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I have removed this post because I am tired of people spectacularly missing the point. I simply raised the point that we are accountable for our actions as representatives of Christ. I will accept no further comments on this topic.

 

There has been quite a spirited battle over Christmas this year. Earlier this month I posted a remarkable Christmas story and I have received great feedback. If you missed it…enjoy. If you caught the first post it might be worth a Christmas meditation and reread. To everyone who visits this blog, reads my books, and takes the time to bless me with your comments…Merry Christmas!

On December 9th I posted a story about the decision by a Wisconsin elementary school to rewrite the lyrics of “Silent Night” to make it acceptable for the winter program. The unfortunate choice for a new title was “Cold in the Night”. Some things just shouldn’t be done. It is like the old Jim Croce song…”you don’t tug on Superman’s cape, you don’t spit into the wind, you don’t pull the mask off the old Lone Ranger, and you don’t rewrite Silent Night” (New Revised Version).

Writing that post brought to mind a legend I had heard involving the song “Silent Night” and a wartime Christmas truce. I researched the story and found that it actually happened. Here is a nice Christmas story for your Christmas season to share at Christmas gatherings this Christmas Day (was that too obvious?).

The year was 1914 and soldiers were having to spend Christmas Eve night on the battlefields of France during World War I — the Great War, as it was called. After only four months of fighting, more than a million men had already perished in the bloody conflict. The bodies of dead soldiers were scattered between the trenches. Enemy troops were dug-in so close that they could easily exchange shouts.

On December 24, 1914, in the middle of a freezing battlefield in France, a miracle happened.

The British troops watched in amazement as candle-lit Christmas trees began to appear above the German trenches. The glowing trees soon appeared along the length of the German front.

Henry Williamson, a young soldier with the London Regiment wrote in his diary: “From the German parapet, a rich baritone voice had begun to sing a song I remembered my German nurse singing to me…. The grave and tender voice rose out of the frozen mist. It was all so strange… like being in another world — to which one had come through a nightmare.”

Silent Night

Holy Night

A man named John John McCutcheon recently wrote a song about the nearly unknown incident. These lyrics are from his work called “Christmas in the Trenches”.

The cannon rested silent, the gas clouds rolled no more,

As Christmas brought us respite from the war….

“They finished their carol and we thought that we ought to retaliate,” another British soldier wrote, “So we sang The First Noël and when we finished, they all began clapping. And they struck up O Tannebaum and on it went… until we started up O Come All Ye Faithful [and] the Germans immediately joined in …. this was really a most extraordinary thing — two nations both singing the same carol in the middle of a war.”

McCutcheon’s lyrics continue…

“There’s someone coming towards us!” the front-line sentry cried.

All sights were fixed on one lone figure trudging from their side.

His truce flag, like a Christmas star, shone on that plain so bright

As he, bravely, strode unarmed into the night.

It is recorded that enemy soldiers greeted each other in the no man’s land that was a killing zone on December 23rd. The soldiers wished each other Merry Christmas and agreed not to fire their rifles on Christmas Day. The spontaneous cease-fire eventually embraced much of a 500-mile stretch of the Western Front. According to the reports of soldiers at the scene, hundreds of thousands of soldiers celebrated the birth of the Prince of Peace among the bodies of their dead.

Soon one by one on either side walked into No Man’s Land.

With neither gun nor bayonet, we met there hand to hand.

Other soldiers told of how the “enemies” exchanged badges and buttons from their uniforms. Others shared photos of wives and children and some even exchanged addresses and promised to write after the war ended. The German troops rolled out barrels of dark beer and the British reciprocated with offerings of plum pudding. Some soldiers produced soccer balls and a spirited match broke out as fellow soldiers shouted encouragement.

At one location along the front the men who just the day before sought to kill one another now gathered together to bury their dead. Together, with heads uncovered, they held a service to memorialize their fallen comrades. A solitary voice began to sing Silent Night, in French. He was joined by another voice — this one singing in German — the words of a Christmas song known and beloved by all.

