Tuesday November 28th 2006, 5:40 pm
Filed under: Brainwaves
Time to revisit a holiday favorite around here:
Boots rustle in the foyer. Coats are slowly lifted off of hooks; scarves and gloves are extracted from baskets designating each owner’s name. There is a hush in the room. Eyes dart back and forth, hearts race in various states of nervousness, unbelief, courage, fear and adventure-inspired ecstasy.
Someone in the room is the True Believer. The True Believer holds that the mission, though treacherous, can be accomplished. Others are not so sure, silent participants in a game they believe may end in failure – and the demise of a family’s holiday happiness. Still others are literally forced to weather the elements ahead to accomplish a singular goal, an ultimate mission.
Yes, it is the yearly Quest for the Perfect Christmas Tree.
Some think the Perfect Christmas Tree is the stuff of fairy tales and legends. But for the True Believer, she knows the Perfect Christmas Tree is out there, waiting, yearning to be brought into the greenhouse warmth of our home. Each year, tradition has it the Perfect Christmas Tree is mysteriously born again, waiting in the fields of a tree farm or forest (or someone’s backyard — should they be privileged enough to play host to this divine gift), waiting to be paid homage with the stroke of a saw blade and a decorating frenzy.
This year, as always, the expectation is high in the True Believer. The Compliant Spouse now enters the scene, and is preparing to embark on the Quest, primarily commissioned to gather the Unwitting Hordes to follow in a pack in support of the True Believer. Through varied terrain, a sea of evergreens, and only the faint hope of a steaming cup of hot chocolate waiting on the other side, the small pack of trained tree assassins make their way to the mini-van.
Christmas carols fill the air as the Compliant Spouse seeks to distract the Unwitting Hordes and the True Believer (as if this was possible), with the real meaning of the season. However, there is a palpable tension in the air. The elusive goal is an either/or proposition. To find the Perfect Christmas Tree will bring immediate and great joy to the True Believer, moderate amusement to the Compliant Spouse, and a brainwashing enchantment to the Unwitting Hordes.
To not find the Perfect Christmas Tree will beg the severest of consequences — the veiled disappointment rippling through the entire team, from which the weakest may never recover. The Quest is a watershed moment frozen in time.
We arrive at the chosen venue (surely the True Believer has been watching the alignment of the stars, and that is why we return to the same tree farm every year), and stumble out of the van. The yearly Wagon Ride at the tree farm is festive, but not engaging enough to mute the underlying voices in our minds. The voices sound strikingly like that of the True Believer. “We must find the Perfect Christmas Tree,” the voices chant. “Failure is not an option,” they burrow into our psyche.
When the wagon stops, the hidden voices dissipate, and we disembark with deep breaths and scanning eyes. We are mobilized, and the True Believer makes silent gestures in various directions (so as not to alert others), toward which the Unwitting Hordes scatter. We must be the first to find the Perfect Christmas Tree — and there are others in the field. We smile at them, but deep down we know that they are our Christmas Adversaries.
Over the next few hours (ed. Note: literal time, not figurative story-telling time), shouts emanate from different parts of the Field. “I found it, this is the best one ever!” cries a twelve-year old voice. “No, mine is waaaayyyyy better,” comes the retort of a ten-year old. “Daddy, taste this snowball,” is mumbled by an experimenting seven-year old.
We’re not finding the Perfect Christmas Tree, for all of our efforts, and the Compliant Spouse is beginning to worry whether or not the True Believer will ever make it back from this perilous journey. The concern is not for her physical return, but rather for her spiritual and emotional return. Each year at this time, the stakes are high.
