“The question is whether Nature actually deserves a religious response. Traditional theism has to wrestle with the problem of evil: if God is good, why does he allow suffering and death? But Nature is suffering and death. Its harmonies require violence. Its “circle of life” is really a cycle of mortality. And the human societies that hew closest to the natural order aren’t the shining Edens of James Cameron’s fond imaginings. They’re places where existence tends to be nasty, brutish and short.

Religion exists, in part, precisely because humans aren’t at home amid these cruel rhythms. We stand half inside the natural world and half outside it. We’re beasts with self-consciousness, predators with ethics, mortal creatures who yearn for immortality.

This is an agonized position, and if there’s no escape upward — or no God to take on flesh and come among us, as the Christmas story has it — a deeply tragic one.

Pantheism offers a different sort of solution: a downward exit, an abandonment of our tragic self-consciousness, a re-merger with the natural world our ancestors half-escaped millennia ago.

But except as dust and ashes, Nature cannot take us back.”

- Ross Douthat, Reviewing Avatar

Sermon Poetry, 20 December 2009
Sermon Title – “Christ’s Incarnation and God’s Eternal Purpose”
Sermon Text – Ephesians 3:11
Preacher – Pastor Larry Vincent

Through blood and through water our Savior was born
A baby both naked and cold
‘Twas beautiful screaming the first sounds he made
From Mary he suckled and fed

He came as an infant, a babe born to die
The Suffering Servant and King
He came in humanity, Savior in deity
His praises His people e’er sing

Christ came for a reason, to rescue His Bride
For sinners from every tongue
The Babe in the Manger, the Man on the Tree
Salvation by Jesus is won

The Father is faithful, His promises kept
In Jesus the Scriptures fulfilled
The Man of all Sorrows, the Prince of all Peace
For us Christ our Savior was killed

The Savior was born into poverty strong
Despised and rejected by men
In Christ’s incarnation poor sinners are saved
In Christ we are made into sons

Praise Jesus our Savior, our Shepherd, our King
Praise Him all you sinners and saints
Praise Jesus for coming, a babe born to die
Come all, lift your voices and praise

Love, beautiful love, our Savior’s Love!

He had a messy human birth, perfectly
He lived a human life, perfectly
He died a terrible human death, perfectly

He brought God’s full wrath, our due wrath, onto Himself.

Oh, our Savior’s Love!

He was born into a humble life, born cold, wet, naked, and hungry; born in a cold, dirty, miserable stable.  He father was a poor carpenter, his mother very young.

Yet he came, and He lived

He grew up as any normal human
Our Savior who is Lord of all, had to learn to eat, learn to drink, learn to speak, learn to walk, learn His letters, his history, his math, and various other studies.
He had to deal with the plethora of difficulties of adolescence, and had to learn how to be an adult

Yet he lived, perfectly

Oh, our Savior’s Love!

He had to deal with unbelieving men, who saw Him only as a healer, a moral teacher, and a nation-ruler.  He had to deal with traitors, liars, thieves, prostitutes, the poor, the weak, the naked, and the hungry.

Yet He lived, and He loved.

When He humanly needed His friends the most, He was abandoned, and denied.  He stood alone before the Jewish Leaders and Pontius Pilate, with no one but Himself as a Defense.

Yet He lived, and was condemned.

Oh, our Savior’s Love!

He took the scourge of the cat’s whip, endured the sound of the cracking, as His skin was being ripped mercilessly off His back, He tasted the blood as it ran down his forehead and face as the soldiers jammed the painful crown of thorns upon His head.

Yet He lived, and He suffered.

He listened to the mocking of the crowd and the scorn of the Roman Soldiers.  He bore the beatings, the thrown projectiles, the long road up the Hill, the bitter taste of vinegar forced down his dry and thirsty mouth and throat.  He endured the nails as they were driven through his hands and feet, He felt the tendons snap, the sinews tear, and his flesh being ripped asunder.  He felt his life ebb away as the blood flowed and pooled on the dry, dusty ground below.  As He tried to breath, though the cruel Cross hindered Him, he breathed hot, dry dust; the stench of his own blood; and the terrible odor of a sweaty, and wholly angry crowd.

Yet He lived, and endured to the end.

Oh, our Savior’s love!!!

He could have let this terrible cup pass from Him, denying His God, and forsaking His Mission.  He could have with but a word slain the crowd, jumping off that Cross, destroying His enemies.  He could have made Himself King of Rome, the great Conqueror the Jews expected, Emperor of the World.  He could have foregone the pain, the suffering, and the humiliation.  He could have been spared.

Yet He lived, and staid the Course.

Having staid the Course, and endured the pain of the Cross, He then took up that Cup, that bitter, bitter Cup, and received the full, unmitigated wrath of Almighty God — Holy and Righteous — upon Himself, when He least of All deserved it.  He, for a moment, was Forsaken, utterly Separated from God the Father, alone in the fullest sense of the word.

Yet He lived, and was Forsaken.

Oh, our Savior’s Love!!!

He endured until each and every one of His Father’s people’s sins were atoned for, so that God’s Justice would be perfect.  Then, when all was accomplished, He proclaimed His work completed, and breathed His last.

So Christ died, perfectly

But our Savior was not finished.  As He had promised, in three days He arose from the grave, and thus defeated death, the last enemy.  By the power of Almighty God, breath entered His lifeless lungs, His heart beat again, His muscles flexed, and He arose and went forth.

So He lives, as the Risen Savior

Then after patiently teaching His disciples still more, He went up into Heaven, in full glory and majesty, to forever sit at the right hand of God Almighty, Ruling as King; Judging as Judge; Interceding as our High Priest; and Loving us as Savior, Brother and Friend.  He then, as He promised, sent the Helper, the Holy Spirit, to teach us, and grow us and prepare us to be eternally with Him and the Father, forever dwelling in perfect harmony and peace in Heaven where there is no pain, nor sadness, nor grief, nor sin.  Oh, the glory of eternal life!!!

And so Christ rules, and reigns, and cares for His People.

Love, oh beautiful, perfect Love, our Savior’s Love!

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVqqj1v-ZBU

Check it out here

I have always loved Christmas.  And I have always loved (and hated) waiting for Christmas to come around.  Well, my wife and I are expecting the birth of our first child a mere 2 weeks before Christmas and waiting to meet your kid for a whole stinkin’ 9 months is far worse than waiting for Christmas.  But, then again, it’s awesome fun too.

It brings up questions:

What will he/she look like?

What will his/her personality be like?

Will he/her like me?

Can I really parent?

Will I screw him/her up, or will I train him/her up in the “fear and admonition of the Lord”?

I tell you what, this parenting thing is a mixed bag.  On one hand, the thought is as exhilerating as just about anything I’ve ever felt before.   The only thing better than loving your child is loving your spouse.

And, in the manner of Tevye, on the other hand, I am absolutely scared to death of parenting our child.

Oh, may the Lord grant me the Grace I so desperately need!

We find out next friday whether we have a boy or a girl.  If you wanna find out, visit this here blog that night, and you will (find out, because I will post about it…..ya).