Born of Water and Spirit

Before He Speaks

2008-08-21T22:46:00.002-05:00

My dad sent this video to me as an email link and as a warning! It is a music video parody of Carrie Underwood's song "Before he Cheats." Only this version features three preacher wives and is their protest of their preacher husbands using them as sermon illustrations!

Now in my own defense, I don't think I have used a story about my wife as a sermon illustration before, but maybe I should ask her first! ;-)

Me A Star?

2008-07-19T15:11:00.003-05:00

I have always found Jib Jab's political satire to be extremely funny. Their current take on the presidential race is no exception. And I even have a cameo appearance! Can you find me?

Send a JibJab Sendables® eCard Today!

Fishing With Daddy

2008-06-03T13:25:00.004-05:00

Late last week, I went fishing with a friend. Ever since then, my almost three year old daughter has asked to go. So last night I took her to a local park with a fishing lake to go fishing.

I was really impressed with how well she did. We were there for 90 minutes and she never seemed bored. I chose this lake because it had a high perch population, and they didn't disappointment. We caught several fish. And when I ask her if she would like to do it again, she says "yes."

Enough with the words, here are some pictures.

Janae eating her sucker and fishing.

I got one daddy!

After catching her fish, Janae didn't want to even touch the pole! So I took this picture with her standing about 5 feet away. It makes it look like a monster perch!

In the Name of Love

2008-04-04T09:58:00.006-05:00

Early morning, April 4

Shot rings out in the Memphis sky

Free at last, they took your life

They could not take your pride

In the name of love

What more in the name of love

In the name of love

What more in the name of love

In the name of love

What more in the name of love...

from U2's song Pride (In the Name of Love)

Granted I have been busy taking care of my daughter this morning and so I have only casually seen the news today, but I would think as historical as today is in modern U.S. history even a casual scanning of the news should have mentioned this. But I am disappointed because I didn't hear this in the news today: forty years ago today Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, TN.

Two Years Ago Today

2008-04-03T22:25:00.002-05:00

It was two years ago today that my life became more blessed than I ever thought it could. It was two years ago today that officials in the People's Republic of China placed in my wife's arms for the first time our daughter Janae. The last two years have gone by so fast and yet it seems like Janae has always been apart of our lives together.

We celebrated by going out to eat at P.F. Chang's with my parents. It was a great time of family and food.

For My Sis

2008-04-01T08:44:00.005-05:00

This entry is for my sister who has been on me to write on my blog. After all, in her thinking a blog is meant to be updated from time to time. So this one is for you sis! ;-)

Actually the past 48 hours I have been attending the Bishop's retreat that my Annual Conference has every year for pastors like me to get some continuing education credit. I always dread coming to these things because of all the work it means I leave behind, but I am always glad I came once I am here.

This year's topic is on preaching and our presenter has been William Bobby McClain who is the Mary Elizabeth Joyce Professor of Preaching at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C. I have enjoyed this conference because Professor McClain has taken us back to the basics of preaching – not unlike what Vince Lombardi did with the Green Bay Packers after a humiliating defeat by the Chicago Bears when Lombardi held up a football and said to the team, "Gentlemen, this is a football." It has been good to feel like a seminary student again in preaching class.

I have also enjoyed this conference because Professor McClain is from the Black Church tradition. In fact, he is the last elder actively serving in the United Methodist Church that was ordained through the Central Conference of the Methodist Church.

For those who aren't familiar with American Methodist history, in 1939 the Methodist Episcopal Church, the Methodist Episcopal Church South and the Protestant Methodist Church joined together to form the Methodist Church. As part of the agreement for merger, the Methodist Episcopal Church South inisted that black preachers and black congregations not be apart of white annual conferences. Therefore, the majority white denomination placed all the black congregations into one conference that encompassed most of the nation known as the Central Conference.

In 1968, when the Methodist Church and the Evangelical United Brethen merged to from today's United Methodist Church, the Central Conference was eliminated and the black churches were incorporated into the annual conference in which they were geographically located.

Anyway, being from the Black Church tradition, Professor McClain has introduced us to some great gospel hymns and spirituals. I am sad to admit how ignorant I have been about some of the music found within the United Methodist Hymnal. But after this retreat I have a new favorite hymn. It's number 522 in the UMH and it's titled, "Leave It There." Maybe sometime in the future I will write a hymn story, but for now you can find the words here.

