“His law is love, and his gospel is peace.”

“His law is love, and his gospel is peace.”

Carol: “O Holy Night” –Translated from the French by John S. Dwight (1813-1893)

Tune: CANTIQUE DE NOEL (Adolphe Adam)

When the grown-up Jesus said, “Love one another,” it was not a suggestion; it was a command – a law, if you please. He had every expectation that his followers would live up to this directive.

With our government’s laws, for most of us these have become second nature. Because we were taught them in driver’s ed, the laws of the road stuck with us: we observe the speed limit (for the most part!), we signal before we turn, we maintain a safe distance behind the car in front of us, etc. We are instinctively law-abiding citizens; following the rules has become one of our characteristics.

So it should be with this mandate from Christ. “Truly he taught us to love one another. His law is love, and his gospel is peace.” When loving our fellow-humans becomes our inherent behavior, we will have begun to obey this law, and in turn, we will have become more Christ-like. In reality, we will also be happier people because we will be living out the gospel of peace.

We have our orders. It is our duty as an FOJ* to follow through.

This Carol Sung by Michael Fawcett

                                                                         * - If you’re new to this blog, that’s a “Follower of Jesus.”

“He knows our need, to our weakness is no stranger.”

“He knows our need, to our weakness is no stranger.”
Carol: “O Holy Night” –Translated from the French by John S. Dwight (1813-1893)
Tune: CANTIQUE DE NOEL (Adolphe Adam)

We continue our week with “O Holy Night.” I hope you won’t tire of my breaking this one apart!

Identification. When you list the attributes of Christ, you may overlook this one, but the fact is that part of his mission to earth was to identify with those whom his Father had created. His having walked several hundred miles in our shoes made it possible for him – even now in his glorified state – to empathize with us human pilgrims.

I think I understand the concept of Christ having knowledge of my needs even before I voice them; that has been drilled into me from my earliest days of neediness. However, I am struck in this carol by the line “to our weakness (Christ) is no stranger.” I’m more familiar with “I am weak, but thou art strong,” but THAT is looking at this from a different perspective. Being no stranger to my weaknesses points out this identification attribute. He does not stand to the side as the strong silent type and wonder what I’m facing; he stands inside, seeing it from my perspective and whispers, “I know what you’re going through. I’ve been there.”

So, my fellow needy weak friends, the name Emmanuel can take on a deeper meaning for us during these days leading up to Christmas. Christ truly is WITH us in all our struggles... still.

Carol Sung by Home Free

“Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we.”

“Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we.”
Carol: “O Holy Night” –Translated from the French by John S. Dwight (1813-1893)
Tune: CANTIQUE DE NOEL (Adolphe Adam)

This carol by a French poet and French composer was translated into English by an American Unitarian music critic just before the Civil War. That’s the background.

I thought this one was appropriate for this blog since it includes the word “hymn.”

One of the reasons I have a lot of trouble doing hymnlines regularly during the Advent/Christmas season is because so many traditional carols simply deal with events and characters from the first Christmas; you can only expound so much on angel appearances, magi arrivals and over-crowded cities with hay-filled cattle stalls.

“Sweet… joy… grateful” – wonderful words that sum up this season, don’t you think? We join in a grateful chorus to express our hymns of joy… our SWEET hymns of joy. Nothing saccharin about this kind of carol-singing… no Splenda, only splendid music! There is, in other words, no substitute for music that bubbles forth from the lips of children and child-like adults who celebrate their faith through song.

Queued at the register at Target, bustled about in the shopping mall, harped on by some church Scrooge: in all these situations, I hear the voice of Hedy (my mother) saying, “Now Ronald George, you be sweet.” Mustering all that is within me, I try to obey that long-ago-spoken directive.

Need a lift during the next seven days? Raise a song. Lift a carol. Be grateful. Be sweet!


A grand chorus sings this carol

“Order all things far and nigh.”

Hymn: “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” - Latin hymn
Tune: VENI EMMANUEL

We often make light of folks with OCD (Obsessive-compulsive disorder). In television shows and on film, they’re the ones who are lining up every object on their desk and re-placing anything that anyone else adjusts. It is fertile ground to elicit a laugh. However, the people we know who “suffer” from this disorder do not find it a laughing matter.

Those of us on the other end of the spectrum – who do not live by the axiom “a place for everything and everything in its place” – probably appreciate this hymnline more than those who are by nature orderly. I will not name names!

During these weeks leading up to Christmas, many of us would be happy enough if some orderliness came to our schedules… our calendars!

 “All things should be done decently and order,” Paul says. (I Corinthians 14:40) This quote comes after a long discussion of expressing one’s self in public worship, but it gets at a nagging desire in most of us.

One of the things most of us crave is orderliness in our lives. The people of Israel believed that one of the things Messiah would do is straighten things out – bring order to the chaos. Though Christ did that (and continues to do that), he didn’t necessarily do it in the way they envisioned… or the way you and I think he should!

Is your life out of order? Forget your desk-top or your work area – we’re talking deeper issues here. If so, make this hymnline one of your Advent prayers, imploring the soon-to-arrive Christ to bring order to your personal chaos. With your cooperation (availability and flexibility), he can. After all, he already knows about all our clutter.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to you, O ones who order lack!

This Hymn Sung by Pentatonics
(Does not include this hymnline!)

“With hearts and hands uplifted, we plead, O Lord, to see the day of earth’s redemption that sets your people free.”

“With hearts and hands uplifted, we plead, O Lord, to see the day of earth’s redemption that sets your people free.”
Hymn: “Rejoice, Rejoice, Believers” – Laurentius Laurenti (1660-1722)
Tune: HAF TRONES LMAPA FARDIG (Swedish folk tune)

“Pleading” is a word we use for crying out in desperation. It is an end-of-my-rope kind of crying out – the kind of language we use when we have nowhere else to turn.

In this hymnline, we assume the posture of worship (“with hearts and hands uplifted”) to make a distress call to the throne of God, begging for the kind of redemption that sets people free… all people everywhere, whatever their imprisonment.

The Old Testament believers looked forward to a coming monarch who would rule on their behalf and give preference to the people of God. Their awaiting was for an earthly leader… a hero, if you will. We Post-New Testament Christians are looking forward to the return of Christ; however, we know from Scripture that his leadership style did not include warring and domination. Therefore, we anticipate his grace-filled redemptive intervention to (among other actions) unlock various kinds of prison doors.

If you’ve read these blogposts for a while, you know that Carlita and I support a couple of mission efforts whose sole purpose is to free people from enslavement… especially women and children. One of these is International Justice Mission (www.IJM.org).  Large non-profit organizations like this are putting feet to the desperate pleas for the freedom of others.

At the end of our ropes, we continue our anxious plea for all who know no freedom - only bondage and oppression - fully believing that this is ONE of the many miracles the Lord Christ will bring in his ever-loving hand.

Meanwhile, we should be about our Father’s business, doing what WE can to see that such cruel persecution might come to an end. Hearts and hands uplifted... feet and funds on the move!


A High School Academy Sings This Hymn