A NEW ADVENT APPROACH? PART 3 OF 4: AN ADVENT OF TRUTH AND DISCERNMENT

 

Nativity Scene and sign for '23 Advent Christmas Sermon Series at Northside Baptist Church, Indianapolis. The title is taken from a song on Jonathan & Emily Martin's Advent album "Tell Me The Story."

I have proposed a new set of Advent focuses. Two weeks ago, I introduced an Advent of Gratitude and Encouragement; last week, I suggested an Advent of Mercy and Grace.

Would you agree with me that an appropriate theme of the 3rd week is an Advent of Truth and Discernment? You would agree with me there's a need for it, wouldn't you?

This society, in it's blindness, clinging to the moral absolute that there's no moral absolutes (obviously an irrational - maybe anti-rational - contradiction). We need to build our house on the solid rock of God's Truth, not on the sand of the latest ideas. 

Of course, the problem is sometimes it is hard to tell the truth from an error. The most effective errors consist 1% lie with 99% truth, but that 1% is enough to poison the beverage. That's where discernment comes in.

Many point out the most quoted verse of the Bible is not John 3:16 but rather Matthew 7:1, "Judge not lest you be judged." Of course, the reason for quoting that verse often is "Don't call my wickedness wickedness; better to call it something attractive rather than be honest about my sin." No, the Bible does not tell us not to call out sin.

But too many go the other, equally errant, extreme. They pretend Jesus' command to His disciples in Matthew 7:1 doesn't mean what it says (even the contextual emphasis of not condemning others), and make believe that the real command is "Judge with righteous Judgment" (John 7:24), ignoring that this was actually in context a rebuke to the Pharisees. 

Let me put it another, hopefully clearer way. Some people accuse those who are discerning as being judgmental/condemning, while others break Jesus' commandment not to judge and pat themselves on the back for being discerning.

Let's remember when we're speaking truth and discerning truth from error, we're to at the same time show grace and mercy, that is, God's love.

BOOK REVIEW - 12 DAYS BY HEIDI GLICK

 Can former police detective Scott Newton overcome his guilt and sorrow after his partner and friend was murdered? Can nurse and aspiring author Lindsay Billings earn the approval of her wealthy father? And will the Christmas Killer make "Till Death Do Us Part" be a matter of hours instead of years?

12 Days... is a Chrismas novella by suspense author Heidi Glick. It starts out with Scott's camping experience as a child, and then fast forwards to him meeting Lindsay. After that introduction, the story then jumps into high gear. Glick does an excellent job developing the two main characters, as well as filling this short work with plenty of plot twists.

If you want a nice short, 1-2 sitting Christmas story for this holiday, this one will give you some yuletide excitement.

ALBUM REVIEW - TELL ME THE STORY BY JONATHAN AND EMILY MARTIN

I love the season of Advent (the four weeks preceding Christmas). I grew up without that tradition. As an adult, I've been at churches where they light the advent candles, and where the Pastor has a series looking at Christ's coming. I also became aware of the difference between Advent songs (e.g. "O Come, O Come Emmanuel," "Joy to the World") and Christmas songs (e.g. "Hark The Herald Angels Sing," "Away In A Manger"). But I never heard of an Advent album. 

Until now.

"Tell Me The Story," the most recent project by Jonathan and Emily Martin, qualifies as being an Advent album. A couple of songs would be classified more as Christmas songs, but most focus more on the impact of the coming (Advent) of Jesus Christ, the Son of God than on the historic event of His birth. 

There is not a bad song on this album. The songs all are encouraging and upbuilding. My favorites are "God Came Down To Us," "The Impossible," and "The Unexpected Ones."

I'm writing this the evening before Jonathan and Emily minister at my church, which motivated me to listen to the project. I'm glad I did. I highly recommend this product.

 

A NEW ADVENT APPROACH? PART 2 OF 4: AN ADVENT OF MERCY AND GRACE

"All of Creation Worships"

 What's the difference between mercy and grace? I don't recall who deserves the credit for pointing it out, but mercy is not getting what you deserve and grace is getting what you don't deserve.

Two things are evident when you read the Bible: 1) God is merciful, and 2) God is gracious. Micah 7:18 says "He does not retain anger, because He delights in mercy." We deserve His wrath for how each of us rebels against Him, but He is a God who forgives. We definitely DON'T deserve His goodness, yet He joyfully gives it to those who seek Him.

Jesus' first advent was to die for our sins to save us. Christ's coming was for us to be reconciled with God. 

However, we definitely need an advent today of mercy and grace. We need to ourselves be merciful. As it says in Psalm 18:25, "With the merciful, You will show Yourself merciful." Jesus stated in the Sermon on the Mount, "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy" (Matthew 5:7). 

