Grace Came Down at Christmas

Almost two weeks ago I introduced our Advent theme for this year: Christmas Grace. I also included lyrics that takes four weeks of sermons/teachings and distills them down into one song. We're singing this song every Sunday as our Advent theme. I wrote Christmas Grace a few years ago while I was pastoring in Pennsylvania. I've written many songs, but this is one of my favorites.

For the recording, I just sang through the song in one take, so don't expect Tony Bennett. My heartfelt thanks to Bryan Bates (Leader for our Multimedia Ministry Team), who did the recording work, and who helped me make it available on The Masked Evangel. Check out Bryan's blog here.

Enjoy... oh, yeah, and Merry Christmas. And now for your listening pleasure (once you click on the link, it will take just a minute for the music to start, but it's worth the wait): Christmas Grace.

Christmas Grace

Here are the lyrics to our Advent Theme Song: Christmas Grace.

Grace comes down at Christmas

God to whom we pray

Always keeps his promises

This is Christmas Grace

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Grace comes down at Christmas

Do not be afraid

You on whom God's favor rests

This is Christmas Grace

• • •

Grace comes down at Christmas

Grace comes every day

It's new every morning

This is Christmas Grace

• • •

Grace comes down at Christmas

No one turned away

Jesus welcomes every heart

This is Christmas Grace

• • •

Grace comes down at Christmas

Christ prepares our way

He'll return to take us home

This is Christmas Grace

• • •

Grace comes down at Christmas

Grace comes every day

It's new every morning

This is Christmas Grace

• • •

Grace comes down at Christmas

Grace comes every day

It's new every morning

This is Christmas...

This is Christmas...

This is Christmas...

Grace.

© 2005 Tim Irwin

Advent - Week Four

Today is the fourth Sunday of Advent. In our series Who Do You Say I Am?, we celebrated Christ as The Gift of the Bread of Life.

Our text was John 6:25-35. Let me set it up for you. John 6 is the tale of two incredible days in the life of Jesus. Day One starts with Jesus feeding the 5000, and Day Two ends with many of his followers (no doubt many of them just in it for another Happy Meal) deserting him because of a difficult teaching. In between those events the disciples go boating on a stormy lake, where they are met by their Master walking on the water. The next morning, the full stomachs from Day One transition to empty stomachs for Day Two, and go looking for Jesus, finding him across the lake.

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There's a lot of good stuff (a theological term) here, but suffice it to say Jesus used their physical hunger to illustrate their deeper spiritual hunger; hunger that would only be satisfied with the bread from heaven... the bread of life.

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In the 6th, 7th and 8th chapters of John, Jesus uses three metaphors to describe himself: bread, water and light. Chapter 6: You honor Moses because he gave you bread from heaven. That's great but the bread Moses gave was a symbol - a symbol of me! Chapter 7: You honor Moses because he gave you water from the rock. That's great but the water Moses gave was a symbol - a symbol of me! I'm the real bread; I'm the real water; and (Chapter 8) I'm the real light.

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I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry... (6:35)

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If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. (7:37)

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I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness... (8:12)

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Sometimes we get the real thing mixed up with the symbol. This Christmas, as you eat more than you should, remember that the bread is a symbol of Jesus, the Bread of Life. As your family gathers around the Christmas tree, remember the tree is a symbol of Jesus, the Tree of Life. As you celebrate by the glow of holiday candles, remember the candles are a symbol of Jesus, the light of the world.

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From our family to yours, Merry Christmas!

Advent - Week Three

Wow! It's already the third Sunday of Advent. Today we continued our series Who Do You Say I Am? Jesus' answer for this week? The Gift of Living Water.

The Feast of Tabernacles celebrated two things. First, by living for a week in temporary shelters, the people of Israel participated with their ancestors in the wilderness experience. Second, it was a harvest celebration during which the people expressed their thanks to God for his provision and care, especially for the gift of rain that makes the harvest possible.

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Imagine this: It's the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles. The priest gets a pitcher of water from the Pool of Siloam, lifts it high and walks into Jerusalem through the Water Gate, and makes his way to the Temple Courts. Upon his arrival, the gathered people shout the words: With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation (Isaiah 12:3). The priest pours his pitcher of water out on the ground.

