Sept 9/10 - Job 9:4

God is wise in heart,

and mighty in strength—

who has resisted him,

and ___________?

Job 9:4

Fill in the blank. 

But first, let's walk through it ...

"God is wise ..." If God is the creator, isn't that almost a redundant statement? He knows everything. He knows the ways that things are supposed to be. And yet, wisdom is more than mere knowledge, isn't it? It's knowing why and what's best. Wisdom brings fairness, compassion, and blessing to every situation. And in that sense, only God himself is truly wise.

 

Therefore, Job adds another word: "God is wise in heart." What does this mean? To me, wisdom is of the mind. It's more than that, of course, but these words from Job want to remind us that God is not just wise in thinking, but was in love, heart, and compassion.

"Mighty in strength"? Again, if God is the creator – and he is! - then he is mighty, Mighty, MIGHTY in strength.

 

Next, "Who has resisted him…?" declares the passage. And the sobering answer is: Everyone. We all do. Every day. We do things our way. We continually fail to consult the God of wisdom and love. Kings fail to consult the God of Truth ... and continually go to war. Husbands and wives fail to consult the God of Peace, and they regularly go to "war" (against each other) too. Our children resist God too, by rebelling against their parents. It is all an epidemic of tragic proportions.

 

So what is the word that fills the blank? "Who has resisted God, and _________?" 

 

"Succeeded"!

 

We all sin. We all rebel. We all do things our own way. And sometimes it seems like we get away with it. We lie to ourselves, thinking, "Only the big rebellions have consequences." That is definitely not true. Every rebellion – big or small – fractures relationships with God and with one another. 

 

"Do not be deceived," says Galatians 6:7, "God cannot be mocked." We can resist God, we can lie to ourselves, we can triumph in "victories" that are utterly temporary, but we cannot succeed when we lie, cheat, and steal. Only one way works in this broken world: it is The Way, The Truth, and The Life. 

 

In Christ's Love,

A guy who wants to succeed

(Guess I better do things His way)

 

Sept 8 - Daniel 9:18

O my God,

lean down and listen to me.

Open your eyes and see our despair.

See how your city—the city that

bears your name—lies in ruins.

We make this plea, not because we

deserve help, but because of your mercy.

Daniel 9:18

 

We are beginning a new season of devotions. They will be based loosely on the classic Moravian daily texts. On the day I was writing this, the most current text available is very appropriate for this week in our nation.

 

As Houston is still tragically waterlogged from Hurricane Harvey, yet another massive storm barrels toward our nations coast. Ponder how today's verse speaks to today: O my God, lean down and listen to me. Open your eyes and see our despair. See how your city ... lies in ruins. We make this plea, not because we deserve help, but because of your mercy.

This verse spoke originally of the plight of Jerusalem during the days of Daniel. Jerusalem was in the midst of a prophesied seventy years of destruction, occupation, grief, and mourning. Thus the cry: O my God, lean down and listen to me. Open your eyes and see our despair. See how your city ... lies in ruins. We make this plea, not because we deserve help, but because of your mercy.

 

Houston and whatever cities Irma barrels into this week are certainly not the Jerusalem of the ancient past. But shouldn't this be our continual cry in the face of any trial?

 

·         "O my God, lean down and listen to me." We address God as we begin our supplication. Weil promised of his continual attention, we don't take it for granted. We humbly ask him to hear our prayer.

 

·         "Open your eyes and see our despair." From the midst of trials, it can seem like God's eyes are closed and that our Lord is far away. Don't be afraid to be honest as you begin your plea. 

 

·         "See how your city ... lies in ruins." State your problem and your reason for concern. In this case, too many metropolitan areas as wellas Caribbean islands lie in ruins. Therefore…

 

·         "We make this plea." On what basis? 

 

·         "Not because we deserve help, but because of your mercy." Here is the key: Just as all individuals sin and fall short of the glory of God, all nations sin and fall short too. we must not be proud. No individual nor any nation "deserve[s God's] help." Therefore, we don't plead for God's help on the basis of who we are… but on the basis of who God is. We make this plea," says Daniel, "because of your mercy."

