IT'S AN OXYMORON

I’m thinking about when contrasts becomes compatible.

My mom and dad: My mom drives a 4-door sedan and my dad drives a diesel 4X4 Dodge – They are opposites in more than what they drive.

A Christmas or two ago, while visiting a colleague, I was drawn into play of a game called “The Battle of the Sexes.” It pits guys against girls in questions that one gender would know and the other probably not. The boys struggled to answer questions on makeup, cooking, and even fell short on a sewing question. It’s true what has been persisted; the genders are contrasts that become compatible.

Jesus taught contrasts… a mustard seed of faith is equivalent to the problem of the mountain. He picked the smallest physical object (mustard seed) that was within reach and points to the largest physical object (mountain) and explains the lesson: It was not an effort to measure faith but to show that as little and simple as faith is (asking, expecting, and waiting) it will take care of any titanic problem that confronts us.

But the zenith of contrasts that become compatible is a poor Jewish boy who is sovereign King of the universe. The polar opposites are not dissimilar. God is just as much a poor baby in a manger as He is God when speeches angels fall on their knees. Jesus working with Joseph, looking for the weary and worn, hanging on the cross is the Jesus of creation, the Jesus of heaven. Opposite and equal. Each was not a partial revelation, but rather every a full.

OFFICIALLY OFFICIAL

It is officially the Christmas season – several of my neighbors have put out their Christmas lights! Some may argue that I can’t officially use the word official, and that it is still too early to be singing The First Noel and buying wrapping paper. But I prod you not to be a scrooge… it’s actually good for you to embrace the joy of this season. It’s called a “slow-burning emotion.” According to CNN the University of Southern California completed a study this past year that found that “rapid-fire TV news bulletins or getting updates via social-networking tools such as Twitter could numb our sense of morality and make us indifferent to human suffering.” “If things are happening too fast, you may not ever fully experience emotions…” said researcher Mary Helen Immordino-Yang. Their conclusion was that when our moral perspective is deluded by the multifarious and insistent supply of news, will ruin a society. In turn the researchers discovered the cogent importance of decelerating the news flow and building slow-burning emotions, most of which will be positive such as admiration. Well if that is what would be good for our moral compass, then it becomes very clear why the brilliantly dark mind of the devil would turn on the facet of news. So start your Christmas early, and be late in ending it. Let Christmas be a slow-burning season, a season of good news, the best news.

But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. (Luke 2:10)