Last Sunday my wife and I visited Disneyland. We had been told that Disneyland had a Candlelight celebration of Christmas that was truly Christian. Wanting to see for ourselves we got there and stood in line a loooong time. It wasn't a line to get in, it was a line to get close enough to the Candlelight service to see and hear. We were in time for the 5:30 "show." It began with the lights dimming all over Main Street, and a choir consisting of about 500 choir members from High School and church choirs. Singing traditional Christmas carols, carrying their electric candles, they walked towards the train station steps. It was an incredible scene.
Then they filled the stairs of the train station, with colored lights beaming on them, and began the Candlelight service. Lou Diamond Phillips read the Nativity story from Luke 2 between carols, while the conductor led the choir and orchestra in the most beautiful Christmas music and service it has ever been my privilege to attend. At several points, soloists gave performances that still move me. At one point a young man sang Silent Night in Spanish, then, moving over to another part of the stage, invited everyone (in flawless English) within earshot to sing Silent Night with him.
Then, in the public square (Disneyland), praise to God rose from the throats of total strangers gathered together, some aware of the program, some caught totally unawares. Yet, they sang, together. No words were put up to read, everyone knew the words. Everyone. And God was blessed, and we were blessed. It was indeed, a holy night. A surprisingly holy night in a surprising place.
At the second program two hours later (which I stayed to watch) I noticed something I hadn't the first time. Many people at that time were leaving the park, while many were jamming Main Street to see the Christmas Candlelight service. Two crowds reacting to the same thing. One crowd just intent on getting back to their cars after a day in "the happiest place on earth," totally oblivious and uninterested in the celebration of Jesus birth. The other crowd caught up in praise and thanksgiving to God for His glorious gift to us, His entrance into our world, His taking on humanity, His humility.
The dissonance between the two crowds was pronounced. The reactions typical of any Christmas celebration at any place. I was reminded that no matter how many ways people try to shut down the Christmas story, it will always find an audience, and God will provide it in the most amazing ways. I was also reminded that no matter how glorious the message and celebration, many will be totally disinterested. Their Christmas will be filled with Santa, candy canes, and iPad 2's.
I highly recommend the Disneyland Candlelight service for you and your friends and family. It was nothing short of inspiring. It was, perhaps, all the more inspiring because it wasn't being held in the "safe" confines of a local church, but in the grand public square where everyone could see and hear, even if they chose not to.
Merry Christmas.
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
Tuesday, December 11, 2012
Join the Song!
Every Sunday countless Christians sing songs of worship in their churches. Each of these songs were written by someone trying to express their deepest feelings and emotions in response to what God had done for them. As we sing along with these songs we, in essence, join them in their song. Their words and thoughts about God become our words and thoughts about God. In joining their song we are, in effect, saying "Yes, this is also my song, these are also my feelings, this is the same praise I want to offer to God."
In the Nativity story we read a beautiful song written by a young Jewish teenager about something God had done in her life that was so powerful, so amazing, so incomprehensible that she just had to express her praise. We don't know if she ever put it to song, but others down through the ages certainly have. It is called "The Magnificat," the song of Mary, the mother of Jesus (Luke 1: 45-56).
This Magnificat of Mary's was--at the time that she wrote it--the most wonderful secret in the history of the world. Besides heaven, only Joseph knew about it until Elizabeth was told. Down through the ages, powerful, intelligent, and influential men and women have pontificated on Mary's Magnificat, but they are discussing the thoughts and emotions of a Jewish teenage girl of lowly station in life. Up until that moment Gabriel appeared to Mary, there was absolutely nothing for which history would remember her.
Mary's secret, however, was not to last long. Soon wise men would show up with expensive gifts and an amazing tale of following a star, followed by excited shepherds talking about angels appearing and lighting up the Judean sky with light and singing -- and the sign of a baby born in a manger. But not yet. Not yet. For now, this amazing secret was literally Mary's alone. These words, though they speak to many, and of many, are intensely personal. This is her articulation of the miracle unfolding within and around her, and her emotional response to it all.
So she wrote a song. It was Mary's secret song. If you study it carefully, you will find it has five wonderful parts. It is the song of those who believe (Luke 1:45), the song of the lowly touched by grace (v.46-48), the song of the grateful (v.49-50), the song of the humble and humbled (v.51-53) and finally the song of fulfilled promises (v.54-56).
It is Mary's song, but each of us also has a song. God has done great things for us as He has done great things for Mary. If you are a Christian, the Creator of everything that exists has called you and taken up residence within your life. He has adopted you into His family, given you His name, filled your need for meaning and purpose, forgiven you of your sins, and promised you an eternal home forever, and one day a new heart without sin. So the only questions is: what is your song, and how will you sing it?