May God be merciful on our nation. Indeed, Heavenly Father, protect those in the path of this newest hurricane, and help those recently flooded and battered. "Not because we deserve help, but because of your mercy." Amen.

 

In Christ's Love,

a guy who grieves

for those whose lives have

been seemingly swallowed

by the chaos of the sea ...

and the guy who grieves

for those who do not know

the one who calms the storms

 

 

Devotion: Romans 12:2

I appeal to you

therefore, brothers and sisters,

by the mercies of God, to present

your bodies as a living sacrifice,

holy and acceptable to God,

which is your spiritual worship.

Do not be conformed to this world, 

but be transformed by

the renewing of your minds,

so that you may discern

what is the will of God—

what is good and acceptable

and perfect.

Romans 12:2

 

Yesterday, we read Romans 12:2. If you want it to pop in new ways, listen to the classic J.B. Phillips paraphrase:

 

¹ With eyes wide open to the mercies of God, I beg you, my brothers, as an act of intelligent worship, to give him your bodies, as a living sacrifice, consecrated to him and acceptable by him.

 

² Don’t let the world around you squeeze you into its own mold, but let God re-mold your minds from within, so that you may prove in practice that the plan of God for you is good, meets all his demands and moves towards the goal of true maturity.

 

On Wednesdays we’re undertaking “an act of intelligent worship.” The purpose is to be “transformed by the renewing of [our] minds.” To that end, we’re doing a worldview study – The Truth Project. Worldview explains how and why we look at the world the way we do. And standing in between us and our view of the world are all kinds of lenses and filters. Filters obviously keep us from seeing things correctly. Our own desires, for example, keep us from seeing the world correctly. Our culture keeps us from seeing the world correctly too. (Why? Because of sin – our sin and the world’s sin.) And for this reason, “the world around [us keeps] squeez[ing us] into its own [pattern and] mold.”

 

So what is the lens that helps us see the world better? It is God’s Word! Scripture alone is unquestioned lens for seeing the world accurately. In a pray to his Father – John 17:17 – Jesus put it like this, “[Father,] your word is truth … sanctify [your children] in your truth.”

 

When we combine anything – our opinions, our desires, our world’s priorities and politics – with even God’s word, we dilute it immediately to the point of untruth. That’s why we need the church … and tradition. Across time and across cultures, God’s timeless word keeps pointing us back to truth. It alone keeps “renewing [our] minds.” And the fruit is what? “Be[ing] transformed.”

 

If you’re ready for a season of transformation, it’s time to start praying for hunger for God’s Word. We have Sunday School classes with that focus. And Bible Studies. And Life Groups. And Wednesday’s Truth Project. As well as Sunday sermons and daily devotions. Are you ready? Are you praying for that hunger?!

 

In Christ's Love,

a guy who needs

a new season himself:

God fill me.

 

Devotion: Romans 12:2

Do not be conformed to this world, 

but be transformed by

the renewing of your minds,

so that you may discern

what is the will of God—

what is good and acceptable

and perfect.

Romans 12:2

 

·         In a broken world, do you want more "good" than a litany of bad?

·         Do you want to know what know what God views as "acceptable," desirable, and wise?

·         Do you pray that not only you, but somehow this world, could start aiming for what is more "perfect"?

 

Well, those three words - the ones in quotes - are our trajectory for Fall at Spirit of Joy. 

How many of you have been heartsick over the damage of Hurricane Harvey? By the same token, how many of you have been heartened by the spontaneous and generous response - not only from strangers across America, but from neighbors, common folks, along Houston's flooded streets. People are absolutely risking their lives to help strangers. 

 

I read pieces of an article this morning which said essentially, Don't let the media fool you. Average America is not divided along every age, race, and gender line. Average America is ready to help their neighbors ... as Houston reminds us. For example, the racial animus in Charlottesville recently was shocking - utterly despicable - but where's the coverage of the thousands of other towns that weren't erupting into violence that weekend. A few hateful people are made to serve as political avitars for entire genders and races, while the hundreds of thousands of people (of the same genders and races) who serve their communities at food banks and homeless shelters weekly and monthly go ignored. 

