Leaning Forward

The New, New Year's Eve Icon

Generations welcomed the New Year with Guy Lomdardo. That would be my parents and us kids of the '50's and '60's. In fact, Mr. Lombardo and the Royal Canadians Orchestra  played the traditional Auld Lang Syneon CBS television from 1956-1976. In 1972 New Year's Eve took on a more contemporary look for us boomers, ABC TV airing the ageless Dick Clark in his New Year's Rockin' Eve every year till 2007, with a short break in 1999 because Mr. Clark suffered a stroke earlier that year.This year ABC will broadcast from Times Square in the all new Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve with Ryan Secrest.Inquiring minds want to know: will Ryan Seacrest be the new New Year's Eve icon.

Seacrest was named producer and on-air host for the show in 2005 and succeeded Regis Philbin in the hosts chair. He is best known as a top forty radio host, taking over the reins of the widely syndicated American Top 40 from founder Kasey Kasem, a KIIS Los Angeles radio program On Air with Ryan Seacrest, and is the the personality behind American Idol, on Fox Television.

So, for now, Seacrest will describe the ball drop from Times-Square, New York City, hosting the variety show mostly taped in Hollywood. More than 1,000,000 people will cram Times-Square, while more than 1 billion will watch on TV, 100,000,000 of them in America. What this means is that Seacrest has a sufficient audience to become the next New Year's icon. Question is, can he avoid controversy and the temptations of stardom to stay in the public eye.

What does that have to do with anything anyway? I mean now, our typical human idols are anything but exemplary, more often than not appearing from the lower marks on the moral barometer. The daily sports page has become an arrest or crime register, professional athletes being rich drug users long on domestic abuse, violence, and short on the stuff of role models. Each day we read about the criminal activity of the Hollywood crowd, their left-leaning anti-American politics, loose morals, and disconnect from the working stiffs who purchase their CD's, tickets to their films, and fan magazines. I mean, look at how the public idolized Michael Jackson, a very bizarre person by any measure, worshiped by millions.

In fact, Ryan Seacrest could perhaps guarantee becoming a New Year's Eve fixture by getting arrested for beating up on the women in his life, fathering a few children out of wedlock, getting caught with some coke in his car, or some guns in the trunk. It's the stuff or stardom these days. You see, he could join the other gutter trash who have caught the public eye through their lifestyle antics. We'll see!

So, the ball will start the drop at 11:59:00. It's the new 12 foot diameter icosahedral geodesic sphere made up of 2,668 Waterford crystals, weighing 11,875 lbs., equipped with 32,256 Philips Luxeon Rebel LED's, capable of creating 16,000,000 hues. Ryan Seacrest and a cast of Hollywood elites will describe the action. Maybe Harriet and I will stay up to watch. Maybe not.

Now, to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. 
Ephesians 3:20-21

Good night! See you next year!

The Story of the Year

When the book is closed on 2009 we will have experienced 12 months, 52 weeks, 365 days, 8,760 hours, 525,600 minutes, and, just to make a point, 31,536,000 seconds. Glancing back, certain events will stand out, others will slip to back of our memory banks. Then, the networks, media types, yellow journalists, magazine publishers, and news papers will start hyping the story of the year, selecting the people of the year, and passing ou accolades to mark notables in just about every venue. It is a right of passage, something we all expect. Still, we'll roll our eyes at the choices and weigh in with our peers about the better job we could have done. Right? Sure.

Sadly, the story of the year for some people will be written in that one split second, during the ending minute, in the final hour, of the last day, of the concluding week, of the closing month of the year. The headlines for some people will be the result of a moment of stupidity or childish behavior that finalizes their story in flashing blue lights, a pile of bottles, the emergency room, a crowded cell, or worse, the county morgue. This is the week that people finally go over the edge! Out with the old, in with the new. The new could be something incredibly horrible.

Wow! Thanks, Sonny, for the optimism right here at the intersection of 2009 and 2010. Well, forgive me. But, for one, I am sick and tired of seeing normally sane, relatively mature people write the story of their lives in a moment of zany behavior, or, more specifically, a drunken binge. These are sad tales, the good folks who go a little berserk at New Year and then spend the rest of their lives trying to atone for a DUI charge, a costly accident, or homicide by vehicle.

