And is it true

 

From a poem by John Betjeman (1906-1984): 

And is it true,

This most tremendous tale of all,

Seen in a stained-glass window's hue,

A Baby in an ox's stall ?

The Maker of the stars and sea

Become a Child on earth for me ?

 

And is it true ? For if it is,

No loving fingers tying strings

Around those tissued fripperies,

The sweet and silly Christmas things,

Bath salts and inexpensive scent

And hideous tie so kindly meant,

 

No love that in a family dwells,

No carolling in frosty air,

Nor all the steeple-shaking bells

Can with this single Truth compare —

That God was man in Palestine

And lives today in Bread and Wine.

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The photo is from our friend Vanea Vrabie, who was Ethan and Andrew's teacher when we lived in Moldova, and now lives in Colorado, where he gets to hike in the Rockies (photo was taken near Buffalo Bill's burial site). 

And can it be?

 

Charles Wesley was born today (December 18) in 1707. He reportedly wrote about 6,500 hymns! According to Wikipedia he began writing hymns when he was about 30 and he died at age 80. That is an average of 130 hymns per year, or one very 3 days.

"And Can It Be" is one of these hymns that is special to me:

And can it be that I should gain

An int’rest in the Savior’s blood?

Died He for me, who caused His pain—

For me, who Him to death pursued?

Amazing love! How can it be,

That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?

Refrain:

Amazing love! How can it be,

That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?

’Tis myst’ry all: th’ Immortal dies:

Who can explore His strange design?

In vain the firstborn seraph tries

To sound the depths of love divine.

’Tis mercy all! Let earth adore,

Let angel minds inquire no more.

He left His Father’s throne above—

So free, so infinite His grace—

Emptied Himself of all but love,

And bled for Adam’s helpless race:

’Tis mercy all, immense and free,

For, O my God, it found out me!

No condemnation now I dread;

Jesus, and all in Him, is mine;

Alive in Him, my living Head,

And clothed in righteousness divine,

Bold I approach th’ eternal throne,

And claim the crown, through Christ my own.

It was him. He called me by my name.

For some time, we have wanted to watch season one of "The Chosen".  So we're grateful to our sons Ethan and Matthew for helping us get started!

It began with Ethan, when we watched the first episode with him and Mindy a couple of weeks ago. Then last night Matthew, who is visiting from Colorado, invited us to watch more episodes with him.

The series begins with Mary of Magdala,, as a child, being comforted by her father. Then years later we see her as an adult in Capernaum, known by another name, in the horrors of her demonic oppression. A leading Pharisee who is visiting from Jerusalem tries unsuccessfully to help her. After this encounter she has another meeting with a stranger who calls to her, "Mary". Hearing her real name gets her attention, and without anything spectacular happening, she leaves the encounter not knowing who it is who has called her by her name, but knowing she is free from the demons who had been destroying her.

Sometime after this, the Pharisee learns that she has changed and seeks her out to try to verify that there has indeed been a miracle. It is awkward when this sophisticated religious leader finds her, an apparently insignificant village woman, and starts to ask her questions in his attempt to understand what has happened. For Mary, everything about her past is fuzzy, like a blur, and she doesn't remember the Pharisee. As the Pharisee keeps pressing for clarity, she finally looks at him and calmly says:

"It wasn't you. It was him. He called me by my name."

The Pharisee asks Mary for the man's name., Mary says she doesn't know his name, and she  doesn't know what happened. All she knows is she met "him" and now her life has changed.

The Pharisee was a leader, a practitioner of a very good religion, the commandments given by God to Moses more than a thousand years earlier. But this good religion was powerless when confronted with Mary's need for a life change.

We 21st century Christians may also be practicing a very good religion, better than the Pharisee's because it is based on God's "completed" Word and centered on the need for the sacrificial death of Jesus. Yet when there is no ongoing reality of a personal encounter with Jesus, we are as powerless to experience or be a means of a changed life as the Pharisee who tried to help Mary.

May I remember Mary's words: "It was him. He called me by my name."