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Merry Christmas

To you in David's town this day,
is born of David's line,
The Savior who is Christ the Lord,
and this shall be the sign:
The heavenly babe you there shall find,
to human view displayed,
All meanly wrapped in swaddling bands,
and in a manger laid.
Hallelujah!

-Andrew Peterson-

Good News!

Since today is Black Friday and I survived it (praise God) I'd like to share something with you that I planned on sharing even if I hadn't survived the madness that is retail on the day after Thanksgiving: Andrew Peterson. If you are ready to have your mind literally explode for lack of other options because it is so happy, then click the link above. It'll take you to Andrew's website, where you will then click, "Open Player" (ah heck, how about you just click here). Once you successfully click the "here" or the "Open Player" link, a window will open and it will start playing [arguably] the most mind-blowing Christmas album that will ever grace your ears. Go ahead. Even if you hate Christmas music, this is different. And if you love Christmas music, then I've probably already sold you, you're half way through the first song.

Remember my post about music and how awesome and powerful it is? I referenced a certain album that literally brought me to tears because it was so good? Recall? No? Well this is that album. I recently ordered and received the live concert DVD version of the same record... also amazing. I rarely recommend music on this blog, but if I didn't tell you to listen to this album, I'm pretty sure I'd be sinning. It's about 45 minutes. Just do it. I bet you Jesus shows you something through it. Stop reading, and start enjoying the magic of true musical fusion... then come back in 45 minutes and tell everyone what you thought... if you can see through your tears.

Reformation Day, 2006

Sure it's Halloween, but being the supporter of all things less popular, today I'll be celebrating Reformation Day.

What's Reformation Day, you ask? Remember Martin Luther? Not Martin Luther King Jr, just plain ol' Martin Luther. He was a feisty monk back in the day (1517), who saw a lot of discrepancies between what he read in the Bible and what he saw the church doing. So, like any of us would NEVER do, he wrote out 95 theses and nailed them right on the front doors of the church.

So, how should we go about celebrating such a wonderful day?

Option 1: We could all read what the Bible says about how the Body of Christ should act, write out all the ways that it is currently failing in that area (on papyrus of course), and go up to our local church and post them up on the door by stabbing them with a ketchup-stained knife.

Option 2: We could be relevant to our culture and dress up in a great Halloween costume (preferably as Martin Luther) and then go execute option 1.

Option 3: We could rent the movie, "Luther" to better educate ourselves on the life and story of this man most Christians know very little about, even though he played one of the biggest roles in the church they go to looking the way it does (not Catholic).

Option 4: We could be both relevant to culture and be seen as more of freaks than our culture already sees modern Christians by, again, dressing up like Martin Luther, writing out our modern day thesis, and then making tons of copies of them, and stab them up on each door of the houses our kids will be trick or treating at.

Option 5: I could see what the Bible says about how I should live as a person who claim the name of Christ, note that I'm failing miserably, and stab myself with the proverbial knife on the metaphorical door of my heart. You could do the same.

However you decide to celebrate this glorious day in Protestant History, do it passionately, because that's how Martin Luther would have done it, dang it. Happy Reformation Day!

deck the halls

Thanks to the six chicks for outdoing themselves yet again. Here you see them caroling on my front porch, serenading me with "All I Want for Christmas is You." Now that is a sweet thing to do for somebody. I'd like to take the rest of this time, however, to discuss caroling, and why it doesn't really happen anymore.

In my head, I feel like caroling is something that used to be done by very talented vocalists who would either a) stand in one place in a busy square and spread Christmas cheer to passers-by or b) go door to door singing to housefulls of perfect strangers. Now, don't get me wrong... the six chicks are all very talented singers, and I love that they sang to me, albeit I'm no stranger; but I just really like the idea of going up to a random house, singing some Christmas tunes with all you've got, staring your random audience in the eyes and just seeing what comes of it.

Well, I could certainly go on with various thoughts I've had on this subject, but I can see that this is quickly becoming one of the weakest entries I've done in a while, so I'll quit.