"Tight lines" is a blessing fishermen offer each other, a wish for lines taut with the weight of good fish. May God grant that the lines written here be taut with His blessings.
Tuesday, 09 December 2008 | |||
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Point to the Light | |||
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My mother taught me that it's not polite to point. In
John 1:6-8 and in
John 1:19-31 we learn that John the Baptist made pointing into a
ministry. Everything he did was designed to point away from himself and
toward Jesus. In Christian art, it became common to portray John with his finger extended, pointing toward Christ. I'm putting a couple of these images here. The one that's just John and Jesus is by Murillo in the 17th century. The adoration of the magi image which includes John in the foreground is by Ghirlandaio in the 15th century. As you may have picked up, I have a curmudgeonly loathing for many popular cliches, and that includes the expression "It's not about you," or "It's not about me." But those expressions do seem to capture the spirit of John. He fully understood that the message he delivered was not about himself, but about "the one who is to come." Advent's approach to Christmas is a time to teach children and to remember that "it's not about us." This is not a time aimed at assuring the happiest and most meaningful holiday celebration for myself or even for my family. It's a time to point others to Jesus in word and deed. In these times we want to point to Christ in Christmas in ways that are not shrill or unattractive. Griping about wishes for a generic "Happy Holidays" or municipalities that won't allow public nativity displays is not usually very inviting to those outside our faith. Instead, we might aim for acts of kindness or a message of forgiveness that would make someone actually want to look at Jesus. May the Lord help us all to learn to point like John did. | |||
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Profile |
I am the pastor of Valley Covenant Church in Eugene, Oregon. I love to flyfish and hike along the beautiful rivers in our area. I welcome your comments as I share sermon work in progress and occasional other thoughts.
Thank you for visiting this blog. I invite you also to visit my web page.
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