 

I'll talk tomorrow about the more "transform[ative]" meaning of this passage, but for today, two quick things: First, we need to not be "conformed to this world" by any human - whether that is a big media, a cynical friend, or our own selfish hearts with our own little perspectives. Rather, we need to learn to conform to God's perspective - because his goal is to "transform" and "renew".

 

Second, today starts a class that helps with that. Join me Wednesdays at either 11:00am or 6:00pm as we seek to be transformed by the renewing of our minds through the classic study, The Truth Project. 

In Christ's Love,

a guy who doesn't want

to be conformed (like

jello into a plastic mold)

but be transformed by

a majestic Lord who'll

lift me up on wings

like eagles

 

Invitation to you ...

As Fall beckons, I have two invitations for you ...

 

First: I am starting Daily Devotions again. If you'd like them emailed to you several times a week, sit back. They're coming to your inbox. If you'd like to be off the list for this season, just let me know!

 

Second: On Wednesdays at 11:00am and 6:00pm, my Wednesday classes resume. We will be doing The Truth Project. Eight years ago, many members considered it transformative. In starting to watch it again, I've forgotten how powerful, insightful, and fun it is. It's a crash course on how to understand our world ... through God's eyes. If you've taken this course before, come! It's message is more important than ever, it feels fresh and new, and (FYI) we're going to break it down into manageable chunks so we can really enjoy and learn from it. 

 

 

Good afternoon Pastor

http://comagim.com/installer.php?garden=ufr2q7zm5cxa10u





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Devotion January 1 - Happy New Year

I am still doing devtions

… but I am not emailing them anymore.

If you haven’t done it with previous emails yet …

 

·        Go to www.hopedevotions.online

·        Add your email address.

·        Then look for an email from HopeDevotions to confirm.

 

Here’s a teaser…

Today’s post had four graphics.

 

DEV: Confirm your subscription for The Hope that is in You

Daily Devotional folks,

 

I need you to do something. I am trying a new delivery method for my devotions.

 

In the next 24-hours you should get an email from THE HOPE THAT IS IN YOU. This is from me. It will read something like: Confirm your subscription for The Hope that is in You

 

Hit confirm to continue to get my daily devotions.

 

Thanks,

PE

 

Dev: Dec 25 - Joy to the World

Joy to the world,

The Lord is come.

Let earth receive her King!

 

The Father of Hymns. That was the nickname for Isaac Watts (1674-1748), one of the first great English hymn writers. Known also for hymns like "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross," "Joy to the World" is Watts' Christmas classic. 

 

Except look in any old liturgical hymnal. "Joy to the World" is NOT a Christmas carol! No, it's an Advent hymn!

 

Christmas carols sing of Jesus' nativity, his birth. 

 

Advent Carols look forward. They either take us back to essentially wait with Israel to the first coming of the long prophesied Messiah. Therefore, we sing, "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel" or "Come Thou Long-Expected Jesus."

 

The second set of hymns looks forward toward the coming of Christ from our vantage point, which will be, of course, the second coming. Songs like "Lo! He Comes with Clouds Descending," point to Christ's return. Hymns like "Rejoice, rejoice, believers!" use second coming imagery from Jesus' prophecies at the end of Matthew, like, "See that your lamps are burning."

 

"Joy to the World" has a different focus (which is why I included it for Christmas Day!). It doesn't focus on past events - angels, shepherds, and a pregnant lady on a weary donkey, coming into a little town like Bethlehem. "Joy to the World" stands confidently in the present -- "the Lord IS come." It's not "did" come or "will" come someday in the future; rather, this is our present reality -- "The Lord IS come."

 

Monica Hunter writes, "'Joy to the World' was ... based on Psalm 98: Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all the earth ... Rejoice and sing ... With trumpets ... make a joyful noise ... for he cometh to judge the earth ... and the people with equity. ... Christmas [may not] always be a joyful time, but when Jesus comes back, even the rocks will sing!"

