Parade of Lights--The Light of the World, Part 2

(See Part 1 here)

Last night’s late Christmas Eve service at our church followed the model, shortened and with some different carols, of the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols made famous by King’s College in Cambridge, England. The interwoven Scripture and Christmas carols and the beautifully decorated sanctuary combined to make a beautiful and meaningful service.

The last Scripture passage read in that Festival is John 1-14. Then we had a candle-lighting service where the pastor lit a candle from the Christ Candle and spread that light to all in the church holding their candles.

This gave me a perfect time to follow my own suggestion in part 1 to “Read it, savor it, and meditate on its meaning. Pray for understanding, even enlightenment.”

The meaning inherent in the passing of the light from the candle representing Christ to the candle each of us held is obvious. We not only receive that light from someone, but we pass it on to someone else. Thus is the Light of the World spread throughout the world—one believer at a time receiving the gospel and then passing it on.

I pray that as this simple illustration is repeated in other congregations, and replayed in our minds from previous candlelight services, we will all be so “enlightened”, receiving the Light of the World into our own lives and passing His gospel on to someone else living in darkness.

Merry Christmas in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Rudy

Parade of Lights--The Light of the World

Everyone is aware of the annual “Parade of Lights” parade in downtown Denver. It became famous (infamous) last year because of a ruling that specifically religious floats were not allowed. Not surprisingly, some Christians complained.

This year that rule was amended, and there were indeed some “Christmas” songs and floats in the (non-Christmas) “Parade of Lights”. Ridiculous? Yes!

This passage from the Gospel of John shows why. It is Jesus Himself who is the light of the world. That phrase falls so easily from the lips: “the light of the world”. So easily we glide right over the phrase. Read it, savor it, and meditate on its meaning. Pray for understanding, even enlightenment.

JOHN1:1-14 (NIV)
The Word Became Flesh
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.

6 There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe. 8 He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.

9 The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God-- 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God.

14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.


More to follow…

The Incarnation

It is Christmas time—the season of the year when we celebrate, not just the birth of a baby who grew up to be a great moral teacher, but the birth of one in whom was the union of both divine and human natures. Immanuel (God with us) is one of the names by which he is known. The idea of this union is sometimes called “the incarnation”.

The incarnation can be a difficult concept to grasp. We are familiar with some words from the same root, though. Carnivorous means “flesh-eating”. Chili con carne is chili with meat. We know that carnal has something to do with the body. The Latin root of these words means “flesh”.

Incarnation is not a biblical word. If you look for it with a concordance, you won’t find it. The concept is thoroughly biblical, however. It is seen most clearly in John 1:14.

“ The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. (NIV)”
or “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us…” (KJV)

It refers to the fact that in Christ God became human. In the person of Christ was the union of divine and human natures. This theological truth was hammered out in the early centuries of the Church in response to several different ideas which we still see in various forms today: that Jesus was human, but not divine; that Jesus was divine, but not fully human; that Jesus had two natures, but neither one complete—neither fully divine nor fully human.

The Church eventually came to say that in Jesus Christ God became fully human while in the same person being fully God. The term “incarnation” conveys that mystery as adequately as it is possible to do with an idea that, like all mysteries, is not explainable.

At Easter, we think of the resurrection of Jesus Christ as the greatest miracle. Perhaps that’s because each of will eventually die, and Jesus’ resurrection gives us hope that we too will be resurrected (see I Corinthians 15). But the greater miracle is that God became human in the first place.

The idea that the Holy, the Creator, the awesome God condescended to live as a human—one of His creatures—is indeed the most fantastic claim of a miracle that one can make. In fact, it is so fantastic, it seems a fantasy and a falsehood to many; and it is not provable by itself. It is a doctrine we must accept by faith.

The virgin birth and the incarnation are not offered as proofs of the divinity of Jesus Christ. We hold those beliefs by faith. The life and work of Jesus Christ, including His teachings and His miracles, are evidence of the claim of the incarnation. It took the resurrection to provide the proof that Jesus was indeed the Son of God.

In the incarnation is the promise of heaven, but only the promise, not the full reality. In Christ people experienced the awe of being in the presence of holiness. They observed righteousness being lived out in their midst. But the experience was time and space limited. As they went away, that experience faded.

When we encounter God today, as Christ through His Holy Spirit works in us, we experience some of that promise of heaven also. But our experiences also fade. We have the Holy Spirit with us, but we are not the Holy Spirit. The best we can hope for is that the Christ who embodied both human and divine, will—through His Spirit—live in us and work through us to extend the experience of “God with us” to others. May it be so.
.

More C.S. Lewis resources

Check out this link to an article in Christianity Today for a list of books about Lewis, categorized to better serve the interests of the reader, including a reprint that is a companion guide to Narnia. Click on it, and you’ll discover another source of Christian books.

The Lion, the Witch, and the Library A guide to the best new books about the man and the myths. By Jerry Root

Companion to Narnia: A Complete Guide to the Magical World of C. S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia Paul F. Ford HarperSanFrancisco, 2005

Here are a couple of other links to articles about C.S. Lewis in that same issue of Christianity Today magazine.

