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December 21, 2009

A New Year’s Carol
by Pastor George Van Alstine

“Greensleeves” is a Medieval English folk song, found in print as early as AD 1580. Over the centuries the tune has been sung with a variety of lyrics, from a pub drinking song to the familiar Christmas carol “What Child Is This?”

I just discovered that the “Greensleeves” tune has also had a life as a new Year’s carol, with lyrics published in 1642 AD. Here are the opening lines:

“The old year now away has fled,
The new year it has entered;
Then let us all our sins down tread,
And joyfully all appear.”

“The old year now away has fled.” Some of us probably feel relieved to see 2009 go—the quicker, the better. It’s been a year of economic hardship for many of us, with job losses and other financial reversals. Bereavement and health setbacks have dominated the year for others. We’re happy to kiss 2009 goodbye.

We certainly hope that our circumstances will be better in 2010, but will we be better? Notice, that the lyrics show an acceptance of personal responsibility for many of the past year’s failures: “Then let us all our sins down tread.” Things will be different in the future, not just because our situation will be better, but also because we accept responsibility for our part in creating the negatives in our lives. It goes beyond repenting and being sorry for our sins; we have to actively “down tread” these sins that have previously “down tread” us.

A later stanza of the song re-emphasizes the need for us to take positive action against the sins that have been our undoing:

“God grant that we may our lives amend,
And that truth may now appear.
Now, like the snake, cast off your skin
Of evil thoughts and wicked sin,
And to amend this new year begin:
God send us a merry new year!”

The image of a snake shedding its skin is pretty interesting. The old skin is sluffed off because the snake’s body had gotten bigger. He has virtually outgrown his skin. So the song’s lyrics challenge the year-end fumbling loser: “Grow up! Be spiritually more mature. Then you’ll find that your old defeatist behavior doesn’t fit anymore.” God will send us a “merry new year” when we’re able to contain it.

So, all together now, let’s sing out the old year and sing in the new—to the tune of “Greensleeves.” Ready, begin . . . .

December 14, 2009

Wake Up! Wake Up! Wake Up!
By Pastor George Van Alstine

This past Sunday we were blessed by the music of Amy Gustafson, who is the cousin of Sarah Fiala and has a professional career in Christian music. “Wake, O Sleeper!,” one of the original compositions she played and sang for us, is based on Ephesians 5:14

“Awake, sleeper!
Rise from the dead, and Christ shall shine upon you.”

Biblical scholars believe that the Apostle Paul here is quoting lines from a very early Christian hymn, which itself was based on the words of Isaiah 60:1, prophesying Messiah’s coming:

“Arise, shine; for your light has come,
and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.”

So in a sense, through Amy’s words, we are experiencing three generations of praise for Jesus’ coming into the world, from the prophet Isaiah several centuries before Christ, to a group of believers gathered for worship a few decades after Jesus came, to a worship leader with a guitar twenty centuries later.

Here are Amy’s lyrics:

Wake, O Sleeper!
Words & music by Amy Gustafson
© 2008 All rights reserved.

Oh, you find it hard to sleep tonight
You lie there wondering and listening for the signs that he has come
Will he come?
Oh, you find your thoughts have drifted into dreams
You question everything that you’ve been told, it seems that he won’t come
Will he come?

Wake, O sleeper! See the morning star
He’s come to meet you where you are
Oh, you lift your weary gaze up to the skies
You wonder if it’s real or is it in disguise that he has come
Has he come?

Wake, O sleeper! See the morning star
He’s come to meet you where you are… where you are

He has come, he has come!
So run to see the gift that you’ve been dreaming of
The one he hung upon the tree

Wake, O sleeper! See the morning star
He’s come to meet you where you are
He’s come to meet you where you are
Where you are

As Amy sang this song, I was struck by the words toward the end
“So run to see the gift that you’ve been dreaming of,
The one he hung upon the tree”
I had an image of the shepherds running to see the Baby in the manger, after the angels had told them the good news. I also thought of all the unfulfilled dreams the shepherds had, that Isaiah had, that we have.

And then the image of the tree hit me between the eyes. Was it a Christmas tree? Was it the wooden cross on which he died? Yes! and Yes! The tree of sacrifice was also the tree on which God hung his greatest gift to lost and struggling people of all ages.

