The Music of Christmas

Bill and Gloria Gaither said it best, Jesus Christ “started the whole world singing”. If I’m not mistaken, Christmas is the most musical holiday of all. Christmas music literally encircles the globe. Some people complain about the commercialization of Christmas, but I like the Christianization of the marketplace. At no other time can you walk through the mall and hear beautiful gospel music pouring out of the speakers. Some of the music is about Santa Claus and reindeer, but I enjoy that too. The imagination is a marvelous gift of God and Gene Autry’s “Rudolph” song is lots of fun to sing and I think really entertaining. Even if the words are a secular fantasy, all real music is a gift of God because music itself is a gift God built into the DNA of the universe.

I love the special Christmas services, especially when I get to sing. This year our First Church of God choir (St Joseph, MI) did the cantata “Child of Wonder” and this marvelous choir really nailed it. I doubt if many have done it better. Just a few minutes ago I heard “There’s Something Going on Down in Bethlehem”, one of the fun (but incredibly inspirational) songs in this cantata being sung on the Purdue University Christmas Show. They did a marvelous job and it’s always a thrill to hear Christ proclaimed over national television, but the truth is, as good as they were, they didn’t do it as well as our choir! I shouldn’t brag, especially since I’m in the tenor section, but we probably did one of the best it’s ever been done.

Pastor Chad Harlan knows how to get the most out of a choir—the perfect combination of pastor, disciplined taskmaster and gifted teacher. Last Sunday evening we sang the cantata at First Church and this morning we sang “Hark the Herald” in the 9:30 am service in St Joseph and then scurried over to Benton Heights to sing the full cantata at the First Church at Benton Heights 11 am service.

For more than a year I was one of the associate pastors at the Benton Heights Church and I remember some young black men who checked us out and weren’t too sure they even liked us. But Campus Pastor Mary Shawl-Ranke and now Pastor Colt Slack have, together with a host of lay volunteers, shared Christ’s love with those young men and what a blessing it was to look out into the congregation from the choir and see so many of those young men sitting in the pews, participating in the service, obviously very much a part of the congregation. The congregation is white, black and Hispanic, young, old and in-between, and they all made our choir feel so welcome. We all had a marvelous time and God was glorified in the worship, the music, and the marvelous voices. Pastor Colt even did a little preaching to close it out. God’s glory shows best in the lives of people whose hearts have been transformed by the gospel of Christ.

But I digress. This post is about the music of Christmas. It’s just the best. Whether “Silver Bells” or “Silent Night”, it is Jesus who gave us something to sing about and when we sing songs of joy and happiness, we bring glory to God!

Carol and I were blessed to grow up in musical families. We shared that heritage with our children and now the grandchildren too are singers and musicians. Our extended families have always been and still are gifted singers and musicians. We give all praise to God who gave us this gift of music.

Thank you God for this gift—the ability to sing (or listen), and play instruments. I especially, thank you for the gift of your Son, who created us to sing and gave us all a reason to do so!

I’m Rick Blumenberg and that’s “My View from Tanner Creek”.

   

The Generosity of God

In the New Testament book of Matthew (20:1-15) is a parable known as the “Parable of the workers in the vineyard”. However, I call it the "Parable of the Generosity of God" because the most important point is given by the landowner (representing God) who asks the complaining workers, "...are you envious because I am generous?"

We all experience the generosity of God but do we deserve God’s kindness? Blessings of health, the ability to work, raise a family and enjoy recreation and leisure? And most of all do any of us deserve the blessing of heaven? Can anyone say we deserve to spend eternity in the presence of God? Do any deserve the sacrificial death of Christ on the cross? In every instance the answer is no—none of us deserve God's unlimited generosity. And yet, in Psalm 103 we read "as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love toward those who fear him." No doubt the generosity of God is best expressed in this unlimited love poured out on all creation.

However, if we try to use the love of God, and thoughtlessly neglect eternal values of life we run the risk there will be no time or desire for repentance and we could be eternally separated from God's generous love by our own selfishness and carelessness.

