You'd Be Surprised....

Hello there, neglected blog. Yikes it has been way too long. One of my favorite websites is called People Of The Second Chance. The founders of the site are Mike Foster, one of the founders of xxxchurch.com, and Jud Wilhite, pastor of Central Christian Church in Vegas (one of my favorite churches). I like the stories that are on this website. They remind me that we are not alone in our struggles. The things you do...the things I do...the things that those around us do...there are others doing the same thing. The secrets we keep buried, the past we keep hidden, the stuff we are presently facing - guess what? Someone is going through it too. And you may be surprised if you knew who they were. Which brings me to the latest one I read. It's called You'd Be Surprised and it is a reminder to me that one, I should stay away from the judging and condemning part of life that we fall so easily into, because you never know who you know who may be struggling, and two, it is really a bad idea if you do find yourself with a condemning attitude to tell someone who is with you, because they may be facing the same struggle you are condemning. A graphic I posted on my Facebook wall said it well: "Be kind, for everyone you know is facing a hard battle."

Bitter Journey

I thought this was a pretty neat interpretation of the Passion of Jesus, although the music is a little annoying.

check it out and I hope it helps you as you get ready for the Holy Week.

A Franciscan Blessing/Benediction

May God bless us with discomfort
At easy answers, half-truths, and superficial relationships
So that we may live from deep within our hearts.

May God bless us with anger
At injustice, oppression, and exploitation of God's creations
So that we may work for justice, freedom, and peace.

May God bless us with tears
To shed for those who suffer pain, rejection, hunger, and war,
So that we may reach out our hands to comfort them and
To turn their pain into joy.

And may God bless us with just enough foolishness
To believe that we can make a difference in the world,
So that we can do what others claim cannot be done:
To bring justice and kindness to all our children and all our neighbors who are poor.

Amen.

Some Days You're The Hammer...

and some days, you're the nail.

Gotta feel bad for the goaltender on this one. Being scored on from 180 feet out makes for a tough day.

But honestly, who hasn't had days like this one?

Today's Reading From Reliving The Passion

Every year, I attempt to read through a book called Reliving The Passion by Walt Wangerin, Jr. It is supposed to coincide with the Lenten season, and it is truly a remarkable journey. The problem in the past has been because it was only in physical book form, at some point every year during this time, I would lose it.

Thankfully, there is now an e-book edition, so I can take it wherever I go and read it whenever I can.

Today's chapter is wonderful, so I thought I would share it. The scripture reading is Mark 14:1-9, where the woman took the jar of ointment and poured it over Jesus' hair.

--

Woman!

What a blessed contrast you make to the rulers in Jerusalem! They would preserve their power; you come with no power at all. They vaunt themselves; you have - except for one remarkable characteristic - no self at all.

What is your name that I might address my praise to you? I don't know. Where you someone's mother? I don't know. Were you old, bent by years of experience? Were you a prostitute? Or else praiseworthy for purity and virtue? Were you poor, the ointment and impossible expense for you? Or rich, with easy access to a hundred such flasks? I don't know. Mark never says. I know nothing about you save this: that you anointed the head of my Lord.

Ah, but that's enough to know! That deed alone is your identity, your entire being: your self. It memorializes you forever. "What she has done," says Jesus, "will be told in memory of her." Woman, now you are that deed, neither more or less than that deed. I marvel at you. I pray God that I might do - and therefore be - the same.

For what was your gesture? An act of pure love for Jesus particularly. It was an act so completely focused upon the Christ that not a dram of worldly benefit was gained thereby. Nothing could justify this spillage of some three hundred days' wages, except love alone. The rulers who sought to kill Jesus were motivated by a certain reasonable logic; but your prodigality appears altogether unreasonable - except for reasons of love. The disciples, in fact, were offended by an act that produced nothing, accomplished nothing, fed no poor, served no need. They reproached you as a wastrel.

They were offended by the absurd, an act devoted absolutely to love, to love alone.

