17 posts tagged “christmas”

18.             The beginning of Jesus the Leader was like this: While his mama, Mary, was engaged to Joseph, but before they had relations, she was made pregnant by the Holy Spirit. Since Joseph, her fiance´, was a considerate man and didn't want to make a public scandal, he decided to quietly break up with her. As he was wondering about the whole situation, a messenger from the Lord came to him in a dream and said, "Joe Davidson, don't be ashamed to marry Mary, because the Holy Spirit has made her pregnant. Now she'll give birth to a boy, who you'll name Jesus,¹  because he will deliver his nation from their errors."

22.             This whole event was the completion of what the Lord had said through the prophet: "Listen, a young lady will get pregnant and give birth to a boy, and they'll name him 'God-is-with-us.' "

24.             Then Joseph woke up and did as the Lord's messenger had directed–he married the girl. But he didn't sleep with her until she had her baby. And he did name it Jesus. Matthew 1:18-24

"Tell me who you admire, and I'll tell you who you are."

I had a seminary professor tell me that once. When I thought about it, most of the people I admire, and have admired over the years - I knew. My wife, with her laughter, beauty, and grace. My mother, with the eagerness to see others go farther than she had, and the will that it would be done. My father's gentle spirit. My father in love's faith, and my mother in love's gift of kindness. A teacher or two - Hazel Struby and Kathyrn Futral from Mercer, who convinced me that I could learn math and write prose. Friends in the ministry like Arnold Hendrix who have the patience of Job. And many others.

Jordan

One outside that group who really affected me though I never met him was the late Clarence Jordan. An amazing man - part New Testament scholar, part Old testament prophet - Jordan lived an incredible life. Part of that was his translation or version as he called it, of parts of the New Testament into my native tongue - Southern or specifically, Georgian.

Gospelset

The clip above is part of that. If You want to read more, surf over to Cotton Patch Gospel

Nazareth's Gone Country

The Ryman Auditorium

Hi friends, just sitting here rereading everything I've collected in the past few weeks about Joseph of Nazareth in preparation for Sunday's sermon. It's pretty clear to me that Joseph lived a life that only a country music lover could appreciate.

Think about it.

He's a tradesman/builder. If he were alive today, he'd be driving a pickup with a toolbox in the bed. He'd probably be wearing jeans and work boots with a T shirt advertising something that he got for free. Oh and the T shirt and jeans would be holy - well, hole-ly. He'd have one of those cellphones that let's you beep the other job sites, and wouldn't have shaved today.

Yeah, he'd probably have a friend or two he called Bubba.

He'd have a reputation too. "Measure twice, cut once", would be his stock in trade, along with "a man's word is his bond." Yeah, he might be a poor ordinary working man, but he would do an honest days work for an honest day's pay. Nobody would beat him to the job site, or catch him sneaking off fishing when he should be working. There was plenty of time for that after the job was done.

And crazy as it seems, he'd be a guy looking to settle down with one woman for life. Not that he hadn't had chances for a fling here and there - he was a young, strong guy in a culture that valued all that. Oh and I expect he knew how to laugh at life - even laugh at himself. Most carpenters I've ever known can do that. They understand that a piece of wood, like a life, has to be shaped and shaved into something on purpose - that it's pretty rare to get that perfect piece of wood, and that you have to learn to work around and through the rough spots. Laughter really helps with that.

He found a girl he loved, made the proposal and came away a winner. Got started on a house and was prepping his mind around the whole husband and yeah, father deal. But then his fiancee told him she was pregnant - and Joseph knew it wasn't by him.

I wonder if George Jones ever wrote a song about Joseph?

So what would Joseph do?

Well, here's the thing. Carpenter's and brick layers - really anybody that works to build things, know that there are times when you can just "eyeball" the job and know what to do next, and then there are times when you have to go back to the architect and ask him "what the heck were you thinking?"

The Bible says that Joseph was a "just" or "righteous" man.

Those kind of guys know who to ask when the plans don't square with reality on the ground, or when it just isn't going to work. So when Joseph went to sleep that night after Mary dropped her bombshell. I have no doubt that Joseph had looked at what happened from every angle he could think of. He would have done his best to make it all go away without costing anyone more than it had to. He'd try to do the right thing. But what was the right thing?

