Christmas Pics

Here are some pics of the kids from Christmas Day.

Kinsey finding the Harry Potter dolls Santa left for her.

Connor finding his Thomas the Tank Engine playset.

Kinsey opening a Barbie cruise ship of some sort.

Connor opening his Diego set.

Thomas and Diego

The kids were very happy with what they got and they were even willing to give away some of their old toys to Goodwill.

Break

Well, I'm back.

After taking a 2 week break from both work and blogging, I've rejoined the world. It was definitely good to take a break and get away for a while to be with my family and just kind of be. As crazy as the holiday season is, I really enjoyed it and getting to see everyone that I did. I'll be getting back to a somewhat normal blogging schedule, perhaps a little lighter than in past years. Of course I've said that before and just gotten sucked back in like always so we'll see what happens this time.

I hope you had a good Christmas and a Happy New Year. Peace to you.

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...

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.

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.

The Word Is Alive

If you're going to be at Otter Creek tomorrow, here is the preservice video you'll see. If you won't, I guess you can watch it too.

Merry Winter Solstice

Well, I was going to this great post about the Winter Solstice and how the Celts view it at new birth and new beginnings, and how early Christianity adapted some of these ideas and applied them to Jesus' birth, even to the point of celebrating that birth then... But I didn't have time to research it and didn't want to sound too much like an idiot (or at least more than normal).

But since all that didn't work out, I just want to wish everyone a very happy Christmas. I'll only be blogging once next week, and you'll understand that when you see it next Friday, so I wish you and all of yours a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful start to 2008. Thanks for reading and taking the time out of your day read a little bit about my crazy life and thoughts.

Pax Vobiscum.

YouTube Thursday: 12 Days Straight No Chaser

One of the distinctives of the Churches of Christ is acapella music (without instruments). On one hand, it's easy to dismiss this dedication to a hermeneutic of fear as passe. But congregational acapella worship can be one of the most beautiful things you can hear.

And then there's the times when acapella music can simply kick butt, like in today's YouTube clip from 1998 where Straight No Chaser, the Indiana University Men's Chorus, sings the 12 Days of Christmas. Kind of.



If that embedded video isn't working, you can view it here...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Fe11OlMiz8

Update 12/2008: Straight No Chaser released a Christmas CD in 2008. Check it out!

Otter Creek Christmas Concert

Here are some of the pics from the Otter Creek Christmas Concert Sunday night.


Brandon addressing the troops beforehand.


The whole shebang.



Sheryl Thomas and George Rowe duet-ing.


Michael Lusk doing a great guitar solo.


The Rest of the Band.


Jeff Berry and Amanda Vickers duet-ing.


Never thought you'd see interpretive dance at a Church of Christ? Wrong.


My brother Reco just killing it during his solo. Man, I miss hearing him at church regularly.


Closing it out.

If you want to view the rest of the pictures I took, you can view them at http://picasaweb.google.com/philwilson27/ChristmasConcert2007

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Wow. Long, long weekend. Friday wasn't too bad. Ran around a little that night.

Saturday. Y at 8. To church at 10 to start setting up for the "He Is the King" Christmas show for the rehearsal at 1. At church until 4:45. Managed to get out and get Sheryl her Christmas gift, which because I'm awful at keeping secrets, I went ahead and gave her. It's a Nikon D40 and we've needed to get a new camera for a little while and something happened on Sunday that we wanted one for.

Saturday night. Sheryl and her mom went out and did some Christmas shopping. And Connor had come down with a fever. Sheryl's mom, being a saint, offered to take Connor home to spend Sunday with her.

Sunday. Church at 8:15. Home for a couple hours. Then out to Kinsey's winter dance recital at 3, which is why we wanted the new camera (for blur-less pictures). Sheryl's mom watching Connor meant she missed the recital, which was a major sacrifice for her and Dad. I rushed from the recital and managed to get to church at 4 (slightly late for the 3pm rehearsal). At church until the show at 6 and then breaking down all the stuff we'd set up on Saturday. Left at 8:45. Home to collapse before getting up for work...

Christmas Pictures 2007

Pictures from Breakfast with Santa or Family Christmas Breakfast or whatever it was called this year.

Christmas Before and After

It's kind of amazing how quickly things can change in a day. The picture below was taken at 3:43 pm yesterday.



















The following picture was taken at 10:30pm.


















And with that Christmas is officially over at the Wilson house.

