Friday, December 26, 2008

Merry Christmas and Christianity

No sooner do I finish the last Christmas post, explaining how fundamental Christmas and the birth of Christ is to Christianity, than I sign in to my favorite news source and see a link there to this story.

Long story short? The employee wanted to say Merry Christmas since she doesn't recognize Hannukah or Ramadan or Kwanzaa. After all, Jews don't recognize Christmas as a legitimate holiday, nor do Muslims recognize Christmas or Passover during their holy month of Ramadan. Do they realize that there are people out there who celebrate other holidays? Yes. But by professing faith in one religion, we profess that we do not hold other faiths and their observances as valid. Observant Jews do not believe in or celebrate Christmas. Why? Because Jesus is not the Messiah to a Jew. That is their particular choice in faith, and they are welcome to it. In America we have a freedom of religion, a freedom of religion that apparently, certain employers, even as deep south as the state of Florida, do not recognize. What does freedom of religion entail? It entails that any person in the United States is entitled to practice their faith openly without fear of repercussions, without fear of persecution, and without fear of being oppressed.

So why then are Christians everywhere forced to say "Happy Holidays" and in a small way, betray their faith by recognizing the legitimacy of other viewpoints? Do not mistake my question for one of intolerance and saying that Christianity or any religion is entitled to deny other people their right to worship. Only that Christians do not have to accept the doctrine of Islam that requires them to recognize Ramadan, just as Jews do not have to accept that Christ is the Messiah. Yet every year around Christmas more and more companies force their employees to be 'politically correct' by telling them that Christmas is not allowed, effectively suppressing an employee's religious freedom. It isn't just Christianity that suffers though, it's every religion who suffers because someone out there in left field believes that someone else will be offended by it.

In the above mentioned story, we have a woman who refused to say Happy Holidays. She doesn't believe in those other 'holidays' because she is not of the faith that those holidays derive their doctrine from. She's not Muslim, so Ramadan to her? Is something for someone else. Hannukah? Again, something for someone else, but it's not a holiday to her and her faith. She opted, instead of saying Merry Christmas, which apparently the company would not allow her to say, and instead of saying Happy Holidays, which went against her belief, to use the non-Holiday telephone greeting that her company uses the other 330 days a year.

This was apparently unacceptable to her supposedly 'Christian' employers. "We are a Christian company and we celebrate Christmas," said Andy Phillips, the company's president. Really? Then why is it such a big deal? Why is it big enough to fire her over? She's not violating company policy by answering the phone the way she does for most of the year. And no company. No government. No person on this Earth has the right to force their beliefs and values on any person.

A response to this news, was written by one G. Thomas Harper, a Jacksonville based attorney who works in employment and labor law. "I wouldn't think an employee has the right to insist (on saying Merry Christmas) unless that really is a tenet of their faith. She would have to make a strong case that was part of her beliefs, if not, it becomes insubordination," he said.

One would think that Christmas, being a Christian holiday, would be considered a tenet of the faith as much as Easter and the rising of Christ from the dead. The two most talked about things in the Bible, from the Old Testament Prophets such as Isaiah, to the Gospels and the Epistles of Paul and other Saints, are Christ's birth and Christ's death, with Christ's death being the subject of the most importance.

Apparently the courts have to decide on this one as the employee's lawsuit goes to trial. Hammurabi's law codes are fine to be displayed in a court. But the law codes of the Hebrews are not. It's fine to say "Happy Holidays" but to wish someone a Merry Christmas is not. It's all right to have a moment of silence in a school, but it's not ok to say 'Under God' in the pledge of allegiance or allow students to pray.

Our society has become so obsessed with political correctness and the fear of offending someone that it has offended time and again the majority of people in that society. When atheists comprise less than 3% of society in the world, why are we concerned with their feelings at the expense of the other 97%? Perhaps it is in the religious, Christian, Judaic, and yes even at times Muslim teachings, not to mention the Eastern religions which teach profound respect for the sanctity of other people, that we set ourselves up for failure. But it is time to stop. Sadly? This woman is forced into an inferior job because one supposedly Christian company attempted to circumvent the Constitution. It's a shame really. And what will be more of a shame? Is if the court denies this claim. The law is made to protect individuals from persecution. We have a right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness in America. As well as the right to freedom of religion. Yet companies like Counts-Oakes Resorts Properties Inc. apparently don't feel the same way as the Founding Fathers of this great nation (all of whom were religious).

Christmas post #6 - Joy

Ok, so I'm a day late. Story of my life. My apologies for not getting this out on Christmas Day, but I admit between the presents, family, food, festivities, and enjoyment of spending the holidays with my parents and brother, I got caught up and carried away.

On the very day of Joy, we are called to remember that Christ was born. We all know that Christmas is the birth of Christ. We know about the wise men. We know about the shepherds. And now? An exploration of Joy. Of happiness and the instructions for the Christian faith contained in the song Joy to the World.

Originally composed by George Friedrich Handel, as part of the Oratorio "Messiah", written in 1741, Joy to the World has been adapted slightly as the words have been changed over time. Perhaps one of the most well known Christmas songs, Joy to the World is an easy standard of Christianity.

Joy to the world! the Lord is come;
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare him room,
And heaven and nature sing,
And heaven and nature sing,
And heaven, and heaven, and nature sing.

Joy to the world! the Lord is come/Let earth receive her King/Let every heart prepare Him room/And heaven and nature sing/And heaven and nature sing/And heaven and heaven and nature sing.
Expressing Joy at the coming of the Lord is natural. It's what we're supposed to do. We saw explained in O Holy Night how the world was waiting for a long time in sin, waiting for the Joy of the birth of the Savior. Earth truly DID receive her king. As the old medieval feudal hierarchy points out, God is the ruler of Earth. Every heart should prepare Him room. Now what about this? Jesus came to prepare the way, just as John the Baptist came to prepare the way for Jesus. Jesus, at his arrival, was the road upon which the Holy Spirit traveled into humanity and gave us a renewed connection to God. Heaven and Nature. Earth and God's own realm, should sing in praise. Remember the prayer to the Lord that Christ taught? "Thy will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven." As above? So below.

Joy to the world! the Saviour reigns;
Let men their songs employ;
While fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat, repeat the sounding joy.

Joy to the world! the Savior reigns/Let men their songs employ/While fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains/Repeat the sounding joy/Repeat the sounding joy/Repeat, repeat the sounding joy.
A repetition of the message of the first verse. The Earth repeats the Joy that the will of God is being done as Christ is God incarnate upon Earth.

No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found,
Far as the curse is found,
Far as, far as, the curse is found.

No more let sins and sorrows grow/Nor thorns infest the ground/He comes to make His blessings flow/Far as the curse is found/Far as the curse is found/Far as, far as, the curse is found.
This verse refers to the parable of the sower found in Matthew 13:1-9, Mark 4:1-12, and Luke 8:4-10. A sower, scattering seeds, has several different outcomes. Satan scoops some away immediately as birds come down to eat the seeds on the path. Some fall on rocky ground and spring up quickly, but without deep roots (faith), they die as soon as the sun came out. Other seeds fell among thorns, that is to say, other people, who choked the life from and persecuted the faith of those seeds, and they were choked and killed. Other seeds fall on fertile soil and produce grain. This verse is saying that Jesus has come to make his blessings known to all of the world as far and wide as the 'curse' that is, the curse of a broken relationship with God through Sin.

He rules the world with truth and grace,
And makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders, wonders, of His love.

He rules the world with truth and grace/And makes the nations prove/The glories of His righteousness/And wonders of His love/And wonders of His love/And wonders, wonders, of His love
Referring both to the works of the Apostles after His death, working wonders in His name and proving His grace and truth, as Jesus gathered together Apostles from disparate nations and backgrounds, as well as to the modern world. He calls upon us to work wonders of His love. Not moving mountains whole or parting oceans, but working for Him and His will, treating our neighbors and our fellow human beings as well as our environment with love, respect, and compassion.

