Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
look full in his wonderful face;
and the things of earth will grow strangely dim
in the light of his glory and grace.

— Helen Lemmel, “Turn Your Eyes upon Jesus”, The Worshipping Church Hymn #452

I have a friend who can’t drive anywhere without using his GPS.  He uses it to get everywhere, even the grocery store. While perhaps not to that extent, most of us have become very dependent on these features of our cell phones.  It’s wonderful not only to be told when and where to turn, but how long it will take to reach your destination and what traffic problems might be along your route.  This is all coming from a device that fits in our pocket.  Technology is an incredible thing.  Pretty much anywhere I go, my phone can always tell me exactly where I am and where I need to go to reach my destination.

When we lived in St. Louis, the street we lived off was shut down as they tore it up and replaced it.  This project took several months, and they put a “Road Closed to Through Traffic” sign at the nearby intersections.  In spite of the sign and the clear evidence of construction (the lack of asphalt being a key clue), each day dozens of cars tried to get through.  After all, that was the route their GPS was telling them to take, so they had to go that way.  Our technological tools are amazing, and usually reliable, but should not be trusted blindly.

Over the past few years, our technological tools have advanced to the point where we can no longer trust the information we’re being given.  Photoshop has been able to alter photographs digitally for a long time, but now we’re able to do the same thing with video, and it is becoming increasingly difficult to spot the fakes.  Artificial Intelligence tools have ripped open Pandora’s Box so that any and every one can create fake images and videos.  Altered and edited photographs and videos are being distributed not just by questionable sources, but supposedly trustworthy ones as well.  News media, government agencies, and of course social media spread, and sometimes create, these fake images and videos with nary an apology or regret.  How are we to find our way?

In light of the long arc of human history, GPS is still a very new technology.  It’s hard for me to fathom being able to get anywhere without it, but we’ve only been doing so for a few decades.  For most of human history, explorers had to rely on hand-drawn maps and the stars to help them figure out where they were and where they were going.  It was easy to get lost, but if you did, you could just look up at night and figure it out.  Even though the stars moved throughout the night, there was always one that stayed put.  Polaris, the north star.  Once you located Polaris, you could figure out where you were and navigate from there.  Using Polaris as a navigational tool is about as old school as you can get, but as they say, “there ain’t no school like the old school.”

In an age of dis- and misinformation, when we can not trust our technological tools, the media, or even government sources, the Christian can, and should, hold fast to the only north star we’ve ever had, Jesus Christ.  He is “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6).  When we don’t know which way to go, we turn to Jesus who says, “follow me.” (Mark 1:17)  When we don’t know what is true or false, we listen to Jesus who says, “For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.” (John 18:37)  When we don’t know how to live, Jesus reminds us that “I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of.” (John 10:10 MESSAGE)  In the same way that Polaris is always in the same place in the sky, Jesus is “the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8).  If the most reliable sources are the oldest, well, Jesus is the one who hung Polaris in the sky at the dawn of time.  That which is truly good, and true, and beautiful, will look like Jesus, sound like Jesus, and act like Jesus.

The problem of disinformation is only going to get worse.  The technological tools we’ve come to rely on are going to continue to misdirect us.  Instead of doomscrolling on our phones, we need to “fix our eyes on Jesus” (Hebrews 12:2) and “look full in his wonderful face.”  Immerse yourself in the Word of God by reading the Bible daily and spending time in prayer.  If we spend more time looking at the face of Jesus instead of the glare of our devices, then we will know what is true and what is not, for we will beholding the Face of Truth Himself. When you can’t trust anything else, trust in Jesus all the more.

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. — Hebrews 12:2-3

Blessings,

Rev. David Garrison

 And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord,

 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,

 for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant.” — Luke 1:46-48

There’s a tension lurking underneath the surface of our celebrations of Christmas each year.  It’s one of those things that can be easy to overlook, but once you see it, it’s really hard to unsee it.  In the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ, we celebrate the fulfillment of all of the prophecies in the Bible that speak to the redemption of all of humanity and creation.  Over the course of this month, we will sing of joy, while many are filled with sorrow and struggle with depression.  We sing of peace, while wars rage around the world and in our hearts.  We sing of love, and yet are surrounded by so much hate.  We sing of hope, but wonder, deep down, if anything will ever change.  Wasn’t Jesus supposed to change all of this?

