"Let's give thanks to the Lord above cause Santa Claus comes tonight."

[Note: Readership of my blog posts has multiplied exponentially in recent months. If you are promoting my blog, many thanks!]

I'm a geezer. 

The first Churches of God Conference I attended was in 1976.

Things have changed significantly among us during those decades.

Back in the day, very few Churches of God congregations celebrated Advent. This year, thr Executive Director of my Conference and of the General Conference sent out messages to the body focusing on the meaning of Advent and on the the importance of the Church Calendar. 

Back in the day, Churches of God Christmas sermons, if there were Christmas sermons,decried the evil of the commercialization of the season,... if Christmas sermons were preached at all. 

Now, from what I see, the Advent-ification of our churches is nearly complete...

... and our slow decline of past decades has become decay.

From what I see, our "pastors" are content to blend Advent ritual with secular commercialization. 

We do our Advent candles. And, simply acknowledge that, apart from Advent Sundays, and, today?

Let's give thanks to the Lord above cause Santa Claus comes tonight. 

*****

Since I've stopped blogging regularly, I've received more feedback than I expected that people miss reading what I blog. 

It's time, I think, to blog a prophecy I entered, for the first time, as far back as the days of Brian Miller's Emerging Church blog:

THE CELEBRATION OF CHRISTMAS, let alone Advent, IS A DISASTROUS LOST OPPORTUNITY. 

The New Testament doesn't detail early disciples celebrating the birth of Jesus.  Only two of the four Gospels even mention it... and, then, only to demonstrate that Jesus came to earth in fulfillment of Old Testament prophesy, i.e., He was born of a virgin in Bethlehem, etc..

My friends, early disciples didn't preach His Advent, they proclaimed His incarnation.

"The word became flesh and lived among us."

"... have the same mindset as Christ Jesus, who being in very nature God... made Himself,  nothing taking the very nature of a servant..."

In Matthew 25, Jesus is clear. When He separates sheep from goats, believing the right things about His coming will not be the issue. 

What will matter is whether if your knowledge and faith produced fruit in righteousness and mercy, particularly among "the least of these."

This year, again, most "pastors" and parents missed the opportunity to take advantage of the commercialization of Christmas. Because they focused on the advent of Jesus,...

... not on the truth that the moment of His coming was merely preface to the story of the true miracle: The Word became flesh and He lived among us. 

We must repent. 

"A time to mourn"

Being the geezer I am, the Byrds 1965 hit, TURN! TURN! TURN!, is a compelling earworm dancing through my head as I think about CGGC delegates gathering for General Conference business sessions and to remember the origin of the Church of God in 1825.

(BTW, the Church of God Eldership was formed in 1830 and the 50th anniversary was celebrated in 1880.)

TURN! TURN! TURN!, is a 1950s folk, anti-war protest song written by folk music mega-star Pete Seeger. Seeger adapted Ecclesiastes 3 for the lyrics:"... a time for every purpose under heaven..." 

For many boomers, it's a classic. 

Anyway,...

I know how things go in the CGGC. John Winebrenner will appear at Conference sessions. Delegates will receive, from him, the message that we have a proud history. All of us should be glad. 

Here's the thing: The Church of God has an awesome history of walking in the power and blessing of the Spirit and of calling, to use Winebrenner's word, "sinners" to "repent and believe the Good News."

Our history is thrilling but our present is tragic. 

At General Conference you will be encouraged to cheer, but you should weep and wallow. 

Today, we are not walking in the power and blessing of the Spirit. Many of our churches are declining, many others have already closed. Our membership is aging. We are not raising up "leaders." We have to beg people from outside our body to pastor our churches.

This General Conference is a critical moment when, instead of looking to our early days to celebrate, we should examine our present and mourn. 

We are failing the Lord, but He loves to forgive. 

Jesus began the Sermon on the Mount: "Blessed are the poor in Spirit... Blessed are those who mourn." Later, He challenged, "Come to Me all you weary and burdened, then He promised, "I will give you rest." 

Later, after Paul challenged the Corinthians to repent, after they did repent, Paul explained: "godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret."

My dear friends, 

The CGGC is dying but it can once again, experience the power and blessing of the Spirit as it did at the beginning. 

This is, as the song says, "a time to weep,... a time to mourn..."

Pope Francis

I woke up to the news that Pope Francis died during the night.

I despise institutionalized Christianity. There's nothing in the Gospels that allows for the creation of a clergy class among disciples, let alone a multilayered, hierarchical elite class of "leaders" in the Body of Christ that provides religious products and services to a passive class of consuming lay people. 

As time passes, our own CGGC becomes less a vibrant body of Spirt-empowered followers of the Way in which the greatest is the servant of all and, where leaders "equip the saints for works of service." (Eph 4:12) And, the CGGC declines. 

For Roman Catholics, Pope Francis was a baby step in the right direction. True, he embraced the pomp of the institution, yet, he, at least, didn't see institutional trappings as his end all and be all.

Francis was a "least of these," Matthew 25 guy: "I was hungry and you gave me something to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink..." Francis practiced John 13, not as ritual but as life.

Francis moved Catholics toward raw obedience. 

The CGGC has needed someone like him for generations.