But the miracle of peace was temporary. Slowly, under threats from their officers, the troops returned to the trenches and the recoils of rifles split the temporary “Silent Night.” Some soldiers admitted aiming so their bullets flew well above the heads of the “enemy.”

Soon daylight stole upon us and France was France once more.

With sad farewells, we each prepared to settle back to war.

But the question haunted every heart that lived that wondrous night:

“Whose family have I fixed within my sight?”

My name is Francis Tolliver, in Liverpool I dwell.

Each Christmas come since World War I, I’ve learned its lesson well:

That the ones who call the shots won’t be among the dead and lame,

And on each end of the rifle, we’re the same.

That is the message the Prince of Peace brought to us on Christmas long ago. Perhaps those of us who celebrate the birth of the Saviour could learn a lesson from this Christmas miracle. Those on the other side of the cultural trenches are not unlike us. We are the same. The message delivered in Bethlehem was peace and goodwill toward men. When we fight the cultural war remember that the whole purpose of Jesus invading our space and time was to love and ultimately die for those on both sides of the battle.

 

 

Hopefully the secularists and people of faith can sheath their subpoenas long enough to declare a truce for Christmas Day. No day of the year has generated more written material than Christmas. I thought I would collect a few thoughts from people with bigger brains than me to share as a Christmas gift to you.

• Those who know me realize that I must start with humorous thoughts on the day. The first comes from one of the greatest comic strips ever produced.

Oh look, yet another Christmas TV special!  How touching to have the meaning of Christmas brought to us by cola, fast food, and beer…. Who’d have ever guessed that product consumption, popular entertainment, and spirituality would mix so harmoniously?  ~ Bill Watterson, Calvin & Hobbes

There is a remarkable breakdown of taste and intelligence at Christmastime.  Mature, responsible grown men wear neckties made of holly leaves and drink alcoholic beverages with raw egg yolks and cottage cheese in them.  ~P.J. O’Rourke

Christmas is the season when you buy this year’s gifts with next year’s money.  ~Author Unknown

Oh, for the good old days when people would stop Christmas shopping when they ran out of money.  ~Author Unknown

I think the author remained unknown so the credit card companies couldn’t them.

Once again we find ourselves enmeshed in the Holiday Season, that very special time of year when we join with our loved ones in sharing centuries-old traditions such as trying to find a parking space at the mall.  We traditionally do this in my family by driving around the parking lot until we see a shopper emerge from the mall, then we follow her, in very much the same spirit as the Three Wise Men, who 2,000 years ago followed a star, week after week, until it led them to a parking space.  ~Dave Barry

The Supreme Court has ruled that they cannot have a nativity scene in Washington, D.C.  This wasn’t for any religious reasons.  They couldn’t find three wise men.  ~Jay Leno

• Many thoughts about Christmas are sentimental…

Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful.  ~Norman Vincent Peale

He who has not Christmas in his heart will never find it under a tree.  ~Roy L. Smith

The best of all gifts around any Christmas tree:  the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in each other.  ~Burton Hillis

It is Christmas in the heart that puts Christmas in the air.  ~W.T. Ellis

Perhaps the best Yuletide decoration is being wreathed in smiles.  ~Author Unknown

There’s nothing sadder in this world than to awake Christmas morning and not be a child.  ~Erma Bombeck, I Lost Everything in the Post-Natal Depression

Christmas is for children.  But it is for grown-ups too.  Even if it is a headache, a chore, and nightmare, it is a period of necessary defrosting of chill and hide-bound hearts.  ~Lenora Mattingly Weber

• Some Christmas reflections challenge us to maintain the spirit of the season past December 25th.

I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year.  ~Charles Dickens

Next to a circus there ain’t nothing that packs up and tears out faster than the Christmas spirit.  ~Kin Hubbard

I wish we could put up some of the Christmas spirit in jars and open a jar of it every month.  ~Harlan Miller

• But my favorite Christmas thoughts focus me on the miracle of God intentionally seeking a relationship with me.

