Advent Day 1 Reflection - Joy to the world!

This advent season I’m going to write a short, daily reflection on a line or verse from an Advent or Christmas carol. I hope you find them helpful and inspirational. A few notes before I commence:

1.      Despite what the chocolate calendar says, in the western Christian cycle Advent does not necessarily begin on December 1^st; rather it commences four Sundays before Christmas day, and finished on Christmas Eve. This means it can start as early as the 27^th November (if Christmas day is a Sunday) and as late as December 3^rd (if Christmas day is a Monday).  With Christmas day falling on a Tuesday this year, it means that Advent commenced on December 2^nd (yesterday).

2.      I won’t say too much about the meaning of Advent at this point, for that is what I will explore in the reflections.  However, as a summary, one need look no further than verse one of this popular Advent carol:

Joy to the world, the Lord is come!

Let Earth receive her King;

Let every heart prepare him room,

And Heaven and nature sing.

Advent is about the joyful news that the Lord Jesus was incarnated upon Earth over 2,000 years ago. It is about Jesus being our Lord now – the Lord is come.  And it is about anticipating that the Lord Jesus will come again to the Earth. It is about a challenge to all peoples to receive Jesus as their king and to let him enter their hearts. It is a call throughout heaven and Earth to celebrate the Lord of all.

3.      It was not at all difficult to find enough carols that I cherish to fill up the days, perhaps telling of the richness of the theme of advent that so much poetry and music has been devoted to it.

4.      I use the term ‘carol’ broadly to mean a song that is used primarily for corporate Christian singing, and do not exclude contemporary works from the list. Thus I include a song by Casting Crowns, but I do not include ‘Let it Snow’ or ‘She came home for Christmas’, for example.

5.      Accommodating the multi-natured reflection of Advent, the traditional focus of celebration tends to move from the second coming of Jesus at the start of the season to the first coming of Jesus towards the end. I present the carols in an order that broadly reflects this.

6.      Wherever possible, I provide a YouTube link to the carol of the day. If you want to find out more about the carols – for example, their origin or the full text – I encourage you to research that yourself, as I don’t want to clog up the posts with history or preamble (apart from this one, of course).

7.      I’m aware I have started a day late – I will cheat by posting two posts today!

So, here we go! My excerpt for today sticks with ‘Joy to the world’:

                        He comes to make His blessings flow

                        Far as the curse is found.

‘Curse’. An uncomfortable word, and an abrupt interruption of the growing festive spirit, yet a word we would be wise to deal with. Before the joys of advent were the woes of a world that had turned away from God. A once perfect world, without evil, was subjected to curse because of this rejection of God. A harsh act on God’s part? I would suggest not. For in rejecting God, we humans rejected the fullness of life and love that God had in mind for us. If this came with no consequence, we would never feel our need to turn back to God to experience the true joy of community with Him and our fellow humans that we were made for. And while this curse has bought a previously unknown burden of distress, God left in us longings for something better. He did not take away His image from us, nor were our consciences or capacity for love fully paralysed.

But what hope for freedom from this curse? The hope indeed is the Lord Jesus. He came to Earth to reverse the effects of this curse; his life showed His passion and purpose in realising this aim. His death was the decisive act in winning this epic battle. And His resurrection and ascension confirm that the work of restoration continues to this very day, and will continue until He comes again.

That we live in a deeply burdened world is undeniably; and if we are truly honest it is undeniable that we ourselves are not as we ought or long to be. Praise be to God that he sent the Lord Jesus to ‘make his blessings known wherever curse is found’!

"Joy to the World" - words by Isaac Watts.

Government EU defeat, Lance Armstrong and storm Sandy

In a shocking departure from recent form, high level British politics became interesting last night as the House of Commons supported an amendment to demand a reduction in the European Union’s budget. Not only was this a strong show of British political muscle against the excesses of the EU, it also marked a defeat of the government in a whipped vote, as Tory backbench rebels joined forces with Labour, the SNP and the DUP. It is a result warmly welcomed by all sceptical of the growing federal behemoth of Brussels, but as it is not binding on the Prime Minister it is but a small skirmish in the battle. Whether this will catalyse Parliament into ‘sorting out’ the European question (which, given the widespread and growing public disquiet on the issue must surely include a referendum on the UK’s relationship with the EU) remains to be seen. But regardless, it’s good to see things getting exciting in the Commons once again.

