“Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him.” (John 14:23)

Jesus makes this promise to the disciples in his last conversation with them before his arrest.  This is not like the promise of heaven that we cannot experience until we die.  This is a promise for today!    

If we love Jesus and live by his teaching, he and the Father, the God of all creation, will take up residence in us through the power of the Holy Spirit.  Jesus says this promise is not just his but the Father’s as well.  “The word you hear is not mine but that of the Father who sent me.” (John 14:24) If Jesus and the Father make their home in us, they take up residence in us and we become, as St. Paul says, “the is temple of the Holy Spirit.” (1 Co. 6:19)

Think of it!

Jesus and the Father are in us, present to us, available to us at every moment.  Wherever we are, whatever we are doing, they are available to guide our conduct and help us make the daily choices in our lives.  St. Paul eloquently captures the essence of this when he declares, “The mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations is now disclosed to the saints…which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” (Col. 1:26-27 NIV) Our hope is in Christ and Christ in us!

Why is it that so many of us do not always experience the reality of Christ residing in us?  The answer may be found in the individual choices we make that determine whether we bury God’s presence in us, or let him be seen, heard, and experienced? 

In my early adult years I lived my life in a way that mostly buried God’s presence in me rather than allowing that presence to be manifested.  I believed in God and attended church regularly.  Yet my Christian faith had become secondary to other priorities, namely career.  I hardly thought about God’s presence in me, and so that presence seldom impacted others.  

Fortunately, through God’s grace that changed one October evening when I experienced the opportunity to turn over my mixed priorities to Jesus.  It was a watershed moment.  I am still capable of messing up, but the good news is that we can repent of these times and bring our selves back into God’s presence.  We can then call on his gifts of wisdom, discernment, and courage to make daily choices consistent with Jesus’ teaching and partner with him in building his kingdom on earth in our time. 

Do you bury God’s presence in you or allow him to be seen in your actions and words each day?

“From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.”  (Luke 12:48)

Jesus is talking to his disciples about the importance of a servant being watchful and found doing what is expected of him when his master returns.  He says the more responsibility that is given to you, the more that will be expected of you.

This is about our accountability to God for the life, time, talents, responsibilities, resources, and people he has given to us.  As in the Parable of the Talents, the master’s servants were expected to multiply the money that was entrusted to their care, not simply preserve it. (Matthew 25:14-30)

God creates each of us in unique and infinite ways.  No two of us are the same.  He creates each of us with unique physical, intellectual, and spiritual abilities and gifts “to work and take care” of the garden of his creation, and to love and serve him and one another in doing so. (Genesis 2:15)

As a father of five adult children, it is a blessing to see each of them use gifts that God has given them in addition to caring for their respective spouses and children.  To one has been given the gift of serving young people as a campus minister at a major state university.  To another has been given a way to teach history and make it come alive for her students.  To another has been given the compassion and understanding to oversee a special education program in a Catholic high school for students with intellectual and developmental disabilities. 

To another, along with his wife, have been given their special gift to capture unique images of marriage in a wedding photography business.  To our youngest daughter born with Down syndrome, God has given the gifts of purity of heart and love, which she shares in giving hugs to people she greets.   

What’s important is not what gifts God has given to each of us, but that we are fully using the gifts he has entrusted to us for his purpose.  Our goal should be to hear the words of the Father at the end of our time on this earth, “Well done, good and faithful servant!” (Mt. 25:21) 

How are using the gifts God has given to you? 

Fear and insecurity can be a terribly destructive force in our lives.  This is illustrated by the visit of the Magi with King Herod who told him of their search of the “newborn king of the Jews.”  Matthew reports, “When King Herod heard this, he was greatly troubled, and all of Jerusalem with him.” (Mt. 2:3) Herod consulted with the chief priests and scribes who told him that the Messiah was to be born in Bethlehem. 

