The Scandal of Christmas

Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la, la-la.

‘Tis the season…

for lights,

for trimmings,

for boxes,

and bows,

for presents wrapped under the tree,

Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la, la-la.

‘Tis the season…

for parties,

for eggnog,

for fudge,

and pumpkin pie,

for family we see only once a year.

Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la, la-la

‘Tis the season…

for hustling,

for bustling,

for to-do lists,

and wish lists,

for calendars packed with special events.

Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la, la-la

‘Tis the season…

for shopping,

for sales,

for commercials,

and traffic jams

for stores overcrowded with holiday cheer?

Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la, la-la

‘Tis the season.

Yes, we may laugh. But often, we arrive at this night overwhelmed, fatigued and perhaps even frazzled wondering where the season has gone.  Many of us love this time of year, but somehow, somewhere along the way it can become little more than a nuisance and a hassle to our everyday lives.  If pressed, others of us would admit that we do not like or maybe even dread when the calendar approaches mid-November.

When the season is finally over, we find ourselves wondering what happened? Where exactly did the joy of the season go?

Where was the mystery?

That for which we had been preparing and building toward for months is now passed, and we are left living our ordinary lives once again.

It is so easy; it is so easy to become distracted by the lights, the trimmings, the boxes, the bows, the preparation…

It is so easy to become distracted by the story itself… the angels, the shepherds, the kings, the manger, the virgin with child…

It is so easy to become distracted by the burdensome unrealistic expectations of the season or the familiarity of the story, that we run the risk of losing sight of the scandalous news of Christmas. 

What is this scandalous news? The scandal is the prophecy that led a king in the 8^th century BC to make an unholy alliance in order to avoid its message.  We heard this news, this prophecy, tonight in the words of the prophet Isaiah when he spoke to Ahaz the king of Judah, the southern kingdom, which stood on the brink of annihilation and captivity.  The prophet told him of a coming sign. He spoke of a child who would be born and was to be named Immanuel – which meant “God with us”.  This child was to be a reminder of God’s promise and covenant with God’s people.

The scandal is that which caused a nervous first century leader, named Herod, to commit heinous crimes in a vain attempt to eradicate the truth of God’s real presence in the flesh.  We heard it a second time tonight when Isaiah’s message was repeated some 900 years later by the author of the Gospel of Matthew.  He understood the prophetic words, the scandalous words, to speak of a child to be born into his own first century world of occupied Israel where the Temple had been destroyed once again and the identity of a people hung in the balance. He heard the prophet's words anew and they spoke directly, emphatically into his world.  The author of Matthew wrote, “an angel of the Lord appeared to (Joseph) in a dream and said, ‘Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.’ All this took place to fulfill,” the author says, “what the Lord had said through the prophet: ‘The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel’ – which means, ‘God with us’ ” (Matthew 1:20-23). (PAUSE) This is the scandal of the season.  This is the scandal of the manger.

“God-with-us” in a time of uncertainty, in a time of war, in a time of captivity, even in a seemingly God forsaken time: God with us.

Of the incarnation, God made flesh, theologian Shirley Guthrie wrote, “In a weak, helpless baby lying in a cradle in a barn!...What an inappropriate place to meet ‘Almighty God’! How unspiritual! But hidden in this peasant baby…there is God…personally present.  God is not a (child), but this (child) is God-with-us” (Guthrie, 58). Immanuel – the scandal of Christmas.

It would be simpler if God would just stay at a safe distance from the world – from us. It would be more comfortable if God would remain predictable. It would be far easier if the manger were a fine resin display that could sit on a shelf in the living room only to be dusted off occasionally.  At times, we would prefer a distant, predictable and plasticine god if we could have our choice.

However, the God of Christmas, this scandalous God has a different way. God, the God of the Nativity, is a God of intimacy, the unusual, flesh and blood. This God of the manger is convicting, convincing and constantly calling us to something more.  This is the dangerous nature of the Nativity. This is no sanitized simple faith. In fact, the cradle beckons us to remain in this same messy and wonderful world into which Immanuel was born proclaiming “God-with-us” through the manner in which we live.

Again, Guthrie writes, “The Christmas story is anything but a sentimental, harmless, once-a-year occasion for a ‘Christmas spirit’ (or fa-la-la-la-las) that last only a few days before we return to the ‘facts’; of the ‘real world.’ Christmas is the story of a radical invasion of God into the kind of real world where we live all year long – a world where there is political unrest and injustice, poverty, hatred, jealousy, and both the fear and the longing that things could be different.” And because of the Immanuel, things are different.

