Something to meditate on in the coming year...

2010 is here, and as we enter it, we have been learning a new hymn to teach at church. It provides great ideas for carrying into the new year. May 2010 be a year when we recognize the extent of Christ's Lordship over us and our lives!

The Lord Is King by David Ward and Josiah Conder (1789-1851)

The Lord is King; lift up your voice
O earth, and all you heav’ns rejoice;
From world to world the joy will ring,
The Lord omnipotent is King.

Chorus:
Rejoice, the Lord is King,
Rejoice, His praises sing,
From earth and heav’n His glories ring
For He is our King!

The Lord is King; who then will dare
Resist His will, distrust His care,
Or murmur at His wise decrees,
Or doubt His royal promises.

The Lord is King, child of the dust,
The judge of all the earth is just;
His holiness crowns all His ways,
Let every creature shout His praise.

The Lord is King; the Three in One,
The Father, Spirit, and the Son.
We lift our voices now in song;
To Him alone all praise belongs.

Christmas Poem

G.K.Chesterton

There fared a mother driven forth
Out of an inn to roam;
In the place where she was homeless
All men are at home.
The crazy stable close at hand,
With shaking timber and shifting sand,
Grew a stronger thing to abide and stand
Than the square stones of Rome.

For men are homesick in their homes,
And strangers under the sun,
And they lay their heads in a foreign land
Whenever the day is done.

Here we have battle and blazing eyes,
And chance and honour and high surprise,
But our homes are under miraculous skies
Where the yule tale was begun.

A child in a foul stable,
Where the beasts feed and foam;
Only where He was homeless
Are you and I at home;
We have hands that fashion and heads that know,
But our hearts we lost---how long ago!
In a place no chart nor ship can show
Under the sky's dome.

This world is wild as an old wife's tale,
And strange the plain things are,
The earth is enough and the air is enough
For our wonder and our war;
But our rest is as far as the fire-drake swings
And our peace is put in impossible things
Where clashed and thundered unthinkable wings
Round an incredible star.

To an open house in the evening
Home shall all men come,
To an older place than Eden
And a taller town than Rome.
To the end of the way of the wandering star,
To the things that cannot be and that are,
To the place where God was homeless
And all men are at home.

Christmas Eve Miscellany

Hunting for a little peace during this busy holiday season? Read what one friend has to say about peace here. Or read some reflections about the Prince of Peace here. If you're struggling with the whole idea of peace, get some perspective on defiance here. And for an interesting take on Christmas from an interesting source, look here.

And whatever you read today, Gentle Reader, remember to spare some time to contemplate what Christmas means. Tonight Dave and I will sing the following lyrics at our Christmas eve service. Contemplate with us that being's source begins to be:

Glory Be to God Bob Kauflin

Glory be to God on high
Let peace on earth descend
God comes down before our eyes
To Bethlehem
God invisible appears
Endless ages wrapped in years
He has come who cannot change
And Jesus is His name

Emptied of His majesty
He comes in human form
Being’s source begins to be
And God is born
All our griefs He’ll gladly share
All our sins He’ll fully bear
He will cover our disgrace
And suffer in our place

Let the joyful news ring out
The Prince of Peace proclaim
Lift your heart and voice to shout
Immanuel’s name
God has kept His promises
What a work of grace this is
Son of Mary, chosen One
The Lamb of God has come

Hosanna, hosanna
The Lamb of God has come
Hosanna, hosanna
He is the promised One

Glory be to God on high
Let peace on earth descend
God comes down before our eyes
To Bethlehem

Reflections on a mighty child...

I love reflecting on Jesus at all times, but especially at Christmas. There is something so amazing about the implications of the incarnation that I never tire of thinking about it!

This morning I read an article by Anthiny Esolen (who is fast becoming one of my favorite authors, and making me think seriously about subscribing to Touchstone Magazine...) it is a different reflection on Christ and childlikeness. I recommend it to you in its entirety, Gentle Reader. But here is one of my favorite little parts, just to whet your appetite:

...At which he heaved a sigh and said to us, “Suffer the little children to come unto me.” Rumpling the hair of one of the runny-nosed, he added, “Let them come, for the kingdom of heaven is peopled with citizens like these.” And he looked us in the eye. “As for you, unless you become like a little child, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven.”