In words? In poetry? With music? In conversation, in service? How will you exalt the Lord for what He has done to you?
And if Jesus is not yet your Savior--you have no song yet to sing. As long as your song is only about you and what you have done, you have no song worth singing. As long as the only thing your soul can exalt is yourself, you have yet to enter the Great Song. But if you will invite Christ to be the Lord and Savior of your life, you will have your own Magnificat, and you will know precisely why we exalt the Lord and not ourselves.
Mary had her song. I have mine. What is your song?
In the Nativity story we read a beautiful song written by a young Jewish teenager about something God had done in her life that was so powerful, so amazing, so incomprehensible that she just had to express her praise. We don't know if she ever put it to song, but others down through the ages certainly have. It is called "The Magnificat," the song of Mary, the mother of Jesus (Luke 1: 45-56).
This Magnificat of Mary's was--at the time that she wrote it--the most wonderful secret in the history of the world. Besides heaven, only Joseph knew about it until Elizabeth was told. Down through the ages, powerful, intelligent, and influential men and women have pontificated on Mary's Magnificat, but they are discussing the thoughts and emotions of a Jewish teenage girl of lowly station in life. Up until that moment Gabriel appeared to Mary, there was absolutely nothing for which history would remember her.
Mary's secret, however, was not to last long. Soon wise men would show up with expensive gifts and an amazing tale of following a star, followed by excited shepherds talking about angels appearing and lighting up the Judean sky with light and singing -- and the sign of a baby born in a manger. But not yet. Not yet. For now, this amazing secret was literally Mary's alone. These words, though they speak to many, and of many, are intensely personal. This is her articulation of the miracle unfolding within and around her, and her emotional response to it all.
So she wrote a song. It was Mary's secret song. If you study it carefully, you will find it has five wonderful parts. It is the song of those who believe (Luke 1:45), the song of the lowly touched by grace (v.46-48), the song of the grateful (v.49-50), the song of the humble and humbled (v.51-53) and finally the song of fulfilled promises (v.54-56).
It is Mary's song, but each of us also has a song. God has done great things for us as He has done great things for Mary. If you are a Christian, the Creator of everything that exists has called you and taken up residence within your life. He has adopted you into His family, given you His name, filled your need for meaning and purpose, forgiven you of your sins, and promised you an eternal home forever, and one day a new heart without sin. So the only questions is: what is your song, and how will you sing it?
In words? In poetry? With music? In conversation, in service? How will you exalt the Lord for what He has done to you?
And if Jesus is not yet your Savior--you have no song yet to sing. As long as your song is only about you and what you have done, you have no song worth singing. As long as the only thing your soul can exalt is yourself, you have yet to enter the Great Song. But if you will invite Christ to be the Lord and Savior of your life, you will have your own Magnificat, and you will know precisely why we exalt the Lord and not ourselves.
Mary had her song. I have mine. What is your song?
Tuesday, December 04, 2012
Life isn't all about you
Last year there was an uproar in the central California city of Modesto when a 41 year old high school teacher quit his job, left his wife and children, and moved in with an 18 year old student. The mother of the daughter waged a battle to get her daughter back and it made news. The 41 year old was interviewed by the Modesto Bee. When asked about why he made the decision, the man said, "In making our choice, we've hurt a lot of people. We keep asking ourselves, 'Do we make everyone else happy, or do we follow our hearts?'"
This is a refrain we hear over and over in our world. Just follow your heart! Most people view life, naturally, as if it's all about them. The only thing that really matters in the grand scheme of things is that they are happy, full, and protected. So the majority of their lives are spent in what we Americans call "the pursuit of happiness." It is seen as the highest good. We view every experience, every event in our world in only one way--how does it contribute to my pursuit of happiness?
This is a refrain we hear over and over in our world. Just follow your heart! Most people view life, naturally, as if it's all about them. The only thing that really matters in the grand scheme of things is that they are happy, full, and protected. So the majority of their lives are spent in what we Americans call "the pursuit of happiness." It is seen as the highest good. We view every experience, every event in our world in only one way--how does it contribute to my pursuit of happiness?
Is this new law going to hinder my happiness? Is this new circumstance this new relationship, this new technology, this new philosophy, this new scientific finding, this new government going to affect my happiness-my world? We see everything only in terms of how it will affect us. As we get older we grow to also care about how these things will affect our descendants, but while we may bemoan and make noise about what's being done to others, it does not come close to approaching the level of concern we have if our own happiness is impinged upon.