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Christmas post #5 - Night

The night has arrived. In Bethlehem nearly two thousand years ago, a small manger, normally filled with hay or barley to feed to animals, was filled with a new kind of food. A food for the soul. A food that nourishes the heart. That manger, from which humble donkeys, sheep, and oxen would normally eat, now held the babe that would feed thousands. Who's words would inspire some of the greatest acts of compassion, mercy, love, and charity that the world has ever seen. Chicken Soup for the Soul? Christ was a feast fit for Heaven itself, and who was it for? Everyone. From the most holy of the rabbis at the Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem, straight down to the beggars in the street. To observant Jews, and practicing pagan Gentiles. To those who had come before and died, those who walked in His presence, and those who were yet to be born. Children, the elderly, and healthy adults alike, Christ came to give up His body and blood to fill the hunger and thirst of our souls. The hunger and thirst for the love, that pure unadulterated and unconditional love that only our grand Maker in Heaven can have for us, His broken children.

That holy evening, wise men from nearby Persia who were students of astronomy and astrology came to a tiny town in a backwater of Judea, the City of David, and brought gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Shepherds came to wonder at the child. The very child who united rich and poor. Who cared not about skin color, language, culture, but only of the human heart.

In the 19th century, French poet and wine merchant, Placide Cappeau wrote a poem for Christmas for his friend, a parish priest. In 1847, Adolphe Adam wrote music for the simple poem, Minuit Chrétiens. In1855, Unitarian minister John Sullivan Dwight translated the words into the song we know today: O Holy Night.

O holy night! The stars are brightly shining,
It is the night of our dear Saviour's birth.
Long lay the world in sin and error pining,
'Til He appear'd and the soul felt its worth.
A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices,
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.

Fall on your knees! O, hear the angels' voices!
O night divine, O night when Christ was born;
O night divine, O night, O night Divine.

O holy night! The stars are brightly shining/It is the night of our dear Savior's birth
It was the night of the birth of our Savior. And that night, there was a star, which glowed brightly in the heavens. "Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of Herod the king, behold there came Wise men from te East to Jerusalem, saying "Where is he that is born King of the Jews? For we have seen his Star in the East, and are come to worship him." . . . When they had heard the King, they departed, and loe, the Star which they saw in the East, went before them 'til it came and stood over where the young child lay." (Matthew 2:1-9).

Long lay the world, in sin and error pining/'Til he appeared and the soul felt its worth/A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices/For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn
For a long time, the world had been wallowing in Sin. Sin, being a state of a broken relationship with God, makes the soul cry out for the love of our Father, pining away, wanting for that relationship to be healed. It was this state until He appeared in human form, Jesus Christ, and the human soul rejoiced. Weary no more, the soul had hope. Darkness ended, and the Light of lights descended from heaven.

Fall on your knees! O hear the angels' voices/O night divine, O night when Christ was born/O night divine, O night when Christ was born
The night of Christmas, that holy evening, was when Christ came to us, and it was then, as we see in the Gospel according to Saint Luke, that "the Angel said unto them, Fear not: For behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day, in the city of David, a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. . . . And suddenly there was ith the Angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and sayng, 'Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, and good will towards men.'" (Luke 2:10-14). Fall on your knees world. Fall on your knees and thank God from the bottoms of your hearts for the beautiful gift of love.

Led by the light of Faith serenely beaming,
With glowing hearts by His cradle we stand.
So led by light of a star sweetly gleaming,
Here come the wise men from Orient land.
The King of Kings lay thus in lowly manger;
In all our trials born to be our friend.

He knows our need, to our weakness is no stranger,
Behold your King! Before Him lowly bend!
Behold your King, Behold your King.

Led by the light of Faith serenely beaming/With glowing hearts by His cradle we stand/So led by light of a star sweetly gleaming/Here come the wise men from Orient land
Led by the light of Faith. Faith, that beautiful word. It is in our Faith in Christ as God that we heal our broken relationships and find salvation. It is in our Faith, not works, not pride of our good deeds, not attending church luncheons, not singing in your local choir, or donating to give your church that new sound system. It is in Faith that we are drawn to Jesus. Even today, the Holy Spirit, the God within us that Jesus paved the way for with His presence, draws us in on our Faith, bringing us into the Grace of God. With glowing hearts, hearts glowing with the light of mankind that John referenced in his Gospel: "In Him was life, and the life was the light of men." (John 1:4). Comparing us with the Wise men who were drawn to Christ from the East, we too are drawn by the light, not of a star, but of Faith.

The King of kings, thus in lowly manger/In all our trials, born to be our friend/He knows our need/To our weakness, is no stranger/Behold your king! Before Him, lowly bend!/Behold your king!/Behold your king!
Story time. In the Russian novel, "The Brothers Karamazov", the fervent rationalist brother, Ivan, argues with his brother Aloysha who is an Orthodox Priest, that there are so many supposed 'good Christians' in the world who betray themselves and their faith by acting towards their fellow men with barbarity, including to children, citing several horrific examples of child abuse that would even make our modern hearts cringe in disgust and pity. Ivan makes the point that if believing in Christ and salvation means that people are saved who act like that? That he would 'hand the ticket back, for the price is too high'. But that's just it. In those trials, in those hardships of those children, Christ was there. Christ was not some distant figure who died almost two thousand ears ago. Christ was not some being who doesn't care and is so far removed from humanity that He cannot be there for us. Christ was human. He loved. He cared. Especially for children. And in all of our trials, He was born specifically to be there among humanity. To be there with us through everything in the form of the Holy Spirit within us. The King of kings was born as lowly as can be, to be with us. The common people and the rich alike.

Truly He taught us to love one another;
His law is love and His gospel is peace.
Chains shall He break for the slave is our brother;
And in His name all oppression shall cease.
Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we,
Let all within us praise His holy name.

Christ is the Lord! O praise His Name forever,
His power and glory evermore proclaim.
His power and glory evermore proclaim.

Truly He taught us to love one another/His law is love and his gospel is peace
"This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love hath no one, that someone lay down his life for his friends." (John 15:13), as well as "By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." (John 13:35). The commandment of love, and peace. That is how we know what God is. Jesus IS God. And Jesus loved and commanded us to love one another.

Chains shall He break for the slave is our brother/And in His name all oppression shall cease/Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we/Let all within us praise His holy name
Meant originally as a theological support for Abolition of Slavery in Britain and the Christian world, one can see the very Christian meaning here. The oppression of Sin. The bondage we were in to the powers of hell. All of it ceased. Why? Faith in Christ. Faith that He allowed us to have. The slaves ARE our brothers and sisters, brothers and sisters who live in Sin that we can save from oppression through the ministry of Christ, but it should never grow into a ministry of oppression. We should praise Him, in those sweet hymns of joy that mimic the angels. Remember Luke 2:10-14? "You shall love the Lord thy God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind." (Matthew 22:37, Mark 12:30, Luke 10:27) With all we have and are, we should praise Him.

Christ is the Lord! O praise His name forever/His power and glory evermore proclaim/His power and glory evermore proclaim.
Christ IS the Lord. He is not merely the Son of God, created for a purpose. Remember the Arian controversy? Christ is of the same essence as the Father. Christ IS God. Christ IS Emmanuel, God with us. His power and glory evermore proclaim that HE is the answer to our prayers for salvation.


Ladies and gentlemen, tomorrow is Christmas Day. I sincerely hope that any of you reading this will have a safe, beautiful, loving, blessed Christmas. Even if you are far away from family, even if there are those who will never be there around the Christmas tree again, know that we are all united in that beautiful Christmas gift that rested under a star so long ago. That gift of love, faith, and hope that God gave to us. Merry Christmas, and I hope some will tune in, perhaps after the holiday, to see my open gift on here, an analysis of another song especially for Christmas Day.

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Christmas post #4 - Angels

So we saw in post number 3 the mentioning of angels. And we put angels or stars on top of our Christmas trees. Why? Because it symbolizes the Archangel Gabriel, the chief of God's messengers. God's own herald. He's that great guy who came to Joseph and told him about Mary being pregnant. He told Mary she was going to BE pregnant. He's that neato guy that led the heavenly host in the 'glory of heaven' when he announced Christ's birth to the shepherds in the fields. He was the same guy who also came to Joseph and warned him to take Jesus and Mary to Egypt to avoid the slaughtering of the children by King Herod (Yeah that guy was REALLY nasty in antiquity). So in a bit of a tribute to good ol' Gabriel and all his work that he did for God being the grandest messenger boy (and probably the patron saint of the postal service) in the history of the world.

