When I was a kid, my brothers and I would sometimes have arguments that involved the escalation of physical violence. If I hit my brother, he would hit me back, not once but twice. While hitting me, he would say, “Once for doing it, and once to get you back.” If I did the same to him using the same reasoning, I could hit him four times. He could then retaliate by hitting me eight times. We never made it that far, but after thirty rounds, if we persisted, we would be hitting each other more than a million times.

The act of retaliation is rarely equivalent to the act that provoked it. If soldiers from one country kill 25 civilians in another country, the second country might retaliate by killing 28 civilians in the first country. That escalation of retaliation is a lot slower than what my brothers and I practiced, but there is still escalation. Eventually both sides will end up annihilating each other, if retaliation is allowed to continue.

In the Old Testament, we see laws that follow the rule, “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” From our perspective, we might find these laws rather harsh, but historians tell us that these laws were remarkably more just and fair than most of the law codes of that era. For example, in many legal systems, a rich person, if he received a minor cut on his leg at the hands of a poor person, could retaliate by stabbing the poor person in the belly. And, if a poor person lost his hand because a rich person cut it off, that poor person could do nothing. The legal code of the Bible said that regardless of status, someone who received a minor cut from another could go not escalate the injury, on the one hand, and on the other hand, no one was except from retribution. We would say that this kind of law is just and fair. Jesus took this law a little further and said that if someone should happen to slap us in the face, we should turn the other cheek so that they can slap us again. (Matthew 5:38ff). What Jesus is suggesting is not completely fair, but in a completely opposite way of what is normally practiced when there is elevated retaliation. Jesus himself practiced this when he was arrested and crucified. He could have retaliated, but he allowed his oppressors to take his dignity, his possessions, and his life. He turned the other cheek, although he was fully able to annihilate those who took his life, and he could have done so with a snap of his fingers.

As our culture moves rapidly away from its Judeo-Christians roots, we see it returning to the pre-Old Testament situation. In some reading I have been doing about the “wokeism” I have discovered that escalating retaliation is become an acceptable way of dealing with problems. Wokeism has been around for more than half a century, but its manifestation has changed rapidly over the last decade or so. When wokeism (probably not identified by that name at that time) first came on the scene, it was a movement in which those who had fewer opportunities because of their skin colour, gender, or ethnicity asked that these inequalities be removed. Affirmative action resulted in laws which were meant to limit or possibly eliminate discrimination. As Christians we must affirm the early efforts of those who identified themselves as “woke,” because we recognize that all people bear the image of God and all people must be treated fairly.

Wokeism continued to develop, and instead of simply raising awareness and calling for change in laws and attitude, became much more militant. Wokeism today encourages people to identify as being oppressed (and there seems to be a race to become the most oppressed) and then encourages people to fight against their perceived oppressors by fighting back. In order to achieve equity, however, one must do more than just fight to become equal; one must fight to conquer and overcome and overpower. Thus, it became the practice in some institutions to give priority in hiring practices to those who are identified as “oppressed,” while ignoring someone who might be equally or better qualified. On a more militant level, it is common practice to identify certain segments of the population as “oppressors” simply because of their skin colour or gender. Even saying something negative about those who identify as “oppressed” earns one the label of “bigot.” Hate language laws tend to side with those who identify as “oppressed,” and if the same language is used against someone who is perceived as an “oppressor” nothing is said. What has happened is that the very values identified as being problematic by wokeism have become the tools used by wokeism today. What has changed is not the culture but the ones who are the oppressors and the oppressed.

By moving away from Judeo-Christian values, retaliation becomes an acceptable way to respond to oppressors.

Now, before we all start pointing the fingers at others, we also might pause and think about what is happening in the United States. President Trump signed a number of executive orders in which he hopes will change the direction of the United States. Many Christians, along with large segments of the population, hail his signatures as being a big step in the right direction. But is what he is doing too big of a step? To put it another way, is his reaction (fueled by the desires of many Americans) a “once for doing it, once to get you back” approach? Is his response an escalation of retaliation? I don’t know enough of the facts to pass judgement, but from the rhetoric I hear, there is a strong sense that the right needs to take back what it perceives it has lost, and it is willing to go to great extremes to do so. If someone is acting in this way, is this not also playing by the same rules as radical wokeism?

We must carefully consider the teachings of Scripture. The Old Testament says that we may take an eye for an eye and a tooth for tooth, but we may go no further. We might call this fair retaliation (not escalated retaliation). Jesus won’t allow for even that as he calls us to turn the other cheek, allowing ourselves to be oppressed and even abused as a witness to God’s grace. It seems that it might be a good time for those who name themselves as followers of Jesus Christ to take a hard look at Matthew 5:38ff and ask ourselves how we can best respond to the situation we find ourselves in today.

Some are saying (or at least hoping) that the pendulum has started swinging the other way, and they are happy to give it a little push to get it swinging faster. But so doing, it could well swing far too far the other way, creating a whole new set of problems. The pendulum, we might say, is what is happening in this world. But citizens of the Kingdom of God have been called out of this world, and we are called to a new way. The act of turning the other cheek stops the pendulum from swinging altogether. It puts a damper on escalating retaliation and stops it in its tracks.

As the values of Judeo-Christianity rapidly disappear from the western value system, as followers of Jesus Christ, we have a duty to maintain the values of Jesus and not participate in the ways of the world. I don’t know what that looks like, exactly, but to me it does not take the form of retaliation. If I read my Bible correctly, the Christian response ought to be one of humility and sacrifice, and I hope to learn what that looks like for us in our current situation. Perhaps we can think about this together.

On Monday, I had a flat tire on each of my vehicles. My wife couldn’t go to work until her car was fixed, and I borrowed a friend’s car for a few hours until I could get my tire repaired. Thankfully we have repair shops in town, and everything worked out well.