Speaking Immanuel into our world is making a proclamation – a present tense declaration of reality, God is with us. 

Speaking Immanuel into our world is declaring a promise – a statement on which our faith and hope stand. It is a yet to come. Our uncertain futures, our doubts, our fears, our dis-ease – God with us.

Speaking Immanuel into our world is a prophetic utterance – it is the call into which we are to live.  It is the challenge to live courageous lives as if Immanuel – God with us – just might be true.

Christmas is dangerous, powerful and risky. For at Christmas, God did not come near. No, God became flesh. This is the decisive disclosure of God.  Immanuel is the ultimate expression of the covenant of God with God’s people.

Immanuel – God with us…here – right here, right now.

And that is the scandal of Christmas. Amen.

Expecting

I have a wonderful friend who will deliver her first child any day now. The months of expecting are about to come to a close. Her doctors have said that the little one for whom she and her husband have been hoping for years is about to arrive and completely transform their home and their lives. The blessed event may even happen today!

I have known this amazing woman since she was a young teen, and I could not be more excited for anyone! This has been an incredibly long journey for her and her loving husband full of twists and turns, joys and sorrows. They are tremendous people and will be incredible parents.

Could there be a better season to welcome a new child into the world than Advent - the season of expectation; the beginning of the Christian year?

For during this season we are "all pregnant," as one of my colleagues recently put it. We are all, much like my friend, anticipating an event that has the power to change our homes and our lives. We are about to be transformed by the birth of a child. And this child will indeed change everything.

"Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end." (Luke 1:30-33, NRSV).

This leaves me with one question. How will I birth this child into the world?

Remember, "nothing will be impossible with God." (Luke 1:37)

"O come, O come Emmanuel!"

The Parable of the Climber

“Get me out of here!” The beginner shouted.  “Get me out of here!”

“Calm down!” the guide replied.

“Calm down?!  Did you hear that?  Calm down he said,” the rock climber announced to an imaginary audience.  “Calm down?  I am going to die!  I am stuck on this mountain and cannot move.  There is no way out but to climb, and I can’t do this!” The novice exclaimed.  “So, what on earth do you mean, ‘Calm down?’!  Can’t you see that this is it?!  Can’t you see that it is all over?!  I can’t do this!  Can’t you see?  Calm Down.  Yeah, right!”

The leader replied, “Do you want to make it?  If so, then you must calm down.  If you do not, you will never make it out of here with me.”

“Then just leave me here to suffer on my own,” cried the mountaineer.  “I can’t do this.  I can’t go any further.  I just can’t do this.  Do you hear me?  I...can’t...do...this,” he said choking back his tears.

After a long silence, the guide calmly said, “You are right.  YOU can’t do this!  YOU can’t make it out of here!”

Looking up, the climber said, “What?!  Oh, thanks for the vote of confidence!  Thanks for cheering me up.”

“Listen to me,” the leader said sternly, “YOU can’t make it out of here on your own.  YOU don’t know the way.  You don’t know how!”  The guide continued, “If you were here all by yourself, then all would be lost.  But YOU aren’t here alone.  Remember, I am here with you, and there is no way that I am bailing out on you!  There is no way that I am going to leave you stranded out here by yourself.  But you are going to trust me.  If you do, we will make it through this together.  The choice is yours, but I am never going to leave your side.  So, what’s it gonna be?”

After a long pause, the amateur said in a quite voice, “But, I am scared.”

“I know,” said the wise leader.

“I am afraid that I may die,” said the nervous climber.

“ ‘I am’ here,” said the leader.

“I can’t do this,” said the frightened man.

“You can if you trust me,” the guide answered.  “Look at me.  Look at me.  Move how I move.  Place your hands where I place mine.  Step where I tell you to step.  I know the way from here.  I have been through it before.  It will be difficult, but we will make it together.  But this will only work if you are willing to follow me.”

The leader stretched out a hand and the climber grabbed on…

Turn and Live

Ezekiel 18:1-4 and Ezekiel 18:25-32

You come in the house and there to greet you in the middle of the living room is your only child.  Right next to her tennis-shoed feet is the antique lamp that once had a place of prominence in her great grandma’s living room and now is found on the floor shattered into a thousand tiny pieces.  After quickly scanning for any evidence of blood or bodily harm you gather yourself and ask what appears to be the most logical question. 