And the singing has been awesome as well! Now I don't know what it's like when pastors from other denominations gather, but my experience has been that when pastors in the United Methodist Church gather, the singing is tremendous! I guess it's in our blood, because we Methodist love to sing.

And another great surprise at this retreat has been the number of pastors who brought musical instruments. We have violin/fiddle, guitar, piano, and banjo. In other words, we have had in impromptu bluegrass band. So the music and singing as well as the instruction have made this a great retreat.

The Rise and Fall of King Saul

2008-02-17T16:09:00.004-06:00

Sorry it has been awhile since I posted anything, but I actually started working on this entry about 3 weeks ago! It's just taken me a while to find the time to finish it.

So in January, I started leading a Bible study on the life of David. Now I have read these stories before, but only in a casual way. So it really has been rewarding to take a closer look at the Life of King David. Since Saul the first king of Israel plays such an important part in David's story, it only seemed right to start by taking a quick look at him.

And what we see is that Saul started out as a good king. After his anointing as king in 1 Samuel 10, we read about Saul's first challenge to his authority and subsequent victory. In 1 Samuel 11, Nahash the Ammonite lays seige to Jabesh Gilead. When Saul hears of this, he rallies his army and defeats the Ammonites.

Now two things stand out to me about this event. The first is what Saul was doing when he received the word of the attack on Jabesh Gilead. 1 Samuel 11:5 tells us that Saul was returning home with his oxen after working in his field. Wow! The King of Israel doing the work of a common laborer. At this point Saul was still grounded with his people.

The second is Saul's response in victory. 1 Samuel 11:12-15 some of the people wanted to kill those who had opposed Saul in becoming king. And with his popularity due to his military victory, Saul could have easily ordered this. Instead, Saul told them, "No one shall be put to death today, for this day the LORD has rescued Israel." And then Samuel taking Saul's lead, leads the people in the worship of the LORD.

But what a drastic comparision can be made between the Saul of chapter 11 and chapter 15.

Of course by chapter 15, we already know things are not going to end well for Saul. In 1 Samuel 13, his impatients in waitning on Samuel and preforming a sacrifice on his own has already led to the foretelling that the kingdom will not remain with his family. And in 1 Samuel 14 we see that Saul is not a man who can keep an oath before God (even though if he had, it would have meant the death of Jonathan).

However I believe the greatest break from God occurs in 1 Samuel 15. Here we see that Saul is given strick instructions on how to fight the Amalekites, but doesn't follow them. Instead, he spares the king's life and he takes plunder in livestock.

But notice that when Samuel hears of what Saul has done, where is Saul to be found? Verse 12 says that Saul has gone to Carmel to set up a monument (do we dare say idol?) to himself because of his victory! Where is the man that insisted of giving God the credit for victory in chapter 13?

And then to make his rebellion against God complete, he lies twice about why he allowed livestock to be taken. First in verse 21 he says the best were kept in order to sacrafice them to God. To which Samuel gives the famous line, "to obey is better than sacrafice." The second lie occurs in verse 24 when he says he allowed his men to take the animals as plunder because he was afraid of them. Saul, a man who stood literally a head and shoulders above everyone else in Israel, is more afriad of his own men than he is of God? Now you see why I call this the second lie.

So is it any wonder that in the next chapter, God has Samuel select the sheperd boy David as a new anointed one. It will be another 40 years before Saul's rebellion against God leads to his own suicide in 1 Samuel 31 and David takes the throne, but the seperation is complete here in chapter 15.

The story of Saul is the story of a man who started off right with the Lord, but allowed the power of his position to lead him astray.

Now I Get It

2008-02-01T16:38:00.000-06:00

Well now I understand why AT&T charged me the $36.00 upgrade fee. . . because they can! I know I said I wouldn't pay it and wouldn't remain their customer, but after much research, I had to stay with AT&T.

The main reason is that AT&T is a GSM phone carrier and Verizon is not. Now to most people that wouldn't make a difference, but a GSM phone means the phone takes a SIM card and if the phone is unlocked it can be used on international carriers by simply buying a pre-paid SIM card.

When we travel to Southeast Asia, that is how we use our cell phone. We pull out the AT&T SIM card and drop in a local carriers. The phones have worked great. Unfortuanetly, that means I must stay with a GSM carrier in the USA and that leaves me with only AT&T and T-Mobile. Two years ago we moved from T-Mobile to Cingular over customer no service issues! So why would we go back to them? And in that time, Cingular became AT&T Wireless and I must say that the customer no service has come along as well.

