Peace To All

You can get your own weekly copy of this blog requesting it. Send me an email at barlowrw@yahoo.com.

Peace to All!

Then there was peace. Famous words from so many people. We even have them written in Judges 5:31. Today, I am not thinking of any of these but what I am experiencing as an individual just closing the book on Christmas 2006. The television and radio have started talking about all that has gone on this last year. Some of it is reminiscent of the bible talking about wars and rumors of wars etc. They talk about milestones, and accomplishments. There are the lists of those important people of this past year who are no longer with us. Some newscasters even talk about what we will miss about this year now ending.
Today I am enjoying peace. Our hectic lives catapult us through days and weeks. Weeks become months and before we know what has happened we have experienced a myriad of life changing moments. One thing is usually missing, peace. The Christmas rush is now part of the past week. Christmas morning has come and gone just like the wrapped presents now tucked away in the depths of our rooms. Leftovers are chilled in the refrigerator waiting for that left over meal, and outside on the deck we have six bags of refuse created from one day of activity.
Here I am, home enjoying peace. Peace that comes from two different places. The first is from the place of activity. Family and friends have come and gone. So great to see John and Ted. Haven’t seen Gary in a year. Now, they are all gone their separate ways. They have gone home, gone to work or gone Boxing Day shopping. With so many people around this past week, my brain was beginning to feel like it was spinning. Now, all is quiet. I have time to clean up and put things away for another year. Time to look out back and watch the squirrels and birds looking for dinner. Time to just sit and stare into space. Time to listen to the ticking of the clock, the sound of the furnace and the rain drops on the roof. Time to enjoy a peaceful moment.
The second peace I am relishing is in my heart. Thinking about the gifts we have given to others. Reliving in my mind the delight on their faces as they opened the box and peered at what was inside. We hope it is the right gift for the right person at the right moment in their lives. There is reassurance in our hearts as we see their expression. All is well. It is peace that comes when Christmas gives to all of us more then we could ever ask for. We have family, friends, gifts, dinner, conversation and chocolate. What more is there? It is a peace we experience after the dishes are done and everyone, totally satisfied sits around the livingroom enjoying the best thing of all, each others company.
There is one more peace we all enjoy and that is peace with God. Christ has come into our lives and purchasing for us, forgiveness. That is peace. Real peace. This last month as I prepared for my sermon dealing with peace, I realized the difference. One we get in life and the other we get in death. One helps us through the turmoil, and experiences of life. It can be related to the valleys and mountain tops of life. Like the disciples on the mountain when Jesus was meeting with Moses and Elijah. Time to pause if only for a moment before we descended to the valley of Golgotha. The other peace we feel and experience knowing God is with us even in those valleys. In spite of the valley, God gives to us a peace that comes from Jesus. His words, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives.”
Next year will be more or less just like this past year. It will be filled with all form of life experiences. As we look forward to another year, may we take a whole year to hear the words of Paul to the church at Philippi, “And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
Blessings to all. Happy New Year.
Robin

Merry Christmas

We Wish You A Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!
As this is the last Drumbo Baptist Church column of 2006, I would like to take this opportunity to wish all of you the Merriest of Christmas. It has been an amazing year and most of us can look back on 2006 with delight. So many things have happened in our lives. For some there have been new homes, new families, new babies and new experiences. Even when it hasn’t been the greatest we have learned from all our experiences and smiled just the same. Isn’t life a growing experience? Isn’t planning for the future an adventure?
Someone once said that the only time we stop going and growing is when we stop breathing. If you are reading this, you are still on the journey we call life. At this time of year we celebrate Christmas. It is more then a season and more then just wish others something. We all say it but do we mean it? Go ahead, think about it the next time you say it, “Merry Christmas.” What do you really mean by it? If you are a Christ follower, it will mean something entirely different then those who are doing Christmas. Sunday in church I asked everyone, are you doing Christmas or are you celebrating it?
That is really what the difference is all about. Yes, Christmas is a wonderful time when everyone puts aside their differences and gets along, if only for a few weeks a year. Don’t worry I am not going to get into the discussion about celebrating all year. But Christmas needs to be more. Again at church, I talked about there being a difference between Christmas externally and internally. Which do you celebrate?
This gets us back to, what does it mean when you say, “Merry Christmas.” Do we mean for the person we are giving greeting to that they will have a great old time? Will they party and have office or work parties? Do we want them to feel happy and glad? Merry is an interesting work in itself. When attached to the word Christmas it can just be a seasonal greeting. For the rest of the year we say, Hi, How ya doing? Quite sad if that is all it conveys. Here is Mr. Webster’s definition. 1 archaic: giving pleasure: DELIGHTFUL 2: full of gaiety or high spirits: MIRTHFUL 3: marked by festivity or gaiety. Now, try to connect that to that word Christmas. Here is my definition. When I say Merry Christmas to anyone, I want to wish for them a beautiful Christmas time away from the thoughts of the not so great times this past year. Maybe the English say it better, ‘Happy Christmas’.
The advent spells out all the things we need to hold dear in what we wish for each other. First we pursue HOPE. Not just a hope for eternity, even though that is important, but more so a hope of a renewal of our faith in God and our commitment to Him. PEACE comes next. This is a peace unknown to the world. It is a peace we experience only in our hearts. We are at peace with ourselves and with God. JOY is the next important element of Advent. Joy is something that erupts inside each and every one of us as we look beyond the trials and stresses of life. The joy of knowing God personally and knowing He cares for us. The final attribute of Christmas culminates in LOVE. As one builds on the other, we arrive at a place in life where no matter what happens, God ultimately knows what is best for us. We rest in Him.
Take time this year to celebrate each of these most wonderful gifts. And celebrate the most wonderful gift the world has been given, God’s Son, Jesus Christ. God has given all these gifts to each and every one of us. When we internalize all of them we can wish everyone a Very Merry Christmas . . . and mean it.
MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

What If?

