As I shared in yesterday's sermon, I am a little OCD when it comes to the holidays.
By that I mean that I get annoyed when stores stock their shelves with Christmas stuff in early November. I also quickly switch radio stations when I hear Christmas carols before Thanksgiving.
But now that we have enjoyed our turkey, stuffing, and the other elements of our large meals with families, we can look ahead to decorative trees, colorful lights, snowmen, gifts, and more large meals with our families. And of course I can now allow my OCD-self to enjoy Christmas music. I do have to consciously 'flip the switch' in my mind in a way, but I also have to consciously guard against letting the trees, lights, gifts, and family get-togethers from getting in the way of the true meaning of this holiday.
Thankfully the best Christmas music makes this exercise a little easier. The best Christmas music is worshipful and Christ-focused. A new single out on Chris Tomlin's Christmas Album is both of those things. It features new-ish artist Lauren Daigle absolutely nailing the uplifting vocals on this re-invented version of 'Noel'.
If that can't get you in the proper Christmas mood, there's something wrong with you.
I was well on my way to post a fairly pedestrian video of a fairly pedestrian song that expresses the admirable quality of biblical thanksgiving. There's nothing wrong with the song and it can be utilized in a very worshipful way in the right context.
Then I came upon another song on youtube that emphasizes a similar heart with a little more musical and lyrical variety. It still is not the most exciting song in the world and it does go on for 7 minutes...but the main reason it caught my eye and made me decide to include it this week was the advertisement before the actual video.
I'm not sure if the ad will be permanently be the same, but when I looked it up, it was a movie trailer for an upcoming comedy. A very crass comedy - to the extent that the trailer had several swear words and off-color jokes.
The contrast between the two couldn't have been more stark. A serene yet sincere song expressing gratitude to God vs. a worldly and vulgar movie.
My wife will tell you, I often let this kind of thing slide, consuming it without much conviction. Maybe my conscience was stirred because we are entering the Thanksgiving and Christmas seasons. Hopefully it is because the Spirit is working on my heart and mind to not be so tolerant of what God deems as sinful. Maybe that's not where you are at. But maybe this can provoke us to consider these things a little bit more during this holiday season.
In our sermon series, we've entered the section of 1 John that deals with the theme of "God is life". We have eternal life - abundant-meaningful life - through our relationship with Jesus. I gave some thought to Music Monday given this argument. A few songs that have found their way to CCM radio popped into my head. But none of them really resonate with me. I mean, God is life. That's awesome. Theologically that truth is EVERYTHING.
It is the core of our faith and the transformative consequence of the Gospel. It deserves a real song to announce it. It needs the kind of song I would have listened to in order to pump myself before a basketball game.
There's really only one choice:
Considering this song was released and became popular around 9/11 adds emphasis to it's greater message of joy and appreciation of life.
With two parents who were passionate and skilled musically, my childhood was filled with songs and the radio being constantly played. A lot of those songs have stuck with me. One came to mind with our passage in 1 John. It is shorter than I remember, but this is the exact version that plays in my head when I think of these verses. I guess I have Maranatha Kids! to thank for it. It is short but sweet - and definitely to the point of an important command for all Christians.
Our sermon series started into the second of those themes this past Sunday. One of the key points the apostle John makes is that godly love must be demonstrated:
16 This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.17 If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person?18 Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.
That was the question I heard one of our members ask another yesterday at church as a group of us men were putting our socks and shoes on. You probably regard that scenario as strange for a number of reasons. I find it fitting. Yesterday was World Communion Sunday and our denomination celebrates communion with a three-piece observance - the Love Feast, Communion, Foot-Washing. We sit around round tables of 6-8 people and have a carry-in dinner after the Worship service. We let each table decide when they want to do feet-washing as the ladies go to a designated room and the guys to another. This Tri-Fold Communion mixes all that is good about being a follower of Christ. Serious thought and consideration is given to what Jesus has done for us and how we must approach him. Familial fellowship is enjoyed around delicious food. The special opportunity to serve and be served is present as we follow the very non-American custom of removing our socks and shoes, taking anothers foot, and rinsing it in a tub of water - then letting someone do the same to us. After we have imitated Christ in that way and all have had their fill of meatballs, cheesy potatoes, salad, and pie, we dim the lights and partake of the Bread and the Cup. At the end of the service, as a group, we sing the Doxology. As we drove home, my mind went back though to that singular question one of our men asked another. Sure it's a basic question, possibly meant to deflect some awkwardness of the foot-washing exercise. But I felt something deeper at play.
That question was intentional because the one who asked knew the enjoyment his friend got out of that hobby.
More than that, he knew his friend.
That is Christian fellowship. In the midst of worshiping in an unusual way, he inquired about life. Praise God from whom ALL blessings flow - even those of leisure that He enjoys to share with us.
In May of 1999, just a few weeks away from graduating high school, I fulfilled a life-long dream by attending a dc Talk concert at the Ft. Wayne War Memorial Coliseum.
We had ground level tickets near a secondary stage that the group used throughout their concert, but predominantly for an unplugged worship set mixing their own songs and others.
It very much resembled this:
I had the good fortune to be able to be right up next to this secondary stage during their whole set and it was phenomenal. It will always be the best concert I have or will ever attend. It was my favorite band at the height of their significance and artistry.
I'm sharing this walk down memory lane not just to reminisce, but to also share that classic song. We're beginning a sermon series at church in 1 John which deals with fellowship with God and "walking in the light". God as light and walking in the light are major themes of the book to the extent I could use this song to connect to multiple passages in this letter.
As the passage which Toby Mac read reminds us, we can claim to be in good standing with God all we want. But if our actions do not match our profession, we are just hypocritical liars. 1 John 1 especially calls us to address our sin - to confess it rather than rationalize it (1:8-9), to depend on Christ rather than deny our problem (1:10-2:2).
Do we? Are we?
Let us be in the Light as He is in the Light. Let us shine like the stars in the heaven.