So without more competition on the GSM side of the technology, I am stuck. So with protest I paid the $36.00. And from now on, I will most likely buy my phones unlocked from Southeast Asia and not renew any contracts.

AT&T Wireless Wants Me to Pay Them to Remain Their Customer

2008-01-28T10:22:00.000-06:00

Here's something in the "I just don't get it" category of life. Two weeks ago my cell phone died. So I thought I would look at getting a new phone. Since my two year contract was up with AT&T Wireless, I went into one of the local stores and got a basic model Samsung phone for me and my wife. I also went ahead and renewed our contract for two years.

Now in the past, when I have renewed my contract, I have received new phones for free. But this time AT&T only wanted to discount the phones by $75.00. So I still had to pay $40.00 out of my pocket with a $30.00 rebate. I hate rebates, but I needed a phone and so we agreed.

Then today, we receive our wireless bill only to find that it's $36.00 more than we expected. When we called customer no service, we were told that we were charged an $18.00 upgrade fee per phone line. I told them I didn't like this fee and I didn't think it was right they were charging me to by a loyal customer. I asked if there was anyone I could talk too about having it removed. I was told, "no, it's one of our standard fees and they aren't removed."

So in other words, if I had continued with things unchanged with AT&T and just kept paying them my monthly service fee with no contract, everything would be fine. But now that I am willing to say "Okay I will be your loyal customer for 2 more years" they want me to pay them $36.00 for the privilege! I say "The H E double hockey sticks with that!"

So here's another thing I just don't get. I told the customer no service representative that if this fee wasn't waived, that I would be changing carriers. She said "I am sorry to hear that, but we just don't waive these fees."

And even though that activation fee will cost me more than this upgrade fee, at this point it's not about the money. It's about the principle. AT&T doesn't want to keep me as a customer over $36.00!

So what is $36.00? Will I can't imagine it's anything to AT&T wireless when they bost on their website that in 2006 they had $37.5 billion in revenue. But to me, that's a dinner out with my family. It's a movie date with my wife with babysitting (yes, we go to discount movie theaters). It's a tank of gas for my car. In other words it's a big deal to me!

12th Day of Christmas: The Twelve Days of Christmas

2008-01-06T23:23:00.000-06:00

Well with me preaching last Sunday, having a funeral, a holiday, and too many bowl games to watch this week, I fell behind in posting a Christmas carol for each of the twelve day of Christmas. However, I wanted to get one last post in since it was this carol that gave me the idea in the first place.

We have all sang "The Twelve Days of Christmas" and gotten confused over whether it was eight maids a milking or eight ladies dancing, but is their any meaning to the nonsense we are singing?

Well that depends on what you read. It's commonly believed that this song was used during a period of persecution of Roman Catholics in England as a way of teaching Roman Catholic beliefs to children with a code language. Thus, each line in the song has a meaning hidden with in it. For example, the partridge in a pear tree is Jesus Christ on the cross. It is Roman Catholic priest Fr. Hal Stockert who is the one given credit for discovering the hidden meanings in this song while we was doing research on Jesuit priests in England.

However, according to Snopes.com there is no substantive evidence that the song was ever used in this way. I think the best point that Snopes makes on this is that the traditional Christian beliefs that the song is said to represent are beliefs held by both Roman Catholics and the Church of England. (And by every mainline Christian denomination for that matter). So there would be no reason to "code" these teachings since you couldn't tell the difference from an Anglican and a Catholic based on these beliefs. They also point out that Fr. Stockert is not able to produce the original documents or notes that he used in his research.

What we do know for sure about the song is that it was first published in 1780 in a book entitled Mirth without Mischief. And apparently it was a song used to play a memory or forfeit game by children at twelfth night parties on January 5th to celebrate the end of the Christmas season. However, the song apparently has a much older tradition than 1780 and may have been originally written in French as three French versions of the song are known.

Now Snopes does go on to suggest that "The Twelve Days of Christmas" may be influenced by another song that has definite Christian meaning "A New Dial." It's also called "In Those Twelve Days." This song attributes a Christian meaning to each of the twelve numbers on the dial of a clock. In this song for example, one is for the one God alone. Two is for the two testaments, and three is for the trinity. And in referring to the song "A New Dial" even Snopes goes on to say that it was a common practice to assign Biblical meanings to ordinary objects.

