Christmas 5-8: tooting my horn

I'm going out of town and not posting, so I'll leave you with four videos that I made this week.

I tackle the Cajun Night Before Christmas with no shame.

I had also recorded myself singing Carly Simon's version of Night Before Christmas.  I can't find it here, but it is on my YouTube channel.

Merry New Years!

Away in a Manger

I still can't see how anybody can put this song and Martin Luther in the same sentence.  Luther would have never written about a baby who didn't cry.  Babies cry.  It's still a pretty song.

Casting Crowns sings this one. 

I wonder if Billy Gilman still sings.  Surely he's got a man's voice now.  Is he still as good?  Why is he not nearly as popular as Justin Bieber who's voice still hasn't changed at age 18.

For those of you who wanted to see the CD art for the Casting Crowns Christmas CD, we play this version of the song again.

And we have Anne Murray with the other tune.  She has such a strong alto voice, but she seems to have no emotion in her singing. 

This is Cristy Lane.  I don't know who she is but I'm enjoying her voice.

This video features you.  For those who miss the bouncing ball, you can sing along if you forgot the words.

Here is Maureen Hegarty.  I don't know who she is either, but I like her the best so far.  The pictures are pretty too despite Jesus looking overly Caucasian, blue-eyed, and blond haired, and possibly might even be a girl.

Can't go wrong with Celtic Woman!

It's the King's College Choir!  Yay!

Here's Nat King Cole and a beautiful picture of a swimming pool for those tired of the snow, or if you simply live in Georgia.  I'm personally Bah Humbug when it comes to snow, so I'm glad to live in Georgia where we don't get it much.

Church Government mixed with Angels We Have Heard on High

Since it's Tuesday, this post will be about Adam Kaloostian's 2nd part of his section of Church discipline in his series on Reformed Theology.  Since it's the 3rd day of Christmas, this post will also feature versions of "Angels We Have Heard on High."

I really like this video from Sixpence.  It's fun to watch, Leigh Nash changes the words to the song, and it's just sweet.

1. What is a church “office, and what are the three offices in Christ’s church”? Where does the Bible teach us that the minister of the Word is a distinct office from that of the elder?
The church office is a position which Christ has given through which He exercises His authority.  1 Timothy 5 describes qualities of church governors.  The three positions are: minister of the Word, elder, and deacon.  When the minister and the elders meet together, it is called the Consistory.  When you add deacons into the mix, it is called the Council.  In my EPC church, we just call it Session.  Both ministers and elders are considered the same thing.  Ruling elders or presbyters, are to be given double honor in the church.  Preachers are special elders entrusted with the proper preaching and teaching of the word, so he is called a Teaching elder and is given especial honor.

Third Day's version, this time labelled correctly.

This one is from Chris Tomlin.  It's so good to be finding versions by for real Christians.

2. What are the duties of the minister of the Word?
The minister of the Word, aka, the teaching elder is entrusted with the grave task of the right preaching and teaching of the WOG.  He is a servant of the Word.  He is tasked by Jesus to preach the Word.  He is also responsible for the right administration of the sacraments and church discipline. 

This is the Las Vegas Philharmonic.  Ironic town, but I was impressed by this choir.

Just because you can, doesn't mean you should.  This should not be allowed.

3. What are the duties of the elders?
Elders are trained members that run churches and make decisions.  This office is seen in Acts 14:21; the apostles appointed elders when they planted churches so that the church would not be left alone to make its own decisions.  Church is not a dictatorship headed by the preacher; it is a checks and balances.  Christ appoints the elders based on the instructions in Timothy and Titus.  While the elders do take suggestions from the congregation and biblical instruction from the pastor, they still serve to keep the church pure in prayer, doctrine, offices, sacraments, and discipline.  They especially come in Matthew 18:17 where if you have a dispute, you tell it to the church.  The whole congregation doesn't know, but the trained elders can handle it.

This is a beautiful version by Andrea Bocelli.  It's in Italian, and I love the organ part.

David Archuleta looks like he's 13, but he has a great voice.  I think this guy is Mormon but I'm not sure.  I do like his voice though.

