Let’s End Our Trips in Iceland!

Thursday, December 24, 2015 

            Our last trip for this Advent season is go to Iceland.  I hope that you have enjoyed our travels, learning about how other girls and boys celebrate Christmas with their families.  Christmas is known as “Yule” in Iceland.  In its early history, it was a celebration around the shortest day of the year, but when the Romans came, they began to honor the birth of Jesus.  There are many holiday traditions in Iceland, and I would like to share some of them with you.

            The preparations for Christmas are very important in Iceland.  Some people don’t eat certain meals or food, especially, meat during the thirteen days before Christmas.  Some also do as you have done by reading Advent devotionals and preparing their hearts to receive God’s gift of his son.  Part of the preparation for the holidays is to clean one’s home very well – including the children’s rooms.

            Since 1890 when Christmas cards first arrived in Iceland, the people there have loved to send them.  Of course, now they also send emails or texts to their friends and relatives.  However, traditional holiday cards are still very popular.  Giving gifts is also very important.  However, this did not begin until about 1850.  They give food to poor, needy families, and their bosses at work give everyone a new pair of sheepskin shoes and a piece of clothing, often a sweater, for all the hard work they have done all year.  Because Jesus is considered to be the Light of the World, it is also traditional for everyone in the family, including the children, to receive a candle.  The little ones in this country consider this to be a great present.

            Starting on December 12^th and lasting up until December 24^th, the children put their shoes in the window.  The traditional Yule Lads put a gift in their shoes every night until Christmas.  If they have been good, they receive candy or a small toy; however, if they have not been particularly well-behaved, they may receive a note encouraging them to do better or, worse yet, a rotten potato!  There a thirteen Yule Lads, or Yule Trolls, as they are sometimes called.  In English, some of them are called Bowl Licker, Sausage Snatcher, and Candle Beggar.  (Remember how important candles are to everyone, especially children, in Iceland.)  The favorite gifts are a book and a piece of chocolate!  Occasionally, sometimes today Santa Claus is given credit for leaving the gifts. 

Let’s wish all the children in Iceland a Merry Christmas!!!  They love to send greetings, so I am sure they will send you one in return. 

What is Christmas All About?

Hope, Peace, Love, and Joy

            At its basic essence, Christmas is all about the Hope, Peace, Love, and Joy that Jesus brings us.  Tradition has it that the Israelites had Hope that a Messiah would come to set them free.  Frequently, that Hope was to be freed from foreign rule.  However, we are on the other side of the Messiah’s arrival.  Yes, it is nice, nice indeed, to be freed from foreign oppression.  But, there is a deeper Hope; a Hope within our hearts that transcends earthly concerns and reaches for the eternal.  A baby began the process of sending that Hope to us.

            With Hope comes Peace for we believe that life will be better now that Jesus is a part of our lives.  When peace focuses on the eternal, it is much easier to face life and death.  The twelve-year-old Jesus brought this to us when he was at ease being where he was supposed to be with the teachers in the Temple.

            We can’t help but Love the one brings us Hope and Peace.  In arguably the greatest love chapter in the Bible, I Corinthians 13, we learn that we can have or be anything or everything else on the earth, but without Love we are not a gift to the world or to others.  Jesus taught and brought Hope, Peace, and Love to us during his three year teaching, preaching, and healing sojourn.  And he still brings these things through his example in the gospels as well as in the witness of our hearts.  May we be grateful for not only his example, but also for the empowerment he gives us to live in Hope, Peace, and Love.

            Hope – Peace – Love – and Joy: That is what the risen savior gives to us.  First, though, he came as a baby bringing us Hope, grew into a young boy of knowledge and understanding, became a man who gave us our example and guidance on how to live through him and with one another.  Finally, he rose again so that we might live in Hope, Peace, Love, and JOY!  These are our gifts from God and to one another during Christmas and throughout all eternity. 

MERRY, MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Lynn

“Angels We Have Heard on High”

Wednesday, December 23, 2013

Angels we have heard on high,

Sweetly singing o’er the plains,

And the mountains in reply,

Echoing their joyous strains. 

Chorus:

Gloria in excelsis Deo.

Gloria in excelsis Deo 

Shepherds why this jubilee?

Why your joyous strains prolong?

Say what may the tidings be,

Which inspire your heav’nly song 

Chorus 

            Singing the words to “Angels We Have Heard on High” last Sunday all together at the front of the church after the congregational photograph was taken brought tears to my eyes.  What a glorious expression of the Christmas spirit this carol is!  Its words are powerful; its tune captivating.  As Laurie opened the windows of the sanctuary so that our singing could be heard outside, I was overcome with the feeling that, yes, this is a song and a message that the world needs to hear.  Not just a story of peace and justice, which we tend to focus on, but also a remembrance of that day when the host of heaven’s angels as well as the shepherds (embracing both heavenly as well as earthly beings) sang of the glorious thing that God had done in sending the Savior to us.  It was such a tender moment, and my heart and soul were deeply touched.