God's reward of eternal life is freely given to all who willingly accept. It is not limited to those who have served him a long time but it is limited to those who accept by faith in Jesus Christ, God’s Son. If you have not accepted Christ by faith I urge you to do so now. It is a simple, but life-changing process. The following straightforward prayer, prayed honestly from the heart, can be your doorway into eternal life and into the bounties of God.

“Lord Jesus, I believe you are God’s Son and the Savior of the world. I am sorry for my sin and especially the great sin of not believing in you. I ask your forgiveness and seek your help to live a godly life. I know I can’t do it in my own strength. Please come into my heart and be my Savior. Help me serve you faithfully all my earthly life and throughout eternity.”

This gift of salvation is God’s supreme act of generosity and his highest joy! The greatest joy of heaven is found when we repent of sin and gain this wonderful salvation.

You would think God could have found an easier way to provide for our salvation than to send his only beloved son to die on a cross! But God didn't look for the easy way. He wanted the best way—for you and me and for the whole world—and that Way is the Lord Jesus Christ.

The danger is that we depend too much on the generosity of God. Simply because he is generous, loving, compassionate, and understanding—does not mean God is a soft touch. We must not presume to put off eternal decisions to a later date and then depend on God to give us the added time necessary to accept him at the last minute. Don’t wait until it is time to die before making provision for eternity. If we deliberately do so, we gamble with our eternal souls and may be tempting God. We have the clear warning in scripture that we should not be so deceived because the norm is that “a man reaps what he sows." (Galatians 6:7 NIV)

The good news is that the person ready to die is the one most ready to live. If we prepare now for eternity we also experience abundant life in the present.

I’m Rick Blumenberg and that’s

 “My View from Tanner Creek”.

     

Pardoned to Paradise!

By Rick Blumenberg / @rickblumenberg

Two men asked Jesus for help on a barren hillside called Golgotha. One received pardon but the other received not a word. The verbal attack of the one showed the condition of the heart was more important than the actual words, because truth spoken in derision can be the worst kind of insult.

"Aren't you the Christ?" The dying thief asked in mockery. And his attitude of scorn destroyed a request for salvation: “Save yourself....and us!" he spat with obvious contempt. The insulting thief found nothing but silence from the King of Kings, while the other found words of assurance and victory. It was the attitude of the repentant thief that earned a pardon.

The first expression of that attitude was deep conviction of sin: "Don't you fear God since you are under the same sentence?"

The repentant thief was about to stand before God, his Creator and give an account of his life. He realized in despair all he had to show was his sin. Perhaps the very thought of seeing his sin revealed in God's holy presence brought conviction for sin.

The second expression of that saving attitude was honest confession of guilt: "We are punished justly," he said, “We are getting what our deeds deserve." Like the prodigal son of whom Jesus earlier spoke, the thief came to himself. He stopped trying to blame his guilt on someone else. And that was the only way he could be rid of it.

The third expression of that attitude was a full awareness of the Holiness of Christ: "This man has done nothing wrong!"

One reason Jesus came to our world was to show us the character of God in the body of a man. He is the perfect likeness of the invisible God. But, until we recognize the holiness of Jesus, the man, we cannot imagine the holiness of God, the Creator, and we cannot experience his holiness in our own lives.

The fourth expression of the attitude that brought pardon was an expression of faith in the midst of hopelessness: "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom."

Picture the scene: Hanging on a cross in the hour of his death the repentant thief looked beside him to Jesus and saw a man beaten, wounded, and bleeding. The blood from the crown of thorns was dried on his forehead, and fresh blood from the nails dripped from his hands and ran down his arms and torso to the sword-cut in his side continuing on down to mingle with blood from his nail-pierced feet and fall beneath him to the earth below. Sweaty from the strain of carrying the cross, the dust raised by countless feet had settled on his body. Chilled from the wind that blew upon Golgotha, he probably shivered violently from the cold. He did not look like a king. There was no indication he could even help himself much less anyone else. But in spite of all the evidence to the contrary this condemned man believed!