The continued search is filled with the traditional events we distract our increasing “can’t-find-the-darn-tree” pain with yearly. The Father-Initiated-Snowball-Fight event always has its takers, as the evergreens provide the best deflection for the nasty white orbs. The ever-popular Snow-Tackling-Frenzy is slowly becoming a favorite, at least until someone gets the fluffy, fat rain down their shirt and never wants to play again. But then there is the annual Foot-Dragging-and-Whining-Spectacle. Oh, the humanity. The Unwitting Hordes have honed this piece down to an artful science, saving their best creative energies for last. Even Unwitting Hordes from other tribes listen to my own batch’s mournful wails, and seek to mimic them in sheer admiration.
All these events, however, are simply pre-cursors to the traditional pinnacle of the Quest’s activities: the annual Walk-To-The-Pre-Cut-Tree-Lot event. We never expect the moment to come, at least we can’t voice the expectation in the presence of the True Believer, but it inevitably does.
As we walk toward this unhappy section of the tree farm, Happy Families who have found their own replicas of the Perfect Christmas Tree giggle and laugh, never thinking for a moment that their frivolity only deepens our pain. For those who appreciate Scotch Pine, their sub-quest is all the easier. For we (the True Believer speaks for us all) who will only settle for the Perfect Christmas Tree, which is always a Fir, the search is more of a martyr’s path, and we (the True Believer speaks again for us all) gladly take the less-trodden road.
Out of pity, compassion or sheer amusement, my friend at the Pre-Cut Tree Lot area is always willing to give us a deal on one of the few remaining “winners” left. We find A Tree, which is not the Perfect Christmas Tree, but rather A Tree, and decide to give it a home, in our home.
Re-entry back into the mini-van is a mixture of celebration (the sugar high from the hot chocolate), and re-assuring speeches (the rationalization high from the failed quest) on the usefulness of the acquired tree given by the True Believer. These speeches, of course, are given with the full and unadulterated support of the Compliant Spouse.
Debriefing sessions ensue, usually directed toward the Unwitting Hordes, and their disappointments that “their tree wasn’t picked” (as if anyone could ever take personal ownership of the high and mighty Perfect Christmas Tree).
When we arrive home, a few more events take the edge off of our failed search. The annual Spin-The-Tree-Until-The-Right-Side-Is-Facing-Out event is an opportunity both for the venting of squelched anger, and the airing of general grievances. The Egg-Nog-Spill-Contest always takes place during the oohs and ahhs of decorating the tree. The annual Mommy-Doesn’t-Want-that-Ornament-Hung-There-Because-She-Inwardly-Hates-It-But-Feels-Obligated-to-Hang-It event always stirs up deep feelings of Christmas tradition.
Finally, the children make their way to bed, with visions of Perfect Christmas Trees dancing in their heads. “The tree looks great now, Hon,” the Compliant Spouse offers to genuinely affirm, and soothe the disappointment of the True Believer. With a look, a lean and a kiss, the True Believer offers these words of affection back:
“Thanks for doing this again this year, Hon. You were a real trooper. Next year, we’ll find the Perfect Christmas Tree; next year we’ll find It.” A tender kiss on the cheek, under plastic flora reminiscent of mistletoe, ends the evening. And yet, a spark has been ignited, a chain reaction begun that is unsettling and unfamiliar to The Compliant Spouse.
He cannot sleep for the rest of the night. It seems a metamorphosis has begun that will keep the tradition alive in a genetic thread that may last centuries, even millennia, or more. This year’s True Believer, with the humble seed of a kiss, has passed on the mantle. A new True Believer is born, awaiting next year’s Christmas Quest to reveal himself.
But, for this night, dreams of the Perfect Christmas Tree will wait to be fulfilled until next winter’s drifts give way to the feet of the questing once again.
Saturday November 25th 2006, 5:44 pm
Filed under: Brainwaves
My dear fellow worship leaders,
Bless you and your family this Advent season. It is a privilege for our family to partner with yours in the family of God, as we continue to lay hold of the prize for which we are called heavenward - to know Him as we are known by Him - in all His beauty, mystery and majesty.
I want to bring a brief encouragement to us as worship leaders, as we celebrate the Advent/Christmas season. These thoughts reflect as well on other seasons in the worship calendar, such as Easter, and I hope will spur you on to even greater faithfulness as one of God’s creative leaders in His Church.
