"Where the skies are blue"

Someone sent me the link above.

It induced one the rare bouts of homesickness I still get.

I am going to the UK to be with our daughter this Christmas. But my family is originally from the other Birmingham; the one in the US state of Alabama.

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Blogger who won't be home for Christmas

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year - A Christmas Devotion

1. The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad, the desert shall rejoice and blossom; like the crocus
2. it shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it, the majesty of Carmel and Sharon. They shall see the glory of the LORD, the majesty of our God.
3. Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees.
4. Say to those who are of a fearful heart, "Be strong, do not fear! Here is your God. He will come with vengeance, with terrible recompense. He will come and save you."
5. Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped;
6. then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy. For waters shall break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert;
7. the burning sand shall become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water; the haunt of jackals shall become a swamp, the grass shall become reeds and rushes.
8. A highway shall be there, and it shall be called the Holy Way; the unclean shall not travel on it, but it shall be for God's people; no traveler, not even fools, shall go astray.
9. No lion shall be there, nor shall any ravenous beast come up on it; they shall not be found there, but the redeemed shall walk there.
10. And the ransomed of the LORD shall return, and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

Isaiah 35: 1-10

Christmas, we know the story, Mary and Joseph, a child in a manger, the wise men, singing angels, cowardly sheep herders, Herod killing the babies, gold, frankincense, myrrh, not to mention the carols and songs and so forth and so on. We also generally have fond memories of, and an appreciation of at least some of the more secular elements that have come to be associated with the season like lights and food, trees, squadrons of flying reindeer and silly fat men in red suits. It is often for us, as Beryl Ives’ sang so long ago “The Most Wonderful Time of the Year.” This is true for me too. Some of my fondest and earliest memories are of Christmas. It is a good time of year.

Brain researchers tell us that we can only remember about 10 or 20 days in our life. I don’t think that is accurate. It seems that I can remember more parts of just Christmases than that. But maybe they mean whole days not moments so I can’t really know for sure.

Memories are wonderful but increasingly this year I have found my self not looking back to the ghost of Christmas Past but forward to that second Christmas still to come, a Christmas that isn’t the child in the manger but rather the Savior on the white horse. Maybe I’m getting old. Maybe I’m just homesick or tired, maybe some of both. But when I stop and think about it, maybe not. My hope, our hope lies in the Jesus raised from the grave not Jesus crying in the manger.

God’s justice will come with the Second Advent as God’s salvation came through the First and I long for that second Advent. I grow weary of the injustice in this world. I grow weary of seeing evil called good and wickedness praised as virtue. I grow weary living in this world that groans beneath the sin of Adam. I long for a place where everything beautiful has not been touched by pain. I want to live in a land where truth is not associated with hand grenades or love with sadness. I grow increasing impatient for the world to be made new and for every tear to be wiped from every eye, forever! Yet, all I have is a child in a manger. Whatever my longing, whatever my fears, whatever my hopes and dreams or desire to see justice, no matter how fervent and heart felt my prayer I have only a child in a manger.

That child lying in a manger was God lying in the straw, an incomprehensible thought.

Upon further reflection, that is enough. For that child in a manger knows, and cares, and weeps and died so that one day all the things I rage about will be put right. He grew up knowing far more than I ever will of the sinfulness of the world. He never despaired. He laughed and loved and made merry with his friends and disciples. He cared for those around him. He knew our sin and He loved us in spite of it.

That child lying in a manger was God lying in the straw, an incomprehensible thought.

The hope of the world.
Emanuel.
The Mighty God.
The Everlasting Savior.
The Prince of Peace.

That should be enough to make anyone glad and enough to give anyone hope. So, almost in spite of myself, I find myself being merry and looking forward to Christmas. It is “The most wonderful time of the year.”

From me and mine to you and yours:
Merry Christmas

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Blogger who wishes you a merry Christmas

O Come O Come Emanuel

O Come O Come Emanuel is one of the oldest Christmas carols still commonly sung and possibly dates from as early as the 12^th century though most hymnologist put it in the 15^th century. I like this carol but I’m not sure that it is a Christmas song at all. There are several reasons for this.

First the tune is an actual medieval funeral hymn which doesn’t seem to be a good choice of music for a Christmas carol.

