Happy New Year to you from Seminary Gal!

Beginning with the New Year, 7 Days of Blessing!  A great way to start 2015.

In the Bible, the number 7 is associated with completion, fullness, and perfection.  Let’s start 2015 with 7 Days of Blessing by recalling famous blessings in Scripture.

Merry Christmas! 

Easy words to say.

Hard words to live out in the lives of so many around the world.

We’re a world of darkness and fear.  A world of terror and trouble.  A world of discord and destruction.  A world of social media and unfathomable loneliness. 

We are a world careening toward anarchy and lawlessness.

Yet, there’s hope because of what happened on Christmas Day. 

Isaiah 9: 5 Every warrior’s boot used in battle and every garment rolled in blood will be destined for burning, will be fuel for the fire. 6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this.

No more suitable carol would match Christmas than a carol arising from such dark depths.  Its origin is a poem called Christmas Bells, penned by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow on Christmas Day in 1863.  He was going through personally dark days following the death of his beloved wife Fanny and the injury sustained by his eldest son Charles Appleton Longfellow in the Civil War.

Fanny died in 1861 and Longfellow’s journal that year at Christmas was silent.

The following Christmas, showing the enduring nature of grief, his journal stated, “’A merry Christmas’ say the children, but that is no more for me.”

Finally in 1863 on Christmas Day, Christmas Bells put ink to the longstanding grief and pointed Longfellow clearly upward to God.

The poem reads,

I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet
The words repeat
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along
The unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Till ringing, singing on its way,  The world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime,
A chant sublime
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Then from each black, accursed mouth
The cannon thundered in the South,
And with the sound
The carols drowned
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

It was as if an earthquake rent
The hearth-stones of a continent,
And made forlorn
The households born
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And in despair I bowed my head;
“There is no peace on earth,” I said;
“For hate is strong,
And mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!”

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
“God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
The Wrong shall fail,
The Right prevail,
With peace on earth, good-will to men.”

You’ll note that the carol—with powerful music supplied by John Baptiste Calkin—has omitted the two stanzas which specifically referenced the American Civil War.  (Longfellow was a staunch abolitionist and Christmas Bells strongly reflects Longfellow’s life and times).  Calkin rearranged the 5 resulting stanzas in 1872, set them to music, and gave us a carol called I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day.

How appropriate that we conclude our series of Carol Me Christmas with words of hope that no matter how dark our world, God is not dead.  He doesn’t sleep.  We might want to cry out,

God, where are you?” 

Why can’t you do something?”

But on Christmas Day, God’s answer would be

I am Immanuel which you’ll remember means ‘God with us.’  And I did something already: I came to you as the True Light in darkness.  If you believe in Me, there is eternal life ahead.  No one can snatch you out of my hands.

As you listen to this version by The Carpenters, read through the poem.  Think about how Jesus’ coming as a baby in a manger changed everything.  Because of Him, there is hope.  Though the world is a dark one, the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining (1 John 2:8).

Merry Christmas!

It’s Christmas Eve.  I can’t think of a better carol to honor today than Go Tell It On the Mountain.  The exhilaration of joy at having heard proclaimed by the angels the birth of our Lord and Savior…the joy at seeing Him and adoring Him… ought to prompt us forward to share the Good News of great joy that we have heard.

Isaiah 52:7 How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, “Your God reigns!”

Our greatest joy on Christmas morning is that Jesus entered into our human struggle as fully God but fully human.  His life and His death changed everything.

Romans 10:4 Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes. ..8 But what does it say? “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,” that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: 9 That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. 11 As the Scripture says, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame.” 12 For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile– the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, 13 for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” 14 How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? 15 And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”

It doesn’t matter whether we’re male or female, young or old, Jew or Gentile…and there is no difference in God’s love for us.  His love is immeasurable and magnificent and given to us no matter what color is our skin, what social strata we’re from, where we live, or what language we speak.  Every human bears the Image of God.  God’s Image is colorblind and His love is big enough for all.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

Go Tell It on the Mountain was first published in a collection of slave songs and spirituals entitled New Jubilee Songs and Folk Songs of the American Negro (1907) by John Wesley Work, Jr..  His family before him and after him were devoted to preserving spirituals and he was actively involved with the Fisk Jubilee Singers whose name you might remember from the Overcomer’s series devotional on Swing Low Sweet Chariot.

