If Jonny Cash and the Violent Femmes collaborated on a Christmas song for kids about OT hope with reference to Genesis 3:15 (and they'd been listening to a lot of 'House of the Rising Sun')...
The song only really gets going when it becomes a round (about 4mins in), but our church enjoyed singing it this morning. So I can vouch that it actually 'works.'
I particularly enjoy singing:
Gonna crush that snake
Gonna stomp his head
Though he strike my heel
Gonna kill him dead
Words and chords below...
WORDS:
“How long O Lord till Christmas
How long till Jesus appears.”
“Hold on, My People He’s coming
Pass on this hope throughout the years.”
Gonna give my Son
To the human race
Gonna bring them back
Into my grace.
Pass on this hope throughout the years
Gonna crush that snake
Gonna stomp his head
Though he strike my heal
Gonna kill him dead
Pass on this hope throughout the years
Gonna wait for Him
Through thick and thin
Gonna set my hope
On the Coming King
Pass on this hope throughout the years
CHORDS: (CAPO 5) Am E Dsus (12 bar blues)
You'll figure it out.
.
Fantastic. Even if the snake strike's Jesus' "heal"... (Sorry Glen - spotting typos is a spiritual gift of mine. Not saying what sort of spirit, mind!)
Doh! Ah well, can't be bothered re-doing it.
by the way the snake "strikes" not "strike's". ;-)
Love it! Perfect for advent!
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Christmas is a diversion!
Christ as "THE FIRST AND THE LAST"-born to be universally known in his death on the cross (John 8:28; 2 Cor. 5:16-17; Rev. 1: 17-18) is infinitely greater than the one born in a manger!
Double Doh! I'm normally a punctuation geek so that's a blow to the pride :)
How's this for an idea. Make the third 'verse' be the words of the Spirit. Then you have Father, Son and Spirit all speaking. Then the round could finish with everyone singing 'our' verse ("Gonna wait for him / Through thick and thin..."). I can imagine the whole song being sung with loads of music, then the last verse, in unison, sung without instruments. Could be powerful!
woleyesus - Christmas is essential for Easter - it's not a distraction, or a diversion. Neither feast needs to be celebrated at certain times of year or in certain ways (and much of that is a diversion, and much of that is a help), but what's behind them - incarnation, crucifixion and resurrection - all need to be celebrated.
I cannot see how the one born in the manger is any less than the one who died on the cross, given they are the same person.
I can't see how the one who died on the Cross and was raised on the third day is of any significance unless he is also the one born in a manger.
The Christmas story takes me to the Easter story as the culmination, the pinnacle, of the story of what happened in Bethlehem - the reason why it happened; but before I get there, I need that Christmas story, as without it the Easter story of cross and resurrection is robbed of it's power - it is meaningless unless God became Man.
Oh, woldeyesus! I'm shocked! Shocked I say! :-O That after first denying the Trinity, you now deny that "the Word became flesh and dwelt among us" Pul-eeze! In denying the Trinity, you've denied the Incarnation already!
"Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.” Read John 7:25-31, where Jesus spoke in the temple to those who were likewise confused about him.
The hour is now late. Christmas is coming! I fear that it'll be Scrooge's gruel and the Grinch this year. No Santa for you! :'(
THROUGH THE EXCLUSIVE TESTIMONY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, precious few were given to personally know the one born in the manger; as compared to all peoples given to know the same who died on the cross as Lord over death and life at his defining moment, "It is finished"! No difference could be more significant both in terms of conclusiveness, scale and timelessness! (John 19: 30-37; Matt. 27: 50-56)
Dear woldeyesus,
There can be no greater sign of the fact you have been "taken captive by hollow and deceptive philosophy" than here in your denial that the fullness of deity dwells bodily in Jesus (Colossians 2:8-9).
You are in grave error
John B, many thanks for your expression of concern.
God forbid that I deny the Incarnation! At the same time, I see a progressive hierarchy of values which we are overlooking.
Without the Incarnation, there is no "seeing the Son of Man go back up to the place where he was before" --by far, our greatest promise!
What I am echoing is,
"What gives life is God's Spirit; man's power is of no use at all". (John 6: 62-63).
"Each of us has received a special gift in proportion to what Christ has given. As the scripture says, 'When he went up to the very heights, he took many captives with him; he gave gifts to mankind.'" Eph. 4: 7-8
Thanks again!
P.S.
The greatest gift Christ gave to mankind is firsthand knowledge of God by way of re-introducing to man the once lost "image of God", i.e., immortality, in Christ's perfect and diacritical death on the cross (Luke 23:43) completely devalued in our day!
Isn't it written in the eternal Law, "You are gods" (Psalm 82:6) and explained by Jesus to mean, "God called those people gods, the people to whom his message was given"? (John 10: 34-35).
