A Christmas Eve (Advent) Reflection

The night before Christ’s birth a man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho when he fell among robbers. A priest came down the road and passed him by. Then a Levite came down the road and passed him by. Finally, as the sun was going down, a Samaritan traveling down the road saw the man beaten and lying lifeless, and he too passed him by.

The night before Christ’s birth a man returned home from wasting his inheritance on parties and prostitutes. On the road he rehearsed his plea to simply be one of his father’s servants. And when he was still a long way off, his father saw him, and his father turned his back on him.

The night before Christ’s birth a woman was caught in the act of adultery and was brought before the local rabbi and was stoned to death.

The night before Christ’s birth in me, I had fallen amongst robbers, had wasted my inheritance, and was condemned to death.

The night before Christ’s birth we all wait, helpless, hopeless, for we cannot see the light in this darkness, and we cannot overcome our oppression.

The night before Christ’s birth none of us could have recognized God in flesh.



A Christmas Confession

“I am the Lord’s servant.” Lk. 1:38
Mary’s obedience I have misused to gain an upperhand.

“My spirit rejoices in God my savior” Lk. 1:47
Mary’s ecstacy I have requited with emotions of control.

“He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble.” Lk. 1:52
God’s humility I have shunned with my armaments of empowerment.

“He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty.” Lk. 1:53
God’s good things I have neglected in my search for more.

“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests." Lk. 2:14
The angels’ proclamation I have supplanted with my lists for getting done.

Lord, come now, amidst my shunning and misuse, despite my supplanting and requieting, and be birthed in me.

I got a forwarded email that dealt with the upcoming movie The Golden Compass. Heard of it? Heard of the Christian reaction to it?

Here's part of the plea from the person that forwarded the email: "If you have children, and most of you do, please do not let them be fooled into thinking this movie is not a dangerous attempt to lead them away from God. Also, encourage them to share this information with their friends. Please pass this along. "

Here's part of the forwarded email : "Clearly, Pullman 's main objective is to bash Christianity and promote atheism. Pullman left little doubt about his intentions when he said in a 2003 interview that "my books are about killing God." He has even stated that he wants to "kill God in the minds of children". It has been said of Pullman that he is "the writer the atheists would be praying for, if atheists prayed."

You can read more about the controversy here:
http://www.snopes.com/politics/religion/compass.asp



Here's my response to the email:
I watched the trailer, and it's not really aimed at kids. It's kind of violent. It hasn't been rated yet, but I'd guess it'll get a rating of PG13.

I also did some reading about his views. He is being decried by some religious people for being anti-Christian, but others are saying he is simply anti-tyrrany. Some say his point is that in as much as religions cause us to look beyond this world to another, they take our attention away from the evils of this world that we should be focused upon; I mostly agree with this point.

Part of the claim in one of the books seems to be that all religion is out to rob us of anything fun. Our children are obviously going to be faced with this claim at some point pretty early on in life. We won't be able to protect them from this claim. We do better to live that it is not true. I was certainly confronted with this claim early and often, but it never held sway over me because of the immense fulfillment that I had already found in church and in God and in a family immersed in church and God.

Another part of Pullman's claim is that he is not against religion, per se, but against tyrrany. This can be a helpful distinction for kids to make. If we are not able to critique bad aspects of the church, then children will leave the church because of the assumtion that those bad aspects of the church are the church. From this viewpoint - perhapse we can invite such critiques. It may well be a much more helpful thing to see the movie with the kids, read the books with them, and talk about them, rather than just shielding them from the movie and books.

We tried to teach him to say "roar" but he wouldn't.

Thanks to Mimi for making the dresses.

At church a lady asked Risa what she was and she said "a renaissance princess"

they lady said "you know how to say renassaince?"

And this is how we all felt at the end of the night.

Ever been dissatisfied with life, felt like you weren't accomplishing anything and, remembering times when you were very busy, longed to be that again?

Ever looked back to remember times when things were more peaceful, when you took aimless walks in the woods, and wished to be that again?

Have you ever not been longing to be the other from what you were?



THE PULLEY. by George Herbert

WHEN God at first made man,
Having a glasse of blessings standing by;
Let us (said he) poure on him all we can:
Let the worlds riches, which dispersed lie,
Contract into a span.

So strength first made a way;
Then beautie flow’d, then wisdome, honour, pleasure:
When almost all was out, God made a stay,
Perceiving that alone, of all his treasure,
Rest in the bottome lay.

For if I should (said he)
Bestow this jewell also on my creature,
He would adore my gifts in stead of me,
And rest in Nature not the God of Nature:
So both should losers be.

Yet let him keep the rest,
But keep them with repining restlesnesse :
Let him be rich and wearie, that at least,
If goodnesse leade him not, yet wearinesse
May tosse him to my breast.



One of Augustine's most famous statements was
"Our hearts are restless till they rest in thee."

I wonder if he meant "rest in thee" like "rest in peace."