How can I forget the banking friend who got in a New Years scuffle at a local country club. Three sheets in the wind, he slugged a young attorney in a push-and-shove moment on the over-crowded dance floor. Oops! He tragically knocked the other man's eye out. You know the rest. Arrested for assault, fired from his job, convicted by a jury of his peers, sentenced to three years in prison, divorced from his wife, and then the civil courts. What a fun way to see in the New Year! The story of the year for him was written in a flash of anger. Everything before that, as good as it was, was prelude to the story of the year.

Here's a plea for fellow believers. Remember the words of church planter Paul, who wrote, "Be very careful, then, how you live---not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every  opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore, do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is. Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit."

The story of the year isn't decided yet. Don't let it be written about you in the final days of 2009!

Now, give me my little hat and noise maker, and a case of, uh----Fresca!

It's that time again

So, OK, it's time to resolve something. Trouble is, most of us are creativity deficient when it comes to making our resolution list. I mean, we're practically genius savants when it comes to making our Christmas list, or deciding the options for spending our Christmas loot. But, we usually have amnesia when we start the annual life evaluation process and try to pen one or two personal adjustments for the New Year. It's usually the same old, same old, a rehashing of the bad habits and personal hair balls we owned up to last year, and the year before, and the year before, ad infinitum. So, get out your pen and resolve to lose a few pounds, exercise more, spend more time with the family, eat less spinach, and get our gums scraped fewer times in 2010. What a laugh! Wouldn't it be great to see men resolve to watch less football, women to shop less, kids to study more, and some other cherished pleasures we'd never in this world put on the list.

So, if you're having problems, let's suggest some help. You can actually go to eHow.com to learn how to do just about anything. They have a system for writing New Years resolutions too. If you'd like to take note of their recommendations, go here for a good time, maybe a good laugh. They offer some very good pointers on life evaluation, ways to honestly review your lifestyle and note some of the fine-tuning that may make 2010 better for you and the people around you.

Now, for the two Democrats who visit my site every day, there's another hot site for people who really want to go deep in the New Year's resolution department. Of course, it's the government site over at USA.gov, subtitled Government Made Easy, like in the new, revised, simpler, IRS codes. Just to make it easier, go here for the current list of popular resolutions. Now, as you might expect, these suggestions aren't very deep, really just a compilation of what you might expect. Then again, it is the government, and they're never wrong, and they always know what the people are thinking, and what the people need. So, if you're a drone, just underline them, copy and paste. Your list is complete.

Or, you could go deep and check out the Bible. There's some good resolution material here, on just about every page. I mean, start with the Ten Commandments and resolve not to do any of them. You're off to a good start. Then again, you could do a word search on "resolved". This is a good, Spiritual source of new direction.

1 Chronicle 20:3
Jehoshaphat resolved to inquire of the Lord...

Psalm 17:3
I have resolved that my mouth will not sin.

Daniel 1:8
Daniel resolved not to defile himself with royal food and wine...
 
1 Corinthians 2:2
For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified---

Now, here are some resolutions with depth, and meat. The eHow.com can advise you and you'll be real and politically correct. USA.gov can give you their list and you can join the chorus of zombies singing the I Am Resolved song according to the government line. Or, check out God's Word for some guidance in making substantive life assessment and promises that result in more Kingdom living in 2010.

I'd still like to lose a few pounds too. And, I am not going to stop drinking...coffee.

Celebrating the First Amendment

OK, the world is a little wacky! There's no arguing that. What brings us a laugh or brief moment of comic relief often borders on the bizarre. It's mondo bizarro time, if you know what I mean. Still, as the weirdness escalates exponentially, right there in the middle of it is a slice of Americana, a genuine celebration of our very own First Amendment, the freedom to express ourselves.