The year? 1739. The person? Charles Wesley, brother of John Wesley the founder of the Methodist Church in England. The next person? Felix Mendelssohn in 1840. And last but not least, in 1855, William Cummings, an English musician. Charles Wesley wrote the original song and lyrics, but was a fan of the much more somber and grave songs that had dominated ecclesiastical music for centuries. A hundred years or so later, Felix Mendelssohn wrote a piece of music for a cantata to commemmorate the creation of the printing press by Gutenberg. Lastly? William Cummings said "Hey this piece of music fits these lyrics and makes a pretty wonderful song..." And combined Mendelssohn's music with Wesley's words, creating what we know today and the subject of this Christmas post: Hark! The Herald Angels Sing!

Hark! The Herald Angels sing:
"Glory to the newborn King"
Peace on earth and mercy mild,
God and sinners reconciled.
Joyful all ye nations rise
Join the triumph of the skies
With the angelic host proclaim:
"Christ is born in Bethlehem!"
Hark! The herald angels sing:
"Glory to the newborn King"

Hark! The Herald Angels sing/Glory to the newborn King
As we've seen in Silent Night and Let All Mortal Flesh..., the Angels proclaiming the birth of Christ as the King is well established in both the old and the new testament.

Peace on Earth and mercy mild/God and sinners reconciled/Joyful all ye nations rise/Join the triumph of the skies/With the angelic host proclaim/"Christ is Born in Bethlehem"
We see in the book of Isaiah, Chapter 9, Verse 6 "For unto us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace". That very Prince of Peace is Jesus Christ come to Earth to spread the mercy of God "but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men." (Philippians 2:7). God and sinners are reconciled. The broken relationship dating back through Original Sin all the way to now is healed. Jesus as God with Us (Emmanuel) preparing the way for the Holy Spirit who is God withIN us. All the nations rise and join the triumph of heaven. All people of all nations, not just the nation of Israel, have cause for celebration.

Christ by highest heav'n adored
Christ the everlasting Lord!
Late in time behold Him come
Offspring of a Virgin's womb
Veiled in flesh the Godhead see
Hail the incarnate Deity
Pleased as man with man to dwell
Jesus, our Emmanuel
Hark! The herald angels sing
"Glory to the newborn King!"

Christ by highest heav'n adored/Christ the everlasting Lord!/Late in time behold Him come/Offspring of a Virgin's womb/Veiled in flesh the Godhead see/Hail the incarnate Deity
"Of the increase of His government and Peace there will be no end..." (Isaiah 9:7). Christ IS the everlasting Lord. This also refers to the Temple in the sky that Christ references as building without hands throughout all four gospels. It took a long time for Jesus to come. The Israelites were constantly being shoved into one exile after another. First they tried a patriarchy with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, and the rest. That didn't work. Then they thought of high Judges. Well we saw how well Sampson worked out sporting a crew cut. Then there were the Kings, Saul, David, and Solomon. Those didn't work out too well to be honest either. Finally we have the prophets. Isaiah, Elijah, and Elisha, as well as the minor prophets that follow. During this time we also had Moses leading them out of Exile in Egypt only to have them relax just so the Babylonians could come take them away and return them again as a very fractured people. Jesus definitely came late to the party. The Virgin Mary is something that not many Protestants understand, so I'm going to take the simplest answer I can and plop it out here. Original Sin is something that is a human trait. We're all born with it. We're all created by it. Jesus is fully human and fully divine. That's the dual nature of Christ in one person. He's fully human so He is one of us and can feel and experience all of the things that we can and do. He's fully divine so that He can conquer death and reconcile God to us. He IS the living bridge between Heaven and Earth. In order however, to make sure that His human side was not tainted and broken away from God by Original Sin, the Sin of Adam and Eve in Eden, Jesus had to be born without it. But how is he going to be born without it if Mommy dearest, Fully human mommy dearest, has Original Sin? Simple. Make Mary a virgin birth as well. Mary was utterly clean and came into and lived in this world as an obedient and Virginal woman, free from Original Sin. THAT is why Mary is so very important.

Pleased as man with man to dwell/Jesus, our Emmanuel
Christ came to this world not as an Angel. He didn't come down as a burning bush. He didn't come down as anything else that could be encountered by people who would immediately know Him as God. As a matter of fact, He came down here as an ordinary guy. Even the Apostles never really figure it out until the Transfiguration found in Matthew 17:1-8, Mark 9:2-8, and Luke 9:28-36. And even then it's only three of his Apostles, Peter, John, and James, who find out and they're sworn to secrecy! So Jesus was content to come live among humanity as a man without everyone knowing, and of course Jesus is God as well. Jesus, our Emmanuel, the God with us.

Hail the heav'n-born Prince of Peace!
Hail the Son of Righteousness!
Light and life to all He brings
Ris'n with healing in His wings
Mild He lays His glory by
Born that man no more may die
Born to raise the sons of earth
Born to give them second birth
Hark! The herald angels sing
"Glory to the newborn King!"

Hail the heav'n-born Prince of Peace!/Hail the Son of Righteousness/Light and life to all He brings/Ris'n with healing in His wings
He is the Prince of Peace. He is the Son of God who by definition is Righteousness, Justice, Love, Virtue, and Grace. Jesus brings Light into Darkness (See John 1:1-14). You know that bit in Genesis where there was Darkness and suddenly there was Light? Then life? "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness and the darkness comprehended it not." (John 1:1-5) It was through Jesus that God created everything. Pretty powerful stuff we're dealing with here now. Risen with healing in His wings. His entire mission here on Earth, the purpose behind Him coming down was to heal the rifts between Heaven and Earth. Could Jesus have set up shop in Jerusalem as a worker of wonders and just tapped people all day long to heal their diseases? Sure He could have. But that's not Christ's job. His job isn't to heal the physical ailment of the body, something bound to the Earth. His job is to heal the ailment of the soul that is the separation from the Eternal love of our Heavenly father.

Mild he lays his glory by/Born that man no more may die/Born to raise the sons of Earth/Born to give them second birth
What did I just say? He lays the Glory of Heaven. He leaves it all behind to be here among us, meek and mild mannered. Born that man no more may die, to raise the sons of Earth, to give them second birth? He's come to give us eternal life in heaven with God. He's come to raise up the sons of Earth, us, humanity, humankind, and give us a new life. A NEW life, not the OLD life. A NEW life, a Second Birth. One where we will not be separated from the love, glory, and grace of heaven and our Father.

If there was ever a Christmas gift given, that is bar none the greatest one of all. A Father who loves all of us, yes ALL of us, so much that He is willing to tear Himself open, to share in our suffering by dying for all of us. Why? To prove a point that He's God? To guilt trip us every Sunday into feeling bad about what we did Monday through Saturday? No!

Because God hurt and ached when humanity betrayed God's love in paradise. When humankind turns away from that grace that God offers, it hurts. And God has reached out to everyone, offering them a hand, saying in a quiet, demure, mild voice of a man dying on a cross, that He would not be God without us. That He refused to exist any longer without us in His life. He was willing to live for us and give us life to be with Him. And He was willing to die for us to bring us back closer to Him. There is no greater love ladies and gentlemen, than to live and die to be there with another person. God did that for everyone, past, present, and future.

I hope those reading this enjoyed number 4. Only 2 more to go! Join us tomorrow evening, Christmas Eve, for O Holy Night, and then Christmas Day for that beautiful work by Handel, Joy to the World!

Monday, December 22, 2008

Christmas post #3 - Mortality

I apologize for this one being out late, but it couldn't be helped. I had difficulty figuring out which song I'd work on today, but when it hit me, boy did it ever HIT me. I think a Mack truck would have left less of an impression. The song today isn't a Christmas song, though it certainly has the lyrics of one. It's been put into Christmas CD's and others specifically because of its content, though you'll never hear it on any radio broadcast, not even likely on the Christian stations. The only reason I know about it was from an experience many many moons ago (about 11 now) when my piano teacher (who also taught voice) got together her students to sing in a full on choir to produce a Christmas show with narration. One of the songs in there just hit me with its arrangement, and it stuck with me. The song "Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence" is extremely solemn. Its words very poignant in their meaning, and very quiet, express some of the fundamental beliefs in Christianity.

Written as early as the 4th Century (that's right, before Rome fell people), as part of the Divine Liturgy of Saint James, it was intended as the Cherubic hymn for the Offertory. It was written originally, not in Latin, but in Greek.

