A few years ago I had a conversation with a friend about the phrase "Live like you are dying."

"What do you think?" He asked, "Is it good advice?"

I rolled my eyes. "Who could tell any more? It's so cliched that even if you told someone to live that way they wouldn't even really hear you." At the time I had no idea that the YOLO epidemic was on it's way in full force.

"I think it would make me live a little recklessly," He said with a mischievous glint in his eye, "but I don't think it would make me live any more fully."

The point he was making is that on your way to death, you behave a little selfishly. Why shouldn't you? Get in a few thrills before the end, you're on a timeline here. Say your goodbyes, make your peace and then eat whatever you want, jump off of things, run with the bulls and never look back. If your life is on a timeline with death at the end, responsibilities are not important, getting the most out of the only life you know, is.

"YOLO" came along and tried to put a positive spin on the whole idea, but the intent is still clear. You are going to die, so you might as well live while you can. While most people don't take this advice to the extreme, you can still see the evidence of a YOLO mindset all over our culture. We speed past quiet moments and that hint of true joy at 85 Miles per hour (where it's legal) in a relentless pursuit of the grand finale.

When I asked my friend what would inspire him to live more fully he launched into an excited and lengthy speech that I will spare you. The essence of what he said though is that we should live like children. Small ones. The kind that stare unashamedly and ask "why" even after you have given an exhaustive explanation of why, the kind that point at things that interest them and ask yet again "why?" The kind that don't mind having the mess of life all over their hands or running down their chins, who climb into chairs with big smiles and sticky fingers and a strong desire to sit close to daddy and whisper "I love you" and of course "why?"

The more I thought about this, the more hopeful it felt. Jesus wants us to have hearts like children. Jesus teaches us how to live, Jesus teaches us how to learn and grow and ask of our heavenly father "why?" He gave us the freedom to climb into his lap with our sticky lives and whisper close to his ear "I love you." Children aren't thinking about how to get the most out of life, they are simply fascinated with the art of living.

Christ has already ransomed us from death, to eternal life.. So, while life is not to be taken for granted, death is also not to be feared. Hebrews 9:26-28 "...But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgement, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him."

This is music to me. For those of us born to the kingdom of God, death is not the end of the line, it is not the grand finale, it is only the gateway to our second and true life. To be certain, death has no joy. I've never done it, so I don't know for sure, but it can't be comfortable to have this vessel that God designed ripped apart from the core, my soul. But the good news? I only have to do it once. The best news? When Jesus died, he conquered it, defeated it, broke its rules and made a clear pathway to everlasting life.

The life we have now, is full of joy, sorrow, delights, fears, danger, striving, love, and everything else under the sun. Sometimes it's a party and frequently it's a struggle. There is so much joy in remembering that the common rules of death do not apply to us. It brings a sense of freedom and a truly child like bounce to my step. I don't want to put the focus on death. Death is a bump in the road, a glitch in the original design, and we have been promised everlasting life. Death is inevitable, but it is certainly not a goal.

What lies ahead for us is joy without sorrow, beauty without scars, love without fear. What lies ahead for us is the world as our good Father intended it.

It's January. While you are making lists and setting goals and having such a positive intent toward 2016, maybe add something that forces you to think and feel like a child. I wanted to package up a neat little phrase that you and your friends could say to each other at ironic moments and have a good laugh. What do you think; "Live like children who only have to die once and then the real party starts." It's kind of a mouthful and I don't even know how you would say LLCWOHTDOATTRPS.

Or! With the gospel in mind and an everlasting hope to look forward to, you could say "You Only Die Once." YODO everyone, Happy New Year.
 

-This weeks post is by Ashley Bowie, a member at Redeemer. She pours an excellent cup of coffee, and loves words the way some people love their pets, or children.

Homesickness by definition is: the distress or impairment caused by an actual or anticipated separation from home. Its cognitive hallmark is preoccupying thoughts of home and attachment objects.

My husband and I have moved nine times in our life together. Some in town and some cross country. Each move has left its mark even if we were moving ahead with excitement and anticipation we’ve still had to leave dear friends and family behind. We have left dreams of what we thought would be. In doing so you can imagine I've experienced my fair share of homesickness. At times it came with waves rolling in and out of familiar nostalgia. Other times it was swift and piercing. We've lived in our current house for five years which is almost a record for us. So it's right on schedule that we've recently started to get the longing for something new. It’s too soon to tell whether the longing in something that God has placed on our hearts or whether we’ve just had a bad week. I think there are times homesickness can present itself when circumstances are difficult. When we are struggling we sometimes long for the home we haven't yet seen. We think- if we only (fill in the blank) then we'd be happy. Content. Sometimes, for me, the feelings of homesickness isn’t due to being separated from home but separated from thoughts of what home could be.

