Friday Family - Christmas 2012

We've been having a great time with friends and family this week. It's been so nice having all our kids with us this Christmas. Ty and Ali (and sons), Page and Sara, and Jack and Sarah Jean. We've also been blessed to have lots of friends stopping by. Pictured below are my grandsons, Soren and Osten, with their buddies, Ian and Ben, having some sledding fun at Hanson Park in New Brighton.

The biggest news of our Christmas is that my daughter-in-law, Ali, has just accepted a job at Northwestern College and so they're working out plans for moving back from Nashville. So glad to have them back close to us. Tyler will continue to do a lot of work in Nashville and touring, but he'll be able to be more selective. It's going to be another interesting year for their family, one with more change and new possibilities.

We're looking forward to celebrating Tyler's birthday on New Year's Eve. Page and Jack, the Cactus Blossoms, will be playing music in Marfa, TX that night.

Hope you've been having some good times with your family and friends this week too!

Thursday Thinking - Searching for Something

I shudder to think of how many Google searches I entered in 2012. What's the most important search you made in 2012. Did you find it? My most important searches required more than Google has to offer. But, I'll admit, Google really has been a big help.  :-)

Wednesday Words - 150 Years Later

 “Wakan Tanka, Great Mystery, teach me how to trust my heart, my mind, my intuition, my inner knowing, the senses of my body, the blessings of my spirit. Teach me to trust these things so that I may enter my sacred space and love beyond my fear, and thus walk in balance with the passing of each glorious sun.”
― Lakota Prayer

Standing in Solidarity with the Dakota (by Marque Jensen)

Today marks the 150th Anniversary of the largest mass execution in U.S. History.

Tuesday Tome - Gospel of Luke

LUKE 2:1-20 

2 ^1-5 About that time Caesar Augustus ordered a census to be taken throughout the Empire. This was the first census when Quirinius was governor of Syria. Everyone had to travel to his own ancestral hometown to be accounted for. So Joseph went from the Galilean town of Nazareth up to Bethlehem in Judah, David’s town, for the census. As a descendant of David, he had to go there. He went with Mary, his fiancée, who was pregnant.

^6-7 While they were there, the time came for her to give birth. She gave birth to a son, her firstborn. She wrapped him in a blanket and laid him in a manger, because there was no room in the hostel.

^8-12 There were sheepherders camping in the neighborhood. They had set night watches over their sheep. Suddenly, God’s angel stood among them and God’s glory blazed around them. They were terrified. The angel said, “Don’t be afraid. I’m here to announce a great and joyful event that is meant for everybody, worldwide: A Savior has just been born in David’s town, a Savior who is Messiah and Master. This is what you’re to look for: a baby wrapped in a blanket and lying in a manger.”

^13-14 At once the angel was joined by a huge angelic choir singing God’s praises:

Glory to God in the heavenly heights,
Peace to all men and women on earth who please him.

^15-18 As the angel choir withdrew into heaven, the sheepherders talked it over. “Let’s get over to Bethlehem as fast as we can and see for ourselves what God has revealed to us.” They left, running, and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in the manger. Seeing was believing. They told everyone they met what the angels had said about this child. All who heard the sheepherders were impressed.

^19-20 Mary kept all these things to herself, holding them dear, deep within herself. The sheepherders returned and let loose, glorifying and praising God for everything they had heard and seen. It turned out exactly the way they’d been told!

Excerpt from The Message by Eugene Peterson.

Monday Music - O Holy Night

Have a blessed Christmas Eve!
I'll be spending mine with family and church.



O Holy Night!
The stars are brightly shining,
It is the night of our dear Saviours birth;
Long lay the world in sin and error pining,
'Til He appeared and the soul felt its worth.
A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices,
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn;
Fall on your knees,
Oh, hear the angels voices!
O night divine, O night when Christ was born!
O night, O holy night,
O night divine!

Truly He taught us to love one another;
His law is love and His gospel is peace;
Chains shall He break, for the slave is our brother,
And in His name all oppression shall cease.
Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we,
Let all within us praise His holy name;
Christ is the Lord,
Oh, praise His name forever!
His pow'r and glory evermore proclaim!
His pow'r and glory evermore proclaim!

