Bah, Humbug.

Champagne and chardonnay - poured. Handel's Messiah - sung along to. Wonderful Christmas wedding table decor - adopted, beauty given more mileage. SMS-ed Christmas greeting spam - received. A few choice carols - butchered by increasingly groggy carollers. Turkeys from faraway lands - marinated, roasted, carved, eaten with gravy and stuffing and cranberry sauce. Friends (new and old) - hugged remotely. All manner of liquid concoctions - concocted and drunk to colourful simultaneous reviews. Gifts - exchanged, received, given. A Charlie Brown Christmas - junked for Mirrormask because Dave McKean = treat. Hot mincepies washed down with fruity TWG's Miraculous Mandarin tea - during The Queen's Christmas Broadcast 2010. Omaha Collective's EP - grooved to. Cathartic jamming - greatly enjoyed. Morning-after turkey porridge - supped with joy.

One is hardput to ignore the advent of Christmas: seasonal decor plastered around every mall, Orchard Road shopping belt lit by Christmas lights, carols playing in shops in late November, Christmas and Boxing Day sale adverts stare out of every newspaper and magazine and hurriedly-thrust flyer, fir-tree-scented IKEA is filled with shoppers gulping down Nygårda Julmust (see Yuletide powers of said soda: here, here and here), Starbucks cups are dotted with snowflakes...and the acapella carollers and the poinsettias! they are taking over the country!.

Because Christmas is so big here, it poses a challenge to those who do not believe in reason for the season, much less celebrate the occasion of his birth. They want in on the festivities but don't want to acknowledge that there is anything worth rejoicing about.

No one says "Oh, during Deepavali (or Hari Raya Haji) I just celebrate the spirit of family togetherness and gift-giving and love" because they acknowledge these as Hindu and Muslim festivals. Sure, secularists argue that Christmas has so commercialised that they can, with good conscience, enjoy it without its Jesus-trappings. But what of the ubiquitous nativity scenes? the content of Christmas carols? the moralistic mawkishness of Santa Claus?

And about Mr. Claus: if Jesus were to give a Christmas Day message, it might be along the lines of "We are not amused...", but harsher and not something you would do a stand-up comedy about after. "He sees you when you're sleeping, he knows when you're awake, he knows if you've been bad or good" is stalker scary, but without bite since most kids get presents from "Santa" anyway despite throwing a tantrum at the mall. Scarier than that, the snowy-bearded male bundled in a furry red suit with white trimmings is a dead-ringer for the dragon and beasts of Revelation - he claims to possess the attributes of God himself: omnipotence (all-seeing, all-knowing), omnipresence (especially in the early hours of Christmas Day whatever your time-zone and whether you've remembered to set the intruder alarm), being the arbiter of right and wrong (assumedly, to determine entitlement to pressies), and being acknowledged, almost to the exclusion of all others, as the giver of good gifts. (God knows exactly what you've been thinking and doing, God determines right and wrong because he made the world, and God knows that you've been very very evil with no hope of ever doing enough good to even outweigh your evil, God gives you the best gift of wiping your slate clean (IF you will accept it).)

Some attempts at "reclaiming" Christmas have not gone much better either, eg. delightful Christian acapella CDs for the season marred by well-intentioned blasphemy. If any child of mine, of wide Puss-In-Boots eyes and cute little voice, ever said,"This Christmas, I want to give Jesus all my medicine so he can heal sick people" or "I want to give Jesus my remote-controlled helicopter so he can give toys to other children who don't have any", he'd be sent directly to his room with plain bread and water and a strict injunction to repent.

Jesus is not your local charity - not the Boys' Brigade Sharity Giftbox asking for your unwanted toys for the less fortunate, Jesus is not the Salvation Army ringing handbells for your spare change; he is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords; he made this universe, so unsurprising he can heal with just a few words, and from a distance, and he can turn water into the wine that is out of this world. He does not need anyone's help.

We're so self-centred that even though we've signed up with the anti-commercialisation and pro-real-meaning-of-Christmas lobbies, we still can't get over the fact that we are not quite the focus of his coming - his obedience to his Father and his Father's jealousy for his own name is the reason he came. We rejoice because we are the unworthy beneficiaries of this.

Christmas is historical, joyful and essential.

They Built Their Houses with Paper and Gingerbread

If we were yet another spore in the mushrooming indie bandwagon (cheesy mixed metaphors due completely to all that Christmas cheese), we would call ourselves "The Paper Houses". Our eponymous debut album would contain the hit singles "People In Paper Houses Shouldn't Light Fires" and "Oh! My Soggy Foundations!".

Fascination with Anna Torborg's paper house templates over at Twelve22 led several happy hours singing carols while trying to deflect attention from poorly wrapped presents with tiny personalised houses.

I liked the tension in the window of the music cafe best with its black cat eyeing a platter of cupcakes, a picture of feline self-control.

The minature home-making continued with gingerbread houses that perched on the rims of mugs of hot tea (until the heat got to the icing) (cheers notmartha).

When the neighbours weren't busy being traumatised by the singing and the smell of burnt gingerbread, they might have caught snippets of podcasts from St. Matthew's Unichurch, Perth.

Thanks to Hayao Miyazaki's Howl's Moving Castle, Rory Shiner's exposition on Romans 6 brought to mind the image of Jesus as a flying home (interestingly The Flying House was a Christian anime series).

It is commonly said in some circles of living the Christian life that, well, the ceremonial law has been abolished but the law is still useful for holiness now that we've understood the gospel and that actually, grace and salvation are conditional on our morals and good behaviour.

But Paul says that the reason that Christians will not and cannot continue in sin because in Christ, we died to sin.

When a Christian puts his trust in Christ to save him from God's judgement on his sins, he does not sign a contract to perform services to God in exchange for salvation. But neither does he merely agree to abide by the terms of membership of the Christian club to follow Christ or be under the rule of Christ, nor is it only that the Spirit comes to live in him to enable him to live as a Christian. Far more than that, the Christian is in Christ - he is crucified with Christ, buried with Christ and raised with Christ (Romans 6:3-5); he is united with Christ.

Christ is a place and the Christian is in him. Christ is like the plane that goes from Singapore to Helsinki (SIN-HEL, haha) and if we are in that plane, we too go from Singapore to Helsinki. What happened to Jesus also happens to the Christian. The Christian participates in the full benefits of what Jesus has to offer and all his blessings, regardless of whether he is quivering in his seat or if he has taken off his shoes and started snoring even before take off.

Christians coming into Christ have, in fact and not as a metaphor, had their old selves killed and buried. Our old selves are not things that have to be beaten into submission so that they will one day; give up the ghost; they are already dead and buried.

If our old sinful selves are dusty history, then because this is true, we must live out the reality that we are dead to sin (Romans 6:11). The imperative is not to pretend for the purposes of the exercise that we are free, but, because our minds are so used to being enslaved to sin, to keep reminding ourselves that we are now, in fact, free from having to obey our sinful thoughts and desires. To return to sin would be as absurd as an emancipated slave running back to be chained to a galley with little food and water and to be ill-treated and then die a painful torturous death because "I can't help it, I just need to do it. My family background and genes compel me to do it." or "I cannot be happy and satisfied in life until I return to slavery" (Romans 6:12-23).