I thought he was just using a figure of speech. That was the way out—or in. You can drive a camel through a figure of speech. So I never gave his saying a lot of thought...

~Anthony Esolen, "A Mighty Child", Touchstone Magazine, December 2005

The Christmas story

That's Christmas (Short Film) HD from St Helen’s Church on Vimeo.

(HT: JT)

A Christmas poem

Nativity by John Donne

Immensity cloistered in thy dear womb,
Now leaves His well-belov'd imprisonment,
There He hath made Himself to His intent
Weak enough, now into the world to come;
But O, for thee, for Him, hath the inn no room?
Yet lay Him in this stall, and from the Orient,
Stars and wise men will travel to prevent
The effect of Herod's jealous general doom.
Seest thou, my soul, with thy faith's eyes, how He
Which fills all place, yet none holds Him, doth lie?
Was not His pity towards thee wondrous high,
That would have need to be pitied by thee?
Kiss Him, and with Him into Egypt go,
With His kind mother, who partakes thy woe.

Midweek Miscellany

I read a very convicting article today, written by a young Chritian woman who has had four abortions. Her thoughts and reflections are moving. The fact that she needs to speak to the place where there is the most silence, and she idetifies that as the church, is more than heart-breaking! (Thanks to TB) I found A. Kern's short words on climategate interesting and logical, and this article from the NY Times a cross between horrifying and ridiculous. (Al Mohler has a helpful take on this issue here.) I found these salient points about modesty from Time, of all places, helpful. And while we're looking at culture, did you read these powerful reflections from Anthony Esolen?

Christmas funnies

Yesterday, my pastor performed the piece shown here at our annual "'Round the Table Carol Sing." It is a fun "family" time, singing carols and songs fo the season, and several people offering performances and readings. Well, this song had us all in stitches.

Manhattan Declaration Hubbub

Have you read the Manhattan Declaration, Gentle Readers? There is a lot of hubbub about it on Evnagelical blogs. If you haven't read it, you can access it here. It's not very long, and I encourage you to read it.

The Declaration is being hailed by the likes of Charles Colson. There are many signatories on there that I respect. As Ligon Duncan has said, in signing with Catholic and Anglican priests, the signatories see themselves standing as co-beligerants against a rising attack on the dignity of human life. But, as R. C. Sproul has said, the document seems to miss the main point of the transformative power of the gospel, and casts a very wide net in its definition of Christianity.

There has been some thought-provoking discussion of the whole topic at Pyromaniacs. I am not sure what I believe. But good discussion is happening, I think. May God use it, and all things, for His glory.

Snow Day Miscellany

Today is a snow day here in LA (the LA in New Mexico, that is.) I love the enforced spontaneity of everyone home bound for an unexpected day! And in the lightness of that moment, here are some odd and quirky things I've been saving for you, Gentle Readers.

In the unexpected category, would you believe that Al Mohler blogged about cooking? And as always, his thoughts were edifying. And how about a few words in praise of the cliche? For you film buffs out there, here is an interesting site which is a treasure trove of early films and clips. And speaking of treasures, have you heard about this find?

In the "You've GOT to be kidding" category, this product would make me laugh it it didn't make me feel ill, while this blog made me laugh out loud.

And every day is better with Calvin and Hobbes. Check out a recent favorite here.

Poem for a snowy night

Psalm 67 by Anthony Esolen (original post here)

May God cause His face to shine upon you

I am a passenger on a train,
Alone, in a full car at night,
And I feel the carriage's stress and strain,
And peer into the windowpane

And see there in the blanching light
The heads of other travelers.
No doubt they are doing what seems right,
Shading their eyes from anyone's sight,

And if they are laden with many years,
Or young, and full of a yearning heart,
Or blank, or idle, or welling with tears,
Or quick as a signal that disappears,

I cannot tell, from my world apart.
But I think if only I could say --
Or if someone else could make a start,
Or, what surpasses human art,

Lean to me in the simplest way
To whisper, "Friend, you are not alone,"
Ah, then the carriage would shine like day!
And emptiness would flee away.

For once in my travels a light shone,
A countenance I could not retain,
But he watches us as the wheels roll on,
The One I love, and the only One.

Sabbath Semtiments

Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence, from the Liturgy of St. James, trans. by Gerard Moultrie

Let all mortal flesh keep silence,
and with fear and trembling stand;
ponder nothing earthly-minded,
for with blessing in his hand,
Christ our God to earth descendeth,
our full homage to demand.

