The Nativity Story - Theological Opinion

As promised, here is my theological opinion about The Nativity Story.

Our Biblical sources about the birth of Jesus are found in Matthew 1:18-2:18 and Luke 1:5-2:40. That means there are only about three chapters worth of Biblical material for a movie that's 1 hour 41 minutes. Naturally, some things had to be added to supplement the story. Generally, I felt like the film makers handled the additions rather well. They accurately portrayed the life of poverty for post-exile Jews. They explained the custom of arranged marriages. One of the best aspects of the film was the way they depicted the travel from Nazareth to Bethlehem. Watching this grueling journey, it's easy for the audience to understand the sacrifice Joseph and Mary made on behalf of Jesus. Overall, the film makers captured the essential theme of the Christmas story: God became flesh. Jesus entered human life in poverty. People expected a noble king, but he became just like the other Jews of his time. What a comfort that must of been to Mary, Joseph, and others who believed the angel's testimony. What a comfort Jesus is to us today. God became just like us, in the midst of our broken world. He did it for us.

However, the film makers left out a lot. Zechariah's song of praise prophesying about John's ministry as Jesus' predecessor (Luke 1:68-79), the heavenly host of angels that appear to the shepherds (Luke 2:13-14), the fact that Jesus was circumcised in the temple (located in Jerusalem) before his family fled to Egypt (Luke 2:21-38, I guess that complicated the Herod story line in the film). Leaving out the bit about the temple also meant leaving out the two awesome testimonies given by Simeon and Anna . Including these two stories would have enhanced the film's focus on the fulfillment of prophecies. These two faithful Jews saw their hope in a coming Messiah become flesh. Of course, then there's the argument about the wise men. Scripture never says there are three wise men. Many scholars also believe that the wise men were not actually at Jesus' birth. In Matthew 2:11, it says they visited Mary, Joseph, and Jesus in a house. Regardless if it was two years or five days, the wise men most likely did not kneel before Jesus when he slept in the stable.

That's my opinion. Read the stories for yourself, and let me know if I missed anything.

The Nativity Story

Yes, I saw The Nativity Story this week, and several people have asked my opinion. Instead of giving my full opinion before everyone sees the movie, I've offered a few comments with the hope that you'll read the Biblical stories yourself and then go see it. Closer to Christmas, I'll post my theological opinion. Given that it's hard to spoil the ending of a story about Christmas, I'm breaking from normal habit and offering my commentary on the full film.

Theological Opinion:
Look up the Biblical stories yourself (Matthew 1:18-2:18 and Luke 1:5-2:40), go see the movie, and let me know what you think they left out or added. Then, post your comments here.

Movie Critic Opinion:
Well, I had low expectations here. Sad to say, but many Christian films lack the quality of summer blockbusters. There was definitely overacting on the part of the wise men and Elizabeth, Mary's cousin. However, I was pleasantly surprised by the acting of Joseph and Mary. The way they represented the angel of the Lord was a bit hokey, though -- I think it was the backlighting on his afro that got me! The negatives of the film-making didn't make it unbearable. I only-laughed out loud once at the bad acting (which is pretty good for me).

Ministry Opinion:
I saw this film with some young adults from church. If nothing else, I think the film opens up doors for conversation about the biblical Christmas stories. It puts "flesh" to the story of the incarnation, God with us. Any visual that can spark our imagination is helpful. It was nice to see a Christmas movie about Christ (although I still enjoy A Christmas Story and Elf despite their lack of theological value!). I'd recommend seeing this film with people in your church, non-Christians . . . anyone who needs a reminder that God became like us to show us how much we are loved. I'm gonna see it again with the church youth.

God's Time

After round 3 of my sermon last night, I came home for a 9 PM dinner. I'd worked 11 hours with no break. As usual, my body revolted. At 5 AM, I was hugging the porcelain throne like a champ. Why is it that I always get sick this time of year? Maybe it's because if I don't take a break, my body will. It was like God was whispering to me this morning as I sat on the cold bathroom floor in agony, "Amy, everything will get done . . . on my time and not yours."