For the spirit of Christmas fulfils the greatest hunger of mankind.  ~Loring A. Schuler

Blessed is the season which engages the whole world in a conspiracy of love!  ~Hamilton Wright Mabie

Despite our efforts to keep him out, God intrudes. The life of Jesus is bracketed by two impossibilities: a virgin’s womb and an empty tomb. Jesus entered our world through a door marked “No Entrance” and left through a door marked “No Exit.” ~ Peter Larson, Prism (Jan/Feb 2001)

There has been only one Christmas – the rest are anniversaries.  ~W.J. Cameron

• The best news of all on this anniversary was a little quote recorded outside of Bethlehem….

Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. ~ Angel to the shepherds…as quoted by Luke

Merry Christmas!

 

 

 

 

 

 

The “Walk On Eggshells Union” (WOE-U) has been busy rewriting Christmas songs to make sure that no one could possibly be offended. Silent Night went from holy night to winter night after a New Jersey elementary school got involved. They changed the lyric to make the Christmas carol more “acceptable” to an apparently hypersensitive audience. Perhaps we will soon be going to hear the local orchestra deliver the stirring holiday rendition of Handel’s “The Promised and Expected Deliverer Described in Some Religious Texts”, the composition formerly known as “The Messiah”.

While there have been denials everywhere that there is any “war” on Christmas it does seem that there is, at the very least, some politically correct police actions going on. So I decided to ask the question, “What would Saint Nicholas Do”? After all, the fourth-century bishop of Myra (present-day Turkey) was the role model for our present day Santa Clause. Saint Nicholas is said to have saved a poor family’s daughters from slavery by tossing some gold through the window that landed, according to legend, in stockings that had been hung up to dry. From that trick shot came the custom of hanging up stockings for St. Nicholas (and now Santa) to fill.

Well it seems that old Saint Nick was generous and kind to children but more than a little feisty when it came to his beliefs. Gene Edward Veith wrote this in World Magazine (December 24th edition)….

“During the Council of Nicea, jolly old St. Nicholas got so fed up with Arius, who taught that Jesus was just a man, that he walked up and slapped him! That unbishoplike behavior got him in trouble. The council almost stripped him of his office, but Nicholas said he was sorry, so he was forgiven. The point is, the original Santa Claus was someone who flew off the handle when he heard someone minimizing Christ. Perhaps we can battle our culture’s increasingly Christ-less Christmas by enlisting Santa in his original cause. The poor girls’ stockings have become part of our Christmas imagery. So should the St. Nicholas slap.”

Mr. Veith goes on to describe how the new Santa “Enforcer Clause” might look.

“This addition to his job description will keep Santa busy. Teachers who forbid the singing of religious Christmas carols—SLAP! Office managers who erect Holiday Trees—SLAP! Judges who outlaw manger displays—SLAP! People who give The Da Vinci Code as a Christmas present—SLAP! Ministers who cancel Sunday church services that fall on Christmas day—SLAP! SLAP! The Santas should also roam the shopping aisles, and if they hear any clerks wish their customers a mere “Happy Holiday,” give them a slap.”

Veith is not advocating violence…just a gentle little tap on their heretical noggin. So if this catches on we can look forward to such classics as

“I Saw Santa Slapping Heretics”  sung to the tune of “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Clause” or maybe “Jingle Bell Slap” sung to the tune of “Jingle Bell Rock”.

I am not sure I agree with all of Veith’s reasons for Santa to give a gentle Christmas smack. Perhaps I would slap lawyers who put the fear of a Supreme Being into the hearts of teachers. I suspect that few teachers left to their own accord would ban the singing of Christmas songs.

Instead of slapping those who give The Da Vinci Code I would slap Christians who haven’t done any research on the heresies contained within that book. If you can’t find the time to develop a defense of the basic tenets of your faith — SLAP!

Instead of slapping clerks who say “Happy Holidays” I would prefer that Santa slap the corporate officers that order what the poor clerks can say.

And I would not slap a minister who cancels Sunday church that falls on Christmas day. I believe a legitimate argument can be made on both sides. Christmas is a very special family day. I will not judge anyone who chooses to worship the incarnation of the Christ child on Christmas Eve and then enjoys their family on Christmas morning. I was raised in legalism and saved by grace. When I read that Christians are slipping into the judgement robes I become like the shepherds on that Christmas night.