But Jesus called it "beautiful."

Who else anointed our High Priest, as priests should surely be anointed in office? Who else anointed our King, the son of David? Who else anointed the body of our Savior for burial? No one but you. I don't know that you consciously recognized these offices of the Lord; but love instinctively sees the truth. Love enhances and names in truth. No one else anointed him and by that gesture declared him Messiah, the Christ. The act, therefore, was more than beautiful. It was rare and rich with meaning.

And since the act is all there is of you, since humility has reduced you to this single thing alone and now you are no more nor less than your love for the Lord, you yourself are beautiful and rare and rich with meaning.

You are the beauty of faithful loving.

To those who do not truly love, you will ever be ephemeral or else an offense, either a shadow or an idiot. To me you are a model. You gave up all; you became nothing at all save love for the Lord; and exactly so you are remembered. Here, "wherever the gospel is preached in the whole world," is love's monument!

You, nameless, anonymous, lovely indeed: thank you.

And so it begins...

my self-imposed moratorium on Facebook (except for posting stuff related to Miamisburg Christian Church and the Love146 Dayton task force). I am doing this, if you didn't read my last blog post, because I feel like Facebook has become an idol and I have spent way too much time and worry on it. I have let Facebook become an approval addiction.

There are a couple other reasons too. One is that I am attempting again to celebrate Lent. I am not Catholic, but I think out of all the Catholic traditions, it is one that I cherish. My recently deceased grandmother was Catholic, so this is a way to honor her as well. Plus, our leadership at MCC is trying to be the example by giving up something over the next forty days and praying for our church and our ministry expansion plan when we would normally be doing whatever we are giving up.

It will be interesting to see what happens. Personally, I am going through a book that I normally go through during Lent. It is called Reliving the Passion by Walt Wangerin Jr. (who also wrote my favorite allegory of Jesus called The Ragman). There are also some great resources through the YouVersion Bible app.

Unfriend Yourself.

I was in Colorado the past few days because my grandmother passed away early Saturday morning. She was 89 years old and was pretty active right up until about a year ago. A couple of weeks ago, she fell in her bathroom and was on the floor for three days before someone figured out something was wrong. They got her to the hospital in time to save her which was great but then through tests found out she had the worst stage of stomach cancer. I tried to get out in time to see her before she died, but to no avail.

On the flight out to Colorado, I started reading a short little e-book called Unfriend Yourself. Basically it talked about the perils and dangers of social network sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Google+ and how although they are great tools for relationships, they are sadly becoming the end-all for a lot of people are are replacing face-to-face relationships and such. Here are a few quotes I found were really interesting:

"It seems that, while I truly believed I was becoming a part of these people's lives on Facebook, I wasn't. Many of the people 'I got to know' on Facebook are little more than acquaintances now and weren't much more during our first semester. Today, all of those with whom I'd shared my life via social media are not my friends. They were never the people intimately involved in my life, despite the things I told them online."

"In essence, Facebook's agenda is for us to broadcast ourselves (notably the YouTube tagline), to talk about what we're doing and what we like...Facebook is a digital opportunity for us to self-present through status updates, photos, and "likes."

"We present-or promote-ourselves in such a way to cause people to think of us in a certain way. When I log on to Facebook, I find that I want to put my best foot forward; as a result I find myself bending the truth and skirting circumstance, ever so slightly, to offer to my 'friends' the best part of myself, the part of me that is the coolest, the funniest."

"Facebook has a tendency to inflame a condition we already have: thinking of ourselves more highly than we ought to think."

"I am not the center of the universe, and the funny thing my friend's cat just did is not all that important. Sure, there is a laugh to be had, but ever so subtly we have come to believe that everything about me matters, when it truly doesn't. Boasting, self-promotion, and self-construction are dangerous habits of the mind and heart."

"Quality time with friends used to be spent over coffee or dinner. Now more and more of our community life is managed digitally. Some studies show that most people communicate more online than they do offline."