            Portions of this song were first sung at least 1700 years ago by monks in early church services even before the Roman emperor Constantine the Great had made Christianity the state religion.  The chorus goes back even earlier in time to when Pope Telesphorus in 130 CE decreed that it be should always be used in certain parts of the worship services.  Perhaps it could even have been written by someone who walked and talked with Jesus himself.  (Now, here I expound upon a “fanciful myth!”)  However, “Angels We Have Heard on High” wasn’t published until 1855.  Because when it first appeared it was written in French, people assumed that it was written in that country.  It was then that today’s tune was first attached to this song.

            This carol expresses the joy that the angels and shepherds felt at the birth of Jesus, and last Sunday we, too, experienced that glorious joy of the Christmas season.  Perhaps the angels and the shepherds sang along with us, too.

Come to Bethlehem and see

Him whose birth the angels sing;

Come, adore on bended knee

Christ the Lord, the newborn King.

Chorus 

See within a manger laid,

Jesus, Lord of heav’n and earth!

Mary, Joseph, lend your aid,

With us sing our Savior’s birth. 

Gloria in excelsis Deo.

Gloria in excelsis Deo.

“Silent Night”

Tuesday, December 22, 2015 

Silent night, holy night!

All is calm, all is bright.

Round yon virgin, mother and child.

Holy infant so tender and mild,

Sleep in heavenly peace,

Sleep in heavenly peace. 

            “Silent Night” was written by Joseph Mohr, a twenty-five year old assistant priest in a small village in Austria in the early 1800s.  He loved music and poetry, and he oftentimes wrote the words to songs for special events in his church.  However, on Christmas Eve in 1818 his special service was being prepared and the organ malfunctioned; he tried everything to fix it and then, of course, last of all he decided to pray about it!  He remembered an unassuming Christmas poem that he had written two years earlier, and he decided that was the answer to his dilemma!

            Mohr walked through heavy snow to the home of the organist at his church, Franz Gruber.  Frantic with anticipation, the priest told Gruber the situation, and he asked if the organist could write an easy melody for the words to the poem that he had written.  Mohr explained that it would have to be sung to a guitar, and that it would need to be something that the choir could learn quickly.  At first Gruber was dubious, but after re-reading the words that were to become the most recorded song in history, he felt that he could do it.  Mohr returned to the church to finish his preparations for the Christmas Eve service that was quickly approaching.  The song was soon presented to the choir, and the service was an astounding success!

“Silent Night” became a carol that is known throughout the world, thanks to the organ repairperson who came to fix the instrument a few weeks later.  Karl Mauracher was impressed with the story and with the song.  He introduced it all throughout his work route.  The folk singers of the Stasser family were very impressed with this little song, and they presented it in 1832 and a few months later at a large fair.  “Silent Night” struck the heart and soul of King William IV of Prussia; from there the song spread to both the east and the west and ultimately to the United States.  In 1839 it was sung in New York’s Trinity Church before a huge crowd.  It even brought a temporary peace to the battle waging between the Confederacy and the Union.

Joseph Mohr died penniless even though he was the one who wrote this poem and started its movement toward a grand success.  People were more interested in fanciful tales of its origins than in the truth.  People are like that – the truth may be “staring them right in the face,” but they want “fanciful tales” instead!  How often do we, how often do I overlook the truth in my quest to find what it is that I want the answer to be.  Jesus’ message is like the truth of Joseph Mohr’s creation of the words to “Silent Night” – profoundly simple!

“Away in a Manger”

Monday, December 21, 2015 

Away in a manger, no crib for a bed,

The little Lord Jesus laid down his sweet head;

The stars in the sky look down where he lay,

The little Lord Jesus, asleep on the hay. 

            This beloved song is one of the first Christmas carols that many of us learn as children.  Tradition has it that Martin Luther wrote the words to this song and sang its simple tune to his children every night before they went to bed.  As its popularity spread, German mothers and fathers rocked their infants to sleep, singing or humming its three short, easy to learn verses.  However, traditions are sweet, but not always accurate!

Actually, this song had its origin in the United States, but it was to a different tune.  A man named James R. Murray published the first two verses of this carol.  He was also the one who circulated the story about Luther.  It was Murray who promoted this Christmas carol across America, but the tune that we now associate it with was provided by J. E. Clark.  It is not known who wrote the first two verses to “Away in a Manger,” and they remain anonymous to this day.  The third verse was written by a prolific hymn writer, Charles Hutchinson Gabriel.  (He wrote “Higher Ground,” among more than 700 other sacred songs!)  Over the next twenty years, “Away in a Manger,” in its three-verse version as well as the story about Luther being the author, grew tremendously in popularity.  The true writer of the words never came forward to claim her or his accomplishment.