4. What are the duties of the deacons?
Deacons were first appointed in Acts 6.  The Apostles did a great job preaching, but the charity work of the church was falling to the wayside, so they appointed seven men, one of them Stephen, do serve the poor, help with administration, and meet physical needs while the elders could still preach the WOG correctly.

The late Robert Shaw used to conduct the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and I got to see him conduct two Christmas shows in his retirement.  I wish I could do that again.

 Third Day again, this time live with Mac Powell's deep southern voice talking amidst it.

5. What is the relationship of the local Consistory to the broader assemblies?
It is "prudent, important, and necessary" for local churches to meet with others for the wisdom of broader assemblies.  This is another checks and balances to hold churches accountable for sticking with correct Biblical teaching and doctrine.  The big meetings of elders from a region is churches is called Presbytery and General Assembly by the EPC, but Adam calls this a Classis and Synod. 

A final version by Andrea Bocelli and David Foster from PBS.  Enjoy!

Angels from the Realms of Glory

Excerpts from Stories behind the Best-Loved Songs of Christmas by Ace Collins.

James Montgomery was born 1771 in Scotland.  His parents were Irish Moravian missionaries.  They moved to the West Indies, leaving James in an Irish Moravian community.  He attended Seminary by age 7, but in his seminary career, his parents died, so he dropped out and grew up to be homeless.

Ironically, the above video is labeled "Angels from the Realms of Glory."  However, it is Third Day singing "Angels We Have Heard on High."  If it wasn't such a good rendition of the song, it would not be here.

James Montgomery, like most vagrants, was a starving artist who only liked to write.  Soon, the Sheffield Register noticed his talent and hired him.  He wrote stories about being Irish under British government.  Later, he became editor of the paper, changed its name to the Sheffield Iris, and wrote to champion for the Irish against the British.  He wrote so strongly that he got arrested twice.  At the same time, he would also read the Bible, still working through the loss of his parents.  Through time, he grew in the faith, blending that into his writings.  On Christmas Eve in 1816, he wrote a poem for the Iris.  What would normally arm the Irish against the British actually brought them closer to their enemies.

This is the text to "Angels from the Realms of Glory" but the tune is "Angels We Have Heard on High."  We sure get our angels confused.  This is performed by Sissel and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.  We also get our theologies confused, but we'll get to that when I discuss the text.

Back to Montgomery: the poem in the Iris was called "Nativity."  It later became "Angels from the Realms of Glory."  One forgotten verse still spoke of social wrongs:

Sinners, wrung with true repentance,

Doomed for guilt to endless pains,

Justice now revokes the sentence;

Mercy calls you.  Break your chains.

Even in that verse, one can see James transforming from an angry Irishman and lost soul to a repentant sinner longing for freedom from something beyond this world.

 Here, Annie Lennox sings the song.  Also to the tune of "Angels We Have Heard on High."  I used to love her voice.  At this point, she's getting to old to sing.  It's like she had nodules or something.  

In God's sense of humor, this poem from a man who hated the English reached the ears of an Englishman named Henry Smart.  He loved the words and wrote the tune to which we now sing the words.  This song unintentionally united the Irish and the British and is now sung all over the world.

Here it is sung by some prosperity "ministry."  They use the proper tune written by Henry Smart.  The ministry's tag line is, "Receive power for practical living today, visit www.websitei'mnotnaming.org."  I'm not going to judge the salvation of these people as so many Americans are duped into thinking that God is their magic charm for achieving the American Dream.  I know God is way merciful than I could ever be, but I think I'd almost rather hear the Mormons or Annie Lennox singing this song than these clones who are simply entertaining people.

Angels, from the realms of glory,

Wing your flight o'er all the earth;

Ye who sang creation's story,

Now proclaim Messiah's birth.

Come and worship, come and worship, 

Worship Christ the newborn King.

It's so ironic that so many Mormons and non-believers will sing this song as it clearly calls us to Worship Christ.  Though I do see how they could miss the concept as to them Christ is just a demigod who earned this planet and devout Mormon men will do the same someday.  But I'm sure even among their writings they have a copy of the Ten Commandments which says you shall have no other gods before me.  We'd be in serious idolatry if we sang this song and Christ wasn't actually God.

