Dear Doug Wilson,

Please stop being so prolific. You posted this video on Dec 24th 2010 and I only watched it just now.

What do you think?

This is me with my oldest two daughters Madeleine and Olivia at the Krahn Christmas gathering on Monday. Enjoy, Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtaSyII-RxU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2P7ZggLYo2g

Take a look at this video. It contains clips from an Oprah Winfrey show, several game shows, and numerous religious gatherings.

Aside from the video quality it’s difficult to tell which ones are from where. Andrew Peterson‘s song “Invisible God” plays over top of the clips. It makes for an interesting juxtaposition.

There are a lot of scenes of worship here. Lots of people worshiping, and numerous things and people being worshiped.

What do you think?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftd1EOgOFhs

“As for me, I don’t really know what spirituality means, but I know if you’re weeping over a sweater, you don’t either.” – Bill Maher

It looks like there’s a new player in town when it comes to creative video productions.

I’ve already shown you the excellent “A Social Network Christmas“… now, here’s one that we’ll be showing in our Christmas morning services called “The Paradox of Christmas”.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kH7VLXOryCk

You can purchase this video at the Igniter Media site here.

My latest “Worship Matters” column in Christian Week:

By Michael Krahn  |  ChristianWeek Columnist

That Christmas is a season of Christian worship probably isn’t news to you. For all its materialism, uninhibited spending and consumer debt, there is still some residual knowledge of the fact that the reason we have Christmas is Jesus Christ.

Some retailers, advertisers and other secular institutions are waging war on the word “Christmas” itself, hoping to rid the season of its Christian roots, thereby making it more palatable for our multicultural society and more profitable for retailers.

Some Christians are a little ticked off about this—but not so ticked off, it seems, that they take time out of their participation in materialism, uninhibited spending and consumer debt to do much about it. Maybe next year. This year, I need to get to Wal-Mart by 4 a.m. to get that piece of plastic little Jimmy so desperately wants.

In other words, the reason for the season was lost long before these “secularists” waged war on the season’s name.

You may also know that this soon-to-be-secularized holiday has pagan roots anyway.
The response from everyone except the most ardent neo-Puritan is, “Yeah, so what? It doesn’t mean that anymore”—so we carry on with the celebration.

But this got me to thinking about that despised and recently past day of celebration that is Halloween. What does Halloween mean anymore? If it really is a night about worshiping Satan, I have to say—Satanists are failing as badly at making it a significant day of worship as Christians are failing at Christmas.

Secularize Christmas? Christianize Halloween!
So if Christmas is on its way to being secularized, why not try to Christianize Halloween? Who’s to say it can’t become a day of Christian worship in the future? It seems like there may be a trade-off in the works.

As with many other customs and holidays, we allow the world to dictate to us what they’re about. Usually, we acquiesce to the culture around us and by all definitions of worship, we worship. We worship created things rather than their creator. This goes for Halloween as well as Christmas.

The world says Halloween is a night to glorify evil; I choose to use it as a night to build relationships with my neighbours. The world says Christmas is an opportunity—or more like an obligation—to wallow in the trough of materialism; I choose to use it as an opportunity to glorify the Saviour of the world by acknowledging His birth, His life, His ultimate sacrifice and His returning to life as the “firstborn from the dead” as Paul calls Him in Colossians 1:18.

Of course an effort to re-Christianize Christmas would also be worthwhile. To do this we’ll need to rid it of the overwhelmingly glossy cuteness it has come to embody—Rockwellian scenes of bliss, doe-eyed Precious Moments© angels singing sweetly in the sky and all that. The commercialization of Christmas is a tragedy; our continued, overzealous participation in it is too.

An Undomesticated Christmas
And to disinfect and domesticate the event is a disservice. We can’t understand the scandal of Jesus birth, life, death and resurrection unless we see it in its historical context. That context was a far cry from the cutesy, glowing, serene scenes we’re often presented with. Mary’s labour was difficult; Jesus’ cries were that of a newborn infant; Joseph had real concerns about his reputation; Herod massacred many children in search of this one. And so on.

Neither of these celebrations may have Christian origins, but as far as it’s up to my family and me, they’ll both have a Christian future. My thinking is: we Christianized one pagan event, why not another? Why can’t we mount a subversion campaign that yields the eventual result of Christianizing Halloween? Maybe in 20 years it will be known as “Firstborn of the Dead Day” and churches can celebrate it as a second Easter.