I don’t wish to add too much ink to the Lance Armstrong case, so I offer only this -  putting aside the ethics, deception, methods and outcomes of the scandal, two great sadnesses emerge: firstly, we will never know how good Armstrong truly was. Many say that without EPO you drop from the front of the peloton to the middle; although I have no doubt he wouldn’t have achieved the success he did without EPO, I would be surprised if he hadn’t experienced some success and been competitive at the front end without it. But this is the point – these questions can never be answered, they will forever be speculative and will forever be worthless, for Armstrong the sportsman is now worthless. The second sadness is that there is no inspiration left for fans and riders of an era of cycling already largely discredited, for the success of Armstrong was one of the few lights – and certainly the brightest – that remained. I’m just thankful that my own interest in the sport was only birthed two seasons ago.

Returning to politics while hopping across the Atlantic, the American presidential elections have been thrown to the back stage in light of storm Sandy. This is quite proper in light of the tragedy that the storm has wreaked. Yet a scene from The West Wing comes to mind when Zoe Bartlett has been kidnapped and President Bartlett is unable to focus on the politics of the situation. Deputy Chief of Staff Josh Lyman speaks up and says ‘that’s why I have to’. It is entirely right that political calculation doesn’t show a public face in these times, but no doubt in the background many campaigners on both sides of this election will be calculating the political ramifications of the storm. This is not hateful when their goal is to respond rightly and responsibly to the tragedy; it would be hateful if either side tried to use the storm to their political advantage. 

Words of joy, words of sorrow...

For those who best express things through the written word, triumph and tragedy are the greatest challenges. How can one capture either the heights of elation or the bitterness of mourning that are, literally, beyond words? Yet it is those time when the wordsmith is most needed, for it is those times when people desperately seek to bridge the gulf between what they are feeling and what they can express. This is almost the definition of art itself, for it is from the extremes of human experience that the majority of great art finds it richest resource. Now, I can assure you that I do not consider myself a literary great. But I do consider myself as someone who best expresses themselves through writing. I write in various forms – song lyrics, poems, analysis & opinion (i.e. blogging) and have a couple of nascent novel ideas. The past couple of weeks I have seen a flurry of writing that I’ve not experienced for a long while; not incidentally there have simultaneously been things of both great joy and sorrow going on. The point of these musings? I have come to appreciate afresh that writing is a powerful, valuable, God-given entity that has a life-affirming and healing power both for the author and those far beyond; the ability to connect in the midst of our brightest and darkest hours.

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Continuing on the theme of the power of writing, I recently came across this astonishing quote from Victor Hugo that I had to share: “I feel within me that future life. I am like a forest that has been razed; the new shoots are stronger and brighter. I shall most certainly rise toward the heavens the nearer my approach to the end, the plainer is the sound of immortal symphonies of worlds which invite me. For half a century I have been translating my thoughts into prose and verse: history, drama, philosophy, romance, tradition, satire, ode, and song; all of these I have tried. But I feel I haven’t given utterance to the thousandth part of what lies within me. When I go to the grave I can say, as others have said, “my day’s work is done”. But what I cannot say, “my life is done”. My work will recommence the next morning. The tomb is not a blind alley; it is a thoroughfare. It closes upon the twilight, but opens upon the dawn.”

American Election Prediction Special

Yes, as promised last week, American Election FaceOFF is here! I go head to head with American Politics Geek Extraordinaire Mark Summers and attempt to call, state-by-state, the 2012 US Presidential Election. The rules are simple – we make our prediction, and whoever gets the most states correct wins. We thought a month before the election was about right – far enough away that it requires some political acumen beyond simply plagiarising the latest polls, but not so far as to make it all a wild stab in the dark. So, without further ado, here are my state by state predictions:

Alabama – Republican (R)

Alaska – (R)

Arizona – (R)

Arkansas – (R)

California – Democrat (D)

Colorado – (D)

Connecticut – (D)

Delaware – (D)

Florida - (R)

Georgia - (R)

Hawaii – (D)

Idaho - (R)

Illinois – (D)

Indiana – (R)

Iowa - (R)

Kansas - (R)

