Perhaps one of the remarkable facets of Christian theology that the evangelical church in America has missed is that of the coming of the kingdom of God in the person of Jesus. It is with Christ's coming that God's kingdom breaks into this world and out of that breaking in Christ himself, the agent of creation, sets about the task of new creation.
Here is how Jeremy Begbie states it in Resounding Truth: Christian Wisdom in the World of Music:
The vision is stunning and overwhelming, but the central pivot on which it turns is unmistakable: in the person of Jesus Christ, the Creator has re-created creation within creation, freeing it from all that thwarts it (even from death), and freeing it for a new future, thus giving us a promise within our world of that day when creation will be flooded with the glory of God and come to its final union with the Creator. (Begbie, p.197)
What a grand vision this is! God has stepped into time and go about the task or recreation from within.
This is what Advent and Christmas is about, "that God's unceasing love for creation has led him to come as a man in Jesus, on the cross to submit to the forces of destruction and chaos, and through the raising of Jesus from the dead, forge out of history's most evil event a resplendent and uncontainable glory." (Begbie, p. 197)
As such these great truths will be proclaimed in our worship this Sunday. The choir will lead us in our meditation with Mozart's "Ave Verum Corpus", a text celebrating the incarnation of the Word of God and our confidence we can take because of the work he has done on our behalf. We also will hear from the jazz combo tht plays from time to time with a medley of well-known Christmas hymns. They will play Coventry Carol (see Matthew 2:16-18), Silent Night, and God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen. This medley traces a path from mourning and sorrow to one of great joy that we as God's chgildren can find great hope and solace in the work God is doing among us.
Saturday, December 13, 2008
Thursday, December 4, 2008
12-7-08
Confessions of Worship Director
O.k., I know this is not what many people want to hear but I am going to lay my cards on the table. Christmas is a hard time for me. This is mainly due to the music of the season. For all the years I have been a musician (maybe 25 or so) I have played and sang the same carols and hymns for a month every year. This proves difficult for me because the music tends to become stale and lifeless.
Well, this Sunday I did have a "breakthrough" of sorts. As the Children's Choir led us in worship I was greatly refreshed and encouraged to have them lead us...lead me... in worship to start the Advent season. What a blessing this was! I was able to come to the hymns we sang with new "ears to hear with." It was very moving service for me and it is my prayer that it was for our people as well. I hope that this spirit of worship will carry through this advent season and on into Ephiphany and eventually Lent and Easter as we look forward to the celebration of the ressurection.
This Sunday we will look at what it meant for Jesus to take on flesh (i.e. incarnation) and more particuarly in light of John's baptism to which he submitted himself. One aspect of this that has impacted me this week is from an essay by Alistar Begg in a great little book called Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus edited by Nancy Guthrie.
I paraphrase Begg:
"It is not by diminution that he makes himself nothing. It is by an addition that he makes himself nothing. He has not ceased to be who he is. But by taking on flesh - by pouring himself into it - he constitutes a completely different entity. He who was somebody in his own right has become a nobody so that he might serve others."
Consequently we will close our service this week with the hymn this book is titled after, Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus. There is a new verse we will sing that is found in the Trinity hymnal.
Here it is:
Come to earth to taste our sadness,
He whose glories knew no end;
By his life he brings us gladness,
Our Redeemer, Shepherd, Friend.
Leaving riches without number,
born within a cattle stall;
This the everlasting wonder,
Christ was born the Lord of all.
O.k., I know this is not what many people want to hear but I am going to lay my cards on the table. Christmas is a hard time for me. This is mainly due to the music of the season. For all the years I have been a musician (maybe 25 or so) I have played and sang the same carols and hymns for a month every year. This proves difficult for me because the music tends to become stale and lifeless.
Well, this Sunday I did have a "breakthrough" of sorts. As the Children's Choir led us in worship I was greatly refreshed and encouraged to have them lead us...lead me... in worship to start the Advent season. What a blessing this was! I was able to come to the hymns we sang with new "ears to hear with." It was very moving service for me and it is my prayer that it was for our people as well. I hope that this spirit of worship will carry through this advent season and on into Ephiphany and eventually Lent and Easter as we look forward to the celebration of the ressurection.
This Sunday we will look at what it meant for Jesus to take on flesh (i.e. incarnation) and more particuarly in light of John's baptism to which he submitted himself. One aspect of this that has impacted me this week is from an essay by Alistar Begg in a great little book called Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus edited by Nancy Guthrie.
I paraphrase Begg:
"It is not by diminution that he makes himself nothing. It is by an addition that he makes himself nothing. He has not ceased to be who he is. But by taking on flesh - by pouring himself into it - he constitutes a completely different entity. He who was somebody in his own right has become a nobody so that he might serve others."
Consequently we will close our service this week with the hymn this book is titled after, Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus. There is a new verse we will sing that is found in the Trinity hymnal.
Here it is:
Come to earth to taste our sadness,
He whose glories knew no end;
By his life he brings us gladness,
Our Redeemer, Shepherd, Friend.
Leaving riches without number,
born within a cattle stall;
This the everlasting wonder,
Christ was born the Lord of all.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)