Jauchzet, frohlocket! auf, preiset die Tage, Rühmet, was heute der Höchste getan! Lasset das Zagen, verbannet die Klage, Stimmet voll Jauchzen und Fröhlichkeit an! Dienet dem Höchsten mit herrlichen Chören, Laßt uns den Namen des Herrschers verehren!
Shout for joy, exult, rise up, glorify the day,
praise what today the highest has done!
Abandon hesitation, banish lamentation,
begin to sing with rejoicing and exaltation!
Serve the highest with glorious choirs,
let us honour the name of our ruler!
J.S. Bach: Cantata for Christmas Day
Text by Christian Friedrich Henrici (Picander) Paul Gerhardt, Martin Luther
The Age of Augustus, the Birth of Christ, Jean-Léon Gérôme
Well, all right, let’s talk about the baby Jesus. Why was he born in Bethlehem? Luke tells us: because the then global superpower wanted to raise taxes, so told everyone to sign up and pay up. That’s how the Middle East worked then, and, with minor adjustments, that’s how it works today. This was Caesar’s world, and unless you were fool enough to try to buck the system you shrugged your shoulders and did what you were told.
Yes, says Luke; but watch what happens next. The child who is born is the true king from the house of David. And all the ancient prophecies spoke of the coming royal child from David’s line as the king, not of one small country far away, certainly not of a heavenly kingdom removed from this earth, but of the earth itself, the world claimed by Caesar and taxed by Caesar, the world where the rich get rich at the expense of the poor while telling them they are giving them freedom, justice and peace. The world of empires from that day to this.
Luke’s story digs underneath this typical story of everyday empire and undermines it with the explosive news of a different empire, a different emperor, a different kind of emperor. Jesus isn’t simply another politician on whom everyone can pin their hopes and who will then let them down. His way of establishing God’s justice and peace on the earth was different to Caesar’s, different to the usual power games and money games, different in source, different in method, different in effect. We are today hungry for exactly that difference, and Christmas night is the time to ponder it.
A Classic Michael Spencer Post From Christmas 2008
My favorite piece of liturgy in the world is a sentence in the opening section of the Traditional Service of Nine Lessons and Carols broadcast round the world on the BBC. Why is it so moving? Because it is beautiful and true. Each year, as more and more of those I know join the saints in light, this single portion of the prayer becomes more and more evocative of the power of Gospel hope. Somehow, hope returns, over and over, to be the most powerful gift of the Gospel for me in this life.
The entire opening is a work of art in language, full of lucid prose statements of the Gospel, but the tear-inducing, singularly moving line for me is in boldface:
The Dean: Beloved in Christ, be it this Christmas Eve our care and delight to prepare ourselves to hear again the message of the angels: in heart and mind to go even unto Bethlehem and see this thing which is come to pass, and with the Magi adore the Child lying in his Mother’s arms.
Let us read and mark in Holy Scripture the tale of the loving purposes of God from the first days of our disobedience unto the glorious Redemption brought us by this Holy Child; and let us make this chapel, dedicated to his pure and lowly Mother, glad with our carols of praise:
But first let us pray for the needs of his whole world; for peace and goodwill over all the earth; for unity and brotherhood within the Church he came to build, within the dominions of our sovereign lady Queen Elizabeth, within this University and City of Cambridge, and in the two royal and religious Foundations of King Henry VI here and at Eton:
And let us at this time remember in his name the poor and the helpless, the cold, the hungry and the oppressed; the sick in body and in mind and them that mourn; the lonely and the unloved; the aged and the little children; and all who know not the loving kindness of God.
Lastly let us remember before God all those who rejoice with us, but upon another shore and in a greater light, that multitude which no man can number, whose hope was in the Word made flesh, and with whom we for evermore are one.
These prayers and praises let us humbly offer up to the throne of heaven, in the words which Christ himself hath taught us: Our Father…
All: Our Father, which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy Name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, in earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; And forgive us our trespasses, As we forgive them that trespass against us; And lead us not into temptation, But deliver us from evil. Amen.
The Dean: The Almighty God bless us with his grace: Christ give us the joys of everlasting life: and unto the fellowship of the citizens above may the King of Angels bring us all.
Those who rejoice with us, on another shore and in a greater light.
I have many friends and family in that multitude. Usually I miss them. But with this line, I envy them.
It is evocative of the vision given to us in Hebrews.
Hebrews 12:22 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, 23 and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, 24 and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.
Just a glimpse, for a moment, of the completed work of the Christ-child. The righteous “made perfect.” The assembly of those who all God’s firstborn sons in his only begotten son. The New Jerusalem, where the journey is completed. Where faith in the Word made flesh has come to glorious completion.
