Advent - Move or Sit?

The Advent season is a reminder to be ready for Christmas, and I need the reminder! Sometimes it feel that in "family culture" there is not a good time to slow down, and Christmas would pass us right by if we were not looking for it. (We have a pretty cool advent calendar to do with the kids to show the story of Christmas.) And it seems that our consumer culture would have us know Christmas is here, but for all the wrong reasons. Two commercials stood out to me around Black Friday: One was a commercial by Verizon with a line like, "Forget Thanksgiving, be ready for Thanks-getting!" and the other was a closing line by Best Buy speaking of all the tech gifts one can buy, "They won't just love them, they'll love you!" One cannot just buy Christmas, or its meaning!

As I read Matthew 2 I was thinking about the wise men's visit to the newborn Jesus. We do not know much, but these guys traveled from the east and were astronomers, scholars, thinkers. Some assume from Babylon (and the influence of Daniel) and a famous hymn tells us there were three (though no number is in the text). Their studies led them on a far journey to investigate a star where they worshiped the Lord. These guys were amazing - all that observing and learning led them on the journey of a lifetime. They were willing to go. They went! They found Jesus! I hope the same for me, in my thinking, in my life.

 Though it is the other scholars that made me think. It seems like at this point in the story, everyone in Jerusalem is waiting for a Messiah and they know He will be born in Bethlehem. The wise men visit and Herod is asking, yet no one moves! Herod does, but it was for all the wrong reasons. The others? They knew the scriptures and they did not go. Not with the wise men and not on their own. That is what caught my attention. Did they want to study more? Were they not convinced? Perhaps they were, but did not want to travel. Or maybe be seen traveling? Or just something else. The answer is on the tip of their tongue and the Messiah a few miles away - and they did not go. Exactly the opposite of what I hope for me, in my resolution, in my life.

It is good we have Advent and I must keep setting aside time to ponder Christmas. Rejoice in Christmas. Look forward to Christmas. Teach my kids about Christmas. In Miah's preschool last week, her teacher asked them, "What is the best thing about Christmas?" Many students said things like "presents," which is pretty safe answer, and quite understandable as most of the class is four : ) Though Miah said, "Jesus is the best thing" (or "it's Jesus' birthday") and her teacher was happy, as were her parents, and I think those magi would have bene too. Being wise is not just sitting around with the thoughts of the day locking us in place, or to have a lot of knowledge and doing nothing with it. Real wise men (and wise little daughters) are willing to move; to go find Jesus at Christmas!

Noble Roberts

I've heard that back in 70's and 80's a large number of kids would want to be astronauts when they grew up because of the heroes they saw during the Space Race. That has dwindled in recent years, with our lack of manned space exploration and  push for STEM education in America. Other jobs have held kids interest like "doctor", "teacher", "policeman", "fireman", perhaps because of their nobility as careers.

Sometimes Hugh talked about being a police man when he grew up, which is a noble choice and a  personal chance to stop robbers, I suppose. Thankfully stealing is one of the few crimes Hugh knows about. One day on the way to school the news was on, and there was a story of a shootout between police officers and some people in a warehouse. One of the cops was injured, and Hugh double checked that story,

"Did the police get shot?"
Jess replied he did.
"How?"
Jess explained that the bad guys were also shooting at the police officers.

Hugh thought a moment, and said, "I don't want to be a policeman any more." How our career aspirations change! No less noble, maybe just not for everyone : )

When Hugh was five he played a game on our tablet where a Lego policeman caught Lego robbers - and you knew they were robbers because they wore black and white striped shirts and black baklavas : ) Hugh called these guys "roberts", which was adorable, and knew they were the bad guys. He liked catching the bad guys in the game, though I was impressed with his nightly prayers on this matter. One night he started praying "that the roberts would stop stealing" and I'm glad he knew that stealing wasn't a good thing to do. A few days later he changed his prayer to one of social justice, that "the roberts would stop stealing and give back all the things they took." Yes! What a great day that will be indeed. I hope Hugh keeps praying noble prayers, and his career aspirations can come later : )