The After Christmas One-Off Message Special
WHY ARE WE HERE? Well - I'll be honest with you and start with a confession. I'll talk about myself for a second. And the reason I do this - is because I don't want anybody who's skipping out, who's dragged their butts to church this morning with toothpicks keeping their eyelids open out of sheer force of will, but not desire - I don't want anybody feeling guilty for where they are or aren't, what they're doing or not doing or how they're feeling during this time in "the neither world" of our calendar. And I will tell you - that traditionally, this is the message that many senior pastors and lead pastors give to their staff to give them a chance to preach and to give the senior pastors and lead pastors much needed time off after Christmas Eve series and services. Before I was a lead pastor - this week - every year on the calendar - I could count on it being "my Sunday to preach to the congregation at large and not just the youth group or young adults." I tell you the truth that if I had staff to help me out - I would not be here as in UP HERE this morning. But alas - I do not have other pastors to foist this off onto. We have had some terrific guest speakers this past year - Buddy, our Missions Director and Amy our Young Adults leader and part of our finance team. But I did not think it would be fair to ask volunteers to prepare for a guest speaking gig during the holidays. That feels like a very Scroog-y thing to do.
So I'm here - UP HERE this morning. At that weird stretchy, sleepy space in time when it is basically the church calendar's "sweatpants week." But that's okay - because it got me thinking… and I decided to lean into that idea. I am convinced - that there is a God-ordained, Jesus-approved, Holy Spirit led spiritual version of "sweatpants week." Maybe more than a week for some of us. There are "spiritual sweatpants portions of our lives sometimes." And today - I want to talk about how to exist in that space and make it positive.
And here's the first way that I think we do that. We recognize that this time - this "no man's land" time whether in our lives or on the calendar - isn't a gap that needs to be filled. It's a bridge between what was before and what comes next.
THIS TIME IS NOT A GAP, ITS A BRIDGE
Now, I'm gonna be lazy cause it's that kind of week. Every time we talk about the no man's land - it's gonna double for both this time of the year, the time on the calendar, but it's also gonna double as an example for the no man's land times in your lives - no matter where they land on the calendar. And those no man's lands in your life - they may be a week or two, they may be longer. But you're gonna do the work and apply these ideas and takeaways to your own life and whatever you're focused on that would be helpful right now. So just be aware as we move forward.
Now - some people - man when Christmas is over - as soon as it hits December 26th - they think they gotta get out there and do stuff. They gotta be productive. The holidays are over, the new year is right around the corner. Who's got time to rest and relax? Who's got time for post-Christmas Christmas movie marathons. Gotta go. Gotta do. Gotta plan. Gotta work. Gotta clean.
Anybody here the type who yanks down the Christmas lights on December 26th, jams the tree in the trash at the curb and stuffs all the Christmas stuff in the garage or attic by noon like they're the Grinch who overslept Christmas?
WHY ARE YOU HERE ON TOP OF THE ROOF YANKING DOWN LIGHTS THE DAY AFTER CHRISTMAS?
Even those who aren't "working" or planning for the future or "cleaning up" per se - man, so many people just stuff their days full of activity. I heard an interesting statistic this year - this one blew me away. And that is now - in the modern day - the day AFTER Christmas is a busier shopping day at malls and stores than the days leading up to Christmas when people are Christmas shopping. The reason for this is because a bunch of people got gift cards - and they're redeeming them - while clearance sales and after-Christmas specials are happening so they can experience MAXIMUM PURCHASING POWER. Not only the gift cards and the sales contribute to this, but so do the returns and exchanges - you just got something - it didn't fit, you didn't like it - get rid of it NOW! Exchange it or get a gift card of money back to exchange for MAXIMUM PURCHASING POWER!
Longer lines, bigger crowds, the shelves haven't been re-stocked yet from the Christmas rush - but now there are MORE people on the day after Christmas than on the days leading up to it. Everybody rushing around to and fro.
WHY?
WHY ARE YOU HERE AT THE MALL THE DAY AFTER CHRISTMAS?
Aren't you tired from Christmas? Don't you need to regain your strength? Your sanity after Christmas? Don't you need time to bask in the afterglow of the holidays and enjoy them? How about just time to reflect?