A few hours later, I was checking my emails, and I noticed that one of the emails was an advertisement for an air compressor specifically designed to inflate tires. How did they know that I had a flat tire? I don’t know how technology works, but I did use my phone, and I mentioned that I had a flat tire to someone else. I’m guessing that somehow that somewhere along the line, the words, “flat tire,” were heard by a computer which fed the information to into the “system,” and the company that sells air compressors somehow had access to my email and sent me the advertisement. Either that or the advertisement for an air compressor was completely random, and the company happened to send me the advertisement just when I needed it. It may have been random, but I suspect that it was not. I suspect that there are computers listening to our conversations and picking up key words and phrases which are then sent on to businesses who see an opportunity to make a sale.

We have a lot of discussions about privacy and the like, and for many the idea that someone (or most probably, something) is listening to us can be a little frightening. After all, we don’t want everyone knowing our business. Personally, however, I am not particularly disturbed by the whole thing because I am one of more than 8 billion people who inhabit this planet, and I am a fairly insignificant person, in fact, and I don’t feel targeted. True, nefarious people, governments or companies could use information they collect to harm me, but I don’t think I am worth anyone’s while to specifically single me out. Still, the fact that a company was trying to sell me an air compressor just when I might have needed it was a little unnerving.

But at least someone was listening. Someone was concerned about my plight. Two flat tires in one morning (one of the coldest mornings of the winter, thus far) isn’t pleasant, and someone wanted to help. (Again, they wanted to help for their own profit, but at least they were listening.) Someone heard about my need, and they wanted to do something about it. Someone was listening.

Listening is important. Until about 25 years ago, cargo ships had radio officers. The radio officer was responsible for all communication to and from the ship, and before modern technology was made available, his job required significant training. With the advent of satellite phones and the like the radio officer is no longer required, and the position has been eliminated from most cargo ships. But when they were still required, the radio officer had his own room, the radio room, and in the radio room there was a clock, and that clock had four shaded areas, each 3 minutes apiece. Beginning at each quarter hour, for three minutes the radio officer was required to maintain radio silence and tune their own radio to a set frequency. During those three minutes, he was to listen so that if there was a ship in peril, he would hear distress calls. If the radio officer heard a distress call, he could inform the captain who would then set out to rescue the crew. When a ship was in distress, the crew could be comforted with the fact that someone was listening to their call for help.

It is good to know when someone is listening. This past Sunday, after the service (I was preaching in another church) a local chaplain spoke about her work as she visited several nursing homes. She said that a big part of her job was listening. One of the biggest challenges for elderly people, she said, was that they were lonely, and they felt that no one was interested in engaging them in real conversation. Most of the conversations an elderly person may have make them feel like they are talked at rather than talked with, and they felt that no one was listening. This chaplain explained how she had to learn how to listen, and listening sometimes takes a great deal of effort. Truly listening, hearing what someone else has to say did not come easily for her. It doesn’t come easily for a lot of people.

But it is good feeling when someone truly listens to us. When someone listens, we feel as if we belong, as if we have significance, as if we matter. Most of us probably need to learn to listen more and listen better.

But we have a God who does listen. God doesn’t snatch random parts of a conversation and offer us a quick fix. (I didn’t need an air compressor; I needed a better pair of gloves as I took the tire off the vehicle.) God doesn’t just listen for three minutes every quarter hour. God doesn’t even have to work at listening as most of us do. God simply listens, and he knows what is going on in our lives, and he also knows what we need. God is always listening, and we can be sure that he actually hears us not only when we pray but always.

We don’t have the right to privacy when it comes to God. God hears everything, not only the things we say, but also the things we think. God is listening to us, and he responds to us and provides us with what we need. And he knows what it is that we truly need, and he will provide for us because he has committed himself to doing so.

God is listening, and that is a good thing. He listens because he loves us, even when we aren’t speaking to him. He listens to our lives, and he responds in a way that is right and good. At least someone is listening.

A number of years ago I had the privilege of attending a pastors’ coffee group that met every Wednesday from 9:00 to 10:00. We never gathered early, and we never stayed beyond 10:00 out of respect for the commitments others may have made. When I first joined that group, we would often have an assigned reading upon which we would reflect for the hour, but gradually that fell by the wayside, and we gathered just to talk. We were all pastors in the Christian Reformed Church (with one exception, a pastor from the Reformed Church of America). Some of us were serving in churches while others served in chaplaincy, and a number of our group were retired. We represented a variety of different perspectives, and our churches were quite different from each other with respect to style of worship and demographics.

But, I discovered quite quickly, there was a mutual respect among the pastors of that group, and we also committed ourselves to keeping confidential anything that was said in confidence. Thus, we could feel free to speak our minds and trust that what we said would not go beyond the room, and we could also trust that when others responded, it was always done from a position of respect and caring.

Of all opportunities for growth and learning, this pastors’ group was the one that influenced me the most, and I grew more from attending that gathering almost consistently for about seven years that I did from all my years of formal education. (I also recognize that I needed the formal education in order to be able to participate in the conversations.) I did not always agree with the other pastors gathered around that table, nor did they agree with me, but we learned together, and we grew together.

Often times we hear people say that they feel most comfortable in places where they are not judged. I understand the sentiment, but I do not think that we should always seek those situations. Certainly this pastors’ gathering was not a place where there was no judgement. In fact, we felt quite comfortable disagreeing with each other and openly challenging each other. Some might have even perceived that we were judging each other, and it might not have felt like a safe place to some. Yet, I and perhaps all of the others in attendance did not feel unsafe or vilified. True, our perspectives and even our values came under the scrutiny of others, and that was not always comfortable, but it was always safe.

It was safe because of the parameters of the group. As I mentioned earlier, we kept confidentiality when necessary and we respected each other. We were able to share what was on hearts, knowing that others would evaluate us, challenge us, and even call for change. In a sense, we were judged, but we were judged by people who cared.

My wife and I had a similar experience with an older couple who became our friends and mentors. The woman was the kind of person who spoke her mind, and she did so very clearly. She was not always diplomatic, and she had strong opinions that she voiced without hesitation. She had some clear opinions about our lives, and sometimes she made us uncomfortable. Nevertheless, we visited often, and we listened to her, sometimes disagreeing with her, but we always appreciated her input. Why? Because we knew that she had our best interests in mind. We appreciated her judgement about how we were living our lives.

