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Well, after about 18 hours of travel, we have arrived in Orange County. Our flights were actually not too bad and, aside from a really quick transition in Chicago everything went smoothly. We were greeted by both sets of parents at the airport, and after picking up our bags, went straight to In-N-Out. When Tor asked me what I was gonna eat I said “One of each”. We then went back the the Hutchins where most of our belongins are, and where we’ll mostly be staying. Between the time we left the airport and the time we got here I counted 1,493 lifted trucks. Ridiculous. I went to bed pretty early, about 10 (which is 4am Edinburgh time) and slept well in our ginormous bed. After waking up at 5am, 6am and 6:30am, I got up at about 7:15. So that’s about it, now we’re gonna go see if Santa came.

We’re on a plane in exactly 48 hours. Still to do: clean flat, finish/start packing, wash dishes, cut B’s hair, cook for Xmas dinner, fold laundry from yesterday, get some work done, return movies, Bryce needs to finish up the last section of his licensure exam today, church and a party tonight, church and an all-day eating event tomorrow. And that’s the short list. Basically everything needs to be finished (ideally) today.

It doesn’t feel so much like Christmas; we don’t have a tree or presents for each other and we’ve been busy thinking about leaving and not so much about Christmas, which is pretty shoddy. Well, amidst all of the stuff to do, I’m excited to spend today with Bryce and am looking forward to church today and tomorrow. Happy Christmas to all our readers!

Here is a great article by John Frame about Christ as Immanuel and is great reading as you prepare for Christmas

Oh, and to get you all in the Christmas mood, here we are in the snow in Banchory from last weekend.

I’ve been thinking for a while about suffering and how it relates to the Christian life. It is intriguing to me that Christ’s whole life on earth was one of suffering. I imagine the incarnation itself was a type of suffering - a self-emptying as Philippians 2 puts it. It’s something we can’t even begin to get our heads around. The second person of the Trinity humbled himself by becoming a man, a conglomeration of cells that grew into a wee baby in Mary’s womb. He was born, learned to walk, talk, read, play, and use human language to express the language of the Kingdom. That degree of accommodation to our human state is nearly unimaginable and we can only begin to understand it on this side of grace. But he was born to suffer and die, to provide a substitution, to make atonement for our sin - for something so big, so much a part of each of one of us, that we could never get beyond it, never make sin ‘right’. And so Christmas becomes more than just nativity sets and a baby in a manger ‘who no crying he makes’, but becomes the first sign of hope, the first step of the God-Man into human flesh and into the human situation and, into a life of suffering.

And so I wonder what our response to the incarnation is this Christmas. Is it just another year where we read the story from Luke? Is it full of images of cherub-looking Jesus with Mary and Joseph surrounding him, serene and in awe and completely aware (by the expressions on their nativity set faces) of whom this baby really is? Is your image of Jesus’ birth static or do you begin to see the awe of God emptying himself to utterly accommodate himself to a depraved human race?

And what is our practical response? There’s been some talk around the blogosphere about suffering. People are afraid to suffer. People don’t want to suffer. People avoid suffering. People figure suffering is what old people do when they lose their lifetime mate, their hearing or their health. And yet, the gospel of this Christ - who humbled himself to be born and then killed, and resurrected to redeem his people - is one of suffering. Jesus says, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me” (Luke 9:23). Suffering is a given; it’s part of the package of being a Christian; it isn’t optional. The Christian life is a continual denial of self - of pride, ambition, relationships, status, reputation, and even the good things that aren’t centred on Christ. And it’s a daily thing. It is a living self-sacrificially to our mate, our family, our friends, co-workers, and colleagues. Sure they don’t *deserve* our sacrificial treatment we might say, but how much more do we not deserve Christ’s substitionary death and his perfect righteousness imputed to our account? And remember, it’s not suffering for the sake of suffering, but a mark of belonging to Christ. In our world where everything is tainted by sin, those who seek to live a holy life will inevitably suffer.

Suffering brings us closer to Christ. Paul says that he counts everything a loss except for knowing Christ and desires “that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death” (Philippians 3:10) and Peter says, “But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed” (1 Peter 4:13). Suffering helps transform us into looking more like Christ than when we live in comfort and ease. Paul writes in Romans 5:1-5: “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith  into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” We not only praise God because of the fact that we now (amazingly!) have access to God through his grace, but Paul notes we are to rejoice (and that he did rejoice) in the present suffering because it produces in us more of the character of Christ; moreover, it gives us hope and comfort through the work of the Holy Spirit.

