Garry Mullen

Today’s Scripture Reading (December 31, 2009): Psalm 33

Well, here it is. This is the last day that you can write 2009 and on your checks (If you still do such a thing as write checks – if you don’t, never mind.) This is the only day that you can say to your friends “See you next year” – and mean tomorrow. By the way, some people really find that annoying – so maybe not. This year we actually change two numbers in the date as we enter a new decade. (Just because I want to be annoying, I am actually one of those that argue that the new decade isn’t really on us until next year – for the same reason that the century began in the year 2001, not 2000 – but that is just because I am annoying.)

It is time to put the old song away, and start to hum a new one. My prayer is that you will sing the 2010 song with gusto and that your voice will be heard. That you will play the song with the best of the abilities that God has given to you. Finish the 2009 song and then get ready to sing a new one.

I pray joy for you that is deep and survives through all circumstances. Have a great time as 2009 closes.  And all the best as you begin to sing the new song. May 2010 be the best song yet.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Psalm 8

Today’s Scripture Reading (December 30, 2009): Psalm 30

I have never been much of a morning person. My productivity is at its highest in the evening. In college I had a roommate that felt the same way. During the winter semester we both had the same 8:00 class – a required course that ranked as one of the most boring classes offered by the school. In January in Canada, days are short and it is still the sun has yet to rise at 8 in the morning (and it has long set at 8 in the evening).  I think we missed that class the whole month of January and settled for notes off of some morning people friends. For us, joy that came in the morning was a foreign concept.

And yet I know the phenomenon of the late night depression. When we are tired, things often really do look worse than they really are. I have said that I often feel melancholy this time of year – and I think that part of it is that I am often tired as I move through the Christmas Season towards New Years. The result is a kind of Christmas depression.

As the Psalmist tries to describe what God is like – this is the imagery that he uses. God’s anger is like that late night feeling. God’s anger doesn’t last forever any more than that late night feeling persists into the light of the next day. Joy comes in the morning and God’s favor persists in the daylight.

God’s desire is for us. His love is for us. We disappoint, but he keeps running to us and showing us his tangible love. And that is what I need to remember this time of year, God loves me – and joy really does come in the morning. His love is for me – and it is for you. Walk in his favor as we reach for the light of 2010.

(Disclaimer – I used the illustration of my college friend and I and our early morning January class a number of years ago in a sermon. After the sermon I was criticized for advocating that people (especially students) stay up late. Please note that that is not what I am advocating in this illustration.  Go to bed at a good time and keep your parents happy. And 2010 will be much better.)

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Psalm 33

Today’s Scripture Reading (December 29, 2009): Psalm 27

As Christians, we can sometimes be a pessimistic bunch of people. We mourn the state that the world is in and often look forward to the time when God comes back, proves us right and punishes all of those that didn’t agree with us. The result is that we can develop a feeling that we are somehow morally superior. And we become the people that blame the world around us for all of its problems.

The problem is that God’s message to Abraham was not to go and blame the world for its problems. God told Abraham that he would bless him so that Abraham would be in a position to bless the world. God’s message to Abraham was that the world would be better off because he was in it.

By faith we – the Christian Church – claim to be the Children of Abraham. That is that we share in the privileges and the responsibilities of that are part of Abraham’s legacy. We don’t have a mandate to wait for the world to deteriorate and then allow God to thank us for believing in him. We – the Christian church – are charged with the task of making this world a better place because we are in it.

I know that this has been a common theme in this blog – but that is also a common theme in the Bible. This world needs to be better because we are here. We are blessed to be a blessing – to be a positive force in the world. And because we are a positive force, we can echo the Psalmist and say that we are confident that we will see the goodness of God in this world in which we live.

 My prayer is that 2010 is going to be a great year – and partially because the people of God live up to their calling and work hard to make this world a better place to live. 

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Psalm 30

Today’s Scripture Reading (December 28, 2009): Ezra 10

We are approaching the end of 2009. It can be many things for many people.  For some it is a time of celebration. We get to start over again. For others the feelings can go the other way – and often for the same reason. We see the door closing on a year and we wonder what it is that we have done with it. I think I tend to be part of the latter group of people and therefore this tends to be a melancholy time of year for me.