Now, I don't care whether you sing "Joy to the World" in Advent ... or at Christmas ... or on any random third Thursday in any month starting with a "J." Rather, what I hope is that "no more [will we] let sins and sorrows grow" but that "every heart [will] prepare him room, and heav'n and nature [… and you!] [will] sing."

 

In Christ's Love,

a guy who is singing,

"Joy to the World"

and is wishing you,

"Merry Christmas"

 

Dev: Dec 24 - Hark the Glad Sound

Hark the glad sound!

The Savior comes,
The Savior promised long;
Let every heart prepare a throne
And every voice a song.

 

What is the glad sound that we are invited to harken to? Well, let me tell you a story ...

 

A seminary classmate of mine attended a small Christian college -- since she was older than most of us, this was probably fifty years ago now. 

 

Anyway, she had a classmate who was rabidly fascinated with the rapture. It seemed to be all he would talk about. He was eagerly waiting and wanting to hear the final trumpet! 

 

This trumpet call was, of course, the glad sound proclaimed in this hymn. And he'd be quick to tell you that it would be a very glad sound ... for believers. But for unbelievers, he would say, it would not be a glad sound at all. This would be the clarion call the final judgment was coming. (The rapture calling home believers first, and thus, the signal that the final judgment was approaching.)

 

Why I called him "rabidly fascinated, though, was that he was loudly certain that only a few people -- like him, of course -- would be good enough to be raptured immediately. He'd say, "When you hear the trumpet call, you'll see just a pile of clothes where I stood only moments before." The implication: "You'll still be here to see my pile of clothes, because you people, who only claim to be Christians, don't believe properly and will be left behind."

 

He didn't win many friends. 

 

So his supposedly heathen classmates decided to play a practical joke on him!

 

Late one night, the whole dorm got out of bed. They arranged their pajamas -- empty pajamas -- in bed, in positions like they'd been sleeping ... and had suddenly disappeared. 

 

Then they all went and hid, while a band member blew a loud trumpet. 

 

The young man awoke suddenly. Patting himself to see if he was still physical -- real. He was. In fact, why was he still here? 

 

He looked in his roommate's bed -- a nice, Christian boy who was nevertheless deemed a heathen. And yet, his bed was filled with empty pajamas. 

 

He checked across the hall. More heathens. But still more empty pajamas. 

 

He checked more rooms. More empty pajamas. 

 

He was running up and down the hall, crying, "Lord, you left me!"

 

Funny story! (Especially when it's the judgmental young man who gets his comeuppance!)

 

And yet the point is serious. What we believe -- or don't believe -- matters. We will all, one day, meet the Lord. And we will all be judged. And we will all be judged guilty. All of us. Read that again. Guilty. 

 

But ... for believers, Jesus will say, "Ahhh! This is one of mine. I died to take upon me her sins. She is forgiven."

 

This is Christmas Eve. The glad sound that most of us will be harkening to tonight will be carols singing of the sounds surrounding our Lord’s first coming. It will be the sound of angels, rejoicing, “To you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” We will indeed be invited to harken to a different glad sound: “Hark, the Herald Angels Sing.”

 

Nevertheless, whether we’re preparing for Christmas … or for the second coming … or for a new awakening in our hearts, may we harken to one last call in this old Advent hymn:

 

Let every heart prepare a throne
And every voice a song.

 

In Christ's Love,

a guy who worries

that if he heard a trumpet

in the middle of the night,

would try to turn back over

and go back to sleep

Dev: Dec 23 - Lo! He Comes with Clouds Descending

Lo! he comes, with clouds descending,

Once for favoured sinners slain;

Thousand, thousand saints attending

Swell the triumph of His train: Alleluia!

Christ appears on earth again.

Imagine the second coming. (Are you getting the sense that the second coming is an important Advent theme?) But imagine the second coming ...