Second, the Church at this time believed what is known as “Covenant Theology.” One of the tenants of this type of theology is the belief that all of the promises made to the nation of Israel were transferred to the Church after the resurrection of Jesus. That is why you see the constant references to Israel in this hymn. In the minds of the people who originally sung this hymn they were the New Israel. The Christians at this time considered the words Israel and Church to be nearly synonyms

Third, these were people who had lived through the Black Death. They were being overruns on the East by the Turks. The Moors were invading from the West. Areas that had been predominantly Christian for 100’s of years were being converted to Islam at the point of a sword. The writers of this hymn believed that they lived in dark days.

When you look at the theology and history of the age when this hymn was written its meaning changes. This hymn isn’t about the Advent but the Second Coming. This is the voice of people who live in fear of disease, and invasion. This is a hymn for people who are afraid they are going to be asked to die for their faith. This is a song for people who believe that God will protect them even in times of trials. This is a song about finding hope in hopeless times.

Maybe that makes a good Christmas carol after all.

O come, O come, Emmanuel,
and ransom captive Israel,
that mourns in lonely exile here
until the Son of God appear.
Refrain:
Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, thou Wisdom from on high,
who orderest all things mightily;
to us the path of knowledge show,
and teach us in her ways to go. Refrain

O come, thou Rod of Jesse, free
thine own from Satan's tyranny;
from depths of hell thy people save,
and give them victory over the grave. Refrain

O come, thou Dayspring, come and cheer
our spirits by thine advent here;
disperse the gloomy clouds of night,
and death's dark shadows put to flight. Refrain

O come, thou Key of David, come,
and open wide our heavenly home;
make safe the way that leads on high,
and close the path to misery. Refrain

O come, O come, great Lord of might,
who to thy tribes on Sinai's height
in ancient times once gave the law
in cloud and majesty and awe. Refrain

O come, thou Root of Jesse's tree,
an ensign of thy people be;
before thee rulers silent fall;
all peoples on thy mercy call. Refrain

O come, Desire of nations, bind
in one the hearts of all mankind;
bid thou our sad divisions cease,
and be thyself our King of Peace. Refrain

O come, O come, Emmanuel,
and ransom captive Israel,
that mourns in lonely exile here
until the Son of God appear. Refrain

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Blogger who sings Christmas carols

Oh The Monkies Have No Tails in Zam Boanga

I wrote the post in the link last year and several people wrote me and said how it moved them. I thought I'd repost it this year.

I'll have a new Christmas post up in a couple of days

The Vine that Strangled Christmas

This is a really unusual post for me. First it is being composed in the evening on a weekend. Second I normally avoid speaking of groups, people or organization by name unless they are politicians. Third, when I write about religion I try to write about personal themes. Tonight I am writing about an identifiable group.

The really smart, pretty, looks twenty-five years younger than she is wife and I have been looking for a new church for the past couple of months for a variety of reasons. For a city with a fairly large number of prominent churches this has been harder than you might think. Part of that process took us to the Christmas pageant presented by "The Vine" in the HKCEC theatre 2.

This was one church that we can scratch off our list.

I can sum up the rest of this post in three words when I say that this Christmas pageant was: offensive, sacrilegious, and blasphemous.

I walked out after about 15 minutes but the wife, our daughter and her non-Christian boyfriend stayed for the whole performance in part because my wife and daughter didn't want to climb over the seats in the last row like I did to get out.

I can honestly say that they had a very good video presentation of the church announcements. I cannot recommend anything else about their service. If this was indicative of the theology that is commonly believed in their church I really wonder about that congregation's salvation.

They had disco dancing angels, God played by an overweight woman, idiotic angels. They made fun of the way God chose Mary and Joseph. They made fun not of Christians as fallen beings but of the invisible church eternal, the nature of God and displayed a shocking lack knowledge of basic Christian doctrine. Those were just the things I saw in 15 minutes or so. My wife told me that they basically disparaged and denigrated the entire Christmas story and that after I left it got worse. I went out side the theatre and sat on a couch not knowing whether to be angry or sad over a church that would do something like this.

Blasphemy is the sin of demeaning the nature of God. This program did that at almost every opportunity tonight. That is a horrible thing to say but I can find no other words.

The non-Christian boyfriend told me that his Anglican relatives would have walked out as well. Then he made another comment that I found profound. He said: "This looked like a spoof of the Christmas story that anti-Christians would have staged to make fun of Christians." Wow! How is that for a comment from an unbeliever. He was on the other hand almost amused by the event which in this case, isn't good.

We brought him to this service as an evangelistic opportunity. I'd hoped that he would see the wonder and awe inherent in the Christmas story. What he saw was poor almost beyond belief.

Great job guys! you're doing the devil's work better than he could himself.


Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Blogger who is still trying to celebrate Christmas.