Holly Jolly Christmas (Day Two)

I've been running into Burl Ives's “Holly Jolly Christmas” everywhere, it seems, this year. I like the song in and of itself as just a light hearted song. I also like it because it reminds me of “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer,” which in my estimation, is one of the two greatest Christmas specials. Yes, it has no redeeming point in terms of reminding people of the reason for the season, but it has held a special place to me from the earliest I can remember such programs. The original “It's Christmas, Charlie Brown” might be the other great, and it of course does very much emphasize our need to focus on the reason for the season.

But, that's getting off track. Today, “Holly Jolly Christmas” is my Christmas song pick. It should be sung by Burl Ives. Others are mere imitators.

Have a holly jolly Christmas
And when you walk down the street
Say hello to friends you know
And everyone you meet

Oh ho, the mistletoe hung where you can see
Somebody waits for you, kiss her once for me

Have a holly jolly Christmas
And in case you didn't here
Oh by golly, have a holly jolly Christmas this year

—Johnny Marks

All is Well

I think following the last post, I am going to post a favorite Christmas song's lyrics each day for the twelve days of Christmas (not in any particular order — just whatever strikes me). Feel free to mention your own favorites in the comments.

All is well, all is well
Angels and men rejoice
For tonight darkness fell
Into the dawn of loves light
Sing a-le
Sing alleluia
All is well, all is well
Let there be peace on earth
Christ is come go and tell
That He is in the manger
Sing a-le
Sing alleluia

All is well, all is well
Lift up your voices and sing
Born is now emmanuel
Born is our lord and savior
Sing alleluia
Sing alleluia
All is well

—Michael W. Smith and Wayne Kirkpatrick

Welcome to Our World

Tears are falling, hearts are breaking
How we need to hear from God
Youve been promised, weve been waiting
Welcome Holy Child
Welcome Holy Child

Hope that you don't mind our manger
How I wish we would have known
But long awaited holy stranger
Make yourself at home
Please make yourself at home

—Chris Rice

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope you have a day full of rich blessings while celebrating our Lord's birth some 2,000 years ago. Rejoice! Rejoice! Immanuel has come to us…

Late Night Haiku XXV

LXX. Oh Divine wisdom
Pour upon my wearied soul,
Lead me in this time.

LXXI. Foolish as I am,
For the want of a current,
I lost the trickle.

LXXII. Uncaring winds about,
They heed not now nor ever,
The broken and lost.

Yearning for Eden

Bittersweet is such a truthful word. This week was a reminder in several ways of bittersweetness. A reminder of saying too much and saying too little. Of words misunderstood. Of memories of friends no longer heard from, and loved ones who passed away. It seems like there are a lot of memories of loss that surround the few weeks on either side of Christmas, and even those separated further from the date are all the more fresh at this time.

I think one of the best things I got out of Covenant Theology this fall was a point Dr. Collins drove home numerous times over the course of the semester. I'm familiar enough with the details of the Garden of Eden, but I don't think I ever internalized them — understood them — until this fall. He made it clear that at least part of the object of the story is to show us what we yearn for, what we were made for, what should be. What was. I guess I moved over the text too fast in the past.

Our future hope in Christ is not a hope for a new creation, so much as it is a hope for a restoration. The pain that exists is a yearning for something very specific. We are yearning for Eden. We groan for Eden. In Eden hope for restoration would not be necessary, because nothing would be broken, disconnected, alienated, dissolved, regretted.

Perhaps it is appropriate in preparation for celebrating our Savior's birth that past pain comes to the surface and even new pain springs forth. We yearn for Eden. He that restores us, came so that our yearnings would not be for naught.

For now, though, I yearn for Eden.

Perplexed

Well, the semester ended for me last Friday, when I turned in my last (and largest) project, a full length play on a part of Reformation history. More on that later.

I'm starting to unwind from the semester and hope to resume normal posting — finally. It has been a very long haul over this past year. I've been drained and stressed to the max, and while being in seminary has been a genuine blessing, I am thankful for some time to rest.

