"Come, Thou long expected Jesus, Born to set Thy people free;
From our fears and sins release us, Let us find our rest in Thee.
Israel’s Strength and Consolation, Hope of all the earth Thou art;
Dear Desire of every nation, Joy of every longing heart.
Born Thy people to deliver, Born a child and yet a King,
Born to reign in us forever, Now Thy gracious kingdom bring.
By Thine own eternal Spirit Rule in all our hearts alone;
By Thine all sufficient merit, Raise us to Thy glorious throne."
One of my favorite hymns at Advent is the one above: Come Thou Long Expected Jesus. Hymns are magnificent works of literature. In today's contemporary Christian music (which I do enjoy!), I fear that we miss the theological impact that only a hymn can offer. Two short stanzas speak volumes about the significance of Advent, instructing our hearts to prepare for Christ's birth. Hymns teach! Hymns preach. Hymns inspire. Hymns challenge. Hymns remind. Hymn books lie unopened in many a pew in many a church, and I consider the implications of overlooking such a richly profound theological kergyma (the greek word for "teach").
Hymns are a wonderful way to engage one's heart, mind and soul in the study of God--that which we are called to do everyday. Are we studying God? Are we seeking after Him who promised to be there when we do seek Him? Hymns are a wonderful way to seek and find the Lord. Hymns teach us and instruct us, reminding us of what we believe and why we believe. So, pull out that dusty hymnbook from the pew, and take a peek, you might be surprised at what you find there!
So hymn anyone?
Monday, November 29, 2010
Saturday, November 27, 2010
Advent anyone?
Advent anyone? Some may associate the season of Advent with a wreath of candles, or a cute wooden advent calendar with little doors, or even the papermade kind . The candles would be lit each Sunday. The little wooden, or paper, doors would be opened up each day leading up to Christmas Day--some enclosing a special treat or a fun activity to do.
But what does Advent really mean? Advent is an intentional season, in the liturgical calendar, of remembrance and expectation. Remembrance in regards to the first coming of Christ. And more importantly the expectation of the second coming of Christ. The theological terminology for the second coming is sometimes referred to as Parousia (1 Thess 4:15, 16). Parousia is a greek word that is most easily defined (I emphasize most easily as the translation of any biblical language is exceedingly complex, and even complex is an understatement (; ) as "presence" or "arrival", depending on the context that it is found in. This is term is used primarily in Paul's letters. It is important to note that the term the "second Advent" is not found in Paul's letters; rather Justin Martyr (approx 110AD) was one of the first theologians to denote a distinction between the first advent of Christ (Christ's birth) and a second advent (the return of christ). Another important theological term is Eschatology. This word is rooted in the greek word, ἔσχατος, which means "last", thus you could understand the meaning of Eschatology as "the study of the last", and is most popularly understood as the study of the end times (apocalyptic, etc), theologically speaking. The debates that surround this subject are plentiful, exhaustive and can seem very ambiguous, therefore I do not intend to discuss them in detail here (a good resource to discuss this would be Oden's Systematic Theology, Vol 3). It is important to note that Paul's eschatological theme is rooted in a conceptualization that the inauguration of the eschaton (the last) was begun with the resurrection of Christ. His understanding of the period between the Resurrection and the Return (the Parousia) is illustrated in the "now" and the "not yet"in regards to the Kingdom of God. After the resurrection of Christ, a new order was begun, and is still in process of becoming new, looking forward to a final fulfillment of God's Kingdom. In 2 Corinthians 5:17, Paul writes "the old has passed away, behold the new has come". This newness is rooted in the Lordship of Jesus Christ, wherein Jesus is Lord of all of creation. This Lordship, or Kingdom, language is one of the ways in which Paul conceptualizes this current time between Christ's resurrection and His Return; and he "tends to talk of the kingdom of God/Christ as if it is something awaited in the future" (Dictionary of Paul and His Letters, IVP, 257).
This future return, or future hope, is re-lived again and again the season of Advent in the liturgical calendar.
And though the debates over the how's and when's of the "end of time" and the return of Christ will continue, as long as there are theologians and denominations, there is a way to enter into Advent with a new perspective. Christmas is the season when we remember and reflect upon the incarnation of Christ (Emmanuel, God with us, the Word made flesh) and the purpose of His First Coming; and Advent is an important part of preparing for that season as we reflect upon the coming of Christ's in His birth and look forward to the coming of the Lord and King of all Creation. We reflect, we remember. Why? Because we are a forgetting kind of people. Piles of rocks called Ebenezer's appear in narratives in the Bible because people forget. We need piles of rocks, altars, symbols, songs and even good literature, to remind us of God's great acts of deliverance. The Jews had passover, a remembrance of their deliverance from Egypt!); and born from that wonderful remembrance is the Lord's Supper, or Eucharist, the remembrance of God's deliverance of humanity from sin through the sacrificial death and powerful resurrection of the Christ.