It is a “greater Light” than we know. It has always shone in the darkness, but in Bethlehem it was incarnated. In Jesus it was manifested. In the cross and resurrection it proved that the darkness cannot overcome it.
Now, the saints dwell in that light. From another shore, they tell us that the Lamb is worthy of our faith and that their hope was secure.
In that city, there is no sun, for Lamb is the Light. But at this very moment, as we sit in the artificial twinkling lights of our American Christmases, full (too full) of the best that this paltry life has to offer, the saints on another shore, and in a greater light, surround us with rejoicing and urge us on to the City of God. They urge us to live in the hope of the Word made flesh, and to know we will not be disappointed.
Whatever your tradition tells you today about those who have gone before us, you can pause and contemplate this multitude that cannot be counted. You can hear their song and feel the human and divine connection we share with them and with all Christians everywhere. You can contemplate those you know who await you there, and you can wonder at the particular joys in which they worship the Light of lights.
You and I can determine to join them in hope, faith and love of Jesus our King and Brother. We can rejoice with them, even for them. We can live in the hope which they now experience as reality itself.
So a Happy beginning of the Christmas Season to all of the Internet Monk family. The darkness of Advent yields. Christ is born and he will gather together, like a shepherd, all those who are his, and bring them together “upon another shore and in a greater light.”
Holy Father, We praise you for glimpses of the completed work of your Son; glimpses that include many we love and long to see again; glimpses we pray include ourselves and our children. May we live in the one enduring light, even in a time of great darkness. May our ultimate celebration of life’s greatest gifts be on another shore with those who now, in a greater light, beckon and encourage us onward and home. Make these days of Christmas filled with Christ himself, and may our enduring, ever-increasing hope in him be our path through this world and these times. For your mercy to bring to yourself all those who hoped in the Word made flesh, we give you praise. Shed the light of the Holy Spirit in our hearts that we may never despair, but always fight the good fight with faith, hope and love. For Jesus, your Light, your Mercy and your Love, we give you imperfect, but genuine thanks. More of him, less of us, and ultimately, all of yourself. This we pray in Jesus’ name.
Chapter 17 — How Old is the Grand Canyon seems like a topic that has already been discussed. However, the preceding chapters talked about how old the rock layers were based on the relative laws of deposition and radiometric dating. What this chapter talks about is when those rock layers were eroded to form the canyon. In other words, we aren’t dating the rocks, we are dating the hole in the rock.
So we know the canyon has to be younger than the rocks that it cuts through. At the rim we have the Kaibab Formation about 270 million years old. But even younger rock layers compose the Grand Staircase that had to be deposited, hardened, and cut through before the rocks of the Kaibab and older underlying layers were eroded. Geologists studying the Grand Staircase know that the evidence of the regional uplift means the oldest possible age of the Grand Canyon would be 80 million years. And there the agreement ends, there is active debate currently among geologists whether the Grand Canyon was incised beginning 6 million years ago, or whether there was incision of a paleo-canyon long before that.
At the heart of the controversy is when did the Colorado River cut its way through the Kaibab Arch. The Kaibab Arch is no minor feature; it represents uplift of 3,000 feet above the surrounding region. Water does not flow uphill, so how did the Colorado River manage to cut through such an impressive topographic high point? Two of the authors/editors of this book, Carol Hill and Wayne Ranney, are in the thick of this debate.
Scenario 1 is shown in Figure 17-3. The up folded layers are the Kaibab Arch. The diagrams represent increasing time from A to D. Streams to the west and east of the Kaibab uplift were initially separate stream systems as shown in A and B. Arrows show the direction of flow. The Kaibab Arch was a drainage divide. The stream on the west would be cutting downward and cutting eastward into the arch by headward erosion. The headward erosion would have eventually breached the divide and connected with the stream to the east and diverting it to the west. This is a commonly observed phenomenon today known as the process of stream piracy.
Author Carol Hill climbing up to a cave entrance in the Grand Canyon
Carol Hill is one of a small number of geologists who have rappelled down or climbed up the vertical canyon walls to explore and study caves in the limestone formations. She has studied and radiometrically dated speleothems (e.g. stalactites and stalagmites) in those caves. Hill and her colleagues have been able to determine when the ancient water table began to drop in elevation as the western canyon was cutting downward. Her controversial theory is shown in Scenario 2 in Figure 17-5.
She has argued that subterranean drainage networks formed in the limestone under the arch. As those networks worked their way eastward they eventually were able to interceptthe eastern stream via sinkholes and swallow holes to create flow westward underneath the Kaibab Arch; as process known as karst piracy. Collapse of overlying rocks into the caves eventually opened up a surface passage through which the river could flow through the uplift. As the book says (page 175):
This scenario may sound far-fetched to those not familiar with cave processes, but this very phenomenon can be observed today in places like southwestern Germany. In the region of the Swabian Alb, water from the Danube River- flowing eastward toward the Black Sea- suddenly disappears down sinkholes, travels over 7 miles through caves, passes under a high ridge, and reappears on the other side to discharge the pirated water into the Rhine River and then north into the North Sea.