So what? What's the big deal between Latin and Greek? That simple difference in language? Is a HUGE difference. But what it points to is that this song was not written in the Latin Roman West, nor was it truly likely used in the West as much as in the East. By the 4th Century, there was a clear split in the Empire between East and West, and especially after the Emperor Constantine relocated his Capitol City to Constantinople in the Eastern section of the Emperor. The dominant culture in the Aegean basin was Greek ever since the end of the Hellenistic Age started by Alexander the Great in the 300's BC. Despite Roman domination of the region, Latin never truly took hold. The Romans, great copiers of culture, were never able to copy Greek philosophy, learning, medicine, architecture, or legality enough to supplant Greek on its home turf. In the West, Latin became dominant. In the East, Greek reigned supreme, and this cultural and linguistic barrier would eventually lead to a full on split in the Christian church between the Latin Roman West and the Greek East, but this hadn't happened by the 4th century, even though the groundwork was there. The big significance we see from history affecting this song is the meaning and the symbolism. We've seen in Silent Night and before it in Veni, Veni Emmanuel, that the symbolism is there, yes, but it's not as driving or powerful as the words and symbolism here in this song. In later centuries as the split grew wider in the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Church grew more and more dependent upon the Russian Empire, where illiteracy was rampant well into the 20th century. In order to give religion to the people and ensure that the meaning was plain, Eastern Orthodoxy developed as a sensory religion, moving away from liturgies filled with readings from a Bible and filled their liturgies with incense, chanting, ikons (extremely richly decorated paintings of biblical figures, mostly the Virgin Mary and Christ), as well as songs like this with descriptive imagery. Without further ado: "Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence"

Let all mortal flesh keep silence,
And with fear and trembling stand;
Ponder nothing earthly minded,
For with blessing in His hand,
Christ our God to earth descendeth,
Our full homage to demand.

Let all mortal flesh keep silence/And with fear and trembling stand/Ponder nothing earthly minded
A reference to the 12 minor prophets of the Old Testament, who are collected in the Book of Habakkuk "But the Lord IS in His holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him." (Habakkuk 2:20). And with fear and trembling stand. But why would anyone fear God? Because. By all rights our own Sinful natures as human beings have forced our backs to be turned on God. By all rights, God should punish us, and in the Old Testament we see a lot of that. Sodom and Gomorrah, the Great Flood, the plagues on the Egyptians during the Israelite's captivity just to name a few of the more commonly known ones. Ponder nothing earthly minded. Referencing Paul's letter to the Galatians. "Be not deceived, God is not mocked: For whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh, shall of the flesh reap corruption: but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting." (Galatians 6:7-8).

For with blessing in His hand/Christ our God to Earth descendeth/Our full homage to demand
This is why we should fear, but in truth we do not need to. That is one of the many miracles of God. His forgiveness and redemption, showcased right here in this 4th century hymn. Does Christ our God descend to Earth with vengeance and anger? No. With Blessing. All He asks in return is homage, which is faith that by knowing Jesus one knows God, and thus heals the relationship that was broken by Sin.

King of kings, yet born of Mary,
As of old on earth He stood,
Lord of lords, in human vesture,
In the body and the blood;
He will give to all the faithful
His own self for heavenly food.

King of kings, yet born of Mary/As of old on earth He stood/Lord of lords in human vesture/In the body and the blood
Referring to the Gospel of John, an anti-Docetic gospel. Docetism was a problem plaguing the early church, as was the Arian controversy of the 3rd century, just 1 century before this hymn was written. Docetism denied that Christ was truly human, and Arianism, propogated by a Christian teacher named Arius. Short history lesson, I promise. 3rd Century rolls around. Great Christian teacher named Arius lives in Alexandria in Egypt. People come up and ask him, "Is Jesus the Son of God, meaning that God created Jesus?" Arius says "Yes! God created Jesus!" The bishop of Alexandria (A guy by the name of Alexander) at the time gets all sorts of distressed and goes to his chief scribe and theological buddy, Athanasius and asks him if that's really the truth. Athanasius says "Heck no! Jesus is of the same essence, begotten, not created or made by the Father". Long story short? Riots break out as Christians debate homoousia (the same essence) or homoiousia (similar essence). Constantine, new Emperor of the Roman Empire, calls a huge conference at Nicaea in 325, to help decide the whole issue. Athanasius' argument wins out. Why? Here's why. If Jesus is not God, then Jesus cannot forgive sins or save the souls of humanity. Only God can do that, and not even Arius would debate that fact that only God can save souls. End result? Arius was banished, the Nicene creed was written and made part of Christianity forevermore, and the whole thing happened again in 381 when the debate over the Holy Spirit arose. Back to the lyrics! Lord of Lords in Human Vesture/In the body and the Blood. Countering the heretical belief of Docetism, that Christ was not human, and making reference to John 1:14, as well as Paul's letter to the Philippians "But made himself of no reputaation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men. And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the Cross." (Philippians 2:7-8)

He will give to all the faithful/His own self for heavenly food
Do I really need to explain this passage? This is a pure reference to the last supper, and as I pointed out before, it was part of the Offertory section of the Liturgy of Saint James. This was sung in mass as the bread and wine were being brought to the altar, the Bread and Wine that, through the process of transubstantiation, become the very body and blood of Jesus Christ. "And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and broke it, and gave it to the Disciples, and said, Take, eat, this is my body. And he took the cup, and gave thanks and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it: For this is my blood of the new Testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins." (Matthew 26:26-28, Mark 14:22-25, Luke 22:18-20, 1 Corinthians 11:23-25) This is the "Blessing in His hand" that He offers in exchange for our homage.

Rank on rank the host of heaven
Spreads its vanguard on the way,
As the Light of light descendeth
From the realms of endless day,
That the powers of hell may vanish
As the darkness clears away.

Rank on rank the host of heaven/Spreads its vanguard on the way/As the Light of light descendeth/From the realms of endless day
The host of heaven is the angels. Making reference to both the birth of Christ, where "the Angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them..." (Luke 2:9) as well as the rest of the Bible, where the angels are mentioned, places like First Kings: "And Micaiah said, "Therefore hear the word of the Lord: I saw the Lord sitting on His throne, and all the host of heaven standing beside him on his right hand and on his left." (1 Kings 22:19). The Light of lights is a reference to the opening verses of the Gospel according to Saint John "And the light shineth in the darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not. . . That was the true light, which lighteth every man that commeth into the world." (John 1:5, 9)

That the powers of hell may vanish/As the darkness clears away
'The darkness comprehended it not'. Jesus Christ is God, and the message Jesus brings into our lives defeats the powers of hell. The temptations that Satan lays before us cannot compare with the redemption and grace that God offers to us through Jesus.

At His feet the six winged seraph,
Cherubim with sleepless eye,
Veil their faces to the presence,
As with ceaseless voice they cry:
Alleluia, Alleluia
Alleluia, Lord Most High!

At His feet the six winged seraph/Cherubim with sleepless eye/Veil their faces to the presence/As with ceaseless voice they cry/Alleluia, Alleluia/Alleluia, Lord Most High!
Referencing the different types of angels, first mentioned in the book of Isaiah. Seraphim were the six winged angels that sang the glories of the Lord. "I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the Temple. Above it stood the Seraphims: each one had six wings, with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he did fly. And one cried unto another and said: Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of his glory." (Isaiah 6:1-3). The Cherubim were the angels sent to guard the entrance of Eden and are referenced time and again in the Old Testament, but perhaps very well by Paul in the letter to the Hebrews. He referred to the Cherubim as the guardians of the Holiest of Holies in the Temple of Solomon, wherein the Ark of the Covenant and the two stone tablets of the Ten Commandments were held. "Above it were the Cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat." (Hebrews 9:5). It isn't just the Seraphim, it's the Cherubim as well, it's the whole of the heavenly host of angels that's crying with a ceaseless voice, the praises of the Lamb of God's coming into the world, and in covering their faces, even the angels of the heavenly host are showing deference to the Lord God, Jesus Christ.

Of all the renditions I've heard, I preferred the one arranged by Bob Krogstad for his show "The Thrill of Hope", but I recently found an arrangement of all four versus sung by a man by the name of Ryland Angel which is quite beautiful. Until later today folks! Tune in for Installment number 4 of the Christmas posts!