House update:
The primary danger of the deal falling through was that our house would not appraise for the high amount we were asking. It appraised for the full price :)

Dissertation update:
There's a line in the instructions for the dissertation proposal that says after I submit my proposal they have three options: either it gets passed, they return it to me for me to make substantial changes, or they give me a ThM and send me on my way. I wasn't terribly afraid of the last option (I have a nice mentor), but it did put things in perspective. I've been working on the PhD for 5 years now, and they could just hand me a masters and say see ya, don't come back. That would pretty much ruin any career I've been working towards. I was afraid mostly of the second option, that I'd have a lot to do before it would be acceptable, because I need to be prepping for a class I'm teaching this fall at Wheaton. I was hoping, sometimes beyond hope, for the first option. :) :) :)
On to prepping for teaching about evangelicalism and how to relate to culture!
Any books you care to suggest that I could use at a slightly conservative evangelical school as an introductory text to theology and culture concerns? The main text I'll be using is Noll's The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind. Or suggestions for good assignments??

Family update:
All Good. We're headed to Tooele, UT in the next week. My grandma is turning 90, and we're going to go wish her well. I can't wait! I've been needing a good road trip for quite some time. We're going to do some camping on the way, too, weather permitting; and we'll be hitting NW Iowa on the way back to visit Robin's grandparents.

The bank accepted our offer on a new house this morning.
If everything goes through, we will have doubled the size of our house for about $20,000.

all the retro furniture and drapes stay.

God is some good to us.

Have we forgotten the baseness of the cross?
Often highly regarded, exalted atop our places of worship, painted upon our battle shields.

Have we disregarded the humility, the humiliation of God's suffering?
Body, naked, hanging, struggling, excruciatingly to inhale, again.

Yet, is it Christ's pain that should be our focus?
Or the scandal of humility that is God enfleshed?
Does the pain heal? Or does God's choosing the terror of nerve endings?
Do the drops of blood magically save? Or is it God's choosing of a life that's so easily liquidated?

Perhaps the humility of God is the actual power of salvation.

Yet the version of Christ-likeness I live continues to revel in those occasions when my feet get washed.

Sorry for the long overdue post.

Quinn Jay Janssen Basselin is the final winner.

9lbs. 5oz.
21 in.
Big boy.

Still unnamed.

The wee little one is due Friday, though he shows no signs of uncomforability. Robin works hard to make the babies as comfortable as possible - so much so that she's had to be induced each time, and it looks like it'll happen again.
Anyway - the point of this post is to post names we've been thinking about.
So, in keeping a properly subservient attitude to the free market - please let us know your thoughts.

Liam.
Phineas, call him Finn.
Judah, call him Jude.
Ori, call him Ori. :)
Elias, call him Eli.

How about:
Elias Matai Basselin?
or Phineas Jude Basselin?
or Ori Hamilton Basselin? (too many n's?)
or Judah Greeley Basselin?

Well, when I write my thoughts, I get a little reaction, but when I post pictures of my girls there is great clamoring.

Chalk another one up for letting the market decide. :)

We used to live in a place like this:

And there were lots of occasions to take pictures.

Not so many occasions in Chicago, at least not in the winter.

I specifically like the last picture, where she's imitating the guy with his arms broken off.

Athanasius, in defending the Nicene creed against Arians, argues that Christ necessarily had to be fully divine or else he could not have effected salvation. Similarly, Christ necessarily had to be fully human or he could not have taken upon himself all the pains and evils of humanity and transformed them toward divinity. He writes, "Just as we die in Adam because we are all from the earth, so 'we are all made alive in Christ' because we are 'reborn' from above 'by water and the Spirit'; the flesh is no longer earthly, but now it has been 'logified' by the work of the divine Logos who on our account became flesh."

I think I'm going to get a t-shirt that says, simply, "logified."

On a similarly different note:
How about Logos for a boys name?

A baby boy arrives in early May.
Help us pick a name:

Aiden – Gaelic – Little Fire
Ambrose – Greek – Immortal
Amos – Hebrew – Encumbered
Asher – Hebrew – Happy
August – Latin – Venerated (Family Name)
Eitan – Hebrew – Mighty
Eldon – English – Humanitarian
Elias – Hebrew – My God is the Lord
Ethan – Hebrew – Mighty
Foster – Latin – Decent
Ian – Gaelic – God is Gracious
Judah (Jude) – Hebrew – Praise
Keane – German – Clever
Ladan – Hebrew – Witness
Liam – Hebrew – My Country
Malachai – Hebrew – My messenger
Matai – Hebrew – God is given to us
Micah – Hebrew – Who is similar to God?
Reuben – Hebrew – Behold a son
Sayer – Welsh – Wood worker
Sheldon – English – Valley of Willow trees
Silas – Aramaic – Inquire
Tanis – Amerian English – God is gracious
Theophilus (Theo) – Greek – Lover of God
Torin – Celtic – Leader

Presedential Address:

I'd just like to comment on my happiness with the President's speech last night. It's the first time I remember ever being happy with one of his speeches. Most of my happiness with the speech was due to the humble persona that he presented, which I found greatly contrasting to any other speech I've ever seen him give. Such humbleness caused me to trust what he was saying much more. I for once did not feel like he was lying. He seemed honest, almost even broken, which I believe is a good place from which leaders should make such difficult decisions. I was very sick of the macho-leader persona that he has had up until this point. It made me feel like he was hiding reality in order to convince me that what he had decided about Iraq was correct (this is what I meant by "lying" a couple sentences ago).