“One person considers one day more sacred than another; another considers every day alike. Each of them should be fully convinced in their own mind. Whoever regards one day as special does so to the Lord” (Rom. 14:5-6).

The point is this: let’s avoid judging days based on what other people choose to do on them. Otherwise we might eventually end up rejecting a certain day of each week when the dominant form of worship involves TV, football and beer. Every day can be a day to worship and worship brings transformation—transformation of self, of our neighbourhoods and our world.

***
And so ends my run of “Worship Matters” columns in Christian Week. The column has been renamed “Church Matters” and will take a wider look at church life.

Clever… VERY clever…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCFCeJTEzNU

(via)

Russell Moore is an enigma to me.  How this suit-and-tie southern Baptist pastor gets away with writing the way he does is a mystery to me, but I like it and I wish he wrote more often. Here are some highlights from a post called “Christlessness Is Peace“:

There are two very different kinds of peace pictured in Scripture, and in order to get to the one you’ve got to disturb the other. Jesus speaks of himself as one who brings peace (Jn. 14:27), just as the old prophecies and the announcing angels promised of him. But then he turns around and says, “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have come not to bring peace, but a sword” (Matt. 10:34).

***

As a matter of fact, the Christmas narrative just keeps disturbing everybody’s peace. Joseph gives up his reputation and his economic security to marry a pregnant girl and adopt her child. This birth signals the beginning of a sword that will cut through Israel, starting with the heart of Mary herself (Lk. 2:34-35).

The sound of Christmas, in the biblical text, isn’t the sound of sleigh-bells jingling, but the clanging swords and strangled babies and demon screams. It’s awful.

But in the midst of all that horror, there’s peace. This peace isn’t tranquility and stillness, but the dynamism of the shalom of God’s new creation. It is not merely the perfunctory “good will to men” but peace between the ruler of the universe and those “with whom he is pleased” (Lk. 2:14).

In the gospel, that peaces comes only through war. This isn’t violence, the way we think of it, flesh and blood against flesh and blood. It is the Spirit of Jesus marching as to war against the principalities and powers in the heavenly places (Eph. 6:12). It is the blood of Christ silencing the accusations of the ancient dragon (Rev. 12:10-11).

Read the whole thing here.

This had the potential to be cheesy but it’s actually quite well done. This short film imagines how the news of Mary’s pregnancy and Christ’s birth might have spread in the age of Facebook. Take a look:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sghwe4TYY18

(via)

I love this Andrew Peterson song sung by Jill Phillips, from the album Behold the Lamb of God, with scenes from the movie, The Nativity Story:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KY6Hov0wSc

LYRICS:

It was not a silent night
There was blood on the ground
You could hear a woman cry
In the alleyways that night
On the streets of David’s town

And the stable was not clean
And the cobblestones were cold
And little Mary full of grace
With the tears upon her face
Had no mother’s hand to hold

It was a labor of pain
It was a cold sky above
But for the girl on the ground in the dark
With every beat of her beautiful heart
It was a labor of love

Noble Joseph at her side
Callused hands and weary eyes
There were no midwives to be found
In the streets of David’s town
In the middle of the night

So he held her and he prayed
Shafts of moonlight on his face
But the baby in her womb
He was the maker of the moon
He was the Author of the faith
That could make the mountains move

It was a labor of pain
It was a cold sky above
But for the girl on the ground in the dark
With every beat of her beautiful heart
It was a labor of love
For little Mary full of grace
With the tears upon her face
It was a labor of love

An excellent, gentle, beautiful Christmas song by Benjamin Coy

Download audio file (04%20Carol%20of%20Redemption.mp3)

You can hear more of Ben’s music here.

Here’s a Christmas song I wrote last year around this time (with a bit of help from Madeleine). Feel free to make use of it in any way you see fit.

Listen here:
Download audio file (Glory%20To%20God%20On%20High.mp3)

Download the MP3 by right-clicking here.

Below are the lyrics. If you’d like to learn to play and sing the song for yourself, click here to download the chord sheet.