Which brings me to a part of the argument that Snopes appears to miss. That the twelfth night celebrations were Christian celebrations. And even if "The Twelve Days of Christmas" may not have been a Catholic catechism, it very well could have still been a song that assigned Biblical meanings to ordinary objects so that as children played the memory or forfeit game they were also having some of the basic Christian teachings reinforced.

So what are the "secret" meanings of the words? Well here they are.

The "true love" is God. And as mentioned above the partridge is Christ. The other meanings are:

2 Turtle Doves = The Old and New Testaments
3 French Hens = Faith, Hope and Charity, the Theological Virtues
4 Calling Birds = the Four Gospels and/or the Four Evangelists
5 Golden Rings = The first Five Books of the Old Testament, the "Pentateuch", which gives the history of man's fall from grace.
6 Geese A-laying = the six days of creation
7 Swans A-swimming = the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, the seven sacraments
8 Maids A-milking = the eight beatitudes
9 Ladies Dancing = the nine Fruits of the Holy Spirit
10 Lords A-leaping = the ten commandments
11 Pipers Piping = the eleven faithful apostles
12 Drummers Drumming = the twelve points of doctrine in the Apostle's Creed

6th Day of Christmas: O Little Town of Bethlehem

2007-12-30T19:59:00.000-06:00

Perhaps we could say that today's Christmas carol was written by a "one hit wonder." Although Episcopal Bishop Phillips Brooks was a prolific theological writer and great preacher of his day, I found no other record of him writing any other hymn besides "O Little Town of Bethlehem."

The carol was inspired by a trip Brooks took to Bethlehem in 1865. He rode on horseback from Jerusalem to Bethlehem were he attended the Christmas Eve celebration at the Church of the Nativity. It is said that this experience inspired him to write his thoughts down as a poem in 1867. Then a year later, in 1868, he took his poem to his church organist Lewis Redner who wrote the music. The new hymn was then preformed during the Christmas season that year by the children in the church's Sunday school classes.

The hymn itself paints a nice tranquil almost romantic picture of Bethlehem. I don't doubt that in 1865 that is the way Bethlehem appeared to Brooks, but one has to wonder if that was the case when Jesus was born? Did Bethlehem lie still? Or was it more likely that with all the people in town due to the census so that their was no room in the inn that the town had it's own 1st century hustle and bustle?

And I must add that Bethlehem today is anything but still and peaceful. Lying just inside the Palestinian border with Israel today, Bethlehem is often the scene of violent skirmishes. So the next time you sing this Christmas carol, lift up a prayer for the peace of Bethlehem.

(P.S. I read on Monday, December 31, that violence broke out in the Church of the Nativity this year. It was between two rival groups of priests. The church is controlled by several different branches of Christianity, each with its one space that they diligently guard. Apparently, on December 29 the church was being cleaned when an Armenian priest noticed that a Greek Orthodox monk's ladder was "across the line." This resulted in a full fledged fist fight! So another reason to pray for peace in Bethlehem.)

"O Little Town of Bethlehem"

O little town of Bethlehem,
How still we see thee lie!
Above thy deep and dreamless sleep
The silent stars go by;
Yet in thy dark streets shineth
The everlasting Light;
The hopes and fears of all the years
Are met in thee tonight.

For Christ is born of Mary,
And gathered all above,
While mortals sleep, the angels keep
Their watch of wondering love.
O morning stars, together
Proclaim the holy birth!
And praises sing to God the King,
And peace to men on earth.

How silently, how silently,
The wondrous gift is giv'n!
So God imparts to human hearts
The blessings of His heav'n.
No ear may hear His coming,
But in this world of sin,
Where meek souls will receive Him, still
The dear Christ enters in.

O holy Child of Bethlehem!
Descend to us, we pray;
Cast out our sin and enter in,
Be born in us today.
We hear the Christmas angels
The great glad tidings tell;
O come to us, abide with us,
Our Lord Immanuel.

5th Day of Christmas: Sweet Little Jesus Boy

2007-12-29T16:01:00.000-06:00

Many people think that today's Christmas song is an African-American spiritual that dates back to the slave fields of the South. Actually, the song was written by Robert McGimsey on Christmas Eve 1932. As an African-American who grew up in the South, he knew well the genre of the spiritual and wrote this song in that style. The fact that so many people think it actually is a slave spiritual shows who effective he was in composing in this style.