It does seem that for many today, not being judged is the highest ideal. They won’t associate with anyone who might dare say something about their lives or beliefs. As soon as their perspective or lifestyle is challenged, they withdraw, sometimes openly condemning the one who challenged them. The highest value placed on us today is to be free from the judgement of others.

Sadly, when we avoid situations where others might say something about us, we are also missing out on the opportunity to grow. Yes, we do want to avoid situations where others want to condemn us instead of wanting us to grow, for their intentions are evil. However, if we never want anyone to comment on our lives or our values or our beliefs, we will be giving up significant opportunities to become better people. To not be open to the judgment of others is to shortchange ourselves.

I must confess that I miss those gatherings every Wednesday morning. I miss the camaraderie, and I miss the conversations. But most of all, I miss being able to talk together about important things, perhaps laying our souls bare in an environment where I knew that I might receive negative feedback but also in an environment where I knew that those who gave it cared enough to want me to become a better person. I would rather be among those who judge me with the intent of helping me than be among those who affirm me because they don’t want to offend me. The former is helpful even though it may be difficult while the latter is comfortable but not very beneficial.

I grew up about 3 kilometers from Highway 23, just to the east of a small village. For those who live in the Nobleford area, you might wonder how that could be. I grew up in Ontario, and there is a Highway 23 there as well, and it is about as busy as our Highway 23.

When I say “Highway 23” that means something completely different to people from Nobleford than it does to people from Atwood, the small village I named as home. While they have the same name, they are different roads, and to think that they are the same would be to make a big mistake. You cannot get to Atwood from the Alberta Highway 23.

Some years ago, I took a course on Islam, and one of the questions that was asked was this: is Allah the same God as the Lord, the Christian God. People have made the claim that Jews, Muslims, and Christians all worship the same God, although we understand him differently. After all, both Christianity and Islam have their roots in Judaism. Islam, further, recognizes that Jesus lived on this earth, and they claim that he was a great religious leader. Muslims respect Jesus, although they believe that he was not God’s final revelation, but they believe that Mohammed had the final and greatest revelation from God and that all what he says supersedes everything that came before. Because these three religions have the same roots, many have claimed that these three religions speak of the same God.

But there is a problem. When I say that I grew up near Highway 23, I mean a very different thing than what you might hear me saying. To say that the highways are the same would be misleading. While there are many similarities, to say that they are the same thing would lead to all sorts of problems. Atwood, which is located about 40 km from the north end of Highway 23 is not where we would expect it to be should we travel south and east of High River. And we would not be able to find Vulcan on the Ontario Highway 23. While we might use the same name for different roads, that does not make them the same road. Similarly, even while Allah and the Lord are both referred to as God, they are not the same God.

We might find a parallel between Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and Christians. All three religions speak about Jesus, and if you would listen to a Mormon speak about Jesus, for example, it might sound like he is referring to the same person. When you dig a little deeper, however, it will become evident that in neither Mormonism nor in the Watchtower Society (Jehovah’s Witnesses) is Jesus considered to be God. They do not believe in the Trinity while Christians do. Further, probing a little deeper, we discover that in neither Mormonism nor the Watchtower Society is Jesus the Saviour, at least not in the way we understand him to be our Saviour. They have defined Jesus to be someone different from the Jesus we know.

The conclusion, then, must be this: while different religions may use the same terminology, they are not referring to the same thing. To believe in the Jesus as defined by the Watchtower Society will not result in salvation. In contrast, to believe in Jesus as defined by Christianity, which uses the Bible as its only source of inspiration, will result in salvation, both now and for eternity. In fact, salvation is fully dependent on our understanding of who Jesus is. To understand him differently is to put our salvation in jeopardy.

The Athanasian Creed (one of the three creeds of our church, in addition to the Apostles’ Creed and the Nicene Creed) is also one of the least read and studied of the three creeds. It’s the longest, and it tends to feel somewhat repetitive when you read it. It’s an old creed (probably not written by Athanasius although attributed to him), and its content comes to us from a lengthy discussion held by the church in its early years. The Christian church wanted to have a clear statement regarding both the Trinity in general and specifically Jesus Christ who is God incarnate (God made flesh). Responding to some rather troublesome statements about Jesus, the early church studied Scripture deeply and came up with the statements that we find in the Athanasian Creed, statements which Jews, Muslims, Mormons, and Jehovah’s witnesses do not believe. As the creed concludes, it says that “one cannot be saved without believing it (the creed) firmly and faithfully.” There was good reason, then, that the church spent so much time arriving at a careful definition of who God is: salvation was at stake. If we make Jesus into someone he is not, we cannot be saved, implies the Creed, and that is a horrible thought.

Today people tend to avoid thinking too deeply about the definitions that were once so all-important. We tend to avoid theology and rather want to think more about behaviour. In many Christian traditions, there is almost no mention of theology and much talk about living rightly. It’s not that living rightly should not be a major topic of discussion for Christians, but living a proper lifestyle does not save us. Only Jesus saves, and we need to know who Jesus is in order to believe in him. If we misunderstand who Jesus is, we will be believing in someone other than Jesus (even if he has the same name), and we cannot be saved.

Thankfully, we do not need to know all the finest details of who Jesus is to be saved. We don’t need a doctorate in theology to ensure that we have all the right information. We can put our faith in Jesus without knowing everything about him. Still, we should be sure that what we think we know is true. And, again, thankfully, we can know what is true because we have our Triune God’s revelation of himself, a revelation that is found in Scripture.

We also have the advantage of being able to draw upon the hard work of others. Creeds like the Athanasian Creed are helpful for us in understanding who our Triune God is, and we would do well to review that creed from time to time. After all, if we do not believe in the God of Scripture (on which the Athanasian Creed is based), we are in danger of not being saved. You can’t get to Atwood on the Alberta Highway 23, and you shouldn’t expect to be able to do so. But you can get to Vulcan or Nobleford or Monarch. And if that is where you want to go, then you had better be on the right highway.