Likewise, we need to show grace to others. Again on the Mount, Jesus taught, "Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets" (Matthew 7:12). Other religions put it in the negative sense - "Don't do to others what you don't want them to do to you," but that's not grace; that's being civil. Only Christ instructs us to love our enemies, to do good to all (1 Thessalonians 5:15).

How are we doing? Are we tearing others down in theological debates, or are we aware God may overlook imperfect theology (who is perfect anyway)? Are we living out the above for verses with those who are in the other major party than us, or even worse, an advocate for a third party?

CHRISTMAS BOOK REVIEW - THE REFINER OF THE REALM (THE CELTIC CROSS BOOK 3) & AN ALL CONSUMING FIRE (MONASTERY MURDERS BOOK 5) BY DONNA FLETCHER CROW

In 1068, is Queen Margaret capable of civilizing Scottish King Malcolm and helping protect the people from invading William the Conquerer? In 1993, is Mary's fiance right that she's wasting her time learning about Scottish church history?

The Refiner of the Realm: Of Queens and Clerics is the third book of Donna Fletcher Crow's ten part Celtic Cross series (the first four books looking at Scotland, the remainder crossing over to Ireland). Like the rest of the series, the more contemporary part of the story (1993) has a brief section at the beginning and the end of each book, with the primary focus being on the historical story. 

I am learning a lot about Scottish history in this series, and will probably be doing the same with Ireland when I get to the fifth book. I enjoy this story and the characters in it.

One note. Donna Fletcher Crow released a compilation book a couple of years ago titled A Lighted Lamp: Scenes of Christmas Through Time. The first of seven "scenes" is an excerpt from the above novel. The final (and longest) excerpt is from An All Consuming Fire, book five of the Monastery Murders. This series follows American Felicity Howard and British Church History instructor Father Antony (my favorite fictional character as they solve mysteries through the course of a year, learning about British Church history along the way (and of course, each mystery coincides with a Christian holiday, book five dealing with Christmas). Here is my review of that book:

    "Is this the final installment of the Monastery Murder series by Donna Fletcher Crow? I hope not, but if it is, she pulled out all the stops. This is the strongest plot of the series - and that says something. My favorite is still the third entry, An Unholy Communion, but An All-Consuming Fire is in my opinion the best.

    "Of course, there are weaknesses to even the best stories. While Felicity and Antony are very complex characters (the latter being my favorite fictitious character), Crow may have weakened the story by having Antony with a group of characters filming a TV series while Felicity works with another group of characters planning an epiphany play. Most of the characters in either group were underdeveloped. It helps that Crow included a cast of characters at the beginning.

    "What if you haven't read any of the previous stories? While I'd recommend reading them in order for maximum enjoyment, I think one can read them out of order. You won't feel lost if An All-Consuming Fire is the first one you read, nor will it ruin the surprises in the earlier stories.

    "This series deals with an Anglican (almost Catholic) perspective. Thus, if you don't like favorable presentations of the Christian faith in fiction, you won't like this. Its views may not be typical for many fundamentalists or evangelicals (it stretched my thinking). On the other side, there are elements in this story in particular that might be uncomfortable for some Christian readers - there are isolated references to drugs and pornography in this story: of course, both are considered negative, but some Christians feel more comfortable if those things weren't included.

    "I highly recommend this book, as well as the other four books in the series."

Hope you enjoyed this double review feature, with the goal of helping you get in the Christmas Spirit (this is posted on the 7th of December, so you may already be in it). I highly recommend this book, this series, and A Lighted Lamp. (If you look at the December entries for both 2020 and 2021, you'll notice that I have my review of A Lighted Lamp both years, my first repeat blog!

 

DOES LIFE BEGIN AT 40 (OR EVEN 50) FOR MY FAVORITE ALBUMS? - 2023 VERSION

Back side of Common Bond's '83 custom debut album; band members Doug Doyle and Ken Riley pictured in upper left and upper right corner.

 It all started last year. Someone posted in the Daniel Band group I'm in that it was the 40th anniversary of their debut project "On Rock." That got me thinking about other albums and musical experiences I enjoyed that were released that year. And at that point, I planned to do the same thing annually. Almost forgot.

The next thought was realizing if any albums reached the 50 mark. Not so with musical experiences - we're talking about when I was 14 in a small town. There are some mainstream albums that I liked from that were released '73 or earlier: Soundtracks of "Wizard of Oz", "Hey There, It's Yogi Bear," "Mary Poppins," and "The Jungle Book"; "Everything's Archie" and "Jingle Jangle" by ... no, I'll let you guess who did those two albums; "The Chipmunks Sing The Beatles Hits;" "The Partridge Family Notebook" by ... no, you can guess this one as well; and "The Beatles 1962-1966" and "1967-1970," 

However, most of my favorite albums are Christian. There weren't many Jesus Music/CCM projects out then - my only favorite prior to '73 was '71's "The Everlasting Jesus Music Concert." '73 saw three more of my favorites come out (though it was 6 years before I heard them): "What A Day" by Phil Keaggy, "Fool's Wisdom" by Malcolm & Alwyn, and "Laughter In Your Soul" by Jamie Owens. (Possibly an unnecessary note for me: the list above and those below are in alphabetic order.)