Kentucky - (R)

Louisiana - (R)

Maine – (D, all districts)

Maryland - (D)

Massachusetts – (D)

Michigan - (D)

Minnesota – (D)

Mississippi – (R)

Missouri - (R)

Montana - (R)

Nebraska - (R, all districts)

Nevada – (D)

New Hampshire – (D)

New Jersey – (D)

New Mexico – (D)

New York - (D)

North Carolina – (D)

North Dakota – (R)

Ohio - (R)

Oklahoma - (R)

Oregon – (D)

Pennsylvania – (D)

Rhode Island – (D)

South Carolina - (R)

South Dakota - (R)

Tennessee - (R)

Texas - (R)

Utah - (R)

Vermont – (D)

Virginia – (D)

Washington – (D)

Washington DC – (D)

West Virginia - (R)

Wisconsin - (R)

Wyoming - (R)

If this voting pattern were to happen, it would yield an Obama victory with 284 electoral college votes vs Romney’s 254. Now, I realise a few things:

1)      This is a lot closer than most people are currently calling the election.

2)      Awarding Romney Ohio, Florida and Wisconsin while still giving Obama the overall victory is an aberration from conventional psephological wisdom.

3)      This is accounted for by calling Virginia and North Carolina for Obama.

4)      The above two decisions could well be utter foolishness that hand victory to Mark Summers. However, if they are correct I would expect every polling organisation in America to be offering me a job with immediate effect. A worthwhile risk.

Roll on election night, politics does not get any better than this…

Mumford vs Babel vs Europe vs USA

The wait for a second album is a nerve wracking one. The stakes are high – will it be a drift into obscurity? Or a glistening triumph? This week saw the ending of such a wait as Mumford and Sons finally released ‘Babel’, the follow up to 2009’s ‘Sigh No More’. My biggest fear was not for the overall quality of the album (the verdict is still out), but that following the phenomenal success of the past three years Mumford & Sons would lose their lyrical ambition and musical passion and become a watered down cliché of themselves. Happily that fear is smashed to smithereens within seconds as a pounding bass drum, urgent banjos and Marcus Mumford’s yearning vocals let you know that they mean business. The lyrical gems are plentiful too: ‘Like the city that nursed my greed and my pride, I stretch my arms into the sky, I cry “Babel, Babel, look at me now”, the walls of my town they come tumbling down”. However high or low the album ends up in their portfolio, there’s no doubt that Mumford still ‘have it’. Happy listening!

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I love the Ryder Cup. It is by far my favourite golfing tournament, and the only time when golf approaches the upper echelons of my passion scale. The intense rivalry and matchplay format suggest that this isn’t so surprising. But what is surprising is the Europe factor. Europe, if you haven’t noticed, isn’t doing so well - regions in Spain have run out of essential medical supplies, Christianity is being squeezed out of every corner of public life and Germany is wielding the kind of power that a Union was meant to prevent ever happening again. In the UK, the EU flag has probably never been held in lower regard. And yet, for three wonderful days every two years, Les Douze Etoiles flies with pride and the old world lion roars down the fairways with glory. There are, of course, historic golfing reasons why Europe as a continent competes in this event, but that its popularity continues to grow in these troubled times is noteworthy. For the Ryder Cup has succeeded where a political union, legal integration, a single currency and even the presidency of George Bush failed – to create an emotionally united Europe. Not that it will stop me voting to get the hell out of the EU as soon as possible– that is, if we’re ever given the chance express such sentiments in the ballot box…

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I’m about to do something dangerous and endorse a book which I’ve barely read a quarter of so far. The book in question is John Maxwell’s life@work. John Maxwell makes the unusual junction of being both a sought after business guru and a evangelical megachurch pastor. The contention of the book is, essentially, that such a portfolio shouldn’t be unusual – that to separate God and faith from work and success is a huge mistake. But this far more than a ‘let’s be nice to everyone at work and try hard’ but a tight theological argument that work itself is central to who God made us to be (Genesis 1:26-31). Maxwell then proceeds to examine various elements of work and identify their spiritual integration. I eagerly await reaching his conclusions – let me know if you get there first.

