nativity scenes

while stopping in at some friends' the other evening for eggnog, i noticed something for the first time. my friends collect nativity scenes. displayed there on the header, these are engaged in a veritable parade of nativity, each float telling the same story but doing so with style and aesthetic nuance that separates it from the others.

now THERE’s a collection idea: something that you can bring out once a year at a time when everyone displays theirs…
i have some Christmas albums (listed here in no particular order) that accomplish the same thing:

Band Aid:
Do They Know It's Christmas? (1984)
a band of pop musicians drawn together by bob geldof (of the boomtown rats) and midge ure (of ultravox) on november 25, 1984 to record a special benefit song written by geldof and ure to raise money and awareness for the victims of a famine of biblical proportions in ethiopia that year. a larger live concert event called Live Aid was staged the following summer for the same cause. through the concert tickets, recordings, books and other merchandise, as well as the benefit moneys that were raised during the actual global 'telemiracle'-type concerts, over $300 000 000 was raised. the band aid record and the live aid concerts, although not the first benefits of this type (george harrison of the beatles staged The Concert for Bangladesh on august 1, 1971 which probably served as a helpful model for geldof's Live Aid event) they seemed to usher in a new era where pop musicians began to use their celebrity and their influence as a conversive, rather than subversive force for world change.

Various Artists:
A Very Special Christmas (1987)
many pop stars who met each other for the first time either in the recording of 'Do They Know It's Christmas?' , the american music industry's benefit song 'We Are The World' (written by Michael Jackson) the canadian music industry's contribution 'Tears Are Not Enough', or in the blur that culminated on july 13, 1985 with Live Aid, rallied to put together an album of Christmas favourites old and new for Special Olympics.

Jon Anderson:
Three Ships (1985)
the singer of the progressively epic art rock band 'yes' and longtime collaborator with vangelis (electronic composer of the oscar awarded soundtrack to the film Chariots of Fire) put together a particularly spacey, mid 80's-esque collection of Christmas songs and justice anthems. The record was dedicated to raising awareness for 'Beyond War' which continues to be a voice for justice and peace even today.

John Denver & The Muppets:
A Christmas Together
the soundtrack of a 1979 television special of the same name, this muppet record features a rollicking version of the beach boys' christmas hit 'little saint nick' (which follows the same formula as their earlier tune 'little deuce coup') that i worked up with a group of grade 7's during my internship at lakeview school in 1987. yep, our performance featured puppets as well. those 'kids' are now all 34 years old... 11 years older than i was when i taught them.

Boney M:
Christmas Album (1981)
okay, i do NOT know why i have this album. i've never actually bought the record, yet have somehow owned 3 copies. however, speaking of christmas concerts, how would we live without 'mary's boy child' at least once in the holiday season?

Zero Mostel/ Alan Mills:
How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1957)
the grinch story is great, but only takes up one side of the record and, in truth, i've never played it. i bought this record at value village because of side2: Christmas Songs From Many Lands, sung in english by alan mills. see, my brother-in-law used to play this folk record when we would come to visit at Christmastime to play games and drink egg nog. terry was twelve years older than his baby sister, vonda, and was the closest thing to a true modern day renaissance man that i will probably ever meet. a brilliant artist, athlete, musician, leader, educator, dad and friend, his friendship and approval were kind of a big deal to me as i was trying to find my place in my wife's family...we played tennis together and talked about God and the beatles and i always said i wanted to be like terry when i grew up. he was killed with his wife by a drunk driver on october 11, 2003.

George Frederick Handel:
Messiah (1741)
handel wrote this entire oratorio over a three week period. a powerfully spiritual encounter for the composer resulted in one of the most famous and well respected pieces of music ever to feature words and music by God.

Michael W. Smith:
Christmas (1988)
orchestra, choir, synthesizers and some basic guitar, bass and drums come together in an album so rich in classical texture and (with the exception of, perhaps a painfully 80's rendition of 'angels we have heard on high') timeless in its delivery that it can be played outside the Christmas season and still bring about a rich awareness of the presence of God in the room.

each of these tells the same story- albeit the details and priorities may vary from telling to telling, each one of these bears tidings of great joy which shall be to all people…for unto you is born this day, in the city of David, a Saviour which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you: ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel, a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying
‘Glory to God in the highest- and on earth peace, good will towards men!’ (luke 2.10-14)

i know these words almost verbatim because linus has recited them yearly as part of A Charlie Brown Christmas since 1965.

dear abbey

recently a friend sent me a note asking a basic question:
why aren't the people i love drawing the same conclusions from scripture that i am?

here are the highlights of a rather lengthy reply:

***

it's great to read that you are seeking the face of God in all things. for me, there is great encouragement in reading 3000 year old words (the psalms) that call you to the one who is outside of time and yet approachable to those of us bound by it. to be reminded of the calamity that has befallen so many, but which seems to be informed by the perspective of the psalmist challenges and inspires me to examine my own faith perspective for spots that are a bit spare.

