Coffeepot Counselor

My home church has developed an online presence to meet the changes in ministry due to COVID-19. I was recently asked to speak for a few moments about my own “thrill of hope for 2021.” To give a context for what I’m about to say I am going to look back for a moment before looking toward my hope for next year.

I want to start with where I have been because I have never felt good about celebrating Christmas. I just don’t seem to enjoy Christmas compared to other people. Maybe my reserved perspective is because I have sort of an even keeled personality, not often given to extended periods of elevated or sober moods. Maybe my reserved perspective is because I tend to live in my head (not everyone thinks that is a good trait but I’m OK with it). Maybe my reserved perspective is because in my high school years I got sick every Christmas break. Sore throat, fever, laryngitis – we are talking hot tea and Vicks Vaporub on the chest and up the nose kind of sick. Years later I got some allergy testing done and at that time in my life I was allergic to pine trees. Christmas was making me sick! Some of you can relate.

As I stepped into college I tried to blend the commercial aspects of gift giving, family gatherings and the religious significance of the holidays into one ball. When I tried to make sense of the historical inaccuracies and cultural expectations – it made my head spin. No Vicks Vaporub on the chest and up the nose is going to fix that mess. My pastor, Brian, might call my state of mind on Christmas a hot dumpster fire  of confusion. How could I honor culture, family and the Christ child with the same passion and thrill that others seemed to have? I simply could not. 

Wouldn’t you know I fell in love with a delightful woman who embraces all aspects of the holidays: real or imagined; historically accurate or not; family squabbles or not. Debbie is all things Christmas. She taught me that gifting and serving others is a great way to honor the best parts of our culture, the families who love us and the Christ child. I may be the poster child for “fake it ‘til you make it” when it comes to Christmas thrill. I have a couple of Christmas ties to prove my embracing of Christmas. To be honest I have made some real progress.

I find listening to specific types of music helps me focus on the message of Christmas. Music is something I can experience that is real, authentic, personal and often points me to God’s love.

For example, Handel’s “Messiah” comes to mind. Debbie had a good friend who was a wonderful mezzo soprano. She invited us to watch her in the Florida State University presentation of The Messiah. The soloists were jaw dropping good. My heart was moved by the beauty of what God’s children had created.

Later still I had to battle the deep sadness of losing my sister, Nancy, right before Christmas. It was the music of Bruce Cockburn that got me through the grief. A lot of the tunes were from freed slaves and indigenous believers and their melodies and rhythms invited me to step past my grief and into God’s love.  

Do you see the theme here? I don’t do “thrill” in the typical sense. I’m finding the Christ child in the songs that God has given his creation to sing. Sometimes the Christ child is in an aria, sometimes a table thumping jig, sometimes a song to inspire the enslaved, and sometimes the sweet tender tones of a love song from a mother to a child. Each year something different, each year something new, but always about God sending himself to live and teach us His perfect love. That is now my thrill of Christmas, in my head but also deeply in my heart.

Part two of my story: Here is what I’m doing right now with my thrill of Hope for 2021. My 2021 Hope story starts with failing eyesight and memorized scripture. In October 2020 I had cataract surgery and was essentially deprived of my ability to read for several weeks. I found I had memorized three scriptures: Gen 1:1, Micah 6:8 and Ps 23. I spent long periods of time reciting those passages and contemplating what they might mean in my life. Nine verses in total. That is all I had. It turns out God can do a lot with nine verses.

Take Gen. 1:1 “in the beginning God created heaven and earth, now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep and the spirit of God was hovering over the waters.” I began to imagine the creation scene over and over again. God created. God created. GOD created. Eventually I began to experience an intense sense of calm and appreciation for what we are going through now. God created. Not me, God. Sort of put things in perspective. [Then you add Gen 1:2 where God created light before he created the sun and moon…my surgically corrected eyes were really being opened.]

Then I focused on living Ps 23 in my mind’s eye. If I dwell on Psalm 23 I realize God has got me. He wants me to rest. He will protect me. He has a plan for me that will fit into God’s grand plan. He wants me to be respected. He wants me to laugh and be overjoyed. My cup overflowing is not an anger event over a spilled beverage but the emotion of delight when there is more provision than I can possibly handle.  He not only will protect me but wants me to laugh and thrive in the abundance of his love. 

If you then add Psalm 24:1-2 “the earth is the Lords and everything in it, the world and all who live in it, for he founded it upon the seas and established it upon the water…” things really get interesting. The same God that hoovered over the waters is hovering over me, this family, these students, this pandemic, these fearful and angry people, this town. I find that immensely reassuring. 

The earth belongs to God. The world and everything in it. Let that sit with you for a moment or two. 

Second, God created everything and everybody, even those I don’t agree with, I might be afraid of, or might annoy me. God created those on the political left and the political right. God created the selfish and the selfless. God hoovered over the waters not just with me in mind but you, and my students that I enjoy teaching and the students who don’t want to be in the classroom – he created all of us. That same spirit that hoovered over the waters is working in me and in the year ahead.  That imagery of God hoovering over me just like he hooved overed the waters at the beginning of my scope of time is my Hope for 2021.

I am calmed and reassured going into 2021 because we all belong to God and the power that created the heavens and earth is still in motion today…it says so in Genesis and Palms. That is my new and improved vision of Hope for 2021.

In Christ, 

Phil