A Different Side Of The Pandemic

I had the opportunity to see a different side of the pandemic this week. A side that I knew in theory existed but something I had not yet experienced.

On Thursday my wife had an appointment with her gynecologist for her weekly check up. She had four weeks left in her pregnancy so she was now being checked on bi-weekly. Due to the pandemic I was not permitted to attend the appointment with her so I ran a few errands and then sat in the parking lot preparing for my General Science class I was teaching the following day.

I didn’t notice my wife until she opened the door and silently slipped into her seat. I looked at her and asked how it went. Looking straight ahead she told me that we had to go to the hospital. Why, I asked. She calmly told me, after they took her blood pressure, they suddenly rushed her into the doctor ahead of the people who were there before her. The doctor took one look at her numbers and told her she was to go to the hospital immediately and they would take care of her there.

So we headed to the hospital.

When we presented ourselves at the birthing center we were brought into an observation area. They kept checking her blood pressure and then took blood and urine samples for testing. No one told us anything but we knew this wasn’t routine. All this time we were talking through masks and watching nurses, doctors and cleaning staff hurry about their duties in all their protective gear. It was strange to watch, like something out of a Sci-Fi movie.

They must have rushed the tests because it didn’t seem we were there very long before the results were back. A very gentle doctor came to talk to us. She informed us that the results indicated pre-eclampsia, a life-threatening condition for baby and mother if not attacked upon. She informed us that there was only one cure: delivery. They would have to induce my wife four weeks early.

We were not prepared for this physically or mentally. We suddenly realized that we were at the hospital birthing center, preparing to give birth, with no baby, mommy or daddy bags. We had the clothes on our backs. No music. No extra pillows. No snacks (for dad). And worst of all, no phone chargers.

At first the doctor said I could go home and pick up what was needed because they would start the induction in the morning. Then everything changed when the medication failed to lower Melodie’s blood pressure. I was told to stay put. Wait, what? It was the only moment that we had any apprehension. Were they going to end up doing a c-section? But thirty minutes later the doctor was back to explain they were going to transfer my wife to her room and start the induction now. The doctor turned to me, smiled, and said that I had time to go home and get what was necessary. Then she added, but don’t be long.

Armed with a long list of things I needed to get for baby and mom and where I would find them at home, I left the hospital. Round trip, not counting seek and find time, it was 34 minutes. Thankfully my eighteen year old daughter was waiting for me and gave me a hand putting things together and even packed a lunch for me. By the time I got back with everything (more or less), my wife was comfortably installed in her room and the procedure had started. 

Being people of faith and belonging to a large faith family, there were people all around the world praying for us. This was something incredibly comforting in knowing that friends in Greece, Belgium, France, the US, throughout Canada, in the Philippines and places we didn’t even know about were praying for us and little Samuel, who was being forced into this world before he was ready. We had a wonderful sense of peace in the Lord’s presence. All was well.

Over the next eighteen hours we had the privilege of meeting many incredible doctors and nurses. Their compassion and tenderness was amazing, but something happened that made me see people in this pandemic in a whole new way. The thing that changed everything, that made me sit up and take note happened at the most incredible moment of our time in the hospital.

Melodie was in active labour. Nurses seemed to be coming out of the woodwork. The doctor was in the catch position. Everyone in the room became the cheerleaders and my wife was immersed in the moment. It was loud. It was busy. And it was then, as the sweat was washing over my wife’s face and the pain was at its most intense, with her breathing deepened to the point I thought the medical mask would disappear into her breath, that one of these beautiful cheerleading women reached over and flicked my wife's mask off her face. She was free to suck in all the air she needed. In one simple motion, compassion trumped protocol. I was stunned by this act’s insane nature of beauty. It was second only to the arrival of our beautiful baby boy.

Pause and reflect for a moment. That mask on my wife’s face was not there for the benefit of my wife. It was there to protect everyone else in the room. The act of removing that mask was entirely for my wife’s benefit, to the endangerment of everyone else in that room. This significance was not lost on me.