There is a story (perhaps true, but I cannot confirm it) of a church that was taken to court. The story goes like this: a businessman in the community had decided to open an adult entertainment store, something that outraged the Christians of that community. They gathered for prayer, asking that God intervene in some way so that store would have to close. A few days after the prayer meeting, a fault in the wiring caused a fire, and the store burned to the ground. The owner of the store took the church to court, demanding that the members of that congregation pay reparations. The congregation vehemently denied that anyone from their congregation had anything to do with the fire.

The judge listened to the two sides as they presented their cases, and after they had their say, he made the following statements. Turning to the businessman, he said, “You have testified that you do not believe that God cares what you do, and yet, you are accusing these Christians of collaborating with God in the closure of your store? How can you blame the Christians if God does not care what goes on in this world?” Turning to the Christians, he said, “You say that you believe that God intervenes in this world to answer prayer, and yet you deny having any part in the fire that destroyed the store? How can you say that when you prayed to your God and asked for his intervention?” I don’t recall how the story ended, whether the church had to pay reparations of not, but I suspect that the judge dismissed the lawsuit saying that he could not make a ruling.

The judge made a good point. If people truly believe that God does not exist, they cannot blame Christians when their prayers are answered. On the other hand, if people truly believe that God exists and that he does answer our prayers, we cannot say that we had no part in what happens.

There are many people in the world who say that God does not exist (or doesn’t care about our world) but when it comes down to it, they live as if he does. When difficulty strikes, we find them seeking divine intervention. When a loved one dies, they immediately speak of that person as “being in a better place,” meaning heaven, and there cannot be a heaven unless there is someone beyond us who made it. It is tremendously hard to be a true atheist because there is built in all of us a sense that we are not alone in this universe, and there is a hope that there is more to life than we see.

On the other hand, there are many who say that God does exist and live without much hope that he will intervene in their lives or in the lives of those around them. They live as if God won’t answer prayer, and they feel they have to take things in their own hands first. Perhaps we are among them, first seeking all the human help we can find before turning to God in prayer. Sometimes even our prayers are not prayed with much faith.

I find myself to be in this category. A number of years ago, a man came to the Bible study I was attending. He was not a Christian although he knew what it took to become one. Although not a follower of Jesus Christ, he was convinced that God would intervene in our lives if the right person asked. He came to us and said, “I need divine intervention because my life is falling apart, and my wife has left me, and I have no hope. Please pray for me.” We gathered together as members of the Bible Study, serious Christians all of us, and as we bowed our heads to pray, I remember thinking, “But will God really answer our prayer, or is this a waste of time?” I was a little ashamed of my thoughts, but they were real.

I was even more ashamed of my lack of faith when, a few months later, this same man returned to our Bible study and joyfully proclaimed that his wife had returned and that his life was coming back to order. God had answered our prayers, even when I didn’t believe that he would. (I did believe that God could, but I think I doubted that he would.) Again, I was a little embarrassed and I was glad that I had kept my earlier doubts to myself.

I have come to appreciate the phrase that this man used to describe God acting: divine intervention. God intervening in this world. God doing real and concrete things. God at work, providing for us in wonderful ways.

I often recall this story of the man who, although he did not believe in Jesus, believed firmly that God had not forgotten us, that he wasn’t a distant, cold God. He believed in a God who saw our needs and responded to our cries for help. He believed in a God who is also our tender and loving Father and who does not turn a deaf ear or a blind eye.

I also think of the story of the members of the congregation who were reluctant to admit their part in the destruction of the immorality that had moved among them. Their denial of playing any role was not a strong testimony to their relationship with their God. They were not faithful witnesses. Of course, even if the judge had allowed the lawsuit to go forward, it would have been easy to lay the blame on the mouse who had chewed through the wiring. It would have been more difficult to explain why the store had burned shortly after the prayer meeting without admitting that God does intervene in this world and has something to say about what we do with our lives. There does seem to be some causation here and not mere correlation. That could not have been proved in the court, but at least the Christians could have talked about answered prayer and joyfully shared how they were seeing God at work.

Sometimes there is something we can learn from people who profess not to believe. We who trust God with our lives can be reminded that God does intervene in this world, and he does so to advance his purposes and bless his people. We can also be faithful witnesses to the fact that when we need divine intervention, God is ready and willing to intervene. May we be faithful witnesses to God’s intervention in this world and his grace to us in Jesus Christ, the ultimate “divine intervention” that has changed our lives forever.

The lyrics of the song, Happy Birthday, were written in the early 1900s, set to a tune which had been around for less than 50 years. Birthday cakes with candles were unheard of until the 1800s because the ingredients for such a luxury were too expensive for the common person to buy. It wasn’t until the 1800s, after the industrial revolution had begun and manufacturing processes were streamlined, that the common person could afford a birthday cake. While it is true that some of the very rich and powerful did celebrate their birthdays, until less than two centuries ago, gathering for a birthday party for anyone but the most rich and powerful was unheard of. The only birthdays which were recognized were those of the ones who had made a difference.

It wasn’t until Christianity became the preferred religion of the Roman Empire (the western world) in the middle of the 4th century that Christians began celebrating the birth of Jesus. They began celebrating his birthday, for it was widely recognized that Jesus had made a difference. The date of the celebration changed from March to September to December depending on when and where the church was celebrating. It is common knowledge that the date of December 25 is rather arbitrary and may have its roots in pagan celebrations rather than in the Christian faith. Good Friday and Easter, in sharp contrast, were celebrated by Christians from nearly the beginning of the Christian church. This was more in keeping with the tradition of remembering a person’s death rather than celebrating their birthday. It is generally believed that Jesus was born either in the spring, around Easter, or in late September, around the Jewish celebration of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.

We also don’t know the year Jesus was born. Although we are soon to begin 2025, it is an undisputed fact that Dionysus, a monk who lived 500 years after Jesus was born, made some errors in his calculations when he first tried to pinpoint the year of Jesus’ birth. Scholars recognize that he was off by about five years, placing the actual year of Jesus’ birth sometime between 4 and 6 BC. Although he made some errors in his calculations, Dionysus’ motivation was good. To that point in time, years were counted from the date of the founding of Rome circa 753 BC, and Dionysus believed that it was more appropriate to count the passing of years based on the date of Jesus’ birth rather than on the founding of a man-made empire. Unlike the Roman Empire, the reign of Jesus Christ will continue forever, and it makes a lot more sense to count the years from his birth than it does to count the years of a now defunct political and national entity.

