My Favorite Christmas Song

"O come, O come Emmanuel

And ransom captive Israel"

     I love Christmas music. From Thanksgiving until New Year's, sometimes longer, it is all I listen to. "O come, O come Emmanuel" is probably my favorite Christmas song. I really like the way it sounds. In my opinion, it is one of the most beautiful pieces of music ever written. 

     As I was trying to think of something to write for this blog, the words to this song kept running through my head and it started me thinking. What kind of Christmas song talks about ransoms? Ransoms are usually associated with crimes, how is that Christmasy? To ransom means to redeem from captivity or bondage by paying a demanded price. Amidst all of the decorations and parties and gifts, we forget why Christmas really happened. We forget why Jesus, Emmanuel, God with us, was sent to this Earth. We were being held captive by this world and a price was demanded for our release. That price was God's own Son. Jesus was sent to this world to purchase our release from the bondage of sin and death. He paid that price by laying His life down for ours. We can never forget that without Good Friday, Christmas is meaningless.

     So enjoy all of the things that come with the Christmas season, but don't lose sight of the real reason for it all. We were held captive by sin and Jesus willingly paid the ultimate price to purchase our release.

O come, O come, Emmanuel,

And ransom captive Israel,

That mourns in lonely exile here

Until the Son of God appear.

Rejoice! Rejoice!

Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Thou Wisdom from on high,

Who orderest all things mightily;

To us the path of knowledge show,

And teach us in her ways to go.

O come, Thou Rod of Jesse, free

Thine own from Satan’s tyranny;

From depths of hell Thy people save,

And give them victory over the grave.

O come, Thou Day-spring, come and cheer

Our spirits by Thine advent here;

Disperse the gloomy clouds of night,

And death’s dark shadows put to flight.

O come, Thou Key of David, come,

And open wide our heavenly home;

Make safe the way that leads on high,

And close the path to misery.

O come, O come, great Lord of might,

Who to Thy tribes on Sinai’s height

In ancient times once gave the law

In cloud and majesty and awe.

O come, Thou Root of Jesse’s tree,

An ensign of Thy people be;

Before Thee rulers silent fall;

All peoples on Thy mercy call.

O come, Desire of nations, bind

In one the hearts of all mankind;

Bid Thou our sad divisions cease,

And be Thyself our King of Peace.

This is an instrumental version of the song, but it is my favorite. The artist is Casting Crowns and the video is from the movie "The Nativity Story".

   

In vs. For

     With the explosion of social media it has become common for people to give a daily report of what they are thankful for during the month of November. People are thankful for family, friends, jobs, pets, and a whole list of other things. I think this is a great idea and it is always good to reflect on the blessings you have, but I think as Christians we are called to more.

     It is easy to be thankful for things like family and friends and the things in our life. The Bible urges us to go deeper than being thankful for things, we are to "give thanks IN all things" not just FOR things. Giving thanks in things isn't always easy to do. Life has a way of putting us in circumstances where we probably don't feel very thankful. Paul, the author of this admonition, spent a lot of his life in jail and in fear for his life, and yet he tells us to give thanks in all things. In one instance he found himself in chains in front of King Agrippa pleading for  his life. Rather than bemoaning his situation he boldly proclaims the gospel of Jesus Christ and tells the king that he wished everyone could be in the position he was in minus the chains. Here he was in jail and on trial for his very life and he was thankful. He was thankful, not for the chains, but in his God. When your focus is on God all other things pale in comparison. Our little problems are insignificant when seen in the glory of God.

     There are a lot of things I am thankful for and some I am not, but I am thankful in all things.


Have a Happy Thanksgiving.

For Sarah, et al

     I will admit up front that I don't know if this story is true or not. I do know that parts of it are based in fact.

     It was the turn of the last century. A man owned a plot of land in rural Arkansas. (That's kind of redundant, all of Arkansas was rural in 1900.) The farmer tried to scratch out a living from the fields, but they proved to be too rocky. After a few years of just barely getting by, he decided to sell the farm. This proved to be equally difficult. Oh, plenty of people were interested until they saw the rocky fields. No one in their right mind would try to farm on that. Then one day a geologist from back east stopped by. He took one look at the rock covered fields and made an offer, a very generous offer, on the spot. You see, those rocks were actually diamonds. It simply took someone with the proper perspective to see what was always there.

     Many people live their lives like those rocks. They spend all of their time being kicked around and trampled under other's feet. They are seen as dirty, ugly nuisances. Not only not good for anything but actually in the way of anything productive. Unfortunately many never learn the truth about themselves. All it takes is the one with the proper perspective. All it takes is for Jesus to pick them up and clean off the stuff of the world that has accumulated on them to expose the diamond that is underneath.

     When we look at ourselves, we need to see what Jesus sees. We need to see the diamonds, not the rocks. All of us are made in the image of God. We are fearfully and wonderfully made. We are God's workmanship. All of the rest of creation was spoken into existence but we were handcrafted. Each of us was designed and crafted for a purpose and it is God's desire for us to live out that purpose. All of us are beautiful diamonds, it only takes the hand of God to expose them.