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.  Luke 2 KJV

After nearly dying of spiritual thirst from legalism I do get “sore afraid” when we judge the motives of others or suggest that not meeting on Christmas is heresy. Forgive me if  you disagree. There is a solid Biblical basis for that forgiveness (No doubt some will suggest that I should get slapped for quoting from The King James Version and the The Message in the same post).

 If someone falls into sin, forgivingly restore him, saving your critical comments for yourself. You might be needing forgiveness before the day’s out. Galatians 6 The Message

 

Merry Christmas and a Slappy New Year!

Today’s Dallas Morning News was a little tiptoe through a minefield of bad news and bad behavior.

Dateline Houston…

• The pastor of the nation’s largest church and his family were asked to leave a plane after his wife failed to comply with a flight attendant’s instructions, the FBI said Tuesday. Houston Lakewood Church pastor Joel Osteen, his wife Victoria Osteen, and their two children boarded a flight from Houston to Vail, Colo., Monday. The plane’s door had been closed when Victoria Osteen and a flight attendant had a disagreement.

I don’t know what happened. I don’t know how justified Mrs. Osteen was to be unhappy with the service from the flight attendants. I don’t know what kind of attitude the flight attendant displayed toward the Osteens. I do know that this unfortunate act will be the fodder of jokes and ridicule and demeaning of Christianity, and by extension, of Christ. When we take the awesome responsibility of calling ourselves Christians we raise the bar on our personal behavior. Whether we like it or not does not change the truth of that fact. For those who witnessed the incident and for those who were inconvenienced by having to wait an hour for the Osteen’s luggage to be removed the message of the gospel may have been damaged. Is that unfair to Mrs. Osteen? Perhaps. But when you are a visible and vocal representative of Jesus, whether it’s at a megachurch or a mini mart, you are representing Jesus everyday and every moment. I can guarantee you that if I display unseemly behavior the first thing that will pop into the minds of those who know who I am will be  “I wonder if that is in his wonderful little Christian books?”. One of my biggest fears in writing books was that I knew I had put myself on the line for the rest of my life.

But the reality is that simply announcing  “I am a Christian” does exactly the same thing. Your failures likely won’t make the news but they may do just as much damage. I pray that the Osteens will handle this in a way that demonstrates the humility and grace of Jesus. We all make mistakes. It is how we respond to them that can make a difference. Repenting and repairing by asking forgiveness is a very good way to practice damage control.

Dateline Harrisburg, Pa….

•  In one of the biggest courtroom clashes between faith and evolution since the 1925 Scopes Monkey Trial, a federal judge barred a Pennsylvania public school district Tuesday from teaching “intelligent design” in biology class, saying the concept is creationism in disguise. Others criticised it as an attack on scientists who believe in God. U.S. District Judge John Jones delivered a stinging attack on the Dover Area School Board, saying its first-in-the-nation decision in October 2004 to insert intelligent design into the science curriculum violated the constitutional separation of church and state.

No surprise here. This was a very poor test case because of circumstances surrounding the lawsuit. I am not discouraged by the ruling because I am convinced of the truth of a Creator. Brilliant men and women will continue to seek the clues of the mystery of life. I am confidant to let that process unfold. I do intend to challenge some of the blatantly unfair stereotypes and assumptions made about those who hold to the idea of a Creator in future blogs.

Dateline somewhere in the Target Department stores offices….

• Countdown to Christmas (from Target full page ad)

I noted that Target got some of that “old time bottom line religion” and added Christmas to their TV and print ads. Nervous executives may believe that Christians are stupid and narrow minded but we do have some fat cash. Merry Christmas.

Dateline Ft. Worth…

• Kirk Franklin won’t hide his past, including the porn. Some people are upset about a confession Mr. Franklin made on The Oprah Winfrey Show last month.  “I’ve been around all the fakes and, you know, all the church folk that were super-spiritual, but you saw them doing dirt, and I didn’t want to be a hypocrite,” he told Ms. Winfrey. “I didn’t want to be a fake church dude. You know what I’m saying?” Mr. Franklin does not regret doing the interview. He only wishes he could have spoken for longer. “I didn’t get a chance to talk about what my motives were,” his mission to help other men recognize how sexual compulsions could hurt their marriages, to explain how God could help, he says. 

