Pastor’s Blog

That was the name of the Christmas story I wrote for December 23rd and 24th. It was also how I felt after writing and presenting it. The extent of Christ’s humiliation in the incarnation and his heart for the lost was strongly reinforced in interpreting Philippians 2:5-11 in story form.A third word to describe the feeling might be ‘insane’. As those of you who were there know, the story was supported by a video track set in Dickensian London. The creation of that 40 minutes of video was an incredible task that I in no way understood when I set out to do it.

Right up front let me say that it would have been impossible without the help of my oldest daughter Bethany, who is home for a few ‘quiet’ weeks after graduating with her Masters on December 14th. Thanks again, Bethany!

But even with Bethany’s help, we came down to the wire on preparation of the video for both services, and probably as a result ended up with several glitches in presentation. I apologize for those and hope you will watch the video version that will go up in a little while, which will be narrated ‘in studio’.

For those of you who have asked, we created the video track using scenes from four different Dickens movies, all done by the BBC. The four movies were : David Copperfield, Our Mutual Friend, Bleak House, and Oliver Twist, in order by decreasing quantity of clips used. Some of the scenes were taken from one movie or another, but most were spliced together from two or even more of the movies. I’d guess there are about six hundred splices in the forty minutes of the story.

As far as recommending Dickens movies goes, it appears to us that David Copperfield and Our Mutual Friend are the best of the lot. The others are probably fine stories, but did not seem as visually compelling as these two. We’re planning on watching the whole of Our Mutual Friend sometime during the holidays.

By the way, I researched the copyright implications of what I was doing and came to the conclusion that this use is fair use under the copyright laws. For a good discussion of these issues see this blog

I hope you enjoyed the story, and I hope you and your families have a Merry Christmas and that the wonder of Christ’s incarnation touches your heart.

Christmas music, that is.

For many years I’ve had a problem with Christmas music. Now don’t get me wrong, I love Christmas and I love the music which celebrates it. The problem I have is that every year we get the same music.

The Negative Examples

It all started on the day after Halloween when I walked into a local store and heard Bing singing ‘White Christmas’. Holding my hand to my throat to suppress the gag reflex I ran from the store thinking ‘I’m dreaming of a Christmas that doesn’t start until after Thanksgiving’. Actually I was thankful for Halloween for the first time. At least it kept Christmas from starting in September.

“But that’s secular,” you say. “Surely the Christian community still creatively celebrates the Incarnation?” I wish. If you pick up the twenty most popular Christian artists and look at their Christmas albums (they all have Christmas albums) you will find seven or eight ‘Christmas Standards’ on each of these albums. The same-old same-old Christmas songs and carols. If I hear one more breathy-voiced female asking me ‘What Child is This?” I’m going to hyperventilate. How many arrangements of ‘O Little Town of Bethlehem’ can the world stand?

Worse, at least one of our local Christian stations, KSBJ, has decided that it has to run this Christmas music 24/7 from Thanksgiving to Christmas. And 24/7 requires so much music that Christian artists can’t provide it all. KSBJ has resorted to resurrecting Bing and Frank to fill out the play list. Even worse, to further fill out the play list they have included the six or eight rock-and-roll Christmas songs ever written. What does ‘Rockin Around the Christmas Tree’ have to do with Jesus, or even with the 21st century?

A Few Positive Counter-Examples

In years of looking for good contemporary songs with new thoughts and new words, I have run across a few gems. Last year the whole ‘Christmas music track’ that runs in my head was wonderfully taken up with Andrew Peterson’s “Behold the Lamb of God”, an album with almost entirely new words to new music that has the bonus of also telling a coherent story. May his tribe increase! You can listen here. (Click on ‘Open Player’).

Finally, I have to give thanks for David Jackson. Sorry, can’t give you a link, but David’s written several thoughtful Christmas songs with great music. Rescue me David!

Please HELP ME in your comments by telling me about some good Christmas music, that is, songs with thoughtful new words and evocative new music.