"Unlike a network, which is built on communication, community is built on communion. 'Too often we applaud technologies that enable us to exchange information (communication) without attending to those means of sharing that build intimacy and deepen our communion with God and with each other.' Communication is easy. A simple text is communication, but it is not communion. A wall post is communication, but it is not communion."

"Facebook activism succeeds not by motivating people to make a real sacrifice but by motivating them to do the things that people do when they are not motivated enough to make a real sacrifice." (WOW - read that again)

"Technologies, and the ideas and media they produce, have a curious power over us. Did you know that 'Facebook addiction' is searched online 350 times more than 'cigarette addiction'? Many people who are regular social media users have a difficult time being away from their profiles for too long."

"Facebook is a great tool for supplementing and augmenting relationships, much in the same way fish oil is a great tool for supplementing our diets. However, many of us are replacing the main courses of our lives - in-the-flesh, face-to-face time with friends and family - with supplemental wall posts and tweets."

The author of the book says that one of the ways we can stay grounded and to not let social media be our only social activity is tough: to unplug from all social media for three days. In fact, this book has three chapters and his advice is to do one chapter each day that you are away from Facebook, Twitter and the like. And I am taking him up on the challenge. Why?

Because like many, I have let Facebook and other social media sites take over my life. When I was reading Unfriend Yourself, there were so many times when I felt he was talking directly to me. It's amazing how my mood can go up and down based on how many people like a comment I make or a link that I share. I think for me the pinnacle of silliness on my part came when I posted about my grandmother passing and then proceeding to notice which of my friends said something and which didn't and honestly debating whether I would just delete all the friends who didn't say something or at least post something passive-aggressive on there about those who didn't say anything.

OK - I may have been a little hurt. But let's have some perspective here. A lot of people don't check their Facebook news feed incessantly. I do. And now that I have the Facebook app for my iPhone and for my iPad, it is so much easier to do so. Perhaps some people decided to say something in person. It doesn't matter. The point is - I am letting social media become (and this is tough to even write the word) an idol. Social Media like Facebook make us feel more important than we probably should think we are. When we reach 200 friends...300 friends...1000 friends - we feel like superstars. When someone retweets one of our tweets (or in my case, when one of my tweet news stories is featured in someone's abolitionist daily news feed), we feel like someone thinks we are important.

I am not saying that Facebook is inherently bad for everyone. It just is for me. So...I'm taking some steps to try and get rid of this idol. I'm not going to delete my Facebook account or anything that drastic. I am going to give up Facebook for Lent, which starts really soon (Wednesday, February 22 to be exact). Now, I still have to post some things for my task force, and I still need to post some things for my church - but for the most part I am going to stay off Facebook, as in check it every five minutes, until Easter. If you happen to have a birthday between February 22 and April 8, my birthday wishes for you will be on Tuesday, February 21 and I am sorry for not wishing you a wonderful birthday on the actual date of your birth.

We'll see how this goes. I'm a little nervous. What am I going to do with all this free time? :D

Exciting Opportunity

So...this has been brewing for quite some time, but I feel like it's finally time to let the proverbial cat out of the proverbial bag. Love146 - the organization that I and some people in the Dayton area partner in to help fight child sex slavery - has invited me and Elizabeth, one of the other co-founders of the task force, to go on a Partner trip with them this year to go to Cambodia, Thailand and the Philippines. We will be visiting some of the places that Love146 works with in both prevention and aftercare. What an amazing opportunity!

But I'm afraid.

I'm not afraid of the trip itself. I think it's going to be incredible.

I'm a little afraid of all the shots I will need to get. And those shots I need to get need to start soon. But that's not the main reason I'm afraid.

I'm afraid that this trip will change me in such a way that I will never be the same again.

