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My God Is So Small (Christmas vs A Theology of Glory)

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYhxC1kJCBc]

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Rising Sun (Luke 1:78-79)

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FPBEyfQVts]

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Good News of Great Joy (Luke 2:10)

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WzxZZnea34]

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How Long O Lord Till Christmas (Christmas in OT)

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HliCxI0I9MU]

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Fell Down A Hole (A Theology of Incarnation)

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fr5o0Mw5Llc]

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From the Squalor (for guitar)

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zMjYmSDdII]

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First there was this extract from a sermon...

Then, the following year, we hastily filmed a poetic version. The sound didn't work at the time, which is why we had to dub the voice later...

10ofThose then released a kinetic-typographied version...

And here's a new live version:

Please share it on Facebook and/or use it in your Christmas services this year.

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Thanks to Fanny Crosby

Three tethered togather forever as one,
The Father and Spirit embracing the Son,
Before and beyond and beneath and above,
Our God is a Family united in love.

Praise the Lord, Praise the Lord,
Let the earth hear His voice!
Praise the Lord, Praise the Lord,
Let the peoples rejoice!
O come to the Father, through Jesus the Son,
Be filled by the Spirit with all Christ has done.

The world is a story that’s written by two:
King Adam fell badly, King Jesus renewed.
First Adam brought darkness and death and a curse,
But Jesus came second – the fall to reverse.

Praise the Lord, Praise the Lord,
Let the earth hear His voice!
Praise the Lord, Praise the Lord,
Let the peoples rejoice!
O come to the Father, through Jesus the Son,
Be filled by the Spirit with all Christ has done.

First born into Adam but now we can be
United to Jesus, adopted, set free.
As one with the Son we are given new birth,
His Father, His Spirit and heaven on earth!

Praise the Lord, Praise the Lord,
Let the earth hear His voice!
Praise the Lord, Praise the Lord,
Let the peoples rejoice!
O Come to the Father, through Jesus the Son,
Be filled by the Spirit with all Christ has done.

[youtube=http://youtu.be/M-jv8ruZxkI]

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And here are some other rounds from the past:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WzxZZnea34]

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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpBPEQlEf4Y]

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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FPBEyfQVts]

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A round based on Luke 1:78-79.

Best on full screen with headphones.  And do join it.  That's the point...

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FPBEyfQVts]

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The glory of the bloodied God
His fruitfulness in shame
Stooped lower than all men have trod
In torment in the flame

The writhing worm, disjointed dry
Rejected from His birth
Thrust groaning into Satan's sky
Accursed by heaven and earth

Hell's blackest cloak enfolds with death
From Pinnacle to pit
To choke the Source of Living Breath
Extinguish all that's lit

The Mighty Man at war cries out
It echoes ‘gainst the sky
Resounding as a futile shout
Within a victory cry

Creation torn from Head to toe
His body out of joint
The Rock that splits is split in two
Creation to anoint

Our Jonah hurled as recompense
Into abysmal depths
The beast that swallows Innocence
Is swallowed by His death

Divine appeasing blood poured out
Divinely pleasing scent
While man appraises with his snout
Declares it death's descent

Then crowned in curse, enthroned on wood
My God nailed to the tree
The reigning blood, that cleansing flood
Is opened up for me.

Thanks to Vincent Marty-Terrain for translating!

On dit que tout là-haut vivrait un grand barbu,
Soi-disant très joyeux, mais... difficile à dire :
Je ne l'ai jamais vu, en fait, et toi non plus.
Mais les enfants y croient, ça peut bien nous suffire.

On le dit solitaire, et puis plein de mystère,
Pas le temps de parler, il a bien trop à faire !
Et s'il vit en reclus tout au long de l'année,
Nous, on est bien content qu'il se montre discret.

Quand on s'adresse à lui, pour nos besoins urgents,
Jamais de réponse : qui sait s'il nous entend ?
On veut être sages, raisonnement simpliste,
Pour mériter nos places sur sa belle liste.

Et peut-être qu'un jour, mais c'est sans garantie,
Il nous donnera tout, pourvu qu'on soit gentils.
Alors moi j'en ai marre, et je crie au scandale :
C'est un distributeur qui nous fait la morale !

Ce coup de gueule peut paraître un peu étrange
Mais c'est pas le Père Noël qui me dérange,
Aussi drôle qu'il soit, et il est bien curieux,
Je m'attaque en fait à l'idée qu'on a de Dieu.

C'est Dieu que l'on voit comme un vieux barbu distant,
Père Noël antique, invisible géant
"Il te voit quand tu dors, il te vois éveillé,
Il regarde et attends pour te voir te planter".