Wouldn't you know it, this thing involves Wal-Mart, that most red-white-and-blue of American institutions. Now, before you go and get all political on me, please realize that Wal-Mart is a piece of American pie, like it or not. You can go either way with them, the non-union shop thing or the fact that this company sends their buyers to the sweat shops of Asia to purchase many of their goods. You can lobby against local governments giving them tax concessions to locate their huge super stores in the neighborhood. You can lodge a complaint against their hiring policies, their need to provide better employee benefits, or their sale of non-organic vegetables. But, regardless of your particular gripe against them, you've got to admit it is the show place of all things American. And, as Harriet says, if you can't buy it at Wal-Mart, you most likely don't need it in the first place.

What you've got to see is the web site, the People of Wal-Mart. Now if you haven't visited this site, you should take a few minutes, maybe hours, to surf around. Go here for a look! Now, this web site is not sponsored by or affiliated with the corporate giant. And, it can contain some questionable material, not suitable for the kids. So, be on your guard. Still, what you see is real and if it's obscene, it was seen in the store.

No, some interesting people launched this site to remind us that Wal-Mart is actually the cross-roads of America, a piece of the mosaic, the individual flavorings that make the American stew so varied and tasteful. I mean, scroll through the 147 pages of pictures and see Phineas T. Barnum's dream world, not in some side-show, but right out there is the open, you know, roaming the aisles of America's store. There's no shill barking you into the entrance, and no fee. Just amble on in and take a gander at the Freedom of Expression in living color. The founders would be proud. America the weird. Salute!

Two things strike me here. One, that someone would launch such a site. Not knowing what really inspired the People of Wal-Mart, I get to use my imagination. Just think of your most recent trip and the oddities and wonders and marvels you encountered there. Most likely, somebody returned from the store one night and talked with someone else about some of the mind boggling things they had seen first hand, not on reality TV, but right there is the local Wal-Mart store. Oh, the possibilities. Shoot, it will be on TV soon enough, the People of Wal-Mart, starring Ru-Paul or Pee Wee Herman. Ouch!

Second, that there are 147 pages of this stuff. Evidently, the idea has caught on, and people are snapping photos of these incredible sights left and right. I saw a man lose his toupee in the parking lot at Wal-Mart the other day. I should have been faster with the Blackberry camera application or maybe escorted him to the glue department for a photo op. Just reminds you to smile---you may be on the Wal-Mart camera.

Seriously, what a nation, where you can go to the store dressed any way you like, where the limits of decency are stretched, where the lines of good taste are blurred. It's a crazy world, and I'm glad to be a part of the madness.

As long as I'm not in one of the pictures!

Different

Most us are different because of the Christmas celebration. Shoot, we're heavier, more fatigued, more broke, and stressed because of the travel, long hours, too much food, blah, blah, blah. To top it off, one person aid they he now has to find a place for all the stuff accumulated during the holidays. Merry Christmas indeed!

My theme for the weekend involves this very thing---the difference we should all experience as a result of another Christmas observance. Of course the central topic is the difference Jesus makes in our lives, and what happens when we Rediscover the Nativity Story, I mean, really find the meaning behind it all. Us preacher types often tell the story as if the whole thing was cloaked in dark mystery, a secret treasure to be unearthed by people with the right code words or invisible messages written on a map open only to the initiated. Well, that is true to a certain extent. Our text today deals with stars, dreams, angelic appearances, intrigue, suspicious circumstances, even death. But, more, this text shows us the difference Jesus makes in our lives, and proves why so much of the world is left empty after our Christmas extravaganza.

The Magi went home by a different route. Something happened to them. It is supernatural. It can happen to you too, when you REDISCOVER THE NATIVITY STORY.

Merry Christmas!

The morning after

The morning after Christmas is a bummer for many people. Americans particularly put a lot of stock in the power of the holidays to change things, to set things right, to solve problems, to straighten out relationships, to alter our ego problems. Part of our Christmas mythology is to believe that having family around, giving or receiving the perfect gifts, the merriment that attends our celebrations, even the holy night thing, where we turn spiritual for a little while, will make everything bright.