God's people felt like this a lot. Abram was tired of waiting for his promised child with Sarai, so he created a child with Hagar instead. That situation didn't turn out well. Later in God's story, the Israelites also complain about God's sense of time. They had just escaped slavery in Egypt, miraculously crossing through the Red Sea, and they began complaining to Moses about not having food. "God, isn't it about time that you fed us? We were treated better in Egypt!" On the other hand, sometimes it seems God works too quickly. Mary and Joseph were engaged, intending to get married. Then, all of a sudden, this 14 year old girl is told by an angel that she is pregnant with the Christ child. If I were Mary, I think my response would have been something like, "Um, God, that's great!! But . . . NOW? This isn't a good time."

That's how I felt this morning. "God, you've taught me a lot recently that I'm not in control. Do I need another lesson right now? This isn't a good time considering all there is to do at church." I'm human. I live in a world bound by time; but God existed before time. He does what he wants when he wants to. He's in control whether I'm waiting for his next move or surprised and smacked in the face (in this case, in the stomach) with the new thing God is doing.

What's God up to on the OBX? I'm not totally sure yet, but I know it will be on God's time and not ours. Lord, help us walk in your time, in your rhythm. Help us give up control of our schedules, following you faithfully every day. And help us keep our eyes and hearts open so that when you do make a move, we will respond like Mary when she heard she would be the mother of Christ: "My soul glorifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior!" (Luke 2:46-47)

First Sermon

I preached my first sermon today. Well, I guess it wasn't my first ever sermon. I have stood in a pulpit before and delivered a five minute message before I was a teenager. But this was different. Different than youth group even. The expectations are higher. There's more formality, less responsiveness and interaction. Overall, I think it went pretty well today (meaning I got good comments from the congregation and only saw one guy with his eyes closed in two services). I talked about "Christ the King Sunday". Knowing that I barely knew what that was and why it was significant, I walked the congregation through the Christian calendar. Then, we recognized Christ the King Sunday by learning about the Kingdom, the Church as a representation of the Kingdom, and Christ as the King.

Somewhere during the week, I felt God leading me to do an altar call: Is Christ really King of your life? Is there part of your life where Christ is not King? The idea of an altar call freaks me out. The logistics are confusing. That sounds horrible! What I mean is, orchestrating the details so people understand how to make a commitment is a careful process. In the end, I realized that it wasn't me who would call people to respond on their cards. It's God; I just present the message and provide the opportunity.

Best post-worship service comment (from a cute elderly man): "I've never said this to a preacher before, but that sermon was scholarly!"

Tomorrow night is round 3 of Sermon #1: The Contemporary Service.

20 Somethings

Let me tell ya . . . there's nothing dull about being in your twenties. Within the past two weeks, I attended a wedding of two young adults from church and a wedding of two friends from home; my close friend, Raegan, from seminary got engaged, and a friend from church had her second child. Kenan bought a car; Sonya bought a dog; I live in a three bedroom house. At the wedding reception on Saturday, I, seriously, had a conversation with someone about the downside of business travel. The scariest one of all: a kid that I used to take care of in the nursery (I was 8 years old at the time) has a driver's license. AHHHH!

So this is the real world. Someone at home this weekend told me they barely recognized me. "You're so grown up now!" Hold on . . . I'm a grown up? People at my church have entrusted me with the care and spiritual formation of 50 teenagers? And they pay me? Whoa.

Some days I feel old, especially the ones when I make an 80's music reference and none of the youth get it. Sometimes I feel young, like when I refer to something as "back when I was a kid" and the person I'm speaking to laughs because they were 50 then. It's all so surreal. No tidbits of wisdom to share here, just awe at the fact that I'm finally doing what God called me to do 7 years ago. That was a lot of waiting, preparation, and expectation. Now, I'm here. I wait expectantly for what God will do next in my life and in the lives of my friends.

