December 9

Day 270: Dumpster Fire Ornament

Deb and I have this Christmas tradition, that for us goes back decades. We give each other a Christmas tree ornament. The ornaments are intended to remember a highlight from that year now drawing to a close.

I was wasting time scrolling through Facebook at some point last week, and saw an advertisement. Maybe you saw it too. A Christmas tree ornament of a dumpster fire, complete with green plastic dumpster and a battery-operated "glowing" fire. Cute. I was tempted.

In a number of ways, this year has felt like a dumpster fire, we'll each agree. Unmet expectations, reduced freedoms, fun getaways and family gatherings curtailed. Airport and nose swabs used in the same sentence.

Doing church life together has been weird, with no end in sight. It seems just about everyone is unhappy, or angry, or looking for someone to blame. And for me, way too much sitting each day.

Perhaps the battle this year, for all of us, is maintaining a healthy perspective. If we look at history, we see that wars have eventually ended, and pandemics have eventually ceased. Despotic Kings and queens eventually die, and disliked US Presidents only get four or maybe eight years to be disliked. And disputed election results have always been.

People in the past have lived through hard times, and still lived. However, we all have a tendency to believe two things: our own problems are worse than someone else's problems. And, we somehow think we're living in the worst of times.

Jesus did not come to be our cheerleader. He did not come to be our life coach. He did not come offering our "best life now." He came proclaiming a Kingdom.

He said His Kingdom was starting small. He said His Kingdom may initially be invisible to most. He said His Kingdom was not about monarchy over land, but a loving rule over the hearts of men and women.

He said His Kingdom was bigger than any, legitimate, a growing reality. His Kingdom was a complete game changer. But something had to happen. He had to die.

Galatians 4:4 says, "But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons."

The time to which Jesus came and died was the worst of times. God had been patient, but His chosen people had failed under the law. It was in these desperate times that Jesus broke in, and changed everything. His Father had sent Him at just the right time.

He came to what was a dumpster fire. He atoned for our sin, He defeated death to give us hope, promises to be proven, and expedited the possibility of anyone being adopted as children and given citizenship in His Kingdom.

This year it's been so easy, even for Christians to think of what we do not have. Perspective only changes when we consider what we do have.

This year has been a dumpster fire, we can agree. But a dumpster fire ornament does not have to define this year, or our lives. We can, instead, choose to define this year by what we do have.

Deb and I have new Christmas tree ornaments, neither of which have anything to do with dumpsters or fires. While laughing ironically, we've determined not to be defined by this year's chaos.

We are instead choosing to be defined by what we do have. Citizenship in the Kingdom of God. Citizenship that cannot be contained in a dumpster, nor can be quenched in a fire.

-Mike Rydman, Lead Pastor, Radiant Church Juneau