Swaddling Cloths in January

 I am fully aware that today is the 20th of January and not the 20th of December, but I refuse to let a calendar completely affect my thinking about Jesus.

I went to Christmas Eve service at the Springville Library.  During the service we sang hymns and listened to Scripture readings and lit candles before I had to leave the service with an angry baby.  The service was completely ordinary, not in a bad way, but it was the sort of Christmas Eve service I have attended year after year.  It was during this ordinary service that my mind was drawn to an extraordinary, ordinary point of the story.

Swaddling cloths.

Throughout the reading of Luke's version of the Christmas story the detail of swaddling cloths is mentioned.

"And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn." Luke 2:7

And the angel proclaimed:

"And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger." Luke 2:12

Until I became a father I had very little idea what swaddling cloths were.  Now I know very well about swaddling.  We swaddled our children snuggly when they were infants, and we are by no means the only ones.  I don't know a parent who doesn't swaddle.  Swaddling is the norm and has been for centuries.

So, I had to ask: Why does Luke tell us Mary swaddled Jesus and why on earth does the angel tell the shepherds that Jesus was swaddled?

I had never asked myself those questions when reading or hearing this passage, but on Christmas Eve this time it leapt out at me.  The question was begged.  I mean, the Bible makes no mention of whether the Christ-child had a pacifier or if Mary nursed Him, but it tells us this detail.  Why?  Why did the angel mention that baby Jesus was in swaddling cloths and in a manger?  Surely He was the only kid in town lying in a feeding trough.  Animal feeding trough sleeping certainly was sign enough for searching shepherds, why mention the ordinary when an out of the ordinary was occurring?

As I pondered those questions with my own crying son it occurred to me that ordinariness is extraordinary when it comes to the very Son of God.  It's hard to imagine God as a baby, but when we do we tend to imagine Him as a very unbaby baby.  How could God be anything close to ordinary in any respect?  Isn't He completely holy; completely other?

I remember when my own first born son came into this world.  We wrapped him in a swaddle and laid him in a bassinet... in the Waverly Health Center without a domesticated animal in sight.  Little Joshua was so weak and frail and his little head was bruised from the trauma of birth.  He was easily startled and would lift his arms above his head at the slightest sound and so he needed the comfort of being wrapped tightly in a cotton swaddle.  For months his swaddle helped him sleep peacefully.

The God of all comfort needed comfort (2 Corinthians 1:3-4).

Jesus is 100% God and 100% man.  He lowered Himself so much that the God of all comfort needed the comfort of strips of linen wrapped tightly around His little frame.  Jesus knows how we need to be comforted because He needed comfort from His first moments on.

The Omniscient God had a startle reflex (Psalm 139:4)

Jesus has always known everything, and has even known it before it comes to be for He ordains and is sovereign over all.  Yet, as a human baby He had a startle reflex.  Jesus humbled Himself so far as to be freaked out a bit by a sudden noise coming near the manger.  

The God who will wipe away all tears cried (Revelation 21:4)

Jesus was a normal baby.  Jesus needed to be swaddled.  One of the reasons we swaddled our kids tightly was so they wouldn't cry.  The song "Away in a Manger" has a silly line in the second verse that says, "But little Lord Jesus no crying He makes."  I sing "some" instead of "no" in that verse because Jesus was supernatural and all natural at the same time.  My Lord Jesus knows weeping first hand (John 11:35).  Jesus' mom swaddled Him to comfort Him.  Mary most certainly wiped her holy little one's tears, too.

"Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men." Philippians 2:5-7

Just because the tree is gone and the lights are put away doesn't mean we can't continue to ponder the wonderful humanity of Jesus.  We should keep in our minds that "we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weakness, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.  Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need" (Hebrews 4:15-16) today.

 

Top 10 Posts of 2021

 The end of another year is here.  In 2021 I read my Bible through in a year (at least I will if I don't give up in the last two days).  Let me begin this post with a defense of "just reading" the Bible.  I do Bible study and meditation, but when I do my read the Bible in a year reading I usually "just read" it.  Now, some would say, and I used to say, that if one reads at too quick a pace it's fruitless.  Well, after doing another year of reading my Bible in a year I don't find that true.  "Just reading" has increased my recall of the entire Bible.  It has helped me see trends and patterns throughout large swaths of books and the Bible as a whole and to become more familiar with the Bible in general.

So, if your 2022 resolution is reading the Bible in a year, I encourage you to not approach "just reading" the Bible, rather than doing an in-depth study, as pointless.  Just read the Bible any way you can.