Organically, something has changed in the Christian. The Christian life is then about reckoning to ourselves what God has reckoned to us: freedom from the slavery of sin and freedom to fulfil our full potential as human beings - as slaves of God (Romans 6:15-23).

Monty, the cliché from 2009, says "Know the truth and the truth will set you free".

Churlish Christmas Cookies and Celebrating Christmas

Christmas cookie baking with Karl Richter is always a FAIL

The time came for the Christmas cookies to be baked, and they were baked to Karl Richter's Handel's Messiah, because there was no Masaaki Suzuki in the music stash.

But the burnt and leprosy-ridden butter snowflakes and head-losing gingerbread people were depictions of the real reason for celebrating Christmas.

Jordan (from Jordan), who is wintering hereabouts following an unfortunate accident, says: discover Christ, rediscover Christmas.

Even discounting the gift-giving red-and-white Santa/St. Nicholas popularised by Cocoa-Cola, the real spirit of Christmas isn't ultimately about cultivating a mindset of peace and goodwill to all, love for one's fellowmen and generous hospitality featuring family-togetherness, good friends, roasts and spuds, mixed fruit desserts, mulled wine with cinnamon stick stirrers, consumed in the midst of a heavy cloud of citrus studded with cloves; it is celebrating the birth of the man who did not come to bring peace on earth but a sword, who divided families (Matthew 10:34-36), who demanded absolutely everything (including their very lives) from his followers (Matthew 10:37-39), who condemned those who did not acknowledge him as Messiah and Christ.

Which is why Handel's Messiah isn't all Hallelujah chorus without context - the rejoicing in that popular Christmas chorus is actually in reaction to God's final and terrible judgement on those who do not worship his Son as Lord and Saviour*.

Handel's Messiah was originally written for Easter but surely any Easter song is interchangeable for a Christmas one because any celebration of Jesus' birth must encompass his antagonistic claims that all of history has been awaiting his birth, his exclusivist insistence that salvation from the fallen-ness of this world and its ultimate destruction comes solely through him, his shameful crucifixion, his lonely death and his triumphant resurrection.

Christians can celebrate Christmas because they alone can sing Part Three of Handel's Messiah:

I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth. And though worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God. (Job 19 : 25-26)
For now is Christ risen from the dead, the first fruits of them that sleep. (I Corinthians 15 : 20)

Since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. (I Corinthians 15 : 21-22)

Behold, I tell you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. (I Corinthians 15 : 51-52)

The trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption and this mortal must put on immortality. (I Corinthians 15 : 52-53)

Then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: Death is swallowed up in victory. (I Corinthians 15 : 54)

O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. (I Corinthians 15 : 55-56)

But thanks be to God, who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. (I Corinthians 15 : 57)

If God be for us, who can be against us? (Romans 8 : 31)

Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth, who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is at the right hand of God, who makes intercession for us. (Romans 8 : 33-34)

Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, and hath redeemed us to God by His blood, to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing. Blessing and honour, glory and power, be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb, for ever and ever. Amen. (Revelation 5 : 12-13)

They can rejoice because they have been redeemed by the blood of Jesus and need no longer stumble under the burden of the condemnation of their sin; they can die without fear because Jesus' resurrection is proof that they too will be raised on the Last Day, not to face God's wrath and then everlasting death but to everlasting life, to live in perfect relationship with God forever in a world where things more important than gingerbread people have been made whole again.

* Messiah - Libretto

MAJORA CANAMUS (Virgil, Eclogue IV)
And without controversy, great is the Mystery of Godliness: God was manifested in the Flesh, justified by the Spirit, seen of Angels, preached among the Gentiles, believed on in the World, received up in Glory (I Timothy 3 : 16)
In whom are hid all the Treasures of Wisdom and Knowledge (Colossians II : 3)

PART ONE : The prophesy and realization of God's plan to redeem mankind by the coming of the Messiah

Sinfony (Overture)

Accompagnato (Tenor or Soprano)
Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplish'd, that her Iniquity is pardoned. The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness; prepare ye the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. (Isaiah 40 : 1-3)

Air (Tenor or Soprano)
Ev'ry valley shall be exalted, and ev'ry mountain and hill made low; the crooked straight, and the rough places plain. (Isaiah 40 : 4)
Chorus
And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see together; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. (Isaiah 40 : 5)

Accompagnato (Bass)
Thus saith the Lord, the Lord of Hosts; Yet once a little while and I will shake the heav'ns and the earth, the sea and the dry land: And I will shake all nations; and the desire of all nations shall come. (Haggai 2 : 6-7)
The Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to His temple, even the messenger of the Covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, He shall come, saith the Lord of Hosts.
(Malachi 3 : 1)

Air (Alto)
But who may abide the day of His coming, and who shall stand when He appeareth? For He is like a refiner's fire. (Malachi 3 : 2)
Chorus
And He shall purify the sons of Levi, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness.
(Malachi 3 : 3)

Recitative (Alto)
Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call his name Emmanuel, GOD WITH US. (Isaiah 7 : 14; Matthew 1 : 23)

Air (Alto) & Chorus
O thou that tellest good tidings to Zion, get thee up into the high mountain. O thou that tellest good tidings to Jerusalem, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, behold your God! O thou that tellest good tidings to Zion, Arise, shine, for thy Light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. (Isaiah 40 : 9; Isaiah 60 : 1)

Accompagnato (Bass)
For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people; but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and His glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising. (Isaiah 60 : 2-3)

Air (Bass)
The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light; and they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined. (Isaiah 9 : 2)
Chorus
For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given, and the government shall be upon His shoulder; and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. (Isaiah 9 : 6)

Pifa (Sinfonia pastorale)

Recitative (Soprano)
There were shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flocks by night. (Luke 2 : 8)

Accompagnato (Soprano)
And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them, and they were sore afraid. (Luke 2 : 9)

Recitative (Soprano)
And the angel said unto them: Fear not, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. (Luke 2 : 10-11)

Accompagnato (Soprano)
And suddenly there was with the angel, a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God, and saying: (Luke 2 : l3)
Chorus
Glory to God in the highest, and peace on earth, good will towards men. (Luke 2 : 14)

Air (Soprano or Tenor)
Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, thy King cometh unto thee; He is the righteous Saviour, and He shall speak peace unto the heathen.(Zecharaiah 9 : 9-10)

Recitative (Soprano)
Then shall the eyes of the blind be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb shall sing.
(Isaiah 35 : 5-6)

Aria (Soprano)
He shall feed His flock like a shepherd; and He shall gather the lambs with His arm, and carry them in His bosom, and gently lead those that are with young. (Isaiah 40 : 11)
Come unto Him, all ye that labour, come unto Him that are heavy laden, an He will give you rest. Take His yoke upon you, and learn of Him, for He is meek and lowly of heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls. (Matthew 11 : 28-29)
Chorus
His yoke is easy, and his burden is light. (Matthew 11 : 30)