Despite the fact that Christians did not celebrate Jesus’ birthday for the first 400 years of Christianity and despite the fact that the date of the celebration is somewhat arbitrary and despite the fact that few people celebrated birthdays at all until less than two centuries ago, what is absolutely true today is that there is no birthday that is celebrated in more places by more people than the birth of Jesus Christ. Yes, it is true that many have twisted the celebration of Christmas to include reindeer and Santas and consumerism, but it also remains true that the celebration of Jesus’ birth has shaped the rhythm of our lives. While we may lament what Christmas has become for so many, we still should be amazed that it is celebrated at all. In fact, if it were not for the consumeristic takeover of the day, Christmas might have become as unremarkable to many as the other important Christian celebration, Ascension Day. In fact, while the ascension of Jesus into heaven remains more significant than his birth, few give the day more than passing nod of recognition. If retailers had been able to commercialize Ascension Day, they would have, but it is much harder to twist a celebration of the coronation of the King of the universe than it is to twist the birth of a baby to use it for one’s own economic gain. Perhaps God is using consumerism to keep alive the celebration of Christmas so that we do not forget the significance of the birth of Jesus.

One final comment: perhaps we should wonder if we have put too much emphasis on the birth of Jesus. Both the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches have another celebration, called the Feast of the Annunciation. It is celebrated on March 25, nine months before Christmas is celebrated in the West, and it commemorates the announcement by Gabriel to Mary that she would become the mother of the Messiah and that the conception of Jesus would be by the miraculous working of the Holy Spirit. After all, it is not the birth of Jesus that makes all the difference but, rather, it is the incarnation of God, when the eternal Son of God took on human flesh. In so doing, the eternal Son of God made himself available to give his life for us. That, more than anything else, makes a difference, for it is by that sacrificial act that we are saved.

The word, paradise, has its origins in Persia, what is now known as Iran. A paradise was an enclosed garden, walled off from the outside world, and it contained fruit trees, vegetable gardens and beautiful landscaped lawns and flower beds. The most beautiful Persian garden (paradise) was built by Cyrus, king of Persia. Persia has conquered Babylon (during the time of Daniel), and under Cyrus the Jewish exiles were allowed to return home. Cyrus, mentioned often in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah but also much earlier in the prophecy of Isaiah, was considered to be a friend of the Jews.

Cyrus, historians say, had a huge garden which was known throughout the world. Many modelled their gardens after it, and although it was destroyed by Alexander the Great (a Greek), it continued to be an inspiration for architects through the centuries. Cyrus’ garden contained orchards, palaces, water features, pathways, and beautifully kept shrubs and flower beds. In the Persian language it was called a paradise.

When the Jews began to translate the Hebrew Bible into Greek (this Greek translation is known as the Septuagint) about 200 years before Jesus was born (300+ years after Cyrus), they had to find appropriate Greek words for the Hebrew words. One of the words that they used to describe the Garden of Eden was the Persian word, paradise. Because Cyrus’ accomplishments were still remembered, his paradise would give people a picture of what the Garden of Eden was meant to be. Like Cyrus’ paradise, the Garden if Eden was a place of beauty, tranquility, and provision, but it was much better than Cyrus’ paradise.

The word, paradise, does not appear in the English Old Testament, for translators from Hebrew to English have chosen to use the word, garden, probably because that word gives us a better image of what Eden was like. But “paradise” is used three times in the New Testament, once by Jesus, once by Paul, and once by John the apostle.

Jesus tells the thief who is being crucified with him, the thief who asked Jesus to remember him, that “Today you will be with me in paradise.” The Septuagint tended to be the Bible that most people used at that time, and the words and phrases in it were familiar to people of that time. When the thief heard the word, “paradise,” he would immediately have thought of the paradise of the Old Testament, the Garden of Eden. But by that time in history, paradise referred not only to the Garden of Eden but also eternal life with God. The thief who, no doubt, was a Jew would have understood that Jesus was promising him that in the next few hours, before the day was over, they would be together in the new Garden of Eden, eternal life.

Paul uses the word, “paradise,” in 2 Corinthians 12:4 when he says that a man he knew (most likely himself) was caught up to paradise and “heard inexpressible things, things which no one is permitted to tell.” While it is uncertain what this man’s experience was, Paul is indicating that in a vision this man had experienced a taste of heaven.

And finally, in Revelation 2:7, in the letter to the church in Ephesus, John writes that those who are victorious will be given the right to each from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God. Again, the words of the Greek Old Testament are invoked to give the readers a sense of what is awaiting them. Those who belong to Jesus Christ will experience eternal life in a kind of garden which will be like the paradise that Cyrus built, only much better.

There is no word which can describe what is awaiting us beyond the grave. Those who were translating the Hebrew Old Testament into Greek seemed to want to find an appropriate word, and the best word they could think of was “paradise.” Of course, none of them had seen Cyrus’ garden, for it has been destroyed at least a century before the Septuagint was written. Still the memory remained and that memory evoked images of a place where life could be very good. No one has seen the Garden of Eden, and no one has been able to tell us what the new paradise will be like, but the very word should capture our imaginations. What has God prepared for us? What do those who believe in Jesus have to look forward to? No one can tell us exactly what it is, but “paradise” is a good place for us to start thinking about what it is that awaits. Paradise, of course, in an inadequate word to describe the beauty, tranquility and blessedness of eternal life, but it is a good place to start. What we will receive is beyond our imagination.

One day, we will have experience paradise because Jesus came first to this earth to open the gates to that place. They are closed no longer, and there are no cherubim with flaming swords keeping us out because Jesus gave his life for our sins. It is because of that that we can look forward to experiencing paradise, new life forever in the presence of Jesus Christ.