(Copies of Amy’s Christmas CD may be purchased at cdbaby.com/cd/amygustafson1)

December 7, 2009

Can We Command Angels?
By Pastor George Van Alstine

Last week a young man came into my office because “the Lord told me to.” After a lengthy, somewhat-contentious conversation about lots of things, he said, “Pastor, I want you to pray for me.” I did, and he followed my Amen with this: “I accept your prayer. Now let me pray for you.” I accept your prayer? That was a strange response; as if he had veto power over my prayer.

Then came his prayer for me. This was a shocker. He hardly talked to God at all. Most of his “prayer” was addressed to angels. He “commanded”—this was the word he used over and over—angels to watch over me, fight battles for me, make me powerful in spiritual ministry. And then he said Amen.

I had never heard this kind of language before, and I found it very strange. It was as if he was seeing a whole different reality than I was, populated by a host of spiritual beings that controlled the events around him. No, wait! They didn’t control things, he did, because he was commanding them. It was as if he held the remote control for the latest hi-tech futuristic battle game.

When he left, I went right to my computer. I plugged in “angels” and “command,” and I was astounded by the number of results. This whole business of commanding angels turns out to be quite the fad in certain circles of pop-Christianity. Some TV evangelists have woven a whole fabric of teaching around angels being our servants.

Here’s how it works. The key teachers of this doctrine admit that there is no example in the Bible of a human commanding angels. They base their angel-commanding practices on this one Bible passage, Hebrews 1:14
“Are not they [angels] all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?”
From this, they infer that angels have been sent by God to be our servants and to do our bidding. Actually, these teachers see our angels as our agents in collecting on promises God has already made to us. God has given us, for instance, victory over lustful sins. They teach that we can (and should) command angels to fight against lustful influences that come into our lives.

However, the teachers of this doctrine don’t focus on lust very often. Their attention is mostly on prosperity. Yes, God has promised you success in your career, promotions and raises, stock market profits, that new car and a bigger house. There are angels at your command ready to claim these blessings for you. They are like the enforcers a mob boss might send out to pick up the protection money. All you have to do is command them.

(Of course, the TV evangelist who teaches you to command these angels also has command over them himself. He has already instructed the same angels to make sure he gets his cut through your healthy donation to his ministry.)

Ironically, just a few verses after the passage where angels are referred to as “ministering spirits,” the author of Hebrews quotes Psalm 2, where it is established that human beings are “a little lower than the angels” in God’s created order. That we as lesser humans can command angels is a bizarre twist on the actual point being made in this passage.

My young visitor announced that he “accepted” my prayer for him. Well, after reviewing the Bible’s teaching, I have decided I can’t in good conscience accept his prayer for me because it borders on blasphemy. Protestants have criticized Catholics for their praying to saints instead of to God himself. It seems that this new popular practice of praying to angels instead of to God is at least as bad. To pray to intermediates, whether saints or angels, dishonors the only One who can truly hear and answer prayer.

It strikes me that prosperity preachers avoid approaching God directly because on some level they are embarrassed that their requests are so self-centered and contrary to the teachings of God’s Son.

November 23, 2009

The Blue-Footed Booby
by Pastor George Van Alstine

In his letters to the churches, the Apostle Paul frequently alluded to the fact that he was not the most striking physical presence, no tall handsome figure who immediately attracted attention. He was aware that people compared him unfavorably to other, more physically gifted preachers, such as Apollos. His speaking skills were not remarkable (2 Corinthians 10:10). He seems to have had an eye disease that made people recoil from close contact (Galatians 4:13-15). Ancient descriptions portrayed him as rather short, bow-legged and balding.

But Paul didn’t allow his lack of natural assets to keep him from fulfilling his calling as the number one evangelist, missionary, and church-builder in the Early Church. He did not accomplish this by upgrading his appearance—wearing a toupee, wearing shades, having his teeth capped, wearing lifts in his shoes. In fact, he came to see his physical liabilities as assets in his ministry:

“If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness . . . .” (2 Corinthians 11:30)
“To keep me from being too elated [uppity?], a thorn was given to me in the flesh. Three times I appealed to the Lord about this, that it may leave me, but he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ So I will boast all the more gladly of my weakness, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me . . . . Whenever I am weak, then I am strong.” (2 Corinthians 12:7-10)

If you have been disqualifying yourself from meaningful Christian service because of things you see as weaknesses, unattractive qualities, past reputation, etc., consider the Apostle Paul.

