With this headline, The Hanging of the Greens, one might expect to find a political-commentary article about how conservatives who deny the global warming phenomena have lynched some environmentalists. Happily, this is a whole different theme! (Read on, below the video.)
The rich woods of Lebanon will be delivered-all that cypress and oak and pine—To give a splendid elegance to my Sanctuary, as I make my footstool glorious.Isaiah 60:13 MSG
In some denominations, people have taken care not to celebrate Christmas traditions from pagan origins, including decorated trees or garlands in the sanctuary. In other churches, Christmas trees carry pledges or gifts to needy families or a community project.
I’ve been employed as a keyboardist and choir director for several denominations, and they have a wonderful tradition that my church hasn’t celebrated: the hanging of the greens. On the first Sunday of Advent, during the worship service, they bring fresh fir and pine boughs, handmade Christmas ornaments (some antique), and carry in a fragrant tree for the chancel. The sanctuary decoration is not left to a committee or a person with a design degree. As they move through the liturgy of praise to God, the choir members, children, couples, singles, and the elderly, all participate in beautifying God’s house and decorating the tree. Carols are sung, candles are lit, scriptures are read, children imperfectly clang the hand bells, and Communion is joyfully shared and celebrated. Offerings of green garlands and ornaments, as well as tithes and gifts of money, are presented to the Lord. In other words, the people fellowship and worship together, their eyes on God.
I hope that you will be blessed by the verses my Christian friends quote and sing in their Hanging of the Greens ceremony:
But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God: I trust in the mercy of God for ever and ever. I will praise thee for ever, because thou hast done it: and I will wait on thy name; for it is good before thy saints.Psalm 52:8-9 KJV
I am like a green pine tree; your fruitfulness comes from me.Hosea 14:8 NIV
A green Shoot will sprout from Jesse’s stump, from his roots a budding Branch.Isaiah 11:1 MSG
All your people will live right and well, in permanent possession of the land. They’re the green shoot that I planted, planted with my own hands to display my glory.Isaiah 60:21 MSG
Throughout December, my parents loved to do traditional activities to prepare for Christmas: bake and decorate shaped cookies (to give to the neighbors), hold a Christmas-theme recital for Mom’s piano students, and decorate the house differently each year. We always cooked the entire Christmas feast from scratch. One year, we thought we’d do the “Little House on the Prairie” sort of décor. We strung popcorn to lay garlands on the Christmas tree, and baked gingerbread men and other frosted cookies, pierced their heads, and threaded yarn through them to make dangling ornaments. (Tragically, many cookies broke when pierced, and we were forced to eat our mistakes.) We finally had enough cookies and popcorn to decorate our tree, and we went to bed.
The next morning, I went to the living room to admire our — hey! What happened to all the cookies and popcorn? Gypsy, the 25-pound miniature poodle, lay behind the tree, looking guilty as sin, with probably two pounds of Christmas treats in her tummy. She’d stood on her hind legs and walked around the tree, eating everything up to 36 inches from the floor. The glass and paper ornaments remained pristine.
Gypsy didn’t know the Genesis story about not eating from the tree in the center of the garden, or the one about David eating the sacred bread in the tabernacle. She was smart, but she was just a dog with a sweet tooth. Stolen bread tastes sweet, but soon your mouth is full of gravel. Proverbs 20:16 MSG. Gypsy wasn’t completely at fault. Valuables are safe in a wise person’s home; fools put it all out for yard sales. Proverbs 21:20 MSG. We should have known that edible decorations would be too tempting for a dog! Giving, not getting, is the way. Generosity begets generosity. Stinginess impoverishes.Mark 4:24-25 MSG. Pet lovers understand that whatever we give our animals in treats, toys, vet bills, and other expenses, we receive back in rich measure.
This is a worrisome time in the global economy. We’re trying to plan our personal, church, and corporate budgets for the next year, wondering whether we should freeze at current levels, invest now while prices are low, cut back on essentials, or conserve every penny against the time when pennies are again worth stooping to pick up. Pay off those bills to avoid interest, or take advantage of tax deductions and depreciation? Should we look for extra income from freelance or part-time jobs?
It’s gift-giving time in almost every culture, whatever the religious (or non-religious) beliefs. Should we limit our spending? Stimulate the economy with the purchase of a giant electronic marvel or gas-guzzling vehicle for the family? Think about handicrafts or homemade goods for gift-giving? Is there anything left of you to volunteer at a soup kitchen, tie quilts at the Dorcas meeting, deliver meals to the homebound, or rock preemies at the neonatal ward?