Just about then, Jesus makes his presence at the Feast known by crying out in a loud voice: If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him (John 7:37-38).

Living (running) water brings three benefits: 1) it refreshes, 2) brings peace, and 3) gives life. Forgive me for not developing all these thoughts fully, but I'm just going to skim the surface (so to speak).

1. Refreshment - Andrews Glacier and its beautiful lake (Andrews Tarn) sits at 11,000 feet in Rocky Mountain National Park. Park information warns against drinking the water, because of possible parasites, but Janelle and I couldn't resist (thankfully, we didn't suffer any negative consequences). After the climb from our campsite (10,000 feet), that cold water really hit the spot. Isaiah wrote about God providing water in the desert and streams in the wasteland (Isaiah 43:20). God knows how to quench our thirst and provide real refreshment.


2. Peace - For ancient humanity the sea was a source of fear frought with dangers; it's churning was caused by the presence of monsters and evil powers. The psalmist writes: ...we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging. [But] there is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells (Psalm 46:2-4). This passage contrasts the terror of the raging seas with a peaceful stream that comes from God.


3. Life - The town of Sychar (where Jesus met with the Samaritan woman) wouldn't have been there except for Jacob's well. While not living (running) water, it provided for the townspeople's needs along with their herds and flocks. Jesus said he was the source of internal springs of water welling up within us to eternal life (John 4:14).

The prophet Jeremiah wrote: My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water (Jeremiah 2:13).

Why is it we've been offered springs of living water welling up within us to eternal life, yet we opt for doing things our way - digging our own wells and making do with whatever muddy water we happen upon?

The disciples had a similar choice. After a particularly difficult teaching (John 6), many of Jesus' followers left him. Do you want to leave, too? Jesus asked. Peter answered: Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words of eternal life.

Christ offers us the gift of living water.

1. Is life all good? Or are you worn out physically, spiritually and emotionally? When life taps your dry, God wants to refresh you in every way and give you the strength to go on.


2. If your life had a name, would it be peace or chaos? Maybe this year you're looking forward to singing Silent Night, but your world is anything but heavenly peace. Micah 5:5 reads: He will be their peace. He wants to be your peace, too.


3. This isn't just a matter of cold drinks and chillaxin'; this is a matter of life and death. When your very life hangs in the balance, God will be there to save you.

Have a fantastic week!

How is Christ living water to your life?

Happy New Year!

Advent. Only a few more weeks until Christmas as the year winds down. Not for the church. The First Sunday of Advent is the first Sunday of the Christian Calendar, so Happy New Year!

Advent is about preparing for Christ's coming... coming to Bethlehem in the Incarnation, coming into one's heart in conversion, and coming in the Parousia--the second coming or second Advent. This is a time to get ready to receive Christ.

Christmas can be disappointing for kids. If it weren't, every family would have a pony! Sometimes our expectations don't match up with reality. I remember a disappointing Christmas as a kid in the 60s. There was a great toy on the market that allowed a kid to make his own mini action figures. It involved a mold, plastic pellets, and the main part: a device that melted the plastic pellets into molten plastic allowing it to be injected into the mold. After it cooled, you had your action figure.

I wanted it so bad.

Flash forward to Christmas morning. I opened my present. It was a refill kit of the little plastic pellets. The toy was such a hot seller that my parents couldn't find one, so on Christmas morning I got the refill kit--and a promise. As soon as it's back in stock, we'll get it for you. Now 40-some years later, I don't know why, but let's just say I'm still waiting.

Peter had expectations. Because of his Jewish upbringing he expected the Messiah to be the Son of David establishing a kingdom that would never end. In so doing, Peter expected this conquering hero to free Israel from Roman oppression. On a retreat to Caesarea Philippi, Jesus asked his disciples, Who do you say that I am? Sometimes our expectations can obscure the realities standing right in front of us, but Peter had already begun a journey of discovery that would last a lifetime, as he re-evaluated his expectations of the Messiah in light of his one-on-one Christ revelation. Peter's answer: You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.

What are you expecting for Christmas?

What are you expecting from Jesus?

(I owe some of the ideas in this post to Janet Lilly Wanner of Women of the Church of God. Thanks, Janet.)