Seasonal expressions of worship and community devotional experience, such as the Christmas season and Easter season, evoke many feelings within the hearts of those in our congregations. Though we serve an audience of One, these men, women and children God has brought to us are the ones we lead worship for - the ones who have gathered around the common theme of desiring God.
We as worship leaders are here to serve this desire for God - to create a place for others to meet with God as well as for ourselves.
For some folks, years of joyful memories worshipping with the riches of Christmas hymnody are stirred. For others, Christmas can be a disturbing and isolating time - recalling less-than-pleasant family gatherings and years of loneliness and pain.
It is always amazing to me, however, that Sally - who was raised in a liturgical Church, Tom - who only attended Church on holidays while growing up, Sue - who was a devout pagan, and Brian - a street guy who knows church to be a forsaking and unforgiving place, are all united in some sense of agreement that Christmas could be, or should be, a “special” time of year. By special, I mean “a time to be focused on; a time to gather around a common experience that should be joyful.” The Incarnation – our reason for the season – should be especially noted in the Church that loves Jesus and that Jesus loves.
In either case, the worship experience within any community can be enhanced by paying some attention to these seasons – seasons that many liturgical churches have traditionally focused on quite extensively. In my travels I’ve noted that, in many more “informal” churches, many people would have no idea that the majority of the global Church community outside of their fellowship was united with the Church historic in celebrating the Advent of the Son of God, and His Incarnation, with traditional Christmas worship music and powerful liturgies of the heart - unless someone barged in and told them!
Hearing the band play hot worship tunes with a special “sleigh bell arrangement” just doesn’t meet the heart cry to worship with the familiar hymns of Christmas - songs often familiar to both the churched and unchurched. To join in concert with the wider Church triumphant in our generation, is a good thing, and enlivens us to our connection to the community that is the wider Body of Christ. It also draws the hearts of our people together, in songs and words that resonate with holy familiarity.
Further limiting us, tradition, liturgy, familiarity and predictability are often used as derogatory terms in contemporary movements. Our penchant for the relevant (which to us means innovative and new) and the recent (which to us means cutting edge and the “latest”) can breed in us a subtle pride that cuts off both us, and our congregations, from the riches of our common musical and creative heritage as part of the Church trans-historic and trans-generational. In other words, tradition can either be marked by dead orthodoxy, or by a vibrant, spiritual, common language of the heart for those gathering to worship. Tradition can connect us, and give our congregation more ways, rich ways, to participate together in worship.
I want to encourage you to link arms with your pastors, and with the Church historic, and consider integrating Christmas carols/hymns into your worship sets, maybe even responsive scripture readings, or anything else you and your leaders agree would bring to life to your worshipping community this Christmas.
Use the leverage of hearts desiring to gather around the cadence of the yearly Christmas season to offer your church an intimate encountering place with Immanuel - God with us. Celebrate the incarnation - it’s the pivot point of all history, and God’s creatives should be the first out of the gate in embracing, invoking, and inspiring the wonder of such an incredible gift to humanity.
I pray that you personally would experience a fresh taste of God’s nearness to you this season, and that you and your family would re-live and respond to the power of this message we both celebrate and carry into the world.
Friday November 24th 2006, 2:14 pm
Filed under: Brainwaves
This just in from my good friend, photographer and designer Matt Frise.
In The Globe & Mail:
“The Pilgrims would never have landed near Plymouth if it weren’t for the fact that they were running our of beer aboard the Mayflower, says the Boston Globe. They had been granted permission to settle on land much farther south, but the critical shortage of beer (the only potable liquid on the ship) forced them to land on that historic rock.”
For some reason, this morning I awoke with a deep sense of joy in being present on earth, now.
Kissing my wife’s forehead seemed sweeter, singing a song in my heart a friend is writing seemed a gift, and looking forward to seeing the usual crowd today seemed a worthy enterprise for the course of this one day.