This brings me to '83. Two important things. First, I didn't have as many musical experiences or favorite albums as last year, and my favorite concerts happened to be, with only one notable exception, related to 1983 artists. So I'll mention the albums first and then mention the unrelated music event. 

Second, I got married in '83, and that diminished especially the number of albums I bought, which means there will be fewer in the coming years. 

So you ready for this year's list?

Pete Carlson, "Dreamer's Dream." Technically, this is a '82 album, but I didn't pay attention to Pete till '83. This album is a good adult contemporary project, with several good songs like "What A Friend," "The Love Of God," "Thanksong," and "Let Him Hold Your Heart." However, few songs have made the impact on me as the title track, with lines like "The questions I've been told before don't apply to questions asked." 

Common Bond, "Common Bond." Several years ago in the group "Discussion Board for Jesus Music 1969-1989" one asked for list of our 100 favorite albums. After submitting mine, a lot of people were trying to convince me Common Bond's first album was "Heaven Is Calling." First national album, yes, but before that came this custom project. The first concert I heard in '83 was Common Bond doing a four song set of songs from this project (I'm guessing, maybe 1:00am, Jan. 1st?). Lead singer/bassist Kenny Riley, sang "Song For My Wife" from this project at Becky's and my wedding. Guitarist Doug Doyle moved to the production chair on the nationally released projects. Favorite songs? Title track, "Heartbeat Away," "It Don't Come Easy," "Remind Me Of Your Plans," "Your Life" (I helped with the lyrics on that one), "The Party's Over," "New Beginnings," "Christ The Cornerstone," "Late For Life," "Song For My Wife," and "For You" (which was re-recorded on "Heaven Is Calling."

Daniel Band, "Straight Ahead." I got hooked on Daniel Band hearing a concert played live on the radio, and that set combined songs from their debut "On Rock" and this project. Favorites on the project? "You're All I Need," "Here I Am," "Reality," "Come Into My Life," and "Coming Home."

DeGarmo & Key, "Mission of Mercy." I've heard of D&K for years, but I didn't start getting interested in them until this project came out. Includes "Let The Whole World Sing," "Ready Or Not," "When It's Over," "All The Loser's Win," and "You Can't Run From Thunder."

Teri DeSario, "A Call To Us All." Some might recognize her name from a duet she did with K.C. and the Sunshine The Band (uh-huh, uh-huh). Her Christian debut is music the way I like it (uh-huh, uh-huh). I had the honor of hearing her at Jubilation '83 at Knott's Berry Farm. On the project she had "Jesus Feed Your Lambs," which later was a single with Sheila Walsh and Cliff Richard. Other songs that blessed me were "Thank You," "Battleline," "I Dedicate My All To You," "Dig A Little Deeper," "All I Need," "Clouds Without Water," and "I'll Carry On."

Lifesavors, "Dream Life." I had "Us Kids," in which the lead vocalist and main songwriter was Mark Krishak. After recording that, Krishak left and co-founded "Labor of Love" (an album I always wanted to hear) and their other guitarist Mike Knott took over lead vocals. (I heard the Knott fronted version at a beach concert with Undercover, the Chosen Ones, and the Lifters.) About a year later, I heard them again, with Brian Goins doing lead and Kirk Heiner on guitars, and absolutely loved it. This line-up recorded "Dream Life," which consisted mostly of Mike Knott written songs and three from "Us Kids." Favorite songs? "Christian Army," "Physical," "False Identity," "I Won't Give In," "The One," "Dream Life," and "Watch Nowhere."

Petra, "Not Of This World." Petra's sixth project, and third since Greg Volx became lead vocalist. I was aware of them for years, but this is the point that I really started liking them. Songs that helped make me a fan featured "Graverobber," "Blinded Eyes," "Not By Sight," "Lift Him Up," "Occupy," and "Godpleaser." The last project featuring John Slick as keyboardist.

Leslie Phillips, "Beyond Saturday Night." I got introduced to Leslie via her track "Bring Me Through" from the first "Back To The Rock" compilation and unplugged concerts at Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa (with her on either guitar or piano). In '83, she released this project. Two intersting facts about it: 1) unlike other "Back To The Rock" artists whose debut album version of their contributions were identical to the compilation, Leslie's was definitely a fresh version, and 2) she wrote all the songs on this project except the title track (written by John Fischer) and the first single (Mark Heard's "Heart of Hearts)." Favorites from this disk were "Hourglass," "Put Your Heart In Me," "I'm Finding," "Bring Me Through," "He's Going To Hear You Crying," and "Let Me Give." 

