loudandclear

Confession: For most of my life I have truly not cared for most Christmas music.  I find a lot of it sentimental…mushy…boring….over done….and mostly detached from real life.

The radio is drenched with songs about chesnuts roasting…frosty the snowman…Rudolph…Santa.

Even the more traditional Christmas hymns have left me unfulfilled for most of my life.  A lot of them are songs of defiant joy not really connecting with peoples’ day to day brokenness and realities.  There are many songs about angels singing….announcements of good will to men…and drummer boys offering to drop a beat for King Jesus.

I know I am being a Debbie Downer, but Christmas music has always been a struggle for me.

This was before I was exposed to an incredible Christmas hymn called “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day” at my wife’s Grandparents Anglican Church last Christmas Eve.

The lyrics of this song are unreal good and connect with me for many reasons. I thank God for Henry Wadsworth Longfellow who wrote this song in 1867.

I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day
Their old familiar carols play, And wild and sweet the words repeat of peace on earth, good will to men.

And in despair I bowed my head:
“There is no peace on earth,” I said,
“For hate is strong and mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good will to men.”

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
“God is not dead, nor doth he sleep;
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail,
With peace on earth, good will to men.”

 What I learn from this song:

1. It is not detached from reality.  It places the powerful Christmas announcement of “peace on earth and good will to men” in real tension to the way that we see our broken world right now.  Things aren’t right in the world at the moment…it is broken… with war, divorce, greed, poverty, pride, and selfishness.  Its easy to see that there is not complete peace on earth, today.

2. The last verse still gives me goosebumps as I read it, hear it, or sing it.  Even though we see the world as broken today…we put our hope in King Jesus, believing that one day He will right all the wrongs…He will redeem this planet..He will bring ultimate justice…He will renew all things.  “Wrong will fail and good prevail.”

3. This completely re-frames the Christmas season for me.  I admit that the world is a broken place, but when Jesus entered into our story on this weary planet…He started bringing peace on earth and good will to men with his life, death, and resurrection.  He started the restoration party that is still going on today every time He reigns in a person’s life.  So until Heaven comes down to Earth to make the New Heavens and New Earth and He comes back to set up His Kingdom here—the Church (Followers of Jesus) has work to do.  We admit that the world is broken—but because of Christmas we start working for peace on earth and good will to men RIGHT NOW…today.  We start aiming for His Kingdom or His rule on earth as it is in Heaven RIGHT NOW.

Let’s remember the announcement of Christmas as the beginning of God’s restoration party that we participate in today until God ultimately rights all the wrongs here on our planet. 

Mark 16:1-8

¹ Saturday evening, when the Sabbath ended, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome went out and purchased burial spices so they could anoint Jesus’ body. ² Very early on Sunday morning, just at sunrise, they went to the tomb. ³ On the way they were asking each other, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?” ⁴ But as they arrived, they looked up and saw that the stone, which was very large, had already been rolled aside.

 ⁵ When they entered the tomb, they saw a young man clothed in a white robe sitting on the right side. The women were shocked, ⁶ but the angel said, “Don’t be alarmed. You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead! Look, this is where they laid his body. ⁷ Now go and tell his disciples, including Peter, that Jesus is going ahead of you to Galilee. You will see him there, just as he told you before he died.”

 ⁸ The women fled from the tomb, trembling and bewildered, and they said nothing to anyone because they were too frightened.

(((The young man in the white robe was an angel and that is clarified in the other 3 Gospels.  God seems to use an angel as a special messenger at extraordinary events (the birth of Jesus and resurrection of Jesus.)))

(((The angel explains to the women that Jesus of Nazareth is not there, but He is risen from the dead.  He then tells the ladies to tell the disciples AND Peter that He is risen.  It is extraordinary to me that the angel points out Peter directly.  If we recall back a few chapters, we see Peter run away in shame because He denied even knowing Jesus 3 times (as Jesus predicted). Jesus (as explained in other Gospels will heal the brokenness of Peter and set Him up to be a leader of the Church.)))

(((The Book of Mark ends with honestly, a dissatisfying ending by our western literary standards.  The Marys run away afraid and don’t speak to anyone.  Well, we do know that their silence does not last long as the other Gospels record them telling the disciples and many others, but they were afraid?  We have to put ourselves in their shoes for a moment.  The world had never and will never again see anything like the miracle of Jesus’ resurrection.  It changed everything—the entire course of humanity’s history.  They were astonished at the immense power of God that was displayed, not simply afraid of God)))

(((So there it is, the Gospel according to Mark.  The action-packed Gospel.  The Gospel on the go.  Mark hurried to get what he thought the essentials of Jesus’ story was out there to the public.  Jesus is Lord over all.  This is His story—-are you going to join the story by following this Jesus?)))