I pressed my face to the window I had just lifted the blind on, heard the bustle of traffic on our small main street, and thanked God for a day full of simple gifts ahead.
With war in the world, innocents at risk, and the possibility that the selfish will wrest life from the weak, I expect that in part, my part, is to see the world this way.
Thursday November 23rd 2006, 11:15 am
Filed under: Brainwaves
If you haven’t seen this yet, you’ll appreciate it deeply, I’m sure.
From Rick Reilly, writing in Sports Illustrated:
I try to be a good father. Give my kids mulligans. Work nights to pay For their text messaging. Take them to swimsuit shoots.
But compared with Dick Hoyt, I suck.
Eighty-five times he’s pushed his disabled son, Rick, 26.2 miles in Marathons. Eight times he’s not only pushed him 26.2 miles in a Wheelchair but also towed him 2.4 miles in a dinghy while swimming and Pedaled him 112 miles in a seat on the handlebars–all in the same day.
Dick’s also pulled him cross-country skiing, taken him on his back Mountain climbing and once hauled him across the U.S. On a bike. Makes Taking your son bowling look a little lame, right?
And what has Rick done for his father? Not much–except save his life.
This love story began in Winchester , Mass. , 43 years ago, when Rick Was strangled by the umbilical cord during birth, leaving him Brain-damaged and unable to control his limbs.
“He’ll be a vegetable the rest of his life;'’ Dick says doctors told him And his wife, Judy, when Rick was nine months old. “Put him in an Institution.'’
But the Hoyts weren’t buying it. They noticed the way Rick’s eyes Followed them around the room. When Rick was 11 they took him to the Engineering department at Tufts University and asked if there was Anything to help the boy communicate. “No way,'’ Dick says he was told. “There’s nothing going on in his brain.'’
“Tell him a joke,'’ Dick countered. They did. Rick laughed. Turns out a Lot was going on in his brain. Rigged up with a computer that allowed Him to control the cursor by touching a switch with the side of his Head, Rick was finally able to communicate. First words? “Go Bruins!'’ And after a high school classmate was paralyzed in an accident and the School organized a charity run for him, Rick pecked out, “Dad, I want To do that.'’
Yeah, right. How was Dick, a self-described “porker'’ who never ran More than a mile at a time, going to push his son five miles? Still, he Tried. “Then it was me who was handicapped,'’ Dick says. “I was sore For two weeks.'’
That day changed Rick’s life. “Dad,'’ he typed, “when we were running, It felt like I wasn’t disabled anymore!'’
And that sentence changed Dick’s life. He became obsessed with giving Rick that feeling as often as he could. He got into such hard-belly Shape that he and Rick were ready to try the 1979 Boston Marathon.
“No way,'’ Dick was told by a race official. The Hoyts weren’t quite a Single runner, and they weren’t quite a wheelchair competitor. For a few Years Dick and Rick just joined the massive field and ran anyway, then They found a way to get into the race Officially: In 1983 they ran another marathon so fast they made the Qualifying time for Boston the following year.
Then somebody said, “Hey, Dick, why not a triathlon?'’
How’s a guy who never learned to swim and hadn’t ridden a bike since he Was six going to haul his 110-pound kid through a triathlon? Still, Dick Tried.
Now they’ve done 212 triathlons, including four grueling 15-hour Ironmans in Hawaii . It must be a buzzkill to be a 25-year-old stud Getting passed by an old guy towing a grown man in a dinghy, don’t you Think?
Hey, Dick, why not see how you’d do on your own? “No way,'’ he says. Dick does it purely for “the awesome feeling'’ he gets seeing Rick with A cantaloupe smile as they run, swim and ride together.
This year, at ages 65 and 43, Dick and Rick finished their 24th Boston Marathon, in 5,083rd place out of more than 20,000 starters. Their best Time? Two hours, 40 minutes in 1992–only 35 minutes off the world Record, which, in case you don’t keep track of these things, happens to Be held by a guy who was not pushing another man in a wheelchair at the Time.
