A Prayer for 2009

God,

Open my eyes to the possibilities of doing good for Your Kingdom, both inside and outside my church.

Give me signs of Your work in this world.

Help me be the father my kids see me as and the husband I want to be to my wife.

For those in need, give them their needs and show me the places where my family can be a part of that.

Bring Your peace in this world in war-torn areas in Africa, the Middle East, Afghanistan, and in the strife torn places in our homes and cities.

Help us as a people to not put our hope in politicians who speak with articulate words or those that try to motivate through fear and hate, but to put our hope in the One who conquered death and brought life.

Help Christians band together in community to accomplish Your Kingdom coming on Earth as it is in Heaven and Your Will being done.

Through Jesus,

Amen.

Merry Christmas

Luke 2

The Birth of Jesus

1In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. 2(This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3And everyone went to his own town to register.

4So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. 5He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. 6While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, 7and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

The Shepherds and the Angels

8And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ^[a] the Lord. 12This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."

13Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
14"Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."

15When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about."

16So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. 17When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, 18and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. 19But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. 20The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

The Faith of the Shepherds

One of the most quotes sections of Scripture in church worship services around Christmas is the section in Luke 2 about the chorus of angels visiting the shepherds, a brief instant when eternity broke full force into our world.

8And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. 12This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."

13Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
14"Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."

15When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about."

16So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. 17When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, 18and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. 19But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. 20The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

Now, in our Hallmark-ed Christmas world, we have this idea that there was this star hanging over the stable/cave where Mary, Joseph and Jesus were and the shepherds get there right before the Three Wise Men and there's this beautiful mixing of the holy and the ordinary, the rich and the poor and all is right in the world.

Well, no matter what our nativity scenes say, we don't know how many wise men there were and they were definitely not at the Nativity. And the shepherds didn't have a star to guide them. If you notice what the angel said, the sign wasn't a star, it was a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manager. So what the shepherds probably had to was go around Bethlehem and look in feeding troughs for a baby. Probably asking permission of the owners of the stable, and basically looking like morons: "Uh... excuse me... Do, um... do you have a baby in your stable manger? We heard he's the Messiah..." "Heard? Heard from who?" "Ummmmm..." Shifts feet nervously, "The Angels..." The door slams. Until.... "Excuse me, do you have a baby in your stable?" The inkeeper looks embarrassed, "Yeah, but look, I didn't have a room and that was the only place and I'm not even charging them full...." He breaks off as the shepherds charge past him to the stable and there they see their sign, the baby wrapped in cloth, nestled in the feeding trough, that Joseph has cleaned out as best he can and put in some hay, giving Mary a chance to rest and sleep after the delivery. The shepherds worship him, knowing that even though the majority of Bethlehem now thinks they're idiots, they know the truth. They've found the promised King.

The King of the World, not born in a palace, attended by ministers and noblemen and the other kings of the world, but God already starts to defy expectations of what the Messiah will be, by having him lay with the animals, attended by shepherds willing to embarrass themselves throughout Bethlehem to find him.

That's the King we serve, that's the King we celebrate at Christmas.

YouTube Thursday: Music Box Dancing Lights

I'm a huge fan of Christmas lights synchronized to music. I'm sure they annoy their neighbors, but I think they're fun. Obviously, the fad has been to do Trans-Siberian Orchestra rock Christmas songs, but I found one that takes a slightly different direction. I just wish I could find the mp3 they use...

Tears

My life is surrounded by tears these days. Connor falls and he cries. Kinsey takes something away from him and he cries. He takes something away from her and she cries.

I don't cry much. Compelling, sweeping music accompanied by some images can really get me a little teary. Watching relationships restored can bring some blurriness. But I don't often sob.

I did last Wednesday night.

On Wednesday nights, we get home late. We typically are at church until 8:20 or 8:30 cleaning up and talking with friends. Then it's another 20 minutes home, creating late nights for the kids. These days, Sheryl takes care of Connor's bedtime and I take care of Kinsey's. She'll pick out a book and either I'll read it, or I'll have her read it, and last Wednesday night, she picked out The Giving Tree, a book I've loved since I was a little boy and my parents read to me.

We read through it and as I started to read, I started getting tears in my eyes, because here I was, reading the story of a boy grows up seeking after the "good" things in life and the tree completely pours out itself for the boy. But what got to me was seeing the joy in this boy and then watching him grow out of that and away from that, and the sadness of the tree. And when in the final scenes, the boy returns as an old man and the tree (now a stump) pulls itself up for him to sit and just enjoy each other's presence, I began to seriously cry. Because I was seeing my future with my kids. They are going to grow away from me. Sheryl and I won't be the primary influences in their lives and they will lose some of the joy they have now.