Change is painful, and it has often been said that we will only change if the pain of not changing is greater than the pain associated with the change. Moving to a new house is painful, for example, but a family will move if the house they are living in is too small or too decrepit and the new house is far better than the one they currently have. We will change if the pain of staying the same is greater than the pain of change.

Change is not only painful, but it can be frightening. When I began my seminary education, I decided to attend a seminary north of Chicago, a place which I had visited only once, a place where I knew only one person. So visceral were my feelings, that as I left Ontario, I felt the need to pull my vehicle over because I felt that I was going to throw up. I was leaving what I knew and what was familiar to go to a place where I knew no one, and I was afraid of what this new situation would be like. When I arrived at my new home and began my studies, the pain of being in an unfamiliar environment continued, and I felt an incredibly powerful homesickness. This passed, however, when my classes began, and I met fellow students and became friends with many of them. It turned out that my year in that seminary was one of the best years of educational life. I longed to return to finish my studies, but the high tuition and living costs of that school prevented me from continuing, and I enrolled in Calvin Seminary. There, I discovered that this change was also good, and I developed some life-long friendships with both students and professors. While change was frightening, things turned out well, and I am glad that I endured the pain I experienced when moving to new places.

When confronted with the possibility (or need) for change, what may hold us back is the fear of the unknown and the pain of change. Yet, our fears can be completely unfounded, and the benefits of making the change can far outweigh the pain of entering into a new situation. Take the earlier example of moving to a new house. While the prospect of moving to a new house might be intimidating because there are many unknowns, after experiencing life in the new house, the family understands that life is so much better with a house that fits their needs.

The family that makes the move to a new house has valuable experience that they can share with others. Perhaps they have friends who have a similar problem, and they can help their friends envision what life could be like. This is often called “casting a vision.” Casting a vision helps others see the benefits of change and helps them move to a better life. Casting a vision helps others overcome the fear of the unknown and makes the pain of change more manageable.

As followers of Jesus Christ, as a church, our primary task is to work to build God’s kingdom. Our task is to bring all parts of creation back under the lordship of Jesus Christ. That means that we are asking for change. The world has fallen into sin, and the values of the world are often completely opposite of the ones Christ asks us to have. Differing values results in different priorities, different systems, different lifestyles, etc. To bring God’s world under the lordship of Jesus Christ means that there needs to be changes. And, as we know, change can be frightening and painful.

As Christians, people who follow Jesus Christ, we can help others understand the benefits of living for Jesus in the way we live and act. We model what it is like to live with Jesus as our Lord, and we speak of the blessings we have received as we experience his presence in our lives. Our experience enables us to cast a vision for others so that they can become willing to consider the blessing of trusting Jesus. Effectually, living our lives as citizens of God’s kingdom and as children in God’s family is a witness to the blessings of putting our faith in Jesus. Living as disciples of Jesus Christ is as powerful a witness to the gospel as are our words, recognizing, of course, that we will need to be able to give an answer for the hope that others see in us.

If we are going to do that effectively, however, we cannot be reluctant in our commitment to Jesus and his kingdom. If someone moves into a new and better house and yet continually speaks of their longing for the old house, they are not casting an effective vision. If I had attended seminary but expressed how much I disliked the courses and how living north of Chicago was a terrible experience, others would have become discouraged by my attitude and actions. Wholeheartedly adopting what it is we want others to experience is necessary if we want them to experience the same. In other words, being reluctant (or, better, unfaithful) followers of Jesus Christ will not encourage others to consider putting their trust in the Lord.

Change is painful, and it can be frightening. People will only consider change if their fears are removed and the pain of not changing becomes greater than the pain of changing. God has called us to help others understand that the blessings of belonging to Jesus far outweigh the pain of leaving the values, priorities, and activities of those who do not belong to the kingdom of God. A faithful witness to Jesus Christ is one who helps others understand what a blessing it is to belong to Jesus, and the best way to model that is to throw ourselves wholeheartedly into living faithfully. Of course, we recognize that the only way people will change to become followers of Jesus Christ is through the work of the Spirit, but the Spirit uses us to accomplish his task.

We have been changed because of Jesus, and that change, we know, has been exceedingly good for us. Let’s also be agents of change in the lives of others, helping them to see the blessings that come from putting our trust in Jesus.

Charles Dickens, The Christmas Carol, tells the story of Ebenezer Scrooge an older, miserly man, who, although rich, refused to pay a living wage to his employee, Bob Cratchit. Cratchit had a son, Tiny Tim, who would die if he did not receive medical help, and Scrooge refused to increase Cratchit’s salary sufficiently so that he could save his son’s life. We know the story: on Christmas Eve Scrooge was visited by three ghosts (Christmas past, present, and future), and he was so frightened and so convicted that he changed his ways and blessed not only Bob Cratchit and his family but others in the community as well.

We do not know why Dickens chose the name, Ebenezer, for this old miser, but perhaps it was because he was reminded of the biblical meaning of the name (Hebrew for “stone of help”) and wanted to illustrate how Ebenezer Scrooge received help to change his ways. The Christmas Carol is a heart-warming story, and its purpose is to guide us to think about the spirit of Christmas, namely that we help others. Scrooge’s life change is invoked by his confrontation with the hurt he has caused others and how being a miser will result in his life ending in loneliness and a neglected grave. Scrooge’s heart is changed, and he starts to use his vast fortune to bless others.

In the Bible, the name Ebenezer not given to a man but to a place. Like The Christmas Carol, the story in the Bible is about being changed from living a futile life to experiencing a life of blessing. However, that is where the similarity ends.

In 1 Samuel 7:3-17, we read about an ongoing problem that was facing the Israelites, the problem of the Philistines. Philistia was a substantial nation to the southwest of Israel, lying along the Mediterranean Sea. To the south of Philistia was a wilderness and beyond that the powerful Egyptian nation, leaving the region to the north and east as the only region which would provide the Philistines the opportunity to grow in power and size. It was the goal of the Philistines to conquer the Israelites and take their land as their own. In the time when Samuel provided leadership for God’s people, the Philistines had become a threat to the very existence of Israel. In fact, in 1 Samuel 6, the Philistines had done great harm to the Israelites and had managed to capture the Ark of the Covenant, the symbol to the Israelites of God’s presence among them. The ark was returned within a few months, but the Philistine threat remained.

