Christmas Comings and Goings - 62 Years Later

I am posting a picture of Rhonda, Celeste and myself, Christmas 1958.  I was eight, Rhonda was six and Celeste was three. We have always celebrated the Christmas Season in a big way in the Manley family.  Though my parents never had the luxury of being extravagant, they made the season special.  In fact, at my mother's bidding, those three kids you see in the picture (including little three year old  Celeste) memorized Luke 2: 1-14 (The Christmas Story).  The three of us would quote it together. As long as Dad and I live, the Christmas season will still be special as we celebrate the coming of our blessed Savior and Lord and the home going of Rhonda and Celeste.  December 28 will be the bookend to our celebration.  Sixteen years ago tomorrow, December 28th, we celebrated the life of Rhonda and tomorrow, again on December 28th, the family will celebrate the life of Celeste.

It is almost impossible to comprehend that the Creator of the universe took on flesh and was born of a peasant girl.  The One who spoke the galaxies into existence, became a speechless newborn baby.  God gave the stars light, veiled His own glory, and quietly slipped almost unnoticed into the human race. The Lord who clothed all of nature in its boundless beauty and order, came to us wrapped in rags and lying in a feeding trough.  The miracle of His incarnation is too unexpected, too mysterious, too holy for us to understand.  The human heart is personal and desires a personal response.  We have a desire for our Father to step out of the impersonal picture and meet us as individuals.  We all want not a principle, not a picture, but a person.  

So, God the Father stepped out of the picture.  The Word became flesh.  Jesus - Emmanuel - God with us became the meaning of Christmas.  Because of our personal experience as the Manley family with Christmas, we will always need - God with us.  We will always follow the shepherds to the manger and bow in astonishment and thanksgiving, glorifying and praising God for all we have seen and heard as we remember His first coming - and my two precious sisters' final home going!

Baby in a Manger - Simple - Yet Profound!

Who would expect the Savior of the world, the arrival of the God-man to arrive in such conditions?  A dirty stable, the small town of Bethlehem, and a feeding trough of wood and straw unfortunately give rise to the thought that many regard the lowly birth of the Son of God as little more than a fairy tale.  But just think of it, if we were there - for a moment we would stand in unbelief and awe as we gazed upon the eternal Son of God who would become a man.  He would be the gift given in a manger, and hung on a cross for our sin, and resurrected to give us resurrection life. This birth would change everything forever, yet it happens quietly while the rest of the world sleeps.

Without Jesus in the manger, our lives and destiny would be non-existent.  Christianity as we know it would not exist.  The hope of eternal life in Christ would not exist.  Fran and I would not have the assurance that during the year 2020, her father, my mother, her uncle, and my sister have joined her mother, and my other sister in the presence of this Jesus, Savior of the world. I love the way Chuck Swindoll puts it, "Apart from the real birth of the eternal Son of God, Christianity is just an empty feeding trough of wood and straw."  

This is the thing that makes a difference in our living and dying.  By simply receiving a gift that you maybe didn't even realize you needed, your whole life and destiny can be transformed.  I encourage you today, this Christmas Day, in this moment, to personally commit your life to Christ, to accept the gift of His salvation.  Your age makes no difference, your possible shameful past makes no difference.  Jesus doesn't care about the past, He just wants you to put your faith in the future with Him. This "baby in a manger" is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.  Without the Way there is no going.  Without the Truth there is no knowing.  Without the Life there is no real living. Come - join the family of God.  God has given the simple - yet profound gift that you need.  Accept our love for you and the gift from Him, today! 

A Brother's Tribute

A Glimpse of Man’s Heart vs. A Glimpse of God’s Heart

A Brother’s Tribute for Memorial of Donna Celeste Manley Bryant

October 25, 1955 – December 22, 2020

 

This year we as a family have endured the loss of mother and now my sister, Celeste.  We celebrate that they have been united in heaven with Rhonda.  It has been a little more difficult that we said good-by temporarily to both Rhonda and Celeste right in the middle of Christmas.  And yet, appropriate in that it was because of the coming of the Christ child that we could have the gift of eternal life through Him. Also, our God is Sovereign and in control.  And He is faithful and good.   Jacky, Brandy, Tanya, Brandon and all of Celeste’s grandchildren and great grandchildren:  God’s grace IS sufficient to get us through these days.  The memory of her great singing and her hearty laugh will bring us great joy as we are promised in scripture that “Joy comes in the morning”.

 

I want to honor the life and legacy of my sister by allowing her life to shine light upon our lives as we continue to live here until the time we join her in heaven.  I believe her life has a message to all of us.  There was no pretense about my sister.  She was completely transparent.  There was really no insincerity in her at all.  She never pretended for anyone.  What you saw and heard was who she was. And, quite frankly if you didn’t like that, she considered that to be your problem, not hers.  One of my daughters made the statement: “I’ve never met anyone who was so comfortable just being who she wanted to be.” – referring to her Aunt Celeste.   That is very true and I think potentially has lessons for us from her life.  It teaches us the importance of honesty and transparency in our own lives.  We don’t need to pretend. Her life also shines a light on a problem among believers in history and continuing today.  At a fairly early age it became a sort of game to my sister to embarrass my parents, my sister, and me.   Even as children and youth I can still see Rhonda rolling her eyes at Celeste. And it carried on as her children and grandchildren would testify.  She literally got a kick out of embarrassing you.  It would usually end with a hearty laugh from her.  She would often leave me voice mails saying, “It’s your crazy, fat sister, give me a tinkle.”  I would just shake my head and call her back.  She was completely comfortable in who she was and had fun in the process.  