Perhaps instead of giving Dad another thing for his shelf (and eventually the garage rafters), we should consider giving a gift in his name. You know the kind: groceries or a check to help the local food bank, or one of many animal rescue organizations. And for your brother’s teenagers, a gift to a a child sponsorship group like Compassion or World Vision, or a Haitian relief organization, or to a charity like www.Heifer.org.
Doing good deeds motivated by love, and leaving the materialism and rush behind, will give us that feeling of an old-fashioned Christmas. Christmas is about the heart, not about stuff. It’s being like God: compassionate, merciful, loving and forgiving – not doing the expected thing for advertisers and corporations.
That applies to all of us. Let’s invest our tender care, our gentle touch, our careful respect, in people. It’s the best gift we can give. Material goods pale in comparison to pleasant relationships. We’ll all be blessed beyond measure.
The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.Galatians 5:6 NIV. That is exactly what Jesus did when He came to dwell with us. Surprisingly, He expressed His faith in us: His faith that we would listen to His voice and learn to be like the One Who expresses Himself through love.
If we love Him, we will keep His commands, which are to love the Lord with all we are, and to love our neighbors as ourselves. That kind of love would blow modern Christmases out of the water! It would be a bright, guiding star in the darkness, leading seekers to the Light.
Faith makes us sure of what we hope for and gives us proof of what we cannot see.Hebrews 11:1 CEV
You have to love that Folgers Coffee commercial where they show the good-looking young man returning home to surprise his family on Christmas morning, and three generations awaken in a delightful mood, with perfect hair and no facial pillow marks, to drink coffee in their jammies and celebrate the reunion.
What a scene. We have total recall of that best of all Christmases, until we really do wake up and smell the coffee, and realize that Hey! That never happened! The commercial makes you nostalgic and misty-eyed over an experience you never had.
What really happened is: your sister’s family is broken and her kids are split between households every holiday; your son can’t make it because he has to work on Christmas; your mother and her new husband would just like to spend the holiday in a “low-key” way with a restaurant meal and TV specials (meaning without interference from relatives); and your favorite aunt or uncle passed away right around Christmas last year. Instead of a Waltons Homecoming or Touched By an Angel Christmas, you got a Simpsons or Malcolm in the Middle (in other words, horrifying) Christmas.
Unrealistic expectations (especially those generated by a marketing firm) can make real-life special occasions seem bitter or sad. But remember the times, both Christmas and everyday, when God turned it around: when all your plans crashed, but church members or neighbors invited you to fellowship in their homes and treated you as family. Or you volunteered at the homeless shelter and found peace in acting as the hands of Jesus. Or you just stayed home alone in your unattractive-but-warm fuzzy robe and a mug of coffee. God is faithful and has not forgotten you.
The LORD’s…compassions fail not. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. Lamentations 3:22 NKJV
“The best part of waking up” isn’t what’s steaming in your cup. It’s the brimming heart of God, whose mercy and compassion are new every morning!
The Word became a human being and lived here with us.John 1:14 CEV
Christmas is the celebration of God-With-Us. In ancient religious systems, the gods were localized to certain places or their spirits were confined to a territory or container such as a wooden idol or a stone shrine. When people traveled or emigrated, they worshiped specific gods in specific places, or they took their idols with them (Genesis 31). The gods were capricious, vindictive, killed each other in power struggles, cheated on their spouses, and accepted human sacrifices—even infants.
So when, on the exodus from Egypt, the God of Hosts traveled with the Israelites, that was remarkable! A first! Here was a God who was personal; involved; protective; nourishing; healing; compassionate; Who fought battles and resolved conflict; who designed and implemented holidays, festivals and rest days for the former slaves; and who cared so much for their comfort that He shaded them from desert sun by day and warmed and lit the night for them. Unlike the gods who wreaked vengeance upon any whim, this God demonstrated that He was a forgiving God. He promised a present and future of blessings if they remained in His tender care.
Generations later, when the children had rebelled and forgotten, God repeated His plan for reconciliation. To His people in war and exile of their own making, and subject to the “gods” of their exile, He spoke: “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel [God-With-Us].”Isaiah 7:14 NKJV
Wherever God’s people were or are, He is God-With-Us. “I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.” (Matthew 28:20 KJV) We can’t leave Him behind. He won’t abandon us when our closest companions do. And He’s not done with us in this short life span and at the end of this old world. He promises everlasting life to His children, and His presence continues forever!
Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.Revelation 21:3 NIV
The Advent season is the celebration of God With Us. The angels who proclaimed Jesus’ birth were evangelists who carried the “good message” that because of Immanuel, all is well. They spoke peace on earth between God and mankind, a sabbath-rest from our own useless works of salvation, and God’s favor and good will, the gift of His perfect, unending love with the only power to save us from sin.
The prophecies and covenants God had made with believers were fulfilled, or filled up and running over, by Jesus. Immanuel, God-With-Us, dwelt with our parents in the Garden of Eden. He walked with Enoch, Noah, Abraham, and certainly with many others not recorded. He proclaimed Himself “I AM” to Moses, and said that He would go with Moses and His covenant people. The Lord appeared to them as a pillar of fire and cloud. His Presence filled the Most Holy Place of the Tabernacle and Temple.
When the Jews languished in exile, God said, I'll make a covenant of peace with them that will hold everything together, an everlasting covenant. I'll make them secure and place my holy place of worship at the center of their lives forever. I'll live right there with them. I'll be their God! They'll be my people!Ezekiel 37:24 MSG.
When God came to experience humanity as one of us, an angel said, “… You, Joseph, will name him Jesus—'God saves'—because he will save his people from their sins." This would bring the prophet's embryonic sermon to full term: Watch for this—a virgin will get pregnant and bear a son; They will name him Immanuel (Hebrew for "God is with us").Matthew 1:20-23 MSG.
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:14 NIV.
During His ministry, Jesus said, “I AM the Door,” “I AM the Bread of Life,” and other “I AM” statements recorded in the Gospel of John. Jesus was here among us.
At His ascension, when the Messiah gave the Great Commission to His followers, He said, "I'll be with you as you do this, day after day after day, right up to the end of the age."Matthew 28:18 MSG.
And when the perfect love relationship and world God intended from the foundation of the world is realized, the Lord says of that fulfillment of our salvation, Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.Revelation 21:3 NIV.
Whether or not you believe in a “Christmas” celebration (some people consider it pagan custom to be avoided), you must believe in Immanuel’s advent. Although it’s difficult to conceive from our finite human vantage, God has been with us before the foundation of the world, in eternity past. He is with us now. And He will be with us for eternity future. We are celebrating Christ’s advent every day that we’re new-born in Him.
That’s joyful, peace-filled news. That’s good news. That’s evangelism.
Just as with a magazine I’d edit, all through the year I think about what events or feelings should go into the annual Christmas letter. (Um, by the way, this blog and emails are it. Can’t afford sending letters this year by snail mail.) This has been my annus horribilis, a horrible year. Perhaps for this letter I should have tried writing fiction for the first time ever. But instead, I’ll just skim over the negative and end up with the real joy that I’ve discovered.
Last winter, I had a severe bout of cellulitis in my left leg, requiring both outpatient treatment and hospitalization. There was a huge load of stress at work, mostly caused by the boss, so there was nothing to do in this economy but accept the treatment until he laid me off (with one-third of the other employees) in June. Their donations from publications and the website dropped precipitously when I left. We were told we’d be able to collect unemployment compensation, but because of legal issues between the employer and the state, it wasn't possible. I’ve existed on savings from the vacation I did not take in 2008, plus a savings account for emergencies (such as this one). The up-and-down hopes and appeals for compensation have torn me to bits. That’s not good when one has no health insurance. I have several wonderful friends who are losing homes, and have had deaths in their family, or had to move and start their lives over. I’ve never cried as often for what we’ve experienced as this year. Finance is not the worst of it. But it certainly ranks up there! (Or would that be down there?)
The unemployment rate in this area of southern California is 15%, and there are no jobs whatever in my profession for 100 miles around. The taxes and cost of living are outrageous here. There are jobs posted in Phoenix, my native city, and I’ve been applying for them since July 1; however, there are no “bites” on my résumé and applications, perhaps because there are hundreds of applicants, or because I’m not local. Phoenix has an unemployment rate of “only” 10%. Woo-hoo, better odds! After nearly 13 years in this area, I’ve decided to sell my home, where I’ve put down roots with the trees I’ve planted and tended, and move back to Phoenix, where my roots actually go down to the water table! Not being “underwater” on the mortgage, I’ll make a small profit if the house sells within a month or two, and it’s quite likely to do so. Moving means severing ties and saying goodbye to people, places, and experiences, but it's also "shalom" to follow what I believe is God's directive. This is a new life I'm entering.
