Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Auld Lang Syne

What the heck does Auld Lang Syne mean? I hear it sung every New Years but had no clue what it means. In fact I couldn’t even remember anything but the first line! Well this year I looked it up and discovered that this old Scottish phrase is roughly translated as “old long since,” or “days gone by.” So at New Years, as we look forward to the year that has arrived in all its newness, we pause to look back. We ask “Should old aquaintance be forgot?” to which the chorus responds - not at all. The song really is about relationships. It is a song about remembering and celebrating old relationships as we look to the new year. There are many relationships that I will be remembering and celebrating this year...my family, my church family, my friends and each of my children especially. I will also be celebrating my amazing wife - all that we have shared, all that we will share in this new year and just how special she is to me. There is one other relationship that I would like to celebrate this New Years as well, and that is my relationship with Jesus. I think that as I hear this song played over the next few days, I would like it to be a reminder to stop and give thanks for my relationship with my Lord, Saviour and Friend. I also hope to begin 2009 with a re-commitment to that relationship, to re-kindle and fan into flame that relationship and aim to make 2009 a year of worship, passionate commitment and hope. I don’t know where your relationship with Jesus may stand - close and personnel, distant or neglected, non-existent or perhaps you have never even considered it. Wherever it may be, let me invite you to at least consider it this year and to make it a part of your New Years Celebration. Here are some words to think about: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” Matthew 11:28 “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” Jeremiah 29:13 “I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my father I have made known to you.” John 15:14-15

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

White Christmas


Even after two big snowfalls and shoveling four driveways with my boys, I am still looking forward to a white Christmas. The idea of a White Christmas truly has become a romanticized ideal in North American Pop culture. Heck it even has its own theme song! Written by Irving Berlin and made famous by Bing Crosby (who sang it in two movies, the second of which was actually called White Christmas, in1954), the song is a holiday classic. One of my favourite things about this time of year, is to be able to look outside the window after dark, and to see snowflakes dancing in the beams of streetlights, glistening in the golden glow, and creating a clean white blanket over the earth. I admit, it gives me a warm and fuzzy feeling. As much as I love the idea of a White Christmas , however, I do find myself wondering what it has to do with Christmas?
The first Christmas took place in Bethlehem, whose Mediterranean climate makes rain far more likely than snow, which is rare. Even rarer would be an accumulation great enough for sleighs making it unlikely that one might hear “sleigh bells in the snow”. When you read about the birth of Christ in the bible, there is no mention of snow at all. Snow doesn’t play any role in that original Christmas. I live in Canada, however, and many of my Christmas memories do include snow. It is just a reality about where I live and thus a significant part of my Christmas experience.
There are numerous scripture passages that do mention snow, and one of them in particular seems relevant. Psalm 51 is a Psalm in which King David is repenting of sin and in it he makes this request to God:
“Cleanse me with hyssop and I will be clean; wash me and I will be whiter than snow.” (NIV)
It is God who offers forgiveness and cleansing from our sin. At Christmas we celebrate the coming of Jesus into the world, God the Son taking on human flesh. We celebrate His life, which would see Him go to the cross and shed His blood, poured out for many for the forgiveness of of sins. By virtue of His sacrifice, we might be forgiven, cleansed and washed as white as snow. So, as I look for the snow falling through the streetlight beams and making a blanket of white, I will try to remember this fact; that I have been made white as snow and that is a White Christmas worth celebrating.

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Advent Calendar

Every year, my father-in-law likes to buy my kids an advent calendar. It is a daily calendar with little windows to open (often with chocolate behind them!) that counts down the days until Christmas. A couple of years ago, I remember how disappointed he was that after weeks of searching, he could not find one that had anything to do with Jesus. There was Santa and Rudolf, Frosty and even Barbie! But no Jesus anywhere. How ironic it is, that these calendars which mark the Advent season, which is supposed to help us focus on Jesus, seem to just contribute to distracting us from the point. Advent is supposed to be a time where we remember God’s people waiting expectantly for the coming of the Messiah, as well as looking forward and waiting for the second coming of Jesus. Much of this waiting however, seems to have been lost. I don’t want to be too critical of my own culture and generation alone, because as I think about, being distracted from what God is doing, especially around Christmas, is not a new thing at all.

Have you ever thought back to that first Christmas, when God entered the world in the form of a baby. We often have pageants and nativity scenes in which we celebrate all who were there to witness the amazing event: Mary, Joseph, maybe some animals, some shepherds and eventually some wise men from the east. But this was the coming of God into the world, where was everyone else? Although God’s people had been waiting for the coming of the Messiah for hundreds of years, when the event actually came, most of them missed it. They were distracted. Maybe they had expected something bigger or just different. Maybe they were distracted by the Census that was being taken which had everyone in the Roman world on the move. Strangely, the census meant that there were probably thousands of people in the town of Bethlehem at the time, but they all seemed to miss it. The only ones who seemed to get it were some shepherds, to whom that angels announced the event. They were an odd choice when you think about. They were marginalized from the religious community because their occupation made it a challenge to fastidiously maintain religious law. But then again their occupation meant they were out in the field away from a lot of the distraction going on in town. The wise men got it as well and they were not even a part of that religious community. But from miles away they saw a star and for some reason they were not distracted but rather paid close attention to this phenomenon. They too would get to see the infant Jesus and worship Him.

