good will toward men

In the prayer of presence for the third week of Advent I am reminded that everything around me "is tingling with the presence of God." Why "tingling"?

If God is present everywhere, that should be cause for fear. At least, that's how we motivate kids who still believe in Santa: "he knows if you've been bad or good, so be good for goodness' sake".

Unless. Unless the message of the angels is true. Unless God is really full of good will toward men (and women). That's a thought that makes me tingle. God is not a cosmic killjoy, a galactic Scrooge that hates it when people are having a good time. He genuinely desires for us to have the best, to know true love and joy.

The problem is that we do not have good will toward God. Or toward each other. We are constantly sabotaging our Creator's designs for our own fulfillment.

So He sent a savior. And he sent angels to announce it. To remind us again that he is full of good will toward us. Even when we are so lacking in good will that we would kill Him.

peace on earth

When we think of peace we usually think of quiet. I certainly do, especially when my 5, 7, and 9 year olds are yelling and screaming, which is their way of showing that they're enjoying themselves.

But on that Palestinian hillside in the first century AD, I don't think the "great company of the heavenly host" was very quiet as they praised God and announced "peace on earth." Peace isn't necessarily quiet. Peace (shalom in Hebrew) is when all things are as they should be, working in perfect harmony.

It reminds me of singing in a sing-along Messiah last Monday night. The Hallelujah Chorus is fun to sing (we sang it twice) but my favorite chorus is the final Amen. It's got lots of counterpoint, i.e., the different voices are singing very different lines and it's all weaving around in what can be a very confusing mishmash of melodies. Until you get to the end when everything begins to resolve. You can hear the light at the end of the tunnel (how's that for a mixed metaphor!) and then suddenly the final measures are upon you, with all of the orchestra, including the brass, playing in full support of the voices as the glory of those last drawn-out chords hangs in the air. I felt like I was floating on those chords, drawn up to heaven (and losing my voice by over singing).

That's God's peace: everything working together in a great crescendo of harmony, beautifully fitting together at full volume. It's life lived to the full and as it was designed to be lived, full throttle and yet effortlessly. My kids would love it.

magazine covers

I've just come from meeting with my men's growth group. We were talking about money, based on Richard Foster's book "The challenge of the disciplined life: money, sex and power". Is having money important in our society? One of the group pointed out that you never see a picture of a poor person on the cover of a magazine. Imagine how different our thoughts and feelings would be as we waited in line at the check out counter if there were pictures of poor people looking back at us from the magazine racks instead of wealthy, famous, good-looking people. We'd feel better about ourselves, there'd be less coveting and lusting, we wouldn't be as competitive, we might just get along better. But magazine publishers wouldn't make much money.