And consider the blue-footed booby! Now, this is one strange bird. Living by diving for fish along the shores of California, Mexico and Central America, this rather large bird earned his name from being very awkward and ungainly while walking on land—“booby” derives from the Spanish “bobo,” which means foolish, or silly. His coloring is basically nondescript, a mixture of gray and white. This, however, is set off by his yellow eyes and his most striking feature—a pair of oversized, flat, bright-blue feet. When the booby waddles from side to side, these funny feet accentuate its basic clumsiness in walking, so that it’s hard to look at him without laughing. This bird, like the Apostle Paul, like you, is in serious need of a make-over.

But the booby does not try to hide his feet in embarrassment. No, our silly-looking friend actually dances, holding his feet up and waving them, so that any other creature that happens to be looking his way will have to notice the silly appendages. And the casual bystander most likely to take notice is—you guessed it, a female blue-footed booby. She doesn’t consider his dance silly at all. To her, it’s the most interesting show around.

Whatever your “weakness” is, the thing about you which might seem to make you a poor candidate to be a representative of Jesus, why don’t you try Paul’s approach? He said, somewhat tongue-in-cheek, that he “boasted” about his weaknesses. Kind of like the booby waving his big flat blue feet around. You may be surprised that there is someone nearby who is just waiting for your awkward, blue-footed witness. Someone who would not be attracted to the Lord through a more ideal Christian, but really identifies with your blue-footedness.

November 16, 2009

Jacob’s Ladder
by Pastor George Van Alstine

A ladder from earth to heaven—what a great image! It’s the theme of the familiar spiritual
We are climbing Jacob’s ladder;
We are climbing Jacob’s ladder;
We are climbing Jacob’s ladder;
Soldiers of the cross.

You can feel the exhilaration as you ascend, step by step, from the burdensome gravity of earth to the increasing freedom and openness of the higher ladder rungs.

Of course, each step involves great effort, commitment and self-discipline. This is portrayed in the closing line of each stanza
Soldiers of the cross.
Using strangely-mixed metaphors, from military service to crucifixion, the spiritual reminds us of the heavy price we must pay to climb the ladder, against the weight of fleshly desires and selfish sins. It takes a heroic effort.

But there is constant reward, as the second stanza reminds us:
Every round goes higher, higher;
Every round goes higher, higher;
Every round goes higher, higher;
Soldiers of the cross.
Yes, hang in there! You’re making progress. You’re climbing that ladder from earth to heaven.

This is an inspiring story. But whatever ladder is being described in the song, it’s not Jacob’s ladder. Let’s look at the Biblical account of a critical event in the patriarch Jacob’s life, found in Genesis Chapter 28. A family rift had caused Jacob to leave his homeland and launch out on his own. He felt quite vulnerable and confused, as he traveled through unsettled land many miles to the northeast of his family home.

One night he slept in a place his nomad grandfather had visited decades before. It was still unsettled wilderness. His bed was the ground, and his pillow was a stone. And he dreamed about a ladder, which extended from earth to heaven.

Did Jacob climb that ladder? Not one rung! Well then, who climbed the ladder?
“. . . the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.” (verse 12)
While he was watching the angelic activity in awe, Jacob heard the voice of God:
“I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring; and your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and all the families of the earth shall be blessed in you and in your offspring. Know that I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” (verses 13-15)

How high up the ladder was Jacob by the time God finished his speech? He was still lying on the ground.

You see, this is not a story about Jacob’s climbing, or about soldiers’ disciplined courage, or about voluntarily carrying a cross. This isn’t about Jacob doing anything! All the climbing activities are by angels, and they’re coming down as well as going up. And the voice in the drama is not Jacob’s, making promises to God, but God’s, making promises to Jacob!

Jacob’s ladder is all about God’s grace, not human effort. God speaks the amazing promises. It’s all about what God is doing, not what Jacob is doing.

The spiritual song, following our usual human tendency, takes a story about God and turns it into a story about us. It transforms a dramatic demonstration of God’s grace into a heroic tale of human courage and accomplishment. We are constantly trading in the gospel for a religion based on our good works that are supposed to impress God.

So really, Jacob’s life-transforming dream is not about a ladder from earth to heaven, but about a ladder from heaven to earth. And the ladder is called “grace.”