As you read through the lyrics to this spiritual and enjoy this version from the incomparable Mahalia Jackson, ponder our Thought Focus for Today.

Thought Focus for Today:  In a world that seems to divide and tear apart on superficial demographics, what does it mean to you that there is no difference…that the same Lord is Lord of all? 

How ought our views of others along national and racial lines be changed by remembering that Jesus entered this human struggle as a Jewish man to save the entire world? 

Will you Go Tell It On the Mountain that Jesus Christ is born?

Go, tell it on the mountain,

Over the hills and everywhere

Go, tell it on the mountain,       

That Jesus Christ is born.

While shepherds kept their watching

Over silent flocks by night

Behold throughout the heavens

There shone a holy light.

Refrain

The shepherds feared and trembled,

When lo! above the earth,

Rang out the angels chorus

That hailed the Savior’s birth.

Refrain

Down in a lowly manger

The humble Christ was born

And God sent us salvation

That blessèd Christmas morn.

Refrain

Joy to the World! is probably my all-time favorite Christmas carol in our Carol Me, Christmas (2014 Advent Devotional Series).  I don’t know if it’s the upbeat melody or if it’s the emphasis on joy, but it’s fully appropriate that as Advent progresses, we moved from anticipation in a dark world desperate for salvation from our earliest week, to the announcement of Jesus’ birth, to the adoration of Christ…now to exhilaration at how amazing it is that the Lord is come.

I always wondered why it is the Lord is come when it seemed like it should be “did” or “has” or simply “came.”  I’m guessing that Isaac Watts (who could arm-wrestle Charles Wesley for the title of Most Noted Hymn Writer) knew exactly what he was doing.

Of course!  Why didn’t I think of it before?  It’s the present tense!

Exactly what one would expect from a pastor and theologian.  The Lord is come.  Once for all time.  Jesus is alive in heaven at the right hand of the Father.  He came into the human struggle at a singular point in the past (what we call the Incarnation), but He is come (as an ongoing presence) in the hearts of an increasing population of saints.  He will never be re-incarnated.  One time in the flesh accomplished salvation forever!  The is connotes a continual presence.

Isaac Watts wrote more than 700 hymns plus numerous theological books during his time as a Nonconformist pastor in England.  Like the Puritans before him and the Reformed Protestants, Congregationalists, Baptists and Methodists after him, he did not conform to the uniform governance set forth by the Church of England.  Rather, he devoted himself to the Scriptures and to the proclamation of the Gospel’s truth in the footsteps of his father who was jailed as a Nonconformist pastor.

Most hymnals have many of his hymns including When I Survey the Wondrous Cross and O God Our Help in Ages Past.  Two classics to be sure!

The score is often noted as “from George Frederick Handel” which isn’t really a Handel composition but was likely inspired by the works of Handel.  In our modern world known for plagiarizing and pirating music without a second thought, it’s actually rather refreshing that credit would be given even for the inspiration for the music entitled Antioch (yes, after the place where believers were first called Christians according to Acts 11:26).  Today, Antioch is presumed composed by, and not simply arranged by, Lowell Mason (1839).

Consider the lyrics below and read Psalm 98 which inspired it.  Enjoy this version of Joy to the World! by the George Fox University Music Department Christmas program while pondering our Thought Focus for Today.

Thought Focus for Today:  How does a continual present accurately depict what Jesus has done for us in His Incarnation?

1. Joy to the world! The Lord is come.
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare Him room;
And heav’n and nature sing,
And heav’n and nature sing. And heav’n and heav’n and nature sing.

2. Joy to the world, the Savior reigns
Let men their songs employ.
While fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat the sounding joy
Repeat the sounding joy

3. No more let sin and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found,
Far as the curse is found,
Far as, far as the curse is found.

4. 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 of His love,
And wonders, wonders of His love.