PART TWO : The accomplishment of redemption by the sacrifice of Jesus, mankind's rejection of God's offer, and mankind's utter defeat when trying to oppose the power of the Almighty
Chorus
Behold the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world. (John 1 : 29)

Air (Alto)
He was despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. (Isaiah 53 : 3)
He gave His back to the smiters, and His cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: He hid not His face from shame and spitting. (Isaiah 50 : 6)
Chorus
Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows! He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon Him. (Isaiah 53 : 4-5)
Chorus
And with His stripes we are healed. (Isaiah 53 : 5)
Chorus
All we, like sheep, have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way, and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53 : 6)

Accompagnato (Tenor or Soprano)
All they that see Him laugh Him to scorn; they shoot out their lips, and shake their heads, saying: (Psalms 22 : 7)
Chorus
He trusted in God that He would deliver Him; let Him deliver Him, if He delight in Him. (Psalms 22 : 8)

Accompagnato (Tenor or Soprano)
Thy rebuke hath broken His heart: He is full of heaviness. He looked for some to have pity on Him, but there was no man, neither found He any to comfort Him. (Psalms 69 : 20)

Arioso (Tenor or Soprano)
Behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto His sorrow. (Lamentations 1 : 12)

Accompagnato (Tenor or Soprano)
He was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgressions of Thy people was He stricken. (Isaiah 53 : 8)

Air (Tenor or Soprano)
But Thou didst not leave His soul in hell; nor didst Thou suffer Thy Holy One to see corruption. (Psalms 16 : 10)
Chorus
Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of Glory shall come in. Who is this King of Glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of Glory shall come in. Who is this King of Glory? The Lord of Hosts, He is the King of Glory. (Psalms 24 : 7-10)

Recitative (Tenor or Soprano)
Unto which of the angels said He at any time: Thou art My Son, this day have I begotten Thee? (Hebrews 1 : 5)
Chorus
Let all the angels of God worship Him. (Hebrews 1 : 6)

Air (Alto)
Thou art gone up on high; Thou hast led captivity captive, and received gifts for men; yea, even from Thine enemies, that the Lord God might dwell among them. (Psalms 68 : 18)
Chorus
The Lord gave the word; great was the company of the preachers. (Psalms 68 : 11)

Air (Soprano)
How beautiful are the feet of them: that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things. (Romans 10 : 15)
Chorus
Their sound is gone out into all lands, and their words unto the ends of the world. (Romans 10 : 18 / Psalms 19 : 4)

Air (Bass)
Why do the nations so furiously rage together, and why do the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth rise up, and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord, and against His Anointed. (Psalms 2 : 1-2)
Chorus
Let us break their bonds asunder, and cast away their yokes from us. (Psalms 2 : 3)

Recitative (Tenor)
He that dwelleth in heaven shall laugh them to scorn; the Lord shall have them in derision. (Psalms 2 : 4)

Air (Tenor)
Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel. (Psalms 2 : 9)
Chorus
Hallelujah! for the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth. (Revelation 19 : 6)
The kingdom of this world is become the kingdom of our Lord, and of His Christ; and He shall reign for ever and ever. (Revelation 11 : 15)
King of Kings, and Lord of Lords. (Revelation 19 : 16)
Hallelujah!

PART THREE : A Hymn of Thanksgiving for the final overthrow of Death
Air (Soprano)
I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth. And though worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God. (Job 19 : 25-26)
For now is Christ risen from the dead, the first fruits of them that sleep. (I Corinthians 15 : 20)
Chorus
Since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. (I Corinthians 15 : 21-22)

Accompagnato (Bass)
Behold, I tell you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. (I Corinthians 15 : 51-52)

Air (Bass)
The trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption and this mortal must put on immortality. (I Corinthians 15 : 52-53)

Recitative (Alto)
Then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: Death is swallowed up in victory. (I Corinthians 15 : 54)

Duet (Alto/Tenor)
O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. (I Corinthians 15 : 55-56)
Chorus
But thanks be to God, who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. (I Corinthians 15 : 57)

Air (Soprano)
If God be for us, who can be against us? (Romans 8 : 31)
Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth, who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is at the right hand of God, who makes intercession for us. (Romans 8 : 33-34)
Chorus
Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, and hath redeemed us to God by His blood, to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing. Blessing and honour, glory and power, be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb, for ever and ever. Amen. (Revelation 5 : 12-13)

from here

World Peace, the Good Book and the Christmas Incarnation

Bake-a-thons give rise (pun!) to much time for somewhat random thinking.


This year's Christmas cookies were born of amalgamated instructions* for Pierre Hermé/Dorie Greenspan's Korova or World Peace Cookies and David Lebovitz's promo of Clotilde Dusoulier's Very Chocolate Cookie. In Baking: My Home To Yours, Dorie explains:

When I included these in Paris Sweets, they were called Korova Cookies and they instantly won fans, among them my neighbor Richard Gold, who gave them their new name. Richard is convinced that a daily dose of Pierre's cookies is all that is needed to ensure planetary peace and happiness.

The cookies did indeed elicit sms-es containing many exclamation marks (and not all of them of the ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL ME?! YOU ARE PAYING MY HOSPITAL BILLS! variety either). Can totally imagine Dorie togged out in Miss World/Universe tiara and sash handing the plate around in the Middle East, Afghanistan, Pakistan and few other little 'stans, with glasses of cold milk.


But we know that world peace isn't quite a matter of having the right sort of confectionery in hand, a cup of hot tea on the lap and a sit-down. And we know that only Jesus will bring real world peace when he comes again to inaugurate a world where:

The wolf shall dwell with the lamb,
and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat,
and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together;
and a little child shall lead them.
The cow and the bear shall graze;
their young shall lie down together;
and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra,
and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder's den.
They shall not hurt or destroy
in all my holy mountain;
for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD
as the waters cover the sea. (Isaiah 11:6-9)

Well, world peace for those who'd acknowledged him as Lord in this world at any rate.

Had always considered Jesus' first coming as a bit of a deus ex machina set in a modern musical: world fallen and under judgement because of man's sin, the imminent consummation of God's wrath, then the fortuitous arrival of Jesus descending on a platform, rapping: if there's a problem yo I'll solve it check out the hook while my DJ revolves it.

So the Christian life had seemed like a glorious play with audience participation. All real of course but yet with a certain invisible-theatre-like distance. If I'd been given a time machine for Christmas, I'd have set the dial for around 30AD, just so's to get a firsthand gob at Jesus y'see.