In 1 Samuel 7 we find Samuel commanding the Israelites to rid themselves of the idols dedicated to false gods, the Baals and Ashoreths, which they had been worshipping instead of honouring the Lord, the God who had claimed them as their own. Repentant of their waywardness, the Israelites destroyed these idols and offered sacrifices to the Lord, committing their way to him alone. They had assembled at Mizpah for a service of lament and repentance.

The Philistines, hearing that the majority of the Israelites were gathered into one place, decided to take advantage of the situation and planned an attack at Mizpah that would virtually wipe out the Israelites. Samuel urged the people to pray to the Lord their God, asking him to rescue them from almost sure destruction.

God answered their prayers and when the Philistines were about to attack, sent a powerful storm that sent the Philistines into disarray. These enemies of Israel understood that the thunder that sounded from the heavens meant that the Israelite God was very powerful, and they would not be able to stand before him. Panicking, they fled, and the Israelite soldiers rushed out and attacked and defeated the Philistine armies completely. When the battle was over, Samuel took a large stone and set it up and a reminder for that generation and their children that God had won the battle on their behalf. He named the stone, “Ebenezer,” (= Stone of Help) saying that thus far has God helped us.

For the rest of Samuel’s lifetime the Philistines did not present a threat to the Israelites, and they lived in relative peace and safety. During the time of Saul, the first king of Israel, the Philistines again became a threat, but under David’s rule they were subdued completely and did not attack Israel again.

While both The Christmas Carol and the story of the Stone of Help in the Bible show us remarkable transformation, the transformations are very different from each other. Ebenezer, being shown the error of his lifestyle and the bleak future he could expect as a miser, became generous and kind to others. This is often considered to be the message of Christmas, namely that we be good to others by giving to them. But the story in 1 Samuel 7 speaks of a different kind of transformation. The Israelites, at the beginning of the chapter, had been worshipping other gods and found themselves to be powerless against their enemies. When they repented, they began to experience the powerful work of the Lord in their lives, and they learned how God would fight their battles for them and save them from their enemies. The stone, Ebenezer, reminded them that it was God who transforms our difficult situations into times of peace. In fact, it is God who provides salvation, and the Israelites experienced that salvation following God’s powerful act.

The message of The Christmas Carol has, for many, become the message of Christmas. Over and over again we are reminded that we should be having a giving spirit and bless others with what we have. We are reminded that miserliness and selfishness have no place in our lives, and we ought, instead, to be generous. This is a good message, of course, but it is not the message that, first and foremost, we should associate with Christmas.

Rather, the coming of Jesus into the world is about God’s transformative power in taking oppressed and threatened people and giving them the experience of peace not only now but for eternity. Christmas is a call for us to remember that God has helped us to this point, and he will continue to help us into the future. It is a call to repentance for those times that we have put our trust in anything or anyone else than the Lord. It is a time when we are reminded that our God is dependable, and we can trust in him. True, Christmas may be a time when we are motivated to be generous to others, but Christmas, primarily, is a time for us to renew our commitment to the Lord because of his great act of salvation in Jesus Christ. We are reminded that thus far God has helped us, and we are assured that he will continue to help us far into the future, into eternity.

The following is the text of the chapel message I gave at Immanuel Christian Secondary School this week. It’s a little longer than normal, and it has references that make the most sense if we understand them in the context of a chapel setting.

I attended the first chapel of this school year, and it was then that I learned that the theme for this year is based on 1 Peter 2:9, the KJV translation which says that we are a peculiar people. In that chapel, I think the speaker said that as Christians we are meant to be odd.

I had been doing a bit of research for a sermon a few days earlier, and I found myself going down a lot of rabbit holes. I was going from web page to web page, reading things that I found to be interesting. I happened across one web page which gave a bit of history to the word, “odd.”

Today, it’s not very popular to be odd, but 500-600 years ago, it was a compliment to be called an odd person. It actually meant “outstanding or illustrious.” I think we can know what that means if we apply it to the world of sports. Volleyball season is over, I think, so let me use that as an example. Volleyball is a team sport, of course, and you depend on each other to win the game. But sometimes on a team there is someone who is so good, so far above all the other players that you can’t help but notice her. When the team is on the court, she stands out. At one time in history, the highest compliment you could pay such a player was to call her “odd.” She was so outstanding that she stood out from all the rest.

Because the KJV uses the word, “peculiar” when it calls us a peculiar people, I wondered if that word has the same history. The KJV was translated in 1611, and the words that they used then sometimes take on a different meaning today. That is true of the word, “peculiar.” In 1611 “peculiar,” meant “unusual or uncommon” but not in a negative sense. Like “odd” peculiar meant “distinguished, special, particular, select.” Today, when we read the word “peculiar” in the Bible, we might read “strange” or “weird.” But that is not what the translators of the KJV were thinking in 1611. When they translated the Greek language, they used the word “peculiar” to say that God’s people (Christians) are distinguished and special. The Greek word implies that we are God’s special possession, as the NIV translates it.

Further, it might be helpful to know that the word, “peculiar,” had some relationship to ownership. Let me illustrate. Let’s say that you collect classic cars, and you have about 15 of them. Of those 15 cars, however, one stands out above the rest. Maybe it’s because it belonged to your grandfather. Or perhaps it is one of 200 left in the world or perhaps it’s because it’s the first car you restored. For whatever reason, that car is peculiar to you. You own many cars, but it’s the car that stands out above the rest. Of all your possessions, it’s the peculiar car.

I am sure you have heard a number of times this year, we are a peculiar, odd people, we who call ourselves Christians. For whatever reason, God has chosen to make us his special possession, and he has done that as we put our faith in Jesus Christ. We are peculiar and odd to him, not in a negative sense, but in the sense of the outstanding volleyball player and the special car in your collection. We are special to God.

But there is something else we need to know. Our God is also peculiar and odd. We worship an odd God, a peculiar God, keeping in mind how I have just defined those words. So, what is it that makes our God peculiar and odd?