According to the December 24, 2001 devotional from Our Daily Bread, McGimsey was walking home to his New York apartment after attending a Christmas Eve service at his church. The service had been an uplifting experience but he noticed that has we walked by several private clubs, he could hear people shouting and swearing. Some were so drunk that they were passed out on the sidewalk in front. This experience made McGimsey wonder if these people were aware of the significance of what took place on that first Christmas day. Did they not know who Jesus was?

The song itself takes the form of an apology to Jesus for us not recognizing the significance of his birth.

"Sweet Little Jesus Boy"

Sweet little Jesus Boy,
they made you be born in a manger.
Sweet little Holy Child,
didn't know who You was.

Didn't know you come to save us, Lord;
to take our sins away.
Our eyes was blind, we couldn't see,
we didn't know who You was.

Long time ago, you was born.
Born in a manger low,
Sweet little Jesus Boy.

The world treat You mean, Lord;
treat me mean, too.
But that's how things is down here,
we didn't know t'was You.

You done showed us how,
we is trying.
Master, You done showed us how,
even when you's dying.

Just seem like we can't do right,
look how we treated You.
But please, sir, forgive us Lord,
we didn't know 'twas You.

Sweet little Jesus Boy,
born long time ago.
Sweet little Holy Child,
and we didn't know who You was....

4th Day of Christmas: Hark! The Herald Angels Sing

2007-12-28T21:25:00.000-06:00

Today's Christmas carol is one written by Charles Wesley in 1739. Charles Wesley was the younger brother of John Wesley who is the founder of the Methodist church.

The most interesting thing about this carol is that the words we are so familiar with are not the words that Charles Wesley originally wrote. This hymn has undergone significant changes by at least three other persons. For instance, the first two lines originally were "Hark, how all the welkin rings, 'Glory to the King of kings'."

The other change has occurred in the number of lines per verse. The original hymn only had four lines where the hymn we sing today has eight lines.

Now before I go any further, you are probably asking, "What the heck is a 'welkin'?" Well welkin is the Old English word for the sky or heavens. Now since it originates from the time when people thought the world was flat and the sky was like a bell shape dome that sat over it, there is an old phrase "to make the welkin ring" which means to make such a loud noise that it will case the welkin, the sky dome, to ring like a bell.

So when Charles Wesley wrote "Hark, how all the welkin rings" he was saying listen to how all of heaven is shouting "Glory to the King of kings."

So now maybe your second question is who and why did these lines get changed. The who is easy. George Whitefield changed the first two lines to the familiar, "Hark! The herald angels sing, "Glory to the newborn king." They why is only speculation, but I think it is because no one knew what a welkin was!

The irony is that Whitefield's lyrics are less scriptural than Charles Wesley and have contributed to a modern romantic misconception that angels sang at Jesus' birth. In fact, Luke 2:13-14 clearly says the angles were "praising God saying" and not singing. And also notice that their praises were directed to God in heaven (the King of kings) and not to the newborn Jesus.

There is a goggle amount of good theology in the other verses originally written that I don't have the time to go into right now. But let me conclude by giving you the original words of Charles Wesley.

"Hark, How all the Welkin Rings"

Hark, how all the welkin rings,
"Glory to the King of kings;
peace on earth, and mercy mild,
God and sinners reconciled!"

Joyful, all ye nations, rise,
join the triumph of the skies;
universal nature say,
"Christ the Lord is born today!"

Christ, by highest Heaven adored,
Christ, the everlasting Lord:
late in time behold him come,
offspring of a Virgin's womb!

Veiled in flesh, the Godhead see,
hail the incarnate Deity!
pleased as man with men to appear,
Jesus, our Emmanuel here!

Hail, the heavenly Prince of Peace,
Hail, the Sun of Righteousness!
Light and life to all he brings,
risen with healing in his wings.

Mild he lays his glory by,
born that man no more may die;
born to raise the sons of earth;
born to give them second birth.

Come, Desire of nations, come,
fix in us thy humble home;
rise, the woman's conquering Seed,
bruise in us the serpent's head.

Now display thy saving power,
ruined nature now restore;
now in mystic union join
thine to ours, and ours to thine.

Adam's likeness, Lord, efface,
Stamp thy image in its place.
Second Adam from above,
Reinstate us in thy love.

Let us thee, though lost, regain,
Thee, the life, the inner man:
O, to all thyself impart,
Formed in each believing heart.