When Herod learned that the Magi had ignored his instruction to inform him of the location of the Baby Jesus, he was furious and ordered all baby boys two years and younger in Bethlehem be killed. (Mt. 2:1-18)

This horrific act was precipitated by Herod’s fear and insecurity of losing his position as King of Judea.  The Jewish historian, Josephus, “depicts Herod as being pathologically jealous of his power – a number of his family were murdered by him because he suspected them trying to supplant him.” (Jerome Biblical Commentary)

The potential list of fears for many of us can run long and deep.  We fear for our safety, the loss of a loved one, the loss of a job or position, the loss of our money and possessions.  We fear how we will look or be judged by others. We fear underperforming or not doing our best.  We fear illness, disability, and loss of independence.  In the workplace, we may be tempted to tell the boss what he or she wants to hear rather than the truth, out of fear of incurring their disfavor.    

We may even fear getting too close to God and what he may ask of us.  When Peter saw the miraculous catch of fish as a result of Jesus’ presence, he said, “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.” He and the others were seized with fear, but Jesus said, “Do not be afraid, from now on you will be catching men.” (Luke 5:8-10)

God does not want us to live our lives in fear.  His angels told Zachariah, Mary, and Joseph, “Do not be afraid.”  St. John Paul II began his papacy with the words, “Do not be afraid!.” Jesus wants us to trust in him – in his love and provision.  How ironic that out of fear Herod sought to destroy the one true antidote to fear – Jesus, the Messiah and son of God. 

Do you share your fears with Jesus and ask him to take them? 

“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us, and we saw his glory, the glory of the Father’s only Son, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14) 

We have just celebrated God becoming one of us in the birth of Jesus, one of the greatest acts of humility and love in all of history. 

Yet in the world around us one year comes to a close and a new one begins full of conflict and strife, much like they have for centuries.  Wars continue in Ukraine and Israel.  Incidents of terror and mass shootings take place in our own country and abroad.  The church is plagued with disagreement. Identity politics and political agendas are tearing apart the very fabric of our nation’s traditions and moral values.   

The first chapter of John’s Gospel offers both a realistic context for what we have just celebrated and a hope that can carry us through the new year.  We will not read about it in the news media.  Speaking of Jesus, John says, “He was in the world, and the world came to be through him, but the world did not know him.” (John 1:10) Not a single governmental or spiritual leader in Israel took note of Jesus’ birth.  Only a few lowly shepherds were his herald.  In fact, Israel’s king actually wanted to kill Jesus, not unlike some authoritarian regimes in our day. 

“He came to what was his own, but his own people did not accept him.” (John 1:11) Even before Jesus was born, he was rejected by the innkeeper who had no room for him.  As Jesus later revealed his presence and identity, the religious leaders of his day also rejected him and even sought his death. 

“But to those who did accept him he gave power to become children of God.” (John 1:12)   

This is our hope for the coming year!  When we open the door of our heart to Jesus and invite him in, he says, “Remain in me, as I remain in you.”  “I am the way and the truth and the life.”  “Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him.” (John 15: 4; John 14:6, 23)

When we let Jesus and the Father make their home in us, we experience the world around us with a different perspective.  An inner peace is possible even though there is a lack of peace externally.  Jesus says:

• “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give it to you.” (John 14:27)
• “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart, and you will find rest for yourselves.”  (Mt. 11:28-29)
• “In the world you will have trouble, but take courage,! have conquered the world.” (John 16:33) 

A blessed New Year to all!

Do you ever struggle with grasping the full meaning and purpose of God becoming one of us in the person of Jesus Christ?  For many years radio commentator Paul Harvey shared the following story at Christmas to help us understand.

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The man to whom I’m going to introduce you was not a scrooge; he was a kind, decent, mostly good man; generous to his family, and upright in his dealings with other men.  But he just didn’t believe all that incarnation stuff which the churches proclaim at Christmas time.  It just didn’t make sense and he was too honest to pretend otherwise.  He just couldn’t swallow the Jesus story, about God coming to Earth as a man.

“I’m truly sorry to distress you,” he told his wife, “but I’m not going with you to church this Christmas Eve.” He said he’d feel like a hypocrite.  That he’d much rather stay at home, but that he would wait up for them.  And so he stayed and they went to the midnight service.

Shortly after the family drove away in the car, snow began to fall.  He went to the window to watch the flurries getting heavier and heavier and went back to his fireside chair and began to read his newspaper.  Minutes later he was startled by a thudding sound…then another, and then another.  Sort of a thump or a thud…at first he thought someone must be throwing snowballs against his living room window. But when he went to the front door to investigate he found a flock of birds huddled miserably in the snow.  They’d been caught in the storm and, in a desperate search for shelter, had tried to fly through his large landscape window.