For reasons beyond my comprehension Kirk Franklin is being criticized for being honest, real, and offering the hope of redemption in Christ. He is being starkly candid about the damage pornography does to relationships and to the soul. I was a fan of Mr.Franklin before. I am more so now. Observers are looking for authenticity and it won’t be found in “fake church dudes”.

Dateline Jerusalem (from the archives)

• Headline: Jesus addresses fake church dudes in temple harangue. “You’re hopeless, you religion scholars and Pharisees! Frauds! You burnish the surface of your cups and bowls so they sparkle in the sun, while the insides are maggoty with your greed and gluttony.”  The Message

The message hasn’t changed in the last 2,000 years. It is easy to clean up and shine up our “Christian” exterior to sparkle. The hard work of cleaning up the maggoty insides will make the eternal difference. Live like an ambassador for Jesus during this Christmas season and into the New Year. And if you screw up…repent, reconcile, and repair.

Merry Christmas.

One of my contributions with this modest little blog is to continually ask the tough questions.

Recently I listened to  “Away in a Manger” at a Christmas program. You likely know verse three of the song.

The cattle are lowing
The poor Baby wakes
But little Lord Jesus
No crying He makes

As I listened an important series of inquiries popped into my head. What noise were the cattle making when they started lowing? Was this normal cow talk? Did lowing just sound better than mooing in the lyric? And then the most important question came to mind…what is wrong with me?

I can’t answer the last question but I can help with the others. Lowing is in fact defined as…

The characteristic sound uttered by cattle; a moo.   –  dictionary.com

So Jesus was awakened by the characteristic sound uttered by a cow. The next part of the lyric is disturbing to those of us who are parents. If any of the babies who grew up in our household were awakened by cattle lowing they would be squalling (the characteristic sound uttered by a ticked off baby; a scream).  I also discovered that this verse was not original to the song. It was added in the early 1900’s by a Methodist minister named John T. McFarland for a children’s program.

I remember as a child singing “Away in a Manger” and picturing the baby Jesus with this beatific smile on his face and a little halo hovering over his head. The animals were swaying and smiling like the campfire scene from the movie “Three Amigos”. Mary and Joseph were awed spectators as the baby Jesus acknowledged the shepherds and welcomed them to his place (the earlier lyrics told us he didn’t have a crib).

My images of the baby Jesus were indeed childish. But I wonder if we don’t carry a little of that into our adult Christian journey. This Christmas I have taken time to think about the implications of the incarnation.

C.S. Lewis called the incarnation “the Grand Miracle.” He wrote: “The central miracle asserted by Christians is the Incarnation…. Every other miracle prepares for this, or exhibits this, or results from this…. It was the central event in the history of the Earth–the very thing that the whole story has been about” (Miracles, chapter 14).

By a miracle that passes human comprehension, the Creator entered his creation, the Eternal entered time, God became human–in order to die and rise again for the salvation of all people. “He comes down; down from the heights of absolute being into time and space, down into humanity; down further still … (to) the womb … down to the very roots and sea-bed of the Nature He has created. But He goes down to come up again and bring the whole ruined world up with Him” (Miracles, chapter 14).

Take a moment to meditate on the mystery of that. Fully God and fully man. I am sure the little Lord Jesus had the normal response to being awakened by cattle. His swaddling clothes had to be changed just like any baby. Chuck Swindoll described Him as diety in diapers.

How does that affect me this Christmas? When I suffer Jesus understands. He has been there. When I am lonely or feeling betrayed He understands. When I am joyful and laughing He understands. By becoming like me Jesus can empathize with me. He gets it.

My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.   I John 2

The miracle in the manger was not Jesus ignoring stupid cows. The miracle was God becoming flesh.

Merry Christmas!