Ecclesiastes chapter 3 reminds us
For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven. A time to be born and a time to die. A time to plant and a time to harvest. A time to kill and a time to heal. A time to tear down and a time to build up. A time to cry and a time to laugh. A time to grieve and a time to dance. A time to scatter stones and a time to gather stones. A time to embrace and a time to turn away. A time to search and a time to quit searching. A time to keep and a time to throw away. A time to tear and a time to mend. A time to be quiet and a time to speak. A time to love and a time to hate. A time for war and a time for peace.Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
and then the author of Ecclesiastes follows it up with a great question -
What do people really get for all their hard work?Ecclesiastes 3:9
Now I will admit to you that Ecclesiastes 3 does not specifically list "A time for sweatpants and a time for too much cheese. A time to rot on the couch" in that list. BUT I think there's some ideas we can take away from this list. There's times to heal. There's times to cru and laugh. There's times to grieve and dance. There's times to quit searching. There's times to mend. There's times to be quiet. There's times for peace.
And so in this interim time - this time of in-between, there should be time for us to
FIND PURPOSE IN STILLNESS
If we fill all of our moments with doing and planning and coming and going - we have no time for stillness. It is in moments of stillness, periods of stillness… that we can stop and think. Pause and reflect. And
REST WITHOUT GUILT
Folks - we need to rest. Most of us don't get enough. In the modern day with packed calendars - too much work, so many family and friends commitments, stuff for the kids at school and with their sports -a nd even when we're doing fun things or good things - things at church - things for charity - good deeds for people - most of us are severely lacking rest. When one thing is over we rush to the next thing. When the celebration is over we rush to get back to normal. What IS normal? There IS NO NORMAL!
We need rest. Ecclesiastes 3 tells us there is "A time to plant and a time to harvest." Well this is neither. This is a time for rest. To regain your strength. And you don't need to feel guilty about taking that time intentionally. Being still and resting. Jesus Himself when He was with His disciples being overwhelmed by the crowds took time to rest. In Mark 6:31 we have Jesus recorded as telling His disciples -
Then Jesus said, "Let's go off by ourselves to a quiet place and rest awhile.Mark 6:31
And we have reasons why He said this before and after this verse - BEFORE -
The apostles returned to Jesus from their ministry tour and told Him all they had done and taught.Mark 6:30
Then Jesus said, "Let's go off by ourselves to a quiet place and rest awhile."Mark 6:31
AFTER -
He said this because there were so many people coming and going that Jesus and His apostles didn't even have time to eat.Mark 6:31
Anyone feel like they had a Christmas season like that? You don't need to feel guilty about resting. You just need to rest! That isn't laziness. That's wisdom. That's obedience. That's part of the goodness of God and the promise of Jesus.
Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.Matthew 11:28-30
So why aren't you taking Jesus up on it?! Sit down and rest. Lay down and rest. Cuddle in your Snuggie and lay down and rest. You can't experience rest if you don't let yourself rest. And I swear to you that the guilt that you feel about resting doesn't come from Jesus. It doesn't come from God. It comes from a system run by billionaires that wants you to work and consume 24-7 until you die because it keeps their companies and enterprises going and making money for them so they can rest on their 100 million dollar yachts. OR it comes from unresolved childhood trauma and an unhealthy environment where achievement and production equaled love and the need to rest was met with resentment from those who felt the pressure like they couldn't rest. None of those ideas are healthy. WE. NEED. REST.
Maybe this "neither world" time in our life is meant to be built in to give us the rest that we need. A quiet place to rest while. But most of us… we don't rest and pause. We push and power through. And that's harmful. We treat rest like it's a reward. It's not. Rest is a requirement. Rest is part of a healthy rhythm. Most of us don't recognize healthy rhythms in our lives anymore because they've been replaced with unhealthy ideas and philosophies. Hustle culture. Grind mentality. And people wonder why they don't experience the joy of the Lord.
Here's something else a lot of us do. We don't reflect. We return to the same life we've been living. We react to the constant stimuli and what's going on around us.