“Honey,” you say in your forced tender grown-up parent voice, “what happened in here?”

With the biggest, saddest eyes ever seen your precious only child says with all the sincerity she can muster, “I…I don’t know.”

Reminding yourself to be calm while you feel your blood pressure continue to rise you say, “Well sweetie, how did the antique lamp break?”

After a moment of painful and pitiful silence and a couple of false starts, she finally says, “B…B….Baxter Bunny broke the lamp when I left the room.”

And there it is.  Your precious, apple of your eye, only child, has just blamed her invisible yet very real friend, Baxter, for her indiscretion. 

Yet, in spite of the absurdity of such a claim you somehow understand.  Baxter the bunny has always been full of mischief.  (Pause)

Your understanding goes beyond knowing your child’s habits, accidents and proclivity to pass the blame.  You genuinely understand.  After all, you too have a Baxter.  We all do, don’t we?  Sure, they go by different names and may not be invisible bunnies, but we all indeed have someone or something that receives the blame for many of our mistakes and foibles.  Our parents, our siblings, our boss, our professors, our government, the media…and the list could go on and on. 

There is a different way.  God calls us to break away from our old familiar patterns.  God calls us to repent, to turn, to take personal responsibility for what is ours so that we might truly live.

In the text from Ezekiel above, we hear the voice of the prophet who is living with his brothers and sister in exile in Babylon.  It is from this exile and then back into this exile that Ezekiel speaks. 

Scholars have said that the book of Ezekiel can be divided into two parts.  In the first section, God uses the voice of Ezekiel to speak about the potential reasons for the captivity of the nation of Israel at the hands of the Babylonians.  Then, by contrast, in the second part of the book we find Ezekiel speaking of the hope that can be found in the Lord and in the future restoration of the kingdom. 

Today’s text from Ezekiel 18 comes from the first portion of the book in which an explanation for the exile is given.  Chapter 18 begins with the voice of God decrying a popular saying that was found in Israel.  The saying goes, “The parents have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are blunted.”  This phrase, this saying, was a way of claiming that the sins of the parents would be passed on to the children.  According to Ezekiel, God decrees that this saying must not be heard any more in Israel. 

Now why would God use the voice of the prophet to say such a thing?  This saying was not an appropriate explanation for the exile and the pain of the nation. This saying had become a crutch; an excuse for the people.  It had become a way for them to hide themselves from personal responsibility.  It had become, if you will, their Baxter Bunny. 

Through the voice of the prophet, the Lord speaks and says that each person is loved by God and is responsible for their actions.  God is calling the people of Israel into and toward personal responsibility. This message was not easy to hear then neither is it easy to hear now.

In the verses that follow this passage, Ezekiel illustrates his point by speaking of several different generations who each bear the personal responsibility for their decisions, some for better and others for worse. 

Then we come to these important words, the climax, where the point is driven home. Again God speaks and says, “Repent and turn from all your transgressions; otherwise iniquity will be your ruin. Cast away from you all the transgressions that you have committed against me, and make (receive for?) yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! Why will you die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone who dies, says the Lord God. Turn, then, and live.”  God calls Israel, the covenant community, yes, but also the individual to repent, to turn; to take personal responsibility for their actions. 

There is corporate culpability, of course.  However, you see, there is also individual responsibility. 

Now, I must confess that this was and continues to be a difficult passage for me.  As I read, I found myself wanting to shout, “But what about the child who is abused?”  The sins of one generation do impact another.  “What about the drunk driver who kills a mother and her two children leaving behind a single father and their six-month old?”  The sins of one generation do impact another.  “What about slavery?”  “What about the treatment of the Native Americans?”  “What about….”

Yes.  Yes.  Yes.  Indeed the sins of one generation do have an impact on the next.  And, our passage of Scripture is not denying the truth of this statement. 

However, this passage of Scripture is challenging us to change the way we think and the excuses we make.  We, along with exiled Israel, are being called to live a life characterized by repentance.  We are being called by this prophetic voice from over 2500 years ago, to step away from the status quo of our easy excuses.  We are called to be honest with ourselves and our God. 