In the face of hopeless despair, he believed. He believed so much that even in his agony he groaned those never-to-be-forgotten words, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom."

That man was the first Christian! He was first to believe and first to receive the pardon Jesus came to bring.

Pardon is a beautiful word to a condemned man. "Today, you will be with me in paradise!” This word from Jesus transported him from the agony of crucifixion to the bliss of eternal paradise; from the dirt and stench of execution to the inexpressible delight of resurrection, from the destruction of sin to the righteousness of redemption.

Because of what God did through Jesus Christ almost two thousand years ago, by faith we can still hear him speak words of forgiveness and hope when we honestly seek Him.

I’m Rick Blumenberg, and that’s “My View from Tanner Creek”.

 

The Day of Miracles

by Rick Blumenberg / @rickblumenberg

If any one of us were to see a person whom we knew to be both blind and mute, healed so he was able to see and speak, we would be amazed, even though, if it happened today, it would be by the power of that same Jesus of whom scripture speaks. To read about such a happening almost 2,000 years ago just isn't as remarkable as if we were to see it with our own eyes. The people of that day were no different than us, except that it was possibly even more astounding to them—after all most of them had never see a miracle—while to us miracles are common, everyday occurrences.

For instance, it is common for us to see people speeding around in automobiles, racing across the water in powerful speedboats or even out of them, (not merely walking on the water, but skimming on top of it at break-neck speed), and we don't even think about the miracle of flight because we are so thoroughly accustomed to seeing airplanes flying that none of us doubt there are people in them, flying over our heads.

If you went to any modern hospital, with proper clearance to enter the operating rooms, you would see miracles of surgery taking place every day. Doctors routinely remove infected tonsils and appendixes, as well as repairing other organs and in so doing, restore people to health. If most of you reading this lived under similar conditions as the people of Jesus' day, some would be blind, others would be deaf, possibly some would be mute, others lame, and probably some would not even be alive, but most of you are relatively healthy! If you think Jesus had nothing to do with this—that these are merely the miracles of modern medicine—you couldn't possibly be more wrong. The problem is not that we no longer experience miracles, but that miracles have become so commonplace we forget to thank God for them.

It was not Jesus' plan to stay forever on this planet healing sickness and diseases and casting out demons. Neither was it his plan to simply go away and leave us hopelessly in our pain and suffering. It is his plan—always has been, always will be—that every living person should throw off the bondage of Satan, bind him securely with the power of self-sacrificing love, and work together with the Lord Jesus Christ to set the human race free to be the people of God.

God is fulfilling this plan by giving unique abilities to men and women. It is our responsibility to use and develop those spiritual gifts and special abilities to do God's work. Some have the gift/discipline of healing through medicine. Some heal through prayer. Some do both, and both are gifts of God, given in different ways for us to use and thus accomplish the marvelous work of God.

I'm Rick Blumenberg and that's "My View...from Tanner Creek".
    

I Believe! part 2

 

I believe in the authenticity of the Church. There is only one true Church, founded by Jesus Christ and kept by his Spirit. All the redeemed are members and though often hindered by artificial walls of creedalism and denominationalism, whatever name it uses, it is still God’s church. The foundation upon which the church is built is the fact that Jesus is "the Christ, the Son of the Living God."

I believe in the Vitality of Mission. Mission is the church in action. Whether one saint alone, or many in unity, the church exists to do the work of God in and for a world that doesn’t know him. The church is not an institution. It is God in the flesh. What wind is to the atmosphere, mission is to the church.

I believe in the Reality of the Kingdom. I see the Kingdom of God as a present reality with Christ as our leader. I see Satan as an enemy who is bound and thus powerless to harm the Spirit‑filled Christian. Satan’s powers are primarily the powers of deception and those which are given him by individual persons. I believe Christ is coming again to bring Satan’s final defeat and to receive those prepared for his coming. At his coming the saints will rise to meet him and go with him to the place which he has prepared.

I'm Rick Blumenberg . . . and that's My View from Tanner Creek.