Glory To God On High
© Michael Krahn (2009)

Songs in the heavens from angels that shine
Glory to God on high
One tiny baby, the angels proclaim
That man no more may die

Born in a stable with oxen and lamb
Hear the Savior cry
Mary will comfort and Joseph will love
Now sound asleep he lies

REFRAIN
Glory to God on high
Glory to God on high

Kings come to see him, the gifts that they bring
Shine in that great starlight
Herod will seek him but he will not find
No, not on this silent night

Laid in a manger, in humble estate
Already the cross in sight
He would be willing to lay down his life
Forsaking his great might

REFRAIN
Glory to God on high
Glory to God on high

To Mary the favored did Gabriel come
And “Yes!” was her reply
And from that moment the Spirit of God
Dwelt with her inside

REFRAIN
Glory to God on high
Glory to God on high
One tiny baby, the angels proclaim
That man no more may die
Glory to God on high

I’m thinking about using Advent Conspiracy as our Advent/Christmas programming this year. It looks like a pretty cool idea.
If you’ve never heard of Advent Conspiracy, have a look here:

The Advent Conspiracy Promo Video from theadvance on Vimeo.

If you have used it before:

What did you use for sermons?

Did you use the Sunday School curriculum?

Are you doing it again?

What else can you tell me?

In Romans 1 we read “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. Claiming to be wise, they became fools…” Trying to live in God’s world while striving against him is the ultimate exercise in frustration and futility. While choosing to ignore the wisdom of God, people continue to seek other knowledge and wisdom.

This is much like reading and making conclusions about the meaning of a story after having removed the main character from the events of the plot. This removal of the main character equates to a suppression of truth and consequently a void is left in reality; remove truth and the void it leaves must be filled. All that remains is a vacant series of events into which a variety of new fictitious ideas must be inserted.

Enter the great Christmas debate – the whole “Keep Christ in Christmas” campaign.  Not that this is a wasted pursuit, but sometimes I wonder why we pursue it.

As long as “Christ” remains in “Christmas” it seems, we can happily continue to spend money we don’t really have on things we don’t really need.

Sure, the giving of gifts has its symbolic root in the gifts the wise men gave to Jesus, but this was a rather minor point of the story if you think about it, considering the magnitude of what was really happening. God…came to earth – as a baby! Only by reinserting this main character of the story will the story ever cease to be mere foolishness.

You might find these observations a bit cynical, considering the time of year that is upon us.  But think about this: if it’s really Jesus’ birthday we’re celebrating, shouldn’t we be giving gifts to HIM?

And how can we do this? Instructions can be found in Matthew chapter 25, “For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’… ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’”

Are we content with getting people to say “Christmas” rather than “holiday” or “Xmas” or would we also like them to know why we worship the Christ, Jesus, whom we believe is God in the flesh?

So please do keep Christ in Christmas, but consider giving a gift or two to HIM this year.  After all, it’s HIS birthday we’re celebrating.

I used this song by Benjamin Coy in our Sunday morning services last week.

Download audio file (04%20Carol%20of%20Redemption.mp3)

You can hear more of Ben’s music here.

Here’s a new Christmas song I wrote last night (with a bit of help from Madeleine).

Listen here:
Download audio file (Glory%20To%20God%20On%20High.mp3)

Download the MP3 by right-clicking here.

Below are the lyrics. If you’d like to learn to play and sing the song for yourself, click here to download the chord sheet.

Glory To God On High
© Michael Krahn (2009)

Songs in the heavens from angels that shine
Glory to God on high
One tiny baby, the angels proclaim
That man no more may die

Born in a stable with oxen and lamb
Hear the Savior cry
Mary will comfort and Joseph will love
Now sound asleep he lies

REFRAIN   
Glory to God on high
Glory to God on high

Kings come to see him, the gifts that they bring
Shine in that great starlight
Herod will seek him but he will not find
No, not on this silent night

Laid in a manger, in humble estate
Already the cross in sight
He would be willing to lay down his life
Forsaking his great might

REFRAIN
Glory to God on high
Glory to God on high

To Mary the favored did Gabriel come
And “Yes!” was her reply
And from that moment the Spirit of God
Dwelt with her inside

REFRAIN
Glory to God on high
Glory to God on high
One tiny baby, the angels proclaim
That man no more may die
Glory to God on high