Multiple Illustrations for Christmas 1
Illustration
Object:
Isaiah 61:10--62:3
For all of the work that goes into making a garden productive and healthy, there is something self-perpetuating about it in a way scripture frequently remembers. As much as human hands do, no one draws stalks up from the dirt or coaxes pods from the stem. It happens overnight, as it were. Certainly no one tends to a forest except maybe God himself; instead, the forest scatters its own seed and grows because its own ecosystem has prepared and fertilized the soil.
There's something similar in the idea of God making righteousness and praise rise up. Since he fills all things and is the fullness of righteousness and praiseworthiness, to bear forth righteousness and praise is as natural for him as a tended tomato garden to bear tomatoes or a pine forest to grow pine trees. Even in a hostile place, "before all the nations," the Lord cannot but shine glory.
B. Hohmeier
Isaiah 61:10--62:3
John Wesley had firmly established his societies of believers who became known as Methodists for their methodical, disciplined, spiritual lifestyles. Though Wesley was the leader of this spirited group, he always questioned his own faith and salvation. This doubting became most apparent on his return voyage from Georgia to England, where he went to convert the Indians. While crossing the Atlantic, the ship encountered a thunderous storm. Wesley became frightened of his own safety but was amazed at the calmness of the Moravians on board. Speaking to their leader, Wesley came to a better understanding of the meaning of faith but still realized he lacked its indwelling presence.
After returning to London, Wesley was walking the streets one night. He passed a Methodist meeting being held at Aldersgate Street. There, standing outside, he heard a reading from the book of Romans. That passage, which is unknown to us this day, transformed Wesley and gave him the assurance of faith.
Of the experience, Wesley wrote in his journal on May 24, 1738, "In the evening I went very unwillingly to a society in Aldersgate Street, where one was reading Luther's preface to the Epistle to the Romans. About a quarter before nine, while the leader was describing the change God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ alone for salvation; and an assurance was given me that He had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death."
Isaiah says that we shall be "clothed in garments of salvation." When we can have our own Aldersgate experience, knowing the indwelling peace of Jesus and the assurance of our faith, then we too shall be "clothed in garments of salvation."
R. Love
Galatians 4:4-7
I have been privileged to be the uncle of an adopted nephew. It's amazing to know that he and I share no common ancestry or bloodline, but I consider him as much a part of my family as any blood relation. He was chosen by his parents to share not only their home, but their family, even down to the family name.
That makes passages like this come alive for me. Even though sin alienated us from God, he still adopted us as family. We are not simply guests in the house of God, but we are fully adopted sons and daughters with all the rights and privileges due that position: "So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God" (v. 7).
C. Kelly
Galatians 4:4-7
Dorothy Day, the social activist who later became a devout Roman Catholic and continued to reach out to the poor, describes the turning point in her life when she experienced the "fullness of time" in a dramatic way. She had gone to Provincetown on the northern edge of Cape Cod to hear Eugene O'Neill speak. Her transformation took place when O'Neill was reciting the poem "The Hound of Heaven," written some years previously by Francis Thomson.
O'Neill knew the poem by heart, all 182 lines of it. These were the words that seemed to be speaking directly to Dorothy as she heard them that night: "I fled him, down the nights and days / I fled him, down the arches of the years, / I fled him down the labyrinthine ways / Of my own mind; and in the midst of tears / I hid from him --"
Soon Dorothy found herself climbing the church steps attending mass along with the other working people she sought to help.
R. Hasler
Luke 2:22-40
Before they were to wed, Kat von D got a tattoo of her betrothed Jesse James, underneath her left arm. The tattoo was a picture of when Jesse was a child. In explaining why she got the body art, von D said, "He had such a rough childhood and so to see what he became from there, it's amazing. That's why I wanted a picture of him as a child, to capture that certain innocence. The tattoo is a way of him recognizing somebody loves him." Shortly after getting the tattoo, von D ended her relationship with Jesse. The tattoo now could no longer be a message of love for Jesse but only a reminder of another disappointment.
Mary was told by Simeon that "a sword will pierce your own soul too." We would wish that the world would be absent of heartache and sorrow but amidst the joys and laughter there will always be sadness.