Kinsey, of course, was completely confused, and asked me why I was crying like that. And through my tears, I tried to explain that it was a combination of being happy and sad: happy that I had such beautiful children that I loved so and that loved me and Mommy, but sad that these times won't last forever, that they were going to grow up and move away and they wouldn't be our little children any longer. They'll always be our children, but things change and people grow up. And as I did that, the tears became stronger, and all of a sudden, Kinsey sits up in her bed, now with tears springing to her eyes, and hugged me tight: "Oh Daddy! I'll always be your girl!"

We clung to each other for a couple of minutes and then broke apart with a little chuckle to go get a tissue to wipe our eyes and noses. We prayed for each other, thanking God for each other and the love that we have. I kissed her, turned out her light, and she fell asleep quickly.

It was one of the most special times I've ever had. A little physical manifestation of the love that a father and daughter can have with each other, and on those days that we don't get along, I will hold that as an ember.

Dance Recital

Kinsey had her winter dance recital on Sunday. Unfortunately, the pictures didn't come out well, but here's what I got.

In the waiting area.

Connor hanging with Papa.

Blurry, but there.

She's the tall one in the center. Blurry, but beautiful.

The Heart of Joseph

I've always wondered if Joseph was intimidated by the child Jesus. As Jesus was growing up, did Joseph fear disciplining him? How do you discipline God? The Son of God? The long-awaited Messiah?

We don't get a lot of insight into Joseph from the Gospels. We know that he had a chance to "put Mary aside," because of her supposed infidelity, but he didn't. And we don't get any indication that he treated Jesus any differently because the boy wasn't "truly" his son. We know that he taught Jesus his trade of carpentry. I wonder what Joseph thought Jesus would become. Did he think Jesus would save the world through woodworking or did he just not know what else to do than to teach his adopted son what he would have taught his own flesh and blood.

What I think we see is a man of honor and a man of love, who accepted God's call on his life to be the earthly father of the Incarnation. But if we do nothing less with our lives than what Joseph did in how he honored God's call, then we could do much worse as children of God.

Bonus YouTube Thursday: 40 Movie Inspirational Speeches in Two Minutes

I was simultaneously inspired to attack the English, defeat the French, pass a law, win one for the Gipper, and run headlong into Mordor.

Caption This Picture!

Be funny!

Tokens Show: The Revolutionary Christmas

Just before the election, I posted a quote from Lee Camp, spoken during the Tokens Show in September. What is Tokens? Well, back then I said, "a theological variety show, what could be considered a "Christian version of Prairie Home Companion," called Tokens, although to describe it like that sell both Tokens and PHC short. It combines story telling, music, interviews, and skits, to talk about some of the pressing issues of the day." After going to see a live version last night, I would say that that description captures an idea of it, but it's really no good without seeing it in person.

This show's theme was The Revolutionary Christmas. And it was very, very good. Lee started it off with a monologue, then the Most Outstanding Horeb Mountain Boys gave us some bluegrass, which morphed into Jew-grass, which was pretty cool. Andrew Peterson sang. Buddy Green sang "Mary, Did You Know?" A group called the Annie Moses Band (mainly strings) did a song called Sussex Carol which was amazing and I immediately got it off Amazonmp3.com when I got home. There were some skits about Christmas, including a visit to the Christian Shopping Mall, complete with Jesus Figurines, including Terminator Jesus. Interviews with book authors that were more than just talks.

Look, it's tough for me to do it justice with words. If you can, you should really try to be there in person. It was fun, funny, poignant, thought-provoking, challenging, enjoyable, uncomfortable, and just really, really good. If you enjoy great music, pointed commentary, funny skits that step on your toes, singing, laughter, worship, any or all of those, you should be at the next one in March. You can keep track of it at www.tokensshow.com


Thanks to Lee and all the people that worked it to make it happen and even thanks to Lipscomb for allowing them to put it on.

Breakfast with Santa

Here are some pictures from Otter Creek's Family Christmas Breakfast on Saturday

TJ McCloud and the OC Kids Praise Team

The stage setup

Amy Westerman (who did a TON of work for this event) and my loverly wife

Kinsey and Connor in a holding area, waiting to see the big guy.

The kids with the man of the hour. Connor had zero fear of him.