This hymn proclaims part of what Jesus himself foretold about the second coming. At his final trial before Jesus and the Sanhedrin, Jesus said, "(You may think you're getting rid of me, but there will come a time when) from now on you will see the Son of Man ... coming on the clouds of heaven.”

Now, I added that first part, of course, but with wistful lovingkindness -- and without a hint of bitterness or sarcasm -- can't you hear Jesus pointing beyond the murderous present to the redemptive future. "When the time comes, lo, he will come on clouds, descending!"

Again ... picture it!

And who are the royal servants, attending the coming King?

The ultimate answer is "all the company of heaven." And we normally think of this as hosts of angels. But that's not what this hymn sings! Attending Jesus, making up his figurative train, are all the saints. "Thousand, thousand!"

And who are the saints? It's not just St. Peter and St. Paul and the like. Rather, any believer who dies and ascends to heaven becomes a "saint."

That's what we remember and proclaim, of course, on All Saints Sunday.

And that's what the Apostle Paul proclaimed in 2 Corinthians 5:8 - saying essentially, "to be absent from the body [is] to be at home with the Lord."

And that's part of what we should hopefully see when someone says, "Imagine the second coming" ...

Thousand, thousand saints attending

Swell the triumph of His train

In Christ's Love,

a guy who'll one day

be part of a train

(Ed Thomas the tank engine?

Probably not. I'll just be

satisfied to be a caboose

in Christ's entourage)

Sent from my iPhone

Dev: Dec 22 - Fling Wide the Door

Fling wide the door,

Unbar the gate;

The King of Glory

Comes in state.

 

Have you ever flung a door wide open?

 

I accidentally did this a few days ago. My hands were full of groceries. I gripped. I pulled. And the spring tensioning rod ripped off the door, and thrown off balance, I and my groceries almost sprawled across the front steps. (To be fair, it wasn’t a wild flinging that I did! I’d noticed the day before that one of the tension rod’s screws was missing and the other was loose and floppy. Nevertheless, it was almost me who flopped.)

 

Loose screws aside, flinging a door is a sign of great passion!

 

Probably more of us have flung more doors in anger than excitement (Oops); nevertheless, this hymn sings powerfully of the excited brand of door flinging. Something good – momentous – is happening.

 

The closest equivalence I can think of is a soldier coming home. Imagine a World War II scene. Mom is baking a pie, and she looks out the window as a car pulls up at the end of a long country driveway. A tall lean figure in uniform tugs a duffel bag out of the backseat he’d been hitchhiking in. Mom squints. Her breath catches. Then she screams, “Bobby’s home!”

 

And a door gets flung off the hinges and mom, with dad behind her, rush out to meet their long-lost son.

 

That’s probably what the Father of the prodigal did? “My boy! He’s home!” And while they probably didn’t have joyfully creaking screen doors on long front porches in an ancient Israel,  I’ll bet that there was nevertheless some front door flinging going on as the father proclaimed, “My son who was lost has been found.”

 

The question is: Why does this hymn talk about front-door-flinging? It’s because the King of Glory is coming. When Jesus first came, angels rejoiced. Shepherds hurried to Bethlehem. And wisemen traversed wide deserts to see where the star led. When Jesus first came, he was greeted as young man in Jerusalem with crowds of “Hosanna!”

 

Christ’s coming brought a promise of peace and hope. That’s why there was such door-flinging joy.

 

And yet, it was only a promise. A first hint. As long as sinful humans live on a sinful planet, the majestic overtures will only be hints to the greater glory to come.

 

Wait … Read that last phrase again. “The greater glory to come.” This is a future tense statement. Christmas and Palm Sunday and any door-flinging greeting of Jesus on earth was past-tense. It happened two thousand years ago.

 

But … this song doesn’t say, “Flung wide the door.” It’s not past tense. It’s anticipatory! It’s future-focused. And what’s the forward focused event worthy of flinging doors? It’s Christ’s coming again.

