Christmas Ideals

From the view of our front window and in the colors of Christmas it should be of those moments where idealism is realized. Of course depending on the fleeting external components of an artificial holiday sadly misses the mark.

Each year this innate hope for a white Christmas is fueled by the creation of expectations from someone else's idealism. In fact, there is a magazine called Ideals that specifically creates this imaginary world that could only exist in the pages of a periodical.

And yet each year I wait in eager expectation of a white Christmas and the joyous affects of shared merrymaking. Giving gifts; singing carols; candles and trees and snow. It all coalesces in a Christmas collage that has been carefully created by someone else.

So as much as I can control the impulses I set out to make each Christmas season my own ideal no longer dependent on someone's manufactured idealism. I set out to understand my own subtly pernicious desires and redirect them to the incarnation of Israel's hope that is the source of salvation for all. The Christ child who went on to live the ideal life of a servant--a slave--is my hope. More than the gift of everlasting life, Jesus is my Raison d'être and the focus of the idealism of all that will be fully realized in the age to come. Any celebration of Christmas without the foregrounding of Immanuel's mission is like a gift-wrapped box full of packing peanuts and yet no gift. Yes, I will quite pleased to see snow covering the dirty streets of Chicago and take it as a gift from heaven. But I will be even more pleased when my own heart's attitudes match the "white as snow" condition of my soul purchased by my Savior.

Merry Christmas!

Fall 2007 Semester Nearly Finished...

So much to process with my Life of Christ class with Dr. Julius Wong Loi Sing of Moody Graduate School. I am in the final stages of my semester paper entitled: Consumerist Churchgoers to Cross-bearing Disciples: How Can Church Leaders Navigate the Distance in Late-modern America?

I will continue to reflect long after this class...I mean, it's Jesus!

Happy Christmas!

Lord, teach us to pray

Bethanne and I went to the UK and Ireland (see post from May 2007) on a group trip that explored many church history sites. After returning from a trip like this, most of us are glad to be back to the routine of life. I must confess it has been a bit more challenging to resume this life in Chicago.

I am still reflecting on the profound past that presses my understanding of what church history attempts to impart. It is likely I will be wrestling for many years to come.

The photo in this post was taken in Oxford, England. The Book of Common Prayer is still used today in many churches to guide worshipers in their corporate prayers.

I am reminded of Jesus' disciples who asked Lord "teach us to pray." The prayer that many of us know as the Lord's Prayer is a beautiful example of brevity and bravery. Its structure is obviously brief. However, as countless scholars and biblicists have analysed and discected it we find it contains an almost indescribable depth. I believe its bravery is found throughout but with particular pointedness in the words "lead us not into temptation." I have come to recognize this to mean a specific temptation to abandon God when being an authentic believer is decidedly difficult. Then as now many who profess their devotion to God when it is easy to do are tempted to walk away when times are tough.

How we need Jesus to teach us to pray. I recognize my weakness every day. Lord, do not allow us to waver from our confession of you. Deliver us, Oh God.

Read all about it - Tremper's head to London!

The latest news for Bethanne & Jared Tremper? We're heading to the United Kingdom on an extended study tour put on by the Moody Bible Institute. While there is no question it will be a type of vacation getaway for us, the intellectual stimulation of the trip may be more memorable. Visiting several sites with a significance to Church history, the trip is sure to be a life-changing experience for us--both in a personal and spiritual sense.

As we anticipate this trip, I reflect on my last time in London in 1986. That is when this snapshot was taken. I was hoping to capture the essense of the local culture. I have no idea who this gentleman is. Originally a colour photograph, the touch-up to make it appear older seems appropriate of the subject and scene. This is London to me.