3rd Day of Christmas: O Holy Night

2007-12-27T21:33:00.000-06:00

"O Holy Night" is perhaps one of the most beloved Christmas songs of our day. It usually is heard as a music special in services of worship. I actually don't think I have ever heard it sung as a congregational hymn. However, it's origins are as a congregational piece.

The carol was written in 1847 by Placid Cappeau. Cappeau was a French wine merchant, but his local parish priest asked him if he could write a Christmas poem. So while traveling to Paris, Cappeau penned the poem "Minuit, chrétiens" or "Cantique de Noël." He then decided that what was needed was not a poem, but a song. So he took his words to his friend, the accomplished comic opera, vaudeville, and ballet composer Adolphe Charles Adam. The song was performed just three weeks later at the Midnight Christmas Eve mass.

At first the carol was wholehardtely accepted by French Catholics finding it's way into many Christmas Eve masses. But when it was discovered that Cappeau had become an aethiest and part of the French socialist movement later in life and that Adam's other compostitions were considered inappropriate for someone who also wrote Chruch music, "O Holy Night" fell out of favor. In fact, one French bishop denounced the song for its "lack of musical taste and total absence of the spirit of religion."

The resurgence of the carol came about becuase of American music critic John Sullivan Dwight. In 1855 he translated the French words into English. Dwight losely translated the words allowing for his own abolitionist views to come through especially in these words from the third verse: "Truly he taught us to love one another; his law is love and his gospel is peace. Chains shall he break, for the slave is our brother; and in his name all oppression shall cease."

The song continued to gain in popularity in America especially in the North during the Civil War. The song eventually regained its position in France and has now been translated into many different languages around the world.

The most interesting piece of trivia to me about the carol occured on Christmas Eve 1906. This is when Reginald Fessenden demonstrated how voice and music could be transmitted over the radio but reading the Christmas story in Luke 2 and then playing "O Holy Night" on his violin. Thus the carol is considered to be the first piece of music to be broadcasted on radio.

"O Holy Night"

Oh holy night! The stars are brightly shining,
It is the night of our dear Saviour's birth.
Long lay the world in sin and error pining,
Till He appear'd and the soul felt its worth.
A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices,
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.
Fall on your knees! Oh, hear the angels' voices!
Oh night divine, Oh night when Christ was born;
Oh night divine, Oh night, Oh night Divine.

Led by the light of Faith serenely beaming,
With glowing hearts by His cradle we stand.
So led by light of a star sweetly gleaming,
Here come the wise men from Orient land.
The King of Kings lay thus in lowly manger;
In all our trials born to be our friend.
He knows our need, to our weakness is no stranger,
Behold your King! Before Him lowly bend!
Behold your King, Behold your King.

Truly He taught us to love one another;
His law is love and His gospel is peace.
Chains shall He break for the slave is our brother;
And in His name all oppression shall cease.
Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we,
Let all within us praise His holy name.
Christ is the Lord! O praise His Name forever,
His power and glory evermore proclaim.
His power and glory evermore proclaim.

2nd Day of Christmas: Good King Wenceslas

2007-12-26T17:11:00.001-06:00

In the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, today is an official holiday known as Boxing Day. In Ireland, today is called the Feast of St. Stephen in honor of the first martyr in the Book of Acts. What ever name you give to today, a traditional celebration includes giving out gifts to your employees (the origin of Christmas bonuses) or to the poor.

The Christmas carol "Good King Wenceslas" is unique in that it does not mention the nativity or Jesus in any way. So why is it a Christmas carol? Because the story it tells occurs on the second day of Christmas - the Feast of St. Stephen.

It may surprise you to learn that Wenceslas is a real person. He was the Duke of Bohemia from 925 AD until his martyrdom in 935. At the age of 13, his father Ratislav died and his mother Drahomira became regent. Although she had been baptised as a Christian to marry Ratislav, she tried to bring Bohemia back into paganism and began a persecution of Christians.

At 18, Wenceslas overthrew his mother and stopped the persecution of priests. Although history considers him a stern but fair monarch, many in the nobility were not happy with his reforms and his support of the Christian faith. So in 935 AD Boleslav, Wenceslas' own brother, had him assassinated as Wenceslas was traveling to attend mass.

Today, Wenceslas is remembered as the patron saint of the Czech People and his feast day of September 28 is also celebrated as a national holiday in Czech Republic.