Maybe this time - this time of the pause - this "in between" time is meant to give us time to
REFLECT WITH INTENTIONALITY
See- I keep asking this question during this message - "WHY?" "WHY AM I HERE?" I can rephrase that a little… "HOW DID I GET HERE?"… I can add to that line of questioning… "DO I WANT TO BE HERE?"…
You know what all of those questions are? They are questions of reflection that take time to process. You have to sit with that stuff. You have to do some rewinding and take stock of your life and decisions you made, situations you've been in, choices you're making. You have to look at what you want and what you've got. You've got to look at those things and see if they line up with what God wants for you and whether those ideas are healthy or not. It takes time and stillness to reflect on our lives with intentionality.
Psalm 46:10 has the Psalmist writing from the perspective of our Creator -
Be still and know that I am God!Psalm 46:10
The beginning of knowing understanding ourselves. Is being still and knowing and understanding God. The beginning of understanding our surroundings - our government - the state of the world - it starts with being still and knowing God. Psalm 46 literally has the Psalmist saying
The nations are in chaos, and their kingdoms crumble!Psalm 46:6
And the solution isn't immediately - "DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT THIS INSTANT!" It's
Be still and know that I am God!Psalm 46:10
We need to be still. Start by focusing on God and reflecting on His nature and His goodness and then we can reflect on our own lives to answer those questions about "WHY AM I HERE? HOW DID I GET HERE? WHERE AM I GOING?" By the way - that doesn't mean you have to figure everything out right now. You've got a week to figure everything out! Get cracking! Your therapists and psychologists aren't even in the office until January 2nd. And you probably need them almost as much as you need spiritual guidance and counseling from our Heavenly Father. You don't have to figure everything out by January 2nd. You can't read all the self-help books in that time and they probably won't help you that much anyway - it's information overload.
God didn't say "Be productive and scramble… He didn't say "Figure it all out." He said "Be still"
But reflection is still necessary. And having this time built in can help us reflect to feel better about things… to understand things more…
There's some very famous pieces of scripture - my dad had these index cards when I was growing up - and I think he copied them from a firefighter Captain of his named Bobby Henderson - great Christian guy, great Christian family - and he led a Bible study at the station - and dad would memorize these cards. And I saw them often. He used them putting stuff together for Firefighters For Christ meetings, He used them to encourage me, He used them to encourage and remind Himself when things got tough I think - and a couple of verses stuck with me - I was thinking about them when I was putting this message together - here's a couple that I want to share and just ask a question or two about -
Philippians 4:6-7
Don't worry about anything; instead pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank Him for all He has done. Then you will experience God's peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.Philippians 4:6-7
Okay - this sounds pretty good. Lemme ask you this - telling God what you need - how do you know what you need unless you spent some serious time in reflection? How you gonna reflect if you don't take time to be still and reflect?
Next question - thank God for all He has done. Don't you need to sit down and think about that stuff? Cause I bet God's done a lot - some of which we might not readily think about when we're distracted with twenty million other things. But if we were still - would we remember what God has done better?
Let me give you the follow up verse to this -
And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.Philippians 4:8
Now I would argue that this is a lifestyle - this is something we're called top do every day. But in order for us to do that - to have that mindset - to be successful with this lifestyle - don't you think maybe we should take time to reflect on what is true, and honorable, and right and pure and lovely and admirable, and excellent and worthy of praise? I don't think we can do that and watch the news at the same time. I don't. I don't think we can do that while we're driving on the freeway trying to be a defensive driver with cars all around us traveling at rates of speed in the rain that sent Doc. Brown back in time.
Let me give you another one - Proverbs 3:5-6
Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek His will in all you do, and He will show you which path to take.Proverbs 3:5-6
Okay - if we're truly actively seeking His will in all we do - when we're asking ourselves "HOW DID WE GET HERE?" "WHERE AM I GOING?" "WHAT IS GOD'S WILL FOR THE DIRECTION OF MY LIFE?" Don't you think we need to pause and be still and give adequate time to reflect with intentionality and WAIT and be still and get some wisdom and some answers? Do you think this is the kind of seeking and understanding that can be done while you're rushing around doing 90 after Christmas errands and responding to 120 texts and signing up for all of the new classes you want to take at the gym or the Y?