In the beginning of the Nativity story we find a remarkably revolutionary idea: life is not primarily about us. The Nativity story dares to suggest that in the grand scheme of things--only one things matters--and that is Him and your relationship with Him.
It is a startlingly exclusive and narrow idea for which an apology is not even attempted. In fact it becomes clear that heaven, earth, and life itself exist for, and only for, the glory of this Jesus forever. Luke is absolutely convinced that this one birth of this one child changes everything and everyone forever! God willed it to be so. God engineered it to be so. God guaranteed it would be so.
It's all about Jesus, and that's why His birth was/is such a big deal. He is God, Creator and Sustainer of the Universe come to rescue us from our separation from Him. Life isn't about your job, or your success, or your reputation, or your accomplishments, or your self-esteem, or lack thereof, or your difficult background, or your many advantages. It's not about governments or movements, or political parties, or scientific or technological advancements. It's all about Him . If you want to finally find peace and fulfillment and joy (even as a Christian) you must join the triune God in His love relationship.
Most people live dreary boring lives, occasionally interrupted by happiness or excitement, or pain and sorrow, because life is all about them. It's a recipe for misery. Life is about Jesus! That's the message of the Nativity, the message of God's entrance into our world.
You may think that life, and specifically your life is all about you. The simple Christmas story says you couldn't be more wrong. And frankly, when you come to terms with that, it's an incredibly freeing thought.
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
The 911 Gospel
Whenever we have an emergency in our culture that requires assistance, we send police, and/or firefighters, or paramedics to the scene. But they don’t sneak up on us; they come with great attention drawn to their coming. Colored flashing lights and loud sirens communicate that a rescue of some sort is being staged. Someone is in distress and needs emergency help.
But what if the whole world needed rescuing? Who would we call? Who could handle the job? We have learned that our world, even trying to unite in a United Nations, cannot solve worldwide problems, in fact, they can rarely solve even local problems.
In our favorite stories, there is always some kind of hero that comes to the rescue. Today, superheroes are all the rage. There is Iron Man, Spider Man, Super Man, the Green Lantern, Thor, and others. In one way or another, they come to rescue the world, or a city from imminent and terrible danger. In fact, recently there was a new movie out, called The Avengers. In this story, the enemy and the danger is so great that no one of these heroes alone could save the world despite their great powers, it took all of them working together, and then the world just barely escapes. The idea is that without these heroes, without their intervention, our world would be lost.
In the New Testament, we read the story of a world that was in need of saving, and so God sent His Son, Jesus, on a divine search and rescue mission. Today, we have been trained to call 911 if there is a real emergency. The Gospel of Luke will point out that an emergency had arisen that threatened the whole world, and that we needed rescuing. As the story begins we have bright lights, angels appearing miraculously, and our super hero rescuer suddenly and dramatically appearing in the mighty form of a …baby!
It seems strangely anticlimactic. He seems almost the anti-hero. He has supernatural powers—but never uses them to force anyone to do anything, never uses them to keep Himself from being belittled or attacked. He uses His power only to heal and help others, never to protect Himself against the bad guys. In fact, in His greatest battle with the world’s mortal enemy, Satan, His only weapon is God’s Word, the truth.
But His mission is not to win by overcoming His enemies; because as we learn, the only way to ultimately win this epic battle is by dying at their hands. He is, we are aghast to find out, on a suicide mission. However, unlike those being practiced today by religious zealots—the only One harmed in the explosion—is Him…and all the forces of Hell.
If He had acted like a typical human hero—he would have vanquished the enemy in a great battle and then faded gloriously into the sunset. But He didn’t, because our great enemy wasn’t some powerful external enemy threatening us, it was something inside of us, infecting us. We were being destroyed from the inside out, and like the alien science fiction movies, an alien substance had contaminated not only our world—but every human being. At first we welcomed this strange infection, thinking it would set us free, only when it was too late did we recognize the danger. It’s called sin. It was so deadly that the presence of it in the Garden of Eden was enough to force an eviction—an eviction we are still experiencing.
We tried everything against this alien invasion infection down through the years, because we all recognized it. We tried self discipline, religion, asceticism, laws, governments, philosophy, science, psychology, but nothing worked. Sin was here to stay and wherever sin was, humanity deteriorated further. We eventually began to believe there simply was no solution; we would just have to learn to live with this contamination.
Until one day a strange and compelling star appeared in the East. Wise men followed it to see what it was all about. Then angels suddenly appeared to a group of shepherds, lighting up the dark night sky with light, sound, and spectacular supernatural activity. And a baby was born in a way no baby had ever been born before. It was born without the alien infection. The Holy Spirit conceived a child in the womb of a young Jewish virgin. And our hero had come. The rescue was on.