King of kings, yet born of Mary,
as of old on earth he stood,
Lord of lords, in human vesture,
in the body and the blood;
he will give to all the faithful
his own self for heavenly food.

Rank on rank the host of heaven
spreads its vanguard on the way,
as the Light of light descendeth
from the realms of endless day,
that the powers of hell may vanish
as the darkness clears away.

At his feet the six-winged seraph,
cherubim, with sleepless eye,
veil their faces to the presence,
as with ceaseless voice they cry:
Alleluia, Alleluia,
Alleluia, Lord Most High!

The Lord is King!

I am learning a new song, and I love the words. The contemporary setting is by David Ward at Reformed Worship. Give it a listen-- it will lift your hearts, Gentle Reader!

The Lord is King; lift up your voice
O earth, and all you heav’ns rejoice;
From world to world the joy will ring,
The Lord omnipotent is King.

Chorus:
Rejoice, the Lord is King,
Rejoice, His praises sing,
From earth and heav’n His glories ring
For He is our King!

The Lord is King; who then will dare
Resist His will, distrust His care,
Or murmur at His wise decrees,
Or doubt His royal promises.

The Lord is King, child of the dust,
The judge of all the earth is just;
His holiness crowns all His ways,
Let every creature shout His praise.

The Lord is King; the Three in One,
The Father, Spirit, and the Son.
We lift our voices now in song;
To Him alone all praise belongs.
The Lord is King; lift up thy voice
O earth, and all ye heav’ns rejoice;
From world to world the joy shall ring,
(new)
The Lord is King; who then shall dare
Holy and true are all His ways,
Let every creature speak His praise.
(new)

Climbing above what we are...

Political ideals of equality, Lewis said, may be necessary. But he, like Aristotle before him, drew the valuable distinction between the "education which democrats like" and "the education which will preserve democracy." For close up they face the world differently. One allows us to recline and feel good about ourselves; the other quickens us, out of a sense of our innate unfitness and incompleteness, to climb above what we are and rise to that which we might become.
~T. L. Simmons, Climbing Parnassus, p.154

Follow Him more fully...

“Let us cleave to Christ more closely, love Him more heartily, live to Him more thoroughly, copy Him more exactly, confess Him more boldly, follow Him more fully.”

~ J.C. Ryle

Practical Religion, “Sickness”, 373

Reading List 2008

You may have noticed, Gentle Readers, that I keep a list of books read in the side bar. I have decided it is getting too long, so I am going to make a permanent listing here at around this time each year. So below you will find the books I read in 2008. ANd a list will appear after the first of the year with all the books from 2009. That will keep my side bar more manageable. And I can't just delete them. There is something so satisfying about having a list of ideas accomplished.

I am very heavy on fiction. That is because it is so easy. I do make myself read some hard fiction, but still. I need to add some other genres in there in the coming year. I do all right with theology. Time to add history and biography at least.

What have you been reading? What do you suggest I add to my long list?

Books read in 2008

The Lord God Made Them All by James Herriot (completed 12-08)

Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi (completed 12-08)

Morality for Beautiful Girls by Alexander McCall Smith (completed 11-08)

Suffering and the Sovereignty of God ed. by Justin Taylor and John Piper (completed 10-08)

The Tears of the Giraffe by Alexander McCall Smith (Completed 10-16-08)

Harry Potter and the Half-blood Prince by J. K. Rowlings (Completed 10-08)

The Wasteland by T. S. Eliot (completed 9-08)

Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan (completed 9-08)

The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith (completed 9-08)

The Night Journal by Elizabeth Crook (Completed 9-08)

Busman's Honeymoon by Dorothy Sayers (Completed 8-08)

Shadow Puppets by Orson Scott Card (Completed 8-08)

Shadow of the Hegemon by Orson Scott Card (Completed 8-08)

Martin Luther in His Own Words (Completed 7-08)

The Man Who Was Thursday by G. K. Chesterton (complete 6-08)

Elephants Can Remember by Agatha Christie (completed 6-08)

Paradise Lost by John Milton (completed 5-08)

A Soldier of the Great War by Mark Helprin (completed 4-08)

The Cross-Centered Life by C. J. Mahaney (completed 4-08)