Consider Mary’s song of joy of what God has already done in The Magnificat: “He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts; he has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate; he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty.” (Luke 1:51-53)  I look around the world today, and I see a lot of proud and mighty people still boasting.  I see those of humble estate still struggling.  The hungry are still starving; the rich are still hoarding.  We know Jesus accomplished these things, because the Bible is very clear that He did, but why is there still so much suffering and injustice, sin and brokenness?  It is the season of Advent that helps provide an answer.

In her magnificent book, Advent: The Once & Future Coming of Jesus Christ, Fleming Rutledge writes, 

Karl Barth exclaimed, “What other time or season can or will the Church ever have but that of Advent!”  This illuminates the present dimension of the season. It locates us correctly with relation to the first and second comings of Christ. Advent calls for a life lived on the edge, so to speak, all the time, shaped by the cross not only on Good Friday but wherever and whenever we are, proclaiming his death to be the turn of the ages “until he comes” (I Cor. 11:26)… In a very real sense, the Christian community lives in Advent all the time. It can well be called the Time Between, because the people of God live in the time between the first coming of Christ, incognito in the stable in Bethlehem, and his second coming, in glory, to judge the living and the dead. In the Time Between, “our lives are hidden with Christ in God; when Christ who is our life appears, then we also will appear with him in glory” (Col. 3:3–4). Advent contains within itself the crucial balance of the now and the not-yet that our faith requires. (Pg 7)

Everything the Bible says about what Jesus accomplished in His incarnation is absolutely true.  God is now with us in Jesus Christ.  The power of sin and death has been broken.  The proud have been brought down and the humble lifted up.  Prisoners freed.  The blind given sight.  The lost found.  The broken soul made whole.  And yet.  And yet, all of these things are also yet to be completed.  As Jesus said, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” (Mark 1:15)  Jesus has absolutely accomplished all of these things, but He has not yet completed all of these things.  Advent is the season that reminds us of this tension and invites us into it.  It is the season of, as Rutledge said, “the Time Between.”  

When Jesus returns, the Kingdom of God will finally be consummated.  The work begun with His first coming will be completed.  That which has happened now in part will then be completed in full.  It is the season of Advent that keeps our focus and our hope on that great and wonderful day.  Advent doesn’t merely acknowledge the tension of the already/not yet, it embraces it.  Just as in the incarnation our Savior came to earth and met us where we are, the season of Advent reminds us that He is still doing the same today, and that one day He will finish what He started.  

This Advent, we’ll take a look at how each of the Gospels tell the story of the birth of our Savior (except for Mark, who doesn’t include a birth narrative), and how each points us to His return.  We’ll begin our Advent celebration with a service of prayer, scripture and song, using Mary’s Magnificat as our guide to prepare our hearts and our souls to worship deeply and well this holiday season.  As you prepare for and celebrate the birth of our Savior, keep your eyes focused on His return.  Joy to the world, the King is coming!

For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. (1 Cor. 13:9-12)

Blessings,

Rev. David Garrison

 I’m not lost

I’m just looking for what I haven’t found

there’s an ache inside of me that’s reaching out 

      for something deeper than anything I’m seeing

like a traveler I’m following 

the echo of Eden. 

— Green River Ordinance, “Echo of Eden” (video below)

Many years ago my grandfather and I boarded a plane to a place I’d never before been.  When I stepped off the walkway into Ted Stevens International Airport in Anchorage, Alaska, the very first thought that crossed my mind was, “I’m home,” which was strange because airports aren’t the homeliest of places and, again, I’d never been there before.  It would be another decade before I was actually able to call Anchorage “home,” and that only lasted for two years.

For most of my life, “home” for me meant Rockville, Maryland.  It’s where I grew up and where my parents lived for 40 years.  I left Rockville in 1997 and my parents moved to North Carolina a few years ago.  But even before my parents moved away, Rockville stopped being home.  I would go back to visit, but it wasn’t a place I referred to as “home” any longer.  Even though I call places in Orlando, Anchorage, St. Louis, Hendersonville and now Madison Heights “home,” the longing for home points to something deeper.

A few months ago I was with a group of friends and family, and we had the most heartwarming and delightful time together.  It was an evening of silliness and joy, one of those moments in time that you wish would last forever, but of course never do.  Those moments touch a longing in our soul to be in the company of others, a longing that is at times met in our relationship with our spouse, our children, life-long close friends, maybe extended family.  But as good as those relationships are, they aren’t perfect and often bring as much pain as they do joy.  We weren’t meant to be alone, God says in Genesis 2, but relationships are hard.  Sometimes too hard.  We long for deep, meaningful relationships with others, but because it’s often so hard and painful, we settle for something much less, like the shallow façade of social media.