I think we need to examine our lives and add suffering as a criteria to our introspective list. Do we suffer? Frankly, being teased that you’re a Christian is hardly suffering. Most of us in the West have become lazy Christians and have ignored the prominence of suffering in the Bible. So what do we do about it? How can we live our lives sacrificially, where we take up our cross daily? The answer’s going to be different for different people and it may be countless little things rather than one huge decision. For some it may mean sacrificially giving more money than is ‘necessary’ or ‘comfortable’ to the worldwide Church in parts of the world where people are ill-equipped due to their poverty. For some it may mean selling their house and moving to the inner city to be by people who suffer from an utter loss of hope. For others, it may mean researching where one buys their products and ensuring their money is not going to support child labour or deforestation. But whatever form the outworking of living sacrificially takes, it must take some practical form, for the command to ‘take up your cross’ is not a suggestion but a command. And as Christ, the Word who was present and active in creation was made flesh and dwelt among us and who was born to suffer and die, as Christians (”little Christs”) should not our lives too reflect a tiny smidgeon of a life lived for others, of a life seeking to come alongside those who suffer, of a life that seeks to always be vulnerable and teachable rather than simply comfortable?

Isaiah 7:10-17
Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz, “Ask a sign of the Lord your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven.” But Ahaz said, “I will not ask, and I will not put the Lord to the test.” And he said, “Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary men, that you weary my God also? Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. He shall eat curds and honey when he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good. For before the boy knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land whose two kings you dread will be deserted. The Lord will bring upon you and upon your people and upon your father’s house such days as have not come since the day that Ephraim departed from Judah—the king of Assyria.”

Matthew 1:18-25
Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet:

“Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
and they shall call his name Immanuel”

(which means, God with us). When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.

O holy night, the stars are brightly shining;
It is the night of the dear Savior’s birth!
Long lay the world in sin and error pining,
Till He appeared and the soul felt its worth.
A thrill of hope, the weary soul rejoices,
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.
Fall on your knees, O hear the angel voices!
O night divine, O night when Christ was born!
O night, O holy night, O night divine!

Led by the light of faith serenely beaming,
With glowing hearts by His cradle we stand.
So led by light of a star sweetly gleaming,
Here came the wise men from Orient land.
The King of kings lay thus in lowly manger,
In all our trials born to be our Friend!
He knows our need—to our weakness is no stranger.
Behold your King; before Him lowly bend!
Behold your King; before Him lowly bend!

Truly He taught us to love one another;
His law is love and His Gospel is peace.
Chains shall He break for the slave is our brother
And in His Name all oppression shall cease.
Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we,
Let all within us praise His holy Name!
Christ is the Lord! O praise His name forever!
His pow’r and glory evermore proclaim!
His pow’r and glory evermore proclaim!

I finished my last final today; I’m now half-way done with seminary. Nuts.

We had a Christmas lunch after the exam, then I met Ash at the train station where we caught the train to Aberdeen. We had reserved seats in the ‘quiet coach’, but apparently the two babies in the coach didn’t get the memo. Bummer.

We got here in time to babysit Marcet and Oliver so Kerry and Carter could head off for their 2 parties. We watched ‘Annie’ with the kids and then they went to bed. Marcet is now lying in bed singing ‘I Need A Hero’.

I’m glad to have this semester done. Now I just have to finish the two remaining sections of my licensure exam (this has caused mass confusion, so here’s how it works: they emailed me the written exam, I take it by myself on the honour system, then email it back to them before Dec. 25th, cool?). I have been notified by the committee that the rest of my exam will be on Jan. 11th. This will consist of an oral exam with the committee (for about three hours!), I will preach before Presbytery as a whole, and then members of Presbytery get to ask me questions. If I do alright, and am still able to stand, I’ll be licensed then and there. They had originally told me this was gonna be on the 19th of Jan, but now it’s the 11th, which means I have about a week after I preach at Christ Church to get any last minute cramming in. I have a feeling this isn’t going to be the most relaxing Christmas break ever. Oh well.

That’s it for now, I hope you’re all doing well.

…we finally found somewhere to eat a good AND cheap meal! And we even got to sit down, bonus! It’s called Kebab Mahal by the Uni. Date nights shall be forever cooler now.

AND random blogger survey:
1. What is your favourite meal under 5 bucks/quid?
2. What is your attitude toward ‘the Church’?
3. What is one book that has affected the way you live? (not allowed to say the Bible, a given for all you Xtns)
4. What is a physical attribute of which you are most proud? or most embarrassed about?
5. Name a few ways you actually put what you believe into daily practice.

Cheers!

What we’ve been up to:

Bryce has been playing nurse to Ashley, who had a 104 temperature Friday. She stayed in bed most of the weekend, except for a little venture to IKEA (in a slow and dazzed state) and to church in the evening. Now she has no idea what to do, having not worked on her editorial assistantship stuff she was going to finish up and not having read or written anything more for her research. Her head is now beginning to miraculously clear; a few days ago, things were pretty fuzzy.

Bryce has been studying like a maniac, maniac … (everyone sing!). He’s finished 2 of 4 finals as well as 2 sections of his written licensure exam. Hebrew was awful, so he says. But thankfully there’s always next semester to pull his grades up. But, regardless, getting licensed in the PCA is a much bigger deal than if he gets Bs or Cs or As or Bs. His studying has been punctuated with Coca-Cola drips as well as necessary sustenance such as the millionaire shortbread Ashley made him on Thursday before all went haywire.

