Matters Liturgical and Musical, as in Christmas Eve and Christmas Day services that can be heard and seen via the internet.


Probably the best church music that can be heard on the web comes from Grace Cathedral, San Franciscio. Their Christmas Eve services will be broadcast (and then archived) at 5, 7:30 and 11 Pacific time. The Christmas Eve service from the Crystal Cathedral will be available online after 9 p.m Pacific time. Trinity Episcopal Church, Wall Street offers their Christmas Eve service via the web at 9:30 Eastern time (and on demand afterward). Duke University Chapel in North Carolina offers good Christmas music as part of their Christmas Eve services. Their services are at 5:30 and 11:00 Eastern time and are archived for later viewing.

The BBC in Great Britain has an outstanding list of services for Christmas Eve and Christmas, including archived services from Advent. Likewise, Minnesota Public Radio has a number of links to Christmas musical offerings during Advent and for Christmas.

- posted by gkissel @ 4:58 PM

 
Matters Biblical and Christological, as in the Annunciation of the Birth of Jesus, Luke 1:26-38.

Here I continue to follow Raymond Brown's book, Birth of the Messiah (Updated Edition), as I examine the announcement to Mary by the angel Gabriel that she will have the baby Jesus, Luke 1:26-38.

The most striking feature of this part of Luke's infancy narrative is that it is parallel to the previous section of scripture announcing the coming birth of John the Baptist. Luke does this as a memory aid for the reader, but more importantly to highlight that John the Baptist foreshadows a new work by God in Jesus. This section is probably best summarized by this quote from Brown's book: "If the appearance to Zechariah, a priest, took place in the Jerusalem Temple as a sign of continuity with Old Testament institutions, the coming of Gabriel to Mary takes place in Nazareth, a town to which no Old Testament expectation was attached, as a sign of the total newness of what God is doing" [314].

The annunciation follows the standard 5 part pattern: (1) appearance of an angel (in this case Gabriel), (2) fear (Mary was startled by what was said; contrast this to Zechariah who was startled by what he saw) (3) the message (Mary will give birth to Jesus, but see more on the message below), (4) the objection (but Mary notes her virginity) (5) the sign (her relative Elizabeth has conceived in her old age, as a sign that something really special is going on).

But Luke has three key items that go beyond the 5 part pattern and which he wants to draw attention to.

The first is the virginal conception of Jesus. This is emblematic of a new creation by God's Spirit, much as the Spirit was active at the first creation (Genesis 1:2). This new creation is the conception of Jesus, not thru human agency, but thru the Holy Spirit. Further, it is, by necessity, a more dramatic conception than that of John the Baptist.

The second point Luke wants to draw attention to is the specialness of the person conceived. This Jesus will be the Davidic Messiah (note the similarity of Luke 1:32-33 to II Samuel 7:8-16), but, most surprisingly, the Messiah will be God's Son by the action of the Holy Spirit on Mary, the mother. This latter point is without precedent in Jewish messianic expectation.

Thirdly, Mary is portrayed as a handmaid. In other words, Mary is one of God's disciples who now, and later, will hear God's word and do it.




- posted by gkissel @ 7:54 PM

 
Matters Political and International, as in Daniel Pipes' website.

Check out Daniel Pipes' website for an outstanding commentary on the Middle East and threats from the Islamic world.

Especially see the links to the most important scholarly work on the Koran, namely that by the German scholar, Christoph Luxenberg (this is a pseudonym to protect him from possible retribution by Muslim fanatics.) His work is only available in German, but will soon be out in English. In the mean time, this link, gives a scholarly review in English of his work, and this link provides an interview in English with Luxenberg himself. The bombshell result of his scholarship is that the Koran was actually a collection of Christian documents used to begin evangelizing the Arabic peoples. This collection was later linguistically corrupted and added on to, resulting in the Koran and Koranic interpretation known today.

- posted by gkissel @ 5:56 PM