you have also been reading the words of paul and have been drawing personal guidance from these scriptures concerning your own journey through this valley time. it is right to be prayerfully considering what the scriptures are saying to us, for we are the only person over whom we have any say. sadly, this is where it gets a little dodgy for most of us:

i know what God is saying to me through the scriptures... why isn't my friend/partner/colleague/parishioner getting the message that's obviously there?'

if someone you care for is searching the scriptures and not receiving the same message as you are from them, there might be a couple of reasons:

1) he/she's not looking in the same way
2) he/she's not looking for the same things

both of these are, perhaps, answers to your the question in your note regarding the discrepancy between what you're being told and what others appear to be.

the control freak in us (ha ha- i'm confessing to harbouring one myself, not accusing you of such!) wants to run things our way. we go to the scriptures that we know will affirm what we already believe, or at the very least, speak upon that topic. we use concordances and bible helps to try and 'get it', all the while knowing what we are wanting to get: an answer that aligns itself with our will. this approach to drawing truth from scripture is not wrong, but it's not the only way to receive a message from God through his word.

sometimes we treat the scriptures the way people work with statistics- choosing to consider the ones that back up our perspective or position.

another way to approach the matter of what scripture says to us and what it doesn't is to simply continue with your regular devotions, reading the scriptures through the lens of your journey today and taking from them the things that this lens draws to your attention. you may draw some really unexpected comfort and insight from the word in areas that initially seem to have nothing to do with the questions you bring to them. yes, this is a more 'mystical' approach, but is far from the random 'open your bible, close your eyes and point at a passage' approach that people often default to. it simply involves continuing the faithful discipline of reading scripture, seeking biblical truth from the word in context.

try journaling your thoughts as you read. see where they go. stream of consciousness is a gift that God has given us so we can perceive the ideas that he has linked together in his larger themes. see if the passage you are reading reminds you of something else and then use the concordance to try to find that and read it as well. i am often amazed at how God seems to have so much to say in some rather unlikely places. i would give you some recent examples, but this note is already pretty long without anecdotes...

ID, Superego and the UFC glove

when we read in paul's writings about the 'sinful nature' (some translations use the word 'flesh') we mustn't default, like the ascetics did, to the notion that our flesh is somehow bad. God created human beings and pronounced the creation very good. a traditional phrase seems to say it all: we are called God's crowned of creation.

so what about this troublesome 'sinful nature?' referred to in galatians 5.16-18

in the original greek, the word is sarx, a word that carries with is some interesting overtones.

Sarx:
1) the animal nature with cravings which incite to sin
2) denotes mere human nature, the earthly nature of man apart from divine influence, therefore prone to sin and opposed to God… the beast within; the heart of a man

the heart is a wild thing- it engages with the world from a place of complete self interest. its M.O. is do or be done to…

sigmund freud, the father of modern psychology, describes the dichotomy of the ID vs SuperEgo at great length. basically, one part of us- the self interested and self serving part- is only motivated by gratification, while the other part of us- the socialized part- is motivated by the upholding of a sense of order, balance and justice in all things.

but what if we're seeing the relationship wrong? what if we're seeing these opposites as adversaries doing battle when really they are really team mates?

perhaps the ID and the Superego aren’t opposed to each other at all- perhaps they complement one another in that the ID (inward, self interested) self is enwrapped in the Superego (outward, socially and spiritually conscious) self.

recently i viewed a rather unlikely christmas special: a pay-per-view UFC event.

the UFC glove is an interesting thing. whereas it affords the wearer with limited digit dexterity need to compete in a UFC match, it would definitely be an encumbrance for one trying to play guitar well or perform dental surgery or type a really insightful blogpost. the UFC glove exists for the purpose of the protection of the competitors, nothing more.

perhaps there is a model here: if the ID is the fist and the Superego is the glove, then it seems to make sense that, like the UFC glove, the Superego with all of its orderly politics, systemic structures, laws and religions cushions the ID from the harshness of the world outside (and from the violence it tends to inflict), while also cushioning the world from harshness of the ID...

unsurrendered to the Spirit (pneuma) of God, they may work together to keep us from being all that we could be in Christ the way a UFC glove might make it difficult to perform fine adjustments when doing a tune-up on the vehicle of someone who can't afford to take it into the shop.

any colour you like

After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: "Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb." (revelation7.9-10)
it's nice to just take an idea and run with it a ways; see where it goes. i was thinking about this big worship gathering revealed by God and described by john when something gelled...

the apostle john, exiled on the island of patmos while his faith brothers are all being systematically murdered for their terrorist ties with the rabbi known as jeshua ben joseph, describes the worship crowd gathered as multicultural, multi-ethnic, multilinguistic and so on. a fairly heterogenous group, all standing there waving palm branches just like when Jesus arrived in jerusalem, only instead of crying 'save us' (hosanna) they are proclaiming to whom salvation belongs.

but it's the white robes bit that really caught me, in light of all that comes before it. i suppose it's fair to say that white is Jesus' team colour, what with all that 'washes white as snow' talk. however, one might lose track of another possible significance of the multitudes clothed in white, defaulting to the simple truth that white shows dirt and can therefore only be seen as white when it is pure... the white stands for purity.