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EXCLUSIVE PREVIEW Make sure you check into Words of 50 next week, where an American Election FACEoff ™ between myself and good friend, fellow blogger and published journalist Mark Summers will take place. Need I say more…

Clegg, Cavendish and Cricket

Words of 50 is back! After what can only be described as an accidental hiatus, I’m looking to return to at least weekly posting. As you will see from today’s offering, the style of posting is going to move away from dedicated posts on a particular topic (lack of inspiration has been one factor in the recess) towards a more random diary like collection of various thoughts I have had during the week. Something along the lines of Simon Hoggart’s diary (Saturday Guardian) or the Evangelical Alliance’s Friday Night Theology. Hope you enjoy…

It’s been a rocky few weeks for Nick Clegg. Facing a likely hostile Liberal Democrat autumn conference, we’ve had all kinds of aggressive plays coming out of the deputy prime minister’s office – an apology over tuition fees, new zealousness for the ‘equality’ agenda (somewhat overshadowed by ‘bigotgate’), a call for higher taxes on the super rich and an open declaration that the party would be willing to work with Labour in the future. Are these the actions of a renewed political force or the desperate thrashings of a dying beast? Time will tell, and whilst there may be enough political ‘meat’ here to satisfy the braying conference hordes, it’s going to take far more to win back anything near the popularity Clegg enjoyed during the 2010 election campaign. For that to happen, it would be nothing short of a political miracle.

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Talking of political figures of dubious substance, I find myself ever more saddened at the presence of Mitt Romney in the presidential election. Over the months I have seen nothing come from the Republican candidate that speaks of genuine political vision and value, or that there is a coherent centre to his policy. Regardless of one’s views on President Obama’s policies, he remains the most compelling candidate by a country mile and can only have himself to blame if he loses to a man best described as a political opportunist.

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Amidst the bottomless triumphs of British sport in 2012, two things sadden me: firstly, I have not been any near as enthused about cricket as I usually am. I would suggest a few potential causes of this: boredom over the Pietersen affair, the continued absence of test cricket on free television and not having played or made it to a game this summer. Either way, I feel a poorer person for this, and hope the enthusiasm returns during the winter series.

Secondly, the continued talk of Mark Cavendish leaving Team Sky distresses. While not upset at Cavendish for wanting to maximise his success, I find his calculation that leaving Team Sky will achieve that a little odd. For a start, 2012 has been a successful year for Cavendish – 13 stage wins (including 3 in the Tour de France), 1 one-day race win (Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne), 1 stage race overall win (Ster ZLM) and missing out on the Giro D’Italia red jersey by just one point. This is arguably a stronger return than that of 2011 when he had an entire team built around him. The only exception to that is the Tour de France, where he has been winning 5 stages on a regular basis for a number of years and picked up the Green Jersey last year. If Cavendish were to move to a team where he again picked up 5 stage wins a year in the TdF (which is far from a certainty), he would surpass Eddy Merckx’s stage win record in 3 years time; yet if he stayed at Sky and won at a rate of 3 stage wins a year that timeframe would only expand to 4 years. Besides this odd calculation, Team Sky have come close to ‘total cycling’ this year – i.e. on any given stage of any given race a Team Sky victory has been a realistic prospect. It is an exciting philosophy of racing, and one which would be very badly damaged with the loss of Cavendish. Finally, the thousands who lined the streets of Guildford on the final stage of the Tour of Britain roaring Cavendish home to victory in his Team Sky rainbow Jersey will forever be an iconic moment in British cycling – it would be a real shame if there were no more of those. So Mark, if you are reading this, please reconsider!

Politics - the 2 big questions

There are two essential questions upon which the whole opera of democratic politics rests – what is the good life? And how are we to realise it? The second question is what the majority of news coverage focuses on – what is happening, what is not happening and who’s fault is it for happening/not happening. This is not wrong scrutiny, but when severed from the anchor of the first question, politics becomes a puerile, unattractive scrap that neither inspires civic ambition nor deals with the really big questions that need to be dealt with.

Much has been written on issues such as the media devaluation of the political process and the impotence of elected government in the face of global economic pressures; I will not tire readers by rehearsing such proclamations. But neither of these are the deepest lack - the true poverty of British politics is the absence of inspiring oratory regarding the good life of the nation. Let us pray men of vision and wisdom rise up to fill the vacuum.