Any Street, U.S.A.

"Main Street Bethlehem. Don't miss it."

This was the advice given to me last week. The Main Street Bethlehem being referenced is a sort of attraction and a sort of play that is put on by residents of Burnet, TX. The idea is to recreate the streets of Bethlehem, circa the time that B.C. switched to A.D. I've never been to Main Street Bethlehem, but the website description sounds like a holiday experience the whole family can enjoy and I'm not hear to knock it.

But it did get me thinking. One of the biggest temptations for Christians at Christmas is to romanticize and dress up an event that was all to real and messy. We have nativities that feature the cleanest of stables, the most sanitized of animals, and the quietest of babies. I don't know if that's the Main Street Bethlehem approach, but I do know they feature free refreshments at the exit. And I'm guessing that the actual Bethlehem does not.

The thing is, the reason why Bethlehem is special is because it's where God first made His home with humanity. It's the place where God put on flesh and dwelt among us. It's where Jesus was born. Born into our mess and our brokenness and darkness. Born to bring some light and to save the world.

Over 2000 years later, the Spirit of God still longs to make His home among us. Jesus Christ looks to be born into our hearts, our lives, and our neighborhoods. God wants to move among people living on Main Street or 6th Street or 12th and Chicon or Oltorf and Lamar. And we can make such theatre of the past that we forget how the reality of the past breaks through into the present; that Jesus who was born in Bethlehem is alive and sends his Spirit today. That the light of Christ continues to break into every neighborhood and onto every street. Not just main street, but your street and my street and up streets and down streets and backstreets that you and I may go to great pains to avoid. The Spirit of God looks to be born into any and every street, the streets we drive on and past everyday and miss along the way. Miss the lost and the lonely and the angry and afraid. Miss the messy and the real.

So, here's my advice this Christmas as you walk down Any Street, U.S.A.

Don't miss it.

Prepare The Way

‎"Advent is the perfect time to clear and prepare the Way. Advent is a winter training camp for those who desire peace. By reflection and prayer, by reading and meditation, we can make our hearts a place where a blessing of peace would desire to abide and where the birth of the Prince of Peace might take place." -Edward Hays

Unprotected Sex

Not to get all TMI on you, but it has been a long time since I've worn a condom. That is, up until a month or so ago. Then I started wearing them again for the first time in years. Every time. No exceptions.

Now, I'm not anti-condom or anti-birth control. That wasn't why I hadn't been wearing them. I had worn them before Harry was born and after he was born, during phases and stages when Rachel wasn't taking birth control pills and we weren't looking to have a kid.

But for the past few years, we'd been hoping to have a second child, so the condoms and pills were out.

Up until a little over a month ago.

And I realized this week that it wasn't because I've rethought wanting to have another kid. I want that as much as I did a year ago. I want it as much as I did a couple of months back, when Rachel told me she was pregnant.

But then Rachel and I went through a miscarriage. And I started using condoms.

The last few weeks of daily prayer have been revealing something to me. The time spent in our church's study of the Old Testament has reminded me that we are called to live fearlessly. And the wise words and listening ear of a close friend have helped me to realize that I'm not trying to avoid another pregnancy.

I'm trying to avoid another miscarriage.

I'm wanting a guarantee when I know that isn't how this works. I'm looking to avoid pain, even if it means missing out on something great. I'm letting fear get the best of me. I'm trying to protect myself from a bad thing that may never happen and risk missing out on a good thing that might.

And that's not how I'm called to live. It's not how I want to live. And, as a Christian, it's not how I choose to live.

So, as of today, the condoms go back in the box and I go back to unprotected sex. My wife, always more faithful and fearless than I, will be pleased.

And maybe nothing happens. And maybe we get pregnant. And maybe we miscarry again. And maybe we don't. The future is uncertain. And that scares me. But we were not made to live in fear, but in hope; by the power of the Spirit of God whose love casts out fear.

Here we go.

Prayer and Politics

Standout moment at minute 26: "I'm quickly coming to the position that politicians can't really be Christians."

Regardless

I recommend that all of you read this article. The two standouts, for me:


Regardless of one's view about sexual ethics, family values, or same-sex marriage, I believe that encouraging or contributing to violence against LGBT people, either directly or indirectly, is the true sin against nature and creation.



Regardless of what these groups may believe about sin, they need to speak out against this violence. That, to me, is what it truly means to love God and to love your neighbor as yourself.