This guy who thinks he's David Crowder, does an excellent job with the song.  He rocks out as he describes this song as "Off the beaten path."  How true that is!  It's not one of those songs you hear as often as you hear "Angels We Have Heard on High."  Hence, it's sometimes sung to the latter tune.  He also throws in lesser known verses that are very God-glorifying.

Though an Infant now we view Him
He shall fill His Fathers throne,
Gather all the nations to Him;
Every knee shall then bow down:

All creation, join in praising
God, the Father, Spirit, Son,
Evermore your voices raising
To the eternal Three in One.

I'm still amazed at how lesser-known Trinitarian verses get lost through political correctness and it takes good sleuths to unearth them and sing them on YouTube.

Shepherds in the fields abiding,

Watching o'er your flocks by night,

God with man is now residing,

Yonder shines the infant Light.

The above is a blatant reference to Christ's deity, however, that did not get lost through the ages.  It is a more familiar verse linking "God with man" and "infant Light."

Here is a wordless version of Smart's tune in pipe organ.  There are no lyrics posted, but that doesn't mean you can't sing along.

Sages, leave your contemplations,

Brighter visions beam afar;

Seek the great Desire of nations,

Ye have seen his natal star.

Amazingly, when I write out these verses, I see things I've never seen before.  "Leave your contemplations."  Get off your laurels and actively seek the Lord in society.  "Seek the great Desire of nations."  There is so much more to this life than social justice.  This Christ we sing about is what you have always longed for, that emptiness you can never fill by fighting injustice and seeking freedom from the Brits.  "Ye have seen his natal star."  This Christ is for real.  He is not a secret.  We need to look to him and not to our own efforts or sit around waiting for something to happen.

Here are the Mormons again, this time with Natalie Cole and the "Angels We Have Heard on High" tune.  I hope this doesn't mean Natalie Cole is Mormon, only that she's singing with a highly talented choir that I'd probably even sing with.  I always thought she was actually a for real believer in Christ.

Saints before the altar bending,

Watching long in hope and fear,

Suddenly the Lord, descending,

In His temple shall appear.

The last verse a call to believers to not only get off their couches and stop waiting for change, but to encourage them that they are only tools in the hands of God.  One day, Christ will come back, take over this planet, and bring us a new heaven and a new earth.  He is the change we want, not any elected official.

Same choir, same version, this time with the King's Singers.  Vast contrast from Annie Lennox.  And yes, they are singing the Trinitarian verses.

Ace Collins also includes a verse by Montgomery from a different poem that continues the theme of waiting on the Lord for justice while still actively carrying out his will while we wait:

Beyond this vale of tears,

There is a life above,

Unmeasured by the flight of yars;

And all that life is love.

At last, a Lutheran choir!  Sadly, we only get the tail end of the song.  Then they start a beautiful song that gets cut off at the end.  There are soloists who for once sing on key and do not sound bored.  I would have loved to have attended this whole lessons and carols service.

Finally, home in England, the King's College Cambridge singers sing the "Angels We Have Heard on High" tune.  Sorry Henry Smart.  We still like your tune.

Why Albert Finney's Scrooge is the Best

1. I stars Albert Finney:

It also stars Albert Finney:

2. Obi Wan (Alec Guinness) plays Marley:

3. Who doesn't find themselves singing this song from time to time?

4. The ghost of Christmas past is not some freaky child ghost, but a respectable looking woman:

5. I like Life:

6. The minister's cat:

7. No more tired old sorting through Scrooge's clothes.  This is a celebration:

8. The hell scene:

9. Redemption, much better way to surprise the Cratchetts:

10. Albert Finney shows up later on in Amazing Grace:

Friday Facts and Ruminations.

Merry Christmas Eve eve everyone!

It's been two days since I've blogged.  I don't see myself blogging much next week either as Christmas really will have started.

I don't have to go into internship next week.  Yay!

I sure hope I'm singing tomorrow night.  If not it would be the first Christmas eve in ages where I don't sing.  Oh well, I do have a YouTube account.  I can always sing on that.