Last week, Ashley had an interview with some English faculty to be a TA next year. It went fine - except for the dreaded questions about defining the differences between British and American Romanticism and the Enlightenment. But they need TAs and her actual teaching practice (leading a tutorial session w/ 10 students on Keats) went very well, so here’s hoping they pick her to teach - maybe even in January! Wow, an income, what’s that? (even a small one for TAing is much better than what we have now, which is…nothing).

That’s about it. We have a lot to do. Bryce has his last two finals this week then we’ll jet up on the train to Banchory for our Xmas celebration with the Crocketts on Friday (and for Carter’s birthday celebration too) until Monday. Then we’ll have a few more days here in Edinburgh, where Bryce will be studying for the last section of his licensure exam and Ashley will try to pack and write some more of her gargantuan chapter on emigration. (It’s wee now, but by then, hopefully it’ll be getting to be gargantuan). We also will be cooking away for our massive day of feasting, Christmas Day, which we will be celebrating with the Randalls and Hays. We’ll also be going to church for the Watchnight service on the 24th, followed by drinks at the Urminsky’s; then church on the 25th and food and then early on the 26th David (our pastor here) is taking us to the airport for our sunny Californian holiday! Wow, that’s soon. We’re trying to get loads of work done and get lots of sleep in the meantime.

Man, I haven’t been able to get onto Amazon or Yahoo in three days. Grrrrr.

Isaiah 35
The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad;
the desert shall rejoice and blossom like the crocus;
it shall blossom abundantly
and rejoice with joy and singing.
The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it,
the majesty of Carmel and Sharon.
They shall see the glory of the Lord,
the majesty of our God.

Strengthen the weak hands,
and make firm the feeble knees.
Say to those who have an anxious heart,
“Be strong; fear not!
Behold, your God
will come with vengeance,
with the recompense of God.
He will come and save you.”

Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened,
and the ears of the deaf unstopped;
then shall the lame man leap like a deer,
and the tongue of the mute sing for joy.
For waters break forth in the wilderness,
and streams in the desert;
the burning sand shall become a pool,
and the thirsty ground springs of water;
in the haunt of jackals, where they lie down,
the grass shall become reeds and rushes.

And a highway shall be there,
and it shall be called the Way of Holiness;
the unclean shall not pass over it.
It shall belong to those who walk on the way;
even if they are fools, they shall not go astray.
No lion shall be there,
nor shall any ravenous beast come up on it;
they shall not be found there,
but the redeemed shall walk there.
1And the ransomed of the Lord shall return
and come to Zion with singing;
everlasting joy shall be upon their heads;
they shall obtain gladness and joy,
and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

O come, all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant,
O come ye, O come ye, to Bethlehem.
Come and behold Him, born the King of angels;
O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him,
Christ the Lord.

True God of true God, Light from Light Eternal,
Lo, He shuns not the Virgin’s womb;
Son of the Father, begotten, not created;
O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him,
Christ the Lord.

Sing, choirs of angels, sing in exultation;
O sing, all ye citizens of heaven above!
Glory to God, all glory in the highest;
O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him,
Christ the Lord.

See how the shepherds, summoned to His cradle,
Leaving their flocks, draw nigh to gaze;
We too will thither bend our joyful footsteps;
O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him,
Christ the Lord.

Lo! star led chieftains, Magi, Christ adoring,
Offer Him incense, gold, and myrrh;
We to the Christ Child bring our hearts’ oblations.
O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him,
Christ the Lord.

Child, for us sinners poor and in the manger,
We would embrace Thee, with love and awe;
Who would not love Thee, loving us so dearly?
O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him,
Christ the Lord.

Yea, Lord, we greet Thee, born this happy morning;
Jesus, to Thee be glory given;
Word of the Father, now in flesh appearing.
O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him,
Christ the Lord.

Like the dork that I am, I bought U2’s new CD the day it came out, but I’m still not able to make up my mind about it. There’s an interesting review today on By Faith. If Chuck DeGroat is right, that’s cool. I have a sneaking suspicion, however, that he’s not. Either way, his last paragraph is something we would all do well to take to heart:

By the way, what is that atomic bomb anyway? My hunch is that it is a state of the heart, possibly the fate of a generation bent on self-reliance, science and medicine, Dr. Phil books, Oprah-ology, political solutions to spiritual problems, an entrenched narcissism, and a deeper belief in the power of a military than the power of prayer. How do you dismantle an atomic bomb? U2 offers very biblical hints, beginning with the most obvious – get on your knees, and ask that your heart be broken first. Someway, somehow, in the brokenness that results, something of a “dismantling” of sin might just take place, might just lead you with hands raised to Yahweh, might just lead you to shout in the streets, or on the O’Reilly Factor, or wherever God gives you a voice, that “the sun is coming up on the ocean.”