One of the moves we’ve had was from a home that we thought was the one. We loved it and the property it sat upon. We had such dreams and hopes for the future we would have there. Through a series of events that “forever home” is no longer ours. Turns out it was temporary after all. 

For some time after I dealt with feelings of shame, guilt, remorse and homesickness. We were “responsible" people. We did everything possible to keep that home and avoid foreclosure. But it wasn't ours to keep. It wasn't our forever home. That's what I walked away with. No matter the dorm, apartment, basement, duplex, gorgeous house you lay your head at tonight it's only sticks & stones. Temporary. But there is hope. No matter how fleeting the time in our houses here is or not, there is hope.

Our hope can be in this: the homesickness and longing we experience are for our home with God. Our place is beside Him. We weren't made to live separate from Him. On our own. We will always experience homesickness in this world no matter if we are near family or not. No matter if we have that extra bathroom or not. We will always have longing for "something more." Because there is something more. Something forever. Something that will satisfy and allow us to no longer feel as though we are strangers in this world. That is something to put our hope in. What if we spent a little more time thinking about our true "forever home?" What if instead of thinking what all we could do to the houses we live in now (don’t get me wrong I love Chip & Joanna too) we spent that time thinking about how we could prepare for the home we will have when time doesn't end? Maybe, just maybe, our longings then would turn to thoughts of joy and hope rather than distress or impairment. Maybe then our homesickness would draw us closer to The One who holds the only key we will need for all of eternity. 

This week's article is by Theresa Adams, a Redeemer member, a wife & a mom, who would someday love to have her own roller skating rink & thinks getting her kids to eat kale is major victory!

The following blog is by Rob Berreth for a blog post posted in 2014. The dates and documents were updated.

As the New Year approaches many of us are thinking about what 2016 will look like and what 2015 was. This time, of the year I like to spend some time thinking about the evidence of God grace in the previous year and also prayerfully seek how God wants me to steward my time and resources this next year. I do this for myself and with my family.

I have found that some dedicated time to prayerfully planning the next year has been helpful to grow more in love with Jesus and more in love with His mission for His glory. You may have your way of doing this, and that’s great, but if you are looking for a way to reflect on 2015 and plan for 2016 here’s some helpful ways to do so.

Make Sure To Pray:

Before you do anything humbly ask the Holy Spirit to lead you. You could ask others, like a spouse, your children, your Gospel Community, to be praying for you as well. Times of reflection and planning are much more useful when you are prayerfully dependent.

Preach The Gospel To Yourself:

As you pray, keep telling yourself the Gospel. Your righteousness comes from what Jesus has done, not what you do or don’t do. Your status as a son or daughter is from the Gospel, not your good works. Anything good you have done this year is the result of the Gospel being applied to your life by the power of the Holy Spirit. Gospel saturation like this will guard you against despair where this last year was filled with sin and disappointment and will keep you from pride as you reflect on things that went well and areas of faithfulness.

Evidence Of Grace:

What can I celebrate this past year?
What areas of my life has God been working on?
Who have I helped introduce to Jesus?
How has my love for Jesus increased?
What difficult times has God carried me through?
What are some encouraging things that happened in our church and GC this past year?

These are just a few questions, but you get the idea. I want to spend time praising God by recognizing how faithful He has been to me. As I spend time reflecting on evidence of grace I am encouraged in my faith and directed to adore my King.

In addition, to evidence of grace, I also spend time on growth areas.

Growth Areas:

What things are stealing affection from Jesus in my life?
Where am I out of step with the Gospel on a regular basis? (Look for trends and patterns not one of the occurrences)
What sin(s) do I always struggle with?
Where was I off mission this past year? What was distracting me?
What things were keeping me from being and serving in community?
What areas of my life are not glorifying to Jesus? What areas of my life or attitude are not displaying that Jesus is my Treasure?

After spending time thinking through these questions, and others, I spend some more time planning out the next year using the following categories. There are so many other questions that are helpful to ask in planning, but hopefully, this will get the ball rolling. Each category below has a vital resource that we would encourage you to read in the new year either on your own or with some people in your gospel community.