Sometimes it’s helpful to do a bit of comparison so that we really understand what we are dealing with. We don’t know how good a volleyball player is until we see them on a team with other volleyball players.

So, what makes our God peculiar and odd? I think that the best way to think of God is to put him in the context of that biblical times. We all know that in biblical times, both OT and NT, every nation had its own gods. In NT times, Rome had a whole bunch of gods, called a pantheon. In OT times the Canaanites, Egyptians and residents of Mesopotamia had their own gods, and the gods differed from place to place and each god had his own specialty.

So, let’s say that you live here in Southern Alberta and want to travel to Montana. If we lived in that time, the Alberta gods had no power and authority in Montana, so if you went to Montana, you would have to change religions. You would have to recognize the gods of Montana. But even if you remained in Alberta, you couldn’t have just one god. You would have to have many gods because each god had his (or her) own specialty. One god looked after rain while another took care of relationships. A different god would heal diseases and yet another one could help in times of war. If you wanted help from the gods, you had to know which gods happened to be in the area, and you had to know which god could provide you with what you needed. It was quite complicated, and you had to know what you were doing.

Then along comes the LORD, the God of the Bible, and he makes some pretty big claims. He says, “I’m the God who is everywhere.” So, if you travel to Montana or Montreal or Moldova, you can worship the LORD. Further, the God of the Bible makes the claim that no matter what we need, we can turn to him. If we are having trouble in a relationship, we can turn to the LORD. If we need a job, we can turn to the LORD. If a loved one is sick, we can turn to the LORD. No matter what, no matter where, our God, the LORD, the God of the Bible says that he is able to help us.

That’s what makes the God of Scripture odd and peculiar. He stands out above the rest, and he is outstanding in every field. Now, of course, we all know that there is only one God, the LORD, and that all those other gods are simply figments of human imagination. That being said, we can also worship figments of our imagination, if we make something into a god. People actually worshipped those gods which didn’t exist and which couldn’t help them because they were nonexistent. But we shouldn’t be surprised because lots of people make things into gods and worship those things, even when it’s obvious that what they worship can’t do anything for them. People who make money their god, for example, are big fools because money doesn’t help us. True, money can make life a little better, but money doesn’t really help us. Money doesn’t care about us, and it doesn’t even know that we exist. But money has become a really big god that lots of people worship. And money is not the only thing people worship. I know some people who worship themselves, thinking that they can do everything they need to get through life. I don’t know about you, but I am not nearly as outstanding as I would like to be, and I don’t think depending on myself instead of the God who is powerful will get me anywhere where I need to be.

So, when we compare the God of Scripture to any other gods, our God is peculiar and odd in that no matter where we are, he is able to provide us with what we need.

But there is something else that we should know about this peculiar God. He is committed to us. Remember the car collection with that special car. Let’s say that it belonged to your grandfather. You’ll never part with it, no matter what. That car is going to stay in the family forever. Even if you fall on hard times and you have to sell everything else to survive, you won’t sell that car, no matter what. You’re committed to it.

In the same way, God is committed to us. He won’t let us go, no matter what. Again, it is helpful to know that the gods of the nations in biblical times didn’t have that same commitment. In fact, they didn’t care about the people at all. The only time they would respond to the people is if they felt like it, and it wasn’t too inconvenient, or, perhaps, if they could benefit from the people in some way. Our God is not like that. He is fully committed to us, and we know he is because he made us his possession by giving Jesus, his eternal Son, to die for us on the cross. Our God will not part with us.

But I’m not supposed to be talking about all of this. I was asked to talk about worship, our peculiar practices, why we go to church, why we worship as a community, that type of thing. I was asked to talk about why our worship is peculiar or different. But I couldn’t do that without talking about the object of worship, our peculiar and odd God who is able to do all things and who is committed to us.

So, why do we worship? Better to ask, “What is worship?” The Hebrew and Greek are a little more vivid in their words. In the Hebrew, one of the primary words used for worship is “to fall prostrate on one’s face.” In some cultures (Korean, for example), people show respect for each other, and the deeper they bow, the more respect they show. The Hebrew pictures us showing so much respect that we bow with our faces to the ground.

The Greek word that is most often translated as worship has to do with serving. When a king has subjects, they serve him by doing his bidding and by obeying the laws he puts into place. We bend our wills to the one we worship.

All of life, if we understand worship as bending our wills (symbolized by bending our bodies to the ground) is worship. In other words, when you are in Math class or driving to friend’s house or baking a cake for your mother’s birthday – in all of that we bend our wills to God.

But we easily forget that. And that is why we need communal worship, gathering with other believers who call the LORD their peculiar and odd God. When we gather for communal worship, we do so to honour God. As we are reminded of who God is (and we need that reminder regularly), we learn again to bend our lives and our wills to serve him. In a sense, communal worship (what we do in church and what we are doing here during the school chapel) is practice for life. In communal worship we learn that our peculiar God is outstanding, unique, and totally capable of taking care of us in every way, and we are reminded that he is committed to us.

And communal worship gives us the opportunity to learn how to respond appropriately. The songs we sing and the prayers we offer are ways to practice serving the Lord. If we don’t make that a regular practice with other believers, we will quickly find that we are not serving God as faithfully with the rest of our lives.

I know that represented in this school there are many different churches, and I know that the style of worship varies greatly from one church to another. We should know that the style of worship is our preference, not God’s. What God is looking for in worship, no matter what the style (and he can handle almost any kind of style) is that as we are reminded of the fact that he is a peculiar and odd God, and that we want to serve him. What disappoints God in worship are those times when we don’t learn about God and aren’t called to bend our wills to him.

Worship, then, is being reminded of what kind of God we have and, as we learn about him, we bend our wills and our lives (and sometimes our bodies) to respond to him by serving him with all that we are.

Worship by Christians is peculiar and odd because we have a God is who is peculiar and odd, if you remember the meaning of the words that I gave you earlier. Our God is so outstanding, he is the only one in the field, and he is also committed to us. Because we have peculiar God, our worship is peculiar, because, in our worship, we honour and serve him alone.