Sunday Supplication - Aware of Your Presence

Heavenly Father, make us aware of your presence in our lives and purify our hearts and minds. We pray that we would find our identity and our home in your Son Jesus Christ as we await the Day of his appearing. Sustain us and shape us by the power of your Holy Spirit.

Thank you for your grace and mercy. Lead us away from temptation.  Deliver us from evil.  Forgive us our sins. And give us the grace and courage to forgive others just as we you have forgiven us.

O God, thank you for your promise to be with your people. Give us an awareness of your presence with us today. Grant us the strength and the faith we need to face the challenges and circumstances of our lives.

When we are frightened, guard our hearts and minds with the peace of Christ Jesus. Protect us from discouragement, and encourage us, by your Holy Spirit, through your Word, your people, your promises, and all that is beautiful and true.

Through Christ, we pray. Amen.

Saturday Smile - N. T. Wright Limericks

There is a contest for theology nerds going on at Tony Jones' Theoblogy site. The winners will receive the nerdy and kitschy prize of Theologian Trading Cards. To enter, all you have to do is submit a limerick about theologian. NT Wright, a favorite of mine, was one of the suggested theologians to write about, so here are the two limericks I sent in...



RE: Surprised by Hope
On the day that you breathe your last breath,
You'll live on, but there's more, don't forget
That your hope and delight
(says our dear Mister Wright)
Is your life AFTER life after death!

RE: Simply Jesus
The Kingdom's begun, Jesus stated,
And Tom Wright says we should celebrate it
As we work and we pray
Toward the Full Kingdom Day--
Eschatology inaugurated!

Friday Friends - Marque Jensen

A week ago last Thursday, I wrote about the 150th anniversary of the US-Dakota War of 1862. In that post titled Lest We Forget, I gave a few helpful resources for learning more about this sad chapter of Minnesota-Dakota history.

Just a few days after writing that post, I learned that my friend, Marque Jensen, is riding with this year's Dakota 38 Memorial Ride. I'm the kind of guy that thinks this would be a great thing to do, but Marque is the kind of guy who actually does it. He's a thoughtful and gracious person, and I'm really thankful to know he is a part of this important reconciliatory commemoration.

Marque is blogging about this experience at mmjmpls.org. The ride began on December 10 in Lower Brule, SD and concludes on December 26 in Mankato, MN at the site where 38 Dakota men were hanged in the largest mass execution in U.S. history. Find out more about the closing ceremony here.

Photo by Kierston Dunbar Chase © Used by Permission. FineArtAmerica.com

The Dakota 38 Memorial Ride began in 2005 after Lakota Spiritual Leader Jim Miller had a dream in which he retraced the route of his ancestors, riding on horseback, until he came to the place where the hanging took place in Mankato.  The Dakota 38 Memorial ride serves as a means to promote healing and reconciliation, and to help communities along the route learn about this tragic and sadly neglected part of our regional history.

Here is the trailer of a documentary film about the Dakota 38:


CLICK HERE to watch the entire film in HD.

Thursday Thinking - Our Culture of Violence

In the wake of the Newtown, CT tragedy, there is much to grieve, much to consider, and much to do. The prophet Jeremiah wrote, "The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it (Jer. 17:9)?" While we contemplate ways to address and prevent such tragedies in the future, I pray that our society will become more realistic and honest about the ways we've been giving our hearts over to the very violence we say we want to escape.

Journalist Gwynne Dyer alludes to this in his recent op-ed piece, Culture of Personal Violence to Blame --

What happened in Sandy Hook, Conn., Friday is the seventh massacre this year in which four or more people were killed by a lone shooter. The fact that this time 20 of the victims were little girls and boys six- or seven-years-old has caused a wave of revulsion in the United States, but it is not likely to lead to new laws on gun controls. It’s not even clear that new laws would help.

Half the firearms in the entire world are in the United States. The rate of murders by gunfire in the United States is almost 20 times higher than the average rate in 22 other populous, high-income countries where the frequency of other crimes is about the same. There is clearly a connection between these two facts, but it is not necessarily simple cause-and-effect.

Here’s one reason to suspect that it’s not that simple: the American rate for murders of all kinds — shooting, strangling, stabbing, poisoning, pushing people under buses, etc. — is seven times higher than it is in those other 22 rich countries. It can’t just be guns.

