Monday - A New Idea - The Night That Changed the Powerful
Last week we started a new series called, “The Night that Changed Everything.” We’re looking at the significance of Christmas, a night that changed much more than most of us imagine. We’ll see its impact on five segments of society:
The Night That Changed the Religious
The Night That Changed the Powerful
The Night That Changed the Poor
The Night That Changed You
The Night That Changed the Wise
This week we’re looking at how it changed the powerful.
This one can be hard for us to see. In Western culture, we’re used to thinking that those who celebrate Christmas are far from powerless. They have long been the majority in Western countries, and the Christian church has been a dominant player in society. Christmas is a visible sign of that power – it’s become a huge part of even secular culture, even if that version is stripped of its truth.
But what actually happened at Christmas was the birth of a baby boy – one of the most powerless things you can imagine. Human babies are so helpless and vulnerable, not powerful except in the emotional control they exert without knowing.
As we saw last week, the baby named Jesus was identified early on as a king – given gifts from Magi, and so on. But unlike Prince George, he wasn’t born in a private hospital with attendants and staff looking after it all. He was born powerless, in a stable, laid in a feedtrough.
And yet, he struck fear in the hearts of the powerful. We’ll look at that story this week.
Question: What scares powerful people?
Reminder: We have a great Christmas event coming December 14th, 2013: The Original Christmas Party. Hope you’re coming!
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If you ask people how they are doing, how often do they include the word “busy” in their reply? We often feel we need to justify ourselves that way – I’m busy. I’m not lazy. I’m productive!
This isn’t untrue, we usually are busy! But it’s not always a good form of busyness. Negative busyness comes from a cycle of slavery to work, defining ourselves by our work, or becoming consumed by worry and guilt about work.
One inner way to combat this is with satisfaction. It starts with satisfaction in Christ – I am not God, I am not in charge of universe. God is.
I rebelled against him, but Jesus has done something incredible, in his death on cross, for me. He’s accomplished what matters most in life – he’s freed me from having to prove my worth. I don’t need to accomplish anything to know God for eternity. He’s accomplished it for me.
This can be remembered with Sabbath rest every week. Rest is an opportunity to look back and celebrate what’s been done by God, and by you. You might journal, and pray to thank God for the successes, say sorry for the failures, and acknowledge that what’s done is done.
Then you can look forward to the new week ahead, now in perspective.
Challenge: Divide a piece of paper into four columns, and think about the last work week. In the first column, write your worries, then your guilts, then your unfinished business. Now in the fourth column, write some words that represent who you are, and want to be. Where are the disconnects between this column and the others?