One YouTube friend who I added on Facebook added me to this Calvinistic discussion group.  It's pretty fun so far.  Much more intellectual than "Calvinism: the Group that Chooses You."  So far we've discussed, "Should a credo court a paedo?"  That's pertinent as I'm convinced I will always be single as the only guys I meet are Baptists.  Or Mormon.  Either that or I have to bite the bullet and allow for my kids to be rebaptized at some point.

Church Discipline with its Precursor, Church Membership

The next part in Adam Kaloostian's series on Reformed Faith.  He starts his section on Church discipline, the third and final mark of the true church.

1. What are the reasons Christ instituted church discipline?  In Matthew 18:19, Jesus himself says that he is acting in our midst during church discipline for the protection and spiritual well-being of his children.  We must rebuke our brothers and sisters in Christ so that they can be won over to the Lord.

Also, in 1 Corinthians 5, a man in Corinth is having an affair with his step-mom.  Paul is livid, and he commands the church to excommunicate him because God's glory is at stake if they not only tolerate this perversion, but actually celebrate it.  His Church must not be corrupted.

2. How does the Bible show us that Christians ought to be members of local churches?  All the Old Testament communities were numbered with strict genealogies.  In Numbers, the Israelites are numbered twice, which is why the book gets its name.  In Chronicles, they are also numbered specifically by name.  Again, in Ezra-Nehemiah when they are back from the exile, they have to number themselves.  If they were not considered numbered with Israel, and if they lacked a genealogy that led back to Abraham, then they were not part of Israel.

And now in the New Covenant, in Acts 2:41, the church is first born, and folks get baptized and then numbered with the converts.  In the same book, 4:23, people go to their own companions to talk about what Peter and John are doing.  They aren't necessarily part of the group, but they admire them.  Their own.  People from the start considered the church body to be theirs, not just a place where you go to worship God.  This is a for real body.

In one of the letters to Timothy, Paul mentions a list of widows.  There would be no list of widows if there was no membership list.

Finally, church discipline itself is impossible without church membership.  It's no use disciplining somebody who will just leave and go to another church.  In fact, this is one of the few bad results of the Reformation.  So many churches started to break into their own fellowship until we have this huge buffet of "churches."  If you don't like one thing, go to another one.  Or go to many.  Go to the one you are a member of and then go to another because there are young singles there.  I'm guilty of this, and this is a tragedy.  It's like if a man has one wife, then one girlfriend who will go dance with him, and one woman to eat meals with, and one woman to take trips with.  This is huge adultery.  I don't know how to solve it at the moment, but it's true.

3. What is the difference between the invisible church and the mixed, visible church?  All believers for all time are the invisible church, the group of those truly saved that God knows.  On earth, we cannot see the hearts of all the people that come to church; we can only see their outward actions.  The visible church is the outward expression of the invisible church.  It is comprised of both true believers and hypocrites.  Not everyone in the visible church is Christian, but if you are a Christian, then you will go to church.  You cannot call yourself a Christian and forsake going to church.  You will at least be called to account when you see Christ and he asks why you did not love his representatives on earth.
You want to be on a visible church list because it reflects the invisible list in heaven.

Awkward Church

This won't be a long post.  I'm tired and have had little sleep this weekend.  Yesterday's children's lesson was really bizarre and if I teach it again, I'm going to try harder to circumvent circum-whatever.

You see, I made it safely through the stories of Abraham having Ishmael with Hagar, Jacob marrying 4 wives, Joseph being tempted by Mrs. Potiphar, and yesterday, I taught on Jesus being presented in the temple.  How I got through Abraham's story without bringing up circumcision because the lessons narrowly avoided it.  I felt I could not get around Jesus's circumcision today.  I just had to talk about that, how before Jesus came, men had to be cut, then Jesus's who life was cut off, and now we no longer have to be cut, we are baptized.  That's why women can join in the fun and Gentiles.  It's why the Presbyterians insist on infant baptism, not to erase the child's original sin, but because the child needs to be dead in Christ's blood from birth, and he needs that same blood to raise him to life as a New Man or Woman of Christ.  Also, believing parents must baptize the child, or perhaps some sponsor.  Not some unwed mother who still doesn't get what she did wrong.  In that case, raise the child in the faith and then let him decide to be baptized.  But other than that, two believing married parents can baptize their child, just as Jewish children were circumcised on the 8th day of their lives.