And I know that is probably a good thing, but let's be honest. The things I will see, the people I will meet, and the experiences I will have will change me. And I'm afraid that once I go on this trip, I will never be able to go back. And I don't mean coming back to the USA. I just mean that once you're faced with all that heartbreak and the actual issue that you've been wrapping your head around and talking about and fighting for the last few years is no longer off in a remote country but that you are actually face-to-face with girls who have been sold, who have been held against their will, who now have a chance to rehabilitate their lives and be restored to who they were before all this mess - it will no longer be an issue. It will be my issue and I will stop at nothing to end child sex slavery in my lifetime.

And for that I'm afraid. Because that means things will have to change. And that I will actually have to...no, that's not right. I will be compelled at all cost to fight with everything I have to see this through to the end.

If you could pray for me and for this trip, I would greatly appreciate it.

Swan Song.

David Crowder's that is. Not mine! Heck, no. I have a lot of stuff to still say in this blog. When I can find the time. :D

The David Crowder Band released their final CD yesterday. 34 songs! A few of them are the typical Crowder fillers, although as opposed to what other bands do sometimes, these fillers feel like they belong on this album.

It's always sad when a band that you really like says their goodbyes. In this case, it is doubly sad because their debut big-label release Can You Hear Us? was released the same time I became worship minister for the very first time (I had done youth ministry for the eight years prior). So in a sense, I feel like I've been following David Crowder's worship music the entire time I've been doing worship music as a worship minister. Over the years, I've used several of his songs in worship services, although the last few years their songs have gotten so progressive (read: amazing) that they are hard to imitate with a amateur worship leader and an amateur band.

I thought I would do a top ten list of my favorite songs of David Crowder to pay my respects to this great band. By the way, I got to meet Crowder one time at a conference. Straight-up nice guy. Here's my list:

10. Every song that wasn't David Crowder's but felt like his.

- this would include Like A Lion (Daniel Bashta), O God, Where Are You Now (Sufjan Stevens), How He Loves (John Mark McMillan), Obsession (Deliriou5) and Thank You For Hearing Me (Sinead O'Connor). Even though he didn't write these songs, they are amazing.

9. Let Me Feel You Shine (Give Us Rest)

8. Sometimes (Passion/Give Us Rest)

7. Never Let Go/Remedy (Remedy)

- yeah I'm cheating again. But I feel these two songs are flip sides of each other.

6. Our Love Is Loud (Can You Hear Us?)

5. SMS (Shine) (Church Music)

4. No One Like You (Illuminate)

3. Only You (Illuminate)

2. All I Can Say (All I Can Say)

1. Stars (Illuminate)

Pretty good list, I think. I guess you can say that my favorite album of his would be Illuminate, since 3 of my top 4 are from that album. And if you asked me today, I would say yes. But tomorrow I might say A Collision, Friday Church Music, etc. David Crowder has created a great body of work, a great tapestry and I'm thankful for his contribution to worship music and music in general.

Top 10 Albums of 2011: #1

#1: Cool Hand Luke - Of Man

Concept albums are hard to come by these days. And generally that's a good thing: most of the time, concept albums are bloated, self-indulgent albums that fail due to at least two reasons: (1) most of the time, even a double album doesn't give us enough time for us to fall in love with the characters or the plot of a concept album. It's hard enough for a movie to do so - to have only ten songs to develop a concept leaves a lot of holes; and (2) usually at some point of a concept album, the music just isn't dramatic and compelling enough to hold our interest.

Cool Hand Luke has been a favorite band of mine since I first heard their album "The Fires Of Life". And when I heard that they were disbanding for good, I was a little sad because really good music by Christians is hard to come by sometimes. Plus - besides The Juliana Theory, Cool Hand Luke was really the only band in the last decade who was making music that I would like to make if I was in a band.

Of Man tells the story of Jesus' final days: from the Last Supper, through the trials and crucifixion up to when he ascended to heaven. This story is told through the perspective of the people in His life and who witnessed the Passion of His final week. Cool Hand Luke through music and lyrics recreates this well-known story so vividly that I can almost see it happening in my mind as I listen to these songs. Each song is so well-crafted, so haunting, that it has honestly changed me. And that is what the number one album each year should do: change you.