The preceding paragraphs are an abridged/condensed/compacted version of the annus horribilis, and there’s a detailed, not-sweet story behind everything. But now on to the good stuff!
Christy’s Year in Review
1. January - Took new scarf back to store because it was too tight.
2. February - Fired from pharmacy job for failing to print labels... “duh”...bottles won't fit in typewriter!
3. March - Got excited...finished jigsaw puzzle in 6 months...box said “2-4 years!”
4. April - Trapped on escalator for hours...power went out!
5. May - Tried to make Kool-Aid...8 cups of water won't fit into those little packets!
6. June - Tried to go water skiing...couldn't find a lake with a slope.
7. July - Lost breast stroke swimming competition...learned later, other swimmers cheated—they used their arms!
8. August - Got locked out of car in rain storm...car swamped, because top was down.
9. September - The capital of California is “C”...isn't it?
10. October - Hate M&Ms...they are so hard to peel.
11. November - Baked turkey for 4 ½ days...instructions said 1 hour per pound and I weigh 108!
12. December - Couldn't call 911... “duh”...there's no “eleven” button on the phone!
Wow, do I ever feel blonde. Luckily for me, my blonde is from a custom paste carefully applied by Gina, my stylist. When my head is covered in aluminum foil, I can block dogmatic political commentary—and see Arizona from my porch. (Maybe it’s the ammonia fumes…)
Actually, in spite of all the trouble of 2009, there were some amazing, inspiring times. The daily devotional book that I developed, edited, wrote much of, and self-published in 2005, was accepted (with kudos) by Review & Herald Publishing for hardcover in 2010, as I learned one week before my layoff. It's written non-denominationally, so all of you will enjoy it without feeling preached at. For those of you who contributed essays to the book, YAY for you, too! I wrote about 92 original essays and rewrote many others, Laura wrote about 30, and Lorelei was right behind her. Although 95% of my editing and writing were done at home on evenings and weekends, there will be no royalties, as I did it under the aegis of my former employer. Just last week, I spent 12 hours on final edits. My name will be on the cover and is on the Library of Congress card!!! That’s right. “Robinson, Christy K., 1958– .” (Blimey, if certain people had their way, there would be a closing date.) Scores of articles like the ones in the book are posted here on this blog. If you like the site, bookmark it! Later in the year, when the book is available, I'll place a link to a bookstore on this blog.
My mother’s three siblings, with whom I’d had extremely limited contact after she died in 1993, had a reunion at the MorroBay (central California) home of Great-Uncle Russell and Mary Stone, with several other cousins. It was the most incredible blessing to meet and enjoy these people for the first time (for me) since 1980. I got to represent my mom and saw relationships reconciled. Cousin Sharron makes spaghetti the same way Mom did, with green olives. Lloyd is a game and border warden with a biography written about him. David has his church praying for me. Harriet has the most beautiful spirit, and we’ve become close with email and Facebook. Terry took us on a coastal adventure to see elephant seals, and we had the perfect day to bond. Ray wore a shirt that says, “I’m really easy to get along with once you people learn to worship me” –and we did, so all is well. I scanned and digitally restored the faded photos we shared at the reunion, so we have photos from as early as 1913 on our respective computers.
There were other friendships established this year, that have been life-changing for me. Other relationships deepened as we shared our joys and troubles by phone and email. I visited Phoenix and stayed with (brother) Brian and Stacey several times and had a great time with friends at churches, parties, concerts, restaurants, and four-wheeling. Dad and Susanne live four months in Phoenix and eight in Pennsylvania, and came to California for a weekend last March. I got to see Uncle Ted and Aunt Carolyn Berkland in Phoenix just a couple months before Ted passed away. My niece Rachel spent three weeks with me in June, and we went to the beach, did some clothes and books shopping, went to a movie, and hung out at Redlands Market Night twice. She did some volunteer work (researching youth issues) for the marketing department at my employer. I attended nephew Jake’s farewell party when the well-mannered, buff 18-year-old went off to Army boot camp.