The carol was written by John Mason Neale in 1853. The music however originates 300 years earlier from Finland. Neale wrote the carol to encourage the generous giving to the poor. He choose Wenceslas as the subject of his carol because of the tradition of Wenceslas' kindness and generosity to the poor.

The carol itself is about Wenceslas and his page going to rescue a poor peasant who is gathering firewood (perhaps to sell) on a very cold winter night.

My favorite verses are the last two. In verse 4 the page cries out to the king that he can go on no longer in the snow. To which Wenceslas replies, “Mark my footsteps, my good page, tread now in them boldly, You shall find the winter’s rage freeze your blood less coldly." So the page begins to step in his masters footsteps and their he finds the warmth and the strength he needs to continue on.

It reminds me that traveling through life always is easier when I walk in the footsteps of my master.

"Good King Wenceslas"

Good King Wenceslas looked out on the Feast of Stephen,
When the snow lay round about, deep and crisp and even.
Brightly shone the moon that night, though the frost was cruel,
When a poor man came in sight, gathering winter fuel.

“Hither, page, and stand by me, if you know it, telling,
Yonder peasant, who is he? Where and what his dwelling?”
“Sire, he lives a good league hence, underneath the mountain,
Right against the forest fence, by Saint Agnes’ fountain.”

“Bring me food and bring me wine, bring me pine logs hither,
You and I will see him dine, when we bear them thither.”
Page and monarch, forth they went, forth they went together,
Through the cold wind’s wild lament and the bitter weather.

“Sire, the night is darker now, and the wind blows stronger,
Fails my heart, I know not how; I can go no longer.”
“Mark my footsteps, my good page, tread now in them boldly,
You shall find the winter’s rage freeze your blood less coldly.”

In his master’s steps he trod, where the snow lay dented;
Heat was in the very sod which the saint had printed.
Therefore, Christian men, be sure, wealth or rank possessing,
You who now will bless the poor shall yourselves find blessing.

Christmas Day: Joy to the World

2007-12-25T17:25:00.000-06:00

So I got this idea that for the twelve days of Christmas I would try and discipline myself to write a post each day. So for this first post on Christmas Day I thought I would talk about the hymn "Joy to the World."

There are some hymns that have to be sung every Christmas and Issac Watts' hymn "Joy to the World" is one of them.

An interesting story that I have heard about Issac Watts is that as a teenager he complained to his father about the songs that were sung in church. It was common at this time for English protestants to sing only the psalms in worship. The young Watts felt that the type of music being used and the over all tone of the service led to a dull and sterile experience. He father challenged him to write his own hymns if he didn't like the ones they had. The eventual result of this challenge is that Issac Watts has been given the title "Father of English hymnody." He would eventually write well over 500 hymns.

Some of the other hymns that he wrote and that we still sing today include "O God Our Help in Ages Past," "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross," Come Ye that Love the Lord," and one of my all time favorites "Alas! And Did My Savior Bleed!"

Now not everyone liked the hymns he wrote. According to one source, there were those who cried out that his hymns were "too worldly" for the church. Some of his critics complained that the church was substituting scripture for the fanciful whims of Issac Watts. This led to some congregations splitting and pastors being fired. So I guess the worship wars over traditional and contemporary music are at least 250 years old by now!

"Joy to the World" appeared in 1719 work "The Psalms of David, Imitated." Watts used Psalm 98 as his inspirtation. You can diffently see were the Psalm and the hymn focus on the joy that the Lord brings through deliverance and salvation.

"Joy to the World"

Joy to the world! the Lord is come;

Let earth receive her King;

Let every heart prepare him room,

And heaven and nature sing,

And heaven, and heaven, and nature sing.

Joy to the world! the Saviour reigns;

Let men their songs employ;

While fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains

Repeat the sounding joy,

Repeat, repeat the sounding joy.

No more let sins and sorrows grow,

Nor thorns infest the ground;

He comes to make His blessings flow

Far as the curse is found,

Far as, far as, the curse is found.

He rules the world with truth and grace,

And makes the nations prove

The glories of His righteousness,

And wonders of His love,

And wonders, wonders, of His love.

Darkness and Light

2007-12-17T19:59:00.000-06:00

The people walking in darkness

have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of the shadow of death
a light has dawned.

Isaiah 9:2

A week ago today I was sitting in the dark quite literally. We lost electrical power as an ice storm covered Northeast Oklahoma. By Tuesday last week, nearly 500,000 households were without power across the state. They are calling it the biggest power outage in Oklahoma history.

