born who would not only save the Jewish people, even the poorest but also rich Gentiles. He would save anyone who would come, bow down, and give their worship and adoration to him alone. He would save them not from oppressors but the greatest oppression, sin. 

Jesus could have indeed come the first time in glory and majesty and swept mankind into a slavish obedience to the King of King and Lord of Lords. That path would not have saved us from the bondage of sin. Instead, he showed us the true path of love, service and sacrifice leading to redemption for all mankind. He invites us today to walk that same sacrificial path of lives yielded to him, overflowing with love and thankfulness for all he has done.

And so we also look forward with great anticipation to his second coming this time ‘in great splendour, with the host of heaven in royal robes and crown’ and he will right every wrong. Every oppressor, tyrant, dictator big and small will be dealt with in justice and righteousness, whilst believers will be rewarded and ushered into an eternity with him in the new heaven and earth.  

What a wonderful future we have. God’s reign of righteousness coming to Earth and restoring everything to its original mandate.

Love and faithfulness meet together; righteousness and peace kiss each other. Psalm 85: 10.  What a promise!

Remembering the past, rejoicing in the future

There comes a time in life when you realise that things that you have done in the past, you may never do again. It may be climbing up Snowdon or running 5K or, as in our case, we may never host a family Christmas celebration. These events may come with a huge measure of sadness or maybe relief. In our case, regarding Christmas, it is with huge sadness. 

I would love to host a family Christmas one last time but for all sorts of reasons, it is not practical. Firstly, our family has grown exponentially, and we couldn’t physically sit us all down, even for a meal, let alone to sleep. Last time we had a big Christmas with the mainly older not younger generation there were 14 of us, some of whom were very small and we had a four-bedroom, two-bathroom house. Now the older generation has passed on and the younger generation have families of their own and we number 21. 

There is also the slight problem that half the family live in either Australia or USA so gathering altogether is quite tricky. Even if everyone was able to be in the same place at Christmas, for instance if we hired a big house, it would be wonderful but not the same. 

Am I just being a silly, selfish old lady? Yes, because I have so much to be thankful for. I have a huge family with 11 grandchildren. As a lady in a coffee queue reminded me, I have grandchildren. She would like to have one, but nothing is on the horizon. I have a home and family who are all talking to one another. I can put food on the table. We can give one another presents. We can speak face-to-face via today’s technology. We don’t have to wait weeks for letters to arrive or book a few minutes phone call on Christmas Day. 

The most important thing is to remember with fondness those days of long ago, but not to dwell there. To be thankful for the many, many blessings I have, the most important of which is Jesus. Where would be without him? I don’t know and I don’t want to know. 

My family is held in the arms of a loving Saviour, my destiny is assured not because of any good works that I might do but because of the one supreme good work – Jesus’ death on the cross and resurrection. Today I can live a life of destiny and purpose, and I know that eternal salvation is assured. 

For a moment, I feel the pang of sadness for days gone by but with great expectation and hope I life my eyes to a future made glorious by the one who loves me more than I will ever know. And I am thankful. 

The heavens declare the glory of God

Psalm 19: 1 – 4

The heavens declare the glory of God;

    the skies proclaim the work of his hands.

2 Day after day they pour forth speech;

    night after night they reveal knowledge.

3 They have no speech, they use no words;

    no sound is heard from them.

4 Yet their voice goes out into all the earth,

    their words to the ends of the world.

I was meditating on these verses and wondering how the heavens, the stars, galaxies pour forth speech but verse 4 gives a clue; despite there being no speech or sound their voice goes out into all the earth.  But how?

In our light polluted heavens, we can easily lose connection with the sky that David, the psalmist saw. I only once saw anything like that in the Namib Desert in Namibia. I long to see it again. It was stunning. 