Since my June layoff, I learned that people I liked and loved very much already, but who I suspected were mildly fond of me, were true friends with loving hearts. They have supported me with daily prayer. Phone calls, emails and Facebook chats. Encouragement. Embraces. Advice and wisdom. Submitting my résuméin situ with glowing personal recommendation. Gifts of author-inscribed books. Taking me out for dinner and a movie. Making music with me. Throwing a proper English “tea.” Meeting for coffee. Helping with my home repairs. Enjoying time together. Pet-sitting while I was in Phoenix. Defending my reputation when I was falsely accused. Inviting me into your home for holidays. Making offers that were beyond my imagination. Gifts of money and groceries. And lately, anonymous moneygrams have landed in my mailbox. I cannot tell you how much you have done to heal my wounds. Thank you for not abandoning or forgetting me when I’m uncool and feeling unwanted and rejected. Whatever your religious/agnostic background,I truly believe that my God whispered to you and you heard. You acted with his heart and his arms, and I cherish your friendship and ministry.
I thank God for your caring attitude and actions. May you enjoy this Christmas season with family, good friends, good health, and a warm heart. And may that feeling carry you through next year’s ups and downs with the assurance that you are never alone—not with that divine whisper in your heart, and not with me praying blessings for you!
Christmas music is ubiquitous this month: on TV and radio, in the malls and grocery stores, the mp3 player plugged into your head, and jangling from the brightly-blinking animated zoo in the neighbors’ front yard. We’ll hear a lot about sleigh rides and bells (even if we live in a Mediterranean or desert climate—or south of the equator), chestnuts roasting, having a merry little Christmas, Santa Claus, and the legend of a drummer boy present at the nativity. At church, surely we’ll sing Joy to the World, Silent Night, and O Come All Ye Faithful.
Yea, Lord, we greet Thee, born this happy morning;
Jesus, to Thee be glory given;
Word of the Father, now in flesh appearing.
O come let us adore Him, Christ the Lord.
Why is Jesus characterized as The Word? Dictionaries define “word” as
the smallest unit of language,
a conversation,
communication,
news,
an expression or authoritative utterance,
a promise,
a proverb, and
a hypostasis for divine wisdom.
In Latin, “word” doesn’t mean a motionless noun, but verbum. Verbs act and move.
In Greek, logos means word, thought, principle, or speech.
In the gospel of John, first chapter, we read the soaring song of salvation: that in the beginning-before-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 Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:1-5, 14 NIV.
That’s certainly the most famous reference to Jesus as the Word. But there are many more references to both spoken word and written word in both Testaments. Hebrews 1:1-3 NIV says, In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word.
Jesus is not only the Word of God, but He is the Author of our salvation. (Hebrews 2:10.)
In Revelation 3:12 NIV, the Author tells His believers: I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from my God; and I will also write on him my new name.
In Jeremiah 31:33-34, the Lord declares that the old covenant, the law of sin and death (Romans 8:2), has been broken, but He will create a new covenant: “This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time," declares the LORD. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest," declares the LORD. "For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more."
That is what Jesus, the Word and the Author of salvation, did to our wickedness: forgive and forget. It’s not stored in a computer chip or written on paper in a giant book. We are written in the Book of Life, Jesus Himself. Jesus is life. Every word I've spoken to you is a Spirit-word, and so it is life-making. John 6:63 MSG.
The apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians that they were a letter, written on his heart of love, known and read by everybody. You show that you are a letter from Christ…written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.2 Corinthians 3:3 NIV.
We are epistles written from God’s heart, and dare I say, written on God’s heart. Ah! Not only is our Lord “The Word,” but because we are His children through creation and adoption, we are also words—maybe “wordlets” (to coin a word). He has written His words and His will upon our living hearts, and He dwells within us.
What an incomprehensibly gigantic gift is wrapped up in the small collection of letters that we read as “Word.”
As I read the story of Jesus’ birth this season, I will meditate on each of the secular definitions of “Word.” In them there is much to learn of our sacred Word.
…..In the beginning was a small unit of language (from God to His children).
…..In the beginning was a conversation.
…..In the beginning was communication.
…..In the beginning was an authoritative utterance.
…..In the beginning was a promise.
…..In the beginning was a verb.
Word of the Father, now in flesh appearing. O come let us adore Him, Christ the Lord!
I hope that you will be blessed by the verses my Christian friends quote and sing in their Hanging of the Greens ceremony: 
