Risen!

Invited Into His Life

Insightful comments from "Chaplain Mike" at Internet Monk on the theological contant of Mary's song (The Magnificant) in Luke 1:46-51. 

Another way to put this is that the Gospel calls me to take my part in God’s Story, not merely to say that God has come to be an actor in my own personal narrative. He has not only “done great things for me,” but “his mercy extends to those who fear him from generation to generation.” The Divine Author has written me into his grand narrative! I am now a member of that great communion of saints that is living out “His-Story” in the world. The Bible and church history is the record of my family heritage. I share in its successes and shortcomings, its accounts of God’s faithfulness and human failure. Now God calls me to link my life, my sense of meaning, purpose, and significance, and the living out of my vocations to that Story. Because Jesus is the Ultimate Actor and his work the climactic, decisive movement of the Story, he calls me to center my life in Christ. He comes to me as my “Savior,” putting to death the old, sinful, self-centered me and resurrecting me to walk in newness of life in Christ. I do not invite him to come into my life, he invites me into his. He transfers me from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of his beloved Son. In Christ, I enter and become part of his New Creation!

Much more good stuff at the link. It's life changing to realize that even more than we invite Jesus into our lives, He invites us into His!

How Linus Got to Read from Luke's Gospel

Do you love "A Charlie Brown Christmas??  Even back in 1965, TV executives didn't think audiences would accept the reading of the Bible on national TV.  Here's some back ground on how it happen.

“We got a call from Coca-Cola,” remembered Melendez. “And they said, ‘Have you and Mr. Schulz ever considered doing a Christmas show with the characters?’ and I immediately said ‘Yes.’ And it was Wednesday and they said, ‘If you can send us an outline by Monday, we might be interested in it.’ So I called Sparky on the phone and told him I’d just sold ‘A Charlie Brown Christmas,’ and he said, ‘What’s that?’ and I said, ‘It’s something you’ve got to write tomorrow.’” 

We learned in that American Masters series that Schulz had some ideas of his own for the Christmas special, ideas that didn’t make the network suits very happy. First and foremost, there was no laugh track, something unimaginable in that era of television. Schulz thought that the audience should be able to enjoy the show at its own pace, without being cued when to laugh. CBS created a version of the show with a laugh track added, just in case Schulz changed his mind. Luckily, he didn’t.

The second big battle was waged over voiceovers. The network executives were not happy that the Schulz’s team had chosen to use children to do the voice acting, rather than employing adults. Indeed, in this remarkable world created by Charles Schulz, we never hear the voice of an adult.

The executives also had a problem with the jazz soundtrack by Vince Guaraldi. They thought the music would not work well for a children’s program, and that it distracted from the general tone. They wanted something more . . . well . . . young.

Last but not least, the executives did not want to have Linus reciting the story of the birth of Christ from the Gospel of Luke. The network orthodoxy of the time assumed that viewers would not want to sit through passages of the King James Bible.

Try Jesus?

Does following Jesus does give you the option to Try Before You Buy?  This is from a message by Chaplain Mike at InternetMonk.com on the text Luke 14:25-33

You can’t try Jesus. You can’t sample salvation. Being a Christ-follower is not a product you can fiddle with for 30 days, or a hobby you can explore. It’s not like tasting food or taking a test drive. It’s not like seeing if you enjoy playing the piano. It’s more like jumping out of the airplane with a chute on your back. It’s more like forking over more money than you ever thought possible and signing that final paper for your new house. It’s more like saying, “I do.”

I think that’s what Jesus is getting at in today’s Gospel.

• Making a commitment like getting married changes everything. All your relationships, the way you have lived your own life up until now. So does becoming Jesus’ disciple.
• Building a house means planning ahead and making sure you’re ready to go through with a long-term, costly commitment. So does becoming Jesus’ disciple.
• If you’re the leader of a country, and you’re going to declare war, you’d better make sure you have enough forces and firepower to win, because there is no turning back once you’ve made the call. That’s what it’s like to be Jesus’ disciple. It’s a huge commitment with high risks, certain losses, and no guarantees. And no opportunity to “try before you buy.”

Following Jesus is actually most like the ultimate challenge we all face—being born into this world and simply learning to live life. You and I didn’t get to “try out” life before we were born. We didn’t get to sample being babies, learning to walk, going to school, dealing with zits and falling in love as teenagers, and making all the decisions we have to make as adults. We didn’t get to choose our families from a shelf after having tried a number of other families first. Nope. We got what we got. We were born into this world with no chance to try it out first. No instruction manual was given to us. Just a family to help us, a world of knowledge and neighbors to help us, and a God to be our Shepherd, with goodness and mercy every day of our lives.

And that’s what it’s like to be a Christian with new life in Jesus. In Jesus, we are born into a new creation by grace through faith. Born anew. Born from above. We are brand spanking new creatures in Christ. It’s a new life. A new world. New relationships. New opportunities. New challenges. We didn’t choose it, he chose us for it. We don’t get to try it out first, either. We just take it day by day, learn to walk, and try to grow into respectable adult disciples.

Now, thank God, when we arrive in this new life, we find that we have a family provided for us. A Book to guide us. His Spirit within us. His provision to nourish and strengthen us. His promises and his presence to keep going.

But in the end, it’s life. There’s no trial period, and there’s no turning back.

Following Jesus does not come with a 30 or 60 day trial. You can’t sample it or take it for a test drive. When you take up the cross, it’s like stepping out of that plane. It’s like saying, “I do.”

It’s like being born again, with a whole new world and life in front of you.