Normalcy

I think I've achieved normalcy this week (to steal a word from Harry S Truman). What a blessing! The pace of life has adjusted. No more break neck speed through papers, assignments, and youth meetings (well, I still have those). It just seems like, in some ways, seminary was surreal. We get so adjusted to "Ah ha!" moments every day, that we never slow down to appreciate the mundane. We forget that it takes time to build a ministry and build relationships, even with God.

For instance, I spent four hours on a ski trip flyer today. I went to a rec league soccer finals game and marveled as five moms got up from their chairs and ran because they saw a kid on the ground hurt a few hundred yards away (the kid was fine). We swapped stories about how many trick-or-treaters came to our houses last night. I met a Yorkie-Poo named Hogan. . . . This is just life. Yeah, God's starting to show me some things dreams about our church, but more than anything, I'm just enjoying normal life with Him and His people.

OBX Vocab

Today marks month two on the OBX. To celebrate, I thought I'd share some new vocabulary I'm picking up from my youth and parents at Duck UMC:

Sick: 1) good, really cool; 2) bad, gross, old (according to one of my youth, though, this definition is used much less than it used to be; definition #1 is more common)
Sick Nasty: incredibly good
Sick Gnarly: incredibly cool
Hollister: (yeah, I probably should know this one!) clothing store, "somewhere in between American Eagle and Abercrombie"
Colington: an OBX fishing village with a drinking problem
Hatteras: an OBX drinking village with a fishing problem

Hope

"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." -- Romans 15:13

Since I moved to the OBX, I've been battling discouragement. Ministry is hard. Leadership can be lonely especially in a new place. Relationships change and, in some cases, end. Lately, I've been on the upswing. Cynicism is the norm for me; it comes with the calling to reform; you tend to be frustrated by the things that need to be fixed. However, I've found renewal in hope.

Hope is the trusting expectation that God is at work to redeem. Yes, we live in a fallen world. Sometimes life brings what seem like insurmountable obstacles. Or maybe we just experience disappointment, frustration. We can't always change what life brings, but we can change how we react to it. Hope helps me get up in the morning and say (and, yes, sometimes it's hard to convince myself to be this positive at 7 AM), "This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it." Why fear or dwell on the past when God can allow us to move forward in His presence and with His purpose? Discouragement is about me: how I'm disappointed, I'm feeling lonely, I'm not good enough. Hope is about what God can do: how he changes lives, is always with us, and empowers us to be more than we are. Don't let the Deceiver trap you in fear and self-pity; place unswerving hope in the One who's defeated death!

So, this new Bebo Norman song has become my anthem, a victory song. May God give you the hope he's given me!

"Step out into the day,
all the clouds and all the rain are gone.
It's over now.
Step out into the sun,
we've only begun to know
what it's all about.
As the hungrying dark gives way to the dawn, my love.
It's over now."
-- Into the Day by Bebo Norman

Change

Sometime back in seminary (that makes it seem like light-years ago!), God called me to be a change agent, a reformer. I also discovered while I was in Wilmore that I am incredibly inflexible. Today, it clicked in my brain. God's called me to be a change agent . . . and I can't stand change. It makes me uncomfortable, sick to my stomach, and afraid. No, I don't think I'm misinterpreting God's call. But I'm not sure why God created me to be so committed, stable, and stubborn, and such a control freak that change is hard for me.

I read this today from Henry Blackaby (by way of John Ortberg), ". . . if the assignment I sense God is giving me is something that I know I can handle, I know it is probably not from God. The kind of assignments God gives in the Bible are always God-sized. They are always beyond what people can do, because he wants to demonstrate his nature, his strength, his provision, and his kindness to his people and to a watching world. This is the only way the world will come to know him."

Here's the deal: God is the one that brings change, not me. Remember, he said, "I'm going to do a new thing" and "be transformed by the renewing of your mind". God will do that in the OBX through me; and at the same time, he'll expand my ability to trust him as I see him faithfully change hearts, minds, and churches.