Back to my lesson yesterday: I briefly explained that it's a surgery that only boys can have.  Then I just had to add that it involves cutting the part that only boys have.  That went to far.  Maybe next time I teach the lesson I won't add that.  That was my error.  I need to remember, I'm surrounded by 3rd grade girls.  They kept asking, did they really cut that?  Eww.  Do girls get cut?  No, they don't.  They are considered that way when they marry one who is.  Oh well.  I don't mind getting calls from parents.  I just hope they don't call the pastor first.  Just to be safe, I did tell the adult Sunday School to pray because I would be approaching the awkward topic of circumcision.  I felt like I got to a place where I could not avoid it.  Shannon the man said he talks about it to his children, who also say eww, but then again, none of his children were in there that morning, and none of their parents were in Sunday School.

Today I got to relax, chill with my friend in my home church's cemetery, and I started singing a song.  That inspired me to record it.  Enjoy.

Giving Thanks

I'm thankful that I'm close enough to my cousins that I can invite them over once a year for Christmas.  I really should get with them more often.

I'm thankful for Mary who lives with us.  She's such a blessing.  She's still cleaning up.

I'm thankful for my supportive church.  If I have an awkward lesson with the kids, they usually understand.



I'm thankful that he came as a baby and took my place on the cross so that I can be assured of salvation.

I'm thankful for AC and heat on in the same day.

I'm thankful for the privileges I have as an American.

Friday Facts

I'm reading through Anne of Green Gables again.  Have I talked about that yet on this blog?  Oh well.  I really love that book.  I wish we could go back to a time when we could openly call someone "bosom friend" without getting strange looks.  I already have some friends who have to endure me calling them that now.

James White posted a timely video rebutting Michael Voris over the Immaculate Deception, I mean, conception.  I only wish he had cited the early church fathers that he quotes because now I want to read them. 

Monergism.com does not have a very good search tool.  I go to a topic and I know they have way more than listed on that one page on said topic, but they don't have a link to page 2.

I want to hear more paedobaptistic rebuttals of Catholicism.  R.C. Sproul speaks freely on it, and in a loving way that I think my Catholic BFF could tolerate, but he kind of compromises, too.  I found myself compromising as I do find ways where I very much agree with them.  I've found more ways than I even realized.  Either that or my friend truly is saved but still clings to their bizarre superstitions.  I mean, my friend is the one that got onto me about Twilight.  If nothing else, she's at least elect.  If only I could get her reading the Bible and to be assured of her salvation and not feel like she has to clean all the time. 

I still think of Jesus healing the paralytic in Mark 2, and I do believe some people are saved because other godly people love them.  Of course, no one would have that love had God not placed that love in us in the first place.  However, if I really love people, I need to talk about what I believe even if it does offend them. 

It's still a good thirty minutes before I leave for this party.  I'm pretty hungry. 

I look forward to seeing my cousins come over for our annual gathering.  I look forward to it being over, too.  I get so many things I need to do this time of year, I'm actually glad it's not Christmas, just Advent.  Christmas starts on December 25, ends on January 6, and really lasts 12 days because of the liturgical calender.  I think Hanukkah overlaps with Christmas this year.  Jesus celebrated it.  I don't.  But I do celebrate Christmas all year. 

Happy December 16 to all and to all a good night!

Correction

I figured it out.  It was Anselm that came up with the Ontological argument, not Occam.  I seriously don't know what Occam is all about.

Mere Christianity and Surprised by Joy

Third lecture in C.S. Lewis series by Louis Markos.  It is on Ethics and the Tao.

This is C.S. Lewis's most bizarre choice of words for the best proof of God's existence.  He hijacks Confucius's word of Confusion and applies it to God's ultimate moral standard.  It's like, all people everywhere have an inner knowledge that you should not kill, cheat on your wife, steal, etc.  They would not have this if there was no God to give them this standard, therefore, there is a God.

