Christmas poems

Posted at 7:37 PM

Given that I’ve been posting so much poetry recently (and following a challenge to write all my entries in verse) I decided I’d try to write my own Christmas poem. The first attempt wasn’t very good, but I thought the second and third would be worth posting. (Critique welcomed! I know they’re not perfect.)

One of the recurring themes about my Christmases is noticing how the incredible familiarity of the story (made so through nativity plays and twee carols) often masking the reality, which should be life-changing. The first poem is my attempt to convey this.

Again: the same old story, blandly told;
The shepherds, come to praise the new born King;
The wise men, with their frankincense and gold;
A children’s tale; a cute, pathetic thing.
Again we come to celebrate the birth
Of Christ – and yet, it leaves us cold.
For what’s an infant in our world of hurt?
How can a child heal wounds? Not one year old!
But God became a child, took on our flesh
And in his body takes away our sin.
The man who calls to people: “Come and rest!”
Is crowned the Lord of all, yet calls us kin!
Again, we bow the knee in awe and praise.
For God himself, as man, came down to save.

The second, a more traditional reflection on Hebrews 1:1-4 and Hebrews 2:5-18.

The Wisdom, the eternal Word of God,
Before whom one day every knee will bow,
The King of all creation, Jesse’s rod,
Who made the heavens above, the sea below,
And all between: yet man alone he blessed,
And chose on him his image to bestow -
What mystery! This God now takes our flesh;
Weak limitation – in our nature clothed;
Became our brother; spurning majesty
To live a perfect life as Adam’s race;
So then to break the chain of slavery
To sin and death, by dying in our place.
Now raised to glory, crowned, his victory won -
Him we proclaim: Christ, God’s incarnate Son.

A very happy Christmas to you all.

Off to Forum!

Posted at 10:25 AM

Not to always be linking to him, but Dave Bish has a great summary of what Forum is and says that he’ll be liveblogging the conference. I may attempt to do something similar, but it all depends – he’ll probably be far better at it than me.

Forum is great because, like New Word Alive is shaping up to be, it’s a mix of those across the Christian spectrum meeting with the same purpose. The CUs across the country are groups of Christian students who want to “live and speak for Jesus”, and regardless of church background, public speaking ability, public or state school education, or anything else, they’re all at Forum to be better equipped to do just that. By Christ’s death we become a family, a family that’s always looking to include others, and Forum is there to help and encourage us to do that better. Above all, Forum exists to excite us about Jesus, the one who died so that we could know God, the one who will return to bring justice to a world crying for it. We’re often lukewarm, not sure whether we want to tell people about him, but at Forum our prayers is that as we get into his word, his Spirit will work in us to change us, encourage and excite us, so that we return to homes across the country better able to be his ambassadors.

For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.

So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:14-21, NIV.)

Learning from the charismatic movement

Posted at 10:10 AM

Here is Dave Bish’s summary of Dan Edelen’s analysis of the needs of the charismatic movement. I’ve seen charismatic theology accompanied by Scripture being ignored or misused, a selfishness shown in seeking emotional experiences with little internal change, a very Old Testament view of Christian worship and Christian meetings (namely, the two are far more connected than Romans 12 and Hebrews 10 would have us believe) and a lack of discernment (shown most clearly in ignoring or expressing irritation at the testing and weighing of teaching by others). Two things to say, then.

Firstly, praise God that these problems are by no means universal! It’s years since my first encounters with the charismatic movement, and since then I’ve read and listened to many, many charismatic speakers who have all helped instil in me a deeper love and a better understanding of God, a greater day-to-day experience of God, and a greater love of the Bible, but more importantly, Christ. It’s brilliant to hear that those in the movement are as concerned about parts of it as I am, as there’s no way I’m ever going to be listened to! It’s also brilliant that those in the charismatic movement are effectively shaking up many conservative Christians and getting them excited once more about God’s sovereign plan for the world. Conservative authors and speakers like Jim Packer have been calling for deep relationships with God for years; in my case, at least, it took the charismatics I know to get through to me! Recently, it’s mostly through charismatic writers and bloggers that I’ve grown to love God more and love Scripture more, and learnt to be more discerning, more loving and more accepting of those different from me.

Secondly, the striking thing is that each of Dan’s points has to do with a loss of focus on Jesus and his importance. This particularly hit home because I recognise that I can do exactly the same things. Very easily can I slip into a pattern of life that sidelines Jesus, or make the things I read all about abstract issues and not about Jesus. Rather than over-emphasise the Spirit, I can over-emphasise the Bible as an end in itself, and theology as a pursuit for its own sake, rather than both as a way to know and love Jesus better. I may not make the mistakes as publicly as some in the charismatic movement, but I make them all the same, in my own, quiet, conservative evangelical way.

In summary, these problems are by no means universal in the charismatic movement, and they’re not specific to it either. So let’s all throw out dry and boring theology and teaching; let’s recover passionate preaching about Christ from his Word, and let’s live whole lives for God’s glory, enjoying his presence with us, through good times and bad. Let’s not expect things to be easy; let’s not forget our flesh is sinful; but let’s remember that God has given us new hearts, and he gives us the grace we need for each day. Let’s keep our eyes on Jesus, and remember that both the Spirit and the Bible point to him and help us to know him and love him more.

Let us know; let us press on to know the LORD;
his going out is sure as the dawn;
he will come to us as the showers,
as the spring rains that water the earth. (Hosea 6:3, ESV)