As a matter of fact your humble blog author’s specialty is Karst Hydrogeology. I was mentored by the late great James F. Quinlan as his assistant at Mammoth Cave National Park. Under his tutelage, I was able to study many examples of karst piracy in the Mammoth Cave region. While working on remediating Superfund sites near Bloomington, Indiana for a major corporation; I formulated a hypothesis that waste material dumped in a stream channel caused pirating to the springs on the other side of the ridge. It was necessary for the company to operate a treatment plant to treat the contamination in the springs. I hypothesized that by removing the waste, sealing the sinkholes, and restoring the previous surface drainage; a majority of the contamination at the springs could be reduced. The company, with EPA and state approval, did just that and it worked; contamination has dropped below detection limits at the springs.
So I favor Carol’s hypothesis; but time, and additional evidence will tell. And that is the point made by the book in the closing parts of this chapter. YEC often point out arguments between conventional geologist as “proof” that their theories are based on flimsy evidence and wishful thinking (YEC- an irony free community ☺). But argument and evidence, more argument and counter-evidence is exactly how real science works. And in the process everyone’s understanding increases. When someone points out data that contradicts your hypothesis, you must then modify your hypothesis to take the new data into account. The idea that you start with a conclusion, then shoehorn the data to fit the conclusion and ignore or arm-wave the data contradicting your conclusion isn’t science: it’s anti-science. I’ll let the book have the last word (page 177):
“For the Grand Canyon, there is broad agreement and a high degree of certainty on the timing and history of each rock layer’s formation, with oldest rocks dating back roughly halfway through the Earth’s 4.5-billion-year history. Our understanding of exactly how these layers were carved to form the Grand Canyon is a work in progress, though much has been learned in the last 50 years – and all if it is increasingly at odds with the flood geology model.”
Chapter 18 — Life in the Canyon: Packrats, Pollen, and Giant Sloths looks at the plants and animals that began to occupy the canyon as it formed, with particular evidence in what’s preserved in cave deposits. Caves found today represent the most recent ones to be opened and inhabited; older caves would have been eroded away.
The white-throated woodrat (Neotoma albigula)
The white-throated woodrat (Neotoma albigula) is commonly known as the packrat. They live in nooks and crannies that contain not only their collections of plant materials, but also the leftover of their ancestor’s collections. This results in a layered nest or midden, containing multiple generations of collected plant material. Because packrats limit their foraging to about 300 feet of their nests, whatever is found is representative of what existed close by. Cemented and preserved by the dry climate and addition of rat urine these middens reveal a history of changing climate and a time when the Grand Canyon was much wetter and colder than today. Packrat middens and dung contain remains that indicate the lower reaches of the Grand Canyon were populated by juniper and ash forests.
Remains of the extinct giant ground sloth and it’s fossilized dung have been found in Rampart Cave in the Grand Canyon. Radiocarbon dating of the dung has yielded ages of 35,000 years for the oldest layers and 11,000 years for the youngest layers. Again, ash and juniper pollen indicated a much wetter and cooler climate.
The significance of the wetter climate data is that much, if not most of the carving of the canyon takes place during large floods of 10-year, 25-year, even 50-100-year return intervals. The bed of the Grand Canyon is covered in gravel and boulder deposits (sometimes as thick as 75 feet) that “armor” the underlying bedrock from erosion by the river most of the time. But the large floods move this bed load and their movement impacts the bedrock like jackhammers; so most of actual carving probably takes place then. At the close of the ice age, when the glaciers were melting, there was a lot more water available to do this carving.
The fact that giant sloths went extinct long before the arrival of humans in the Grand Canyon pose a major problem for the supposed dispersion of animals and humans over planet Earth from the ark’s resting place in the distant Middle East. The time of the so-called dispersion would have had to occur in the last 5,000 years; which allows no time between the arrival of the giant sloths and the arrival of humans. Viewed from the modern geology perspective, the piles of dung that contain plant material from a different climate and that significantly predate the arrival of humans present no real challenges. To quote from page 183:
The span of time represented by radiocarbon ages is consistent with the extended habitation by generations of sloths, the plant material in their dung fits with a more temperate climate during the last ice age, and the subsequent extinction of these creatures is consistent with climate changes that made conditions inhospitable to their way of life.