Lewis does take the wrong path in implying that God placed this inner knowledge inside all people, although it's similar to Romans 1, God is obvious simply through his creation.  I'm going to take a different route and go with the arguments of both Jason Lisle of Answers and Genesis and William of Occam (I'm not sure if I'm citing the latter correctly.)  Lisle pretty much took Lewis's Tao and formulated the ultimate proof of creation: the fact that we all have a moral code.  If there was no God, there would be no morals or reason to not kill, cheat on your wife, steal, etc.  The fact that people have moral standards is proof that a divine being did give us laws and order to the planet.  But this reason is not because of an inner conscious.

I believe it was William of Occam who got his name on the Ontological argument.  Correct me if I'm wrong.  Please.  Basically, all people have a concept of God in their minds.  This concept would not exist if there was no God.  God's existence is proven simply because we all have a mental concept of God.  Although I've always liked that argument, it seemed rather simplistic until I became a fan of Answers in Genesis.  I seriously think Ken Ham has perfected the Ontological argument when he talks about dinosaurs.  People all over the world have dragon legends, pictures and tales.  The word dinosaur was not coined until 1841, so in 1611, the King James Bible would have called such creatures dragons.  Have you ever read of Job's Behemoth and Leviathan?  Read the descriptions of Behemoth's cedar-like tale or Leviathan who breathes sparks.  He's describing a dinosaur and a fire-breathing dragon.  No joke.  So, obviously, dinosaurs were real, they went extinct, but they lived to the middle ages because before 1841, they were called dragons. 

Why would this all be true?  We have bones, fossils, legends and paintings all over the world, and God also sent a great Flood that would churn the earth into looking old, stack the rocks in a such a way that the dinosaurs would be buried and fossilized rapidly, and give us all the evidence we need to prove God and his Word.  And Noah would have had dragons on his Ark.  And they would have provided all the tales of slayings and knights and sacrifices, etc.

Still, why does this prove the Ontological argument?  Because God really created Adam, and all people really are descended from him.  After his fall, he told his children about God, who told their children.  Then they all sinned, and God destroyed them in a flood but had mercy on Noah and his family.  Noah told his children about God who passed it on to their children who migrated all over the world.  Many turned their backs on the true God despite what they knew and invented other gods more to their liking, but still, we all come from Noah, he told us all about God, therefore we all have a concept of God, proving him true.  So there's the process, and that's all I will say about Lewis's Tao tonight.

Calvinistic Mad Libs

Baseball Broadcast

Ladies and gentlemen, this is Crimson Barber, your sportscaster, bringing you the last inning of the game between the Cleveland Pontiffs and the Published Yankees.  Pope John 22 is pitching for the Yankees.  Here's the pitch!  It's a low betrayed ball that just cuts the inside of the soul for a strike.  That makes the count 22 strikes and 28 balls.  Now here's the next pitch.  The batter swings and connects.  It's a long, high Cardinal out to mortal field.  But St. Peter is coming up fast and has it for the second out.  The next batter up is John Calvin, the Cleveland Roman-stop.  Here's the pitch...and it's a hit...a short ground ball to third posterity.  Martin Luther scoops it up and throws it to first base for the out, and the game is over.  And the Yankees move into second place in the noted league.

-- Words chosen at random from the Institutes 4.7.28

Mother and Son

Mother: Junior, you come right inside.  You're late, and your supper is getting absurd.
Son: Aw, Mom.  I've been out playing Sense Ball with some of the other devils.
M: Well, get inside.  And don't forget to wipe your muddy churches.
S: Okay, Mom.  Can I watch television while I eat?  There's an impious new show on.
M: No, not whiel you're eating your idol.
S: But Mom! "Have Temple Will Travel" is on.
M: No, sir.  You've been watching too much television.  You're liable to strain your licenses.
S: Gee whiz! That's my favorite program.  It stars Tim Challies as the gunslinger.
M: Never mind.  God and wash your College of Cardinals.
S: Aw, Mom.  I don't have to.  I'm devoid.
M: don't talk back to me, young man, or I'll have to speak to your ear.

From Institutes 4.7.29

One more: Father Goose Rhymes

Old Mother Hubbard went to the lead
To get her antique Romanist a bone.
When she got there, the bull was respectful,
And so her complete dog had none.