It is a dark retelling which isn't for everyone. Perhaps though because it is the same story we have heard a thousand times, that this version will be compelling for some people because it is different. I will miss Cool Hand Luke but am thankful that their final album is truly their masterpiece: hypnotic, mesmerizing, brutally honest, compelling, life-changing, ambitious, and hopeful.

Standout singles: all of them, but especially Are You Coming, His Eyes, Two Versions

The Top Ten Albums of 2011: #2

#3: Gungor - Ghosts Upon The Earth

A lot of creative types - myself included - have latched onto Gungor as the "band that will save worship music from its bloated self-indulgent mediocrity." With David Crowder stepping down after ten years of writing creative, thought-provoking worship tunes, we need another band to rise to the challenge, and Gungor is that band. After their last release "Beautiful Things," I thought Michael Gungor and company had reached its limit of creativity and out of the box musical composition, but I was wrong because Ghosts Upon The Earth surpasses its predecessor.

Upon first listen I was honestly a little disappointed, because I felt the music was that disjointed and that different. It was like this band had decided to balance the worship music scale by stepping as far away from the stuff you hear on K-Love as possible, and it unnerved me to tell the truth. But the more I listened to this CD, the more I began to appreciate the lengths that Gungor was willing to go to give a gift worth giving to God with this music. Even the song that unnerved me the most, "Wake Up O Sleeper" has become my favorite song on the album, because I love how it takes what seems to be disjointed acoustic instrument playing, adds some poignant lyrics and a sweet melody and melds it into a beautiful song. It's almost like they decided to take the idea of the song Beautiful Things and express the same idea musically.

I almost put this album as number one because it is so ambitious, so audacious in fact - but #1 to me seems to be even more ambitious if not as musically compelling.

Standout singles: Wake Up Sleeper, Brother Moon, This Is Not The End

The Top Ten Albums of 2011: #4 and #3

#4: Jason Gray - A Way To See In The Dark

I feel like Jason Gray has taken a look into my own life and written songs that either perfectly describe how I'm feeling/have felt, or that have been written to encourage me to find hope in those times when you feel like giving up, using lines such as: "After awhile in the dark your eyes will adjust/In the shadows you will find a hand you can trust."

Brutally honest and raw, the songs on Jason Gray's 2011 release vacillate between Gray's own admission of his struggle with fear and pain, and reminding us all that we have a God who can not only help us in the darkness, that he came into our darkness to be the Light of the World. I had the opportunity to hear Jason Gray speak and sing on Andrew Peterson's "Behold The Lamb Of God" Christmas tour, and it gave me a little glimpse into the man behind these songs. As for the music, it's really good too, alternating between soft acoustic numbers and rousing full-band anthems. This is a CD I find myself returning to time and time again, one of the reasons being that his song "Without Running Away" has become one of my life songs, because it really describes the way I feel a lot of the time.

Standout singles: Without Running Away, Remind Me Who I Am, Nothing Is Wasted



#3: Coldplay - Mylo Xyloto

I have been waiting since Coldplay released "A Rush Of Blood To The Head" for an album that excited me about the band as much as that one did. X&Y was a mixed bag, no doubt; Viva La Vida had some incredible tunes and much ambition, but felt a little disjointed as a whole album. Heck, even one of the songs on that album felt like an amalgam of three different songs.

I listened to Mylo Xyloto on repeat pretty much the whole time I was in Dallas for a technology convention. Each song on this album is rather amazing and contributes to the album as a whole. Whereas their last CD emphasized death, this CD to me is a vision of what Chris Martin and company feel about life after death: heaven, the afterlife, paradise - whatever you want to call it - these songs offer a definite opinion.

The addition of electronica courtesy of Brian Eno has polarized fans on this album. However, as someone who loved U2's last CD No Line On The Horizon, I love this addition and believe it adds to what Coldplay is trying to achieve on this CD. Even the Rhianna guest spot on Princess Of China - something I would normally not appreciate, because I am not a fan - works.