There were no human lights, and the sky was ablaze with stars, planets and all sorts of things that I have no name for. It was almost overwhelming. Words completely fail me. It was so bright, so incredible, so majestic, so marvellous you literally felt you could reach up and pluck a star from the heavens. There was not even a tiny space that was not flaming with light. 

Looking at a night sky like that, you can completely understand what David is writing about. Only an awesome Creator God can fashion that sky. If that is what the Creator created, what does that say about the Creator? The heavens do indeed declare the glory of God. 

Though the heavens have no language, no speech, no sound, their voices shout aloud of the magnificence of the Creator. The heavens reveal knowledge that Man is struggling to get to grips with.  Thousands of years after King David penned this psalm, with all our technology, space travel, high resolution telescopes we are only just beginning to realise the vastness of the universe. The Hubble telescope estimates there are 2 trillion galaxies, but astronomers are by no means convinced that they have discovered all there is.

Pillars of Creation - a cloud of gas and dust

I love those photographs that a deep space probe has sent back to Earth – extraordinary sights – unimaginable vistas. Clouds of gas and dust sculpted into astonishing shapes.  

My mind is in a spin – I cannot begin to compute anything of that magnitude. Even thinking about the 6,000 or so stars that can be seen from Earth requires a brain stretch on the edge of my ability. 

David is correct - Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world. The sheer magnificence of the night sky shouts out to anyone, anywhere on the Earth below – there is a God, an awesome Creator God and everyone, everywhere on planet Earth can see and hear the song of the stars. 

All glory to God.

 

Trample insecurity

Insecurity with its mate inadequacy can quickly stunt the growth of our identity as God’s children and stifle the gifting that God has placed in us. Insecurity and inadequacy find their place when we make comparisons with others and then we forget that our confidence is not in our own abilities but in God.

We all know we will disappoint ourselves when we fail or do not come up to the mark we have set for ourselves. But we will never disappoint God. Disappointment comes when things do not work out as expected. God knows how it’s all going to work out before it happens, so he is not going to be disappointed. Instead, he sees every failure and perceived disappointment as an opportunity for growth and to have another shot at whatever it may be, until we succeed. What we must not do is give up, especially before we’ve even tried or worst still, never try again. 

We were visiting the Yorkshire Dales, one of the most beautiful hill areas of England known for walks, hikes and even a little mountaineering. We were hoping to take a walk to a local beauty spot but were almost put off by the many, many hikers kitted out in boots, rucksacks and all-weather clothing. Our normal wear, with sandals and trainers, seemed hopelessly inadequate and made us feel the same. With trepidation, we overcame our fears and set off for what was really an afternoon stroll, quickly realising everyone else was also wearing normal clothing with sandals or trainers.  Our fully kitted out hikers had probably not been on our walk at all but had spent the day high up in the fells where their clothing was essential. Our sense of inadequacy had almost robbed us of our beautiful walk.

When we first started playing golf, I too was almost overwhelmed with insecurity when I saw golfers wearing smart brand-named clothing with Ping or Calloway clubs looking very much the part. However, watching them tee off at the first hole and my insecurities vanished as I watched them hit a shot that scuttled along the ground and entered the long grass. All the gear does not a golfer make.

However, this can also all too easily happen in church when we compare ourselves, usually unfavourably with others. We think I could never pray like that lady or prophesy like that man or lead worship like – well you fill in the gap. God doesn’t want you to pray like anyone else – he wants you to talk to him in the way that only you can. If he gives you a word or picture to share, he wants you to share it in your own inimitable style. 

When we let insecurity and inadequacy come into our hearts and minds, we steal not just from ourselves but others who want to hear what we have to pray or share. We’re letting God down too – not that he is bothered by that – but he wants the best for us, and the best is to quash the voices that tell us we are no good compared to others. We are unique, wonderfully and fearfully made with so many gifts to share and so many prayers to be prayed and good works to be undertaken.

Trample inadequacy and insecurity underfoot and be who God has made you to be – a one-off -fully equipped for all God has called you to be and do.