The morning after Christmas is similar to the morning after any binge. Drink too much, you suffer the morning after. You may regret your trips to the buffet line on the morning after. Since Christmas is the ultimate binge---shopping, eating, giving, receiving, spending time with family, trying to be nice to all the maniacs out there, fighting all the traffic, parties, decorations, and you name it---there's bound to be a morning mood. When we discover that most of our holiday trimmings are shallow, it's no wonder there's an emptiness. Like the chocolate Santa in my stocking, everything's a little hollow the morning after.

That's kind of the central theme of my weekend messages this afternoon and tomorrow morning. Pray that we'll learn the lessons of the morning after, and seek the real deal when Christmas rolls around next year. You see, there is a real deal, a Christmas reality that leaves us full rather than empty, that lifts rather than depresses, that leaves us fulfilled rather than depleted. it's what we'll talk about this after during the CHURCH @ NORTHWOOD, and tomorrow in our wonderful worship services.

Blessings on the morning after!

How do you see him?

Christmas music announces the joys of the season! Many are worshipful carols extolling the perfections of Christ, our Savior and Lord. Others are just whimsical holiday tunes celebrating the unique memories and traditions of Christmas Each ministers the different moods that we encounter as we progress through the weeks surrounding yuletide. Personally, I like them all, or at least most of them.

Maybe I'm a heretic, perhaps a legalistic quibbler. But, for the life of me, I cannot get into the Little Drummer Boy.OK, it's a seasonal favorite, pa rum pa pum pum, but not for me. Supposedly there's a legend constructed around the song involving a little drummer boy who had nothing to bring to baby Jesus but his drum, pa rum pa pum pum. It's a sweet thought but the song grates on my nerves. I know, bah humbug!

One of the most reflective songs is an oldie, Some Children See Him. It was written in 1951 and has been recorded by many artists, the most recent revival being on the James Taylor Christmas CD. It is just such a thoroughly thoughtful recognition of the place Jesus holds in life and faith of children around the world. It beckons the question, how do I see Jesus?

Here are the lyrics. Enjoy, If you want to listen to JT's version, go here.

Some children see Him lily white,
The baby Jesus born this night.
Some children see Him lily white,
With tresses soft and fair.
Some children see Him bronzed and brown,
The Lord of heav'n to earth come down.
Some children see Him bronzed and brown,
With dark and heavy hair.

Some children see Him almond-eyed,
This Savior whom we kneel beside.
Some children see Him almond-eyed,
With skin of yellow hue.
Some children see Him dark as they,
Sweet Mary's Son to whom we pray.
Some children see him dark as they,
And, ah! they love Him, too!

The children in each different place
Will see the baby Jesus' face
Like theirs, but bright with heavenly grace,
And filled with holy light.
O lay aside each earthly thing
And with thy heart as offering,
Come worship now the infant King.
'Tis love that's born tonight!

Merry Christmas!

Not so silent night---

Christmas Eve may be my favorite worship experience of the year! When Christ followers step aside from families and busy holiday preparations to gather for worship, it signals that something is right with the world and that the most important things are not totally forgotten. What is more, Christmas Eve has become, for many congregations the most significant outreach of the year. In many quarters, attendance is higher at Christmas Eve services than any other, with the exception of Easter Sunday. So, tonight we are expecting a large turnout for what i know will be a very nice worship time.

Usually, our Christmas Eve communion service is quiet and reflective, comprised of familiar Christmas carols, Scripture readings, and gathering at the Lord's Table together. This year our worship teams decided that we wanted to offer something a little more contemporary. So, tonight will be Christmas Eve with full praise band and teams, and at least four seasonal offerings of special music. Prayerfully, it will remain reflective and worshipful. But, it will not be especially silent.

Please worship this evening. It is Christmas Eve. Rejoice and be glad!

It's beginning to look at lot like----

That would be, big bucks! It's beginning to look a lot like big bucks. Of course, this is hard to see clearly when the media are drawing the picture for us. Well, yes, the economy is in a down-swing and retail forecasts for the season are off from the peak years of the past decade. One thing we need to realize, however, is that journalists usually use government accounting principles and practices when measuring the state of the economy. So, real dollars are usually adjusted by inflation, with growth being determined by comparing actual sales to (1) what sales should be in a normal economy, and (2) what adjusted numbers were when compared to last year. So, any good news about financial recovery or an expected upswing in consumer spending during the traditional holiday buying binge is subsumed by the gloom and doom liberals who want us to ask Uncle for more bailout and stimulus packages.