Well, he couldn’t let the poor creatures lie there and freeze, so he remembered the barn where his children stabled their pony.  That would provide a warm shelter if he could direct the birds to it.  Quickly he put on a coat, galoshes, tramped through the deepening snow to the barn.  He opened the doors wide and turned on the light, but the birds did not come in.  He figured food would entice them.

So, he hurried back to the house, fetched breadcrumbs, sprinkled them on the snow, making a trail to the yellow-lighted wide open doorway of the barn.  But to his dismay, the birds ignored the breadcrumbs, and continued to flap around helplessly in the snow.  He tried catching them…he tried shooing them into the barn by walking around them waving his arms…instead, they scattered in every direction, except into the warm lighted barn. 

And then he realized that they were afraid of him.  To them, he reasoned, I am a strange and terrifying creature. If only I could think of some way to let them know that they can trust me…that I am not trying to hurt them, but to help them.  But how?  Because any move he made tended to frighten them and confuse them, they just would not follow.  They would not be led or shooed because they feared him.

“If only I could be a bird,” he thought to himself, “and mingle with them and speak their language.  Then I could tell them not to be afraid.  Then I could show them the way to safe, warm…to the safe warm barn.  But I would have to be one of them so they could see, and hear and understand.”  At that moment the church bells began to ring.  The sound reached his ears above the sounds of the wind.  And he stood there listening to the bells, listening, listening to the bells pealing the glad tidings of Christmas.  And he sank to his knees in the snow.

May you and your loved ones have a blessed Christmas!

“The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.  Therefore, the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God.”  (Luke 1:35)

The birth of the baby Jesus and our spiritual birth have a common element.  The source of both is the Holy Spirit.

The conception of Jesus in Mary was brought about by the Holy Spirit.  The same Holy Spirit is the source of our spiritual birth.  Jesus said to Nicodemus, “No one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.  No one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit.” (John 3:3, 5)

Both Mary and Nicodemus asked the same question, “How can this be?”  Both Gabriel and Jesus gave the same answer.  It is by the Holy Spirit that these things happen.  As Jesus was born through the power of the Holy Spirit, so too was the Church, and so too, are we.

Ever since I was a young boy growing up in a small town in Iowa, I have experienced a special feeling of God’s presence on Christmas Eve.  It is a feeling of peace and love.  A calm descends; the earth is quiet from all the hurrying and scurrying of Christmas preparations.  It is the Holy Spirit.

When I was old enough to drive, I would often leave the house after our Christmas Eve traditions with family, and drive through the neighborhood of my former paper route.  I knew every family on that route.  Some houses would be dark.  Others would be full of lights with people inside celebrating the coming of the baby Jesus.

The words of the song Silent Night gently echoed: “Silent night, Holy night. All is calm; All is bright.”

As we move closer to the celebration of Christmas this year, let us remember the role of the Holy Spirit – how the creator of all that exists became one of us through the Virgin Mary, and how we can experience God’s presence and saving grace at this very moment.

Do you experience God’s presence through the Holy Spirit?  If not, find a quiet place and invite him in.

“Do not be afraid; for behold, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all people.” (Luke 2:10)

These are the words of the angel who appeared to shepherds in the region of Bethlehem where Mary gave birth to Jesus.  The angel told the shepherds that Jesus had come for all people.

The “good news” was not just for the shepherds or the Jewish people, but for all people.  All people included the unbelieving and pagan world of the Roman and Greek cultures at the time.  It included the Magi, educated and wealthy, and believed to have come from Persia.

Jesus is everyone’s savior. 

The prophet Isaiah says that Jesus came for the lowly, the brokenhearted, the captives, those who mourn and grieve, and those who are in despair and darkness.  He says that Jesus wants to give them a crown of beauty and a garment of praise so that they may become oaks of righteousness. (Is. 61:1-3)

While Jesus walked this earth he did exactly what Isaiah said.  Today, he expects to continue to do this, but through us by the power of his Holy Spirit.