Straight No Chaser: Holiday Spirits

Last year about this time, I discovered a video by an acapella group called Straight No Chaser doing a version of the 12 Days of Christmas.



Here's the story, condensed from this article in the NYTimes and this video.



The group formed back in the late 90s at Indiana University and when they graduated, they split up. They got back together in 2006 for a reunion and one of the guys had videos of a performance and put it up on YouTube since the members of the group were now living all over the country. By the beginning of December of 2007 about 100,000 people had seen it, which the group thought was pretty cool. But by the end of the first week of December, they had 200,000 total. By Christmas, 6 million people viewed it as well. And one of them was an executive from Atlantic Records who decided to call up and see if they wanted to get back together to capitalize on this and do a Christmas CD. And as you might be able to tell from the title of this post, they did, and it's called Holiday Spirits.



And it's good. They do a lot of standards as well as some fun ones, like Little Saint Nick. And they include the live version of 12 Days of Christmas, which is also good, but it's honestly better with the video. So, if you're looking for some new Christmas music, I'd give this one a shot. The production is great and the harmonies that these guys pull of is really, really excellent. Even if you don't typically like pop acapella (like me), give this one a listen.

The Politics of Mary

With last Sunday being Advent Sunday, I was thinking about Mary and the Annunciation from Gabriel and then Mary's Song after that in Luke 1:46-55

46And Mary said:
"My soul glorifies the Lord
47and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
48for he has been mindful
of the humble state of his servant.
From now on all generations will call me blessed,
49for the Mighty One has done great things for me—
holy is his name.
50His mercy extends to those who fear him,
from generation to generation.
51He has performed mighty deeds with his arm;
he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.
52He has brought down rulers from their thrones
but has lifted up the humble.
53He has filled the hungry with good things
but has sent the rich away empty.
54He has helped his servant Israel,
remembering to be merciful
55to Abraham and his descendants forever,
even as he said to our fathers."

We have a tendency to think of Mary as a very meek and mild little teenage girl, but when you look at her statement, it's an extremely political one. She is saying that God is going to bring down the mighty. Bring down the strong. He'll exalt the humble.

Lest we forget, Jesus' birth was not simply a spiritual event brought to form in a baby. It was God reiterating that He stands with the poor and the downtrodden. Now, Jesus as the Messiah didn't meet the expectations of the Jews. He didn't overthrow the Romans and restore Israel to prominence. He did something even more important. He reconciled us with God so that we can then bring reconciliation to the world and pursue God's purposes for this world. And that involves calling out the powerful when they abuse their power and it calls for lifting up the humble.

YouTube Thursday: Guitar Hero on Drums

I'm a casual gamer. I like playing on my Xbox360. Quite a few driving games, some shooters and RPGs, but definitely the music games, like Guitar Hero and especially Rock Band.

Yesterday, Scott Freeman sent me this video of a guy who hooked up a MIDI drumset to his computer and routed it through his console and came up with this on the hardest song in the entire Guitar Hero 3 game, Through Fire and Flame.



And just for some context, here's the same song played on the guitar controller.

Oh yeah, by a 9 year old....



And here's the music video for the actual song by Dragonforce, just for comparison to what real guitarists do.

MSNBC is the new FoxNews, The Daily Show, and Objective Journalism

We have a new Democratic president and apparently the cool thing to do is have a network in your corner.

"Thankfully," MSNBC has accepted this mantle. Witness Chris Matthews say that it's his job as a journalist to make Obama's presidency successful.



And truly thankfully, The Daily Show has taken their role as court jester seriously and is pointing out the hypocrisy.



Which they also did last night in pointing out some of the things that Obama and Hillary Clinton said about each other during the campaign. (Warning: some adult humor, if that kind of thing offends you...)



So, I'm curious. Is it possible for a news organization to be completely objective or is this a case of people recognizing biases and making them work for them? Do we need a completely objective media or is it just that all sides get presented equally?

Opryland Christmas

Every year, Opryland Hotel does a big deal with Christmas decorations, and so our life group from church decided to spend our 5th Sunday/fun Sunday out there.

These are the pictures.

Kinsey Pointing at a big Christmas Tree

Connor was asked to smile. This was the result.

Jenn and Connor-Banonnor

Kinsey and Mel outside in the cold

The Life Group (sans our absent friends)

Kinsey and Connor watching the fountain show.

Kinsey and Jenn twirling. Too cute.

This is the result of no nap and a lot of excitement. This was at 645 pm. He didn't wake up until 7 the next morning.