Disciple (Forward)

Bible Reading Plan
Bible Memorization Goals
Prayer List
Set Devotional Time
Theological Focus (Thematic, Works, Authors, Etc.)
Funding (Bible Translation, Books, Bibles, Resources For Others)
Key Resource: God’s Big Picture This book will help you understand the big storyline of Scripture and how the different parts of the Bible fit together under the theme of the kingdom of God. This will help you read the Bible with confidence and understanding.

Key Resource: New City Catechism NCC is a free, media-interactive (video, text, q&a) resource designed to teach you the essentials of the Christian faith. This resource will work well for individual use or with your family or GC members.

Ambassador (Outward)

Evangelistic Prayer (Who, People Groups, New Plants)
Relational Evangelism (List Of Names)
Specific Mission: (Area, Culture, People group, etc.)
Funding (What will I give above and beyond my local church?)
Key Resource: The Walk If you’ve never discipled anyone, the topics covered in this book will teach you how to disciple others. The Walk is also a great book to read with a non-Christian friend as many at Redeemer have been doing over the last year.

More on Ambassador (Outward)

Serving (Doing Something With My Time both Locally and Globally)
Funding (Doing Something With My Finances both Locally and Globally)
Praying (Locally and Globally)
Key Resource: Every Good Endeavor: Connecting Your Work to God's Work Ever wonders what’s the point of your job? With deep insight and often surprising advice, Keller shows readers that biblical wisdom is immensely relevant to our questions about our work. In fact, the Christian view of work—that we work to serve others, not ourselves—can provide the foundation of a thriving professional and balanced personal life. Keller shows how excellence, integrity, discipline, creativity, and passion in the workplace can help others and even be considered acts of worship—not just of self-interest.

Key Resource: Generous Justice: Generous Justice will help you develop a biblical understanding of service and justice. The book explores a life of justice empowered by an experience of grace: a generous, gracious justice. This book offers readers a new understanding of modern justice and human rights that will resonate with both the faithful and the skeptical.

Family (Inward)

Gospel Community (Specific Role, Prayer, Level Of Engagement)
Local Church (Specific Service, Level Of Engagement)
Funding (Sacrificial, Regular, Proportional, Worshipful, Grace Responding)
Key Resource: Gospel-Centered Parenting In twelve concise chapters, Gospel-Centered Family takes us through the major Bible principles for family life, challenging us to give up our 'respectable' middle-class idols, and to become the distinctively different people that God, through His gospel, calls us to be. Short but impactful read.

Key Resource: Total Church In Total Church, Chester, and Timmis first outline the biblical case for making gospel and community central and then apply this dual focus to evangelism, social involvement, church planting, world missions, discipleship, pastoral care, spirituality, theology, apologetics, youth and children's work. This book will help you love your church and serve the church well.

For those who like to strategize and get specific, here are a few additional tools from GO, our leader and church multiplication initiative:

Pre-Assessment & Example PDP

• Join An EQUIP Year Group: Do you desire to be intentionally discipled in the four major areas of Redeemer's Identities (Worshipper, Disciple, Ambassador & Family)? Join an EQUIP year group. Put simply, the aim for EQUIP is to cultivate your love for Jesus and equip you to be an effective disciple-making disciple. 
• Get Into a GC If you aren't in a GC, you are missing out. Gospel Communities (GCs) are really about a group of disciples growing as disciples while making disciples in their particular neighborhood as a family of believers serving Christ by serving others, learning as humble truth-seekers, and sent as witnesses of the Gospel to all people. Email info@redeemernw.org to get connected.

I hope that some of this will serve you as you set out to make the best use of the time as a missionary for Jesus. May God give you direction and wisdom. May the Gospel deepen your love for God this year and train you and grow you in godliness. May this coming year be filled with many evidences of grace, a lot of growth, and joy that is grounded in Jesus, which never fades.

Northern Hemispherians may have noticed that it's been awful cold and dark as of late. Some of us even enjoy it, twisted beings that we are.

Anyway, that's because Tuesday was the winter solstice, the day that the north pole is tilted furthest away from the sun, resulting in shorter days and longer nights. And now, we get to celebrate the days getting longer.