 

There is no doubt in my mind and heart about the salvation of my sister.  She was a believer.  She came to know the Lord at an early age of 8 and was baptized on November 26, 1963 in this church. No matter what life brought her or what she brought to life, it was the most important decision she would ever make.  She sang beautifully in the 40 voice Junior Choir that I directed here my Junior and Senior years of high school.  She and I talked very seriously about her salvation when she was a teenager, having gone with one of my youth groups to youth camp. We spoke on at least three or four occasions after she became an Adult.  In the midst of our long conversation when she was a teenager, she told me how she had struggled to not hate me because of how Rhonda and I were always perceived as the quiet, compliant, perfect children and she was the rebel.  I think to a certain extent that’s why she became sort of comfortable with being the rebel.  It broke my heart at the time to see her struggle and somehow, I felt guilty.  But, we are all sinners, saved by grace.  There are none of us without sin.  I tried to convey that to her.  

 

As I said earlier, I think her life shines a light on an historical problem among believers that carries into today.  You see, she did not like seeing charades or Christians masquerading to be something they were not.  I know for a fact after many talks with her that the reason she was not a very faithful church attender was because she just could never get around that.  Because of her openness and transparency, she could never understand those who pretended to be something they were not.  Now, my sister was wrong to let this keep her out of fellowshipping with the church, but she was right on the mark - that hypocrisy is a problem among believers.  But, she was too focused on man’s insincere heart rather than on God’s heart.  But were her mistakes and sin any worse than mine?  Absolutely not.  We are all sinners.  Sin is sin. There are no degrees of sin.

 

Hypocrisy is the pretense to being what one really is not - especially pretending to be a better person than one really is.  God the Father and Jesus Christ our Lord have a lot to say about that.  God condemns it in Amos 5:21 – “I hate all your show and pretense – the hypocrisy of your religious festivals and solemn assemblies.  I will not accept your burnt offerings and grain offerings.  I won’t even notice all your choice peace offerings.  Away with your noisy hymns of praise!  I will not listen to the music of your harps. Instead, I want to see a mighty flood of justice, an endless river of righteous living.”  In other words, God is more interested in our walk, than our talk. In Proverbs 20: 3 we find these words: “Who can say, I have cleansed my heart; I am pure and free from sin?”  This comes only by the work of the Spirit in our lives. It is Him, not us that does the cleansing.

 

Jesus spends most of chapter 23 of Matthew condemning pretense and hypocrisy.  In verse 28, He says, “Outwardly you look like righteous people, but inwardly your hearts are filled with hypocrisy and lawlessness.”  My sister just couldn’t get around this idea and focus on hypocrites in her life.  But, let that shine light and instruction on our lives today.  Let it be a redeeming quality in our lives of focusing on the heart of God rather than the hypocritical heart of man.  

 

We often build pretenses for how our Christian lives should appear; ideas that we imagine should govern our lives, rights we perceive we have.  Yet our pretenses often lack the foundation that God has His own plans for our lives.  We long for a path free from pain and barriers, but God doesn’t always lay out the easy path.  Fortunately, when we are crushed and broken hearted – even from our own pretenses – we know that the brokenness does not separate us from God.  It draws us nearer to Him. So, family, take heart.  Psalm 34 meets us at our very point of need.  “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.  The righteous person faces many troubles, but the Lord comes to the rescue each time.  For the Lord redeems the soul of His servants, and none of those who take refuge in Him will be condemned.”  Scripture promises that our own ideas and pretenses will be surpassed by God’s far greater purpose for our lives.  Romans 9:33 assures us: “that anyone who trusts in Him will never be disgraced.”  Whatever may have disillusioned you, believe confidently that God has not squandered His plan for you; He will redeem your pain.  Take refuge in Him as the Psalmist proclaims, knowing that His plan eclipses your own plan.  And when we finally sit with Him face to face, we will not be disappointed. 

 

Just as Celeste did in at least one point in her life, we need a glimpse of God’s heart.  John 3:16 is the most life-changing, most powerful words maybe in all the human languages. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

 

 

I.              THE HEART OF GOD IS A HEART OF LOVE.

There are many who feel that God is distant and unknowable.  But this powerful passage shows us that God is not only knowable, but that He also shows Himself to us through love.  That love was shown to us by the gift of His Son to literally die for each one of us.  His love was the sacrifice of His own Son.

 

II.           THE HEART OF GOD IS A HEART OF UNIVERSAL LOVE.  

Human love is limited, but God’s love is unlimited.  It extends to any and all persons who will simply receive it.  It includes both His friends and enemies and it transcends all barriers of any kind.

 

III.        THE HEART OF GOD IS PURPOSEFUL LOVE

Human love can be selfish in purpose.  Sometimes we love for what we might get in return.  But, God’s love is perfect and unselfish.  He desires every blessing for those whom He loves:

1.   Salvation from perishing.

2.   The gift of eternal life.

3.   Restoration of man’s heart.

4.   Blessedness and Glory.

 

I challenge us as believers to let Celeste shine the light and teaching on how difficult our hypocrisy can be for others.  But, also allow her life to shine the light on God’s heart - His perfect love and salvation given for every person here.

 

To her children and grandchildren:  I know the heart of my sister well enough to know that she would say to you from heaven today – focus on God’s heart of love for you and follow Him with all your heart.