I don’t think that either option is necessarily bad. I think that there are times when we need to close the book on a time of our lives that maybe hasn’t gone as well as we would have liked. We often seem to need a new start – a time when we can start clean and try to accomplish something.

But there are also times when we need to recognize the reasons why we have failed. To paraphrase Jim Collins – we need to be willing to lift up the rocks in our lives and look at the squiggly things. It may be uncomfortable – but it is definitely necessary. We need to see what went wrong – not so that we can rack up guilt on ourselves – but rather so that we can know what not to do next time, or how we need to change our circumstances.

For Ezra, this was one of those times. It wasn’t enough to pause and start over again as they continued to rebuild the temple. They needed to understand why they had been brought to this particular place.

The essence of wisdom is knowing whether this is the time to simply close the door on the year that has past – or whether we need to weep for it and allow the squiggly things to help us move into the future. With only a couple of days left in the year – which is it that you need to do?

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Psalm 27

Today’s Scripture Reading (December 27, 2009): John 1

I often seem to spend time thinking about the ones that have gone before. There is nothing that I do that has not resulted from someone else’s influence. My family (as I start writing these thoughts I am playing Scrabble with my sister and my Dad) has influenced me. Some authors have also influenced the way I see the world. (And, of course, everything that I know I learned from Spiderman.) I really do stand on the shoulders of other people in everything that I do.

We think of the birth of Jesus as the beginning – and it was – but the beginning was also John the Baptist. And as John looks at his world, he sees a paradox. He knows clearly that he is the one that has gone before, and he also realizes that he is the one that stands on the shoulders of the one that comes after him. That there is a hidden one that the people don’t know and he is standing there in their midst.

We seldom see ourselves as modern John the Baptists – but maybe we should. We are the ones that stand among the people – we are the seen - and we point to the unseen one standing in our midst.  Among you stands one that you do not know – but he is the one that we worship.

Come, let us worship him – the one that john pointed to - today.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Ezra 1

Today’s Scripture Reading (December 26, 2009): Ezra 9

Jesus is born! What has been your reaction been? What we do with God is the major question of the Bible. When you meet Jesus – even as a baby – we are confronted by the ways in which we don’t measure up. So the easy solution – and the one we most often choose – is to simply ignore him. A baby messes up our life.

As Israel went into exile, their major loss was the temple. Babylon had pulled it down and stolen all of the treasures that it had held inside. With the temple gone, they could no longer go through the rituals that had accompanied the worship of God. So they replaced the temple ritual with a different one – they ritualized a lament for what they had lost. But in the process, they had also lost sight of God. As Ezra begins to build the temple once more – a nation is confronted with the fact that they are no longer living like God’s people. And they have a choice to make – do they return to living the way that God desired, or do they ignore God. Ezra wishes to point out to Israel that they can no longer stand in the presence of God. God has not done them wrong – rather they have walked away from God. Israel needs to lose the lament and turn and walk back to God.

Christmas and other special times in our year cause us to take a similar journey. We cannot stand in God’s presence – but God is calling us back to him. He did not give up on Israel and he hasn’t given up on us. Jesus calls us to a change in lifestyle – one that honors God with everything that we do. Guilt is ours – and we know it. But so is forgiveness – if we will accept it. Honor the one that continues to call you back.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: John 1

Today’s Scripture Reading (December 25, 2009): Luke 2

I love Craig Groeschel’s idea of it. He applies the idea to his understanding of it – an intangible that some organizations have and some don’t - to the church. He says that some churches have it and some don’t. Craig insists that it can’t be described – and that he really doesn’t know how to get it, although there are things that we can do to increase or decrease the possibilities of having it.

It seems obvious – but on top of the list has to be the that church has room for Jesus. He can’t be just a concept or an idea. We have to know him and his reality of his presence. Jesus is real. If he is anything less, we won’t have it. And since the church is – well us – he has to be real in our lives.

If we want it – there has to be room for him in our lives. Make room for him in your lives – and have a Merry Christmas.  

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Ezra 9

Today’s Scripture Reading (December 24, 2009): Luke 1

How often do you talk about someday? It is so easy and pervasive. Someday – when we get our life together – we will …  I have a lot of things on my Someday list. Someday I want to write a novel – or maybe a book on worship. I have a great idea for a musical that I want to work on. And there is the more mundane. Someday I am really going to give my garage a good cleaning – or put away all the items that I moved out of my office recently. Someday.

