Advent ABC: It’s Christmas!

My Christmas gift for you: A playlist of all the wonderful music we’ve been listening to this Advent! Go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpeaoAOPcUc&list=PLPKlZ6WXGYq_MRnOY6hH_YadWaIwg-jnX

The link is also on the home page of ButGod.blog. Enjoy!!

Christmas celebrates one of the biggest But God moments of all time.

I couldn’t find a video with lyrics of the song I chose for today, Sandi Patty singing Carol of the Bells, so here’s my attempt to transcribe them. Enjoy!

Hark how the bells, sweet silver bells, all seem to say, throw cares away

Christmas is here, bringing good cheer to young and old, meek and the bold,

Ding-dong ding-dong, that is our song with cheerful ring all caroling

One seems to hear words of good cheer from everywhere filling the air

Oh how they pound, raising the sound, o’er hill and dale, telling their tale

Gayly they ring while people sing songs of good cheer, Christmas is here

Merry, merry, merry, merry Christmas …

(Repeat first section)

On, on they send, on without end, their joyful tone to every home (repeat) …

Gayly they ring …

Merry, merry, merry, merry Christmas …

On, on they send …

(End with) Hear the bells ring, Christ the Savior is born! Hallelujah!

Carol of the Bells, adapted and arranged by David Hamilton, from the Ukrainian “Shchedryk” by Mykola Leontovich , sung by Sandi Patty

Advent ABC: Upholder

Isaiah 41:10, Colossians 1:16-17 Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. … I will strengthen you and help you. I will uphold you with my victorious right hand. … Everything was created through Christ and for him. He existed before anything else, and he holds all creation together.

It’s an interesting juxtaposition, considering Jesus as the Upholder and sustainer of all creation and of our individual lives just as we remember his decision to confine himself to a woman’s womb, to take on all that it means to be human, to limit himself to time and space, to choose dependence on imperfect parents. This mystery, I think, can only be addressed through poetry.

Descent, by Luci Shaw

Down he came from up,
and in from out,
and here from there.
A long leap,
an incandescent fall
from magnificent
to naked, frail, small,
through space,
between stars,
into our chill night air,
shrunk, in infant grace,
to our damp, cramped
earthy place
among all
the shivering sheep.

And now, after all,
there he lies,
fast asleep.

He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands, sung by the Tennessee Gospel Choir

Advent ABC: Truth

Isaiah 11:5, 16:5, Revelation 19:11 (John 17:19) The Branch will wear righteousness like a belt and truth like an undergarment. … He will rule with mercy and truth. … [Jesus] was named Faithful and True.

Jesus can only speak truth. Because that’s who he is (John 14:6).

Our enemy, the devil, can only speak lies. Because that’s who he is (John 8:44).

Holy Spirit, give us the discernment to listen to the right voice (John 14:17).

[Jesus said] Dig deep and lay your foundation on solid rock (Luke 6:48, Isaiah 28:16).

Shutterstock: Andrey Yurlov

Truth I’m Standing On, Leanna Crawford

Advent ABC: Shepherd

Isaiah 40:11 (49:9-10) The Lord will feed his flock like a shepherd. He will carry the lambs in his arms, holding them close to his heart. He will gently lead the mother sheep with their young.

Karis was ten. We were in Detroit for surgery on her intestine. The rest of our family was at home in São Paulo, Brazil. (I learned later that eight-year-old Rachel had started a fire in the kitchen trying to cook for her siblings while Dave was out. A neighbor “happened” by, put out the fire, took my children to her house to feed them, and later had words with their father. But that’s another story…)

Before she was taken through the double doors into the surgery suite, I overheard Karis tell a new friend at the hospital that she wasn’t afraid, for herself or for me, because of Isaiah 40:11. The Holy Spirit shot that assurance straight into my heart, puncturing an expanding balloon of worry. Every time I hear Jesus referred to as Shepherd, I flash back to that precious moment.

Our Brazilian friend Roseli painted this for Rachel.

Turn to your Shepherd, the Guardian of your souls … The Lamb on the throne will be your Shepherd. He will lead you to springs of life-giving water and wipe every tear from your eyes (1 Peter 2:25, Revelation 7:17).

The Lord’s My Shepherd, Stuart Townend

Advent ABC: Ruler

Isaiah 9:6-7, Romans 9:5 (Isaiah 32:16, 40:10, 51:6, 60:17-18, Matthew 2:6, Ephesians 1:21-22) The government will rest on his shoulders. … His government and its peace will never end. He will rule with fairness and justice from the throne of his ancestor David for all eternity. … Christ is God, the one who rules over everything and is worthy of eternal praise! Amen.

Jesus’s entire life as recorded in the Gospels shows us his authority: over illness, death, the wind and waves, the enemy, Satan (who is called the ruler of this world), the traditions of people, and on and on. In his last conversation with his followers he said, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth” (Matthew 28:18). He didn’t then say, “Now destroy the Romans.” He said, “teach everyone to obey the commands I have given you,” chief among them the command to love (John 13:34-35).