“Luke is interested in the symbolism of the manger, and the lack of room in the lodgings may be no more than a vague surmise in order to explain the mention of a manger. This manger is not a sign of poverty but is probably meant to evoke God’s complaint against Israel in Isaiah 1:3: “The ox knows its owner and the donkey knows the manger of its lord; but Israel has not known me, and my people have not understood me.” Luke is proclaiming that the Isaian dictum has been repealed. Now, when the good news of the birth of their Lord is proclaimed to the shepherds, they go to find the baby in the manger and begin to praise God. In other words, God’s people have begun to know the manger of their Lord.”
As we prepare to celebrate the birth of Christ this week, I thought we might look again at Luke’s nativity narrative. It is a “pastoral” account, emphasizing the shepherds and the manger. These elements draw Luke’s attention because they evoke themes from the Hebrew Bible he sees fulfilled in the birth of the Christ-child.
• • •
The manger. Luke’s deceptively simple birth narrative sets the rustic story of a baby’s birth within huge historical contexts. First, as Raymond Brown says above, the Gospel writer is weaving a tale that completes another square in the quilt of salvation history, as told by the storytellers and prophets of the Hebrew Bible. Second, Luke evokes images of Caesar Augustus, the “son of god,” the “savior,” and “lord” of the world, who was acclaimed for bringing “peace on earth” through Roman power.
The contrast magnifies the strange, upside-down ways of God’s grace. As Luke Timothy Johnson says, “Nothing very glorious is suggested by the circumstances of the Messiah’s birth. But that is Luke’s manner, to show how God’s fidelity is worked out in human events even when appearances seem to deny his presence or power” (The Gospel of Luke: Sacra Pagina). Humble people in simple settings bring about monumental events.
The shepherds. This observation applies to Luke’s inclusion of the shepherds in this narrative as well. His mention of “shepherds” evokes a remarkably complex set of Biblical reflections, from the patriarchal stories and poems in the Torah to the adventures of David, to the promises given by the prophets, such as Micah 4-5, which foretold that Judah’s salvation would be announced near Bethlehem, at Migdal Eder — the “tower of the flock” (Micah 4:8).
As you look at your creche in this Christmas season, as you delight in watching children in their bathrobes with shepherds’ crooks in their hands, as you think about the birth of a baby, wrapped in swaddling clothes, and lying in a feeding trough, thank God that he depends not upon grand political power, the exercise of power and domination, grand strategies and machinations.
Writer-director [Kenneth] Lonergan, best known for 2000’s Oscar-nominated “You Can Count on Me” and the more recent “Margaret,” has a phenomenal ear for intimate, authentic dialogue, for how people really talk, not how movies think they do.
I have heard several film critics and interviewers remark upon Kenneth Lonergan’s ability to capture genuine human speech in his films.
In his latest, the devastating Manchester by the Sea, its characters, led by Casey Affleck, speak and interact with each other with thoroughly authentic dialogue. Many of these conversations are genuinely funny and true to life, especially those between Lee and his nephew, played by a remarkable Lucas Hedges. As a viewer, I had no sense that I was watching a movie. It felt like I was observing an actual life story unfolding before me.
Of course, what that entails is a movie full of mundane conversations. Most of the words, in the final analysis, as in everyday life, don’t add up to much in the way of profundity or insight.
What really matters in Manchester by the Sea is silence. Ubiquitous spaces between the words generate the powerful punch in the gut this movie brings. The film is full of silence. The silences of an empty, grieving man who doesn’t know what to say in social settings. The awkward silences of those trying to relate to him. Excruciating silences of guilt and blame. Lonely silences that explode suddenly in arguments and bar fights. In the conversations and events we witness in this story, there are both thin crevices and expansive canyons of silence.
At times this verbal silence is accompanied by expressive classical music — pulsing, passionate works of Handel and Albinoni in particular — that pull the curtain back on the inner landscapes of grief haunting these people. Especially Affleck, who goes all in in this role, disappearing into a man marked by stunned, ineludible grief. Life has pummeled him into silence.
The film’s pervasive silence gives the few revelatory words its characters speak a power that moved me to tears on several occasions.
The story is relatively simple. Lee Chandler, a janitor in Boston, gets the news that his brother Joe, a fisherman in Manchester by the Sea, has died. As Lee takes care of the post mortem affairs, the attorney informs him that Joe made arrangements for Lee to take care of his teenage son Patrick if he should die. The film is built upon the structure of this transition and the decisions Lee must make.
As the narrative unfolds during the days and months after Joe’s death through events and flashbacks, we come to realize the layers of sadness, disappointment, and grief that make this situation unbearable for Lee and others in the family and community. In particular, we learn of one past tragedy that changed and colored everything, weighing down Lee and everyone else in relentless and merciless ways.
Manchester by the Sea puts a true-to-life human face on the Bible’s statement that all creation is “groaning.” In this case, it’s a groaning too deep for words.
Highly recommended.