It appears that we are not taking God seriously enough! If somebody is in "grave error", therefore, it's not me.
John B,
Apart from the "fruit of the tree of life", a.k.a., the cross of Christ, there is no firsthand knowledge of God, whatsoever, in the theological construct of the doctrine of trinity based on fragments of Scriptures and destined to you know what (Rev. 22: 18-19).
May the grace of the Lord Jesus be with all God's people!
woldeyesus,
I have no problem with Psalm 86. We have the fullness of God in Christ (Col 2:10). But only because that fullness dwells bodily in Christ (Col 2:9). And we are in Him - incorporated into His body.
Speaking of which - what is your relationship to the body of Christ?
AN IMPORTANT CORRECTION
I used the term "diversion" (without justification) in describing Christmas as a contemporary Christian tradition robbing Christ's death on the cross of its power. I regret it.
Christ's birth is, indeed, a PRELUDE to his powerful self-revelation as "the way, the truth and the life" in his perfect and diacritical death as the grand FINALE at his last word, "It is finished". (John 14: 6, 21; 18:37; 19: 30-37)
If we have not lost sight of the drift, I will take back all I wrote.
Glen, my relationship to the body of Christ is primarily one of imitation of his divine nature, i.e., being born again from God's "life-giving Spirit" reproduced with eternal life from insight into his perfect and diacritical death on the cross (John 3: 14-15).
As far as I am concerned, there is no other body which Christ, the "God of the living" called "my church". The open-ended list of "living" notably includes Moses, Elijah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, etc. (Matt. 16: 13-28; 22: 29-33)
The question is are we on the roll call of divine brotherhood? The so-called local church is as illegitimate as the other woman outside marriage!
Dear woldeyesus - I don't see how you can be reconciled to God through Christ without being reconciled to others in His body. (Eph 2:11-22) If you belong to Jesus you "are being built together" with others into the Lord's Temple. "Living stones" as Peter puts it. But both Ephesians 2 (not to mention chapter 4) and 1 Peter 2 expect you to be part of the visible community of faith. This will be your witness to the world (and even to the spiritual powers (Eph 3:10).
I can understand that you might have had some terrible experiences with church. But it is essential to the Christian life. Can Christ really be your Head if you are not part of His body?
Dear Glen,
“Believe me, ... ; the time will come when people will not worship the Father either on this mountain or in Jerusalem. … The time is coming and is already here when by the power of God’s Spirit people will worship the Father as he really is offering him the true worship that he wants. God is Spirit and only by the power of his Spirit can people worship him as he really is.”
(JESUS CHRIST, John 4: 21, 23-24)
If one is familiar enough with the JESUS AGENDA in its entirety, one will know how faith in and worship of God, as he really is, is really possible only outside religions (including Christianity and the local churches) irrespective of any terrible experiences they create. AMEN.
Hi woldeyesus,
In your comment that begins with "AN IMPORTANT CORRECTION", I'm very glad to see that you're doing some rethinking. But actually, I don't think that there's any need to correct your initial statement that "Christmas is a diversion!". We have liberty in Christ as to the observance of feast days. This is all a matter of conviction. "Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind."
It's the second part of your statement that you need to repent of when you say, "Christ ... is infinitely greater than the one born in a manger!" This is a denial of Christ, and by this unbelief you willfully separate yourself from his church, the bride of Christ, who you claim is illegitimate and an adulterer. This is the grave error that you've advocated. The observance of a church festival is just flower arranging by comparison.
From your initial denial of the Incarnation, you've now modified your view to say that it's at least a (seemingly overrated) PRELUDE to Christ's crucifixion, as though these were somehow disconnected events at odds with each other. The eternally begotten Son of God, incarnate, crucified, risen, ascended and coming again in glory is the Christ. You've expressed your plea here that "the grace of the Lord Jesus be with all God’s people!", but there's no grace to be found in the cross of the Jesus of your conjecture.
Athanasius, the great defender of the faith who stood against the Arian heresy in the early church, famously articulated all that is at stake in the mystery of the Incarnation when he said, "the Son of God became man so that we might become God."
Please explore Christianity. There are local churches who will gladly help you with this, without your prior assent to the beliefs that you find to be so objectionable.
Hi John B,
Between the "tree of life" and the "tree of knowledge of what is good and what is bad", I am more than happy to continue eating the fruit from the former, a.k.a., the cross of knowledge and wisdom of Christ, i.e., direct source of abundant life and sustainable faith.
"The temple is the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb". (Rev. 21:22)
Hi Glen
I really like this and would love to use it.
I run a kid's club by myself and am completely useless musically. I am very good at the ipod!! Is there any chance of putting this in a form I can get onto my ipod?
Thanks
Karen