And I add items to the list easily. When I discuss projects with the people I minister with – often the projects get added to the someday pile. I mean – you don’t expect that this is something that is going to happen now?

Maybe that is what makes this verse a little surprising. The angel comes to Mary with this great message – you are going to become pregnant and the child that you will have will be the Messiah. And it might have been natural for Mary to add that little message to the someday pile. I mean – she knew that someday she would become pregnant. She was engaged to Joseph and they had every intention of bringing up a family. And now the angel was saying that one of her children would be the Messiah – someday.

But Mary didn’t hear the angel that way. She didn’t hear someday – she heard now. And now it was impossible because she was a virgin. And that is how the angel had intended it. This is about now.

Christmas always is. This isn’t to add something to your someday list. Jesus stepped down from heaven into our now. He didn’t come for your someday – his sacrifice was to impact who you are right now. He came to change this world for the better – now. This isn’t a pie in the sky, someday thing. It is now!

Tomorrow we celebrate the birth of Christ. Make sure that Christmas doesn’t impact your someday – let it impact your now.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Luke 2

Today’s Scripture Reading (December 23, 2009): Ezra 8

If you have been reading this blog much over the past year – you have probably noted some themes. Maybe you have even been bored by some of them. Together these themes really make up the core of what I believe – both about life and about God. One of the common themes is that we are built for community. God exists in essential community as Father, Son and Holy Spirit and we are created in his image. We are meant – designed - to need each other. It is part of our essential nature.

Because we are created for community – there should be times in our lives when we need to ask for help. Ezra 8 begins to read like a diary of how Ezra felt and what he believed as he began to lead Israel back from its Babylonian exile. And one of the things that he felt was that Israel had to return alone. To need to ask for help from the king somehow indicated that God wasn’t strong enough to see Israel through. Ezra almost admits that he was weak in his belief in God because he wanted to ask for help – and he was ashamed by that weakness.

What amazes me about this verse is that Ezra’s reluctance to ask for help from the king come in the midst of a story and a time that is filled with Gentile rulers striving to help Israel. It seems that God was taking this time to expand the community and show that nontraditional peoples were also part of the essential community that God had created. Ezra seems to have missed the point. God is awesome in power – but we are created to be in need of community. And God can’t go against his essential nature. In other words, I don’t believe that God is willing to use his awesome power in order to change our need for each other.

And that has a huge implication for us today. We live in a culture that is very individualistic. We like to excel and we believe in what we can do – on our own.  And somehow we can almost convince ourselves that God is onside with our individualistic desires. But that violates his essential nature and the essential nature of us as beings created in his image. We serve a powerful God – but he is also a God that believes in community.

Do you want to unleash your potential? The secret is to buy into the idea of community – we were designed for it.  As we learn to serve and live in community – then we realize our potential. And that is a theme that the Bible stresses.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Luke 1

Today’s Scripture Reading (December 22, 2009): Micah 7

I hate (and yes I realize that hate is a strong word) the death and scandals that happen this time of year. This year my heart goes out to the family of Brittany Murphy, Chris Henry and to even Tiger Woods and his family. It isn’t that we have any control over death and tragedy (or maybe stupidity in Tiger’s case), but it somehow remains too easy a reminder of the tragedy on the anniversary dates as the rest of the world gears up to celebrate Christmas.

And I am not immune to the reverse celebration. I can be melancholy this time of year as I remember those that are no longer with us – even if they didn’t die at this time of year. I know that feeling is magnified for my friends that have lost people that are important to them during this time of Christmas Season.

And yet Christmas remains a time of hope. We almost have to ask how that can be. Again, I think Micah has the answer. If I have to look at my reality – and those that I miss and the tragedy that I have gone through, I will be melancholy. There are a lot of people that I really miss as I head through this season. But Micah says that his hope is that his God will hear him. My hope is the same – because I really need him to hear me. But even more important as I deal with the losses that life naturally brings us during the Christmas season – I need to hear him. I am listening.

And to those that I have become separated from – I miss you – have a Merry Christmas.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Ezra 8