Click Here to Read the Complete Column

Society will not change, unless we have the courage to make real changes. Those changes will need to address guns and security precautions and treatment programs, of course, but they will also need to address something more. Real change demands that we get honest about our hearts.

Wednesday Words - "More Loud and Deep"

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, distressed by the tragic death of his wife, Francis, and the war wounds of his son, Charles, wrote the words to “Christmas Bells” on Christmas Day in 1863. This was one of the darkest times in American history, and while the words of the poem reveal his profound despair and grief, the triumphant message of “peace on earth, good will to men" gives witness to the faith and hope that sustained Longfellow.


I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old, familiar carols play,
    and wild and sweet
    The words repeat
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
    Had rolled along
    The unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Till ringing, singing on its way,
The world revolved from night to day,
    A voice, a chime,
    A chant sublime
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Then from each black, accursed mouth
The cannon thundered in the South,
    And with the sound
    The carols drowned
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

It was as if an earthquake rent
The hearth-stones of a continent,
    And made forlorn
    The households born
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And in despair I bowed my head;
"There is no peace on earth," I said;
    "For hate is strong,
    And mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!"

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
"God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
    The Wrong shall fail,
    The Right prevail,
With peace on the earth, good-will to men."

Tuesday Tome - Simply Jesus (Part 2 - B)

Simply Jesus by N. T. Wright is the selection for my next book club at Valley Christian Church. Hardback copies of the book are now available for you to purchase at our church's resource center ($18). All the details about my upcoming book club can be found HERE.

In the second section of the book, Wright describes the message and ministry of Jesus. Here is an excerpt from chapter 9 which I hope will give you a little sense of what Simply Jesus is like. Please consider reading the book with me and joining our book club.

When Jesus healed people, when he celebrated parties with all and sundry, when offered forgiveness freely to people as if he were replacing the Temple itself with his own work--in all these ways it was clear, and he intended it to be clear, that this wasn't just a foretaste of a future reality. This was reality itself. This was what it looked like when God was in charge. God's kingdom was coming, as he taught his followers to pray, "on earth as in heaven." On one occasion, indeed, Jesus said sharply to those who were accusing him of being in league with the devil that, if it was indeed by God's own Spirit that he was casting out demons, "then God's kingdom has come upon [them]" (Luke 11:20). A great deal of what Jesus was doing and saying only makes sense on the assumption that he really did believe that God was already becoming king in the new way he had promised. It was happening, and this is what it would look like.

But there are constant hints, throughout Jesus's public career, that the coming of the kingdom would depend on future events yet to be realized. He speaks again and again of a coming cataclysm--a great disaster, a judgment, terrible events that would turn the world upside down. He speaks, in a famous passage, of the sun and the moon being darkened and the stars falling from heaven (Matt. 24:29, quoting Isa. 13:10). He speaks, notoriously, of the "coming of the son of man" (Matt. 24:30, quoting Dan. 7:13). So how can the kingdom be both present and future? What was Jesus trying to say? How does this affect our view of the "campaign" we have seen him carrying on to this point?

In order to answer this, we must come forward from our earlier glance at the stories of ancient Israel and look very briefly at four men, two before Jesus and two after, whose careers embody something of the same present-and-future tension. That will clear the way to a fresh understanding of what Jesus was really all about. [pp. 105-106]

Monday Music - Two Old Holiday Favorites

Sunday Supplication - Recognizing Christ as King

O Lord, move in our hearts with your great might. Work in our lives with your power. Through your boundless grace and mercy, deliver us from the sins that entangle and destroy us.

Thank you for the forgiveness and renewal you have given to us through Christ Jesus. As we follow in His way, help to extend that same forgiveness to those who have sinned against us. Help your Church to be a community of grace. Make us a people able to make a redemptive and healing difference in our world.

We thank you for the forgiveness and life we have through Jesus, and the promise that whoever believes in him will not perish, but have everlasting life. May all who seek you find you, O God! Help us to recognize Christ as King, and help us to make room for his saving and shaping work in our lives.

It is in his Name that we pray all these things. Amen.

Saturday Smile - The Lives of Snowmen