Maybe God gives us these "down times" these "in between times" to seek His will and His wisdom. Just a thought.
Alright - one final thought I want to leave you with - I could say a lot more - I could… I could probably do a whole series on these ideas - but "eh" it's the time in-between… I've got stillness to get back to…
Here's the idea… when you're still. When you're seeking God. When you're processing and asking "WHY AM I HERE?" This is not an invitation to look back on your life with judgement. It's an invitation to
LOOK BACK WITH GRATITUDE
And I get it - man some of us - we've been through some stuff. We've had hard years. We've been through traumatic stuff. Things didn't go according to OUR plans. I'm not diminishing the pain of that in any way shape or form. That's reality. That's life. It comes for all of us. If you've had some times like that - some challenging times, I want to encourage you to just acknowledge God's hand and presence and His people working in the midst of those struggles. Seeing ways He was there. Looking for the helpers. And realizing that He's brought you through this far. You can be grateful for that even if you're not grateful for some of the turmoil and situations you've been through.
Here's the other thing - when you're looking back and reflecting with intentionality - again - we're looking back with Gratitude. We are being grateful - we are not GRADING ourselves. I've said this earlier this year - but comparison is the thief of joy. When we look back at our year and where we are - some of us - we're so used to scoring everything. We list wins vs. losses. We underline highlights, but we also circle failures. And so much of us - our end result - the net of "was it a good year or a bad year" has its roots in comparison to how others are doing or how the media presents ideas of how we should be doing. "Did you outperform everybody else in the office?" "Did you meet your weight loss goals?" "Did you add or subtract from your bank account?" You can answer some of those questions if they're healthy and YOU focused not focused on YOU compared to everybody else. That's fine. But the questions God would have you ask - they might be a little different - "Did you walk with me?" "Did you love others like you love yourself?" "Did you love yourself?" "What are you living for?" "How did you become more like Christ?" "What fruits of the Spirit do we need to put more of in our spiritual shopping carts?"
We have this in between time. We can look at both the spiritual and the practical - but this time is not meant to wallow in pity or beat yourself up. It's not meant to pretend that everything was peachy and good either. It's a time meant to recognize that God was faithful no matter what. It's a time to submit our ideas and plans to the Lord. It's a time to be honest with ourselves but to be grateful while we're doing it. Gratitude literally reframes our memories. And I think when you look back with gratitude - we should maybe apply the ideas of the psalmist from Psalm 77 when he wrote -
I will remember the deeds of the Lord; yes I will remember your miracles of long ago. I will consider all your works and meditate on all your mighty deeds.Psalm 77:11-12
So to sum it all up - in this in between time - remember this is a bridge, not a gap. A bridge between what is and what is to come - between your past and God's future for you. And remember that sometimes God does some of his strongest, most transformative work not at the destination, not at the starting point, but when He meets us on the bridge in between.
So if you're tired -
REST WITHOUT GUILT
If you're not sure "WHY YOU'RE HERE" or where you are or where you're going?
REFLECT WITH INTENTIONALITY
And before you move forward -
LOOK BACK WITH GRATITUDE
And once you do those things - prayerfully, you'll be ready to
LOOK FORWARD WITH HOPE
Believing what the psalmist wrote in Psalm 138:8
The Lord will work out His plans for my life- for your faithful love, O Lord, endures forever.Psalm 138:8
Maybe this time in-between is the time when you're a caterpillar in your cocoon and God is using that time to change you, morph you into a beautiful butterfly of his creation, ready to soar and take flight. Maybe you're a caterpillar who needs a little more time before the cocoon opens - you're the caterpillar who hits snooze and says "just five more minutes." If the new you isn't ready by the new year - that's okay. The Lord will work out His plans for your life. Get the rest you need. God's not rushing you. Neither am I. He's there with you WHERE YOU ARE right now.
Thank you so much for being HERE today. Enjoy the time "in between." Until next time - May God bless your rest, your reflection and even your confusion about this precious time in our lives. May this time remind you that you are loved and special and not done yet. Merry not Christmas anymore, Happy not quite New Year's - Cheese and Sugar and Blessings to you all. God bless you - have a great week!