 

 

I love Dave Barry. As long as he is alive I will not have the weirdest brain on the planet. Here is his take on the secularizing of Christmas greetings.

      Once again, we come to the Holiday Season, a deeply religious time
that each of us observes, in his own way, by going to the mall of his
choice.

    In the old days, it was not called the Holiday Season; the Christians
called it “Christmas” and went to church; the Jews called it “Hanukkah” and went to synagogue; the atheists went to parties and drank. People passing each other on the street would say “Merry Christmas!” or “Happy Hanukkah!”or (to the atheists) “Look out for the wall!”

    These days, people say “Season’s Greetings,” which, when you think
about it, means nothing. It’s like walking up to somebody and saying
“Appropriate Remark” in a loud, cheerful voice. But “Season’s Greetings”
is safer, because it does not refer to any actual religion. Some day, I
imagine, even “Season’s Greetings” will be considered too religious, and
we’ll celebrate the Holiday Season by saying “Have a nice day.”

There is a lot of humor and an uncomfortable amount of truth in those paragraphs. And while I will be going to the mall of my choice today with my beloved this is also a deeply religious time for me. For me this is a time to celebrate and marvel at the concept of God becoming man. The past two posts have offered some gift ideas to give Jesus on His upcoming birthday. It is an odd concept indeed that we generally give Christmas gifts to everyone but the one who is having a birthday. So if you are a late arriver we have been looking at the gifts of the Magi (wisemen) to see if we can get some last minute ideas. The first gift was gold and the second gift was frankincense. The third gift given by the magi to Christ child was myrrh. 
 
Myrrh is an aromatic gum produced from a thorn bush and it is obtained in the same manner as frankincense. The bush is gashed and the resin bleeds out and is collected. However, if frankincense represents sweetness, myrrh represents bitterness, at least to the taste. Myrrh was used chiefly in embalming the dead, (John 19:39) Nicodemus brought Myrrh and aloes to wrap the body of Jesus. 

Myrrh was a commodity of great value for early commerce.

As they sat down to eat their meal, they looked up and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead. Their camels were loaded \with spices, balm and myrrh, and they were on their way to take them down to Egypt. (Genesis 37:25) 

The Psalms tell us that myrrh was a valued perfume.

All your robes are fragrant with myrrh and aloes and cassia; 
from palaces adorned with ivory 
the music of the strings makes you glad.  .(Psalms 45:8).

Myrrh kept its fragrance for several hundred years when stored in an alabaster pot. Myrrh also had medicinal qualities, sometimes mingled with wine to form a painkilling drink. That was offered to Jesus on the cross to ease His suffering. 

Then they offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it. (Mark 15:23)

So the Magi brought myrrh as a gift of great value but also as a foreshadowing of the human suffering that Jesus took upon Himself when He came into our world. So what can we give to Jesus in response to His willingness and love to take on suffering and death on our behalf? How about giving the gift of being willing to die to our self…our selfish desires…our own agenda? It is a daily choice that followers of Jesus make to live like that. We ought to consider others as more important than ourselves (see Rom. 12:10). We can’t do that unless we first learn to die to ourselves. The Message has an interesting take on Colossions 3.

So if you’re serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ, act like it. Pursue the things over which Christ presides. Don’t shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ–that’s where the action is. See things from his perspective. Your old life is dead. Your new life, which is your real life–even though invisible to spectators–is with Christ in God. He is your life.

He is my life. And I want to be serious about living this resurrection life in 2006 and beyond. During the hustle and bustle of the Christmas season I need to take time to remember that. So let’s review our potential shopping list for Jesus on His birthday. Perhaps you would like to give Jesus the gift of more time with Him.  How about the gift of really believing that Jesus is Lord over all…not Lord over what you and I select? Perhaps you are ready to take the faith step of being willing and ready to die to your desires so that you can serve the needs of others.

There are just six days until we celebrate the birthday of Jesus. He gave us a gift that we cannot repay when He surprised earth by bringing Heaven to this planet on Christmas Day. So it seems appropriate to wrap a little something for Jesus and present it to Him this year. Merry Christmas!