Why should we live a life characterized by repentance?  We should we live such a life because by turning – turning from our sin and familiar ways and turning toward something new – we turn toward life. To be sure, this is not an easy venture. However, it is one to which we are called to become more familiar. We are called to leave the old, the familiar, the safe behind and turn toward transformation and renewal.

Sitting in your favorite chair reading your favorite magazine, you feel a little tap on your leg.  There she stands in front of you once again with those same beautiful big eyes now filled with tears – your wonderful only child.

“Honey, what is wrong?” you ask.

Looking down at her sparkly tennis shoes and shuffling her feet back and forth she says, “Um…Baxter Bunny didn’t break the lamp.  I…I broke the lamp.  And I am sorry.”  And the tears that once filled her eyes now spill down her cheeks.

You reach down; scoop her up in your arms and into your lap.  You look deep into those big eyes and quietly say, “Thank you. It is okay.”

And somehow you are thankful; you are thankful not because she is feeling guilty; you are thankful not because of her pain.  You are thankful because she had the courage to come to you.  She came not to earn your forgiveness. She came because she knew she could find forgiveness in your eyes, acceptance in your arms and love in your presence.

Friends, let us turn.  Let us all repent.  God’s ways are just.  God’s ways are fair.  God desires that all should live.  Forgiveness is offered.  And only in turning can we receive. 

Let us “turn, then, and live.”

All Saints Day

When Allison was just 5 years-old, she asked me an incredibly poignant question about heaven. 

From the backseat of the car I heard, “Who will I see there?”

All Saints I , Wassily Kandinsky

Without much forethought, I responded with the names of those who have gone before us.  Those who walked this path of faith and who, through both word and deed, left trail markers along the way to point those that follow toward the face of God. 

Then I heard these words tumble out of my mouth, “Then there will be all of these people who you have never met who love you and cannot wait to meet you.” 

She said, “There will?  What will they do?”

“I don’t know.” I said, “But I am sure that they will be excited to see you.”

I am not really sure what happened during the rest of our drive home.  I was distracted by the image of those who have gone before me who I do not know.  Those who love me and cannot wait to meet me.  Those who are cheering for me as I run the race of life.  This image has come back into my mind quite often since that day on the way home from school.  

Synaxis of All Saints

In the western church, November 1 is celebrated as All Saints’ Day.  This is the day the Catholic Church set aside long ago to honor and celebrate the lives of all of the saints, both known and unknown – both known and unknown - who walked the path of faith, and who, through both word and deed, left trail markers along the way to point those that follow toward the face of God.

This weekend the youth from Second Presbyterian Church will be at Camp PYOCA for our fall retreat (please pray for us).  Our theme for the weekend is discipleship.  As a part of the retreat, the students will be encouraged to write down and remember the names of the saints in their lives who planted, watered or helped cultivate their own discipleship. 

Sometime in the next several days, I encourage you to do the same.  Take time to remember the saints both living and dead who planted, watered or helped cultivate discipleship in your life.  Say a prayer of thanksgiving for those who walked this path of faith and who, through both word and deed, left trail markers along the way to point you toward the face of God.  Remember the saints in your own life, both known and unknown.  Celebrate the lives and testimonies of all of the saints who have gone before you.

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.”  Hebrews 12:1-2

Echo of a Song

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith.” Hebrews 12:1-2

In 1996, I traveled with several students from Second Presbyterian Church to Santa Fe, NM where we worked on a small community farm sponsored by the local Presbyterian Churches.  This farm, supported by volunteers, gave 100% of its produce to the homeless shelters in the area.  The trip was more than any of us could have expected or imagined.

While in Santa Fe, we stayed at Saint Catherine Indian School, a boarding school founded in 1887 to provide Native American youth with a quality education.  One afternoon on a quick return trip from the work site to the school, I had the opportunity to meet a Native American man who was walking across the campus.  His name was Bob Chavez.  He was the art teacher at the school. 

After some small talk, Mr. Chavez invited into a quaint gift shop where the school sold pens, pencils, shirts, postcards, posters and the like to raise extra morning to support the school.  Some of the cards and posters were adorned with pictures of the school or the beauty of the surrounding area.  Other cards were graced with beautiful southwestern art.  I inquired about the artwork which sparked this incredible story.

Bob, a Native American from the Conchiti Pueblo, told me that he served in World War II as a member of the New Mexico National Guard.  He and 1800 of his comrades were taken captive in Japan.  He survived four cruel years as a prisoner of war which included the brutal Bataan Death March that saw thousands of Filipino and American soldiers die.  Bob said that while he was in the prison camps, he made a promise to the Great Spirit that if he survived, he would devote himself to his school, St. Catherine's Indian School, where he was a member of the first graduating class in 1935. 