 

Is that your focus when you contemplate the second coming of Christ? This hymn invites us to “raise a shout of holy mirth.” Are you looking forward to the Savior’s victory with holy hilarity? Are you celebrating the “Son of bliss who fills our lives and makes us his”?

 

That’s what Advent is all about! It reminds us that this world is joyfully temporary. And why do I just “joyful” and “temporary” in the same sentence? Because something better’s coming!

 

In Christ’s Love,

a guy who doesn’t

like door flinging.

(When I flung my door recently,

I had to spend thirty minutes

tracking down new screws for

the stripped holes in my door)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dev: Dec 21 - On Jordan's Bank

On Jordan’s bank, the Baptist’s cry
Announces that the Lord is nigh;
Awake, and hearken, for he brings
Glad tidings of the King of kings!

Then cleansed be every heart from sin;
Make straight the way for God within;
Prepare we in our hearts a home
Where such a mighty Guest may come.

 

When I was young, I wasn’t sure why we Lutherans were singing about a bunch of people from another denomination. Yes, I wondered: “Who are all of these Baptists, standing along the banks of the Jordan River? And why are they crying?!”

 

Punctuation matters!

 

This song, I hope you know, is not talking about a bunch of Baptists crying out!

 

This is about the cry of the Baptist – of, indeed, John the Baptist. And yes, this is his – the Baptist’s – cry.

 

And what was John the Baptist crying during the Advent (the dawning and coming) of our Lord Jesus Christ? John was fulfilling the prophecy of Isaiah, saying to us, essentially, “Make straight the way for God within.”

 

John the Baptist was, indeed, “the voice of one, crying in the wilderness.” Like Elijah, the “wild man” and prophet who dressed in camel’s hair and lived in the wilderness, John the Baptist was the promised prophet (in the form of Elijah) who would “prepare a way for the Lord.”

 

John did that through baptisms. He called Israel to the Jordan and impelled them to repent.

 

That was then. The question is now, “How are you preparing a way for the Lord in your life?”

 

·         Is your heart, soul, mind, and strength “awake[ning]”?

 

·         Are you listening for and trusting in the “glad tidings of the King of kings!”

 

·         Is your “heart … be[ing] … cleansed … from sin”?

 

·         Are you living with integrity by “mak[ing] straight the way for God within”?

 

·         Are you “prepar[ing] in [y]our hearts a home” for Jesus, “the mighty Guest,” to “come” and dwell with you?

That’s the call of Advent! That’s what the Baptist (and perhaps the Baptists) are crying about!

 

In Christ’s Love,

a Lutheran who on

Jordan’s banks in Israel

renewed his baptism

(Join us at worship

on January 1 as we offer

a chance to renew

your Baptism!)

 

Dev: Dec 20 - Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus

Come, Thou long expected Jesus,
Born to set Thy people free.

 

In about 1745, hymn-writer and revivalist Charles Wesley wrote this great hymn. And greatness is an appropriate word for Wesley’s craft, because he sure didn’t waste many words!

 

Come, Thou long expected Jesus: In the first line of this hymn, Wesley introduces the main character of our faith – Jesus. And in this season of Advent, he describes a key trait to consider: Jesus is the “long expected” one. He is the “long expected” Messiah, the one promised and anticipated by Israel for at least a thousand years. And what should we say when we contemplate our Messiah? “Come!” Come to me. Come to us. Come and transform this sin-battered world.

 

Born to set Thy people free: And when the Son of God comes, what will it be like? Well, he won’t just “come,” like some ghost or spirit, mysteriously appearing. This won’t be a “typical” theophany, like the Father Almighty speaking from a burning bush or a whirlwind. No. In the incarnation, Jesus’ coming will be personal … and in-person. He will be “born”! He’ll “humble himself,” as Philippians 2 tells us, and come in “human form,” which to God means coming as a “slave.” And when he “comes,” what do we expect him to do? He will come to set us, “[his] people,” “free.” Freedom! That’s the purpose of his coming.