"Much Afraid"

Jars of Clay helped me today. I had felt empty and afraid, but there's no need to be. Christ fills me. His light initially burns when He reveals your darkness, yet here there is peace, hope, joy, and freedom! The words below mark where I've been, but God is helping me move forward in trust and obedience. "There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear. . . ." (1 John 4:18). I remain in Love.

"Much Afraid" -- Jars of Clay
Empty again
Sunken down so far
So scared to fall
I might not get up again

So I lay at your feet
All my brokenness
I carry all of my burdens to you

All of these things I've held up in vain
No reason nor rhyme
Just the scars that remain
Of all of these things
I'm so much afraid
Scared out of my mind
By the demons I've made
Sweet Jesus, you never ever let me go
Oh, sweet Jesus, never ever let me go

So happy to love
Yet so far to go
You lead me on to where I've never been before

One Month

As of today, I have been living on the OBX for one month, so I celebrated by finally going to the beach (well, just for an hour!). I thought some of you might like to see some pictures of my house. No, the house doesn't come with the mini-van or my Grandma. My front yard is mainly rock and sand which is both a pleasure and a pain for mowing (since it's hard to push through sand). The other picture is of my living room.

Even though people keep asking me if I'm "gettin' settled in" (I get that question at least three times a week), Kitty Hawk and Duck feel more like home now. At a middle school football game yesterday, I ran into about 15 youth and parents from church. I guess the small town feel isn't too bad after all. It's a lot easier to have a ministry of presence when most of the youth go to the same school!

Seeing God

This coming Sunday at our first full youth group meeting (hooray for the 6th graders moving up!), I will be speaking about God's family. In my preparations, I read through parts of 1 John trying to understand our relationship to one another as God's people. Here's what I found out:

"This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins." (1 John 4:10) It is never us who initiates love. All love comes from Love Himself. Love is sacrificial. John goes on to say, "Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another." (1 John 4:11) God loves us; we love others. We are enabled to love others because of the love of God within us that overflows out of us. OK, here's the really cool part: "No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us." (1 John 4:12) Right, none of us has ever seen the Father. To me, that's one of the hardest things about following God. I've never seen Him face-to-face. He's not physically here when I need to feel loved. He's not physically here for me to love Him back, and He's not physically here to show me how to love others. BUT if we love each other, God is within us, and His love is made complete. God's love comes full circle when we express the love we've experienced to others. And, I think it's implied here, we SEE God.

Do you see the implications of this? If we love others, they see God. I have been blessed with friends who have almost forced their love on me when I've wanted to deny it because they want me to see how much God loves me. What a witness, and how indebted I am to you all for the ways I now more deeply experience God's personal love! However, if we fail to love others, they will not see God. Think about those who have grown up in a broken family. They have a very hard time understanding how God is a loving Father if their own earthly father has never shown them love.

I don't get it. I know God can reveal Himself to others without our help, but I also know that God's love is not made complete until it is received by us and shown to others. All I know is that I want to be a part of a family that loves one another so that we more deeply understand God's love.

Go love someone today who needs to see our God, and invite them into the family!

Weather update and youth musings

I made it through Ernesto! Now that I've had a chance to talk to more locals, I've found out that tropical storm Ernesto brought more flooding than most hurricanes! I was under Ernesto-invoked house arrest due to some flooding up the street that the ol' Honda Civic couldn't traverse, but there was no damage to the house, yard, or anything. Coolest thing I saw as a result of the storm: high school kids riding a skim board in their flooded front yard!

Today was my first real teaching time with the youth at Duck UMC. What a blast! I had 21 kids, and I wasn't sure how excited they would be about discussion. After some brief introductions and just acting a little goofy, I managed to get them to talk about what sort of things we can expect from God as Christian disciples. In order to get some more info on the youth, I had them fill out a short questionairre including a section that asked them what they expected from God. I thought their answers were pretty good: "I expect God to help me lead a good life." "I expect God to help me at school." "I expect God to help me through this stage of life." And what do they think God expects from them?: "Prayer", "full commitment", "faith in him", "to come to church regularly".