In other news (literally), last Thursday I got a call from Jamey Tucker, the Religion and Ethics reporter for WKRN Channel 2. He wanted to talk to a couple of bloggers about the top stories for the last year so he called me and Gavin Richardson. We met at Bongo Java and talked for about an hour or so. We talked about the Da Vinci Code, the Bellevue Community Church problems, Ted Haggard, the Pope's comments about Islam, Belmont's board allowing non Baptists and several other topics. Of course, between me and Gavin, we both got a combined 10 seconds of air time, which might be good for Gavin, since he said the pope made a mistake... You can view it here if you wish. It was actually a really great and fun conversation, no matter how much of it actually made it to air.

Well, have a good week. I'm back at work, which has it's pluses and minuses after being off for a week. More later this week.

Pictures from Christmas

As promised, here are some pictures from the Christmas weekend.

Kinsey waiting patiently for present opening to begin.

Kinsey receiving a very large puzzle present.

Kinsey with Emily, the American Girl doll she got for Christmas from Gee and Dad (my mom and dad).

I guess Connor and I do look a little bit alike.





















This is Christmas morning. And this is the slowest that Kinsey was on that morning.

Santa came through for her.

Sheryl's mom, and sister-in-law Sarah with the family.

Sarah and Connor together.

Sheryl's brother, Paul with a tagalong.

It was a great holiday and we were very glad to see everyone and to spend some great time with all of them. That's the best thing about the holidays and remembering that makes it such. Hope you had a great one too.

Santa Claus is not God

Several years ago, the Nashville Scene conducted an interview about Christmas with several then-local members of the clergy. It was a very interesting piece that gave some really cool insights into many different facets of Christianity, as well as how some Jews view the holidays as well.

One the quotes by Randall Falk, a Jewish Rabbi, was this

I have to tell you that, as a Jew, I've always been thankful that we didn't have to deal with Santa Claus, primarily because the day has to come when you tell the child there really isn't a Santa Claus that we've built up as this benevolent giver. And then the child, I think, begins to wonder, "Well, if there isn't any Santa Claus, maybe there isn't a God." This whole business of rectifying the mythology that we've created can be a very hard problem.

This has been a quote that has stuck with me for nine years, obviously. And it's something that I've really wondered about. I don't remember when I stopped believing in Santa Claus. I think it was about the time that I figured that unless he could stop time, there was no way Santa could be in every boy and girl's house at exactly midnight. So, I could buy the fat man coming down the chimney after flying from the North Pole with eight reindeer, but not his ability to stop time. Even with that, it's something that obviously didn't affect my belief in God, but I do wonder if the close association of the birth of Jesus and Santa Claus could lead some people to doubt God.

It strikes me that Santa is the first tangible experience of faith that most kids have. They are told that if they are good, then they will receive a reward of that (kind of a conditional love that the article discusses as well). And lo and behold on Christmas morning, they do receive those gifts and so their faith in Santa is encouraged and cultivated until they hear at school about parents putting the toys together or the child that didn't get much of anything, if anything for Christmas.

Now, I love that Kinsey believes in Santa. I love that she truly believes that he is coming down our gas fireplace on Christmas Eve and putting together her toys. However, I really want her to know that Christmas is more than that, and more particularly that Santa Claus is NOT God. God doesn't answer prayers the way Santa fulfills the Christmas list. God is not a jolly fat man that's just waiting to give us every present we want, the Sky Fairy as Donald Miller has called this ideology. And God does not love us conditionally, only being good to us when we are good. And Christmas has to be about more than receiving, more than a Materialism Day. Otherwise, it would be a heck of a lot more profitable to believe in Santa and not God.

I wrote last year about the birth of Christ, about how he was born into scandal and blood and poverty. As we are about to celebrate his birth again and to lavish love on the people around us, I hope we can remember our place in this, as the enactors of his mercies on those around us.

The gift of the love of Christ has been given. I hope we can also give it to others.

It's a YouTube Miracle!

Last Christmas, you may have gotten forwarded a video of a guy, Carson Williams, who had put lights on his house and synced them up with the Trans-Siberian Orchestra song, Wizards of Winter. Here it is.



Well, apparently, Mr. Williams' neighborhood didn't like all the cars sitting in front of their houses and clogging up the streets so he had to shut it down. But this year, he's moved it to a part and gone from 25,000 lights to 80,000 lights. Here are two videos from it, one is a repeat and better video of the one above, the other is a new one, both songs are by the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, and both videos are much better quality than the one above.

Wizards of Winter



Christmas Eve/Sarejevo 12-24



Both are really cool to watch, although it loses a little of its coolness factor now that it's not on a house.

One final Christmas video. One of my favorite things about YouTube is being able to find old music videos from the 80's and 90's. I'll be sharing some more of those in the future, but for now, here are David Bowie and Bing Crosby singing Little Drummer Boy/Peace on Earth.



Merry Christmas