But the thinking was flawed. It was based on the same presumptions as the other thought experiment of the nativity taking place in the 21st century: of Jesus on Facebook, of several million photos and videos of Jesus doing miracles and teaching on Flickr, of thousands MSN-ing him to clarify issues (or asking him to get their brothers to share their inheritance with them), of the disciples Twittering away after running off from the Garden of Gethsemane (Mark: OMG! Soldiers arrested J. Managed to run away but nekkid!); the presumption that if we could only put our finger through the wounds in his hand and have a wriggle around in the holes in his side, we would believe or be able to have a more intimate relationship with Jesus than we have now.

Au contraire, said Jesus to Thomas,"Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."(John 20:29). During Jesus' time on earth, there were many who saw and heard and touched him but not all believed. And there were many who followed him, but they could not understand what he was saying until God allowed their minds to be open to receiving such revelation (Luke 10:21-22). It is a grave error to imagine that it is man's effort and faculties that are the catalyst for salvation rather than the whole work and grace of God alone.


While physical proximity to Jesus is unimportant to our faith, proximity to his word in the Bible is of utmost importance. It is the word of God that is the sword of the Spirit (Ephesians 6:17) to wage war against the dominion of sin and darkness. Yet, quick and powerful, sharper than double-edged sword, it also judges us, penetrating even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow, to weigh the thoughts and attitudes of our hearts (Hebrews 4:12). It is the Scripture alone that is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness (2 Timothy 3:16). It is the word that truly reveals the Word to us. In The Incomparable Christ, John Stott quotes Erasmus as saying "The Bible will give Christ to you in an intimacy so close that he would be less visible to you if he stood before your eyes."**

It seems to me then that Christmas shall be most profitably and properly spent with the birthday boy, meeting through his word.***


*Note to self:
Ingredients
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup Valrhona cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
156g unsalted butter, at room temperature
2/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon fleur de sel
1 teaspoon vanilla or chocolate extract
140g bittersweet chocolate (Valrhona Guanaja), chopped into chunks

Over-creaming will result in flatter biscuit. Use non-non-stick baking parchment for best insulation and friction. Remove cookies from baking tray and baking parchment as soon as possible for a less soggy base.

**Suspect the conflation of The Word with the word of God is quite right but that's probably another post. Also have a theory that the incarnation took place at that particular time in human history after writing had been "invented" but before the saturation of the democratic media so that the focus could be on the authoritative word (written/spoken) alone.

*** that is until one realises that one has yet to do some sort of dessert for the night's dinner and happily, comes across an Ottolenghi recipe for Clementine & Almond Syrup Cake on the internets. Because my friends are nothing but encouraging, one exclaimed of the strips of orange zest:"There are maggots on top of the cake!" Then there was a round of applause when the knife sliced easily through the confection - "Well, things could be worse; it could have been a rock cake!" the nearest explained. "We must be grateful for small mercies!" agreed another.

Liked the citrus fragrance, the sticky sweetness of the orange and lemon syrup caramelised on the edges of the cake and the moist ground almond textured interior. The coating of melted good dark chocolate (mixed with a tablespoon of Cointreau) add a nice finish to overall experience. Of the assembled guinea pigs, several said it was actually good and very nice, and others, after being rather dodgified by the ground almond, thought it rather rich and too moist.

Notes to self: skip baking parchment next time. Used only 200g of caster sugar for the cake which was just right. Replaced cognac with Cointreau in icing. If baking for other people, reduce height for drier cake (bleah).

Christmas and Couplehood

Christmas in Singapore.


Outside: the constant patter of grey rain. Inside: the citrus and spice fragrance of clove-studded orange pomanders. Roast turkeys being carved. A large bit of ham. Carols sung slightly off key. Jolliness and glow. Old friends. Exchanging gifts. The sweet whisky-soaked dried fruit filling of hot mince pies.


Fruitcakes from fav 2am Dessert Bar, homemade Christmas puddings soaked for months in brandy, Ghiradelli chocolates squares and Williams-Sonoma hot chocolate just off a plane from San Francisco.


Fudgey-centred chocolate cakes off Pierre Herme/Dorie Greenspan's Suzy's Cake recipe cuddling up to vanilla bean ice-cream and kirsch-soaked Griottines. Not much of a dessert fan, but surely there's a minute to spare for a play-around of temperatures, textures, tastes and mouthfeel. Plus this sort of thing seems to make people happy.


For some kids. Cracky Cherry Mini-Cakes were meant to be a variation on Dorie Greenspan's Dimply Plum Cake - swapping the plums for cherries and the orange for lemon zest. But their creator thought: meh, so boring. I'll substitute cake flour for baking powder and flour. And oh, for extra flavour layering, why not throw in a teaspoon of fleur de sel as well? The kids are probably tummy-aching to mommy now. Whingers.


Zesting off a bit of finger at the start of lemon meringue tart prep off another Pierre Herme/Dorie Greenspan recipe* which led later to too many bad joke variations on "oh, you almost gave us the finger?!".


One of the lemon meringue tart siblings cooling it on a retro dish. Vanilla bean pâte sablée was nice and polite but not quite sandy and salty enough to bring out the creamy tartness of the lemon cream.


Mini chocolate cupcakes dressed up for a party as strawberry sundaes.

Alright. Enough with all this gluttonous playing-around-with-food sentimentality. The aroma of the place of Jesus' birth bottled up would have been eau de la animal manure et la stinky afterbirth (pardon moi french). And is there really any way to pinpoint the accurate date of Jesus' birth in history?

But there is probably some truth in R C Sproul's warning, in Marley's Message To Scrooge, not to rain in on Jesus' parade with sniffy accusations of the commercialisation of Christmas, nor worry excessively about Santa the Pagan, but to celebrate it wholeheartedly. And why not grab the shiny opportunity, smiling and beckoning like a roasted chestnut, to tell people about the Christ of all?

The helpful folk at St Helen's Bishopsgate and UCCF have put together some videos:

That's Christmas! from andy pearce on Vimeo.
St Helen's Bishopsgate's That's Christmas


UCCF's The Christmas Tale - a focus on the King of Glory's intriguingly poor start in life but not much else.

Am enjoying Andy's advent calendar. A far better treat than those cheap chocolates behind bits of dreary cardboard.


According to colleagues, the suicide rate for single Japanese men is highest during the festive season, done in by the stark realisation of their lonely existence. In this season of coupley-lurve, it was heartening to share meals with those who love God more than the perceived loserness of singlehood and find themselves free to consider discontinuing relationships with partners who have no such priorities.


But in the same week, hearts sank to know of professing Christians proposing to spend the rest of their lives in initimate relationship with enemies of God (Romans 5:10). There was a bit of a discussion with one party insistent that this sort of decision was merely unwise rather than a sin. But if sin is rebellion against God and refusing to acknowledge him as Lord and king, then is not such an action but an outward manifestation of the dangerously poor state of his soul vis a vis God? Does it not say that God is just a little tchotchke in my pocket that I take out to look at from time to time when I am not otherwise occupied in bed with people who hate him? (Judgement of any individual is God's alone of course but surely there is a need, an obligation even, to warn each other of the superficiality of worship that is sometimes more dangerous than expressed apostasy.)