There was something absolutely wondrous how the beautiful part of humanity overshadowed the masks, gowns and hand sanitizer. Not once did I hear these beautiful people raise doubt about the pandemic or the protocols in place because of it. There were no complaints or fussing or frowns. After a bit I stopped noticing what they were wearing because their hearts of service caused these things to evaporate in their soft tones of tender compassion. They were not focused on themselves or the inconvenience of working twelve hours in this equipment. Their focus was caring for these new mom’s and their beautiful new born babies. If they were tired of all this they never showed it beneath those beautiful voices and those healing hands.

So my take away : no matter the circumstances of the day, the best parts of humanity can outshine it when we are determined to focus on love.

PS. My wife gave birth to a beautiful baby boy, weighing only 5.5 lbs, just this side of being a preemie. Mother and baby are resting comfortably at home, healthy and well. We consider ourselves tremendously blessed and are eternally thankful for such a large praying family.

The Beginning Of Something Incredible

I get concerned with how we romanticize Christmas and the manger. Forget about how Santa Claus has impinged on the significance of Christmas and consider what we do to it. We aren't even accurate. Joseph and Mary weren't poor. They were in a manger out of desperation  because there was no more room in the town, not because they had no money. And there were not three wise-men at the scene. First, they showed up about two to three years later at Joseph and Mary's home, and second, we have no idea how many there were. But there inaccuracies are nothing compared to what all our private and public manger scenes do to the way people see Jesus.

When we celebrate Christmas we are not celebrating a baby but God's insertion of himself into his own creation. We celebrate the King of kings, Jesus, who became the firstborn of the new creation. We celebrate the risen Lord, who sits at the right hand of the Father interceding for us. We celebrate what the Father has done for us through the Son:

For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. (Colossians 1:19-20)

That fullness happened through the Spirit at Jesus' point of baptism when the Spirit came upon him. Not a symbolic gesture but the empowering of the Spirit so Jesus could fulfil his mission. The same Spirit Jesus sent to us so we could have the fullness of God to fulfil our mission.

There is more going on than we realize. We keep emphasizing what Jesus has done for us, and we should, but the reconciliation through Jesus was for all things. The Word here stressing that this included all things whether they be on earth or things in heaven. Something beyond our comprehension started that first Christmas morning. It started in the form of a baby but did not stay there so we should not be celebrating a baby on Christmas, but the complete work of Jesus Christ.

Christmas must also be a celebration of the cross and the empty grave. If all God did was become one of us it would have been a wondrous thing but absolutely useless to us. The fact that he became one of us to die for us, to free us from the dominance of sin, and to kick open the door to eternal life is what we are celebrating. We celebrate the birth, the death and the rebirth on Christmas morning and we celebrate the most incredible, powerful, giving, forgiving, merciful, compassionate, supreme Lord of earth and heaven. The Father has placed everything under his feet.

Let's not romanticize any part of Christmas. December 25th is just a date we chose to mark the beginning of a complete package of God's plan. There are lots of interesting facts about how it happened but we must always keep in mind why it happened. On Christmas, wish Jesus a happy birthday but wish it to the King of kings and Lord of lords, not to a baby in a manger. And keep in mind that our sovereign King has always been and will always be, Christmas was only when the Father inserted the Son into the fabric of our history as one of us. A great event but an event that only marked the beginning of something incredible.

Who Do You Worship During Christmas? (part 2)

Don't be mistaken this Christmas, we don't worship a baby Jesus. In fact, the Jesus we worship is beyond the one we read about in the gospels. We get a glimpse of him near the end but we will come to know him so much more as we serve. Jesus of the gospels set for us an example of a life lived to the fullest through the Holy Spirit. But Jesus is a lot more than this. We need to have better clarity on who it is we worship:

For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. (Colossians 1:16)

The one who we worship this Christmas is not a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes or even the one who walked on water. Yes, he was that but he is so much more. He is clothed in what we will become when we are called home. He is dressed in eternity which will also be ours. We need to remember that Jesus is the instrument of creation. He is the word with which the Father spoke things into being. By him all things were created.

