Dan Kimball: Vintage Faith

Christmas Eve made me a Bell Choir fan

We held two Christmas Eve gatherings over at the First Presbyterian Church building where Vintage Faith Church combined with First Presbyterian Church for the first time. So we had a new church who was birthed a year and 10 months ago in 2004 (VFC) and a church who was birthed I believe close to 100 years ago (First Presb) come together. Overall, the whole thing was wonderful and fun seeing two churches join together like this to worship Jesus and focus on His birth. First Presbyterian Church has a Bell Choir and they played one song during the gathering. I had never before seen a bell choir in my life. However, I instantly became a great bell choir fan. It was fascinating watching them (all wearing white gloves too) and was very beautiful and angelic sounding. Perhaps it is time for a national bell choir revival.

The sanctuary there is beautiful and very "vintage". The pews actually are still are something I am struggling with as they set up such a "face the stage" forced feeling rather than a more communal feeling. So longer term, I'm not sure what we shall do.....  but I will say I wish we were moving over there now sooner. The people of First Presbyterian are so incredibly generous and mission focused. It is great getting to know them more. We won't be worshiping over there again until Easter when we move everything we are doing over there. There is a lot of work to do yet in the facilities, sound, lighting, tech and the whole coffee shop renovation etc. - but it is exciting looking ahead at what will happen next. So many people put such great effort into these first worship gatherings, from parking, to children's ministry, the Mellos and the choir, Eric and the tech team...as well as Cheryl and the Advent Art Gallery that was opened two weeks before and open during the Christmas Eve gatherings. I was amazed at how so many people created such as eclectic Christmas expression of worship in so many ways.

Maybe next year I will be in the bell choir. But I am not sure I want to wear the white gloves. I kept thinking of Michael Jackson with the white gloves. Perhaps if I join the bell choir, they would let me wear black ones. Thanks to LIz for the photos......

Christmas Lyrics and a Prayer

Two nights ago, my friend Matt and I went to go see the Brian Setzer Orchestra Christmas concert. It was in the Fox Theater in Redwood City. This is the third year in a row we have gone to see the Brian Setzer Christmas show he does. It is always fun, he has a full band, the whole stage is fully decorated in Christmas trees, lights, snowman etc. Matt and I were trying to count how many times we each have seen Brian Setzer over the years and for me, this was my tenth time seeing either Brian Setzer or the Stray Cats.

Last year amidst general fun songs of Christmas songs, Brian sang the song “O Holy Night”. He did it a little fifties-style in how the song was sang, but the words to that song are stunning and extremely powerful about the birth of Jesus. So there was Brian Setzer singing:

"O Holy Night! The stars are brightly shining,
It is the night of the dear Saviour's birth.
Long lay the world in sin and error pining."

and:

"Fall on your knees! Oh, hear the angel voices!
O night divine, the night when Christ was born"

The other night, he again had one song with really powerful lyrics where he sang “Angels We Have Heard on High” with the words:

"Come to Bethlehem and see
Christ Whose birth the angels sing;
Come, adore on bended knee,
Christ the Lord, the newborn King."

I was looking at him singing these powerful lyrics and wondering “I wonder if he believes what he is singing?” (I have no idea what Brian believes. I know he has Catholic roots). But watching him sing the chorus of "Gloria, in excelsis Deo!  was really fascinating and moving.

I scanned the room of around 1,200 people while he was singing this very Jesus-centered song and people were smiling, some were mouthing the words and singing a lot a little. My mind is just whirling “What are they thinking about what they are singing?” “Do they understand the significance of the words?” “Do people sing this more as a nice trivial thing and they see Jesus more as a fable or myth?” But even if they do, the lyrics of these songs are not at all like the Rudolf or Santa Claus type of songs. These lyrics focus on Jesus being the Son of God coming to earth as a King. Lyrics about people bowing their knees. Lyrics about singing out glory to God for the Savior is born.

I don’t know…. This time of year is always such a paradox. Even amidst the consumerism, there still seeps in a lot of the true Christmas story - especially in songs. I saw an old clip on television last week of Bing Crosby and David Bowie singing the Little Drummer Boy together. It was so fascinating watching David Bowie sing the lyrics:

"Come they told me, pa rum pum pum pum
A new born King to see, pa rum pum pum pum
Our finest gifts we bring, pa rum pum pum pum
To lay before the King, pa rum pum pum pum,
rum pum pum pum, rum pum pum pum"

When he sings about a newborn King, and honoring the King, I wonder what is his interpretation of these words? I have no idea what David Bowie believes, but it was fascinating hearing him sing those lyrics.

I don’t know.

I do know that tomorrow night, Christmas Eve – we are having two Christmas Eve services with Vintage Faith Church.So, our church and millions of other churches across the globe will be focusing on Jesus and His birth Christmas Eve. I look forward to being with the church focusing on Jesus, singing songs and hearing the Scriptures about His birth.

But in our culture as Brian Setzer, David Bowie and others sing about Jesus - I wonder what they think as they sing the words.... I wonder what the people at the Brian Setzer concert I was at think of the words as he sung them? I am haunted thinking about this. I pray for Brian Setzer as I type this. I love his music and although I don’t know him, I certainly would be joyful if He knows Jesus as Savior. I pray for David Bowie. I don’t what he believes , but I would be joyful if he knew Jesus as savior. Oh Lord… so many people whom I listen to their music, I do pray and hope that they will know the Jesus of Christmas as their Savior. They are such a part of my life even through the years, though I don’t know them personally, yet their music is part of me. Mick Jones, Paul Simonon, Lee Rocker, Jim Phantom, Chris Martin, David Gilmour, Roger Waters, Bob Dylan, Mike Ness, Bruce Springsteen, Morrissey, Lemon Jelly (I don't know the names of Lemon Jelly), Billie Joe, Mike, Tre, Exene Cervenka, John Doe, Dave and Phil Alvin and the Blasters, Jane Siberry, Marky and Tommy Ramone, Conor Oberst, Tom Waits, Pete Townshend, Paul Westerberg.…and so many others.......