So even if we think ourselves far above the commercialised circus that is the"yuletide festive season". Perhaps Christmas still isn't Christmas just because we arrange a carol service with no mention of reindeer or Santa, or give out cute evangelistic tracts (about shepherds washing their socks by night, and hark! the angel Harold singing) with our Christmas presents. Perhaps we only truly celebrate Christmas if Jesus is more than the vintage heritage of our childhood, or our latest hobbyhorse, or a handy psychological crutch; if we bow the knee (and the heart) to him as our saviour, lord, master, king, shepherd, God, all.

*yes, someone did just get Baking: From My Home to Yours 40% off at Borders

Home For Christmas and Amazingly, A Round-up for 2007

Back home in Singapore for Christmas. As promised. Who else could have been entrusted with blasting the entire 141 minutes of Masaaki Suzuki's take on Handel's Messiah while laying down balls of cookie dough in infringement of the borders of their neighbours' personal space?

Living, as we all do in this life, in the present-continuous, I subscribe neither to the ritual of annual round-ups, nor, for that matter, the illogicality of new year resolutions, the baseless hope of Philip Larkin's Trees.

Still.

A polaroid of 2007 for the future self (with the usual caveats that accompany such misrepresentative snapshots).

A bit of travelling: snorkelling and diving in Tioman, two work trips to Ho Chi Minh/Saigon, surfing in Bali, mall-ing it in Dubai, dune-bashing and sandboarding in Oman, two work trips to Qatar, wandering about in total amazement in Tokyo. My frequent flyer miles pale in comparison to my colleagues' but are sufficiently foul that preliminaries in discussions with friends about meeting-up inevitably include the question "when are you flying off again?". Even less fortunately, travelling does nothing to douse the wanderlust, it just inflames it so that am currently fairly determined to do a Singapore-London road trip. With the wandering about came a fascination with the diversity of cities and theories about urban environments and urbanity.

Worldview interest of the year: crit theory. Post-modernism, post-post-modernism, post-structuralism, post-existentialism. Michel Houellebecq, Iris Murdoch, Mary Midgley, Jean Baudrillard, Roland Barthes, Slavoj Žižek. This trend is forecast to continue into the new year.

Food interest of the year: cupcakes. An interest in the variety of cake and cream combinations to be had and cream top as blank-canvas/art-space. There is no foreseeable future for this food interest.

Game of the year: Guitar Hero! I IZ RAWKSTARRRR KAME 2 RAWK UR WRLDZ! \m/ RAWR!!! *smashes guitar* uh-oh.

Work: work has been fairly decent. The boss has told many people how pleased he is with my deals and "keen mind". (Exchange rate between praise and bonus not available.) Have also gotten fairly major 'uns which have been intellectually interesting though time and patience-consuming.

Weddings, wedding photography, babies: weddings continued at a steady pace in 2007. I still refused to attend photography classes so as not to have personal idea of aesthetics (which according to current thought ought to be subjective so as not to become Consumerist) squished under the thumb of photography nazis.

I managed, with the mid-range cameras, to pin colours down almost where I wanted them. The Nikon D100 was an eye-opener. The D200 was a bit of a WB let-down. But the D300 was telling me that we could possibly make beautiful music together...if I stopped dropping it on its head. Started experimenting with angles. The new Nikkor VR 18 - 200mm lens promised to open up vistas previously denied by the prime 85mm f1.4 and 50mm f1.4. Oh, but to have a 18 -200mm f1.4. Catch up, technology, catch up!

(Re: people who complained of being made to look ugly in photos (and they were never the brides). The camera don't lie, honey.)

Became vastly more tolerant of the by-products of weddings: babies. And also of the by-products of babies: baby saliva on clothes and the smell of baby poo (totally under-rated on the stench-o-meter).

God and ministry: the most encompassing for last. The last few years have been a horrible struggle, a struggle to keep trusting in God's character and God's promises; a struggle not to let go.

I hold on to God not because of sentimentality since I eschew all things sentimental, nor for the comfort of habit because malignant wanderlust ensures a great adversion to repetition for its own sake, but because the truth of the matter was investigated a long time ago and the evidence[1] pointed to the fair certainty of the goodness and wisdom of God as Creator and Sustainer and Judge and his words as a good thing to hold on to.

Therefore the struggle was not one with the conviction of truth but rather, with over-realised eschatology (not health-and-wealth over-realisation but with wanting justice now, wanting every evil and hidden thing to be brought to light now) and with that biblical both-and of human works and divine sovereignty.

[1] "Quid est veritas?" indeed. I suppose one day I should write down the beyond-reasonable-doubt-edness of the evidence for the truth of biblical Christianity, the external evidence as well as how it is internally consistent and a comparison with other worldview claims. Probably can even dispense with ceteris paribus-type qualifications which are so, duh, cop-out when talking about ultimates.

PS. I suppose also that if God is Creator and Sustainer, then none of this is ultimately my work or effort but his. And this is possibly exacerbated in my instance since am supremely (and, to my boss and family, frustratingly) unambitious, seeing no satisfaction and meaning in the garden-variety ambitions of the world. And if God is Judge then, I think he can be trusted to know when patience is required to give people (including myself) the opportunity to repent.

Christmas Week and The Babe In The Manger

Sticky messes (as opposed to sticky date toffee puddings and strawberry messes) are: leaving little lavender ribbon-wrapped packages of toffees on the laptop in the car on a grandly sunny Christmas morn in Singapore.

Christmas on Mondays means that celebrations start, properly, assiduously, like Letitia Baldridge's star student with set pearls, a week prior, with many roasted turkeys stuffed with all manner of stuffing and cranberry sauce and gravy, chardonnay, many carvings of roast beef and lamb and dollops of mint sauce, pinot noir, meatballs and meeting up with old friends, pasta and passing presents, logcakes and lolling about, laughing, natgeog preaching involving little plastic trees and reindeer and half-eaten logcakes, chocolate fondues and champagne, cheesecakes, fruit tarts, Christmas letters with updates on weddings, funerals, engagements, elopements, births and same-old same-olds, mincepies, botrytis semillion and brown paper packages tied up with string, pine trees and baubles, fruitcake, rescuing toddlers from pine trees and baubles and flashing fairy lights, gravlax and gathering around pianos and singing spoofing carols till hapless pianists are blinded by tears and helpless giggling...(at one of the houses, there was also something about a Christian workout video but no one probed too far)

...so on Christmas eve, the best place to be is with good friends at the nice-and-quiet (until it came upon the midnight clear, those glorious sparklers of old, and screaming and bending near the earth to spray each other with cans of streamers (until cellphones beep with festive greetings to all)) of km8...

...so on Christmas morning, there is crawling out of bed to put out Christmas presents and rescuing the newly-anointed laptop, and then there is crawling back under the covers before a round of parties and carolling later and then more piano/guitar karaoke (complete with nationalistic songs and a mock fly-past) until it is past midnight and the hostess calls time.

...ah but later, there is a fresh pot of tea, mincepies and brandy butter, and the unwrapping of a little pile of presents and sinking into the heftiest: Neil Gaiman's "The Absolute Sandman, Volume 1".