Sunday, December 21, 2008

Christmas post #2 - Silence

Welcome back Christmas fans and all you true believers (Sorry Stan Lee, I couldn't resist). For today's installment of the Christmas songs blog that we'll be visiting the song, Stille Nacht, or 'Silent Night'. A beautiful little song that most people know the words to. It also brings us a bit more into the modern day, since the song wasn't written until the 19th century. Josef Mohr and Franz Gruber sat down and wrote the lyrics and the music in 1818. It was originally composed as Stille Nacht and sung in Saint Nicholas Catholic Church in Oberndorf. It wasn't until 1863 that John Freeman Young translated Stille Nacht into Silent Night, the carol we enjoy today, though there is a lot to be said for hearing the carol in its original German. It is indeed, a very moving piece.

The piece is so moving in fact, that in 1914, the first year of World War 1, it silenced all war and hate. The First World War nearly died in its first year because of this season and faith represented by this song. Sung back and forth by German and British troops across the trenches. The songs, sung in disparate tongues, still conveyed the message of hope, love, and redemption for mankind, and all the guns were silenced. The trenches and no-man's land became a place of celebration as both armies crossed over, ate together, shared Christmas gifts, even played a few good natured games of soccer with one another. In subsequent years, Sir John French and Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien of the British military vowed that it would never happen again, and ordered continuous shellings on Christmas Eve to destroy any peace that might be fostered there in the midst of war. So remember that the next time someone claims that religion is the cause of all wars, point out to them that human beings cause war, and that the love preached by most religions is the counter-agent to war, and has even brought a stop to it.

Without any further ado, Stille Nacht/Silent Night.

Stille Nacht! Heilige Nacht!
Alles schläft; einsam wacht
Nur das traute heilige Paar.
Holder Knab im lockigten Haar,
Schlafe in himmlischer Ruh!
Schlafe in himmlischer Ruh!

Silent night, holy night!
All is calm, all is bright
'Round yon virgin mother and Child.
Holy infant so tender and mild,
Sleep in heavenly peace.
Sleep in heavenly peace.

Silent night, holy night/All is calm, all is bright/'Round yon virgin mother and Child.
Referring to the setting, the very night of Christmas. As the gospel of Luke puts it, "And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed" (Luke 2:1). The taxation rolls of the Roman Empire required a census, and the best way to ensure that citizens paid their due taxes, was to have them report to the city of their birth. After all, in one of the largest empires in history, and THE largest Empire in antiquity, it would be very easy for a merchant to claim that he'd paid his taxes in one city, move to another city, and claim he'd already paid his taxes elsewhere. In days where communication took months, even possibly years to reach from one end to the other, and well before the split of Western Rome and East, tax fraud must have been rampant. In order to counteract this, taxes were collected by census rolls which were kept by the Roman government. Joseph and a very pregnant Mary traveled to Bethlehem. By the time they got there, they were some of the last to arrive, so the night of Christ's birth into the world was indeed silent, holy because of His presence, all was calm, and all was bright. Around the Virgin mother, and the Child. The Virgin mother, Mary was born without the taint of Original Sin (Adam and Eve's disobedience to God in Eden), and as such, Jesus was born virginal, meaning that he did not inherit Original Sin from his mother.

Holy infant so tender and mild/Sleep in heavenly peace/Sleep in heavenly peace
The Holy infant, Jesus, was always mild mannered, even into adulthood, Christ was among the meek who subverted his will to the will of his Father. This hearkens to the words of the Lord's prayer "... Thy will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven." The peace of heaven is granted by the advent of Christ. And while it may strike you as a bit morbid, many tombstones throughout the world sport the letters R. I. P. standing for Requiescat In Pace, which is a short prayer that the deceased may rest in peace. Because of the coming of the Holy infant, so tender and mild as Jesus was, the dead may rest in peace without fearing the fires of damnation. A very comforting image if you truly stop to think about it.

Stille Nacht! Heilige Nacht!
Gottes Sohn! O wie lacht
Lieb' aus deinem göttlichen Mund,
Da uns schlägt die rettende Stund’.
Jesus in deiner Geburt!
Jesus in deiner Geburt!

Silent night, holy night,
Shepherds quake at the sight.
Glories stream from heaven afar,
Heav'nly hosts sing Alleluia;
Christ the Saviour is born
Christ the Saviour is born

Silent night, holy night/Shepherds quake at the sight/Glories steam from heaven afar/Heav'nly hosts sing Alleluia
What sight? The quiet holy night? No. From the Angel that came to the Shepherds. "And there were in the same country, shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And lo! The Angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them, and they were sore afraid." (Luke 2: 8-9). So why shepherds? Why were they afraid? Why were the hosts singing Alleluia? Who better than lowly shepherds to welcome into the world the Lamb of God? The very Lamb of God who's blood would be shed as the lambs were at Passover during the exile of the Israelites in Egypt? The Lamb of God, who's blood paved the way for salvation of those people to return to God. Why were they afraid? What's there NOT to be afraid of? Picture it. Low campfires, quiet night, nothing happening, then suddenly heaven's glory comes around. It's all a rather frightening experience. Why did the heavenly hosts sing Alleluia? Because of joy. Joy that finally, humanity was getting its Messiah, finally humanity was going to return to closeness and oneness with God.

Christ the Savior is born/Christ the Savior is born
The Alleluia chorus of the angels highlighted this very fact, that Christ the Savior was indeed born into the world.

Stille Nacht! Heilige Nacht!
Die der Welt Heil gebracht,
Aus des Himmels goldenen Höhn
Uns der Gnaden Fülle läßt seh'n
Jesum in Menschengestalt.
Jesum in Menschengestalt.

Silent night, holy night,
Son of God, love's pure light.
Radiant beams from Thy holy face,
With the dawn of redeeming grace,
Jesus, Lord at Thy birth
Jesus, Lord at Thy birth

Silent night, holy night/Son of God, love's pure light/Radiant beams from Thy holy face/With the dawn of Redeeming grace/Jesus, Lord at Thy birth/Jesus, Lord at Thy birth
The Son of God, as John tells us, "And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father full of grace and truth." (John 1:14), was indeed love's pure light. Why love? As Saint Paul tells us in his first letter to the Corinthians "And now abideth faith, hope, love, these three, but the greatest of these is love." (1 Corinthians 13:13). As the greatest is Love, so too is the son of God the greatest of the three virtues, Love's Pure Light. Radiant beams from Thy holy face? The very sight of Jesus and the fact that He came into our world brings the redeming grace of God to all of mankind. Going back to John we see the Light there "In him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in the darkness and the darkness comprehended it not." (John 1:4-5) as well as "That was the true light, which lighteth every man that commeth into the world." (John 1:9). Jesus is the Lord God made flesh, so even from birth, Jesus was the Lord.

Stille Nacht! Heilige Nacht!
Wo sich heut alle Macht
Väterlicher Liebe ergoß
Und als Bruder huldvoll umschloß
Jesus die Völker der Welt.
Jesus die Völker der Welt.

Silent night, holy night,
By his love, by his might
God our Father us has graced
As a brother gently embraced
Jesus, all nations on earth.
Jesus, all nations on earth.

Silent night, holy night/By his love, by his might/God our Father us has graced/As a brother gently embraced/Jesus, all nations on earth/Jesus, all nations on earth.
Jesus' love and presence in the world is not just for the Hebrews or Jewish people of Israel. One of the greatest Apostles and prolific writer in the New Testament, Saint Paul was known as the Apostle to the Gentiles, meaning non-Jews. He was also a Roman citizen, and even in our modern day, there are very few places on Earth where one cannot find a Christian place of worship. The 'brother gently embraced' refers to all of humanity where the love of Christ and God our Father unites all of us.

Stille Nacht! Heilige Nacht!
Lange schon uns bedacht,
Als der Herr vom Grimme befreit,
In der Väter urgrauer Zeit
Aller Welt Schonung verhieß.
Aller Welt Schonung verhieß.

Silent night, holy night,
Long ago, minding our plight
God the world from misery freed
In the dark age of our fathers decreed:
All the world is redeemed.
All the world is redeemed.

Silent niight, holy night/Long ago, minding our plight/God the world from misery freed/In the dark age of our fathers decreed/All the world is redeemed/All the world is redeemed.
In the times before Christ, the descendants of Abraham, that is, the Hebrew people, were very keenly aware of their own sinful nature. The rather rigid code of Hebrew/Mosaic law outlined in books like Leviticus was debated and turned over and debated some more by the Sanhedrin, the Pharisees, and the rest. Interpreting and teaching the Laws of Moses was the realm of the rabbis, the teachers of Hebrew society. God the world from misery freed? Living in a state of Sin, or a broken relationship with God, is perhaps the most miserable a human being can ever be. To be separated from pure love, light, and surrounded in darkness. That is the fate that God freed us from by sending His only Son. In the dark age of our fathers decreed All the world is redeemed. It was in this "Age of Darkness", without the Light of God as we saw in John 1:4-5 and John 1:9 that God spoke the Word, the Word that is Jesus Christ as we saw in John 1:14, and thus redeemed all the world.