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Carol Me, Christmas (2014 Advent Devotional Series) began November 30th.  There are only a few days left.  If you haven’t signed up yet, you can receive these devotional studies in your email by entering your email address on the SeminaryGal.com home page in the space provided in the sidebar.  Or “Like” the SeminaryGal Facebook page to access them there.  I will do another devotional series for Lent and will continue to post the sermons from the Acts of the Holy Spirit and Apostles series as well.  If you like these devotionals, I’d really appreciate your letting others know so I can continue to spread the Good News far and wide.  Blessings to you, in Christ always, Barbara <><

As we continue our Carol Me, Christmas (2014 Advent Devotional Series), we are in Bethlehem and seeing the Christ Child as the story of Christmas unfolds.  Once in Royal David’s City points to that royal city Bethlehem where both Joseph and Mary, both from the line of David, would register for the census.  Mary was over 12 years old, the legal age to be taxed.  She had to go to Bethlehem too.  She had to go personally and couldn’t leave the responsibility to Joseph to whom she was “pledged to be married.”

Luke 2:1 In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. 2 (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3 And everyone went to his own town to register. 4 So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. 5 He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. 6 While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, 7 and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

Mary and Joseph were legal citizens of the province of Syria, the part of the Roman Empire in which Palestine was located.  Mary and Joseph were both from the line of David, as were their parents.  One can only assume that since everyone went to his own town to register, both Joseph’s and Mary’s parents and their families would have been participating in the legal census too, especially since they were likely righteous Jews, having raised devout and observant children.

The fact that there was “no room” at the inn suggests that neither Mary nor Joseph were any longer welcomed by their families.  After all, what kind of parents would allow their pregnant daughter to sleep in the cold if they had a room at the inn to share?

Righteous and observant doesn’t necessarily mean faithful in the eyes of God.  Sometimes people don’t and won’t understand that God does things in ways incomprehensible to us.  And that’s because our brains are far too small—even the smartest among us—to fathom the miraculous of God.

Instead, shepherds—the lowest of the pecking order—get it.  They hear the news.  They believe.  Meanwhile we have no record of Mary’s or Joseph’s parents ever coming to see this baby, Mary’s parents’ grandchild and Joseph’s parents’ presumed grandchild.  If the silence of Scripture is an indication, the Messiah comes—the One these righteous people would have been waiting for—and they miss it.  Completely.

Luke 18:10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men– robbers, evildoers, adulterers– or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’ 13 “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ 14 “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” 15 People were also bringing babies to Jesus to have him touch them. When the disciples saw this, they rebuked them. 16 But Jesus called the children to him and said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. 17 I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”

Is it coincidence that Jesus says we need to have a childlike faith immediately after an example of the self-righteous and the self-abased?  This childlike faith is what Mrs. Cecil Frances Alexander’s poem Once in Royal David’s City (first published in 1848) talks about.

As you listen to this version by Ecclesium consider the Thought Focus for Today.

Thought Focus for Today:  The same God who says, “’Come now, let us reason together,’ says the LORD. ‘Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool’” (Isaiah 1:18) also tells us to demonstrate childlike faith that simply and humbly believes.  Where are you today?  Is it possible to spend so much time attempting to reason out the miraculous that we might miss the Miracle of Christ Jesus?

Once in royal David’s city,

Stood a lowly cattle shed,

Where a mother laid her Baby,

In a manger for His bed:

Mary was that mother mild,

Jesus Christ, her little Child.

He came down to earth from heaven,

Who is God and Lord of all,

And His shelter was a stable,

And His cradle was a stall:

With the poor, and mean, and lowly,

Lived on earth our Savior holy.

For He is our childhood’s pattern;

Day by day, like us, He grew;

He was little, weak, and helpless,

Tears and smiles, like us He knew;

And He cares when we are sad,

And he shares when we are glad.

And our eyes at last shall see Him,

Through His own redeeming love;

For that Child so dear and gentle,

Is our Lord in heaven above:

And He leads His children on,

To the place where He is gone.

