Moses' favorite Christmas carol

It’s been said that "the older you get, the faster time flies." Anyone whose seen their share of sunrises and sunsets knows the old adage is all too correct. It seems like yesterday that the ball dropped on 2016 (though the older I get, the less inclined I am to witness the sight). But now that Labor Day’s over and the final curtain has been drawn on our summer adventures, with the foliage around us adorning itself with the spectacular array of color, our thoughts and attentions begin to migrate to the turn of the seasons. Ready or not, the cooler air reminds us that fall is quickly approaching. Friday night lights, Saturday afternoon college rivalries, Pumpkin Spice Lattes from Starbucks, Harvest Festivals complete with funnel cakes and cake walks, and family Thanksgiving traditions begin to dot the frenetic landscape of our overcrowded calendars. For me, it seems like once our kids go back to school, the Christmas season is upon us faster than tv’s at Walmart on Black Friday. It’s hard to believe, but soon there will be less that 100 days until Christmas; 15 Saturdays until the way-too-early pitter patter of little footsteps bursting with excitement awaken us to Santa’s bounty and Christmas breakfast. It’s hard to believe I know, harder than staying awake with a belly full of tryptophan laced turkey and dressing.

I’ve always been a fan of Christmas carols. Some of my earliest Christmas memories center around singing Christmas carols together as a family, or standing on the porch of a shut-in filling the darkness and gloom with the harmonies of “Angels we Have Heard on High,” or “Joy to the World,” or “Away in a Manger.” More recently, I’ve had the opportunity at Christmas time to walk the halls of the local nursing home in our community spreading Christmas cheer up and down the hallways with jovial merriment. I was always amazed at how the furrowed brows of those residents were transformed, in a moment, at the sound of those blessed carols. I would watch in child-like amazement as those wrinkles, forged deep into their gaunt faces by years of experiencing tragedy; those same wrinkles would miraculously rearrange to reveal the most precious of smiles. Those eyes, who had been seen so much suffering, clouded by the passing of time, would, in a moment, be brought to life with the memories of Christmas past. It’s an incredible wonder, really, to behold the power of music to transform even the most aged of hearts into a child brimming with hope and excitement.

I wonder do you have a favorite Christmas carol? One of my favorites is the song “Angels, we have heard on high.” One of the greatest miracles of Christmas is that the refrain, “Glo-o-o-o-o-ria,” could be such a well beloved chorus. Seriously? What a stroke of writing genius, it is such a deeply theological lyric. (Insert sarcasm here) It’s really amusing to watch a church full of people hum and mumble their way through the 3-6th verses of the carol once again joyfully regain the host of jubilant masses on the chorus. It does indeed get stuck in your heard doesn’t it though? But I digress.

I wonder if Moses had a favorite Christmas carol? After reading Numbers 7 today, it could have been the twelve days of Christmas. You know the song, “On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me…” and then it lists 12 different things that no one can ever remember without singing the song in its entirety. Numbers chapter 7, like the chapters before it, is not the most enthralling portions of holy writ. In fact, it’s down right redundant. It’s down right redundant. It’s down right redundant. It’s down right redundant. It records in painstaking, meticulous detail, the offerings brought by the tribes of Israel as offerings to the Lord at the dedication of the Tabernacle, twelve of them in all. It’s about as exciting as finding the missing light on that last strand of lights to go around the Christmas tree.

Take verses 19-23 for example, “19 He offered for his offering one silver plate whose weight was 130 shekels, one silver basin of 70 shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering; 20 one golden dish of 10 shekels, full of incense; 21 one bull from the herd, one ram, one male lamb a year old, for a burnt offering; 22 one male goat for a sin offering; 23 and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five male goats, five male lambs a year old, three french hens, two turtle doves and a partridge in a pear tree.” See what I mean.

But there are some marvelous truths that should be extracted from the monotony.

These offerings are a reflection of the magnitude of the children of Israel’s joy that their God was tabernacling with them. Don’t forget that this God had put Himself on display in towering majesty for the world to see by delivering the Egyptian slaves through the plagues and the miracle at the Red Sea. With thunder and lighting and smoke, he had descended on Sinai in a way that made the Friday Night Fireworks at the Braves game look like a bottle rocket in the back yard. This God was THEIR God and He had come to them in their wilderness. This God, who could not be confined to the limitations of time and space, who held their days in His hand, had willingly stepped into their puny, minuscule existence and had chosen, of His own will, to walk with them through the billowing dust and burning sands of their desert on their way from the bondage of their old life to the land promised to them and their descendants forever. These were their offerings of praise, these were the best that they had. This was their best. They had, like David, chosen to “not offer the Lord that which costed them nothing.” What do you give in exchange for that type of fellowship. Is there any cost too high?

But have you ever asked the question, where did a few million slaves wandering in the desert get the money to buy silver bowls and golden pots? It’s not like their internet ventures and home-based businesses were that good! There weren’t any six figure executives in that bunch of nomadic slaves. No, Exodus 12:36 reads, “36 And the Lord had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they let them have what they asked. Thus they plundered the Egyptians.” The word favor in verse 36 is translated grace. God’s grace had already given them the provision to offer what was needed to dedicate the Tabernacle for His glory. God knew they would need that provision to glorify and praise Him. He gave them everything they would need to bring their offering of praise. It was already His and He gave it to them.

So how do we apply this exercise in redundancy to our lives today? Well, like the children of Israel, we have been delivered out of our own bondage, emancipated from the chains of sin that reigned in our lives. Like the children of Israel, we have been promised a home, finely appointed with the best of furnishings by the Master Himself, prepared and awaiting those who follow HIm. Like the children of Israel, He doesn’t leave us in our wilderness wanderings, no He came to us to rescue us and He walks with us to reassure us. He sent His Holy Spirit as our guide and constant companion as we navigate the arid, sweltering wilderness of this life, He is literally with us, inside of us!

Now comes our response. What is our offering of praise to give to this One who has delivered us and walks with us? Is there anything that we can give to Him in response? His grace has given us everything necessary to praise Him in our own wilderness. But like the children of Israel, we spend most of our days complaining rather than worshipping the God that is WITH us every step. By His grace, He’s demonstrated who He is, now the proper response is worship,; unadulterated, undignified, unrestrained worship. I’m not talking about lights and stages and worship songs. I’m talking about everyday, intimate, genuine worship reflected in our time spent with Him; reflected in the way we act, think, and respond to every enemy, every temptation in this wilderness journey. Matthew 13 gives us a parable in an effort to explain the value of the kingdom. Jesus says the Kingdom of heaven is like a pearl that is hidden in a field, and that pearl is so valuable to the one who recognizes its price, that He is willing to sell everything He has to purchase that field, just so He can have it.

I wonder if this is the attitude with which we approach the kingdom? Are we willing to sell everything to find it? Is it worth more than the trinkets under our trees during the coming season? Is it worth more than the stuff in our stockings? By the way, it is only His Grace that gave us the presents in the first place. It’s all His goodness anyway. Surely, intimacy with Christ who has done so much to tabernacle with us, is worth the price of our fields. Isn’t that what Christmas is about anyway? The God of heaven, laying aside the opulance of heaven for the odors of a manger to be WITH us, like us, to die for us. Surely, if he can lay aside the splendor of heaven to pursue intimacy with us, we can lay aside the substance of earth to pursue intimacy with Him. Like the carol says, grab the partridge, the pair tree, the turtle doves, the maids, the drummers and all, and bring them to your true love, the One who has brought you in might and power, out of the bondage of your old life, into the land of promise, and best of all has promised to walk with you every dusty, sandy step between both.