Long celebrated in a variety of forms, the season of the solstice brought feasting, dancing, and general merriment to the people of the north. Ecstatic for the return of the sun, they partied hard as they looked forward to the warmth it brought, for the spring sowing season to arrive, and for the eventual harvest. Sound familiar?

It's debatable whether Jesus was actually born around the winter solstice, but it is a fitting time to celebrate His coming. For when the world was dark and the night seemed forever, the Light of the world, the Son of God, came to His creation to bring new life to all who would trust in Him.

Whether or not the world prefers the light to the dark is another matter. But these short cold days remind us that light is what we, and this world, desperately need.

This week's post by Brandon Adent, a deacon at Redeemer Church. He likes music, words, and words about music.

The Following Blog Post Is By Brandon Adent

I am a sucker for Christmas movies, and one of my favorites is National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. I’ve probably watched it too many times. Well, most of it. There’s two parts that I’ve actually never seen, that we were trained to fast-forward, so I still do. My sincere thanks to Mom and Dad for that one.

I love Christmas Vacation because, like most Christmas movies, the protagonist is in pursuit of the perfect Christmas and does everything he can to make it happen. When things don’t go as planned, he forges ahead.

Of course, everything breaks. And it’s hilarious.

But in the end, the whole thing comes out more memorable, and “the best Christmas ever”. Why wouldn’t it? Isn’t that how Christmas works?

Ignoring Pain in Pursuit of Perfection

Last week, I referenced a chapter in J.I. Packer’s classic Knowing God. In doing so, I was reminded of how much I love it and began to re-read it in preparation for Christmas.

Which, by the way, is next Friday. You’re welcome.

Anyway, I got to thinking about Christmas as our culture celebrates it. Bells, reindeer, elves, snow-people, sleighs and Santa all came to mind, joyful and happy, and that’s great. Christmas is a really joyous time of year for a lot of people, and it should be, because it is!

But, it’s also a really hard time for others, their emotions sort of get sidelined in the whole thing. We’d rather not think about pain. We'd rather pursue perfection.

As someone who has always enjoyed Christmas, who gets along with family, who has always had more than he needed, and for the most part been able to give without worry or shame, it can be hard identifying with people who aren’t amped out of their minds about the Christmas season.

Actually, I often ignore them. Or call them Scrooge or something.

As I re-read Packer’s chapter on the incarnation, I was reminded that we are adopted by, love, and serve the God who not only cares for and about the broken, but identifies with them.

No Place

Jesus came to this world as God made Man in the body of a baby boy, born in a stable outside a hotel in Bethlehem, about six miles (as the crow flies) from Jerusalem, after Mary and Joseph’s multi-day journey from Nazareth.

The Bible says, in Luke 2.7, “And she gave birth to her firstborn son” - that’s Jesus - “and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths and laid Him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn”.

In movies like Christmas Vacation, Christmas always seems to end up happy. Similarly, but I think even more so, this event has been really, really romanticized. If you think about it, there’s a lot of pain and sadness in this passage, alongside all the joy.

There’s not a whole lot in the text about Joseph and Mary’s interactions with the innkeeper. But every time I’ve heard or read this story, I’ve sort of thought of the innkeeper as gracious, doing as best as he or she could, and at least gave the young family shelter when there wasn’t any room for them otherwise.

Maybe there’s probably some truth to that.

But it never occurred to me that perhaps there was “no place for them in the inn” because no one made a place for them. No one looked at a very pregnant woman, likely in labor, who had just traveled several days, and offered her a bed.

I must recognize that this is a very “western” way of looking at the whole situation. I don’t know how this plays out seven thousand miles away and two thousand years later, or how this could have gone in a culture so different from ours. It’s tempting to turn this entire passage into a description of a mother mistreated, rather than the King coming.

For what it’s worth, I don’t think that’s the main point of the text. Packer argues that the text is not primarily concerned with morals, but what actually happened: the Son of God became human in Bethlehem, just as was prophesied.

Happiness and Sorrow

But I can’t read of such callousness toward the broken and needy and not be moved.

And it blows my mind that while I was needy, and calloused against God in His pursuit of me, the Son of God took the form of a human and ran towards the hurt, rather than away from it. That's what we celebrate at Christmas time.

Christmas is a reminder that God identifies with the broken, because He Himself has experienced brokenness, yet without sin.

That means that though we are broken, we have been healed in Christ. We can, and should enjoy and celebrate the coming of the Christ either way, while remembering the sad things we experience and looking forward to a day that there will be no tears.