This week has been perplexing for a number of reasons, but also restful. I'm starting to feel a bit like myself again, at least.

Merry Christmas!

If Our Hearts Were Never Broken

“If our hearts were never broken, the world would be flat.” — Unknown

I really like this quote, it adds something meaningful to the idea of brokenness. And to the extent that I have felt brokenness over the past few years, it's nice to think that it wasn't for naught but for the building up of interesting geology in life. The question is how does one climb the newly formed mountains when they appear? Perhaps the pain was necessary to place those beautiful summits into view, but that same pain makes me fearful of trying to hike up them. There is a destination I should like to reach, but up is the only way to get there. At times, a flat world doesn't sound so bad.

That's not to say that's what I want. The reward, I suspect, it much greater this way. But what if I should fail? How do I know I even should leave base camp? I feel like I have one foot out of the tent and I'm just looking to see if there is ground enough to plant the other foot. It's only a few words that need to be said; the question is if they are said, what will come of them. Are they necessarily succeed or fail completely type words, or is there a middle ground of a soft landing to hope for if they fail? Can one ever reach the top when paralyzed with questions of failure?

Well, no. Eventually it is time to take a leap of faith.

Friday Feast

This week's Feast:

Appetizer: What was the last game you purchased?
A game I bought when I bought a Wii a few months ago, but the name escapes me.

Soup: Name something in which you don’t believe.
The Oxfordian Shakespeare.

Salad: If you could choose a celebrity to be your boss, who would you pick?
Tough choice. Alive or dead? Let's stick with a theme: Shakespeare.

Main Course: What was a lesson you had to learn the hard way?
That exegetical notebooks are black holes that consume time in such a way that progress slows while the speed of time increases.

Dessert: Describe your idea of the perfect relaxation room.
No phones. Comfortable chairs, a good picture window and lots of nice books. Perhaps a fire burning in the fireplace. Snow falling gently outside.

The Future of Reading

Mark Pilgrim offers a simple, profound consideration of Amazon's Kindle TOS. It is well worth your time to read it.

Remember Me?

So, I only posted once during the whole month of November. Wow. I'm not sure I've been that light on posting since I really got going on this blog five or so years ago. This semester has been really hard for blogging. Part of it is workload — I've found the amount of work relatively intense with some deadline looming just ahead even more so than last semester (or during my time at Lindenwood). But, I think the hardest part of all has been the fact that I've been in class almost constantly since January. With Summer Greek in Exegesis, there was little time for a break and that left me tired going into this semester. If one goes into a semester tired, well, that doesn't bode well for feeling energetic at the end.

And so it is. I'm more ready for a break then I have ever been before. I really love being at Covenant, and love my classes. But I need a break really badly. I find I can't focus my energy into big bursts of productivity like I normally might at the end of the semester, so it is more of a struggle than usual to get done. Fortunately, I am on the home stretch.

• Prep and Del (1st semester of homiletics) “late term exam.” This was a comprehensive exam given two weeks ago. There isn't a final, so this was essentially the final exam.
• Pastoral and General Epistles exegesis paper. A 10 1/2 page paper on Hebrews 6:4-12 entitled “A Thorn in the Side of Perseverance?”
• My Covenant Theology hermeneutics paper, which was essentially like an exegesis paper minus the interaction with the original language. I did mine on Genesis 50:15-26 and its interactions with the problem of evil.
• The final Pastoral and General Epistles content exam, on the Book of Revelation and Michaels's IVP commentary on Revelation.

• Presbyterian History Project: I'm writing a play that should be approximately two hours in performance length on the interactions between David Cardinal Beaton and Protestant Reformer George Wishart. I still have several scenes to go and a number of revisions on existing scenes.
• Pastoral and General Epistles Exegetical Notebook, which has a collection of Greek passages to translate. I've finished a preliminary translation of 11 of the 14 passages, but I still need to add more exegetical questions and usage notes.
• Covenant Theology Oral Examination.
• Prep and Del Group Sermon Project. My group of six members will turn in a complete manuscript, but will not present it.

All of that will be in by December 14, if not earlier. Here's hoping I survive!