You know, a few years ago, I would have scoffed at those responses believing they were canned Sunday school answers. But I really like the simplicity of it all. I expect God to help me in my daily life, too, and I expect that life will be enjoyable (if not because life is good, then, because I'm living life with God). I expect God will make a difference in the small stuff that doesn't seem to matter much in the larger scheme of things. And I expect that God just wants me to talk to him about it (prayer), to believe in him (faith), and to commit my full self to him. . . . My youth are already teaching me . . . as if I would expect anything different.

Tropical Weather

Well, I've now been on the OBX for over a week, and I'm beginning to get my first taste of tropical weather. As it looks currently, Ernesto has been down-graded to a tropical depression and will most like go west of us by the time it gets to NC. Hooray! As exciting as tropical weather might be, I am not prepared! I have been working this week on setting up my renter's insurance (sadly, having a parsonage that's insured does not insure my property within the parsonage). However, the flood and wind insurance are separate. The wind shouldn't be a huge problem for me, but my street has already begun to hold extra water. And this is just day one of heavy-ish rains when we are expecting more for a few days. Hmm, tomorrow's my day off, but Friday, I might be going to work in a kayak! That's a heck of a commute. I'm pretty sure we don't have too much to worry about, but keep the OBX and all of the east coast in your prayers as we face possible flooding.

Other than the weather, things are beginning to feel more and more normal every day. Tomorrow night is my first parent meeting, Sunday my first time teaching the youth. I made a contact with another youth pastor in the area today, and the two of us decided that we were going to start an OBX youth ministry network. We see it as a way for youth workers up and down the OBX to support one another, resource one another, and pray for one another. It will be a few weeks before I can get around to organizing the thing, but I have a feeling it will become an important part of putting down roots here. Being in full-time ministry is teaching me to take advantage of the little moments where I can encourage or support someone else. Yesterday, it was two female college students, one from Bulgeria, one from Moldova. I can't wait to watch for where God is moving tomorrow.

OBX Week 1 - Transition!

This has been quite a week. Back in one of my undergrad psych classes, we looked at one of those stress tests. Some of the highest ranked things were moving to a new location and starting a new job. Add maintaining a long distance relationship to the list, and it's been a high stress week according to test standards. I'm learning that 8 hour days in an office can feel mighty long. Thankfully, today, I met with our volunteer youth coordinator to discuss youth ministry issues. Now, I feel like I have a clearer direction for how to spend my time in the office and how to move forward with the ministry. Libby, our pastor's wife (I hate that term, sorry Libby), drove me along the two main roads on the OBX so I could get a lay of the land. Good news folks, they've opened a new Cold Stone Creamery in Kill Devil Hills! Heck yes! We drove around by the schools and she pointed out restaurants that locals frequent. This is the last big week for tourists because of schools starting. After Labor Day, Libby says the OBX become "your own little paradise". I won't miss the traffic, but I think I might miss the people-watching on my drive to work!

So, things are going pretty well as I transition. Sunday's my big intro with the church. This is it folks. I've been training for 7 years to be in ministry full-time. Once the newness wears off, I think I might like the style of this place.

Prayer Requests:
Pray that I can begin connecting with people and seeing God's vision for the youth and young adult ministries at Duck UMC. Also, pray for me as I transition and find friends in this new place.

Hospitality

Wow, I haven't posted in forever, but I want to remain faithful to keeping up my blog now that I have moved. That's right, yesterday was the big day. My Mom, Dad, and Uncle Carl loaded up the moving truck in Raleigh. Dad and I drove 4 hours to Kitty Hawk. As I rolled down my new street, I saw a mass of cars up ahead and just knew that I was home. What a welcome! There had to be at least 25 youth and parents outside my house waiting to welcome me into their church family (big "Welcome Amy" sign and all). All my fears of moving to a new community quickly faded away as we unpacked the truck in 15 minutes! Not only did they move things out of the truck, within two hours, my entire house was set up. Teenagers and moms were all over the house putting away dishes, setting up my computer and TV, putting up shower curtains, and making beds. Their demonstration of love and hospitality was absolutely overwhelming. I can't remember many names or who brought what bouquet of flowers or bucket of cleaning supplies, but I know I have a family here that loves me even before they truly know me.