Comme au Père Noël, nos souhaits, on lui envoie,
On veut bien ses cadeaux, mais lui on n'en veut pas !
C'est la vérité bien qu'on ne la reconnaisse :
On peut l'embellir, mais ce n'est que du business.

Il faut que nous soyons gentils pendant l'année
Pour avoir un bonus lorsqu'elle est terminée.
“Donne-nous nos cadeaux, on a été bien sages !
Puis va-t'en, on a tout ce qu'on voulait, vieux mage!”

Car le Père Noël est piquant, singulier,
Mais personne ne voudrait qu'il reste à dîner !
Je suis sûr que c'est un hôte haut en couleur,
Pourtant nous craignons son discours révélateur.

Voilà donc ce que l'on croit du Père Noël
Et c'est l'idée qu'on a de ce Dieu dans le ciel.
Mais Noël nous illumine de son éclat,
Car voilà : le Dieu Très-Haut est né ici-bas.

Il vint en personne au sein de notre misère:
Dieu le Fils, lui, est devenu Dieu notre Frère.
Il vint à nos côtés, pour y être à jamais,
Lui, notre Emmanuel, notre Dieu incarné.

Ce Dieu né humblement bouleverse nos clichés:
Il descend de son ciel, il est destitué,
Bercé dans la paille, bébé gesticulant,
Car pour nous sauver c'est notre place qu'il prend.

Le vieux Noël donne les cadeaux et repart,
Jésus vient pour nous connaître, il vient pour nous voir;
Le vieux Noël récompense les enfants sages,
Jésus guérit, pardonne, nous sort de nos cages.

Si tu n'aimes pas Dieu, je crois savoir pourquoi…
Tu le prends pour ce Père Noël de gala.
Tu fais bien de rejeter cet épouvantail !
Mais regarde, aujourd'hui, ce Dieu né sur la paille.

Adaptation du poème de Glen Scrivener,
par Vincent Marty-Terrain.

It's very rushed. I'd only just written it when we filmed, so didn't memorize it.  We shot it in haste and had big trouble with the sound.  We'll try to do a proper version for next year.  But... you get the idea.  Share it around if you like:

 

They say there’s a big man who lives far away,
Supposedly jolly but it’s hard to say.
I’ve never seen him, and neither have you.
But the children believe, and I spose that’ll do.

He’s known as a loner, with many a quirk
No time for a chat, he’s embroiled in his work
He keeps to himself, for most of the year,
I reckon we’re grateful he doesn’t appear.

We send him requests, for particular needs,
But we never hear back, who knows if he heeds?
We try to be good, give his arm a twist,
To merit our place on his blessed little list.

And maybe one day if we do what we should,
He’ll give us our things, so long as we’re good.
I’ve had it to here, I’m calling his bluff:
He’s a weird moralistic dispenser of stuff!

Granted, this rant is a strange one to pick
But listen I’m not really after St Nick
As strange as he is, and Santa is odd,
In fact I’m attacking most folks’ view of God.

It’s God who we see as a distant Big Guy –
An ancient, invisible, St Nick in the Sky.
“He’s sees you asleep, He knows when you wake
He’s watching and waiting to spot your mistake.”

And just like with Santa, requests we hand in,
We want all his things but we don’t want him.
That’s our connection with old Father Christmas.
We might dress it up, it’s essentially business.

Throughout the year, good behaviour’s our onus
When Christmas rolls round we’re expecting our bonus.
“Just leave us the gifts Nick, we’ve been good enough!
And then please push on, now we’ve got all your stuff!”

I mean Santa is interesting, curious, quirky
But no-one wants him to share their Turkey!
I’m sure his “ho, ho, hos” are sublime,
But I fear what he’ll say once he's drunk our mulled wine.

That’s old St Nick, but the picture rings true,
It’s how we imagine what God is like too.
But Christmas resounds with a stunning “Not so!”
The One from on high was born down below.

To a world in need He did not send another.
God the Son became God our Brother.
He drew alongside, forever to dwell,
Our God in the flesh, Immanuel.

This God in the Manger uproots all our notions:
A heavenly stooping, divine demotion.
Born in a stable, wriggling on straw,
Fully committed to life in the raw.

Santa gives things and then goes away.
Jesus shows up, to befriend and to stay.
Santa rewards those with good behaviour.
Jesus comes near to the broken as Saviour.

If you don’t like God, I think I know why…
You probably think He’s St Nick in the Sky.
You're right to reject that far-away stranger!
This Christmas look down to the God in the manger.

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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IokTM3PEGiM]

Based on this former rant...

[youtube="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXYcZ3y65Bo"]

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