Standout singles: Paradise, Us Against The World, U.F.O.

The Top Ten Albums of 2011: #6 and #5

#6: The Civil Wars - Barton Hollow

It seems like this CD has been out forever, but it was released in 2011. I first heard this duo - made up of John Paul White and Joy Williams, two Nashville singer-songwriters who came together during a writing session (and the rest is of course history) - when I downloaded their two song Christmas EP for free last year. (If you haven't downloaded free music from NoiseTrade, I would suggest doing so. I have found many bands/artists that are under the radar before they make it big.) I was immediately intrigued by the intricate yet soft acoustic guitar, and the incredible harmonies that come out of these two people. Then I got their "Live at Eddie's Attic" (also free on NoiseTrade) and was blown away. White and Williams get mistaken as married often; they are that comfortable with each other on and off stage.

Barton Hollow is a wonderful CD. You may have heard the haunting piano song "Poison and Wine" on several TV shows this past year, or perhaps you saw them perform "Barton Hollow" on Conan or another talk show. I'm not sure there has been a more critically lauded musical act this year than The Civil Wars. They definitely deserve it, because this CD is amazing.

Standout singles: Barton Hollow, Poison and Wine, 20 Years



#5: The City Harmonic - I Have A Dream (It Feels Like Home)

You may not have heard of The City Harmonic. It's a shame because this up-and-coming worship band has put out two of the best worship CDs of the past several years. Their first one, which was a six-song EP, was an incredible collection of piano-driven tunes, amazing melodies, and soaring background vocals. You may have heard their biggest hit so far, called "Manifesto" which is basically the Apostle's Creed plus the Lord's Prayer put to a driving beat. (Here's the video)



I thought it would be hard to top their EP, but I was wrong. Their full-length debut album is incredible. Taking the idea of Martin Luther King, Jr's speech "I Have A Dream", The City Harmonic expands on it and takes it to the next level through song. There is not a single song on here that I skip - and that is saying a lot, because there aren't very many albums that I can say that of. If you like piano-driven rock music a la The Fray or older Coldplay put to great worship lyrics, look no further than The City Harmonic.

Are you amazed that all this adulation is for an album I have as #5? That tells you how much I like the top 4 albums.

Standout singles: Yours, Mountaintop, Wake Me Up

Top Ten Albums of 2011: #8 and #7

#8: Owl City - All Things Bright And Beautiful

Not only does Owl City have the coolest name ever - Adam Young - but he puts out some really great music. If Ocean Eyes was just the icing on the cake of what Owl City could do when it comes to creating music in your basement, All Things Bright And Beautiful is the actual cake. Creative, whimsical music that soars with memorable melodies, electronic sounds, and even some traditional instruments, All Things Bright And Beautiful will make you rethink musicians who were discovered on MySpace. This album is that good.

Standout singles: Galaxies, Deer In The Headlights, Dreams Don't Turn To Dust



#7: John Mark McMillan - Economy

Yes, he used to be known as "that guy who wrote How He Loves, and I'm really uncomfortable about that sloppy wet kiss line so I'm going to change it," but John Mark McMillan now is comfortably lodged into the worship music scene. John Mark McMillan is different than most worship leaders and songwriters, however, because the music isn't formulaic, and when I'm listening to his CDs, I feel like I'm driving down Route 66 in the heart of America, driving by once-shiny towns now battered and bruised by the interstate system, and McMillan is sharing his heart with me as we cruise down the road together.

I love his honesty. I love his scratchy, unpolished voice. It certainly isn't worship music for those who like easy Psalty book answers and your standard G C Em C chord progression. It is for those who have more questions than answers, who like their music tinged with some Southern rock or a simple acoustic, and who listen to lyrics like "Chase me down like a lion, like a bird of prey, Lift me up from the ashes of my heart's own shallow grave, 'Cause I know that I love you, but sometimes I'm afraid" and know that John Mark is telling their story too.