Servant, "Caught in the Act Of Loving Him." Which is my favorite album of this list? Could it be Servant's fourth album, with awesome songs like "Burning Bridges," "Thank God," "Fall Out," "Now Is The Time," "Holding On To You," "Heart To Heart," "Gauges," "Something Right For You," "Tied Down," and "Can't Go Back?" Hey, I listed the whole album! Oh, that's right: I was asking if this could be my favorite '83 album? I don't know. What do you think? 

Michael W. Smith, "Michael W. Smith Project." When I heard Michael W. Smith, he was the third billed artist after Amy Grant (anybody heard of her?) and Gary Chapman. Good reason - that March 11th concert at Melodyland Christian Center occurred before "Project" was released or "Great Is The Lord" hit the radio. That concert was one of the most interesting. Melodyland was a theater in the round. Gary played standing in place with his acoustic guitar, apologizing to the audience who faced his back. Amy performed as if she knew how to maximize the unique stage. Michael? He acted like a kid receiving a new toy, having the time of his life! No wonder I instantly became a fan of songs like "You Need A Savior" (his performance of that song was unforgettable!),  "Could He Be The Messiah," "Too Many Times," "The Race Is On," "Love In The Light," and "Great Is The Lord" (he taught us the chorus when performing it).

Steve Taylor, "I Want To Be A Clone!" I was going to list that last year till I checked and realized it was an early '83 release (kind of the opposite of "Dreamer's Dream," mentioned above). As unforgettable musically as the cover is. Songs like the title track, "Steeplechase," "Whatever Happened To Sin?" (a song that needs to be revived), and "Bad Rap (Who You Tryin' To Kid, Kid?)" (the song that caught my attention). 

Undercover, "God Rules." I got to hear them twice live in '83: first at Exit Festival '83, following the previously mentioned Steve Taylor and Leslie Phillips and preceding the Seventy Sevens; also at Jubilation '83 at Knott's Berry Farm. Included were great songs like "New Creation," "Closer To You," "He Takes Care Of Me," "I Never Knew," "His Love," "God Rules," and "I Love God." One thing I always loved about early Undercover was the unbridled joy of lead vocalist Bill Walden.

Sheila Walsh, "War of Love." Speaking of Jubilation '83, I also heard Sheila perform there, backed by the Norm Barrett band (he played guitar for the Alwyn Wall band. Second year I heard her there, the previous year backed by uh, anybody hear of the Phil Keaggy Band?). It starts of with her cover of the classic "Turn, Turn, Turn," and concludes with the ultra-powerful "God Put A Fighter In Me." Also includes "Mystery," "Sunset Skies," "Fooled by a Feeling" (written and originally recorded by Jamie Owens-Collins), "Star Song," and "Sleepwalker."

The Imperials, live at Melodyland Christian Center. No corresponding album. Michele Pillar and Lenny LeBlanc opened for her. You might remember that Melodyland is a theater in the round. Like Amy Grant, The Imperials handled it like pros. The instruments were all off the stage, and each member sang to a fourth of the audience, trading places after each song. They did great songs like "What Can I Do For You?" and "Praise The Lord." When they received a standing ovation, their encore was an aca pella rendition of the chorus of the hymn "Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus." (Maybe they did the verses. But remember that was 40 years ago! Uh huh, uh huh.)

A NEW ADVENT APPROACH? PART 1 OF 4: AN ADVENT OF GRATITUDE AND ENCOURAGEMENT

An African Nativity Scene, with a frame borrowed from Facebook.

I spent the first 30 years of my life with an absent Advent. In the hymnal I'm most familiar with, I noticed a handful of Advent hymns and designated separately from the Christmas songs, but I still didn't really get it. I was more familiar with Lent (by reputation, not by practice) than I was with Advent. 

Recently, some of the churches I've attended have the advent candles. Also, at Arlington Avenue Baptist Church, I've seen two different breakdowns of the four weeks of Advent: Prophets/Angels/Shepherds/Wise Men and Hope/Peace/Joy/Love. The last couple of years, I've been going through the latter (last year, combining the Advent theme with my Sunday Psalms series). 

This year, I've decided to take a more creative approach, and pick out four themes on my own for this Advent series. I'm picking four topics - okay, each theme has two related topics - that both we have through the First Coming of Christ and desperately need to live out.

Today, I'll start with an Advent of Gratitude (Thanksgiving) and Encouragement. I consider them related: Gratitude is being appreciative of what others do, and encouragement is motivating others to keep it up.

Do we have thankful hearts? Do we have minds trained to encourage? 

And do I need to elaborate more than just asking the two questions? I don't think so, but let me know if you disagree.