For us, “everyone” includes the check-out clerk in the grocery store, the telephone solicitor who we hang up on, the person at work who is difficult to get along with, the person asking for money at an intersection, the person who talks during church services or the children who can’t sit still.  “Everyone” includes those who think different politically than we do and even the terrorists who wish to do us harm.

Lord, when I see the people you put in my life, let me look upon them with the understanding that you came for them just as you came for me.  It doesn’t matter who they are, what their religion, race, position or financial status is.  Your offer of salvation and new life is available to them.  Let me use the occasion to introduce them to you through my conduct and words as you give me the opportunity. 

Do you look on the people you encounter in your life as people Jesus came for?

“He will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother’s womb, and he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God.” (Luke 1:15) These were the words of the angel Gabriel to Zachariah about the son that was to be born by his wife Elizabeth, whom we know as John the Baptist.  

What is significant about this is that God had not been speaking through prophesy to the people of Israel, nor pouring out his Holy Spirit for several centuries before Christ.  The Book of Joel, the last prophetic work in the Old Testament, was composed around 400 B.C., and foretold the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on all people at some future date.    

Gabriel is telling Zachariah that he and Elizabeth will have a son in their “old age” and that the son would immediately be filled with the Holy Spirit at his conception.  With the power of the Holy Spirit, John would prepare the people of Israel for the coming of God’s son, Jesus.

As we begin this season of Advent and Christmas, we should reflect on how privileged we are to be able to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit in baptism at an early age, just like John.  This is the same Holy Spirit that gave him the power to speak and bring the people of Israel to repentance, the same Holy Spirit that enabled Peter to bring three thousand people to repentance on the day of Pentecost, and the same Holy Spirit that enabled the apostles, Paul, and the early Christians to spread the faith against unbelievable odds and persecution.

If you are not currently experiencing the Holy Spirit in this way, invite Jesus to come and live in you, and ask him to release the power of the Holy Spirit that is in you through your baptism.  As Gabriel said to Mary, “nothing is impossible for God.”  (Luke 1:37)

Many years ago, I was invited by a priest to ask Jesus to take my sins, accept his forgiveness, and renew the Holy Spirit’s presence in me.  Jesus did, and my life was forever changed. 

As Jesus said to the disciples just before his ascension, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)  

Do you experience the Holy Spirit like John the Baptist, the apostles, and many Christians today?

Ask Jesus to fan into a flame the Holy Spirit that is in you through your baptism.

The Bible encourages us to be thankful to God at all times.  St. Paul encourages us to, “Give thanks in all circumstances.” (1Thessalonians 5:16) 

After Nehemiah led an effort to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem following their destruction by the Babylonians, he arranged for an elaborate dedication ceremony “to celebrate joyfully the dedication with songs of thanksgiving and with music of cymbals, harps and lyres.”  He said, “I assigned two large choirs to give thanks.  One was “to proceed to the top of the wall on the right…and the second choir proceeded in the opposite direction.” (Nehemiah 12:27 – 47)

In a couple of days we will observe a national holiday for the purpose of thanking God for the many blessings he has conferred upon our nation.  This follows a precedent established by some of the earliest Christian settlors to the shores of this continent. 

Why is thanksgiving important to us individually and collectively as a people?

First, it helps us to acknowledge that we are not in complete control, but in fact dependent upon someone other than ourselves for some of the positive things that happen to us in our lives.  Both God and others contribute to many of our blessings.  Even abilities and talents that we may attribute to ourselves are given to us by God, and we should acknowledge their true origins.

Second, it is God’s will for us to acknowledge him and to be thankful for his provision, for as Paul says, giving thanks “is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” (1 Thessalonians 5:16)   

Third, by acknowledging God and others with thanksgiving for our needs, “the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard our hearts and minds.” (Philippians 4:6)

Being thankful gets us out of ourselves, brings joy and peace to our hearts, and helps align our lives with God’s will.  I continually thank God for the life he has given me, for my wife of sixty years, our children, their spouses, and their children.  This Thanksgiving we are blessed that most of us will be together to share our many blessings from God and each other’s company.     

May we pause from our busyness this week to thank the creator of all that exists for his love and provision.