Keeping, Pondering, Glorifying

Mary kept and pondered all these things; the shepherds returned, glorified and praised God, after seeing and hearing all these things.

Hearing, seeing, returning, keeping, pondering, glorifying and praising—out of all these Christmas verbs, tonight I’m going to give you three verbs to ponder and take home with you to your Christmas celebration. Mary’s kept and pondered, and the shepherds glorified.

Mary kept all these things. That’s such a tiny, short word: kept. In St. Luke’s original Greek, it was a much bigger word. The Greek verb that he used here was sūn-tā-rĕ-ō. (Say that once.)

Luke could have used a smaller word if all Mary did was to keep, or remember, these things. Suntayreo was something that personal guards or watchmen are supposed to do. Their job is not just to keep or watch things, but to keep things or people safe and whole.

Some Bible translations come closer when they say that Mary “treasured” all these things. To treasure is to not take for granted; it is to accept things, people and moments as a part of a bigger plan and value, seeing normal moments as sacred. That’s what it means.

Mary had this gift in being able to sit back and see the sacredness of things—the sacredness of straw, humble surroundings, her husband, shepherds, her baby. She was able to sit back, put it all together and see the hand of God from the great visions of angels down to the simple surroundings.

This Christmas, learn to keep more like Mary, to treasure moments, people, and little signs. We all know a few nay-sayers, and people that have practiced a lifetime of pessimism, unhappy nit-picking, or victim-hood. Some people are so practiced that, either they don’t think living and feeling otherwise is realistic, or they are simply afraid to let go of all the negativism and bitterness that has defined and structured their lives to this point.

Take Billy Joe Bob. He knows that he is a wet blanket, and he doesn’t necessarily like it, but he has come to think that it is his place, his job in life. “That’s just the way I am. That’s how God made me.”

Not so. I’ve said a few times: being pessimistic about life is just as unrealistic as being overly optimistic. And, when you have your eye on the Christ child and the eternal kingdom he brings, pessimism and despair are even more unrealistic. When you consider all that he has done to create, claim, love and forgive you, and the price he paid to give you his salvation and a place at his side in the kingdom. Walking around glumly in life as if God has done nothing good for us is tragic and arrogant, and false.

We have all had our own moments of this. We have all been in ruts. Just don’t make it your lifestyle. If it is, then get help—from God through people, friends, professionals, whatever—because we Christians are called higher: to practice keeping and treasuring… moments, people, little signs. Let the rest of the debris float by, we are headed upriver with Christ, to the kingdom.

The second verb: Luke wrote that Mary pondered. She didn’t only treasure all these things, she took them deeper and pondered them en kardia, in her heart.

The Greek verb for ponder was sūm-bah-llō. (Say that once.) And this was such an interesting multitasked verb. It literally meant to throw together, to meet or join or encounter. In the mind or heart, sumballo meant to revolve these things, to continually or frequently recall and think them through, to relive them, and perhaps to retell your stories to your children and grandchildren, and to seek meaning.

This gives us another insight into Mary. She didn’t only treasure the surface value of things. It wasn’t just the experiences that she treasured and remembered. It was the meaning, and she always sought more. Reaching back in time to these wonderful moments, Mary would recall and rethink and reapply her experiences to her life.

Last Wednesday night at our family WOW event, we were singing carols—some of the favorites—and I know I was driving a few people crazy, because I would keep stopping to have them look at some of the words and phrases we sing. What does it mean? What’s the point of this stanza or that carol?

I’ll tell you how bad it got. We sang Jingle Bells, and I had to stop after the first chorus and ask them what in the world “bells on bob tail” were. We sing it and hear it hundreds of times every year (and notice it’s singular, not plural), “bells on bob-tail ring.”

One person suggested that maybe people put little bells on their cats. Neat idea, and not that far out. If we’re riding on a one horse sleigh, a sleigh pulled by one horse, then what around us has a tail, that you can put in a bob and tie bells to? “Bells on bob-tail ring, making spirits bright.”

Now, that means something even more. The song is fun, but now you can picture yourself in this sleigh once again. The horse pulling your sleigh has bells tied up into it’s neatly bobbed tail so that he jingles as his rear bounces along ahead of you. That’s sure to make your spirits even brighter.

Pondering is the search for meaning, wisdom and truth. It’s being real about our faith, and taking it seriously. If you really ponder things, it means that you don’t like to simply say the words because everyone else is. It means you don’t treasure the old favorite hymns and songs just because of nostalgia and childhood memories. Instead, you reapply them, you remain curious in life and searching for more and deeper meaning. You don’t just say you’re a Christian. You apply it. You try to understand it: going to church, classes, and Bible study.

Some people will say, “I can be a Christian on my own.” That’s only partially true. You run the great risk, without others, of creating God in your own image, which is nearly self-worship. And most people who say that they “don’t need church to be a Christian” aren’t taking the time on their own to go any deeper than the mere surface of their beliefs.

If what we say in Christianity about God, Jesus, and eternal life are at all true, then it really does mean taking faith as something bigger than a hobby or spice of life.

I hear people say things like, “I’m not religious, but I am spiritual.” Well, no kidding. Most people believe in God and have moments where they feel connected. That’s easy. The hard part is taking it seriously, and looking beyond the moment and the feeling to find meaning and purpose and place.

And religion has rhythm. Join in and use the rhythm of religion and traditions handed on for thousands of years. Listen to it, respect it and learn from it. Religion is the voice of our elders, passing on what they have learned, and believed about God. Religion, our religion, was never meant to be a dictator, but a teacher, just as Jesus was a teacher.

Being religious doesn’t mean having a sour face and attitude. It doesn’t mean being self-righteous and proud. It is very far from that, but it does mean taking your belief in God seriously. It does mean trying to learn—privately and socially—how I fit in God’s will and Christ’s eternal salvation—and what I’m supposed to do about it. If God took the time to make me, maybe I should make time for him.

Pondering: It takes the patience of faith. And it takes practice.

And finally, the last verb. The shepherds glorified. The Greek verb was dōx-ah-zō. (Say that once.) It means to glorify or praise.

In the Old Testament Zephaniah was a great prophet who passed on some of God’s most important commandments: “Sing aloud! Do not fear. Shout! Rejoice and exult with all your heart!”

This is why being religious is not about being gloomy and why being pessimistic and despairing are all unfaithful. We are called to a joy and peace that surpasses the moment. We are always aware of God and Jesus and his victory over death and despair.

Jesus was born. Not just Jesus, in Jesus the Will of God was born. The will of God to be in a loving relationship with his people, based not on our perfection of goodness, but on God’s perfect will to love and reclaim his people and his world.

We will cry when it’s sad, and yell when it’s wrong, but we always know that—good or bad—this moment is not the last Word. God always gets the last Word. And his Word from the beginning, in Bethlehem, and when it’s all said and done, God’s Word is Jesus Christ.

“This is my Son,” he said, “Listen to him!”

Keep and treasure him. Ponder what he means to you. And above all, sing, shout and rejoice in him. Glorify him, because he is the love of God, in the flesh, who came to claim you! Amen!