All is Calm?

"Silent night, holy night, all is calm..." Really? Calm? Have you ever seen a woman in labour? And I can't help but think that adding a bunch of stinky shepherds to the mix is going to help anything. "How silently, how silently the wondrous gift is giv'n..." Wondrous, yes. Silent, not likely!

"It came upon the midnight clear..." Well, I suppose it could have; it just doesn't say. All Matthew has to say is "Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem..." (Mt. 2:1) and Luke simply states that "while they were there, the time came for her to give birth" (Lk. 2:6). Yes, the angels appeared to the shepherds at night (Lk. 2:8) but that's the closest time-frame we've got... I guess, in all fairness, the song is talking mostly about the shepherds and the angels... but then what's the point of the song? If it's not about Jesus, why bother singing it?

It doesn't take much to find some Carols that have inaccuracies, poor theology, or just silly statements. So should we scrap them?

Just this morning I ran across this quote which attempts to answer that question:

Should we get rid of Christmas Carols?

“Only with great care. For thousands, carols will be their only link with a church. At the same time, sentimentality is perhaps the single most dangerous feature of our Church and culture—and the sentimental air is never thicker than at Christmas. The Incarnation is messy, dirty, and resonates with the crucifixion. We need a new wave of carol writing that can gradually swill out the nonsense and catch the piercing, joy-through-pain refrains of the New Testament.” - Jeremy Begbie, professor of theology, Duke Divinity School

What do you make of that?

What carols are worth keeping?

Which carols are worth ditching?

Do you know of any new Christmas/Advent songs that are worth singing?

Word Designs

A while ago I discovered a website by a guy named Jim LePage. Jim is a graphic designer and has been doing a project simply called "Word." Basically, he's been doing "book covers" for each book of the Bible. He's come up with some pretty interesting stuff. Check it out: here. Click on the picture to see a larger view and a write-up/reflection on his thoughts as to why he did what he did for that particular book.

Here are a few samples.

Some of them are pretty straightforward, like this one from Nehemiah:

Some of them are mildly ironic, like Job:

You get the idea.

Ecclesiastes:

1 Samuel:

Judges

All of the ones I posted here are pretty tame. Others of his are a little more provocative. There are some of these that, in his own words, "will probably not be hanging in the youth room of your church."

Anyway, check out his pictures and his little write-ups.

Which ones stand out to you?

Why?

Hearing Music Everywhere!

I ran across Charles Spearin's "The Happiness Project" a while ago (I think it was on CBC Radio 2's "the Signal"). The idea totally intrigued me: He had interviewed a whole bunch of his neighbours about what they thought it meant to be happy in life. Then he listened to the natural tonality in their conversations and turned it into music.

I know it's totally outside of most of our musical boxes, but you gotta check this out:

So?

The New NIV

Some of you may be aware that the NIV has been undergoing an overhaul. Well, the revision is pretty much done and, while it won't be in print until next year, they have given the text to BibleGateway.com so that people can preview it. So, head on over to BibleGateway (click here) and check out a few of your favourite verses.

Just for clarity: the revision has been referred to as the "NIV2011" during this process to help distinguish between the current NIV (1984) and the revised one. However, when it hits the printers it will simply take over the name "NIV" and the older one will become known as the NIV1984. The only reason why I mention this is because this is what you will find on BibleGateway's site.

There are about a zillion reviews of this revision online so I don't feel the need to do a critique/comparison here (nor have I read it extensively yet). However, as I've casually browsed through it I noticed a few things:

Yaaaay! The "inn" is no more!: Yes, one of my old Christmas hobby horses (seen here and here) has been corrected in the updated NIV which now reads: (Lk 2:7) "⁷ and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them."

Gender Inclusive Language: For a lot of people this is a big one. The new NIV has followed suit with the NRSV; they have used inclusive language where they believe it fits the context but then use a footnote to inform the reader of what they have done. Here's what I mean: (Rom 1:13) "¹³ I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters,^[d] that I planned many times to come to you..."

We then see that footnote ^[d] reads: "The Greek word for brothers and sisters (adelphoi) refers here to believers, both men and women, as part of God’s family; also in 7:1, 4; 8:12, 29; 10:1; 11:25; 12:1; 15:14, 30; 16:14, 17."

I find it interesting that this is the reversed version of what the ESV did. The ESV translated "adelphoi" simply as "brothers" but then had a footnote saying that, because the word is referring to a family unit, it could equally be translated as brothers & sisters.

There's lots of other stuff that could be mentioned but there's no need for me to do it. Check out the revision yourself and let me know what you think! I would highly recommend that you read (or at least skim) the translator's notes (click here).

If you read a handful of verses and don't notice any big differences, that's because approximately 95% of the text is identical to the old 1984 NIV.

Yup, more Dawn Treader Clips

Here's the full theatrical tailer:

And here's a clip of Lucy, Edmond, & Eustace "transitioning" into Narnia:

On Servant Leadership

A good word from Brother Francis:

"'I came not to be served but to serve' (Mt. 20:28) says the Lord. Those who are appointed to rule over others may not boast of their position any more than if they were to be assigned to the duty of washing their brothers' feet. And if they are more disturbed about the possibility of losing their position than they would be about losing the duty of foot-washing, they will expose their souls to great danger."