We Know Jack C.S. Lewis's impact is about to reach new grounds, but for many of us, Lewis has shaped us from childhood to adulthood. By Mark Galli

CHRISTIAN HISTORY CORNER Carpets, Wardrobes, and the Glory of the Real A lesson on reality from fantasy author C.S. Lewis. By Jennifer Trafton

Introductions to C.S. Lewis

I was asked about some resources that would help someone understand Christianity better, and help them compare Christianity with other religions.

I’ll get to the comparison books later. For now, here are two books I recommended that you would probably like. With The Chronicles of Narnia coming to the movies, many will be introduced to C.S. Lewis for the first time. These books will give you a head start in the discussions that are sure to follow the movie.

They can both be purchased at Christian bookstores. Mere Christianity can be purchased almost anywhere, and you can likely get the Art Lindsley book at a local Barnes & Noble or other quality bookstores. I’ve given you the links to both BN and Amazon for both of these books.

I’m a bit past halfway through the Lindsley book, and I think it has an approach and style you would like. He gathers a hypothetical group of readers (from a wide variety of faith backgrounds) to discuss what C.S. Lewis wrote. Their questions form the backdrop for Lindsley’s compilation of quotes from C.S. Lewis in Lewis’ own search for answers (he was at one time an ardent atheist, only coming to believe in Jesus Christ in his 30's).

It is a good introduction to Lewis’ various writings, set forth in a coherent and understandable way. Therefore it is also a good introduction to why Jesus and Christianity make sense for someone steeped in the cultural milieu of the 21st Century. I recommend reading it first, then following up with the original itself—Mere Christianity.

Both of these books are great reads for yourself, and would make wonderful Christmas presents for other thinking Christians or even for skeptics.


Barnes & Noble

Mere Christianity by C. S. Lewis,

C.S. Lewis's Case for Christ: Insights from Reason, Imagination and Faith, by Art Lindsley

Or---

Amazon.com

Mere Christianity by C. S. Lewis (Paperback - February 2001)

C. S. Lewis's Case for Christ: Insights from Reason, Imagination And Faith by Art Lindsley (Paperback)

Celebrating Christmas

Increasingly over the past couple of decades we see screeds against the Scrooges who attempt to take the celebration of Christmas out of the “holiday season”. This year there is even a book out called The War On Christmas, by John Gibson.

Why the complaints, articles, blogs, and books? Because there is a concentrated effort to force political correctness (as defined by those who are averse to offending anyone except Christians) and substitute anything in place of overt Christianity in the public square.

This is why we see “Winter Festivals”, “Holiday Festivals”, and “Holiday Trees” in school or public celebrations of the season; and it’s why we hear “Happy Holidays”, “Seasons Greetings”, and other supposedly non-offensive terms in place of “Merry Christmas”.

This week I heard a brilliant response to employees in stores who are instructed to avoid saying “Merry Christmas”, even though retail stores typically count on about a quarter of their annual sales coming from people buying Christmas presents (or are they “holiday presents”?). Here a polite but assertive Christian who is offended by the hijacking of our Holy Days for overtly secular and politically correct “holidays” makes the point.

Store employee: “Happy Holidays”.
Christian customer: “Oh, what holiday is it?”
Store employee: “Uh, Christmas, I suppose.”
Christian customer: “Well, then, Merry Christmas to you.”

Slightly less polite perhaps is a more subtle reference to the wonderful Christmas story starring James Stewart, “It’s a Wonderful Life”. In that movie is the line, “…every time a bell rings, an angel gets his wings.” In the modern retort to “Happy Holidays” one says, “Don’t you know that every time someone says ‘Happy Holidays’ an elf dies”.

I like the more positive approach myself. Since the ‘reason for the season” is to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, and the name of the major holiday in the United States is Christmas, let’s keep the name of the season and celebrate the Name of the Savior.

And, in celebrating the true meaning of the season, I’m in favor of singing Christmas carols as much as possible—and religious ones at that. Here are some that most Christians, and many non-Christians, know:

Angels We Have Heard On High
Angels, From The Realms Of Glory
Away In A Manger
Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus
Go, Tell It On The Mountain
Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
Infant Holy, Infant Lowly
It Came Upon The Midnight Clear
Joy To the World! The Lord Is Come
O Come, All Ye Faithful
O Little Town Of Bethlehem
Silent Night, Holy Night
The First Noel The Angel Did Say
There’s A Song In The Air
While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks

We can sing those with feeling and conviction. Some more secular Christmas songs may be fun and nostalgic, but hardly have the same message. How many of us really know how fun it is to ride in a one-horse open sleigh? And songs about Santa Claus may be exciting for children, but the message is more about gifts than The Gift.

There are definitely occasions when we have to stand up to those who will supplant Christmas with secular and commercial greetings, so let’s do it with grace, and love, and peace, and goodwill toward all. Politely, but firmly, make it a merry Christmas indeed.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good life!