Kenneth Turan says it well:
At home with deep, almost operatic emotions and willing to join them to that persistent strain of unmistakable humor, “Manchester by the Sea” reaffirms Lonergan’s position as one of our most daring and perceptive writer-directors, determined to confront large questions about the pain life causes and the degree to which it is survivable, if it is survivable at all. You can’t ask more from a filmmaker, or a film, than that.
Manchester by the Sea (2016)
Director: Kenneth Lonergan
Writer: Kenneth Lonergan
Starring: Casey Affleck, Michelle Williams,
Kyle Chandler, Lucas Hedges
Sermon: Advent IV: “God with Us” – A Challenging Blessing (Matt. 1:18-25)
Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet:
“Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
and they shall name him Emmanuel,”
which means, “God is with us.” When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife, but had no marital relations with her until she had borne a son; and he named him Jesus.
• Matthew 1:18-25
• • •
One of the precious titles for Jesus we celebrate at Christmas time is “Emmanuel,” which means “God with us.”
When we use that title, we tend to think of it in completely positive ways, in ways that bless and benefit our lives.
God is with us to save us, to redeem us, to reconcile us to God.
God is with us to take our side in life’s battles and defeat the powers of sin, death, and hell that are arrayed against us.
God is with us to teach us and help us understand who God is, and by extension, what God has created this world and human beings to be — to show us the purpose and meaning of the life God created.
God is with us to identify with us in our human struggles and sufferings. God is with us to have compassion on us, to touch and heal us.
God is with us to comfort us in our sorrows.
God is with us to forgive our sins, to cleanse and renew us so that we might experience the fullness of what it means to be human: to love others, to bless the world by living lives of justice and peace.
Of course, all of this is true and wonderful and worth celebrating. But I want to suggest that “God with us” might not always seem so positive. As a blessing, “God with us” is a challenging blessing.
Today’s Gospel story tells about the birth of Jesus. Its focus is on Joseph, who learned that the woman to whom he was engaged to be wed, Mary, was pregnant. As the text indicates, this meant the real possibility of public disgrace. So the next step was that Joseph thought he would have to break the engagement.
When the angel appeared to Joseph, his first words were, “Joseph, do not be afraid.” Is it any wonder? Joseph found himself in a real pickle. This wasn’t what he signed up for! The first thing “God with us” meant to Joseph was that this baby’s arrival was going to turn Joseph’s life upside down, change all his plans, and do so in such a way that he and his family could be publicly humiliated.
I don’t think that’s usually what we think about when we celebrate “God with us.”
The simple point I’m trying to make is that when God comes to us, it may not only bring blessing but also cause disruption.
God may come and find us unprepared to handle the changes God will bring.
God may come to tell us hard truths that we will find hard to face.
God may come and we could face decisions that will be difficult to make.
God may come and it might suddenly become clear that we have assumptions about life that we need to outgrow, blindspots that need to be dealt with, challenges we’ve been avoiding but which now must be faced.
One thing is clear: God did not come all this way, God did not take on human flesh, be born as a baby, live and teach and heal and serve, die on a cross and be raised again just so he could pat us all on the back and say, “I’m okay and you’re okay; let’s just keep doing what we’re doing and all will be fine.”
No! This was God breaking into his creation to disrupt and heal. This was the dawning of God’s rule in the world. Jesus’ birth to Joseph and Mary in Bethlehem was the sign of a whole new creation being born, and as all of you who have children know, the process of birth is never painless and simple. Neither is the process of life after God comes to be with us. When God comes, he means to have us all go through the process of new birth, which also involves painful contractions and intense transitions.
We get a tiny little picture of that in the holy disruption God caused in the life of Joseph and Mary on that first Christmas.
“God with us.” People like Joseph can tell you that those words are more profound than any of us might imagine. When God comes, get ready for the ride of your life.
The brilliant and extroverted aria that opens Bereite die Wege, Bereite die Bahn [Prepare the paths, prepare the road], belies the profound inward journey of this cantata. In Bach’s time – after the first Sunday’s festivities – Advent was considered a season of reflection and penitence even in the face of the joyous coming of Christ. This cantata dates from 1715 in Weimar where (unlike in Leipzig) concerted music was permitted during Advent. The Gospel for today’s cantata is the moving testimony of John the Baptist in which he quotes the prophet Isaias: ‘make straight the way of the Lord’. Baptismal images abound both in the text and the music.
I will be performing baptisms in our service this Sunday, and as I do it will be my joy to remember these words from movement five, Christi Glieder, ach bedenket, an intimately rendered alto aria:
Christi Glieder, ach bedenket, Was der Heiland euch geschenket Durch der Taufe reines Bad! Bei der Blut- und Wasserquelle Werden eure Kleider helle, Die befleckt von Missetat. Christus gab zum neuen Kleide Roten Purpur, weiße Seide, Diese sind der Christen Staat.