What If? This can be one of the most revealing questions of our time. In actuality, it can be one of the most stirring questions ever. Each generation would be able to say, what if? What if Dr. Frederick Banting and Charles Best had not collaborated and had not come up with insulin? After all he did register as a divinity student in his first year at the University of Toronto. Wouldn’t our world be different? And how about Louis Pasteur and pasteurization of milk? Did you know that he studied art and wanted to be a painter?
What if DiVinci had never been born? Following his life you would think his greatest accomplishments were in art. But would we still have the helicopter or tanks or even solar power? Would this world be the same if there were no villains and heroes?
You may think this far fetched because in actuality we take most all of them for granted. They came into this world, performed their duty if you will and then died leaving others to carry on where they left off. We praise those who have contributed to our society with plaques and monuments. The more important by the worlds standards, we remember for thousands of years. Those who have not added much to society are soon forgotten in a generation or two. Does anyone know who Thomas Hornor or Thomas Watson were?
Most of the time we celebrate their existence and their contribution with yearly celebrations. This has not always happened. Do you think people 50 years after Di Vinci died had an anniversary for him? Not likely. But one person is always remembered. And that person is Jesus Christ.
What if He had never come? What if the world was still waiting for a saviour? What if we really don’t need that saviour? If He had never come we would not have Christmas and peace, joy to you. There would be no 6 weeks of shopping for gifts, no holly and the ivy, no carols to sing, no cards to write, no nothing. Just a cold bleak winter to endure. But He did and He does. And each Christmas we celebrate His coming to earth. Year after year, generation after generation we come to Christmas just long enough to remember Him.
What would our world be like if there was no God? If there was no ideal or role model to look up to? What would we be living up to? There have been times in history when the world appeared to be falling apart. Many times it has been called civil war and people do what they want. The outcome is not pretty. There are no laws, no peace and nothing is safe. I believe that it is the presence of God in our lives that keep this world on track. He is here and He holds it all together. What if? This year, our North American culture will celebrate Christmas, even without knowing Him. Two thousand years have gone by. Year after year the world stops, if only for one day, to celebrate the birth of the Jewish baby of Bethlehem.
There are people out there who maybe only come to church once or twice a year. I don’t care if you only come once, because in coming you tell me volumes. Let this Christmas be the year you come and pray, thanking God for sending Jesus. Because in celebrating Christmas you are recognizing God is still in control and He is still in your heart.
Rob
PS. If you want to know, Thomas Watson and his cousin started the town of Princeton Ontario and naming it after Hornor’s hometown of Princeton NJ.

I'll Be Home For Christmas

Those Wise Men sure started something, didn’t they? We could call them the first Christmas travelers. Now that I think of it, maybe it was Joseph? Actually the scriptures tell it was all the fault of Caesar Augustus. Here are the words found in Luke 2. “And everyone went to his own town to register” in the census. There, now we know who is to blame for all this traveling at Christmas time.
We’ve come a long way from those times. Imagine what is would be like in this world if we were to return to the family hometown to have the census taken. I mean, really, all the government wants us to do is, fill out a little card, put it in an envelop and send it back. That was simple. Well, except for the people who forgot about it and received another note from the government. This was followed quickly with the phone call and then the threat of legal action. I know, because my neighbour experienced all three.
But getting back to the Wise Men. They were travelers on a mission. They knew something and wanted to check things out. Today, to find out any of this stuff, all we have to do is check the internet, buy a plane ticket, drive to the airport, rent a car at the other end and drive to the Church of the Nativity. For those who want to be in Bethlehem this year, it might take you between sixteen or seventeen hours. But this was not then.
We know little of these men. They were called Magi. This is a specific occupational title referring to the priestly caste of a distorted form of Zoroastrianism. As part of their religion, these priests paid particular attention to the stars, or astrologists. So, we know they were smart (read wise) and educated. We also know they were men of means because of the gifts they brought, gold, frankincense and myrrh. A funny thing about this is, they probably brought more then three but they only listed the most important ones. You know the camel thing? Nobody knows that either. Could have been horses, or they could even have walked from what we today call Iran. After all it took some time for them to arrive.
Long time to arrive. Today in our society we want instant everything. Fast food, express lanes at the grocery store and at the border. Forget about money, just swipe the card and let me get going. I was in the store a few days back and here was a mother trying to extricate her darling child from the toy department. He wanted a toy. She explained there were only four weeks until Christmas and he might get it then. No, not good enough for him, “I want it NOW!” Another story, I’ll make it brief. I heard a couple of families tell me they open all their gifts on Christmas Eve. What! Ask a mother if she can give birth a day early.
Here is Mary traveling on a donkey, nine months’ pregnant. Don’t you think she would have rather been home waiting and then traveling after Jesus was born? Even the airlines won’t let “great with child” moms on the plane.
Doesn’t matter who started it, we all love going home. There are those who will actually do it. For many it is only a trip we take in our minds. This past summer I decided to drive around and take pictures of all the homes I have ever lived in. While standing at each house, I remembered when it was home to us. This Christmas, travel home. Go see family and friends. Talk to old neighbours. But do like Mary and Joseph, go home to your family because familys most important of all. On your way, sing along.
I'll be home for Christmas
You can plan on me
Please have snow and mistletoe
And presents on the tree

Christmas Eve will find me
Where the lovelight gleams
I'll be home for Christmas
If only in my dreams