That's what makes his 33 years with us so much more amazing. We know he is the Son of God and we know he is our Saviour, but I don't think we always appreciate who he is. This one we celebrate this Christmas by placing him in a manger is the one through whom heaven and earth were created. Pretty amazing when you stop to think about it. The one who is responsible for this entire universe volunteered to come as one of us, to rescue us from our own stupidity.

He is responsible for all the things we see; the great waterfalls, the beautiful sunsets, the majestic mountains, the microscopic wonders, the far flung stars. He is also responsible for what we cannot see; the invisible world that so many deny but that is just as real as the visible. The One we keep putting back in the manger is responsible for it all.

This also includes the great powers of the visible and invisible world. When he returns all authorities will bend their knee to him as the reality of his full majesty is pressed upon them. Every authority in the invisible world will yield to him as well. Read the Word, Jesus will not take on Satan, the angels will. Satan is so far beneath the King of kings that the King does not need to face this foe to defeat him. When he returns to take his place as ruler there will be such an army with him that we will finally begin to realize the authority that is our God.

The thing to remember today is that not only was everything created by Jesus but it is created for him. The Father has established the Son's authority and he has placed everything under his feet. He used the Son to create everything and he did it for his Son. Everything belongs to Jesus even if they reject Jesus. It is good to keep that in mind the next time you think of not being nice to someone; that person belongs to Jesus.

This is who I am celebrating this Christmas. Yes, he came as a baby, just like us, but he did not remain a baby. We is the King of kings and Lord of lords, so beyond our comprehension and yet called our friend. He is supreme over everything including your small life and everything in it. There is nothing that comes into your life that he does not know about and nothing that comes against you that he has not permitted. The enemy can't do anything against you that Jesus has not allowed and if he allowed it there is reason for it, even if it is simply to add muscle to your faith. He is sovereign and I trust him. Who are you worshiping this Christmas?

Who Do You Worship During Christmas?

It's Christmas season and those who still remember what Christmas is about are teaching everyone about baby Jesus. The only thing is, we need to make sure we are not worshipping baby Jesus. We like to be sentimental about the circumstances of Jesus' birth and we like to think of that little baby, watched over by his loving parents. We will attend plays about this birth. We will create manger scenes. Children will colour pictures of it. People will attend church for their annual visit and they will hear about the baby again. But we don't worship a baby. Jesus is not a baby. We need to remind ourselves who Jesus is this Christmas.

Over the next few days I am going to use Colossians  to remind us of who Jesus is, of his supremacy over all creation and I am going to do it in bite sized morsels. Smaller bite sizes are better for digestion. Let's start off with this:

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. (Colossians 1:15)

If you want to know who God is look to Jesus. God took on physical shape and revealed his heart to us. He demonstrated his compassion, mercy and grace while being one of us. He lived and demonstrated how we are to live, under the control of the Holy Spirit. When the Spirit came on Jesus at the baptism, it wasn't symbolic,  it was necessary. Jesus had set aside his divine nature to become one of us so he needed the Spirit to do what would follow in his three years of ministry. This is the same life he has called us into and he has filled us with the same Spirit.

Jesus came as a seed. He had to be first so we could follow. He was creating something new so that we could become a new creation. When Jesus came as one of us, everything was changed forever. There would be no going back to what he was. He has been changed for all eternity.

When Jesus was raised from the grave it was as a new creation. Something like that had never existed before. Even now he sits at the right hand of the Father in a resurrected body, which he did not have before. He sits there representing us and what we will be. He is the first born of this new creation and because he was born this way the rest of us can follow.

We have to learn from Jesus what it is to live in this place, under the restrictions of this body but filled with the power of the Holy Spirit.We have to look to Jesus' example and understand that he spent three years setting an example for us. If you want to know how to live a life that glorifies God look to how Jesus lived, under the control of the Holy Spirit.