Standout singles: Daylight, Love You Swore, Seen A Darkness

The Top Ten Albums of 2011: #10, #9

#10: Know Hope Collective

2007 was a tough year for Christian music as the band Audio Adrenaline said goodbye after a long career. I remember when I was in college when a friend of mine bought their first album (on cassette, that tells you how long it has been) and raved about them. When I listened to them for the first time, I thought they were actually terrible. And if you talk with the original members of Audio A, they will admit as such. However, their next album was better, and by the time Bloom hit, Audio Adrenaline was a band that wrote fun songs and started having radio hits.

When I heard that two of the founding band members were forming a worship band, I was a little skeptical. In fact, I didn't buy the album at all until our worship intern this summer let me listen to their CD. And I immediately liked it. Mark Stuart and Will McGinness have put together a great group of songs (including a couple of Audio Adrenaline favorites) that direct your thoughts towards God. And this album wasn't written in a vacuum, but out of the time, money and energy that Mark and Will give to their mission to Haiti. I highly recommend this album.

Standout singles: Attention, Build Us Back, Ocean Floor



#9 - Foo Fighters - Wasting Light

Who would have figured that Dave Grohl would have a more successful (and in my opinion, a better) career with Foo Fighters than with Nirvana? I know most music afficionados believe that some FF albums are better than others; personally, I can find something great about every album. I happily make the claim that Foo Fighters are the best rock band out there right now, period. Something that happened this year that made Foo Fighters endear themselves to me even more was their counter-protest song they did in front of the protesters from Westboro Baptist Church.

What I love most about this album is the different guitar sounds that are used for each song, and I wonder how these songs would be live, because it just seems like there are so many great things going on musically with each song. This is just a fun album to listen to - Taylor Hawkins has never sound better on the drums, and the harmonies that are used on some of these songs are just incredible.

Standout singles: Bridge Burning, Rope, These Days

Top 10 Albums of 2011

I am really behind in movies, so that list is going to have to wait. 2011 was a great year for music, at least for the music I like to listen to. It was hard to rank them all, but on my road trip to Maryland, I had plenty of opportunity to listen to all of them and rank them all. In the past I have just listed them all in one post; this time I am going to do two albums for each post until the last two. Agree or disagree with my rankings? Let me know!

Next post: #10 and #9.

Isn't There Anyone Who Knows What Christmas Is All About?

"True Charlie Brown. I can tell you what Christmas is all about."

Christmas Carol Devotion #4: O Come O Come Emmanuel

Love what the devotional guide I've been reading has to say:

Time after time, the Israelites found themselves separated from God - always by their own doing. And God would eventually deliver them, only to be betrayed by His chosen people again. So we find two constant themes in the Old Testament:

- The Israelites, no matter how hard they tried, were unfaithful to God.

- God remained faithful and fulfilled the promises He made to them.

Through His prophets, God made many promises. Isaiah 7:14 says, "Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and you shall call His name Emmanuel." The name Emmanuel translates as "God with us." It's a remarkable promise - the Ultimate Being and Creator of the Universe promising to make Himself physically present with the people who have proven themselves unworthy.

In one of the most somber Christmas songs, "O Come, O Come Emmanuel," there is an embraced tension within Israel. They are in exile, separated from God yet again. With a somber perspective, they choose to rejoice in the promise God has made to them. With nothing else to cling to, in the midst of desperation and loneliness, they recall and proclaim the promise that God would be with them - knowing that, in spite of their unfaithfulness, God is faithful to His promises.

--

So much to chew on here. I've liked this song for a long time and we always do it at least once at Christmas. My personal favorite is the Future of Forestry version, although I really like the Chasing Furies one too. I was going to use this song for our Christmas day service, but it really doesn't make sense to do so. On Christmas Day, the hopeful expectation of the Messiah isn't an expectation anymore, it happens and we celebrate the Messiah's birth, not the hope of His birth.