He went to sleep tossing and turning, and then God showed up.

And God showed Joseph a new set of plans.

20  While he was trying to figure a way out, he had a dream. God's angel spoke in the dream: "Joseph, son of David, don't hesitate to get married. Mary's pregnancy is Spirit-conceived. God's Holy Spirit has made her pregnant. 21  She will bring a son to birth, and when she does, you, Joseph, will name him Jesus— 'God saves'— because he will save his people from their sins."  Matt 1:20-21 (MSG)

Armed with that change in plans from the Master Builder...

24  Then Joseph woke up. He did exactly what God's angel commanded in the dream: He married Mary. 25  But he did not consummate the marriage until she had the baby. He named the baby Jesus. Matt 1:24-25 (MSG)

Grace and peace,

David
--
Visit with me at my blog:
http://davethepastor.vox.com/
Or visit New Hope!
http://www.newhopevalp.org

You can take it too far. Just saying....

Nativity dolphins

We've been working on Christmas music for a while now. Bunny's awesome at getting the worship team to try ANYTHING and has us singing a song in Latin as well as the beautiful "Lo How A Rose Er Blooming". We try to not do the exact same thing each year, though there are some Christmas "standards" that everyone loves so much they must be done.

• Joy To the World
• The First Noel
• Oh Little Town of Bethlehem
• Silent Night

and maybe "It Came Upon A Midnight Clear"? Are there others?

I'm looking for more modern worship songs to place within the overall event, but outside of Paul Baloche's Christmas version of "Offering" I just don't know a lot of them.

I'm looking at a couple of David Crowder's songs. One is more suited for the beginning of the program - "Come and Listen" and the other probably needs to go nearer the end "All This for A King". I'll try to embed the videos below to give you an idea. Do they fit the Christmas theme?

One of the things that was great about my father was that when it came to Christmas, he loved buying us toys. We'd go downtown to Jimmy McKay's Hobby Shop, which was downstairs in the basement of another store. You'd enter it like a person going into a prohibition era speakeasy. For us it was like entering the holy of holies, Bond's equipment manager "Q's" workshop, Fort Knox, and Santa's workshop all rolled into one.

Since tonight is Christmas Eve, I got to thinking about some of my favorite toys. So here they are.

odd_ogg1

For years I would sing the jingle for this toy to the boys and they would look at me like I was nuts. Well guys, here it is - Odd Og.

Odd Og, Odd Og, half turtle and half frog.

nfl_game

Today you can play any of a variety of PC games that are incredibly realistic. Well, we had the equivalent of a stick and dirt clod - the vibrating football game. Basically, you placed little plastic figures on the top of it, lining them up in formations like regular teams. Then you turned it on and they vibrated down the field - you hoped. There is no way to emphasize how lame this was.

thingmaker

1 comment

Now we are getting warmed up. This was one of the greatest toys we ever had - the Mattel Thingmaker Creepy Crawlers variation. Now get this you people worried about your kids getting hurt. This kit actually cured plastic in molds over a heater! That's right, we had HEAT! But it could make the coolest stuff. I think Bruce had one that made skeltons - a Thingmaker II

wanteddeadoralive

In the world that was, you had to be armed. There was no telling when the boy across the street might attack. This sawed off weapon was always ready to mow them down. I mean how much cooler can you get than Steve McQueen?

Haveguncard

You could be so cool that you lived in San Francisco, wearing suits and shirts with ruffles at the end of the sleeves. You could have a Chinese valet at your beck and call, a personal box at the opera, and yet can use a 45 revolver like you invented it. Now that you mention it...

Paladin. Richard Boone. Nuff said.

johnny7

But I save the best for last. With this toy, you ruled the battlefield no matter where you are. The Johnny 7 One Man Army Gun was the best toy I ever owned. It shot plastic bullets, missiles, grenades - two kinds, fired caps and had a bayonet.

A few years ago, the boys looked into getting me one - it was on eBay for $150. Wow! I think I played with it until it fell apart.

I hope your kids have half as much fun as I did.

May all of you have a very merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

There are two ways to get enough.

One is to continue to accumulate more and more.

The other

Is to desire less.

     - G.K. Chesterson