With that prelude done, below are the Top 10 posts of mine from the year 2021.  Perhaps this Top 10 isn't a very accurate list and is just a random ten, but when I compiled the list it felt Top 10.  

Top 10 Posts of 2021

1)  Christians Must Not Spread Fake News

2) Beware of Idols

3) Honor Your Parents to Maximize Joy

4) The 10th Commandment and the Green-Eyed Monster

5) Godly Sorrow

6) The Incomparably Awesome Judge

7) Give Unity a Shot

8) O, Be Careful Little Thumbs What You Post

9) Gratitude

10) Rejoice Not

Advent- Christmas Presents

 

During Advent I want to take four non-sacred aspects of Christmastime and look at how we can use them to point ourselves and our families to Christ.  We will look at Christmas lights, Christmas trees, Christmas food and Christmas presents.  Hopefully, these four things will train your eyes to remember Jesus well.

I was rarely the "I got to have it" kid when it came to Christmas.  There's only a couple years I remember being fixated on a thing I just had to have.  

One year I badly wanted the Ghostbusters car.  We were dirt poor that year and my parents scrimped and saved to get me that one thing.  Since it was their only gift to me they went big.  They made a parachute for it, rang a bell (that they claimed was from Santa's sleigh) and had me run out to see it had been dropped down for me late from old Kris Kringle.  I still fondly remember that Christmas.  My Aunt Sally got us the original Nintendo that year, but even that amazing gift couldn't compete with the one thing my parents worked so hard to give me.

Another year I just had to have a Super Nintendo.  To be honest, I only really wanted to play NBA Jam Tournament Edition.  I was, in my recollection, a pain in the butt.  I remember begging my mom and dad and hinting and hinting and hinting.  The Warrensburg, Missouri Pizza Hut had the arcade version of NBA Jam so I just had to have my dad play with me so he could understand what an amazing gift this would be for his beloved first born son.  On Christmas Eve as we opened gifts my mom accidentally gave me the Super Game Boy cartridge before she gave me the Super Nintendo itself.  I was thrilled at seeing that cartridge because I knew my begging and pleading and hinting had paid off.

                                 Did you have a gift you were fixated on as a kid?

"For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life."  John 3:16

When God wanted to give the greatest gift, what did He give?  His Son.

When we think about the gifts of Christmas our minds should come often to Jesus Himself.  God the Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit offer us all sorts of amazing gifts: eternal life, forgiveness of sins, adoption, justification, sanctification, reconciliation with God, glorified bodies, the New Heaven and New Earth, and more.  All of these Gospel gifts are found IN the person of Jesus.  When we get Jesus we get it all.

Jesus is the gift of Christmas.

Jesus cannot and will not be earned.  He was given to us out of the extreme love of God. 

"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith... and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God..." Ephesians 2:8

"For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 6:23

The present of Jesus cannot be earned and IN Him is the eternal life and all that the other Gospel benefits.  We are like children on Christmas who have no means to earn what we want or need most.  We, like children, simply need to receive the gifts the One who loves us purchased for us.

This Christmas we can't miss Jesus.  As we finish our shopping and as we open our good gifts, may we never forget the ultimate gift we got at Christmas: Jesus our Immanuel!  God with us!  When Moses asked to see the face of God he was denied.  Mary got to kiss the face of God.  The incarnation of Jesus and His sacrifice for us is no small gift, it is THE gift.

Reflect on the gift of Jesus and desire Him more than I coveted a Ghostbusters car or Super Nintendo today.

Christmas Letter 2021

 Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from the Rays!

We hope this year has been a good one and this e-letter finds you well.  2021 was another eventful year for us.

(We cannot legally name or show the face of our foster son)

At the end of January Matt was diagnosed with COVID-19 but his case was very mild.  He isolated in the bedroom for a week, which was tough for everyone.  Matt went a little nuts without the family and Christine went a little nuts parenting solo and dropping meals outside the bedroom door for Matt.  We had to postpone Anna's 2nd birthday dinner until Matt was out of isolation.  It was interesting to say the least.  

COVID-19 hit us again around Thanksgiving.  We were about to head out to Christine's parents' house for Thanksgiving when Joshua was diagnosed with COVID after finding out a classmate had it.  Our plans were changed and we spent Thanksgiving alone as a family.  All the kids seem to have had it, though we only tested Joshua, and all the kids had mild cases.  Christine jokes that our year began and ended with COVID. 