But what if the whole world needed rescuing? Who would we call? Who could handle the job? We have learned that our world, even trying to unite in a United Nations, cannot solve worldwide problems, in fact, they can rarely solve even local problems.
In our favorite stories, there is always some kind of hero that comes to the rescue. Today, superheroes are all the rage. There is Iron Man, Spider Man, Super Man, the Green Lantern, Thor, and others. In one way or another, they come to rescue the world, or a city from imminent and terrible danger. In fact, recently there was a new movie out, called The Avengers. In this story, the enemy and the danger is so great that no one of these heroes alone could save the world despite their great powers, it took all of them working together, and then the world just barely escapes. The idea is that without these heroes, without their intervention, our world would be lost.
In the New Testament, we read the story of a world that was in need of saving, and so God sent His Son, Jesus, on a divine search and rescue mission. Today, we have been trained to call 911 if there is a real emergency. The Gospel of Luke will point out that an emergency had arisen that threatened the whole world, and that we needed rescuing. As the story begins we have bright lights, angels appearing miraculously, and our super hero rescuer suddenly and dramatically appearing in the mighty form of a …baby!
It seems strangely anticlimactic. He seems almost the anti-hero. He has supernatural powers—but never uses them to force anyone to do anything, never uses them to keep Himself from being belittled or attacked. He uses His power only to heal and help others, never to protect Himself against the bad guys. In fact, in His greatest battle with the world’s mortal enemy, Satan, His only weapon is God’s Word, the truth.
But His mission is not to win by overcoming His enemies; because as we learn, the only way to ultimately win this epic battle is by dying at their hands. He is, we are aghast to find out, on a suicide mission. However, unlike those being practiced today by religious zealots—the only One harmed in the explosion—is Him…and all the forces of Hell.
If He had acted like a typical human hero—he would have vanquished the enemy in a great battle and then faded gloriously into the sunset. But He didn’t, because our great enemy wasn’t some powerful external enemy threatening us, it was something inside of us, infecting us. We were being destroyed from the inside out, and like the alien science fiction movies, an alien substance had contaminated not only our world—but every human being. At first we welcomed this strange infection, thinking it would set us free, only when it was too late did we recognize the danger. It’s called sin. It was so deadly that the presence of it in the Garden of Eden was enough to force an eviction—an eviction we are still experiencing.
We tried everything against this alien invasion infection down through the years, because we all recognized it. We tried self discipline, religion, asceticism, laws, governments, philosophy, science, psychology, but nothing worked. Sin was here to stay and wherever sin was, humanity deteriorated further. We eventually began to believe there simply was no solution; we would just have to learn to live with this contamination.
Until one day a strange and compelling star appeared in the East. Wise men followed it to see what it was all about. Then angels suddenly appeared to a group of shepherds, lighting up the dark night sky with light, sound, and spectacular supernatural activity. And a baby was born in a way no baby had ever been born before. It was born without the alien infection. The Holy Spirit conceived a child in the womb of a young Jewish virgin. And our hero had come. The rescue was on.
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
BOOK REVIEW: The Call of Zulina--by Kay Marshall Strom
To be honest, when I first picked up The Call of Zulina, I had no idea what to expect. The beautiful young woman on the cover made me wonder if I hadn’t accidentally gotten hold of a romance novel (not my thing). But here, the author takes her character, Grace Winslow, the daughter of a mixed marriage between a salty white English slave trader, and a stern imperial African princess, to the most unexpected of places. Grace, who has been raised only in luxury due to the fortune her father made in the slave trade, suddenly finds herself one of them—won’t tell you how, read the book! But the slaves are not alone, one man stands ready to help—but will he be in time? Fortunately, it’s not a white man always bad, slave always good type of book. Slavery was complex, with both African and white man involved, and Strom brings this out. Grace, the main character, has to navigate both the white world as well as the slave world she is suddenly thrust into. This is one of those, got to read the next chapter even if I’m tired books—because she really ratchets up the suspense. I’m not sure what riveted me more, the fascinating and painstaking historical reality of slavery that Strom writes about, or the fascinating story line and characters she has developed. It’s just a really good read that happens to teach you something important, about slavery, about the human condition, and about faith struggling to remain afloat in the midst of it—all without coming off the least bit preachy. Can’t recommend this book highly enough, and am eager to read the next in the series. Do yourself a favor—read the book. This is the first book in the Grace in Africa series.
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