When he returned to New Mexico after the war, Bob made good on his promise.  For over 50 years, he volunteered his time and considerable talent introducing art and track and field to the school.  It was his artwork, produced in his simple art studio on St. Catherine’s campus that adorned the posters and postcards sold in the gift shop. 

Bob, whose Indian name given by his grandmother is Ow-u-te-wa, means “echo of a song.” Bob passed away in 2002, and his life and work were honored by all who knew him.  Manuel "Bob" Chavez has been and will continue to be the echo of God’s song of faith, grace and love to countless Native American boys and girls and one youth minister from Indianapolis, Indiana.

Your life is also an echo of this song of grace.  May others be blessed by its reverberations as they witness your life and give glory to God.  Allow your life to SING!

Cassie's Mess

Cassie, a rambunctious five-year-old, saw her daddy eating chocolate chip cookies in the living room.  She thought, “Daddy loves to dunk his cookies in milk.”  Seeing that her father had no milk, Cassie sprung into action.  She got a dining room chair and dragged it into the kitchen leaving some scratch marks on the floor.  Cassie positioned the chair just right and climbed from it onto the kitchen counter.  She pulled open the cabinet door with such force that it slammed into the wall with a terrific crash.  She reached for a glass, knocking two others to the floor sending shards of glass flying throughout the kitchen.  But Cassie didn’t care.  “I am getting some milk for my daddy,” she thought.

Meanwhile, Cassie’s daddy had come to the kitchen door beckoned by all of the commotion.  With hands on hips, he watched Cassie hard at work.  Cassie scurried down from the cabinet and over to the refrigerator.  She flung the door open wide.  She sat the glass on the floor and reached for the nearly full gallon of milk.  She opened the milk and struggled to pour it.  Some of the milk actually made it into the glass.  The rest of it splattered all over the floor.

Proud of her accomplishment, Cassie sat the jug of milk on the floor and picked up the glass.  “Daddy, daddy, I got something for you!”  Cassie shouted with joy as she ran in her socks across the kitchen floor only to slide across the floor and have the glass fall spilling its contents on the floor at her daddy’s feet. 

Cassie slowly picked herself up and looked around the room.  She saw all of the broken glass and spilled milk everywhere!  What a mess!  The cabinet and refrigerator doors were open and there was a huge puddle of milk on the living room carpet.  Then she saw her daddy standing in front of her with hands firmly on hips.  Cassie’s chin began to quiver and tears filled her eyes.  She looked up at her daddy with that expression on her face that implies, "I am so sorry. What is going to happen to me?"

Cassie’s daddy could only look at her.  He looked at Cassie, then the mess and…smiled.  Standing before him, he didn’t see a kid who had just made a huge mess of the house.  Instead he saw his child.  The little girl that he loved very much.  Cassie’s daddy knelt down to her level.  He scooped Cassie up in his loving arms, held her tightly against his chest and said, “That’s my girl!  Thank you, Cassie.”

And together they cleaned up the mess.

There you stand looking over messes you have made.  All of those broken pieces – the path that once held so much promise now lies in shards on the ground.  You stand there looking over the mess regretting both decisions and actions.  You stand there wondering what you must have been thinking in the first place.  You stand there with your chin quivering and that all too familiar look on your face.

Remember, you are a child of God.
NOTHING
...not the messes you've made or the mistaken steps you have taken
...not the lies you tell yourself or those others long for you to believe
...not the challenges you face or the sin you own
NOTHING CAN CHANGE THE FACT THAT YOU ARE A CHILD OF GOD! Live into your core identity as a dearly loved child of God.

Boxes

Life is safer when we keep God in a box. There are many reasons to place God in such a carefully created container. The box can help us have a construct by which we can understand who God is. The box can help us build a practical life of faith. The box can also help us understand who we are in relationship to such a God who we place in the box.

Life is safer when we keep God in a box. Nothing can get lost. Nothing can get broken. Nothing can escape. Nothing can get in. Nothing can be threatened. Life is safer in boxes.