            Because the United States did not like the Germans during the two world wars, they altered the words.  The bitterness soon eased, and the original words were used once again as the popularity of this Christmas carol spread across the world.  While the song’s lyrical origins are shrouded in mystery, the original event that it conveys is known by virtually every Christian and many non-Christians as well. 

The cattle are lowing, the Baby awakes,

But little Lord Jesus, no crying he makes;

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

And stay by my cradle till morning is nigh.

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

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

Bless all the dear children in your tender care,

And fit us for heaven, to live with you there.

Advent: A Time of Both Giving and Receiving

Friday, December 18, 2015 

            One week from today is Christmas!  Advent is a time of both giving and receiving: Giving and receiving from one another.  Giving and receiving from God.  We know how good it makes us feel to do both.  We put much thought into finding just the right gift to give those we love, and we feel so very special to receive a gift from someone who knows us well enough that when we open it, our hearts are warmed and maybe even tears come to our eyes.

            God is just like that, too.  From before the beginning of time, God knew that we needed the ultimate gift: The Gift of a Savior.  God knew, too, what form that Gift would be in:  Not in a President who could end the work of ISIS.  Not in a steadily growing economy.  Not in some mythic yellow brick road that would lead to an Emerald City, grand for sure, but with its false sense of security.  No, God knew we needed a Baby, a Baby whom we would know as Jesus – the ultimate gift of Love, Joy, and Peace to our hearts and to the world.  That Baby would grow up and teach us who God really is, and also who we really are: Beloved Children of the Almighty!

            There is no better gift that God could give us during this Christmas season.  And there is no better gift that we can give to one another but to rest in the arms of the Almighty and to reach out to one another in God’s Love, Joy, and Peace.

Being Enfolded in the Arms of God

Thursday, December 17, 2015 

            How does it feel to hold a new-born child in your arms?  Whether or not that baby is your own or someone else’s, one gets a sense of newness and hope, the feeling that the world will continue.  Think of the hopes and dreams that you have for this new life, of how you want this baby to fulfill its destiny, to know her / himself as a child of God, and the world as a place to which s/he could make a contribution.

            Now imagine holding the baby Jesus – on Christmas morning.  Yes, the hopes of the whole world wrapped in those swaddling clothes.  It is so much better that he began in a manger than in a cradle made of gold.  I know for myself that I don’t want the future of the world to be in wealth or in the rulership of the elite or of powerful military leaders. 

            Give me a savior who began life as a baby just like I began, but one whose heart is full of Love and Joy and Peace.  The Love, and Joy, and Peace that he passes onto this broken world in order to redeem, not just the world, but us as individuals, too.

            As I have expressed in my poetry, I believe our world was once like that and that we, too, began in innocence.  Some place along the way, we chose to rest in the arms of something or someone other than God.  However, theology is not the point here during these days prior to Christmas.  We can make a choice to be born as like the Christ Child.  Becoming a New Creation is available to each of us every day, every moment.

            On this upcoming Christmas morning, imagine that you are cradling Jesus in your arms and, all the while you, yes, you and me, are being enfolded in the arms of God.

“Life Begins as a Love Story”

Wednesday, December 16, 2015 

            Ann Voscamp writes that “life begins as a love story….This Christmas story – it begins in the beginning, this love story that’s been coming for you since the beginning.  It begins with the always coming of Christ.  Christ, who is there in the beginning, the voice calling out of darkness, an echo in cosmic emptiness, speaks it by the commanding word of His mouth: Let there be…Let there be light and land and living beasts….But you?  You alone were formed by a huddle of hearts: Let us making human beings.  The authority of God made all of creation.  But it was the affection of God that made all His [sic] children….God in three persons, uncontainable affection, knelt down and kissed warm life into you with the breath of [Her] love. 

            “No matter what your story before, this is your beginning now: you were formed

by Love…for love” ([10], 11).

            For as many times as I have read the creation stories of humanity and the nativity stories of Jesus, I never thought of the imagery of the “warm breath” of God as God breathed both into humanity and into the infant body of God’s son.  In the same way that God breathed into the first man and the first woman, She also breathed into you and into me…giving us not just life, but also love.  No matter who our earthly parents were, we have heavenly parents who made us out of love, for love.

            God’s warm breath created us that way; God’s warm breath breathed into God’s son as a way to show us that we are – always have been and always will be – made by and for Love.

            “The greatest gift we can give our great God is to let [Her] love make us glad (14).” If our eyes and our hearts have experienced life as other than love, all we need to do is remember the sweet breath of God, breathing into our nostrils and into the nostrils of the world’s most treasured baby. 

            What does it mean to you that the same warm breath that breathed life into the baby Jesus also breathed – and continues to breath – it into you?  The name of that breath is Love.