Celebrating unfulfilled expectations at Christmas

Looking back at the coming of Jesus from the vantage point of around 2000 years later, how Jesus came can seem a bit obvious. We've heard the story so many times we couldn't imagine it any other way.

Lately I've been doing a bit of study in the book of Micah.  I was pondering how verses 2 and 4 of chapter 5 might have come across to their original recipients.

(2)But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah,
who are too little to be among the clans of Judah,
from you shall come forth for me
one who is to be ruler in Israel,
whose coming forth is from of old,
from ancient days.
(4)And he shall stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the LORD,
in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God.
And they shall dwell secure, for now he shall be great
to the ends of the earth.

The people of Israel had been under many rulers of varying types. Some were pretty good, some weren't very good, some had been plain awful. They had also been the victims of other nations with powerful leaders. To get a prophecy like this one would have been very exciting. Hearing that a leader was coming for them who would shepherd in the strength of the Lord, be great to the ends of the earth and make them dwell secure would have raised their hopes. Maybe they thought back to some of the better leaders they'd had in the past and pondered what it would be like to have someone who would do an even better job at fixing the practical problems the country faced. Maybe when a powerful and articulate young leader started developing a following people wondered if maybe this impressive rising star was the one they were looking forward to. Maybe mothers told their scared children that although they were oppressed by foreign powers now, one day they would have a political leader who would guide the nation to military victory over their enemies.

In some ways they got less than they were expecting. They probably expected that the ruler would come from a powerful, well connected family. They almost certainly weren't expecting that the new ruler would enter the world by being born in a dirty stable in a small town to working class parents. They didn't get the political leader many would have been hoping and this new ruler didn't solve Israel's problems in the way they would have liked.

And yet they got so much more than they were expecting. They got a ruler who would make a way for them to be right with God even though it would cost the ruler his life. In fact, this ruler was God dwelling amoungst them.

At Christmas we celebrate that God did not send people what they wanted or expected but that he gave them and us who we really needed. He sent us Jesus

Book Givaway- Permission to Speak Freely by Anne Jackson

I thought it would be nice to celebrate the end of another year of blogging by giving away a copy of my favourite book from this year, Permission To Speak Freely by Anne Jackson. To enter the draw, enter your name and email in the form below. A winner will be randomly chosen on January 1

Sorry, the giveaway has finished


The fine print.....
1. The winner must respond within one week of being notified or a new winner will be chosen. 
2. Information provided by entrants will not be used for any purpose other than conducting the draw and will be erased once the contest is over.
3. The book will be shipped using bookdepository.com. They ship to most countries, but if you would like to check if they can ship to you, click here.

Resource roundup 22 December 2010

Looking for some music for your Christmas celebrations? Heaps of artists are making their Christmas albums available for free or whatever you'd like to donate on noisetrade.com

Wanting to get an overview of the whole bible? A series of lectures by D.A Carson called "the God who is there" has recently been made available for download at The Gospel Coalition website. In these lectures, Carson gives an overview of the biblical story. I haven't had a chance to listen to them yet but everything else I have heard from Carson has been excellent.

If you would like to check out some of D.A Carson's books, Andy Naselli provides a list of Carson's books that are available for free and legal download.

This video was designed as an advertisement for a conference but I was stuck by its simple but profound presentation of the difference that Christ makes.

Book review: Calvin R. Stapert- Handel's Messiah

Handel's Messiah: Comfort for God's people
Calvin R. Stapert

In Handel’s Messiah, Calvin R. Stapert presents Handel’s history and cultural context and explains the content of Messiah, a work most famous for the Hallelujah Chorus.

I approached this book as someone who was interested to know more about what was behind the Hallelujah Chorus but was not particularly a classical music enthusiast. While the book had some interesting facts, I had trouble getting through the excessive detail so skipped some segments. You would need to be quite interested in the topic to make it through the whole book.

I “read” the book in audiobook format. I was quite impressed by the audiobook production. The narration was interspersed with recordings of the musical pieces being discussed. To make the most of these it would be better to get the audiobook on CD rather than the lower audio quality. While other reviewers have complained about the narration, I liked it. I thought the narrator had just the right kind of British accent for a work on this topic.

If you are interested in listening to this audiobook, you can get it free from christianaudio.com until the end of December 2010


Review copy provided by christianaudio.com

Book review: Andy Stanley- The Grace Of God

 The Grace of God
Andy Stanley

In The Grace of God, Andy Stanley takes us on a tour of some of the different ways God has shown grace throughout the bible.

The book takes a chronological approach to ordering different examples of God’s grace, starting with creation and ending with the early church. The chronological approach works well because it helps to demonstrate how God’s grace is central to the whole story of scripture, not just to the New Testament. I was particularly struck by the segments on how God demonstrated grace to Jonah and in his response to the fall.

Although the book is does quite well at explaining how God shows grace, it would have benefited from more about how we are to respond to his grace. I think it could have done with a little more on how grace is demonstrated in Jesus dying and rising again for our sins.

Most Christians should find the book to be easy enough to read and understand, although those doing serious study on the topic of grace may want something more comprehensive. It may also be useful for non-Christians who have an image of God being overly harsh or angry.


Review copy provided by booksneeze.com

(not so) boring stories

I often hear people describe the story of how they became a Christian as boring, implying that it is not worth talking about. I've done the same. We seem to think that the important things in a testimony are the same things that are important to Hollywood movie producers- drama, dramatic moments, inspirational life change and a fair bit of sin (in the before part at least). On these standards stories of people who had Christian parents and came to genuine, personal faith without going through a rebellious stage or even just people who had a rather un-dramatic life both before and after coming to faith can seem a bit unremarkable and less worth sharing.

I propose we have how we determine a good testimony wrong. If we think about what actually takes place, it becomes clear that there is no such thing as an unremarkable testimony. The external circumstances aren't what is most important. The person has been reconciled to God and saved from his wrath (Romans 5:9-10), been set free from being a slave to sin (Romans 6:20), been adopted as a child of God (Romans 8:15) and received eternal life (John 3:16) just to name a few of the things that have taken place. When we look at what has taken place spiritually, every testimony is amazing and worth celebrating & sharing.

This is how the bible should be read

I've just returned from the National Training Event conference run by the Australian Fellowship Of Evangelical Students. The conference was amazing and I have more to share about it later, but in the meantime here is an amazing video of a dramatic bible reading from the conference. The performance is by Rob Turnbull from The Backyard Bard

Photos: Apollo bay, Australia

Book review: Sherry Seethaler- Lies, Damned Lies, and Science

 Lies, Damned Lies, and Science
 Sherry Seethaler

In Lies, Damned Lies, and Science, Sherry Seethaler aims to help readers spot the biases and distortions present in media coverage of scientific issues so they can gain a more accurate understanding of the topic.

This is bit outside the scope of what I normally review, but I think it is an important book for Christians to read. Many of the controversial issues that Christians and the broader culture tend to clash on have a scientific element. It is important that we both use science well and be able to decode the scientific claims being presented to us.

The book is easy to read and doesn't require any special science knowledge to understand. Areas covered include understanding how the scientific process works, evaluating the biases held biases held by different stakeholders, comparing the costs and benefits of different outcomes, determining whether the findings are a matter of cause or coincidence and being aware of how statistics are used and misused.

While social sciences have different methods to the natural science and many of their own distinct pitfalls, some of what this book teaches about steps such as considering how different stakeholders are impacting the presentation of the issue and watching for how statistics are presented and calculated to communicate a particular idea are still very applicable.

I highly recommend this book