R. Love
For all of the work that goes into making a garden productive and healthy, there is something self-perpetuating about it in a way scripture frequently remembers. As much as human hands do, no one draws stalks up from the dirt or coaxes pods from the stem. It happens overnight, as it were. Certainly no one tends to a forest except maybe God himself; instead, the forest scatters its own seed and grows because its own ecosystem has prepared and fertilized the soil.
There's something similar in the idea of God making righteousness and praise rise up. Since he fills all things and is the fullness of righteousness and praiseworthiness, to bear forth righteousness and praise is as natural for him as a tended tomato garden to bear tomatoes or a pine forest to grow pine trees. Even in a hostile place, "before all the nations," the Lord cannot but shine glory.
B. Hohmeier
Isaiah 61:10--62:3
John Wesley had firmly established his societies of believers who became known as Methodists for their methodical, disciplined, spiritual lifestyles. Though Wesley was the leader of this spirited group, he always questioned his own faith and salvation. This doubting became most apparent on his return voyage from Georgia to England, where he went to convert the Indians. While crossing the Atlantic, the ship encountered a thunderous storm. Wesley became frightened of his own safety but was amazed at the calmness of the Moravians on board. Speaking to their leader, Wesley came to a better understanding of the meaning of faith but still realized he lacked its indwelling presence.
After returning to London, Wesley was walking the streets one night. He passed a Methodist meeting being held at Aldersgate Street. There, standing outside, he heard a reading from the book of Romans. That passage, which is unknown to us this day, transformed Wesley and gave him the assurance of faith.
Of the experience, Wesley wrote in his journal on May 24, 1738, "In the evening I went very unwillingly to a society in Aldersgate Street, where one was reading Luther's preface to the Epistle to the Romans. About a quarter before nine, while the leader was describing the change God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ alone for salvation; and an assurance was given me that He had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death."
Isaiah says that we shall be "clothed in garments of salvation." When we can have our own Aldersgate experience, knowing the indwelling peace of Jesus and the assurance of our faith, then we too shall be "clothed in garments of salvation."
R. Love
Galatians 4:4-7
I have been privileged to be the uncle of an adopted nephew. It's amazing to know that he and I share no common ancestry or bloodline, but I consider him as much a part of my family as any blood relation. He was chosen by his parents to share not only their home, but their family, even down to the family name.
That makes passages like this come alive for me. Even though sin alienated us from God, he still adopted us as family. We are not simply guests in the house of God, but we are fully adopted sons and daughters with all the rights and privileges due that position: "So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God" (v. 7).
C. Kelly
Galatians 4:4-7
Dorothy Day, the social activist who later became a devout Roman Catholic and continued to reach out to the poor, describes the turning point in her life when she experienced the "fullness of time" in a dramatic way. She had gone to Provincetown on the northern edge of Cape Cod to hear Eugene O'Neill speak. Her transformation took place when O'Neill was reciting the poem "The Hound of Heaven," written some years previously by Francis Thomson.
O'Neill knew the poem by heart, all 182 lines of it. These were the words that seemed to be speaking directly to Dorothy as she heard them that night: "I fled him, down the nights and days / I fled him, down the arches of the years, / I fled him down the labyrinthine ways / Of my own mind; and in the midst of tears / I hid from him --"
Soon Dorothy found herself climbing the church steps attending mass along with the other working people she sought to help.
R. Hasler
Luke 2:22-40
Before they were to wed, Kat von D got a tattoo of her betrothed Jesse James, underneath her left arm. The tattoo was a picture of when Jesse was a child. In explaining why she got the body art, von D said, "He had such a rough childhood and so to see what he became from there, it's amazing. That's why I wanted a picture of him as a child, to capture that certain innocence. The tattoo is a way of him recognizing somebody loves him." Shortly after getting the tattoo, von D ended her relationship with Jesse. The tattoo now could no longer be a message of love for Jesse but only a reminder of another disappointment.
Mary was told by Simeon that "a sword will pierce your own soul too." We would wish that the world would be absent of heartache and sorrow but amidst the joys and laughter there will always be sadness.
R. Love