Being without electricity to light or heat my house for over four days has given me the opportunity to more deeply reflect on the above words from Isaiah.

The first thing I realized was that I had only thought I had known what darkness was until this past week. The fact is that many of us have never really experienced true darkness. Sure we go outside at night, but with the street lights and lighted business signs there is so much "light pollution" in our towns and cities that we have trouble seeing even three stars in the sky at night. Well last Monday night, after going out to eat at a local Chic-Fil-A that was lucky enough to still have power, my wife and I were coming down what is usually a busy four lane road. We were the only car on it, and although we knew we were in the middle of our city, it felt like we were in the middle of now where. And as we came to stop at an intersection, my wife asked "where are we?"

The answer - we were less than a 1/2 mile from our home. But with no traffic signal light, street lights, or retail business lights, the intersection was unrecognizable. I told my wife that there should be a gas station on this corner and over there across the street should be our favorite ice cream store. And yet it was too dark to see either business and so we felt lost even at one of the most familiar of all places to us.

Things only got worst when we made it to our house. We entered without any flashlights. So we began stumbling around the furniture in the living room hoping to run our hand across one of the three we had left somewhere in the room. Only then could we find the matches to light the candles so that light could shine once again in the darkness and bring some degree of comfort to us. (By the way, after this experience, we always took flashlights with us when we left the house.)

Of course Isaiah had no idea about light bulbs and electricity. He did know about darkness. He knew all too well the disorienting effects of darkness when trying to walk on a cloud covered moonless night. He also knew the comfort that even the smallest of lights could bring as it shown brightly in the darkness.

So is it any wonder that he chose to use the images of darkness and light to write this message of hope to the people of God. Isaiah wrote these words during the time of King Ahaz of Judah. It was a time of spiritual and political darkness in the land of Judah.

Spiritually Ahaz was one of the detestable kings of Judah turning away from the worship of the LORD and adopting pagan practices which included the sacrificing of at least one of his own sons..

Politically Judah was in a war with the northern kingdom of Israel (also called Ephraim) and Israel's strong ally Syria (Aram). The war wasn't going well for Judah. Isaiah tries to tell King Ahaz to not be afraid and to trust in the LORD. Rather than listen to Isaiah, King Ahaz allies himself with Assyria, a growing power to the northeast of Syria. The immediate result of this alliance is that Assyria defeats Syria and Israel. The long term effect is that Judah has now become a vassal state and when they no longer want to pay their yearly tribute to Assyria during the reign of King Ahaz's son Hezekiah, Assyria attacks and conquers all the fortified cities of Judah. (You can read King Ahaz's story in 2 Kings 16, 2 Chronicles 28, and Isaiah 7:1-8:4.)

It was in the midst of these dark times that Isaiah says that a great light has dawned for the people walking and living in the shadow of the valley of death.

What was the light that Isaiah saw? It was a child - more specifically a son. (Isaiah 9:6) But who is the child that Isaiah refers too? Some argue that it was Hezekiah Ahaz's son. Hezekiah did reopen the temple and knocked down the idols that his father had built and is considered a good king.

But others say no it was Josiah, Ahaz's grandson. Because under Josiah, the temple is cleaned up and remodeled. During this process a book of the law is found. When Josiah hears it read, he immediately calls for a national repentance and orders that Passover once again be observed.
But perhaps both arguments are wrong. Look at the titles that Isaiah gives to this child: Wonderful Counselor, Prince of Peace, Almighty God, Everlasting Father.

Now maybe one could argue giving the title of Wonderful Counselor and Prince of Peace to Hezekiah or Josiah. But would Isaiah call either of them Almighty God or Everlasting Father? I doubt it. It's as if Isaiah is writing beyond himself. He is writing about something that he himself cannot imagine or even fully understand.

It was the early church who first saw that the child born to bring a great light to the people walking in darkness was born not to Ahaz or Hezekiah in Jerusalem, but to Mary and Joseph in a stable in Bethlehem.

The second thing I learned from my ice storm experience is the great joy that occurs when light does return to your home. When the lights came back on in my house, I couldn't help but call my parents and some of my friends and share with them the good news. After 4 1/2 days of no lights, I really wanted to do the happy dance right there in my living room.

This makes me think how much more is the good news that the light of the world has stepped into the darkness of my heart. And how much more should I be willing to share that good news with people who are walking in the land of darkness.