There is nothing inherently wrong with the box we construct to contain God. As was said above, these boxes can indeed prove to be helpful. However, God has a nasty habit of working outside the walls that we have constructed. When this happens, we have a problem. We must either ignore God's activity, deny that it is God who is working or do the difficult work of figuring out how this new discovery works with our previous understanding of God. When the walls of our box are rigid, impermeable and impenetrable this inegrative work cannot be done, and we run the risk of allowing the box we have constructed to become an idol in and of itself.

Therefore, even though it is safer to keep God in a box (and we all do), the walls of the box must be pliable, permeable and penetrable. The prophet Isaiah writes, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts" (Isaiah 55:8-9, NRSV). There is no way to contain the divine or what God might be doing or about to do.

The questions are...
How BIG are we willing to allow our understanding of God to be?
Can we contruct our boxes with walls that are pliable, permeable and penetrable?

God is more...

The Table

Sunday, October 2 was world communion Sunday. 

Christians all around the world celebrated this sacrament as they gathered in cathedrals, store fronts, homes, massive modern buildings and small colonial edifices.

We broke the bread as congregationalists, Presbyterians, non-denominationalists, Methodists, Baptists, Greek Orthodox, Disciples and Catholics.

The cup was lifted before the rich, the poor, the middle class, the hungry, the hurting, the well, the diseased, the estranged, the outcast, the downtrodden and the recently diagnosed.

The invitation to the Lord's table was given and received by people representing nearly every nation and people possessing every hue of melanin. 

What drew us together?

The Christ. 

We were all welcomed to the table because of and through the work of Jesus, the Christ. 

At that table, we celebrated God's redeeming activity in our lives and in our world.

At that table, we looked forward to God's unending work in the world and our charge to partner in that work. 

At that table, we were called to begin again and to forgive as we have been forgiven.

At that table, we were transformed more into the likeness of the one who welcomed us to the table.

The Christ.

Remember, at the center of our faith is Jesus, the Christ. Jesus calls all to come and follow. 

Regardless of the state in which we find ourselves at this very moment, Jesus calls. 

Regardless of the struggles present in our lives and the doubts with which we live, Jesus calls.

Regardless of our past and our present, Jesus calls.

We have been invited to come to the table where we can find renewal, forgiveness, sustenance, and hope.

You have been invited.

Come to the table.

Unexpected Tide

My iniquity is written upon the shores of life in deep bold letters; written there with my own failing hand.  Sin after sin, failure upon failure recorded for all to see and for me to ne’er forget. 

My back aches as I stoop yet again to scrawl another shortcoming into the white-hot sand.  This arduous undertaking continues throughout the day and on into evening. 

Because of the growing fatigue in my legs and lower back, I soon find myself unable to stand.  Undaunted, I continue my list while crawling down the seaside on hands and knees. 

Exhausted, my eyes grow heavy, and I drift off into an uneasy slumber.   

What seemed like moments later, I am startled awake by the violent splash of the unexpected tide against my tired body.  I struggle to my feet cursing the wind that I could not be granted even a brief rest.  Standing, I stretch my tight back in order to continue my laborious work. 

As I rub the sleep from my tired eyes, I look down at my feet.  To my astonishment, all that I had painstakingly written the night before was now gone.  All of my work, my penitence, my self-pity, and my effort to keep record of my wrongs went for naught! 

I would now have to start all over, again. 

“How could this have happened to me,” I shout into the salty air, as I strain to remember all I had written the day before.  My legs burn and my back hurts as I bend down to once again write in the sand. 

Head bowed, I rest my hands on the moist clean white sand, and I notice the warmth of the morning sun as it begins to tickle the back of my neck.  I lift my head to see a cloudless sky.  I feel the gentle ocean breeze blow against my face.  I see whitecaps breaking in the distance with the ocean’s surging power.  I sense the warm sand cradle my knees in a blanket of white. 

I look down again.  This time I notice that the beach had been made new.  It had been washed clean in the unexpected tide.  There was not even a faint trace of yesterday’s scars. 

The unexpected tide had always been there. 

The unexpected tide would return everyday to refresh and renew.  

I stood erect – a new man!  I too am made new!  I too have been washed clean!  I too have been forgiven in this Unexpected Tide!

“You were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of God.”  -- 1 Corinthians 6:11

“Have mercy on my, O God,

                according to your unfailing love;

according to your great compassion

                blot out my transgressions.

Wash away all my iniquity

                and cleanse me from my sin.”  -- Psalm 51:1-2