We began 2021 as a family of four.  We end 2021 as a family of six.  The day after Easter our foster son moved in with us.  He had lived with us for five months previously and needed to live with a foster family again and requested us, roughly one year after leaving us the first time.  He will turn 17 on Christmas Eve.  Then on May 20th our son Gideon was born at 4:02 p.m. weighing 7lbs 12oz.  The other kids and grandma and grandpa had to wait at home to see him until we brought him home from the hospital due to, you guessed it, coronavirus protocol.  Our house is full and the kids enjoy each other very much.

As if adding two humans wasn't enough, we also added a dog this year.  Our yellow lab Reece moved into our house on January 4th.  She's a great dog and is so good with the kids, even when Gideon craws up her back as she snoozes.  It's hard to believe she's been with us for less than a full year.  Walking her has probably added years to Matt and Christine's lives.

It's at this juncture of the letter we feel the need to assure you that Matt and Christine aren't gluttons for punishment.  This year seems eventful enough without adding trips to the Omaha Zoo, the family farm in Southwest Iowa and the Ray Family Reunion in Minnesota (which included a few no-shows due to positive COVID-19 tests).

God has been so good to us this year.  Each one of our little kids has a lullaby song unique to him or her.  Little Gideon's is "God is So Good".  That song seems a good theme for our year.  Not everything was planned or went according to plan; some things went completely awry and some things went far better than we could have hoped for and some good came in unplanned, but through it all God has been so good.

At the end of the year we take inventory of our year: Our year was great.  At Christmas we take time to remember the good news of great joy.  In 2021 God has been with us, He has been Emmanuel.  Jesus' birth isn't just a cute story of a baby's birth, Jesus' birth is the reason we can celebrate 2021 and look hopefully toward 2022.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from the Rays!

Our kids' ages as of this letter: Joshua-4, Anna-2, Gideon-7 months

Advent- Christmas Food

 

During Advent I want to take four non-sacred aspects of Christmastime and look at how we can use them to point ourselves and our families to Christ.  We will look at Christmas lights, Christmas trees, Christmas food and Christmas presents.  Hopefully, these four things will train your eyes to remember Jesus well.

Growing up my favorites were the peanut butter cookies with the Hershey Kisses in the middle.  Sometimes my mom put those Branch's star chocolates in the middle.  They tasted best fresh out of the oven, but I would eat them whenever I could.  

My wife likes the traditional Christmas cookies that you decorate yourself.  We take food coloring and make frosting and use sprinkles to decorate our snowmen, bells, stockings and Santa hats.  We even have a cookie cutter that's in the shape of the state of Iowa.  I find it hard to not just eat them instead of placing them on the wax paper to dry.

Then there's the drinks.  Eggnog comes in too small of a container.  I wouldn't mind buying a gallon for myself at the store.  My mom, some years, makes hot wassail, which is awesome.  And our tradition before opening presents is drinking sparking grape juice, or pretend wine as Joshua calls it.

Christmas Eve after church was soup night when I was younger.  I can still smell the house upon returning from Christmas Eve service, if I close my eyes.  At my wife's side I've become partial to Swedish meatballs on or around Christmas.

What are some of the Christmas tastes and smells you love?

"Then they asked Him, 'What miraculous sign then will you give that we may see it and believe in you?  What will you do?  Our forefathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written: 'He gave them bread from Heaven to eat.'
Jesus said to them, 'I tell you the truth, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from Heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from Heaven.  For the bread of God is He who comes down from Heaven and gives life to the world.'
'Sir,' they said, 'from now on give us this bread.'
Then Jesus declared, 'I am the bread of life.  He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirst."  John 6:30-35

As we feast on the Christmastime foods, may we remember that Jesus is the Bread of Life.  That He is the satisfying drink.

"Taste and see that the LORD is good;" Psalm 34:8a

Jesus invites us during Advent, and all year, to experience Him; to taste and see.  Jesus will be found metaphorically fulfilling and pleasing.  Jesus will be found far better than even those peanut butter blossom cookies.  He will be more fulfilling than gallons upon gallons of eggnog.  Jesus is the One our spiritual tastebuds have been searching for and what our spiritual stomachs need more than anything else.

"While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to His disciples, saying, 'Take and eat; this is my body.'
Then He took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, saying, 'Drink from it, all of you.  This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins." Luke 26:26-28

As we enjoy the tastes and delicious smells of this holiday may we not forget to taste and see that the LORD is good.  May we go to the Bread of Life even as we enjoy our aunt's homemade bread.  As we drink our pretend, or real, wine may we remember the sacrifice of the God-Man's birthday we are celebrating.  

If you have kids use these treats to teach them about Jesus... you will have their attention.  And when you eat and drink do it all to the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:31) today.