Stille Nacht! Heilige Nacht!
Hirten erst kundgemacht
Durch der Engel Alleluja,
Tönt es laut bei Ferne und Nah:
Jesus der Retter ist da!
Jesus der Retter ist da!

Silent night, holy night,
Shepherds first saw the sight
Of angels singing Alleluia
Calling clearly near and far:
Christ, the Saviour is born.
Christ the Saviour is born.

Silent night, holy night/Shepherds first saw the sight/Of angels singing Alleluia/Calling clearly near and far/Christ, the Savior is born/Christ the Savior is born.
A reprise of the second verse, reminding us that Christ the Savior is born. Witnessed by the shepherds, the Lamb of God came into the world to save us.



That's about it for today and Silent Night, tune in tomorrow for installment number 3 and see what song we'll be doing then!

Saturday, December 20, 2008

Christmas post #1 - Emmanuel

So it occurs to me in this particular time of the year, that faith seems to burn a bit brighter, and people run about with ideas of what Christmas is all about. Now we've all seen bits and pieces of those 'street interviews' run by people like atheist activist Bill Maher, comedian Jay Leno, and others including former 'Man Show' hosts Jimmy Kimmel and Adam Corolla. In these interviews they ask 'common sense' things to people, and usually those people respond with the most idiotic answers, apparently proving their various points, that on the whole? People are dumb. Meanwhile those of us watching securely and warmly at home marvel at the stupidity of our fellow Homo Sapiens and wonder just where they dredged these morons up. So I sat down one day, not too long ago, and wondered. Have people really forgotten the memory tricks we've taught them? The little reminders that wing their way over the airwaves? Those wonderful little encyclopedias, full of knowledge both of Christian tradition and Christmas knowledge? Oh yes, in case you've not quite figured it out, I am referring to Christmas songs. But do they really teach us all that much? They teach us a lot, just as much as teaching a child to sing the Alphabet song to learn their letters, Christmas songs can teach us everything there is to know about Christmas as well as a hefty dose of some of the core Christian doctrines. I'm not talking about the more modern songs like 'The Christmas Shoes', or even 'The Christmas Song'. I'm talking about 'O Holy Night', 'Stille Nacht' (Silent Night), 'O Come All Ye Faithful', and others, the ones that people know of, but perhaps aren't politically correct. After all, it's been decided by the Supreme Court that having Santa Claus (Originally a Catholic Saint) depicted in the commercial center of a mall doesn't constitute a breach of the 'establishment clause' contained in our First Amendment, but having a manger scene does since it references a specific religion's ideals and beliefs.

So I have decided to revisit some of those Christmas Standards, some that most artists love to put on their albums, including people like Nat King Cole, Natalie Cole, Kenny Rogers, Dean Martin, Bing Crosby, and many others. Since I'm the one writing this blog? I'll start off with one of my favorites: "Veni, Veni Emmanuel", known in English as "O Come, O Come Emmanuel".

First? A bit of history. The song comes from the ancient Christian tradition of the O Antiphons, songs sung on the countdown to Christmas in the past. The last Roman scholar who spoke Greek in the Western World, Boethius, referenced these, including the last one O Come Emmanuel, as early as the 5th Century A.D., meaning that they had to be around at least a bit longer than that. The original song lyrics as we know them in the Latin today, were written as a Gregorian Chant (Yeah, the ones those monks do, speaking in Latin as they sing in a very narrow tonal range while singing A Capella). History is unclear on just when the words were written, but it was sometime around the 9th Century. By the 15th century, the words were put to music that was used as a processional for nuns. The original text was all in Latin, and only translated to English in the 19th century. Why so late? Because educations before the 20th century usually required courses in Latin and/or Greek. It's only been a recent phenomenon to replace those languages with requirements in Spanish, French, or other languages. In this blog I'll examine the words, first in Latin, then translated, and then, where appropriate, extract (or attempt to) the underlying Christian doctrine being communicated.

Veni, Veni Emmanuel;
Captivum solve Israel,
Qui Gemit in exilio,
Privatus Dei filio.

O Come, O Come Emmanuel;
And ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here,
Until the Son of God appear.

Explanation:

O Come, O Come Emmanuel refers to the coming of God in human form, Jesus Christ.
Referenced in Isaiah Chapter 7: Verse 14 "Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign: Behold, a Virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call his name Immanuel." Immanuel, in Hebrew, means 'God With Us', which is certainly what Jesus was, God walking and talking and living among us.

And ransom captive Israel/That mourns in lonely exile here/Until the Son of God appear.
Israel, both under the socio-political domination of pagan Rome, as well as the spiritual domination of being cut off from God by the original sin of Adam, needed to be ransomed or saved. Roman law and custom, forced on the Hebrews, gave many of them problems. One problem for example, came from coinage that was stamped with the Emperor's profile. By Jewish law, observant Hebrew worshippers were forbidden to use such money, which is why there were money changers at the temple. The Temple was considered so holy that Roman money, which bore a 'graven image' (that of the profile of Caesar), was not allowed to enter it. The money changers stood outside on the steps and would change the Roman money for acceptable coinage to give to the temple. Jesus came to Earth as the Son of God in order to heal the gap that existed between humanity and God, ransoming us from perdition by offering us the salvation and grace of God.

Veni, Veni O Oriens;
Solare nos adveniens,
Noctis depelle nebulas,
Dirasque noctis tenebras.

O Come, Thou Day-star, 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 Day-star, come and cheer/Our spirits by Thine advent here.
The Day-star of course, is Jesus Christ. 'Cheer our spirits by Thine advent here' is referring to the souls of humanity rejoicing that God will come to humankind and give us cause for celebration by living among us.

Disperse the gloomy clouds of night/And death's dark shadows put to flight.
Referring to the darkness surrounding humanity without the Light of God, Jesus Christ, that upon His arrival, the clouds of night which brought such sadness are cast away. The latter line 'And death's dark shadows put to flight' refers to the offering of Eternal life that faith in Jesus Christ offers to Christians. The faith and love of God offers new life to all people.

Veni, Clavis Davidica!
Regna reclude caelica;
Fac iter tutum superum,
Et claude vias inferum.

O come, Thou Key of David, come,
And open wide our heavenly home;
Make safe the way that leads to Thee,
And close the path to misery.

O come, Thou Key of David, come/And open wide our heavenly home.
This refers to the biblical link between David, inheritor of the covenant of Abraham, and Jesus Christ. Matthew Chapter 1:Verses 1-16 trace the lineage. Verse 17 sums it all up. The Gospel of Matthew shows Jesus as the fulfillment of prophecy and the law. The ultimate way to fulfill the law and the covenant of Abraham with God, is to be the direct descendant and inheritor of that covenant.

Make safe the way that leads to thee/and close the path to misery.
This refers once more back to Isaiah Chapter 40: Verse 3. "The voice of him that cryeth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a high way for our God." This coupled with the previous verse points to the fact that the high way to God, that express lane to Heaven, is through Jesus, the inheritor of the Abraham covenant and the fulfillment of the Isaiah prophecy.

Veni, veni Adonai!
Qui populo in Sinai,
Legem dedisti vertice,
In maiestate gloriae.

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, O come, great Lord of might/Who to Thy tribes on Sinai's height/In ancient times one gave the law/In cloud of majesty and awe.
This entire verse refers to the giving of the Ten Commandments on the top of Mount Sinai to Moses, who in turn gave it to the Israelites, God's chosen people. This is the law that Jesus comes to fulfill, not to replace, as I mentioned above.

There are other lyrics in English, but the official Latin lyrics end there. The rest of the English lyrics go on to speak about Jesus in terms of the Rod of Jesse (Isaiah 11:1) delivering people from Satan's tyranny and delivering the souls of humanity.


From Florida where I will be decorating a palm tree (Yes, I really do decorate a palm tree), here's me wishing all of those who read this, a very merry Christmas. Tune in tomorrow and see the next installment of Christmas lyrics I'll be breaking down!