Last night he was honest about the dificulty and the pain. I'm much more appreciative of his decisions when he shows that they are difficult decisions, not just "if you vote for the democrats then you're voting for the terrorists," or "you're either for us or against us," or "this is a battle between good and evil, and you either do it our way or your fighting for evil." This is the feeling (and many actual statements) that I've gotten from Bush in the past. I was very happy to see something different last night.

I am, for now, behind him on sending more troops. I just hope it's the right decision for right now. I'm afraid, as I'm sure he is, that it may not be enough troops at this point. From my perspective, this change of strategy is at least a year overdue, but perhaps it will still work.

I think all the Democratic talk about "escalation" is pretty pitiful. It's obvious to me that this is not an escalation, and should not be referred to as such. However, I think the Democrats' actions in Congress, despite the current rhetoric, will be to allow Bush this last chance to get control of the situation in Iraq.

If this doesn't work, then Bush's presidency will be seen as a great failure. If it does work, there may be some salvaging of his reputation for the history books.

I hope it works.

Hopefully Jason won't mind that I decided to post his comment to my last blog and then comment back to him

Jslimbaugh said...

Greetings -It is to me an interesting, if not mystifying, development that many professing Christians in our day are turning their backs on Israel.

Support for Israel does not mean that we condone every action or support every policy. But we cannot forget the prophecy that the Lord Himself gave to Abraham, the father of the Jewish nation: "I will give this land to your descendants as an EVERLASTING possession."

The Lord stripped the land from its prior inhabitants and gave it to the children of Israel. At various times, this inheritance right has been challenged...at other times, God punished the children of Israel via exile. But Israel has always come back into her God-ordained inheritance.

Indeed, the Diaspora was prophesied - the longest and farthest reaching exile. And we see clearly in Zechariah Ch.12 that Israel would again come back into their inheritance closer to the end of all things:"I am going to make Jerusalem a cup that sends all the surrounding nations reeling...on that day when all the nations of the earth are gathered against her, I will make Jerusalem an immovable rock."

Later in the chapter, this crisis is linked to Israel's recognition of the Messiah.

The one who fights Israel - with sword, tongue, or even in heart - is fighting God.

The current turn from Israeli support among Christians is in tandem with the turn of so many Christian youth towards thinking that embraces the world, embraces the flesh, and embraces liberal ideologies that SEEM to mirror Christianity on the surface, but are founded on the spirit of anti-christ and lawlessness.

Blessings,
Jason


My Reply:::
Jason,

You say support for Israel does not mean we condone every action. What does support for Israel look like? The nation of Israel is a secular state. In what sense do God's promises to God's people apply to a secular state? I'm not denying that they do; I'm just questioning where the connection is between Old Testament promises and the current state of Israel.

For example, Old Testament prophecies (given while the people were in exile) about the people returning to the land are nearly always put into the context of the Messiah coming to deliver them. Jews have now for over 2,000 years been waiting for the Messiah to come and return them to their land. In fact, when the state of Israel was established in 1948, many (if not most) Orthodox Jews in America were against it and at first refused to return to Palestine/Israel. Their reason for being against the establishment of the nation was that their expectation was that their return to the land would be the work of the Messiah, not their own doing.

To be quite honest, despite having studied them some I find those Old Testament (OT) prophecies about the return to the land to be quite confusing. The people of Jesus' time thought they understood those prophecies, and so when Jesus did the Messianic/prophetic act of riding into Jerusalem on a donkey (to fulfill the prophecy from Zech. 9 that everyone obviously knew), the people recognized this act and began welcoming him as the king (using the language of Zech. 9). The people seem to think (because this is how they've understood the prophecies) that if Jesus is the Messiah then he will return them to their land, which of course would involve expelling the Romans and such (most of the Jews did not live in Palestine at the time but were still spread out because of the exiles a few hundred years previous).

However, instead of Jesus being happy that they have figured out who he is and are welcoming him as Messiah and king, he weeps over the city. And he says, "If you had known in this day, even you, the things that make for peace!"

Jesus' way to peace is the way of the cross, not the way that the people had understood the prophecies. This is the lesson that Martin Luther King, Jr. learned and attempted to teach us.

I am not trying to say that God has discarded Israel and has no use for them. However, I believe that to use interpretation of OT prophecies concerning Israel's return to the land as a reason to support the modern, secular state of Israel is a dangerous step to take, particularly when the modern state of Israel is practicing apartheid. I believe that to support Israel's removal of, and domination over, the Palestinians makes Jesus weep, and say - "If only you knew the things that make for peace."

Whatever God's plans are for his people the Jews in the end times, there is nowhere that God calls us to fight on their behalf or to attempt to put them in power by our own means. What we are called to, over and over and over and over throughout the whole Bible, is to do justice, to help the poor and the widow, and to walk humbly with our God.