As the onion said to the tomato after the tomato was run over by a truck, so I said to sleep,"Catch-up! Catch-up!"

The Babe in the Manger
Christians know that Christmas isn't just a festive holiday or a season (in Asia, I suppose, the season is monsoon). Regardless of Desmond Morris' "Christmas Traditions" and the historicity (as the carollers at the back of the pack were discussing) of the date of Jesus' birth, Christmas is really about who the babe in the manger was.

If he was yet another cute kid born in underprivileged circumstances, bullied by the heartless bourgeois class, the world easily sympathises. If this was the beginnings of power or genius, the world loves stories of a humble person's rise to greatness.

But the truth is neither so romantic nor sentimental. We cannot just smile benignly, make coo-ing noises and move on. The babe in the manger is no less than God incarnate.

He, through whom time was made, was made in time; and He, older by eternity that the world itself, was younger in age than many of His servants in the world; He, who made man, was made man; He was given existence by a mother whom He brought into existence; He was carried in hands which He formed; He nursed at breasts which He filled; He cried like a babe in the manger in speechless infancy - this Word without which human eloquence is speechless! (Augustine of Hippo, Sermon on Christmas)

The babe is fully God and fully man, and the fully God bit is a scary thing for a sinful world.

It used to be a tradition in our house that once a year, on Christmas Day, because the walls were like cardboard in England, I who lived in the garret would throw open the windows and turn up the volume on Handel's "Messiah". People were offended. Not by the noise, but by the message. What terrible things to say on this joyous occasion! For Handel's "Messiah" isn't all Hallelujah Chorus: the libretto gives us a great Bible overview, from the promises of God through the prophets of old, to the fulfilment of prophecy, to the death and resurrection of Jesus.

We cannot separate the babe in the manger from Jesus who rebuked the Pharisees; who made a whip out of cords and drove all from the temple area, both sheep and cattle and scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables (John 2:15); who cursed the fig tree; who claimed that he alone was the Way, the Truth, the Life and no one could be saved except through him; who died bloodied on the cross and rose again from the dead in 3 days; who now sits at the right hand of the Father, ready to judge the world (Acts 2:33, 1 Peter 4:5); who is portrayed in Revelation 19 as the avenger of God's wrath, with eyes like blazing fire and robes dipped in blood. Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations.

...who may abide the day of His coming, and who shall stand when He appeareth? For He is like a refiner's fire. (Malachi 3:2)

Jesus' birth is to be greeted with both rejoicing and fear. It is the birth of a saviour who will save us from the penalty of our sins and it is also the birth of he who will judge the guilty world.

So why do you celebrate Christmas, oh you who do not yet live under the rule of Christ? Do you not know that your rebellion has already marked you for death? Fear the babe in the manger, tremble at the incarnation of God made man, for his birth (and death and resurrection) means that the world is one step closer to the day when all will be judged, both living and dead, great and small: those who repented of their rebellion against God and trusted in Jesus and his death and resurrection to save them, to everlasting life; and those who had not, to everlasting death where there will be terrible weeping and gnashing of teeth.

If all peoples everywhere could truly celebrate Christmas, and there is much we should do to so assist them...

Christmas and Sufjan Stevens' Christmas Songs

You know it's Christmas when, it's cold and grey and rainy outside, but inside, on account of someone's early morning spritz of DKNY's "Be Delicious" and someone else's grande Starbucks itsredagain! toffee nut latte, the office lift smells deliciously of toffee apple; and in the fridge, all manner of ribbon-wrapped packages from The Patissier and Cedele and Canele and Hot Fuschia (yay, Lish!) and Harrods and Fauchon; and spilling off tables and onto shelves and all about the floor, wicker-basket hampers of wine and fruit cake and chocolate and gingerbread and jars of cookies; and amongst clusters of friends, turkey and stuffing recipes are bantered about; and over many a deli counter, where legs of honey-glazed ham are reserved, there is the promise of rousing good parties to come; and everywhere, baubles, garlands, bottles of bubbly tucked under arms, good cheer and carolling. And best of all, you know it's Christmas when, pottering down supermarket aisles, you can sing praises to God (said carols do not include the words "Santa", "winter", "yuletide", "snow" or "reindeer") and complete strangers smile and hum along in tune; and whilst swotting Luke 24, the post-gym chaps having a coffee at the next table earnestly debate the Resurrection.

(You know it's Christmas in Singapore when you almost run over a gaggle of jaywalkers who've suddenly halted in their dangerous trek across the crowded slippery dark Orchard Road to stand in the middle of the street and capture, on their mobile phone cameras, the fire at Tangs.)

So.

Hot, like mulled wine, on the heels of the end of a painful yet joyfully encouraging youth camp, the season's partying starts tomorrow night (even if it is with a bunch of outrageous intrepid journalists (ed: even if said journalists have a predilection for liquid diets - notably Pan Pacific's Keyaki Bar saketinis, thoroughly confusing pubescent waiters, Scottish accents, suicide-inducing Doris Lessing, and, at the same time, kitschy blinking LED Christmas tree brooches)) and ends past the New Year.

But first.

Hold on to your stockings (Christmas, not fishnet). For the indie kid out there (the all of one of you); for you who won't hurl your eggnog on the carpet, here're banjos, oboes, Casiotones, glockenspiels, ukeleles, crappy guitars, hand claps, sleigh bells, Hammond organs, a frail tottery voice, a throw of tinsel and a sprinkling of exclamations, here's Sufjan I'm-not-CCM-I-just-happen-to-be-Christian ("God'll Never Let You Down", "Woman At The Well") (as opposed to Cat) Stevens:

Yes, the look is parmesan, cheddar and gruyere.

Noel: Songs for Christmas, Vol. I (recorded December 2001)
1. Silent Night
2. O Come O Come Emmanuel
3. We're Goin' To the Country!*
4. Lo How A Rose E'er Blooming
5. It’s Christmas! Let’s Be Glad!*
6. Holy Holy, etc.
7. Amazing Grace

Hark!: Songs for Christmas, Vol. II (recorded December 2002)
1. Angels We Have Heard on High
2. Put the Lights on the Tree*
3. Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing
4. I Saw Three Ships
5. Only at Christmas Time*
6. Once in Royal David’s City
7. Hark! The Herald Angels Sing!
8. What Child Is This Anyway?
9. Bring A Torch, Jeanette, Isabella

Ding! Dong!: Songs for Christmas, Vol. III (recorded December 2003)
1. O Come, O Come Emmanuel
2. Come on! Let’s Boogey to the Elf Dance!*
3. We Three Kings
4. O Holy Night
5. That Was the Worst Christmas Ever!*
6. Ding! Dong!*
7. All the King’s Horns*
8. The Friendly Beasts
(thanks to drop7)

Joy: Songs for Christmas, Vol. IV (recorded December 2005)
1. The Little Drummer Boy
2. Away In A Manger
3. Hey Guys! It’s Christmas Time!*
4. The First Noel
5. Did I Make You Cry On Christmas Day? (Well, You Deserved It!)*
6. The Incarnation*
7. Joy To The World

Peace: Songs for Christmas, Vol. V (recorded June 2006)
1. Once in Royal David’s City
2. Get Behind Me, Santa!*
3. Jingle Bells
4. Christmas in July*
5. Lo! How A Rose E’er Blooming
6. Jupiter Winter*
7. Sister Winter*
8. O Come O Come Emmanuel
9. Star of Wonder*
10. Holy, Holy, Holy
11. The Winter Solstice*

* denotes original songs by Sufjan Stevens © 2006 New Jerusalem Music/ASCAP

(Blue Collar's collection here. Asthmatic Kitty's stream here)

...and also Majesty, Snowbird from his next album.

