Christmas Reflection: Music

In the next few posts, I'd like to focus on three aspects of Christmas that are particularly important to me: music, light, words and family.

In my mind, you cannot have Christmas without music. At least you can't have a proper Christmas without proper music. There are three kinds of Christmas music: songs that capture by their words or tunes (hopefully both!) the essence of Christmas; fun songs ("Jingle Bells", "Santa Claus is Comin' to Town", etc.) that are good for driving, for baking cookies and for otherwise lightening the mood; finally, there are Christmas songs that should be destroyed (this would probably be a pretty hefty list ... and everyone has their pet peeves ... contemporary Christian music is responsible for many that would end up on my list).

Here our focus is upon the first type of Christmas music. Music like this helps us to remember with our emotions the Incarnation of our Lord and Saviour.

When we listen to Handel's Messiah or beautiful carols from Medieval Europe, we remember the angels who broke the silence of the night with songs of God's glory. Music like this helps us to remember God's transcedent majesty.

When we listen to guitars play folk carols or children singing the simple songs of Christmas, we call to mind the scene below the angels: a baby in a manger, a poor peasant family, shepherds in the fields. The Word became flesh! The God served by multitudes of the heavenly host, the Creator of all things, a baby.

As you listen to Christmas music, perhaps you might pause and consider both the immanence and transcendence of God that echoes in our hearts this season.

Advent Reflection

Let's take a break from revolutionaries for now. We'll get to the really important revolutionaries after a little while.

Advent is a season of waiting. I have been trying (imperfectly and inconsistently) to get myself into a mindset of waiting during the past few weeks. Some apects of my life right now really help me to do that. I'm in that weird stretch of time between college and a real full time job (I have a feeling that those of us in our early 20s will all have a few years where things seem "unsettled"). I'm waiting for important things to happen. This helps me to wrap my mind around the idea of waiting.

On the other hand, we live in a culture where great masses of people have no desire and no great need to wait for anything. I don't need to wait to buy things. Credit cards, Google and Amazon make sure of that. If I have a desire for really delicious food, I can easily drive to the grocery store or make anything from scratch. For most people in the world today and throughout history, good food that goes beyond the bare essentials is a rare luxury that was worth waiting for. Many characteristics of our American culture try to distract us from times of waiting. Instant gratification is par for the course.

But we are called to wait.

During Advent, we remember the first coming of the One for whom God's people spent centuries waiting. We look back with great joy at the turning point in all human history.

During Advent, we prepare our hearts to grow in grace. By the power of the Holy Spirit, we turn aside from sin and darkness. We look to Jesus every day for our salvation. We put on the armor of light.

During Advent, we join with all creation and groan in eager expectation of the revealing of the sons of God. We wait for the second coming of our Savior. We live as citizens of the Kingdom of God in our everyday lives.

Advent is for the past, the present, the future. We wait with hope and with joy - knowing that He came and that He is coming again.

Revolutionary #4 - Marva Dawn

First impressions can be way off sometimes. If you told me a few years ago that the petite chapel speaker who started out by making us do something really kind of dorky (I think she had us pass the peace in some unconventional way ... I've grown since then) would write the kind of words that explode as you read them, I would have laughed myself silly.

Marva Dawn is a theologian who provides words to the thoughts that have been growing within my head and my heart these past few years. For instance, one of my more interesting topics of thought concerns the use of music and other forms of art in the worship of the church. Marva Dawn sums it all up:

"By singing songs from other Christian ethnic groups and from all epochs of our faith - going all the way back to our roots in Judaica and forward to the angels' songs in Heaven recorded in the Revelation - we learn the global and timeless dimensions of the people of God" (A Royal "Waste" of Time, 182).

Three cheers for Marva Dawn's ability to put some muscle on the skeleton of a thought that has been simmering in my brain for quite some time!

Revolutionary #3 - Gary Burge

Dr. Gary Burge is Professor of New Testament at Wheaton College. I am indebted to him for many reasons. Allow my nerdy mind the privelege of making a list:

1. Dr. Burge, unlike many professors, teaches by provoking. He forced many in my class on Jesus of Nazareth to seriously doubt the accuracy of the Gospels. He did this by presenting the main beliefs of modern scholars so well that we thought they were his own. Not only did this force us to read and research outside of class (for the sake of our own peace of mind) but he also set us up to be blown away as he singlehandedly dismantled all these arguments in one class period. Amazing.

2. Dr. Burge makes being really nerdy seem cool (the guy had us watch an episode of Star Trek for crying out loud). Maybe someday I will perfect this useful art.

3. Dr. Burge challenges the image of the scholar as someone who isn't willing to take a position on controversial issues. He holds positions on EVERY issue. From New Testament scholarship, to ordination of women, to the Israel/Palestine conflict, Dr. Burge has views and will take you on if you disagree. Sometimes I really disagree, sometimes I agree, sometimes I change my views. Regardless, I am always forced to think.