Sunday, December 14, 2008

Big Game Hunters

So I woke up this fine Sunday morning and decided, like I usually do on every day I wake up, to check my web comics. People like to start their day off right with a smile, many times brought on by a Sausage Biscuit and coffee from McDonald's or maybe a Venti Caramel Macchiato from Starbucks. Whatever their pleasure, they can have it. I like my comics. Well, this morning I read a little comic which lampooned an article written by Bill Croke, a writer for the online journal "The American Spectator". In this article, he cites two researchers and attempts to correlate video game violence to poaching. "Since it's apparent that a small percentage of kids can actually suffer psychological problems from playing these games, an empathy deficit if you will, I think it might be an easy jump to get up from a computer game, go out and pull the trigger on an elk or a deer, and then walk away with a laugh. After all, it's only a game." Really? An easy jump to get up and go kill things after playing a video game on a computer? Yet the next thing on his page is that hunting numbers are actually DOWN by 8%! So tell me Bill, how is it that if video game violence is inducing people to kill animals and the like, why are hunting numbers down? In the scientific community, when two variables act independently of one another in test after test, they are not considered co-dependent.

But I'll bite Bill Croke, I'll bite. So let's look at media violence throughout the ages and see, just what sort of problems the media causes.

The year? 1778. Pierre Beaumarchais finishes a fantastically witty comedy "Crazy Day", also known by its complete title, The Marriage of Figaro - Crazy Day. From 1778 to 1784 it was banned by the aristocracy in many places, including Vienna. And in only 11 years, the principles of denouncing noble privilege would be carried over into the French Revolution as the entire European world was embroiled in approximately 25 years of barely ceasing conflict from 1789 to 1815. Did Pierre Beaumarchais himself go out and kill Louis XVI? or Marie Antoinette, the proclaimed "Austrian Bitch" (the French really loved her)? Probably not. Did people in the crowd after its censor was removed in 1784 go out and participate in the Revolution? Sure. I guess the Marriage of Figaro is responsible for the French Revolution then, according to the same logic. I mean after all, it's an easy jump from watching a comedic play where no one really gets hurt, on a stage with colorful costumes, to getting up and starting a revolution based on the ideals expressed in the play.

OK so one example from history, big whoop. Well how about another one? Stravinsky's Rite of Spring! A beautiful selection of music, Le Sacre du Printemps, the Ballet follows an ancient pagan ritual to reawaken the spirit of Spring, including a highly erotic dance by a beautiful young ballerina. In 1913, the Paris theater where the ballet premiered erupted into violence. First starting with cat calls and whistles at the provocative music and dancing, then degenerating into a riot that even the Paris police could not fully quell. Stravinsky fled the theater in shame. Classical music, a ballet, something we in our modern Western society oftentimes associate with high society and the ultra wealthy, caused a riot. And it wasn't the first time music had done something so provocative. Strauss, the composer for The Blue Danube among others, composed the operas Salome (A biblical story), and Elektra (from Greek drama of antiquity), both of which caused riots when they were premiered. Salome had to be closed after just one night. Ballet Mecanique, by American composer George Antheil caused riots at the very same theater as Stravinsky's Rite of Spring in 1913!

But these media outlets are all live action! Opera, Ballet, Symphonic music, and Theater all have living people acting things out! So let's move to a more virtual world, one of special effects, visual illusions, and makeup. TV and Movies! The year? 1956. The person? None other than the King himself, Elvis Presley. 1956 saw a rock and roll legend standing next to old stone face himself, Ed Sullivan. So what? A Rock and Roll icon who sang about blue suede shoes, jailhouse rock, and hound dogs. When the New York Daily News reported on Elvis in 1956, they had this to say: "gave an exhibition that was suggestive and vulgar, tinged with the kind of animalism that should be confined to dives and bordellos" followed up by the San Francisco Chronicle, which deemed that Elvis' performances were: "in appalling taste". Ed Sullivan realized the ratings increase from Elvis being on his show, but also realized that controversy could hurt his show in the long run. Elvis was shown from the tummy up for the first segment, and in the second, in a full body. The second segment caught everyone's attention and caused the scandal Ed Sullivan wished to avoid. Did Elvis shaking his pelvis on TV make millions of people world wide go out and have sex? Not hardly. But let's look to movie violence!

This report, conducted by researchers at University of California Berkeley, and University of California at San Diego draws an interesting conclusion. Movie violence actually reduces violence and even alcoholism in society by providing a substitute to these more dangerous activities. Surprised? You shouldn't be. The Ancient Romans knew just how important that visual violence was to the people. Why do you think gladiatorial games, races at the Circus Maximus, and other blood sports were so popular? It fulfilled a basic human craving for blood without masses of people committing the crime. It gave us our 'thrill kill' as Bill Croke likes to coin the term, without us doing the killing. We saw the blood. We heard the crying screams. We even smelled it on those really hot days when the bodies were dumped after being killed or eviscerated. But people really DID die.

Movies and TV? Special Effects. Opera, Ballet, and Theater? Tricks of lighting, dramatic acting, and bodily motion. Literature? Simile and Metaphor. Video games? Pixels, ragdoll physics, and video card capacity. Does video game violence cause real life violence? Especially in illegal hunting? No. Especially since the vast majority of illegal hunting is done in the 3rd world of Indo-China and Africa, places where people can barely find food and water, much less get the latest copy of Grand Theft Auto. Sorry Bill, but you're way off base here. Better get back to criticizing human nature, since we've evolved over hundreds of thousands of years as a predatory omnivorous species and clawed our way to the top of the food chain. Cavemen hunted critters to extinction, yet I don't think cavemen knew who Turok the Dinosaur Hunter was.

It seems to me from all this that, like the critics of old, Bill Croke is just one sad little man in a long line of critics ready to journalistically stalk, pounce, and eviscerate their prey of the latest media sensation. Just like Parisian and Viennese papers did to Figaro, NYC's papers did to Salome and Elvis Presley, Bill Croke and the rest of the video game onslaught are attempting to drive a stake through the heart of the video game industry with the attitude of "Video games are mindless, as are the parents who let their kids play them." I'm certain someone said the same thing about Elvis, Stravinsky, Nabokov, Strauss, Cagney (James Cagney that is), and others who have helped propogate their respective genres of expression and art into the next century. All said and done though? Bad parents shouldn't blame childhood behavior on the media. Ignore your children at their own peril ladies and gentlemen, but please don't blame Super Mario Bros. because you were never there for your child and didn't pay attention.

Saturday, December 6, 2008

The Truth about Global Warming, Climate Change, or Whatever they call it this week...

Picture this if you will.

For a number of years, human society has watched as they've slowly hunted animals to extinction. Animals that once roamed the earth in hundreds of thousands now number perhaps in the dozens, if not less. Lately it hasn't been as cool outside when the local Tom, Dick, and Harrys go out to provide for their families. The polar ice caps are melting. Glaciers like the ones in Greenland are receding. The earth is changing! And it must be the fault of mankind! By gosh it must be the eternal fault of those creatures, Homo Sapiens, those darned people who run around hunting and slaughtering animals left and right and driving them to extinction, who practice slash and burn agriculture, who obviously pillage the land and destroy it. Golly yes, it must be. Especially since this scene I'm describing was 10,000 years ago towards the end of the last Ice Age that mankind witnessed. The animals that were hunted to extinction while climate change also thinned their numbers? The Wooly Mammoth, Mastodons, Smilodon (Known as the Sabre Tooth Tiger), and other prehistoric creatures that were hunted for food, tools, shelter, and clothing as well as hunted (in the case of the large cats) for purposes of competition for food.

So what are we to do? Who are we to blame for this catastrophic climate change? Buses and cars? There wouldn't be any of those for another 9900 years. Ah! Fossil Fuel Burning like coal and oil! Not for another 9400 years or so. (Though some archaeological evidence places burning of coal at around the Dark Ages, close to 500 AD).

So what could have caused it? Where should the blame lie? Well let's look at the effect, known as The Greenhouse Effect, which caused this gradual heating of the world's climate. Listed, by abundance, are the top Greenhouse Gases that force heat to be contained within Earth's atmosphere rather than escaping.

1.) Water Vapor (Anywhere water boils or is evaporated, there is water vapor. Whenever it's humid out? That's water vapor.)

