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Gleanings From The Word

Category: devotional

  • Issue 1624 – Carols – December 10, 2024

    Issue 1624 – Carols – December 10, 2024

    Christmas carolers in Victorian dress
    Christmas Carolers

    Last night, our community group discussed  preferences for Christmas songs. It wasn’t on our agenda; it just happened in casual conversation.

    People have decided opinions about what types of songs are appropriate and when they should be played.

    I’m partial to songs like “Six White Boomers,””Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer,”  “All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth,” or “I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas.” Other people, not so much so. I enjoy the faith songs as well,

    Some people love almost any type of Christmas song, while others love only those based on Scripture. Our youngest son starts playing Christmas music as soon as the services are finished on Remembrance Day (November 11), but others feel it is inappropriate to begin until after December 1st. I know a man who believes there should be no Christmas music until December 15th.

    That conversation got me thinking. What is a carol anyway? What differentiates a carol from some other type of song?

    One writer says, “Carols, it seems, are as hard to define as they are fun to sing. We usually think of them as “religious” songs, but some medieval carols are amorous, humorous, satirical, political, or convivial. We also think of them as “popular” songs, but not in the same sense that folk songs are popular.”

    One source says this, “sometimes accompanied by a dance. A caroller (or caroler) is someone who sings carols, and is said to be carolling (or caroling).

    Today, the carol is represented almost exclusively by the Advent carol, the Christmas Carol, and to a lesser extent by the Easter carol; however, despite their present association with religion, this has not always been the case.”

    Another source adds this clarification, “In the Middle Ages, the one indispensable element of a carol was its literary structure: the carols had uniform stanzas and a “burden,” that is, a refrain sung at the beginning of each song as well as after each stanza. A familiar example of a song with a burden is “All Things Bright and Beautiful.”

    Most of the Christmas music we hear on the radio can rightly be called a carol, whether we like the content or not. 

    Some of our faith-based Christmas songs can contain errors or debatable information.

    “We Three Kings” is a perennial favorite, but the Bible doesn’t tell us how many magi there were or that they were kings.

    “The Friendly Beasts” sings of the contributions of the donkey, cow, sheep, and dove. Yet the Bible is silent on what animals (if any) were at the manger.

    “Little Donkey,” sings of the donkey carrying Mary to Bethlehem. It’s possible Mary rode one, but the Scriptures are silent.

    The ever-popular “Angels We Have Heard on High” regales us with the idea that on the first Christmas night, angels sang praises to God. The phrase Gloria, in Excelsis  Deo,” is Latin for Glory to God in the highest” and comes from the first words spoken by the angels to the shepherds.

    And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” Luke 2:8-15

    The song captures the message, but the Scriptures say nothing about angels singing.

    What’s my point this morning? I guess it’s simply to enjoy the songs you like and give grace to others who want something else. That sounds suspiciously like loving our neighbors.

    Be blessed

    Hallelu Yah / Praise God 

    Kevin

    Gleanings From The Word

    Experience an extraordinary God in ordinary life. 

    Soli Deo Gloria (For the glory of God alone)

    Never let the enemy tell you that you are worthless or insignificant. Your value in God’s eyes is so great that it was worth dying for. You are a blessing to the world. You are so precious to God that his plan for heaven will not be complete without you.

    __________________________________________ 

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    © 2024 Gleanings From the Word, K.F. “Kevin” Corbin. All Rights Reserved. Used by permission.

  • Waiting – A Teen Runaway Reminds Me of Mary

    Waiting – A Teen Runaway Reminds Me of Mary

    Old Edmonton Greyhound station
    Old Edmonton Greyhound station

    I was headed home for Christmas. In December 1975, I had been laid off from my job in Northern Alberta, along with what seemed like half the community. 

    On the spur of the moment and using most of my meager supply of cash, I hopped on a Greyhound bus. It was a seven-hour ride to Edmonton, then a several-hour layover, followed by a milk run that took another five hours or so to Fox Creek. In those days, the bus stopped at every community and often at spots in the middle of nowhere for anyone who flagged it down.

    The bus rolled into the downtown station around 1 AM. It was as dark and cold as an Alberta winter morning can be, and no businesses were open. I grabbed a cup of vending machine coffee, every bit as awful as you imagine, and sat down to wait. The place was pretty much deserted.

    A pair of drunks sat off in one corner, sharing something from a brown bag. An ancient-looking janitor was half heartedly mopping the floor. A young teenage girl sat cowering in a corner, clutching a backpack, and there was me, barely 18.

    I nursed the coffee for a long time while several buses came and went. The drunks left, and the janitor finished and left as well. Finally, out of boredom, loneliness, and desperation, I walked over and said hi to the girl.

    We chatted a bit, and I asked her where she was going. She told me that she didn’t know, but as far as $113.00 would take her. She was 14, pregnant, and had been dumped by her so-called boyfriend when she told him the news. She was terrified to go home and face her parents. She had no plan except to run away as far as possible.

    That scene has played out countless times in every corner of the globe for millennia. In this case, the story is fictionalized to a degree; I was far to shy to go over and talk to the girl at the station. She caught a bus to some unknown destination about an hour after I arrived. I did have a sense that she was running away.

    It came to mind when the pastor preached yesterday.

    In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!”But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born[e] will be called holy—the Son of God. And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. Luke 1:26-36 ESV

    Mary, a young virgin, was about to be pregnant. She could have faced the same rejection or worse as the girl at the bus stop that early morning many years ago.

    She didn’t hesitate. She stepped out in faith and accepted the Lord’s plan for her despite the risks.

    In our prayers this Christmas, let us remember the blessing of the incarnate Christ and Mary’s courageous faith. Let’s also remember all the frightened girls (and women) who find themselves pregnant and alone. They’re not carrying the future Messiah, but they are in need of love, comfort, and hope.

    Be blessed

    Hallelu Yah / Praise God 

    Kevin

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