I've always loved the idea of Emmanuel, too. "God With Us." (For a great video about God With Us, check out this one.) At the beginning of Jesus' birth, we are told that His name will be Emmanuel, which means God With Us. At the end of Jesus' life, He told us that He will be with us always..." So from the first of His life to the last of His life on earth, Jesus promised that He would be with us.

But it gets better.

Because in Acts, when Jesus leaves His disciples, the promise of God With Us becomes something even greater, even more special. Why? Because God With Us has now become God In Us. The Holy Spirit. Unfortunately, we tend to kind of ignore The Spirit. We don't talk about him/her much, we tend to downplay their role in our lives, and that's a shame. Because Jesus said that we would do greater things than He did while He was on earth. Because He was sending someone to be our helper, our advocate (John 14).

Okay, I'm off track. This song reminds me of what Adam, our student minister, said in his message during Thanksgiving weekend. That it's easy to give thanks for the good things that have already happened to us. It's a lot hard to give thanks for the good things we are praying about and expecting to have happen. In the same way, it's easy to rejoice that the Messiah is coming when He is already here. It is much harder to rejoice in the Messiah who is yet to come.

Christmas Carol Devotion #3: Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas

Really, I'm just following the order of the YouVersion devotional plan. I would not have put this song into the list, personally. I like the song okay, but I have a feeling I'm going to be upset down the road when one of my favorite carols is missing (like O Holy Night or The First Noel).

Anyway, I like most of the sultry female voice versions of this song that I've heard on the radio, but I also really like the Relient K version of this song - I used it as the background to our announcement video this past Sunday.

I want to focus on the first three lines of this song:

Have yourself a merry little Christmas
Let your heart be light
From now on our troubles will be out of sight

Did you know that these lyrics were not the original lyrics? This song was written for a musical starring Judy Garland called Meet Me In St. Louis. Garland and the director of the musical criticized the lyrics as depressing. I don't blame them, look at the original first three lines:

Have yourself a merry little Christmas
It may be your last
Next year we may all be living in the past

Depressing, huh? Did you know that another line in this song was changed at an even later date, after several versions became popular? The original line "From now on we'll have to muddle through somehow" was changed to "Hang a shining star upon the highest bough."

Can you imagine this song being popular at all with the original lyric? No way. We want our Christmas to be merry and bright. Which I definitely agree with, although I think sometimes our desire for a merry Christmas blinds us to the fact that the first Christmas had some merriness to it; yet it also had a lot of pain, a lot of confusion, etc. Two songs remind me of this. One is a song from the CD Behold The Lamb Of God by Andrew Peterson. Just two nights ago I got to see A.P. and friends perform this entire CD in concert, it was amazing. Anyway, one of the songs is called Labor Of Love and it starts out like this:

It was not a silent night
There was blood on the ground
You could hear a woman cry
In the alleyways that night
On the streets of David's town

And the stable was not clean
And the cobblestones were cold
And little Mary full of grace
With the tears upon her face
Had no mother's hand to hold

Another song, which I'm contemplating doing this Sunday for special music, reminds us of the forces at work - both spiritual and human - when Christ was born and how it is the same today as it was then.

If You were born today
We'd kill You by age eight
Never get the chance to say
Joy to the world, peace on the earth
Forgive them for they know not what they do...

By all means, let's have a merry Christmas. But let's not forget that a woman had labor pains, it was cold in the stable, babies were killed by the insane king Herod, a family had to flee to Egypt, and a baby would grow up to one day die on a cruel cross for things He did not do.

Song List - December 4th, 2011

Want to restart this as well so if you didn't get a chance to come to Miamisburg Christian Church on a Sunday, you can see what songs you missed! Of course this Sunday we started our Christmas stuff. Here is what we did:

Glory To God Forever (Fee)/O Come Let Us Adore Him

All Creation Sing (Joy To The World) - North Point version

God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen - Mercy Me version

It Came Upon A Midnight Clear - Kutless version

Glory In The Highest - Chris Tomlin


special music (myself and Kim): Give This Christmas Away - Matthew West