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Carol Me, Christmas (2014 Advent Devotional Series) began November 30th.  By way of reminder, if you haven’t signed up yet, you can receive these devotional studies in your email throughout Advent 2014 by entering your email address on the SeminaryGal.com home page in the space provided in the sidebar.  Or “Like” the SeminaryGal Facebook page to access them there.  If you like these devotionals, I’d really appreciate your letting others know so I can continue to spread the Good News far and wide.  Blessings to you, in Christ always, Barbara <><

Everything sounds more theological in Latin.  Today’s Carol Me, Christmas (2014 Advent Devotional Series) hymn, O Come All Ye Faithful (also known as Adeste Fideles), is no exception.  I remember singing it in our high school choir…in Latin.  I especially liked singing Venite adoremus Dominum.

O Come All Ye Faithful is attributed to John F. Wade with the English translation by Frederick Oakeley and William T. Brooke among others.  The scene depicted in this carol is that of the angels having announced the birth of the Christ to the shepherds,

Luke 2:15 So it was, when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, that the shepherds said to one another, “Let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us.”

Some authors report that this was not designed as a pilgrimage to Bethlehem, but rather a carefully decipherable call to revolt by Wade, a Catholic exiled in France, to fellow faithful Jacobeans in exile to rise up against the English throne which was oppressing Catholics of the day.  Personally, I find this fairly incongruous with the plain words of the song.  Some people just can’t stand to let Jesus be worshiped without politicizing the whole thing.

The tune itself is regal and almost like a march, suitable for a pilgrimage.  It has been attributed to John Wade, or John Reading, as well as to Simao Portogallo which gives rise to another name for this hymn as being The Portuguese Hymn.

All of this said, the lyrics fit with the biblical story, but not for today.  Theologically speaking, Christianity is one religion in which pilgrimages no longer happen.  God would want it that way.  In the flow of Scripture, we don’t have Noah’s ark, the original copies of the Ten Commandments, the budded staff of Aaron, the golden jar of manna, or the Ark of the Covenant.  We don’t have Moses’ basket or the bronze snake.  We don’t have the stones lifted out of the River Jordan as a memorial.  We don’t have a Ripley’s Wax Museum marking the exact spot where the Christ Child was laid in the manger, which is a good thing because that’s kind of creepy.

Why wouldn’t God want us going to Bethlehem in a pilgrimage?

Jesus is Emmanuel, God with us.  Christianity is the only religion in which God reached down for us and came to us, Himself, to save us.  That’s what Christ, Messiah, means.

Isaiah 9:6 For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 Of the increase of His government and peace There will be no end, Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, To order it and establish it with judgment and justice From that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.

As you ponder our Thought Focus for Today and listen to the Christmas Eve Service of Eucharist at Westminster Abbey, remind yourself about how wonderful it is that God accomplished for us what no human pilgrimage ever could.

Thought Focus for Today:  We don’t need to go on pilgrimages in a physical sense to worship God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. How can Christians go on a spiritual pilgrimage without ever leaving home?

O come, all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant,
O come ye, O come ye, to Bethlehem.
Come and behold Him, born the King of angels;

Refrain

O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him,
Christ the Lord.

True God of true God, Light from Light Eternal,
Lo, He shuns not the Virgin’s womb;
Son of the Father, begotten, not created;

Refrain

Sing, choirs of angels, sing in exultation;
O sing, all ye citizens of heaven above!
Glory to God, all glory in the highest;

Refrain

See how the shepherds, summoned to His cradle,
Leaving their flocks, draw nigh to gaze;
We too will thither bend our joyful footsteps;

Refrain

Lo! star led chieftains, Magi, Christ adoring,
Offer Him incense, gold, and myrrh;
We to the Christ Child bring our hearts’ oblations.

Refrain

Child, for us sinners poor and in the manger,
We would embrace Thee, with love and awe;
Who would not love Thee, loving us so dearly?

Refrain

Yea, Lord, we greet Thee, born this happy morning;
Jesus, to Thee be glory given;
Word of the Father, now in flesh appearing.