So how will we be? Will we be distracted? There is a lot to distract us, and I often find myself being distracted. It is a great question for this time of year and every time of year for that matter. Am I distracted from what God is doing? Am I distracted from what God would have me doing?


Here is a link to a song I recorded a number of years ago that reflects on the theme of waiting:
Waiting

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Santa Claus

My youngest daughter is terrified of Santa. She was scared when we saw him at the mall, and then when he made an appearance at a recent Christmas party she was petrified. She sat on her uncle’s lap, held his arms for dear life, and as she was shaking she buried her head into his chest and tried to disappear hoping Santa wouldn’t notice her. We finally had to whisper to her that it was just her grandpa dressed up like Santa and that there was nothing to worry about. When I thought about it later it occurred to me just how strange a thing this character has become. In any other context a big fat hairy stranger who invites children onto his lap with the promise of special presents would in no way be something we would teach our children to embrace. But this time of year Jolly Old St. Nick, can actually be kind of fun - just not to my daughter. My older three children don’t believe in Santa either. When we were adopting our oldest two children (who were 8 and 5 at the time) we recognized how important honesty and trust were going to be as we forged our new relationships. We also knew that they were getting to the age that they might here the truth about Santa and thought that it would be best to hear it from us. We made the decision to tell them, and our other son (who was three), about Santa. We told them that Santa was not a real person, but rather a character much like Buzz Lightyear. We were surprised by the reaction as our youngest son exclaimed “What?!?...Buzz Lightyear is not real!!!” And that was that. For one reason or another it seems that Santa hasn’t played a huge role in our family’s Christmas celebrations. Santa is everywhere this time of year, and we don’t hide from it or react against it, but when it comes to the way we celebrate at home, once again, for the sake of my youngest daughters sanity, he will play a very small role. It is a good thing that Santa is not really the heart if this yearly celebration; if he were then we would have a lot to miss out on. On the contrary, I think that our situation has actually helped us to focus on the true meaning of the season. After all, Christmas is about the coming of our Lord and King in the form of a baby. It is about Immanuel - God with us. It is about the incarnation. It is about Jesus:

Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross! (Philippians 2:6-8)

Although a jolly, plump fellow with a big sack of gifts can be fun, the greatest gift of all still remains the gift of Jesus. I put some thoughts down in a song a few years ago so I thought I might share them with you today. Here is a link to a rough cut demo of The Greatest Gift of All, and the lyrics below.
Enjoy!


The Greatest Gift of All


They say that wise men still seek Him
They still call on His name
And when they seek they still find Him
What am I looking for? What am I looking for?

The greatest gift of all, still answers when I call
The greatest gift of all is You, is You
The greatest gift of all, came wrapped in swaddling cloth
The greatest gift of all is You, is You
Jesus Jesus

They say the humble still seek Him
The One who so humbly came
His example to follow
What am I looking for? What am I looking for?

The Christmas feeling is so elusive, no one ever has defined it
If I don’t know what I’m looking for
How will I ever find it? How will I ever find it?

Monday, December 1, 2008

A Charlie Brown Christmas


Let me go on record as saying that the soundtrack to the “A Charlie Brown Christmas” television special, that first aired in 1965, is the greatest television soundtrack ever. It has also, in my opinion, become the greatest Christmas album of all time, bar none. I love this record and it is a Christmas time must play around my house. It seems that I am not the only one who likes it as it really is a holiday classic and is a perennial best seller. Ironically, this jazz soundtrack was a source of concern for network executives who thought that it did not suite a children’s animated program. Apparently the sound track was not the only concern that they had. Along with concerns about the lack of a laugh track and the use of child voice actors, executives did not want the reciting of the birth of Christ from the Gospel of Luke which is spoken by the character Linus: And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. 10And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. 11For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. 12And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. 13And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, 14Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. (Luke 2: 8-14) Charles Shultz (the Peanuts creator) was adamant to keep it in and is even reported to have said “If we don’t tell the true meaning of Christmas, who will?” What a great thought for all of us who claim to follow Jesus Christ. The Christmas season will go on with or without us. It has become so big, so extravagant and so commercially important that it will continue to be a mainstay of North American culture for a long time, whether or not we recognize Jesus at the centre of it. And ironically, even for those who do believe in Jesus, it can be so busy and overwhelming that it distracts us from our relationship with Christ rather than being a celebration that helps us focus on Him. Let us first and foremost endeavour to keep Jesus at the centre of our Christmas celebrations this year, and then also remember that we are Christ’s ambassadors, and thus have the responsibility to tell others about what lays at the heart of this season. If we don’t tell the true meaning of Christmas, who will? As it turns out the television special, despite the executives' concerns, was a smash hit. It was a commercial and critical success, 50% of US televisions tuned in to watch it, and it won an Emmy and a Peabody award. And about the scripture reading...at least one critic, Harriet Van Horne of the New York World-Telegram, said, "Linus' reading of the story of the Nativity was, quite simply, the dramatic highlight of the season."