Darkness and Light
Discipleship Struggles, Resurrecting Youth, David Movie, and Gimme a Minute
I mentioned last week that we started an Advent devotional with our kids. The first two sections of the book we’re working through focused on darkness and light. Included in the devo were a couple intro activities that used flashlights and what our daughter hatefully calls “the big light,” in object lessons to highlight both the reality of shadows, and the power of light to overcome darkness.
While those object lessons have likely long since left the minds of my children, they’ve served to remind me of the darkness and light that accompany the longing and waiting of Advent.
Annie and I spent an hour or so yesterday gathering and sorting all the Christmas presents we have for our kids this year to make sure we’ve got all our bases covered. I’d like to tell you this is normal for us, but we’re usually tying up loose ends on Christmas Eve. We’re taking the kids on a quick trip right before Christmas this year (more fun experiences, less junk shoved in closets!), and that’s forcing us to get our act together early. It was really fun to spend time together, talk about the things we’ve seen our kids fall in love with this year, and work together to find some surprises that we think they’ll enjoy opening as well. It was simple and practical, but it felt like there was light there.
Even in the midst of light, there’s also darkness. I got a text from a friend this week telling me that his mother passed away. He got a call and rushed down to be with his dad and sisters as they waited for her passing. It wasn’t unexpected. She’d been sick for quite some time, but that doesn’t make the loss any easier to swallow. I’m guessing they could feel the dark pressing against them last night, and likely will for quite some time.
However, even in the darkness, our eyes begin to adjust. John reminds us that “the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” The darkness that once felt so oppressive begins to ease at the edges. Light creeps in, and though you may still stumble through it, movement is possible.
I see light in a group text thread of guys who are commited to praying for their friend and his family, offering encouragement, and sending reels to offer laughter. There’s light in my friend being able to be present with his family to grieve, share memories, and plan for what’s next. There’s light in him driving down in the dark only to wake up to sunlight reflecting off fresh snow so bright it hurts to look at.
As we work through Advent, this season of waiting and longing for Jesus to arrive, there’s darkness and light in the Christmas story as well. Mary and Joseph on the road with a baby due any day now, and finding no room at the inn feels pretty dark. And yet, God provides light in a tiny manger surrounded by farm animals where God’s own son will be born. The impenetrable darkness of the cross is stamped out by the blinding light of the resurrection. We can look around us and find darkness across the world, down the street, and in our own homes. But we also trust that the light of Jesus will return, and blast that ever-present darkness away.
Until he returns though, even when we feel the light on our face, pain and suffering will remain. So while we toil in the darkness, we wait and we long for the light. Whether it’s a short burst of God’s grace granting reprieve, or the trumpet call to assure us that Jesus has arrived and darkness is banished for good, we wait with sure faith that God keeps his promises.
Discipleship Struggles (Parenting, Discipleship)
“We know that God has called us to disciple our children, and we’ve tried, but we struggle to do it. As a result, we feel like we’ve let down both Jesus and our children. And for some of us, this failure is an ever-present, crushing weight on our souls. But it doesn’t have to be. Indeed, it shouldn’t be. Here are five key truths to lean on instead.”
Last week I wrote about working our family into the rhythms of an Advent devotional, and all the chaos and beauty that came along with it. Through the last two weeks there have been plenty of voices ringing in my head that what we’re doing isn’t good enough, my questions could’ve been better, my attitude could be brighter, and all the other negative thoughts that pop in. By God’s grace, we’ve kept at it, and enjoyed these moments at the end of the day reflecting on the darkness and light that come with the season of Advent.
We’re not the only the family to struggle in the area of discipleship. Writing for Rooted, Brian Dembowczyk offers a boatload of encouragement for parents who find themselves feeling like failures in the realm of discipleship. He looks at the story of Peter denying Jesus three times in the gospels, and reflects on what his failure can show us about our own. If you’re in the trenches of starting your journey of family discipleship, Brian’s insights can be real gift as you experience the peaks of valleys of the road. Read and be encouraged!
Resurrecting Youth (Student Ministry)
“We want to be happy, we want to be positive, and our only way to be either is to enlist ourselves to perform out in the world. All this performing makes us tired, so we binge. All the bingeing makes us depressed, so we grasp after more, and all that grasping burns us out. Perhaps, thinks Root, we are sad because we are so obsessed with being happy.”
I haven’t working in the student ministry world since I was in college, but as the father of a teenager (and a couple others who will be teenagers soon) I’ve read plenty about the moment they currently find themselves in. Joshua Musser Gritter examines the moment students find themselves in, and the different pressures that student ministry leaders feel from parents to both solve their problems and make sure they know they’re amazing. He interacts with Dr. Richard Beck’s three categories humans use as frameworks—moral, existential, and ontological. Youth ministry then can fall into one of those three categories. Ultimately, Gritter points to the ontological option as best (“Pastor Josh, introduce Jesus to my child’s dying soul” type of ministry).
Don’t let all those big fancy words dissuade you from diving in here. Gritter does a great job of breaking it all down so that it’s concise and understandable, even without a philosphy degree. He shares a great scene from the movie Eighth Grade to help demonstrate what this type of ministry can look like. Making ourselves available to hear and embrace the suffering of students, pointing them to our own struggles, and ultimately to Jesus. Out of my normal depth of field for this newsletter, but I found this one compelling and interesting.
David Movie (Parenting, Movies)
“The movie blew my expectations out of the water and had me smiling, laughing, and occasionally tearful over the course of its 115 minutes. I took my 7-year-old son with me to the advance screening, and he loved it too. Is David perfect? No. But as family-friendly animated biblical epics go, it’s one of the best I’ve seen.”
One of my favorite Christmas traditions through high school and college was heading to the movies with my family during a lull between a heavy and all-too-early breakfast and a holiday dinner with family friends. Now that we’ve got three kids, it’s getting ever harder to find movies that everyone’s interested in seeing.
Thankfully, according to Brett McCracken at TGC, we’ve got a good one heading our way next week. Just in time for Christmas, David hits theatres on December 19th. You can check out his full review at the link, but he compares it the late-90’s classic Prince of Egypt, which is high praise. It sounds like this one will be worth checking out!
Gimme a Minute
It’s another snowy school from home day here in Louisville today, and I’ve never felt a reel more deeply in my bones than this one. After playing in the snow, firing up lunches, and answering the gajillion questions that came from online assignments, I’m ready for some peace and quiet. It’s not happening, but I’m ready for it all the same. :-)