Becky and I have been reading a psalm every night for the past several months.  Last night we read and talked about Psalm 96.  I think it is interesting how when we think of the psalms, we tend to gravitate toward the magnanimous one filled with worship language of high praise, laced with shouts for joy and singing to the LORD.

In our trek through the psalms, however, number 96 is probably the 4th or 5th one that really belts out this type of worship.  The more prevalent genre is one of rescue and deliverance from enemies, colored by a desparation inside David (or other writer) that cries out in what we would think of as a negative situation.  To boot, many of them call on God to take action (dramatic) against those who stood in the way of the writer.

As I reflect on this I can’t help but try to remember the last time we read a psalm like this in a worship setting.  It seems like we do gravitate toward the psalms that make us feel better in a worship gathering.  I wonder if there is a connection between our use of the psalms in worship and how we want to feel during this gathering.  Case in point: even when we use a psalm that contains heavy material toward the enemy, we tend to dice it up and read around the “bring the heat, God!” wording that the psalm contains.

This time that Becky and I have spent reading and discussing the Psalms has really changed the shape of how I look at the book as a whole.  I think it is amazing that I have read through the whole book at least four times and this understanding happens now.

New every morning.

Today was my first baptism!  I have wondered for a while now what it would be like to fulfill this servant role in someone’s life, and all I can really say is that I am honored and in awe.  I also wondered if I would goof up the name on my first time, but those concerns were quickly put away when I learned the little boy’s name… LANDON!!!  How cool is that?!

Today I learned and experienced more deeply the beauty of how God uses His people to carry out His ministry.  Broken people.  People who have experienced the depth of sin and the awesome power of His grace… the measure of His love for us.  I thought of May 10, 1981 - the day I was baptized.  I wondered how Pastor Wuensche felt the day he baptized me.  I still have a picture up in th living room of my grandparents holding me that day.  The older I get, the more I appreciate this day where God put His name on me and said, “I choose you, Landon.”

He said those same words today to a different Landon.    My prayer is that this Landon will come to appreciate this beautiful gift as I do and that God would continue to grow his faith throughout his life.

Mark 16:16 - “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved.”  -Jesus Christ

A few minutes ago I finished cleaning alot of the house with Becky.  I had a playlist from the EPIC worship gathering that I put together playing on my laptop.  As I was cleaning, I heard Becky singing in perfect harmony with the song and I just had one of those moments.  I am a really blessed man.  I have a wife who loves the Lord (and she can sing too!).  Little things….

I am a visual guy.  I have heard the Christmas story many times over the course of my life, but after watching the clip I just posted I had a fresh (not necessarily new) thought:

I find it amazing that even at the birthing event of the Messiah, His own people had no room for Him.  Watching Joseph running through Bethlehem practically begging for a place to stay was powerful for me.  Somehow I had an image that he was walking from door to door in a neighborhood asking for a room.  But I bet it was more like a frantic, desperate attempt to protect his wife and the baby.

He had to have felt dissappointed with his fellow Jews at this point.  All these rooms filled in town, and no one wanted to give theirs up for a pregnant lady whose water broke and was having contractions every minute.  Even then they wouldn’t receive Him… if just from a pity or a humanitarian perspective.

In a way, after watching the video clip I related more with Bethlehem’s community members than the new family.  We live in a community who wants the fun Jesus, the ‘lovey-dovey’ Jesus… and not the cold, wet, fluid-covered Jesus who was wrapped in rejection from the minute Mary’s contractions began.

…and He still did it.

+Thank you Jesus for being bigger and more compassionate than I (we) deserve.+

Merry Christmas!