2020 Worship Guide

Page 4 2020 Worship Guide LINCOLN DAILY NEWS December 2, 2020 M y favorite superhero growing up was Superman. He had all those amazing powers – strength, speed, X-ray vision, leaping tall buildings in a single bound, you know. One thing about him fascinates me to this day. How on earth does Superman become Clark Kent? I was Clark Kent once. Literally. My eighth grade speech class did a video like the old Superman serials you see on TV still today. My friend Tony got to be Superman (I am still bitter about that one), while I played the role of Clark. I assume it was because I wore glasses or looked like a wimp or something (Again, not bitter). It was no fun to be Clark. I wanted to wear the S, the symbol of hope for a world who desperately needed a Superman. I get the powers. What I do not get is the willingness to put them aside in order to become an ordinary reporter for a major metropolitan newspaper. Kal-El could quite literally own the world. And he chose to put on the glasses and the tie and pay bills and take the subway to work. There are many Christmas scriptures in the Bible, maybe more than you even realize. Take Philippians 2: “In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 2:5). Philippians 2:5-11 is the story of Superman becoming Clark Kent. “Who, being in the very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage.” (Philippians 2:6). The story of Christmas is a story of the God who let go of heaven to grab a hold of us. “Rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.” (Philippians 2:7). If you look closely, you can almost see Superman going into the phone booth to cover up the S with a shirt, tie, and glasses. This descent absolutely intrigues me. Jesus doesn’t just become like us. He becomes one who serves. He chose to make himself nothing. The image of the stable is powerful, isn’t it? I love the words of Leslie Leyland Fields: Let the Stable Still Astonish! by Leslie Leyland Fields Let the stable still astonish: Straw-dirt floor, dull eyes, Dusty flanks of donkeys, oxen; Crumbling, crooked walls; Amazing, perplexing, transforming power of a super hero CONTINUE Tracy Thomas / Director of Alumni Relations / Lincoln Christian University