Members of Christ, ah, consider
what the Savior has bestowed on you
Through the pure bath of baptism!
From this fountain of blood and water
your garments become bright
that were stained by your sins.
Christ gave you new clothes
scarlet purple, white silk.
These are the finery of a Christian.
The music to the final chorale has been lost, and it has been customary to use the closing chorus from Bach’s Cantata No. 164 as a substitute. The words are powerful, an appeal to God to “kill” us and raise us anew in the coming Christ.
Ertöt uns durch deine Güte; Erweck uns durch deine Gnad; Den alten Menschen kränke, Dass der neu’ leben mag Wohl hie auf dieser Erden, Den Sinn und Begehrden Und G’danken habn zu dir.
Kill us through your kindness;
awaken us through your grace;
weaken the old man
so that the new man may live
even here on this earth
with his mind and his desires
and thoughts all on you.
Cantata texts by Salomo Franck, Elisabeth Kreuziger
• • •
Here is a performance of Christi Glieder, ach bedenket from the John Eliot Gardiner cantata pilgrimage series:
Today, a week before Christmas Day, we celebrate Saint Nicholas of Myra as our Rambler of the Week. This fourth century saint has been venerated for centuries throughout the world for his giving spirit. His care for children and penchant for secret gift giving has brought him great renown.
Somehow, the power of modern culture turned him into something quite different. A human saint was replaced by a jolly old elf. A patron of the poor became a judge of who’s naughty and nice. A church bishop became the CEO of the world’s largest toy factory. A man who walked among his parishioners and served the people in his community became a cosmic delivery man who visits everyone everywhere on one night during the year in his magic sleigh. A saint of the church became an icon of popular culture and a vehicle for commercialism. A story rich in human experience became a modern fairy tale we trot out every year to try and put some magic in our children’s eyes during the season. We have “disney-ized” this saint in a multitude of ways.
Understanding more about the true St. Nicholas may be a way to restore some sense of dignity to Christmas and resolve the “Santa Claus” dilemma for Christian people. To be sure, when you start to read about him, it will become clear that many of the stories are legends arising from a spirit of hagiography. Nevertheless, the stories, exaggerated though they may be, emphasize Christian virtues and are consistent in venerating praiseworthy character qualities. I believe we can read and tell them as vehicles of Christian imagination, while recognizing a kernel of truth and a foothold in history.
Nicholas was from Myra, a province of modern day Turkey. St. Nicholas was a real man, dedicated to following God, who gained a reputation for his generosity and kindness. He lived long ago, in the fourth century, born to wealthy parents who raised him as a devout Christian, but who died in a plague when he was young. Tradition says that he took his inheritance and gave it to the poor to pursue a religious life. He was made Bishop of Myra while still a young man, and was known for his generosity to those in need, his love for children, and his special concern for those at sea (it is likely his family owned a shipping company).
One story about him involves a poor man who had three daughters. Because the father could not afford to pay a dowry for them to be married, they were in danger of being taken away and made slaves. On three different occasions, it is said that a bag of gold appeared in each one of the daughter’s stockings or shoes which were by the fire to dry. The gold had been tossed in through an open window by a secret benefactor, St. Nicholas. This led to the tradition of hanging stockings by the fire or, in some countries, putting shoes out in which small gifts are placed, such as candies, coins and other treats.
Many other stories are told of St. Nicholas, some obviously myths and legends, but all of which make some point about the kindness, generosity and helpfulness of this man.
Oh yeah, like all of us he could lose his cool too. Legend has it he punched Arius in the face during an argument about the Trinity at the Council of Nicaea. Naughty Arius!
The best overall site that I have found for further information on St. Nicholas is The St. Nicholas Center.
A good example to remember at all times of the year, not just during the Christmas season, we celebrate St. Nicholas today as our Rambler of the Week.
• • •
SORRY, I COULDN’T HELP IT
Donald Trump for Christmas card by The Print Shop. Photo courtesy of Ben Riddell.Hillary’s email Christmas card by The Print Shop. Photo courtesy of Ben Riddell
No matter where you live, there are always intriguing things to observe and talk about. Here are three stories from my part of the world (central Indiana) that I found interesting this week.
An entire Indiana town has no police officers after every single one walked off the job. The officers blame the Bunker Hill Town Council for the situation.
…In their resignation letters, the officers accuse council members of asking them to “do illegal, unethical, and immoral things.” They cited examples like asking police to run background checks on other town councilors to find their criminal history. The officers also claim they were threatened when they said no.
Another issue they brought up in the letter was their safety. The officers say they were all forced to share one set of body armor, putting their lives on the line while they were out making arrests and serving warrants.