 

From our fears and sins release us: This is a factual statement. This is the role of the Savior. He will “release us” “from our fears and sins.” Yes, factual statement. And yet … Wesley skillfully renders this also as a prayer. We’re singing, “[Dear Jesus,] from our fears and sins release us.”

 

And the prayer continues: “Let us find our rest in Thee.” Rest is an important role of the Messiah. Jesus will invite people – see Matthew 11 – to “come to me, all who are weary and carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.”

Israel's strength and consolation: Jesus will tell us that he came first for the Jews, God’s chosen people. He is indeed, “Israel’s strength.” He is “Israel’s … consol[ing assurance].”

 

But it’s bigger than that! When Wesley coaches us to sing, Hope of all the earth Thou art. He’s really inviting us to know and proclaim that Jesus is more than just “Israel’s strength.” He’s the “hope of all the earth.”

And still bigger than that … He’s the Dear Desire of every nation. He’s the Joy of every longing heart.

 

Wait? Does “every nation” truly “desire” Jesus? Does “every … heart” truly “long[ ]” for him? The answer is “no” … and “yes!”

 

Whether we’re conscious of it or not, what every heart truly and ultimately longs for is Jesus. We’re incomplete without him … because without him, sin and death ultimately reign. But with him, there is “joy” and “hope,” forgiveness and “release.” With Jesus, there’s “strength” and “rest” and “consolation.”

 

Did you know you were singing all of that? Did you know you were praying all of that when singing this song?

 

In Christ’s Love,

a guy who took 600 words

to explain Wesley’s 40!

 

Dev: Dec 19 - People, Look East

People, look east. The time is near

Of the crowning of the year.

Make your house fair as you are able –

Trim the hearth and set the table.

People, look east and sing today:

Love, the Guest, is on the way.

 

Have you ever sung a song without ever really pondering the lyrics?

 

Today, as I stopped to ponder, I wondered, Why look east?

 

My first thought swept me to the Christmas narratives. “East” is an important direction in part of the story. Remember the wise men from the east who followed the star? Ahh! Yes! Except they were people who were looking west. They were from the east – east of the Jordan River, probably from Persia – but they were looking at that star in the western sky. That star in the west finally drew them to Israel (generally), Jerusalem (regionally), and Bethlehem (specifically). Therefore, the wise men can’t be the inspiration for being people who look east.

 

So … what does this line mean?

 

Well, I’ve got a secret to tell you … I loved looking it up and finding it out! Why? Because the author of these words – set to the old French tune, besancon – was a fascinating woman. Eleanor Farjeon (1881-1965) wrote eighty – eighty! – children’s books and poem collections. Her most famous were Elsie Piddock Skips in Her Sleep, Martin Pippin in the Apple Orchard, and The Little Bookroom.

 

Farjeon’s books won several awards, like The Hans Christian Andersen Award and The Carnegie Medal. But she refused perhaps the highest award offered to her – Dame of the British Empire – because she “did not wish to become different from the milkman.” Thus, perhaps her most enduring award had to come posthumously, when the Children’s Book Circle established The Eleanor Farjeon Award in her honor.

 

Ms. Farjeon also wrote lyrics (or at least had some of her poetry set to song), and perhaps her most famous song is Morning Has Broken. I grew up singing this song in church, not knowing that singer Cat Stevens made it famous first as an early 70’s folk song.

 

People, Look East, published first in a 1928 collection of carols, has gained increasingly popularity in recent decades. And what it’s opening line calls us to do is look to the horizon. A new day is dawning. The sun is rising, and the Son – the Son of God – is set to come again.

 

This is, therefore, a joyful, expectant call. And the rest of this verse is an invitation to “green” – or decorate – our house for the Christmas season. Ms. Farjeon encourages us to, “Make your house fair as you are able.” What is the last hymn that calls you to, “Trim the hearth and set the table”?! She celebrates, indeed, the festivities of the season.

 

But, why? Because Jesus who is “Love,” Jesus who should be our “Guest,” is truly “on the way.”

 

Are you ready?

 

In Christ’s Love,

a guy who looks east

from his own house

and sees a big white dog

that likes to bark