2006 has been a difficult year for me personally. I was finally forced to face a number of physical and emotional issues (many were interdependent) and take steps necessary to correct them.
Recently I have decided to take the advice of my therapist and let some things go. As you can tell from the infrequent posts here, one of them was this blog. I'm not 'out of business,' but my light blogging has been a measure necessary to allow me to get many other things under control.
Last year, I posted a series of Christmas scripture excerpts. If you haven't read Luke's account of the birth of Christ in a while, please take a moment to read them:
An Angel Apppears Before The Shepherds
The Reason For Christ - Prophetic Visions of the New Kingdom
Two weeks ago, I wrote a piece for our church newsletter about Joseph, husband of Mary. I am including it below the page fold if you would like to read it.
May everyone have a joyous and blessed Christmas season, and may the grace and peace of God surround you in the coming year.
Merry Christmas everyone. See you all next year.
(Click the extended section link if you would like to read my piece on Joseph.)
He was a descendant of the house of David, a just and righteous young man who followed the commandments and treated others with respect. He should have led a life free from major conflicts and turmoil, blessed by a loving wife, children, and abundant opportunities to
provide a decent livelihood for his family; the kind of life that all righteous men hope for.
But God had other plans for Joseph.
Because of his righteousness, Joseph was delivered into perilous situations that he could not have fully understood, and over which he had virtually no control.
Instead of peace, his righteousness brought him the shame of a pregnant fiancee and a strenuous journey to a distant city where he and Mary, both nearly penniless and with no close
relatives to care for them, suffered the indignity of delivering their child in a manger. A jealous monarch forced Joseph and his family to flee Bethlehem in order to save the life of his newborn
son. He and his family lived as aliens in the land of Egypt until it was safe for them to return to Nazareth.
Why should such a righteous man suffer so much hardship? Perhaps because he was the right man for the job.
Chapter one of Matthew's gospel describes Joseph as "a just man, and unwilling to put [Mary] to shame." He refused to bolster his own righteousness by humiliating someone else. In a land dominated by corruption and a culture where religious leaders exploited the shame
of the helpless in order to sustain their own spirituality, this was not an insignificant decision. By shielding Mary from the full consequences of the law, Joseph's actions anticipated the grace that
Jesus Christ himself would later exemplify.
Joseph also possessed a remarkable ability to heed God's calling without complaint. The gospel of Matthew tells us of three occasions where God directed Joseph through dreams. He wilfully obeyed the word of the Lord, and in doing so he risked the ridicule of his peers, the hardships of travel, and the dangers of living as an alien in a foreign land with a young wife, a newborn infant, and only the few possessions that they could carry with them.
I believe that Joseph's faith in God was refined and strengthened by these tests. He emerged from the hardships of Jesus' birth and early life as both a loving parent and a tireless and respected servant of God.
I wonder, how often have I missed an opportunity to receive the gift of spiritual growth simply because I feared making choices where the outcome was unclear, even though I felt like they were the right thing to do?
Humility and obedience to God's will were what made Joseph the right man to help bring God's ultimate plan into being. This Advent season, let us pray that with God's help, each one of us will use these two virtues on a daily basis as tools to further his Kingdom.
Hey, it's about time you updated your blog.
Posted by: Stacy L. Harp | December 27, 2006 at 09:43 PM