(Songs slapped together by the good man and sent round to his friends over the last 5 years. Said friends subsequently shared the joy on the net. Messy copyright-royalties situation, really. Some are up for a limited period. Buy the CDs if you like 'em.)

It's great, innit, to be able to celebrate Christ's birth?

In Which There Was Yuletide Doggerel, Gingerbread, Carolling, Reunions and Plans for the Future

T'was the night (and one) before Christmas, when all through the house, all the creatures were stirring (pots of chocolate), with nary a louse. The gingerbreads (and others) were built on strong foundations with care, in full knowledge that Jesus would soon be there.

And all thanks to Faye and Claire and Bernard Who Bends, pretty stacks of gingerbread people for colleagues and friends. And later at parties with mince pies in tummies, and turkeys and mulled wine and Santas on Harleys, the people sang carols but some didn't believe, the birth of our Saviour who died so we'd live. And how shall we celebrate while dead in our state, for doubtless and sure we will go to our fate.

Doggerel above thanks to the Visiting "Poet". ;-)

The long Christmas weekend was all the smell of freshly baked goods, gingerbread on clothes, sugar frosting in hair, eating candied decorations while waiting for baked goods to cool, cookie cutters left out to dry then retired for the while, enough colourful sweets and chocolates of all flavours and sizes to make a wildly successful Halloween kid do a double take, loads of carolling, juicy turkeys expertly carved, fat sizzling fat sausages, honey-baked ham studded with pineapple and cherry chunks, floor space piled with pretty wrapping and ribbons pulled off wonderful presents, then more carolling and twinkling Christmas trees, open homes and grand parties, wild dancing, the warm smell of pine, pots of mulled wine, last minute wicker baskets ladden with goodies, coldish Christmas and Boxing day morns to dally over hot mince pies with dollops of brandy butter melted over and cups of rum tea, rainbow streamers and confetti in hair, new friends made at parties, unexpected bells from old friends overseas and shimmery glittery cards from even older friends in wintery climes.

Best of all, everyone taking the opportunity to share the good news because every once a year, even staunch suspicious atheists aren't humbuggy enough to refrain from belting out praise and adoration of Jesus as king, ruler, lord, saviour and God in carols.

And it may not seem much to merely tell the simple gospel story and reason why we rejoice at the birth of a wee baby 2000 years ago. But we never know how God works through even the little we do to turn the hearts and minds of others towards him.

"So", someone asked a couple attempting to feed their energetic kids at the table,"how did you finally come to settle down in ARPC?"

"Yes, how?" I wondered, having known them for quite some time.

They looked at me curiously. "You brought us here and settled us down? And you were right about the good solid bible teaching and gospel-centred, Christ-centred preaching, so we stayed."

Couldn't recall having done anything at all. And so it is good that God choses to work even through mindless memory-like-goldfish, blur-like-sotongs to grow his people in love and knowledge of him. Phew. Thank God!

And so there was also alot of excitement bouncing off great plans for the future in between endless bites of turkey and glasses of wine: plans for DGs and loving and encouraging dear members, ministries to the unreached, Moore graduates going on their way (and so perhaps Choong Chee Pang rejoicing), Phillip Jensen addressing the mainland Chinese next year, John Chew being made pointy-hat Archbishop of South-East Asia, mergers and amalgamations of ministries for the proclamation of the good news, potential partnerships in the gospel, The Campus Hub with PSPC (Prinsep Street Presbyterian Church)...

A very very exciting time indeed.

However, we know that God is sovereign in all things. So the LORD works out everything for his own ends — even the wicked for a day of disaster (Proverbs 16:4) and though in his heart a man plans his course, it is the LORD who determines his steps (Proverbs 16:9).

So though we seek the salvation of all by bringing the message of salvation to all, and though we seek to please him who is our master, lord and God, we must ultimately say with James,

Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit"-- yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that. (James 4:13-15)

To preserve anonymity, images thanks to Getty Images and sydneyanglicans.net.

Christmas is Chocolate, Carolling, Friends and Paris?

It's that time of the year again when dispatches arrive bearing unwieldy hampers and assorted gifts from clients, and your secretaries force-feed you all sorts of confections containing either a disproportionate chocolate cream and chocolate sponge ratio or a sickly sweet amount of candied cherries, mixed fruits and nuts. It all gets a bit messy when you're conducting rather heated negotiations on a conference call and the secretaries are peeping in and attempting to tell you that they're giving you another slice a branded festive corporate edible that doesn't contain any brandy.

Christmas, someone said, is about chocolates. And there were boxes. Literally, boxes. And there were mounds of truffles from the very pink and very rococo Prestat, to Leonidas the ironically melty King of Sparta, to Godiva indecently-unattired on a horse (history does not record if it was attired).

Or perhaps, sighed another, Christmas is about carolling (and having your carolling scores jam up the office printer).
Christmas, yet again, could be good food, good wine, good company, great friends and exciting new plans to spread the good news, hosted by the newly-opened PS Café, twinkling amongst the peaceful greenery of Dempsey.
Later, someone else said, Christmas is about Paris and flew from London to the Capital of Love on a Cirrus SR22. And the land-bound nibbled macarons and watched C'était un Rendez-vous with cracking hearts.

Because, suddenly, we knew a café the madman sped past, breakneckedly, on his way to his cheesy rendezvous. That café on Montmatre, a stone's throw from the Sacre Couér. From the murky depths of our minds rose the spectre of a long-forgotten day, years and years ago, when we sat outside with the smell of summer, cupping hot chocolates, watching the Parisian dusk fall, the world open to us like a beautiful oyster (all in keeping with the cheesiness of C'était un Rendez-vous). Flushed with the idealism and excitement of youth, we explored with words the pathways ahead of us: Juilliard, Peabody, Eastman; UN, ILO, UNHCR, Red Cross; Ivy League B-schools, Mercer, McKinsey; Johns Hopkins, Harvard, Duke, Médecins Sans Frontières, Nobels; New York, Broadway, Playbill...

Perhaps, he said, perhaps not all of us turn out like we thought we would.

Thank God! I said. Or we would never be saved.