So Advent anyone? This year, I am putting together my Advent Calendar, and yes, it is chock full of fun activities for my family to participate in, from building gingerbread houses to making ornaments. Yet there is infinitely more to this Advent season realized in part through lighting of the candles and the readings of the scripture each of the four Sundays. I pray today that you and I both can fully participate in the reflection and remembrance of Christ's first coming and His second not apart from the fun and enjoyment of this season's activities but in the midst of those activities. He is there with us today and always. Let us remember Him and look ahead to hope.
Peace.
But what does Advent really mean? Advent is an intentional season, in the liturgical calendar, of remembrance and expectation. Remembrance in regards to the first coming of Christ. And more importantly the expectation of the second coming of Christ. The theological terminology for the second coming is sometimes referred to as Parousia (1 Thess 4:15, 16). Parousia is a greek word that is most easily defined (I emphasize most easily as the translation of any biblical language is exceedingly complex, and even complex is an understatement (; ) as "presence" or "arrival", depending on the context that it is found in. This is term is used primarily in Paul's letters. It is important to note that the term the "second Advent" is not found in Paul's letters; rather Justin Martyr (approx 110AD) was one of the first theologians to denote a distinction between the first advent of Christ (Christ's birth) and a second advent (the return of christ). Another important theological term is Eschatology. This word is rooted in the greek word, ἔσχατος, which means "last", thus you could understand the meaning of Eschatology as "the study of the last", and is most popularly understood as the study of the end times (apocalyptic, etc), theologically speaking. The debates that surround this subject are plentiful, exhaustive and can seem very ambiguous, therefore I do not intend to discuss them in detail here (a good resource to discuss this would be Oden's Systematic Theology, Vol 3). It is important to note that Paul's eschatological theme is rooted in a conceptualization that the inauguration of the eschaton (the last) was begun with the resurrection of Christ. His understanding of the period between the Resurrection and the Return (the Parousia) is illustrated in the "now" and the "not yet"in regards to the Kingdom of God. After the resurrection of Christ, a new order was begun, and is still in process of becoming new, looking forward to a final fulfillment of God's Kingdom. In 2 Corinthians 5:17, Paul writes "the old has passed away, behold the new has come". This newness is rooted in the Lordship of Jesus Christ, wherein Jesus is Lord of all of creation. This Lordship, or Kingdom, language is one of the ways in which Paul conceptualizes this current time between Christ's resurrection and His Return; and he "tends to talk of the kingdom of God/Christ as if it is something awaited in the future" (Dictionary of Paul and His Letters, IVP, 257).
This future return, or future hope, is re-lived again and again the season of Advent in the liturgical calendar.
And though the debates over the how's and when's of the "end of time" and the return of Christ will continue, as long as there are theologians and denominations, there is a way to enter into Advent with a new perspective. Christmas is the season when we remember and reflect upon the incarnation of Christ (Emmanuel, God with us, the Word made flesh) and the purpose of His First Coming; and Advent is an important part of preparing for that season as we reflect upon the coming of Christ's in His birth and look forward to the coming of the Lord and King of all Creation. We reflect, we remember. Why? Because we are a forgetting kind of people. Piles of rocks called Ebenezer's appear in narratives in the Bible because people forget. We need piles of rocks, altars, symbols, songs and even good literature, to remind us of God's great acts of deliverance. The Jews had passover, a remembrance of their deliverance from Egypt!); and born from that wonderful remembrance is the Lord's Supper, or Eucharist, the remembrance of God's deliverance of humanity from sin through the sacrificial death and powerful resurrection of the Christ.
So Advent anyone? This year, I am putting together my Advent Calendar, and yes, it is chock full of fun activities for my family to participate in, from building gingerbread houses to making ornaments. Yet there is infinitely more to this Advent season realized in part through lighting of the candles and the readings of the scripture each of the four Sundays. I pray today that you and I both can fully participate in the reflection and remembrance of Christ's first coming and His second not apart from the fun and enjoyment of this season's activities but in the midst of those activities. He is there with us today and always. Let us remember Him and look ahead to hope.
Peace.
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Pain-Free Christianity?
Read a devotion today from my husband's "Men of Integrity", and I felt like I should share. A group of students were discussing in class one day a very term that would only appear in seminary: Moralistic Therapeutic Deism. You then say...WHAT is that? Well, it is a complex word for a rather simplistic view on Christianity. MTD embodies a Christianity that is all about feeling good,(yes, doing good things) and identifying with God as some "divine therapist".
1. "A god exists who created and ordered the world and watches over human life on earth."
2. "God wants people to be good, nice, and fair to each other, as taught in the Bible and by most world religions."
3. "The central goal of life is to be happy and to feel good about oneself."