So, just like sadness and joy coexist at the manger - and at the Cross - it’s okay to be happy and sad at the same time.

Honestly, I don’t really know how that looks practically.

But I think it starts with acknowledging pain and celebrating goodness where they’re found, rather than blindly forging ahead, intent on having a “perfect” Christmas. Jesus acknowledged the broken, identified with them in His coming, died and rose that His perfection might be ours.

I gotta say, if you haven’t spent days hiking over mountain passes with “Jingle Bells” stuck in your head, you’re really missing out.
Kidding. I wouldn’t wish that on anyone.

Everyone has a different relationship with Christmas music. As I was thinking about it, I’m not much of a fan, to be honest, at least most of what's out there. Singing about snow and bells and sleighs just doesn't hold that much appeal to me, at least at the moment.

However, I am a huge fan of incarnation hymns. So much so that when I was consistently leading music for Sunday services, it was not uncommon to very nearly put one or two on the set list in the middle of summer.

Sensitivity to our country's culture always won out in the end. You’re welcome, I guess.

But the incarnation of the Son of God is important year-round, and it’s kind of a bummer to me that we only sing songs directly about it a couple times a year.

The Incarnation

In the book Knowing God, J.I. Packer suggests that as Christians, we tend to gloss over the incarnation of the Son of God. For myself that’s true more often than I care to really, truly admit. I have a tendency to put it on a list of things I believe, and check it off without really steeping in the implications.

Packer writes of the incarnation:

This is the real stumbling block of Christianity. It is here that … many of those who feel the difficulties of the above mentioned (about the virgin birth, the miracles, the atonement, the resurrection) have come to grief. It is from misbelief, or at least adequate belief, about the incarnation that difficulties at other points in the gospel story usually spring. But once the incarnation is grasped as a reality, these other difficulties dissolve.

When I forget the incarnation, I’m forgetting that without the incarnation of the Son of God, the Gospel doesn’t work. Our sin and rebellion caused such division with God that only a perfect life lived and sacrificed could atone for it (Romans 5:12-21).

And that’s where the incarnation hymns redirect us. They remind us that without God adding humanity to His divinity, there is no Savior. Without a Savior, there is no peace between God and humanity, and no everlasting peace between humans, because peace between humans requires hearts and minds that only God can create in us.

Because I love these songs (and because it’s December, which gives me full license to write of them), I thought it would be fun to briefly explain some lyrics that are particularly impactful for me. And maybe when we’re through, you’ll see I listen to incarnation hymns all year long.

O Come, O Come Emmanuel

“O Come, O Come Emmanuel” is one of my personal favorites. Compositionally, it jumps back and forth between longing and hopeful, which is how I constantly feel looking at this broken world and looking forward to Christ’s assured return.

The song is written from Israel’s perspective. The nation of Israel was God’s chosen people, whom He rescued from slavery in Egypt and led to the Promised Land, despite all their folly and wickedness. Israel’s longing for a good Savior-King and God’s answer to their prayer is found in Jesus.

O come, Thou Rod of Jesse free

Thine own from Satan’s tyranny

From depths of hell Thy people save

And give them victory over the grave

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel

shall come to thee O Israel

As a result, as God’s people, we can rejoice because we know that Christ has come, and He's saved us from Satan, sin and death through His perfect life, substitutionary death, and victorious resurrection.

However, when I look around us, I don’t see justice. I don’t see peace. I see genocide, war, refugees, terrorism, violence, corruption, and division.

O come Desire of Nations bind

All peoples in one heart and mind

bid Thou our sad divisions cease

and by Thyself our King of Peace

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel

shall come to thee O Israel

Jesus has promised to return, and as Christians, we long for His presence and the justice He will bring with Him.

As a Christian, these lyrics say it’s ok to be sad, to wish things weren't as they are and recognize and mourn brokenness.

But they also remind me to be happy.

There will come a day without tears of sadness, without suffering, where humans stop fighting and really truly fix their eyes on Jesus.

Remember His Coming, Look For His Return

Jesus has come once to bring reconcile God and sinners. And He’s coming again to remake all things as they were intended to be.

The songs that we sing are so important for us as we learn about God and grow in the Faith. Pay attention to the songs we sing, and listen to the words as you sing them.

Remember year round that Christ has come, the love that He's shown you, and look forward to His return.

Now that's a song we can all sing year round.