You did not wait for me
To draw near to You
But You clothed Yourself
With frail humanity

You did not wait for me
To cry out to You
But You let me hear
Your voice calling me

And I'm forever grateful to You
I'm forever grateful
For the cross
I'm forever grateful to You
That You came
To seek and save the lost

I'm Forever Grateful, Mark Altrogge
© 1985 People Of Destiny International (Admin. by Sovereign Grace Ministries)

Christmas is about God graciously taking the initiative.

In other news, Christians at Christmas is where the money is.

What is Wrong with "Even Wise Men Seek Jesus"?

This particular Christmas decoration outside the Tangs department store along Orchard Road causes double-takes amongst Christmas shoppers because of the very un-PC inclusion of the word "Jesus". Traditional commercial Christmas catch-phrases include the more acceptable "Christmas is all about ME", "Reward yourself this Christmas" and "Christmas is all about giving".

But the Tang family has long been known for its "Christian-ness". For a long time, they refused to open their store on a Sunday despite it being one of the more lucrative days of the week for the retail business, in obedience to their interpretation of the Sabbath.

So this year's decorative evangelistic message came as no surprise.

Yet, however applaudable their good intentions, there is something somewhat wrong with the phrase "Even Wise Men Seek Jesus". This supposes that one typically understands that only foolish men seek Jesus. Aaah, says the Tangs family, did you know that even wise men do so? Magi-ishly but still. They were wise men.

But that's not what the Bible says at all.

Who are the foolish?
The fools despise wisdom and instruction (Proverbs 1:7). They delight in scoffing at wisdom and hate knowledge (Proverbs 1:22). They have no sense (Proverbs 8:5). They are complacent in their ignorance (Proverbs 1:32) and wallow in their sinful ways (Psalms 107:17). And so for continuing in their foolishness, they will ultimately die (Proverbs 10:21) and be destroyed (Proverbs 1:32).

Who are the wise?
Wisdom is found in the knowledge of the living God. It is the wise that acknowledge God's rule over them. The beginning of wisdom is the fear of the LORD (Proverbs 1:7). For this world is the LORD's and everything that lives and exists in it. He alone is worthy to rule it and he alone knows how he designed everything to live and relate. Where else have we to go for knowledge and value and meaning in life? Where else have we to turn for direction? Only in God through his Son, Jesus Christ. It is the wise who understand this and so look for knowledge and value and meaning and direction where it can be found and follow what is true. And so, they will ultimately live and be saved from the destruction of fools.

Therefore, only wise men seek Jesus.

The Cure and Handel's "Messiah"

When you are bopping and bouncing along to The Cure on the way home, about boys not crying and love cats, you will, when you get home, pick up the orange and black fluffball curling around you to welcome you, hold her to your face, nose to moist quivering nose, look into her eyes, let her whiskers tickle you, and sing with love,

You're so wonderfully wonderfully wonderfully
Wonderfully pretty!
(or in her case: one flea, one flea, one flea, one flea spitty)

then dance around belting out just like heaven while someone else intros drums with wooden spoons and Milo tins and another plays air guitar with the chopping board, until she turns away from these humans in disgust and scans the vicinity for food.

Then you will remix Christmas carols with dragostea din tei, do the nu mă nu mă to each other, periodically say "Heelloo" to the mixing bowls and whip up colourful little chocolatey Christmas treats.

Then after the kitchen, the house, your clothes, your fingers, your hair smell of the aforementioned Christmas goodies, and you are tired and happy, you will put the kettle on, potter to a cushy chair with a cuppa and a plate of cookies and settle down for the annual listen to Handel's "Messiah".

There are too many versions of the Oratorio floating around (Handel always edited it to suit the needs of the moment) to decide which I like best. My dream team for "Messiah" is somewhat conventional: the interpretation of Masaaki Suzuki, the emotionally mature mezzo of Janet Baker or Anne Sofie von Otter, the deep dire baritone of Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and beautifully strong countertenor of a younger Michael Chance.

Of course, "Messiah" isn't really an oratorio for just Christmas.

The story about Handel's "Messiah" is this: unlike the pious Lutheran JS Bach, history tells us that Georg Friedrich Händel was hardly a religious man. His life's goal was popularity, riches and the bright lights of the urban capitals of the civilised world. Unfortunately, both fame and fortunate eluded the man and Handel was at a low point in his life; his opera company had failed, he had suffered a mild stroke, was denounced as an infidel by the church authorities and was almost bankrupt.

Along came the staunchly protestant Charles Jennens who, to challenge the claims of the deists, had written a libretto about the life of a man called Jesus: from prophecies of his birth, to his miraculous virgin birth, to his horrendous death, to his victorious resurrection and as a consequence, the hope of humans for the future. Would Handel set the words to music for some cold hard cash and a safe place away from the debtor's prison? Oo'er. Don't mind if I do said Handel and scribbled off the score in less than a month.

So it's actually good for any time of the year, and Christmas is a good time as any.

Charles Jennens' own explanation for the flow of his libretto is apparently this:

I
(i) The prophecy of Salvation;
(ii) the prophecy of the coming of Messiah and the question, despite (i), of what this may portend for the World;
(iii) the prophecy of the Virgin Birth;
(iv) the appearance of the Angels to the Shepherds;
(v) Christ's redemptive miracles on earth.

II
(i) The redemptive sacrifice, the scourging and the agony on the cross;
(ii) His sacrificial death, His passage through Hell and Resurrection;
(iii) His Ascension;
(iv) God discloses his identity in Heaven;
(v) Whitsun, the gift of tongues, the beginning of evangelism;
(vi) the world and its rulers reject the Gospel;
(vii) God's triumph.

III
(i) The promise of bodily resurrection and redemption from Adam's fall;
(ii) the Day of Judgement and general Resurrection;
(iii) the victory over death and sin;
(iv) the glorification of the Messianic victim.

Fit the structure to the libretto. Lovely.

Then fit the libretto to verses in the Bible (the libretto is made up purely of verses from Scripture). Check out how Jennens arranges them together to form beautiful threads of shorthand biblical theology. Groovy.

Which is why I love Handel's "Messiah" so much. Not for the dream team (even if they could get together), not so much for the truly wonderful music (which sends people humming every time they get to those passages in Bible studies) but for the power of words themselves. Powerful because of their truth.

Is Christianity just a fictional metanarrative? Is it merely a story made up by humans to feel better about themselves? Is it just one of the many ways to interpret the world and the live life? Is it just a useful lie to believe in, just to have the strength to live and die peacefully?

Look at the Bible. Look at the tens of authors from mind-blowingly different cultures, languages and nations. Look at the one coherent story told by all of them over hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of years. Look at the predictions and prophecies made about Jesus thousands of years before he was born. Look how he fulfilled every single one of them in a way that could never have been imagined or collusively arranged.

If all arrows point to the Bible story being true, then other claims to truth and other interpretations of reality cannot be true. Then humanity is under a death penalty. And submission to God and trust in Jesus' death is the only way to gain pardon from it.

It's pretty darned scary and amazing at the same time.

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Not my rockstar cat