4. "God does not need to be particularly involved in one's life except when God is needed to resolve a problem."
5. "Good people go to heaven when they die."
See this link for a further detail of the above: http://www.christianpost.com/article/20050418/moralistic-therapeutic-deism-the-new-american-religion/
Here's another article from CNN.com: http://articles.cnn.com/2010-08-27/living/almost.christian_1_teens-share-moralistic-therapeutic-deism-dean-talks?_s=PM%3ALIVING about how some teenagers are functioning in what the article calls "fake" Christianity.
Sociologists came up with the term MTD, I guess, but what is interesting is that when I look at the overall bullet points of the signs/symptoms of MTD, I must consider the implications of the presence of this in the Western Church. Have we lost a real understanding of the gospel? If you spend anytime in the gospels, you quickly realize that there is little mention of the a "feel good" faith--rather there appears to be a more frightening, shoving you out of your comfort zone, utterly surrendering, releasing all pretensions of control faith! Remember the scene on the boat in the middle of a storm while Jesus was sleeping!
So what are we to do about MTD? SHOULD we do something about it? What do you think? I think some reflection, and some real, authentic dialogue, is a great first step. We have to be willing to face the hard stuff of the gospel, without losing the beauty, freedom and wonderful grace that is offered in the person of Jesus.
SO, let the dialogue begin! What do YOU think?
"One harmful view of Christian experience says the christian life is to be a pain-free zone. As Christians we must not only expect hand to hand combat with sin, but we must also know there is no exemption from suffering in this life. suffering is not indicative of a lack of faith. Pain is not the direct result of our sins and failures. Certainly all suffering and pain is ultimately rooted in sin, but the notion that my pain and suffering is a payback from God is unbiblical. That is the theology of Job's comforters. A theology of Christian experience that says only blessing, health and prosperity are the lot of the faithful is a recipe for emotional disaster with deep accompanying damage to faith. such teaching is voice of the very gospel itself. If we expect that "every day with Jesus is sweeter than the day before" we will be in for some serious disappointments. If we expect that victory over sin will be one uninterrupted triumph after another, we will become disillusioned with God, His Word, ourselves, or all of the above. A sound theology of Christian experience makes room for the struggle of the war-faring pilgrim and the suffering of the wayfaring pilgrim"--Brian Borgman, Feelings and Faith.
1. "A god exists who created and ordered the world and watches over human life on earth."
2. "God wants people to be good, nice, and fair to each other, as taught in the Bible and by most world religions."
3. "The central goal of life is to be happy and to feel good about oneself."
4. "God does not need to be particularly involved in one's life except when God is needed to resolve a problem."
5. "Good people go to heaven when they die."
See this link for a further detail of the above: http://www.christianpost.com/article/20050418/moralistic-therapeutic-deism-the-new-american-religion/
Here's another article from CNN.com: http://articles.cnn.com/2010-08-27/living/almost.christian_1_teens-share-moralistic-therapeutic-deism-dean-talks?_s=PM%3ALIVING about how some teenagers are functioning in what the article calls "fake" Christianity.
Sociologists came up with the term MTD, I guess, but what is interesting is that when I look at the overall bullet points of the signs/symptoms of MTD, I must consider the implications of the presence of this in the Western Church. Have we lost a real understanding of the gospel? If you spend anytime in the gospels, you quickly realize that there is little mention of the a "feel good" faith--rather there appears to be a more frightening, shoving you out of your comfort zone, utterly surrendering, releasing all pretensions of control faith! Remember the scene on the boat in the middle of a storm while Jesus was sleeping!
So what are we to do about MTD? SHOULD we do something about it? What do you think? I think some reflection, and some real, authentic dialogue, is a great first step. We have to be willing to face the hard stuff of the gospel, without losing the beauty, freedom and wonderful grace that is offered in the person of Jesus.
SO, let the dialogue begin! What do YOU think?
"One harmful view of Christian experience says the christian life is to be a pain-free zone. As Christians we must not only expect hand to hand combat with sin, but we must also know there is no exemption from suffering in this life. suffering is not indicative of a lack of faith. Pain is not the direct result of our sins and failures. Certainly all suffering and pain is ultimately rooted in sin, but the notion that my pain and suffering is a payback from God is unbiblical. That is the theology of Job's comforters. A theology of Christian experience that says only blessing, health and prosperity are the lot of the faithful is a recipe for emotional disaster with deep accompanying damage to faith. such teaching is voice of the very gospel itself. If we expect that "every day with Jesus is sweeter than the day before" we will be in for some serious disappointments. If we expect that victory over sin will be one uninterrupted triumph after another, we will become disillusioned with God, His Word, ourselves, or all of the above. A sound theology of Christian experience makes room for the struggle of the war-faring pilgrim and the suffering of the wayfaring pilgrim"--Brian Borgman, Feelings and Faith.
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