Advent- Christmas Tree

 During Advent I want to take four non-sacred aspects of Christmastime and look at how we can use them to point ourselves and our families to Christ.  We will look at Christmas lights, Christmas trees, Christmas food and Christmas presents.  Hopefully, these four things will train your eyes to remember Jesus well.

My wife insists upon having a real Christmas tree.  She loves the look and the smell of the tree in our living room.  I like it too, but I could easily be persuaded to buy an artificial tree rather than purchasing a $60 tree every year.  That said, the real tree is better.

Besides, the tradition of the real tree has been cemented.  Our oldest adores the tree and everything about it.  

Don't get me wrong, I love our Christmas tree, just not as much as Christine does.  The real tree is her tradition.  My tradition is having mostly original ornaments rather than glass balls.  I love all the "Baby's Firsts" and preschool project ornaments.  The hokier the better for me.  Part of this is that the balls remind me of divorce.  When my parents split, one of them got the family ornaments and the other bought glass balls.  But the main reason I love the original ornaments, from the Hallmark to the hokey, is that each one has a story.  Decorating the tree with Joshua and Anna is a kinetic story time where they learn our family history.

We have an angel (from a thrift shop) atop our tree.  We have this and not a star because as a very young boy I was adamant that the wise men and the star aren't supposed to be there until after Christmas.  Even the nativity set was assembled with the wise men still on the way.

Our tree is lovely to me.  Our tree tells a story, but can it tell a better story than the history of the Matt Ray family.

If you grew up in the Southern Baptist Church, like I did, you know what special music is.  Special music was that portion of the service when a group or soloist sang to the congregation.  My Mimi often sang the song "He Grew the Tree" by Barbara Mandrell.

I loved to hear my grandma sing of God's sovereignty and foreknowledge and planning.  The song's chorus says, "He grew the tree He knew would be used to make the old rugged cross."  Then it says, "Nothing took His life, with love He gave it.  He was crucified on a tree that He created.  With great love for man, God gave with His plan.  He grew the tree so that we might go free."

"The reason the Father loves me is that I lay down my life... only to take it up again.  No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord." John 10:17-18a

This Christmastime as you look at your tree, real or artificial, remember that He grew the tree He knew would be used to make the old rugged cross.  The lively and bright green tree of Christmas becomes the deadly wood shrouded in darkness at midday on Good Friday.

Let your tree point you to the cross during Advent today.

Advent- Christmas Lights

 During Advent I want to take four non-sacred aspects of Christmastime and look at how we can use them to point ourselves and our families to Christ.  We will look at Christmas lights, Christmas trees, Christmas food and Christmas presents.  Hopefully, these four things will train your eyes to remember Jesus well.

"Kids, let's go drive around and look at the lights."
"Yes!"

This is something we do quite regularly during Christmastime.  In fact, the radio station I work for encourages people to go out on Thursday nights to look at the lights while continuous Christmas music is played.  So, we pile in the car and explore different neighborhoods in our beloved hometown.  The kids love pointing out all the different lights they see.

Our favorite house is 103 Eliasen Avenue in Waverly.  The Wiechmann family, each year, synchs their many lights to music on a radio frequency to raise money for St. Jude's Children's Hospital.  Waverly Lights is a a fun tradition.

When our family is with my in-laws we go to see Rotary Lights.  Each Christmastime the LaCrosse Rotary Club collects donations for the food bank and roughly 160,000 visitors gaze at over 3,000,000 lights in amazing displays throughout the park.

Christmas lights are part of our tradition.  We have them in our house and on our house.  We love to look at them.  As night comes sooner and lasts longer we get more opportunities to look at electric lights.  Some say this tradition has pagan roots, like many Christmastime traditions.  Perhaps that's true, but what do Christmas lights tell us about Christmas?

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was with God in the beginning.
Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made.  In Him was life, and that life was the light of men.  The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it." John 1:1-5 (emphasis mine).

"When Jesus spoke again to the people, He said, 'I am the light of the world.  Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." John 8:12 (emphasis mine).

As we drive around looking at the lights, let us see the Light of the World.  Let us show our kids the beautiful lights in the dark night and let's point them to the Light that shines in the darkness.  Let us gaze at the beauty of coordinated electric light while pondering the Light of Life that shocked our dead self to eternal life.

Let's train our eyes and minds to take every sight and every thought of light captive this Advent.  Let's take the non-sacred Christmastime tradition of Christmas lights and use it to set our hearts and minds on the Holy One, the Light of the World today.