…On top of all that, [Town Marshal Michael] Thomison says his resignation was personal. He was diagnosed with cancer last year, but when he was ready to go back to work in May, Thomison says they would only allow him to work part time. He blames the town councilors and plans to file a lawsuit against them. “They came at me and said it is costing the town way too much money because of my insurance and they said we are taking you down to part time,” said Thomison.
Half of Indianapolis’s gay bars have closed since 2015, signaling the changing of generations in the LGBTQ communities.
The Indianapolis Star reports:
Gay bars are up against two major cultural shifts.
“It all changed with smartphones,” [bartender Jack] LaFary said, referring to the widely held theory that mobile dating apps like Grindr, by facilitating meetups online, helped render bars unnecessary. “When I first came out, you went to a gay bar to meet gay people. But the smartphone changed that, and it was an all-of-a-sudden thing. Business just dropped, and it wasn’t a gradual thing. It was, like, boom.”
Part two of the double whammy: A growing tolerance toward lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. Gay marriage is now legal in all 50 states and many foreign countries. Ellen DeGeneres just got a Presidential Medal of Freedom. Same-sex couples hold hands on sidewalks, in shopping malls and in bars — and not just in gay bars but in boy-meets-girl bars, too.
There are “as many or more” gay people as there used to be, said Steve Warman, 69, a longtime bartender at Greg’s Our Place, a gay bar on 16th Street, “but they just have many more options than they used to have. When I was young, gay bars were our social outlet. Now you can go anywhere and not feel uncomfortable. Now you can go to a straight bar and be gay and not feel like you’re going to be beat up or thrown out.”
Entrepreneur magazine saw the end of gay bars coming a decade ago. In its September 2007 issue Entrepreneur noted the increased acceptance of gays and predicted of gay bars that by 2017 “the very best of them will endure; the rest won’t.”
Knightstown Indiana is famous for its iconic Hoosier Gym, a tribute to Indiana high school basketball. But lately it has been in the news because of controversy involving a Christmas tree and a cross.
Again, from the Indianapolis Star:
During the holidays, Knightstown, population 2,100, decorates a large evergreen tree in its town square. For many years, the tree was topped with a star. “But the star broke, so someone put up a cross,” said Kevin Richey, a lifelong resident who owns the Hoosiers Home Court Cafe in Knightstown’s downtown district. “That was four or five years ago. Nobody said anything.”
This year, young Joe Tompkins objected. Tompkins caused a firestorm in the small Henry County town this past week by joining forces with the ACLU’s Indiana chapter to file a lawsuit forcing the removal of the cross. Knightstown’s town council ordered the cross removed to avoid a court case it said it couldn’t win.
Some in the town are going to fight to restore it.
But on Thursday evening, as more than 50 people gathered at the town’s Sunset Park Shelter House to see whether the council would vote to permanently remove the cross, council vice president Kevin Knott stood up to deliver a slow and measured speech in the manner of a preacher.
Some attendees held large white, wooden crosses above their heads as Knott spoke: “It’s a humbling experience when you know your community is speaking to you. I hear you loud and clear.”
“I have heard what you all have said and you elected me to represent you,” he said. “I cannot and will not support the resolution.”
Residents erupted in celebration as the council voted to table the motion. Council members said they hope to negotiate with the ACLU to come to another decision.
During the meeting, residents made impassioned statements about preserving the town’s traditions. Some asked what Jesus would do.
“We have the right to stand up for our freedoms,” said Aaron Magee, 27, who has lived in the town his entire life. “This town needs Christ. This country needs Christ.”
Others in Knightstown are taking a different approach. They are raising money to support Tompkins’s family. The family is dealing with serious illness and financial concerns at the same time they are feeling the pressure of criticism and conflict over the cross matter.
• • •
SEND IN THE DRONES…
Amazon made its first customer delivery by drone last week, carrying a package containing popcorn and a Fire TV video-streaming device several miles to a two-story farmhouse near Cambridge, U.K. It took 13 minutes.
A Maine man named Phelan MoonSong is now the proud carrier of a state-issued driver’s license that shows his bespectacled eyes peering out beneath a pair of pointy goat horns emanating from his forehead.
“My horns have become very important to me, the feel of them on my head,” MoonSong told The Wild Hunt, a website for pagan news and commentary. “They are like a Spiritual Antenna.”
When he wore the horns to the Bangor, Maine, Department of Motor Vehicles, a clerk asked if they were implanted in his head. He said they were not. He told the clerk he was a “Priest of Pan” — a neopagan with an Earth-based spirituality — and they were part of his religiously required garb.
The clerk snapped his picture but told him he needed to send the state various documents showing the horns were religiously required attire.