Even though unemployment in South Carolina is posting record highs, retail managers are reporting very good results in the early Christmas shopping numbers. October sales were up from the previous months, signaling a rebound in retail spending going into the holidays. Christmas tree markets boomed in the first three weeks of December. Internet sales doubled 1996 totals. And, from what I've seen, people are out, standing in lines, and spending liberally this year, especially on specified electronics. It's beginning to look a lot like big bucks again, and that to mixed reviews.

Retailers depend on the Christmas season to make or break their sales and profit targets for the year. On a personal level, most of us are pretty lavish at Christmas-time, even in slower years. Compared to the world standard of living and what happens even in the more prosperous European and Asian cites, our holiday spending is beyond liberal, perhaps ostentatious. Very few people in the nations of the world can imagine for a moment living the standard which even our most needy experience.

The Hole in Our Gospel by Richard Stearns is a convicting indictment of our prosperity and the ways we use our wealth and ignore the poverty around the world. No, I am not a spread the misery liberal who  believes that such critical conditions in the poor zones of the population belts is our fault. However, I do believe that much is expected of those to whom much is given, and that our faith is validated by our generosity to those less fortunate that us. As our environment begins to look a lot like big bucks, I'm thinking our offering plates for world hunger and international missions should fill as well.

It's Christmas. it's beginning to look a lot like big bucks this year, and that is good news.It should make for a merrier time for people who may have struggled during the past year. While the bucks are flowing, let's not forget those in need! It could begin to look a lot like Christmas to them too.

Merry Christmas!

Maybe it's time to get a life---

Burn me at the stake, but it may be time for some Christians to get a life. OK, I've received at least a million emails recently pitting Jesus and Santa Claus. Most of them place Jesus in one corner and Santa in the other and dare us to choose between them, you know, the basic choice between God and Satan, the Spirit and the flesh, good and evil, the good guys and the bad guys. Some of these emails are actually a little comical, detailing the differences between what Santa offers and what Jesus gives. Give me a break!

We did the Santa thing at our house and still do, for that matter. We never lied to our children about Christmas and always made sure Jesus was the center of our holiday celebration. Santa was a by-product on the periphery of our family Christmas. Just like Mickey Mouse and Dorothy and Moby Dick we made sure our children grasped the difference between myth, fiction, and make believe, and the real world. They always knew Jesus was real, and Santa was pretend.

Of course, today many Christians want to be totally separated from the world into which Jesus
commissioned us as salt and light. So, the ultra-distanced wing of our faith poses polar opposites,  Jesus on the one hand and Santa, which, of course, is an evil acronym for you know who, on the other. As a result, we have to choose. Jesus or Santa? Which will it be? 

Well, that just doesn't make sense to me. It's tantamount to saying you can either read the Bible or Huckleberrry Finn, one representing God and the other being a metaphor of the evil empire. Or, you can sing Jesus Loves Me but not Mary Had a Little Lamb. The stance of these guys is that to read the Wizard of Oz is to make Jonah and the whale a fable. Seems that some people cannot accept both for what they are. You see, Santa is the mythological invention of commercialism. True, this fictional character is loosely based on a real person who actually lived. But, Santa Claus isn't any more real than Rip Van Winkle or Harry Callahan. Still, I can read and enjoy Lonesome Dove, even though it is fiction by Larry McMurtry.

Jesus is real. He is Lord. There is no comparison of him to any other person who ever lived. All things were created by him and for him, and in him all things exist. he holds everything together. To compare him to Santa Claus or to any other mythical or fictional character is to reduce his stature, to lower him. This is serious Christological error.

We must teach our children the difference between what is real and what is not. We can do the Santa Claus thing and not hinder their faith or create in them a heart that refuses to acknowledge Christ as Lord.

Merry Christmas! Jesus is Lord!