2.) Carbon Dioxide (Every non-plant species in the world gives off some measure of Carbon Dioxide waste. It's called respiration, and it occurs on the celullar level as well as the macro-organism level)

3.) Methane (Every time someone or some animal passes gas or excretes solid waste? It's Methane. Decomposing matter that smells like rotten eggs? Methane. This simple compound of NH4 is an entirely natural gas, also given off by sea vents where the Earth's Crust is expanding and shifting beneath the ocean floor)

4.) Nitrous Oxide (While you may giggle at Laughing Gas, it's number 4 on the list of most abundant greenhouse gases, and one of only two that is man-made)

5.) Ozone (O3 is the way to be! We like our Ozone layer right? And guess what? Every time you go outside during a lightning storm and smell that heavy coppery scent on the air? That's ozone! Another nature made compound)

6.) Lastly, CFC's (Chlorofluorocarbons, those things that make your hairspray shoot out of that pressurized bottle, make the pesticides fire out of that can of RAID, and when company comes over, it pumps the fragrance out of that can of air freshener. The only other manmade compound on this list of greenhouse gases) (N.B. - CFC's were banned by many countries including Norway and the USA starting as early as 1978)

Now let's look at the evidence for Earth's climate change in a logical manner. Please do your best to follow me through this?

CFC's were created only as early as the 1920's and N2O (Nitrous Oxide) as early as 1775. Now we KNOW for a fact that prehistoric man did not have cars and factories to increase the amount of Carbon Dioxide, Methane, and Water Vapor in the world. So barring manufactured sources of these gases, the only recourse we have is to look at the natural sources for greenhouse gases. Swamps, plants, animals, oceans, lightning storms, volcanos, sea vents, and other such phenomenon all cause and contribute to greenhouse gases. Those natural causes, 10,000 years ago, caused the end of the most recent Ice Age.

So what about today? Obviously with our industrial technology, CFC's and Nitrous Oxide must be the most highly effective greenhouse gases, right? Wrong. No matter how hard Mankind tries, you just cannot improve on Mother Nature herself.

Water Vapor accounts for up to 70% of the Greenhouse Effect. Carbon Dioxide? Up to 26%. Methane? Anywhere from 4-9%, and Ozone, anywhere from 3-7%. That means that CFC's and Nitrous Oxide must count for less than a bare few percent of the Greenhouse Effect.

So we have evidence that natural Greenhouse Gases are the cause of Climate Change. We have evidence that many of these natural Greenhouse Gases are caused by the life cycles of living organisms (Methane, Carbon Dioxide, Water Vapor).

So please someone tell me why Farmers should have to pay money for violating the Clean Air Act when their cows and pigs decide to let one rip or make a pie in the middle of a field? If we are to do our best to 'crack down' on Methane and Carbon Dioxide emissions, let's start corking the pie holes of a few politicians. After all, Democrat or Republican, I think we can all agree that they're the biggest organic sources of hot air in the world.

Thursday, December 4, 2008

The Truth About Guns and Crime

So gun sales are up 50% since November 4th and just before when it looked more and more like Obama would win the election. In my previous article on the difference between a citizen and a subject, we explored the reason why people are afraid, but now let's look at some of the reactions to this article reporting on the increased gun sales.

Thomas Mannard works with the Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence. Let me make this abundantly clear, violence against the innocent citizens of this nation with ANY weapon from fists to hijacked airplanes is reprehensible and plain wrong. But, it is also the right of every person to defend their lives against those who would try to deprive them of their sacred rights to Life and Liberty. And as the saying goes, never bring a knife to a gunfight. So when Joe Perp breaks through your front door at 11:30 pm, or walks up to your car to jack you with his 9mm, you really shouldn't try to fend him or his bullets off with harsh language and holding up your hands. The only person that that even remotely works against is Dracula. We are strong in the Lord!. (Sorry, I couldn't resist, and for those of you who didn't get this joke, watch Bram Stoker's Dracula).

Thomas Mannard has come out in that previously mentioned article as saying "More guns definitely equal more death." Really? They do? Someone should tell the people in Washington D.C. that.

Let's do a quick comparison, shall we?

Washington D.C. has, as of a 2007 report: 588,292 citizens with a violent crime rate of 1414.3 per 100,000 citizens, and 4913.9 per 100,000 citizens in property crimes (including auto theft and burglary). With nearly 600,000 citizens, that means that there were, on average for the 2007 year, 8,485.8 Murders, Rapes, Aggravated Assaults, and Robbery as well as 29,483.4 Burglaries, Larceny-thefts, Motor Vehicle Thefts, and Arsons. Grand total? 37969.2 crimes reported in 2007 in Washington D.C.

Now for the sake of comparing apples to apples, let's look at the crime rate in El Paso Texas, which has a population of 616,029 (according to the exact same FBI run survey for 2007). El Paso, according to the survey, has a violent crime rate of 418 per 100,000 citizens, and 3201 per 100,000 citizens worth of property crime rate. Doing out the math, that comes to 2508 Murders, Rapes, Aggravated Assaults, and Robbery as well as 19206 Burglaries, Larceny-thefts, Motor Vehicle Thefts, and Arsons. Grand total for El Paso? 21714 crimes reported in 2007 in El Paso TX.

What's the difference? Why is it so disparate? With a 30,000 person population difference, the law of average dictates, nay, REQUIRES the city of El Paso to have more crimes. So why, in 2007, were there approximately 16,000 crimes LESS than in Washington D.C.? Let's look at some fundamental differences between Washington D.C. and El Paso.

First and foremost, El Paso is in Texas. Texas, along with Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, and Tennessee, have adopted 'Castle Doctrines' which hearkens back to the days of merry old England (not that it was ever 'merry' in England) in which, in English Common Law of the 1700's states:

"And the law of England has so particular and tender a regard to the immunity of a man's house, that it stiles (believes or treats) it his castle, and will never suffer (allow) it to be violated with immunity . . . (Latin Text dating back to the Roman writer Tully) that a man may assemble people together lawfully without danger of raising a riot, rout, or unlawful assembly, in order to protect and defend his house; which he is not permitted to do in any other case."

So what does this mean? Simply put, it means that while otherwise in 1700's England you weren't allowed to pull out your flintlock pistol and shoot someone, if they barged into your home and you were defending it, you were perfectly in your rights.

In the United States, this 'Castle Doctrine' was expanded in 1895 by the court case Beard v. U.S. (158 US 550) in which the decision was made "A man assailed on his own grounds, without provocation, by a person with a deadly weapon and apparently seeking his life is not obliged to retreat, but may stand his ground and defend himself with such means as are within his control; and so long as there is no intent on his part to kill his antagonist, and no purpose of doing anything beyond what is necessary to save his own life, is not guilty of murder or manslaughter if death results to his antagonist from a blow given him under such circumstances"

What does all that mean? Simply put, it means that as a citizen of the United States, I have the right, anywhere within the United States, to defend my life by whatever means are readily available.

But that still doesn't explain the massive differences in crime rates!

Ohhhh yes it most certainly does. While Texas, including the city of El Paso, has a castle doctrine modified with a 'stand your ground' law, supporting this 1895 court decision, Washington D.C. has neither doctrine. What does that mean? It means that when Joe Perp comes up to you waving a gun, you are bound by law to run away. Joe Perp wants your car? You are bound by law to give it to him. Joe Perp wants to break into your home, commit a rape, steal jewelry and a DVD player? You are bound by law to run away and let him.

Furthermore, all firearms in the District of Columbia must be unloaded and either trigger locked or locked away in a safe. But considering the fact that the District of Columbia doesn't offer immunity to prosecution (both criminal and civil) if you pull out and load that handgun and the person dies from you defending your life, then you are likely to be arrested and brought up on criminal charges.

El Paso Texas? No such luck for Joe Perp. Not only can you defend yourself in your car or your home, but if Joe Perp gets injured or killed in the process of trying to murder/rob/rape you or your spouse? Tough luck for Joe Perp as you won't be brought up on charges.

So my question to all the Thomas Mannard liberals out there is this:

If "more guns definitely equal more death", then why is the city of El Paso Texas, where gun laws are relatively relaxed, safer than Washington D.C.?

(Hint: Criminals break laws, they don't follow them)

(Another Hint: People who follow laws can't defend themselves in Washington D.C.)

(Last Hint I swear!: According to the Department of Justice, 80% of guns used in gun crimes are purchased from illegal sources!)