I think it’s easy to forget that Jesus’s Kingdom is not of this world. He wants to rule our hearts. He said, “The Kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21). He told Pilate, “My Kingdom is not an earthly kingdom. If it were, my followers would fight …” Paul wrote, “The Kingdom of God … is living a life of goodness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.”

Jesus also said the Kingdom belongs to those who are like children (Matthew 19:14), so for fun on this first day of winter, let’s listen to a children’s song.

Jesus is the King, Ben Sams

Mary, Did You Know, by Mark Lowry

Advent ABC: Quiet Place

Isaiah 28:12, 30:15 (Mark 6:31) God has told his people, “Here is a place of rest; let the weary rest here. This is a place of quiet rest. … Only in returning to me and resting in me will you be saved. In quietness and confidence is your strength.”

Shutterstock: Mashosh

During Elijah’s struggle with anger and depression, three violent events drove the prophet into a cave on Mt. Sinai: a mighty windstorm, an earthquake, and fire. After that God spoke to Elijah in a still, small voice (1 Kings 19). This story has inspired dozens of artists, famous and less well known. This is one of the latter. Interesting that Elijah had to face so much before he was able to hear God speak to him. And it’s interesting that through the entire period of his suffering, God was present with him and caring for him.

Do you take time to access the Quiet Place, God’s heart, so you can hear him speak to you?

In these tumultuous and busy days, taking time to be still and rest in his strength and sovereignty and wisdom and grace, and receive his quiet direction, is more important than ever.

A Quiet Place/Near to the Heart of God, sung by Alessandra Sorace

Advent ABC: Prince of Peace

Isaiah 9:6 For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders. And he will be called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

I’m thinking of Jesus bringing peace in two contexts today. Remember Simon and Garfunkel’s song “7 O’Clock News”? It was released in 1966. Have we made any progress since then? Any efforts I can make toward peace in the world, like joining the “Stop the War” demonstration in Pittsburgh this afternoon, seem so tiny. Yet I can join you and you can join me in praying for men to open their hearts to the Prince of Peace.

Shutterstock: Grand Warszawski

The other level is my own heart, my own small sphere, inviting him into the spaces of struggle there.

These songs address these two levels.

Prince of Peace, Hillsong https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kc0DKzPdv44

Prince of Peace, Celtic Worship https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfr1FaqWQ0E

Advent ABC: Our God

Isaiah 25:9 (Isaiah 46:3-4, Malachi 4:2, Romans 5:10-11, Hebrews 4:15, 16, 2 Peter 1:1) In that day the people will proclaim, “This is our God! We trusted in him, and he saved us! This is the Lord, in whom we trusted. Let us rejoice in the salvation he brings.”

Trust isn’t easy, especially when we’ve been betrayed. When someone we have trusted has not just disappointed us, but has deliberately hurt us for their own ends. Because the Three-in-One God understands this, Jesus came, to experience in a body what betrayal is. That’s why we can go to him to find mercy and grace in our time of need. This is our God, not a being far off, but one who draws near, in compassion and full understanding. With healing in his wings.

This is Our God, Phil Wickham

Advent ABC: time out for JOY!

Joy to the World, sung by Celtic Women

Isaiah 61:3, 7, 10 To all who mourn, he will give a crown of beauty for ashes, a joyous blessing instead of mourning. … Everlasting joy will be yours. … I am overwhelmed with joy in the Lord my God! For he has dressed me with the clothing of salvation and draped me in a robe of righteousness. I am like a bridegroom in his wedding suit or a bride with her jewels.

Joy is the theme of the third week of Advent, when we light the pink candle along with the first one, hope, and the second, faith. There are various ways of naming these candles—yours may be different—but I believe all traditions emphasize joy on this third week.

Isaiah takes us to the depths of despair as he foresees overwhelming harm resulting from injustice. He also raises us to the heights of joy when he envisions the day when the Savior of the world will put everything right. His book overflows with joy!

Isaiah says his good news will “strengthen those who have tired hands and encourage those who have weak knees” (35:3). So take five minutes to read Isaiah 35 today, out loud if you can!

Joy to the World, sung by Phil Wickham for The Chosen

Advent ABC: Noel (Born of God)

Galatians 4:4 (Isaiah 9:6) But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law.

I didn’t know until now that Noel means “born of God.” Did you? Unto us a child is born … The incredible mystery of the incarnation. God made man, born, living, and dying in our fractured, messy world. “The visible image of the invisible God” (Colossians 1:15).

When she was 13, Karis imagined what it would be like to be a pregnant teenager, bearing God’s Son. We ran across this story while sorting through her things and made it into a booklet. Several who have read it have told me that for them now, “this is how it happened.”

If you would like a copy of Mary’s Diary, let me know! debrakornfield@gmail.com

Noel, Chris Tomlin (featuring Lauren Daigle)