It seems as if our lives are becoming ever more frenetic and chaotic; we feel stretched in a dozen different directions at once.  We frantically try to keep all of the plates spinning, while they begin to slow and wobble precariously.  The more we stretch, the harder we press, the more the cracks begin to show.  2 Corinthians 4:7 describes us as cracked “jars of clay,” through which the grace of God shines… but if there are more cracks than clay, can it still be called a jar?  As Chuck DeGroat writes, “We all think we know the solution — more downtime, more relaxation, more rest.  And we’re all wrong.”  What we truly long for is wholeheartedness.

All of this points to a persistent gnawing discontent in our souls, a longing that we try to satisfy in a thousand different ways but is always unsatisfied.  We know there’s something missing, but we often aren’t sure what.  Augustine once said, “our hearts are restless until they find their rest in You.”  The most foundational longing of the human heart is for God.  If earth has no sorrows heaven can’t heal, then neither does earth have any means of satisfying a longing that yearns for something beyond this world.

CS Lewis once wrote, “If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.”  Our longing for home, for relationship, for wholeheartedness, for God can never be satisfied by anything in this world, because they are longings that have existed long before this world.  They are longings for “the way things used to be” in the truest, oldest sense of that phrase.  They are echoes of Eden, longing for the way things were before The Fall.  Eugene Peterson says, “This place, this garden, is not utopia, is not an ideal no-place. It is simply place, locale, geography, geology. But it is also a good place, Eden, because it provides the form by which we can live to the glory of God”

These longings have echoed for millennia, and they are only satisfied in Jesus Christ.  Through our salvation in Christ, we are able to experience a partial satisfaction of those longings, but their ultimate satisfaction comes in the consummation of the Kingdom of God when Christ returns.  Our August sermon series looks at the “echoes of Eden,” these deep longings of the human heart.  We’ll see how they are born out of the goodness of God’s creation, how Christ has redeemed them, and how they will ultimately be satisfied in the New Heavens and New Earth when Jesus consummates His kingdom at the end of time.  Be sure to join us for worship in person or online during August.

And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. — Romans 8:23-25

Blessings,

Happiness is a firecracker sitting on my headboard 

Happiness was never mine to hold 

Careful child, light the fuse and get away 

‘Cause happiness throws a shower of sparks

— The Fray, “Happiness”

I think this is because we’ve confused and conflated happiness and joy.  Happiness is a fleeting emotional experience.  Joy is a deeper state of being.  We pursue happiness because it’s an easier objective, something that seems like it’s more within our control.  But what we are actually yearning for is joy.  Joy is one of the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22).  While it certainly has an emotional component, joy is something that persists no matter our circumstances.  No matter how messy life gets, joy persists in our hearts and our souls.  It doesn’t ignore the sad, the bad, the hurtful, the wrongs of life but recognizes that there’s more to this life and to our faith than what is happening in this moment or season.

This summer we’re working our way through the book of Philippians.  It’s a letter written to encourage a group of Christians to find joy in the midst of the messiness of their lives and their circumstances.  It was written by a guy who was in a pretty messy place in his life at the time himself.  And yet, the resounding theme is rejoice, rejoice, rejoice.

Not a “pretend the messiness doesn’t exist” naïve joy, but a joy that is grounded in something deeper than our life circumstances.  A joy grounded in our salvation in Jesus Christ.  A joy that knows there is nothing we will go through or endure that our Savior did not endure Himself.  A joy that knows that there is no greater joy than to know and be known by Christ as deeply and thoroughly as possible.

Happiness says that it will come when the mess gets cleaned up.  Joy comes in the midst of the mess.  As we said above, joy is a fruit of the Spirit.  As we pursue Jesus Christ, the seeds of joy are planted in our soul.  As we grow in grace and truth, faith grows those seeds so that even in the messiness, when life goes sideways, through the hurt and pain, a joy invincible is nurtured and developed.  This kind of joy doesn’t appear magically overnight, but rather through a lifetime of faithful trust in Jesus Christ.

There’s nothing wrong with being happy, as long as we recognize that happiness isn’t an end unto itself.  Happiness understood rightly should be an expression of the joy we have in our salvation.  May God nurture a joy in your soul that surpasses understanding, a joy born of gratitude for our salvation in Jesus Christ and the fruit of the work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts and souls.

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. — Phil. 4:4-7

Blessings,

Rev. David Garrison