real.faith blog

By now it’s probably started. The majority of radio stations in your city have likely switched to a 24-hour Christmas song format, complete with sleigh bells, white Christmases, chestnuts roasting on an open fire and a few old white guys from the 1930’s effortlessly crooning you to sleep.

Before they have a chance to make you hate Christmas music, let me suggest a few of my favorites. What follows is a list of Christmas songs that strip away the snow, shopping and superficiality of a modern Christmas and compel you to look back to the birth of the Christ child. Clicking on each song will pull up information about the song, a video, an audio clip or lyrics. These have always helped me meditate on the meaning of Christmas, and I want to share them with you.

1.) Once Upon A Christmas
2.) This Baby
3.) Mary, Did You Know?
4.) Such a Strange Way (To Save The World)
5.) O Come, O Come Emmanuel
6.) Gloria
7.) All Is Well
8.) Emmanuel
9.) My Deliverer Is Coming
10.) O Little Town of Bethlehem
11.) Do You Hear What I Hear?
12.) What Child Is This
13.) For Unto Us
14.) Breath of Heaven
15.) Love Has Come

For more information on the true meaning of Christmas visit Jesus1st.Net.

The housing bubble has burst.
The stock market has developed wild mood swings.
Banks and automakers are begging for bailouts.
Unemployment is rapidly approaching double digits.
Retailers are expecting a bleak shopping season.

Also…
Healthcare is a mess.
Cold-war fears are starting to bubble up again.
Fears of terror attacks are returning.

And so, we enter the Christmas season as a nation in deep despair. A glance at the latest headlines is argument enough that the world as we know it has gone over the brink and is headed for an unpleasant destruction.

We are worried, afraid and angry. We are running out of money and patience. We are facing a time of deep and gripping uncertainty and our souls are unsettled.

It’s bad. It’s probably worse than we think it is. Thanksgiving for many came and went without thanks, without peace and without hope. The world is a dark and frightening place at this point in history.

On the other side of history, light came into a dark world without hope, without peace and with little to give thanks for. A star brought news of God’s answer to our despair on the outskirts of Bethlehem 2,000 years ago. In the time it takes to deliver a baby, a new hope began to fill a waiting world.

It is that hope we remember each year at this time. Perhaps this year, in the dire situation we find ourselves in, we will truly understand how much the Savior is still needed. “The Christmas Story” as we like to call it is no longer confined to the ancient past. It is still relevant. It is still the hope to which a frightened and desperate world clings.

Jesus said: “Depart from me. I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.”

What does Jesus do when those who call themselves his followers don’t feed the hungry, welcome the different, clothe the naked, calm the sick and visit the prisoner?

What happens to those who would not call themselves “Christian,” who do feed the hungry, welcome strangers, give clothes to the poor and visit the infirm and imprisoned?

Didn’t Jesus come first for the Jews who rejected Him and then to the gentiles who embraced Him?

Listen up ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, young and old… It’s that time of year again, time to open your hearts and wallets. As you know, Christmas is coming, and there are millions of little youngins out there who won’t be able to have a Christmas because through no fault of their own, they were born to poor families in inner cities and rural areas.

Now, I know you don’t think they deserve it because you think their parents are the scum of the earth, or maybe just lazy folks who like to mooch off the government. That’s OK though, we won’t tell them your true feelings. In fact, let’s not even focus on their needs. Now, you know you probably should give something to the underprivileged this holiday season, but to make it palatable to you, let’s forget all that hubbub Jesus taught about giving because people are in need and about storing up treasures in Heaven. Instead, let’s give for a much better reason. Let’s give for our own glory.

We could have a competition. Get some of your closest friends together and have a little contest to see who can raise the most money or buy the most gifts. Who knows, maybe you can get several churches involved. The winning church can have bragging rights and boast to the whole city on their cute little church sign out front.

Or even better, let’s have an auction. We’ll feed your oversized breadbaskets a nice five course meal fit for a king and give you a chance to buy a vacation to an exotic resort area, all to raise money for people who have to scrounge for food you wouldn’t even want to smell let alone eat, and who would consider your basement a resort.

Afterwards, you can beat your chest and brag about all the good you did and how much you care about the plight of those who aren’t as blessed as you. Then, you can claim a nice tax write-off for any of the giving you did. Pat yourself on the back, you stooped so very low to show compassion. Aren’t you glad your heart is in the right place?

In the tough times we are in with economic uncertainty and people crying out for help and searching for inspiration, I have found that I don’t have to look far at all to find inspiration and courage.

All I have to do is roll over in the morning and look to my right.

My wife is an amazing woman whom I deeply admire. Not only has she come out of an often abusive and frequently unloving childhood, but she has dealt with a chronic illness and medical uncertainty like a true champion.

I wish I could have her faith. She truly believes with all her heart that all things work together for good for those who love God. The most recent blow, which I mentioned briefly a few blogs back, was a liver tumor. It’s benign, and can probably stay put without any adverse effects, but it is situated on one side next to the main artery to the heart and on the other side by the spine. This makes even a biopsy a risky proposition.

She has accepted this uncertainty far better than me. She tries to find the good in it. I can’t. For how can it be good if something happens to her? How can it be good, if we lose a child because the tumor ruptures? How can it be good if she has to have it removed, something goes wrong and I am left alone? These are the questions that plague me every night.

But then I look at her, and I see her hope and I just wish I could claim it for my own. Not only is she inspiring, but she is awe-inspiring.