“No question about it,'’ Rick types. “My dad is the Father of the Century.'’
And Dick got something else out of all this too. Two years ago he had a Mild heart attack during a race. Doctors found that one of his arteries Was 95% clogged. “If you hadn’t been in such great shape,'’ One doctor told him, “you probably would’ve died 15 years ago.'’ So, in a way, Dick and Rick saved each other’s life.
Rick, who has his own apartment (he gets home care) and works in Boston, and Dick, retired from the military and living in Holland, Mass. , always find ways to be together. They give speeches around the country and compete in some backbreaking race every weekend, including this Father’s Day.
That night, Rick will buy his dad dinner, but the thing he really wants to give him is a gift he can never buy.
“The thing I’d most like,'’ Rick types, “is that my dad sit in the chair and I push him once.'’
Thursday November 16th 2006, 2:46 am
Filed under: Brainwaves
Tonight I’m writing from a hotel in Columbus, Ohio. I’m here for just a few days (with agreement from my family after a full Intensive), speaking at the Worship: Then, Now & Forever Conference hosted by the Columbus Vineyard.
It’s a church of about 7000 these days, and they have quite an amazing facility now to house their many expressions. It’s good to see my Canadian friend Michael Hansen again, who is the worship pastor here and the heart behind the event – and is just shy of intergalactly funny.
As well, Sherri Carr and Robbie Reeder are part of the event, so we should have a rich time.
For now, I’m must get some rest. It was a long trip given my outback airport gymnastics to get good flights!
I’m still reeling in catch up, post Intensive, pre-Columbus trip mode, so I’ll just post this quote from Danny Mullins, one of our Intensive participants from Arizona:
“ICEWS is the most remarkable worship leadership training I have ever been a part of. The faculty, facilities and curriculum exceeded my loftiest expectations. The spiritual renewal I experienced has empowered me for future, kingdom ministry. Studying in community multiplied the effect of the teaching exponentially.”
We’re coming into the home stretch in this year’s 06 Intensive, with ideas on convergence in worship, soul fattening, carmelite spirituality (3 Theresas), the journey of worship leadership (Brian Doerksen), biblical studies in worship, leading and writing for 21st century culture, rite, ritual and pattern in worship, and more shades of theology and anthropology poking through.
One thought that has been enriching to us all – that worship is intended to rehumanize the worshiper, and not to dehumanize. In the realm of musical worship expression, songs that identify the brokeness and joy in the heart (lament and celebration) can rehumanize, and dignify the person worshiping through those songs. When only joy and peace are emphasized in our song selection, or the different phases of our leading, they can dehumanize people over time by painting an unspoken facade that joy and peace “should be” the defining marks of Christian experience.
Very rich thoughts continue to come up from our mine of exploration. We’ve developed some sweet levels of community, and each participant has been so enriching to the rest of us. It will be hard to say goodbye – though some are considering further study with the Institute. That would be exciting – to share a longer journey together.
Your prayers for our final days here would be so appreciated. We are questing for a worship worldview that reflects all of life, renews all of culture, resounds with all of time, and reimagines how we express contemporary worship in our generation. What a joy this has been.
We’re firing on all cylinders now; a weekend gives a needed break, but we’re back into the course work now.
Today, we went through worship history, from Hebrew responsive psalm singing, to early Church worship diversity, through the medieval ages, Renaissance and Reformation, into the great Hymn proliferation in Western Christianity, into the slave songs of North America, through to the rock n’ roll age, through to the contemporary worship experience.
Fast and wild it was, but we even did some biblical story song-preaching together as a group (a practice in black gospel communities) – what a blast!
Peter Fitch explored C.S. Lewis’ most famous sermon with the group, The Weight Of Glory. What a rich time, all around. We continue to appreciate your prayers. It’s an amazing time of development.