We also get our hope from him. If you want to know what is in store for us, look to see what happened at the resurrection. Understand that our bodies are the last thing to be redeemed. Our minds and hearts have already been redeemed and on the day we are called home our bodies will be redeemed as well. No more illness, weakness or suffering. The work of redemption will be made complete, all because Jesus went first.

This is who we are celebrating this Christmas. We do not worship a baby in a manger but instead the first born of all creation, the risen Lord, Christ Jesus. To him I bow my knee. To him I pour out my adoration. To him I sing songs of thanksgiving. Come, let us adore him, Christ the Lord! And let us give him all the glory.

Putting It In Context

God morning my friends,

If there is one thing most people can quote from the Old Testament it is the “eye for eye” bit. This has been used out of context so often that people assume they know what they are talking about when they quote it. However, it is more often than not a simple excuse for revenge. The death penalty advocates often use this verse out of context. I am opposed to the death penalty because I believe only God has the choice over life and death. You rob a man of his life and you have robbed him of the opportunity for repentance and forgiveness. What I find important with verse is that it reveals to us the holiness of God and what sins he finds to be particularly repugnant.

We only find reference to the “eye for eye” three times in the Old Testament. Once is in Leviticus 24, in the context of personal injury. If I hurt my neighbour then I would need to be hurt in the same manner. In Deuteronomy 19 it is used in the context of a malicious witness who was perjuring himself to try to get someone in trouble. He was to have done to him whatever the judgment would have been against the one he was lying about, including life for life.

The third one, which was actually the first that I left to last for dramatic purposes, is found in this morning’s reading, Exodus 21. It may surprise some people to see the context in which it is found. It is used in the case of someone injuring a woman during pregnancy and something happening to the baby. Note how I refer to baby and not fetus. This was a crime that our God thought to be important enough to apply the “eye for eye” ruling. Perhaps some people would be surprised by that.

I have not often spoken of our society’s attitude toward unborn babies. I have not had a lot of personal cause to do that. However, in recent months abortion has come into my hearing on a number of occasions and I am reminded of the evils of our society that are accepted without much thought. Some would not call it murder because they have dehumanized the baby by referring to him/her as a fetus. Our laws do not even protect this precious gift. If I injure a pregnant woman today I would have to face charges for her injury but not for any injury incurred by the unborn child. My harm to the mother could result in the death of that child and I would not have to answer for it; or, at least not in this present place.

This debate has gone on for a long time and as long as the rights of one individual are held up to be more important than another person’s there will be no end to the debate. Under the law women have the right to choose. After all, it is their body. Our laws do not recognize that the unborn child also has rights that should supersede the rights of the woman upon whom he/she is dependant. Instead the law sees this child as an appendage of the woman, life a kidney. If she chooses to give away her kidney no one will stop her. However, that is not how the Word of God tells us to consider this unborn child.

We have come up with so many ways of “aborting” this new life. There are the traditional methods of going into the doctor and having the baby surgically cut out or vacuumed out of the mother’s body. There is also a pill that women can now take that will do the same thing chemically so that the woman can just flush the new life away. It sounds gross and it is. Our callus attitude toward it is horrifying. The thing is, it is something that matters to our God. He is responsible for life. He says who will have life and when that life will end. Anyone who takes that into their own hands is acting like God and there is a penalty to be paid for that.

The fact is we live in a hurting world. We live in a world where people are looking for the wrong things in the wrong places. We live in a world where no one wants to face their mistakes and they believe they should be able to just wipe their messes away instead of dealing with them. We live in a world where young girls are hurting, lost and confused and are just adding confusion on to top of confusion. Kids are playing adult in the same way that some play with matches. When you play with things you are not equipped to handle bad things are going to happen. Unfortunately too many of us choose to ignore it. But our God is not ignoring it.

Understanding the context of the “eye for eye” puts things into a better perspective. Respect of life matters. Respect it by not injuring your neighbour physically or maliciously. Respect it by protecting it from the moment it begins to the moment when God brings it to an end.