not that there's anything wrong with that.

so many things in our physical realm are not necessarily restricted to being only what they seem: take a simple beam of white light. we all remember the science class project where a beam of white light is directed into a glass prism which separates the colour spectrum of that beam of light and projects these colours on the wall adjacent to it. then there is, of course, the classic pink floyd album cover...

here's the thing, though: when we perceive a colour, we are really perceiving how just that band of the spectrum reflects back off of the coloured object: a green object only looks green because it is treated with something (paint, dye, whatever) that reflects only the green in a beam of white light.

a beam of white light contains all the colours of the spectrum in perfect balance and unity. it reflects off of the surface of something conducive representing this perfect balance and unity.

that the great multitude that no one can count, with representation from every nation, tribe, people and language, is singing salvation songs wearing white, reflecting the perfect brilliance of almighty God who is the only source of true light in the cosmos, suggests more than purity.

it speaks of perfect communion.

long waits

okay, so first off, i've gotta say that this actually happened...
i was there.

this phys-ed intern from another school has been sitting in one of the chairs outside the principal's office for an hour and a half, when he is sent to meet the athletic director who is on the phone in his office just off of the gym. the intern is motioned to take a seat, and no sooner does he than the athletic director hangs up and says 'just wait here' and leaves, not returning for another hour and a half.

finally, the athletic director returns, grinning. he thanks the intern for waiting and says that the intern needn't stay any longer, as it is now lunchtime. the intern is a little frustrated by now and pushes back with 'well, i feel like i'm being given the run around- i've been here all morning and have tried to be patient as i've been shuffled from office to office. there's no way i'm going to leave here after all that without the set of long weights that i was sent here for!'

the athletic director looks him in the eye and says
'yes, those were very long waits, weren't they?'

then he winks.

henri nouwen writes:
Waiting seems a dry desert between where we are and where we want to be. We do not enjoy such a place. We want to move out of it and do something worthwhile.

israel was a people accustomed to long waits…
in egypt for over 400 years
in the sihn desert for 40 years
awaiting fulfilment of the genesis 13 promise for 700 years
awaiting fulfilment of the Messianic promise for 1000 years (from david to Jesus…)

and through all this time of waiting, it was the role of the prophet to be instrumental in keeping the eyes of the people on the promises of God… to remind them of the love and care of God AND of God’s greater purposes and picture.

the picture of God is a big picture
the song of God is a long song
the story of God is an epic story...

an epic story that can be taken in by the eye of God at once from God's vantage point, outside of time and circumstance, but which takes thousands of years to come to realization in our own temporal realm, with each of us only getting a brief, 70-year glimpse of a tiny portion of the larger work that is God's ongoing passion play- this cosmic drama in which we all have a key role.

it's like treebeard the ent tries to explain in lord of the rings:
You must understand, young Hobbit, it takes a long time to say anything in Old Entish. And we never say anything unless it is worth taking a long time to say. (JRR Tolkien)

so in isaiah 9.6-7, the prophet reminds a waiting people of that which they already know:
“a child is born” – the Messiah will come as a human being,
“a son is given” – the Messiah will be of divine origin.
“reign on David’s throne” – he will be of David’s line
and that by his coming, light will dawn again in the land of the shadow. (9.2)

so as we move into the season of advent (from the latin word adventus, meaning 'coming') we embrace, yearly, a period of expectant waiting and preparation for the celebration of the Nativity of Jesus.

but we need to be reminded of so many things, it seems.

this is why every year we move through the advent calendar, opening a door each day which reveals a new and exciting gift. this is why every sunday in the advent season, we focus upon one of the four big themes of this waiting. this is why we light a new candle each week to signify love, peace, hope or joy before coming together to celebrate the birth of Christ, the embodiment of these things and God's rich redemptive gift to all humankind, on Christmas.

because we need to be reminded of them.

for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. (john 3.16)

when i was very young, my grandmother gave me a little plaque with this verse on it. somehow, just by looking at this plaque i memorized the verse (didn't even need to go to biblegateway.com to post it here...)

and yet it is so easy to forget that the story of Jesus' coming, begins with God's eternal love for us all. called 'the gospel in a nutshell,' john 3.16 doesn't read 'because you were all going to Hell and God felt sorry for you, he sent his son...' Jesus presents the love of God as the reason for all that follows, only mentioning the heroic soul rescue at the conclusion of his 'mission statement.' perhaps this is reason enough to light the love candle first in our season of waiting.

God, in total freedom, has decided to love us… Jesus is the revelation of God’s unending, unconditional love for us human beings. Everything that Jesus has done, said, and undergone is meant to show us that the love we most long for is given to us by God- not because we’ve deserved it, but because God is a God of love. Jesus is God’s most radical attempt to convince us that everything we long for is indeed given us. What God asks of us is to have faith in that love. (Henri Nouwen)

after all, being loved and loving typically makes waiting feel less like a desert and more like an overture.