…MoonSong sent the state documentation from four scholarly tomes on pagan traditions, including one titled “Pagan Religions: A Handbook for Diversity Training.” He also fired off a personal essay about why his horns were important to him, according to the website.
Last month, when he called Maine’s secretary of state’s office, which handles driver’s license photos, he was told his horns would have to go.
MoonSong then appeared at the state’s motor vehicle office — horns firmly in place — and mentioned he was seeking help from Maine’s Civil Liberties Union, a civil rights advocacy group.
His horns were approved and he expects his license soon.
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QUESTIONS OF THE WEEK
This picture has nothing to do with the “happy rat” story.
The other night, as Gail and I were out Christmas shopping, we noticed and commented about how ugly Christmas sweaters have truly become a thing, pervasive in many stores.
Why be content with asking Baby Jesus into your heart? Carry him with you on your sweater!
Feeling like a sexy beast this Christmas? Then the Sasquatch Romantic sweater is for you.
If it was Jesus riding the unicorn, I might think we were looking at some bad 1960’s-70’s Sunday School material. But no, it’s cosmic Santa to the rescue.
Of course, we have to represent “the friendly beasts” on Christmas.
At least Santa kept his pants on…
Why should Christians get to have all the fun? And no, Franklin Graham, this is not persecution.
• • •
Just a Note: There will be no Saturday Ramblings next week. I will be enjoying Christmas Eve with my family and church family.
Until then, this is for all you Christmas over-achievers:
He became the reconciling place where opposites met. He was the meeting place of God and man. Man the aspiring and God the inspiring meet in Him. Heaven and earth came together and are forever reconciled. The material and the spiritual after their long divorce have in Him found their reconciliation. The natural and the supernatural blend into one in His life- you cannot tell where one ends and the other begins. The passive and the militant are so one in Him that He is militantly passive and passively militant. The gentle qualities of womanhood and the sterner qualities of manhood so mingle that both men and women see in Him their ideal- and the revelation of the Fatherhood and the Motherhood of God. The activism of the West and the meditative passivism of the East come together in Him and are forever reconciled. The new individual, born from above, and the new society- the Kingdom of God on earth- are both offered to us in Him.
• E. Stanley Jones, “The Sign is a Baby.”
• • •
Jesus often calls his followers to make choices — decisive choices. There are two ways, and only one can be chosen. In the present, we must choose to be citizens of the Kingdom of heaven or citizens in the city of Man. Today, the choice may be between Christ and family, or even between Christ and my right hand or my right eye.
At the same time, as Jones says so well, Jesus ultimately brings together so much of what sin has separated. Heaven comes to earth and the Kingdoms of this world become the Kingdoms of our God, and of his Messiah. He reconciles us to what we may have sacrificed for him. Remember these words?
Peter began to say to him, “See, we have left everything and followed you.” Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”
• Mark 10:28-31
Jones tells us that it is in Jesus, this reconciliation is real and exceeds our imaginations. In Romans 8, Paul sees the reconciliation of all things that began in Christ.
For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.
• Romans 8:18-21
It is Jesus, a human baby who is the sign of the presence of this bringing together of all things now.
In Jesus, the opposites that seemed irreconcilable come together before our very eyes.
I think it important to note that much of what Jones points out as being reconciled in Jesus is the stuff of conflicts and condemnation within the evangelical community, and especially in the blogosphere. Can we use mother imagery of God? Is the Christian life active or contemplative? Should we renounce all material concerns and enjoyments in order to be spiritual? Are “naturalists” or “supernaturalists” the superior species of Christian?
These and many other debates demonstrate that we are not so much students of Jesus as we are team competitors seeking to make Jesus into the mascot for our particular set of opinions.
Christian Humanism declares that, in Jesus, the light of God has shone on the human sphere and illumined everything. While God and his creation are separate, we no longer believe that anything exists apart from its God conceived shape, essence and purpose. All things existed in the mind of God before they existed in reality, and in that moment, opposites are reconciled. We believe that the “Godness” and the “this world-ness” of all things are visible in the incarnation of Jesus.
As we contemplate the incarnation visible at Christmas, the “sign” of God’s salvation of all things in his fallen universe, we should consider all that is brought together in Jesus. We should remember that much of what we cast aside as irreconcilable will ultimate come together in the Kingdom of God. Jesus is not only God with us, but he is the revelation of a vision of reality that embraces all things in the love God expresses for his incarnated Son, Jesus Christ.
The character of an emerging, post-evangelical Christianity should be strongly influenced by a God who looks less like us, but in whom we discover the true face of all people, and the true purpose of all things. Life’s opposites are not given to us only to make choices — which is always necessary — but to magnify God in Christ in a thousand ways we never thought possible.
). Humble people in simple settings bring about monumental events.
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