Tomorrow, I will begin my first "official" day of work at Duck United Methodist. This morning, I was there incognito for a lecture on the meditative Psalms and met a few other church members. I still can't believe that I live at the beach. I can see the Currituck Sound in the distance behind my house (for those of you not from NC, a sound is a large body of fresh water that separates the Outer Banks, basically islands, from the mainland). My house is absolutely beautiful, and I'm ready for guests any time!

All the waiting this summer has been worth it to experience the home coming in the OBX (yep, Outer Banks, get used to the slang). God is at work here. God will continue to work here. And the cool thing is, God's letting me join in and serve alongside my new church family. What a blessing!

Waiting

I have been doing a lot of waiting recently . . . on God, on people, on my future. In the meantime, though, I have been reading Dangerous Wonder by Mike Yaconelli. The chapter I read this morning was about listening to God. The last section discussed waiting. Yaconelli quotes Sue Monk Kidd, "When you are waiting you are not doing nothing. You are doing something. You're allowing your soul to grow up." Huh . . . in response to one of the discussion questions at the end of the chapter, I wrote the following (Note: the formatting doesn't allow me to separate words in order to portray the pace of reading. Just use your imagination). May God use my feeble attempts at poetry to bless you in your waiting:


Waiting, Tiring, So slow, the unknown, Uncomfortable, Surrender
Will it ever end?

What are You trying to teach me? Is it about being taught or being near?
Faith, God's Providence, Trust, Abandon, No control . . . God's control
Worry, Doubt, Fear, Questions, Impatience, Restless, Self-centeredness
Who am I? More than achievements

Stillness, Rest, Peace, Joy, Relationship, BE, Every minute
Senses on edge, Listening, Watching, Peek-a-boo
Where are You? Ever-presence
Groanings, Seeking the ultimate end, Eschaton, Face-to-face, No longer trying
just LOVE

Spirit groans, Jesus intercedes, Father pardons
I'm hearing and seeing

Waiting, again? I thought this was over, Grace for more trust, God's sense of humor
"Peace" Restless, Unknown, Fear, When? Provision? Home? Job? Food? Relationships? Calling?
"Peace" Play, Enjoy, Walk, Trust, Feel, See, Hear, Hope, Love
Peace = YOU
"Peace, Beloved"
Peace

Welcome!

Welcome to my brand new blog, Overflow. I have always wanted to create a blog so I could share the musings that float around in my brain. Now that I have graduated from seminary, I finally have time to get it started!

As an introductory post, let me explain the title of my blog. Last year in a Christian Leadership class, one of my classmates gave a devotion involving a pitcher and a cup. As he filled up the cup, he explained that many of us live and do ministry by asking God to fill us and then pouring ourselves out. However, if we are constantly pouring ourselves out, we will always end up empty. God did not design the Christian life to look this way. Instead, God intends for us to be always full of his love (my classmate filled the cup to the brim allowing the excess water to pour out). It is out of this overflow of love from our relationship with God that we are motivated and enabled to live a grace-filled life for God.

"So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness." (Colossians 2:6) I pray that this blog will be a place where God overflows out of me. This lyric from the Bebo Norman song "Disappear" has become my life prayer to God and my prayer for this site: "I want to hide in You, the Way, the Life, the Truth, so I can disappear; and love is all there is to see coming out of me, and You become clear as I disappear."

As God speaks new things into my life, I will post them. I will inevitably post about my struggles as a disciple of Christ, too. It's not always easy, and I wanna be authentic about that. Feel free to post comments, responses, or questions that you have regarding my posts. For now, may God bless you and me as we seek to live lives of overflow for Him.