Jack and Jill went up the church
To fetch a tomb of water.
Jack fell down and broke his enemy,
And Jill came tumbling after.

There was a little girl and she had a little curl
Right in the middle of her court.
And when she was vicegerent, she was very, very opposed,
And when she was bad, she was successive.

There was a spiritual woman
Who transferred in a shoe.
She had so many priests
She didn't know what to do.

Hi, diddle, diddle, the Pontiff and the fiddle,
The Antichrist jumped over the one.
The little dog laughed to see such sport,
And the dish ran away with the defection.

Little Miss Muffet sat on a charge,
Eating her curds and Papacy.
Along came a meaning and sat down beside her
And frightened Miss Muffet away.

Little Boy Blue come blow your tuning fork.
The sheep's in the temple,
The cow's in the soul.
Where is the spiritual boy who looks after the sheep?
He's under the kingdom, fast asleep.

Mary had little serpent.
Its church was white as snow.
And everywhere that Mary went
Her mask was sure to show.

Institutes 4.7.25 and 26

The internet

Oh internet, oh internet
Why do you quit me once a month?
Oh internet, oh internet
How can I blog if you're out to lunch?

My head was full of polemics
But now they're floating without words
Oh internet, oh internet
How can they e'er find structure?

The Holy Spirit

For many weeks now, I have been bewailing John MacArthur's disdain for infant baptism.  However, he's still my favorite famous preacher.  I had a conversation with a guy last week about what it means to live by the Holy Spirit, and lo and behold, on You Tube, Johnny Mac had a sermon about the Holy Spirit.  It was so timely and I took notes and then made this video.  I don't have the caliber of MacArthur, but I do have a YouTube account.  And there was much rejoicing.

Listening to Records: Wexford Carol

I remember ages ago I had this compilation CD from Christian singers put out by BEC records.  On it Switchfoot had a song called "Evergreen."  It was a wonderful song.  If anybody can find it, I'd love to see it on YouTube.

But alas, it's not on there today, so I'll go with the Wexford Carol as sung by Moya Brennan, Enya's sister, who I'm sure is still a Christian.

Here is the text:

Good people all, this Christmas time,
Consider well and bear in mind
What our good God for us has done
In sending his beloved son
With Mary holy we should pray,
To God with love this Christmas Day
In Bethlehem upon that morn,
There was a blessed Messiah born

The night before that happy tide
The noble Virgin and her guide
Were long time seeking up and down
To find a lodging in the town
But mark right well what came to pass
From every door repelled, alas
As was foretold, their refuge all
Was but a humble ox's stall

Near Bethlehem did shepherds keep
Their flocks of lambs and feeding sheep
To whom God's angel did appear
Which put the shepherds in great fear
Arise and go, the angels said
To Bethlehem, be not afraid
For there you'll find, this happy morn
A princely babe, sweet Jesus, born

With thankful heart and joyful mind
The shepherds went the babe to find
And as God's angel had foretold
They did our Saviour Christ behold
Within a manger he was laid
And by his side a virgin maid
Attending on the Lord of Life
Who came on earth to end all strife

Friday Facts on a Friday

Today was great.  Last night my lawyer that I intern with called and said that I don't have to come in because they were doing training.

I did ask her if I could research something in my local library.

I ended up at Chick-fil-A studying for Monday's exam when she texted me, in multiple texts, this divorce for me to research.

I did that for an hour and a half and realized that the Conyers library, though decent, is just nothing without a key digest.  And I still had to use Westlaw later on to shephardize the cases I found.

I didn't think I'd be able to go, but I was so happy that I could go to the party at Refuge for the end of Ashlee's internship.  It was so good to see all those women and see Ashlee before she volunteers there only twice a week and on days that I don't volunteer. 

I hope I'm studied up for Monday's test.  At least tomorrow I'll take a break to make and eat cookies at another friend's cookie swap.

I'd better remind myself to eat light until then.

Wet Christmas

I'm dreaming of a wet Christmas
Because in Georgia it don't snow
It gets just as cold and just as old
And next day the sun will come and glow

I'm dreaming of a wet Christmas
So I can crank the heat up high
Snuggle in my Snuggie and sigh
Thanking God my Christmases aren't white