Xmas Moon and that Drafty Night in the Monastery

I read that its been 40 years since we've seen a full moon at Christmas time.
That's a lot of Christmas' Pasts!
A few years after that last moon, I spent a handful of weekends at a drafty old monastery overlooking Lake Erie.  It had been a religious convalescent home in its day. But now there were only two people left as caretakers of the impressive, mansion-sized complex and the sprawling lakeside grounds. One was a gregarious young anglican priest and the other a shy, but fun loving novice from the same order.  I'd befriended the two while I was in town on a business training assignment and volunteered a few hours as they needed.

One freezing December night they invited me to dinner and told me to bring my guitar.
They introduced me to another twenty-something, Fr. Phil Bennett. He had a razor sharp sense of humor and kept us in stitches with his dead-on vocalizations of "Rosanne-Rosanna-Danna" from Saturday Night Live. After watching the sunset from the spacious dining hall, we made our way through echoing hallways toward the chilly gray stone chapel.  

I can't recall much about the chapel itself, but oh, how our guitars and voices rang in the natural acoustics of that space. Phil and I had both been writing Christian songs and we traded them back and forth for hours until we just couldn't play another note. Phil had an amazing sense for melodies and lyric phrasing. And he had traveled just enough to weave in some unforgettable characters and settings.

Of Phil's songs that I've played regularly in the decades since, my favorite is his Advent song called "Rejoice O Daughter of Zion." I never wrote down the notes and I can't locate the scratchy old cassette we had left recording on the cold chapel floor. But I know it like an old friend and sang it from memory again this past Sunday at the 10:45 service.

But surprise! I also learned something new this Advent - something as old as the last Christmas full moon.
When our bible study read through last Sunday's scripture passages, I realized I was seeing the core biblical elements of Phil's beautiful song.  ZEPhaniah 3:14-18 and Luke 3:10-18

Read them yourself and compare to his concisely adapted lyrics:

Rejoice O Daughter of Zion, rejoice and be glad.
Rejoice O Daughter of Jerusalem, for your Lord has come.
Your Lord comes to you.

John baptized you with water.
But He will baptize you, with Spirit, and with Fire.

Rejoice O Daughter of Zion, rejoice and sing.
Rejoice O Daughter of Jerusalem, and behold your King
Your King, draws nigh.

Like the recurrence of a full Christmas moon, I wonder now if this same combination of Sunday scriptures had come up in the Christmas cycle before I met Phil. It was a once in a generation full Christmas moon back then - and a once in a generation chance to enjoy brand new music with new friends in a drafty old chapel.  I've shared that song now with thousands of people and many congregations - I hope you'll also find something new this season to appreciate and share -  right up until the next full Christmas moon!

What do you believe?

Christmas explained via the Terminator Movies

I readily admit that I enjoy Arnold in the "Terminator" movie series and recently saw the latest edition, Terminator Genisys.

In these movies, a robot can transport to our present from the future - but the time machine only works with human tissue. So they cleverly grow human flesh around the "cyborg" and suddenly Arnold's robot is walking around amongst "regular" humans to remind them..."I'll be back."
Back in the 1st terminator movie, rational adults think its crazy for a witness to believe this could actually happen. A psychiatrist easily spots their delusion and says, "they've convinced themselves of the logic to the point it actually makes sense..."

The idea of another entity taking on human form for a time-space continuum leap into our presence caused a stir long before James Cameron brought Terminator to the screen.
Chris Rice wrote about it in his beautiful song, "Welcome to our World,"

"So wrap our injured flesh around You
Breathe our air and walk our sod
Rob our sin and make us holy
Perfect Son of God
Perfect Son of God
Welcome to our world"

That is what Christmas is about.
God found the perfect way for us to get to know Him better - as approachable as the scruffy carpenter next door.  God in human form. Jesus, the Savior.

Let's all take the time to explain the simple beauty of God's plan - which can be challenging with a rational, educated 2015 audience.
A cyborg....maybe. But God?  Bring in the psychiatrist please!

Perfect Son of God...welcome to our world.

What do you believe?

Dynamic Pricing and Jesus

Have you heard of dynamic pricing yet?

We recently went online to buy some last minute theater tickets for the Christmas season.
As I checked different nights, I realized the prices were quite different for the same seats.
Curious, I checked a few other performance times and the prices varied significantly - and not just for "prime time" like Saturday night. A couple week nights were also high. So I called the box office to ask why.

"Oh, its dynamic pricing," she explained cheerfully. "As the venue fills up, our pricing model senses the increase in demand and raises prices accordingly.   So...the decreasing commodity becomes increasingly valuable...and expensive. And somebody else "won" with low prices.  Interesting.

I've seen similar "multi-price" occurrences with hotels.  A discount price is available for the same room...but not during a holiday.   In season and off season rates, etc. Some  people fare better than others, for the very same room, or theater seat!

Jesus told the story of the Vineyard owner who hired people to work in the morning, then the afternoon, and finally the evening.  He gave everyone the same wage. Some complained to say "how is that fair?" But the vineyard owner replied,
"‘I am not being unfair to you, friend. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? Take your pay and go. I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you. Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’  Matthew 20:1-16

Jesus has paid the price whatever our individual sins require - with no regard to how long we waited to contact him - late in the season, early - it doesn't matter. We all have the same access to salvation and eternal life in Jesus.  Are we envious because he is so generous to "latecomers" or people we think have the longer list of sins to forgive?  Let's not be.  Merry Christmas!

What do you believe?