I don't know what they all believe, perhaps some have faith.... perhaps some will be in a church gathering this Christmas Eve...... I don't know.....  But - Oh God, if they don’t have faith already, Lord, please have them know and sense Jesus amidst all the Christmas songs they either sing or listen to and please somehow have them (if they don't already) know Jesus and what it means that He is King and Savior. May Jesus become real to those who may not understand yet who He really is....

 

                                                                                                                                                              Oh...this really sounds so corny, as I reread it. But I can say as corny as it sounds, it really, really is a very sincere Christmas prayer....

Why I am looking forward to the Da Vinci Code movie more than Narnia

I imagine that some may disagree with me on this.......

There is a lot of excitement on church web sites about the Disney release of the Chronicles of Narnia movie. Like with the Mel Gibson Passion movie, a lot of churches are buying blocks of seats and saying it is one of the greatest evangelistic opportunities we have. I am seeing all types of Christian evangelism paraphernalia and evangelistic flyers, doorknob hanger invites etc. being produced for the Narnia movie. However, after the Passion movie, I wonder why we didn't learn our lesson. George Barna ended up discovering that virtually nothing changed after the movie hype was over and the "greatest evangelistic opportunity we have had in 2,000 years" (as one company was advertising the Passion movie to be), really didn't happen the way we had hoped. I am sure some came to faith in Jesus as a result, and for that I am joyful ( I haven't heard of any personally, even knowing a church that made a huge effort in trying to use the film that way).

Now we are again seeing some of the same hype about the CS Lewis story which has some great metaphors about a savior-figure dying and coming back to life etc. I personally look forward to the film and am glad they made it. But, I guess I just don't see it as a great evangelistic opportunity. I imagine that millions of people will see it, and marvel at the wonderful story and get emotional as Aslan, the lion God of Narnia comes back to life. For those that know the inside story, we know the CS Lewis used the metaphor of Aslan being like Christ is there in the story. But you need to know that metaphor. To most people, I wonder if it will simply be like Gandalf coming back from the dead going from Gandalf the Gray to Gandalf the White sort of a thing. A wonderful story, but not life changing to the movie attendee.

Seeing all the growing hype, I also just wonder why the church gets so excited about movies to do the job of evangelism, especially in a film that will be a stretch for someone to directly associate it with the resurrection of Jesus. My bigger hope from the Narnia movie itself in terms of evangelism, would be that people get interested in other writings of C.S. Lewis and the read the book Mere Christianity . That to me, would have more direct impact than the actual movie.

I sort of find it kind of sad that the church has to get so excited about films to do evangelism, rather than being excited about the ongoing relationships we have with those outside the faith for evangelism. It feels weird that I would invite someone to a movie to explain what I believe in rather than letting my life and what I can be talking them about personally would be.

The movie I actually look forward to in terms of evangelistic opportunity is the Da Vinci Code movie coming out in May 2006. The reason is that although it directly will raise the issues about the church, the resurrection, the origin of the Bible and origins of Christianity that will make us very uncomfortable (and are false) - the good part is people will see this film by the millions and questions will be directly asked about what Christians believe. Questions like what in the movie was true and was a lie? etc. I think there will be great opportunity if the church is ready to respond to these questions. This is the movie I would want to go to with non-Christian friends and then have it as a springboard of discussion for. I would schedule to have some open forum discussions afterwards at church or some preaching to the church about the questions it raises to prepare them how to answer when discussion about movie comes up in the workplace or in friendships. I hope that the church is ready. I hope we we teach our churches how to be ready to respond to these questions.

So, that is the film I personally think has more post-movie evangelistic opportunity than the Passion or Narnia movies. It shouldn't scare us, as the truth of Jesus is the truth. It should make us go "Hey, that's not what really happened! But here is what we believe..." But this all means Christians have to take effort to do their homework to have intelligent answers and not rely on a movie to do it. Millions will see this movie. Tom Hanks as the star and Ron Howard directing, it is certain to be a good quality film. There will be millions of teenagers seeing this film and it strikes at the heart of Christian belief at a popular level and that should disturb us with the claims it will teach. So we better be ready for it and I hope even excited about it. Because isn't when these direct questions come up about our faith is now when we will have great times of actually discussing and intelligently explaining to others what we really believe? I hope we will be ready. There are good book out there already with lots of answers to what the Da Vinci Code raises - such as Breaking the Da Vinci Code by Darrel Bock etc. So, I would recommend making sure we are ready to address the issues this movie raises.

Please understand, I am going to the Narnia film and do hope God uses it. But I guess I don't think we should get so hyped like for Narnia to be the evangelistic tool of the century like we did for the Passion film, when evangelism really occurs through the Spirit in relationships not a movie for the most part (again, I know God can use anything). But I think the potential for evangelism will be greater with the Da Vinci Code than perhaps any other movie released yet. That is why I am excited about its release. That truth will then have to be discussed as a result and Christians will really be ready to discuss what we believe to our non-Christian friends who may ask now that they have some direct questions that will arise from the film. I hope so.......