Refrain

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Carol Me, Christmas (2014 Advent Devotional Series) began November 30th.  By way of reminder, if you haven’t signed up yet, you can receive these devotional studies in your email throughout Advent 2014 by entering your email address on the SeminaryGal.com home page in the space provided in the sidebar.  Or “Like” the SeminaryGal Facebook page to access them there.  If you like these devotionals, I’d really appreciate your letting others know so I can continue to spread the Good News far and wide.  Blessings to you, in Christ always, Barbara <><

Yesterday, in our Carol Me, Christmas (2014 Advent Devotional Series), I suggested that carols could be used as theological education for children.  Just don’t use this one.

Away in a Manger is a favorite of adults and children alike (despite its being wrong on two counts):

1. Its attributed subtitle as Luther’s Cradle Hymn
2. Its theology as a whole

That said, the little lullaby tune combined with sweet baby lyrics makes it a popular choice for children’s programs and Christmas pageants.

Let’s just be blunt: there is no way that Martin Luther–the same guy of 15 verses yesterday of pristine theology–would have written 2-3 verses of something so inaccurate. 

Some people have suggested that it was written for the anniversary of Luther’s birth with his name thrown in as a marketing plus, but either way, it was first published as two verses in Evangelical Lutheran Sunday School collection, Little Children’s Book for Schools and Families.  The Lutherans love Luther so much that perhaps these wanted to find him everywhere including in the Cradle Hymn.  Kind of like how Baptists find Satan under every rock and in the vast majority of US political offices.  (Aw, go ahead, insert a wink and a smile here.  Christians can laugh at ourselves without going to hell.)

Why do I say that the theology is inaccurate?

The cattle are lowing, the Baby awakes,

 But little Lord Jesus, no crying He makes;

Frankly, the little Lord Jesus did not wake up and say to his mother, the virgin Mary, in a calm soothing God-voice

Verily I say unto thee, I have food to eat that you don’t know about.”

Because Lord knows, the Son of God never had a dirty diaper (insert sarcasm here).  This is patently ridiculous.  Crying is not a sin!  Crying is how babies talk and Jesus was as human a baby as any other baby born in the completely natural way.  His conception in Mary’s womb by the Spirit of God was the only miracle here.

Luke 1:35 The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. 36 Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month. 37 For nothing is impossible with God.”

Jesus was not a miracle baby who never cried, always slept through the night, and never had diaper issues.  He probably experienced teething pain, coughs, colds and flu during the span of His life.  He didn’t spoil His mother Mary by giving her an impossible frame of reference for her other children who would come after Him to fail to achieve.  Jesus was not superhuman.  He was human.  He only added complete humanity to His already complete divinity.

It’s not just a minor theological point.  It’s central.

But Away in a Manger is a cute song.  It’s cute when kids sing it and they love this one.  If you’re on the English side of the pond, the tune is one by William J. Kirkpatrick Cradle Song (1895) which was an adaptation of another known as Sweet Afton, and if you’re on the American side of the pond, the one most commonly used is James R. Murray’s Mueller (1887).  Some hymnals are bi-polar and include both variations.

As you read through the lyrics below, enjoy this Kirkpatrick version sung by children dressed in festive red and green with red Santa hats and Santa playing piano, and ponder our Thought Focus for Today.

Thought Focus for Today:  Why is it theologically important that Jesus was fully human and yet, not some superhuman being?

Away in a manger, no crib for a bed,

The little Lord Jesus laid down His sweet head.

The stars in the sky looked down where He lay,

The little Lord Jesus, asleep on the hay.

The cattle are lowing, the Baby awakes,

But little Lord Jesus, no crying He makes;

I love Thee, Lord Jesus, look down from the sky

And stay by my cradle till morning is nigh.

Be near me, Lord Jesus, I ask Thee to stay

Close by me forever, and love me, I pray;

Bless all the dear children in Thy tender care,

And fit us for Heaven to live with Thee there.

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Carol Me, Christmas (2014 Advent Devotional Series) began November 30th.  By way of reminder, if you haven’t signed up yet, you can receive these devotional studies in your email throughout Advent 2014 by entering your email address on the SeminaryGal.com home page in the space provided in the sidebar.  Or “Like” the SeminaryGal Facebook page to access them there.  If you like these devotionals, I’d really appreciate your letting others know so I can continue to spread the Good News far and wide.  Blessings to you, in Christ always, Barbara <><