THE ADVENT SERIES

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Our Advent Series from 2011 is being

"updated" with some fresh material,

and we'll continue to work on it through the month.

Sorry to be running a day late.  
Please go here:

http://maninthemaze.blogspot.com/2011/12/advent-season-of-waiting.html

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And here's a full list of all 25 days
 with the link for each:

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ADVENT - THE SEASON OF WAITING
THE SHAKING REALITY OF ADVENT
ROOM FOR CHRIST 
HEART ATTACK SEASON
GABRIEL'S ANNOUNCEMENT 
SAINT NICK'S DAY 
KEEP AWAKE AND WATCH 
CHURCH OF THE NATIVITY
CHRISTMAS CARDS, HEROD, AND MORE
 JOHN THE BAPTIST
THE MAGI ARE MOVING
OUR LADY OF GUADALUPE
THE BELLS OF CHRISTMAS
JOSEPH'S DREAM
MATERIALISM & CHRISTMAS - THE SECULAR & THE SACRED
THE TIME OF NO ROOM
CHRISTMAS THROUGH INDIAN EYES
THE FINAL WEEK OF WAITING
ANGELS FROM ON HIGH
THE JEWS OF JESUS' TIME
FROM BETHLEHEM TO GOLGATHA
WINTER SOLSTICE
GOOD KING WENCESLAS
THE END OF ADVENT
CHRISTMAS DAY

Thanks for visiting.

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ETERNAL FATHER STRONG TO SAVE

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From Wikipedia

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The original hymn was written in 1860 by William Whiting,

 an Anglican churchman from Winchester, Great Britain.

 Whiting grew up near the ocean on the coasts of England,

and at the age of thirty-five had felt his life spared by God

 when a violent storm nearly claimed the ship he was travelling

 on, instilling a belief in God's command over the rage and calm

 of the sea.

 As headmaster of the Winchester College Choristers' School

 some years later, he was approached by a student about to

 travel to the United States, who confided in Whiting an

 overwhelming fear of the oean voyage. Whiting shared his

 experiences of the ocean, saying he wrote the hymn to

 "anchor his faith". 

In writing it, Whiting is generally thought to have been

 inspired by Psalm 107, which describes the power and fury

 of the seas in great detail:

Some went out on the sea in ships;

 they were merchants on the mighty waters.

They saw the works of the Lord,

 his wonderful deeds in the deep.

For he spoke and stirred up a tempest

 that lifted high the waves.

They mounted up to the heavens and

 went down to the depths;

 in their peril their courage melted away.

Psalm 107: 23-26

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Within a year the text appeared in the influential first edition of Hymns Ancient and Modern (HA&M) in 1861 and its circulation became widespread throughout England.

 The text was substantially revised by the compilers of that

 edition. In response Whiting continued to revise his own text,

 releasing another version in 1869 and third in 1874, the last

 one incorporating most of the suggested changes by HA&M.

Meanwhile, John B. Dykes, an Anglican clergyman, composed

 the tune "Melita" to accompany the HA&M version of 1861.

 Dykes was a well-known composer of nearly three hundred

 hymn tunes, many of which are still in use today.

 "Melita" is an archaic term for Malta, an ancient seafaring

 nation which has been a colony of the British Empire. It was

 the site of a shipwreck, mentioned in Acts of the Apostles

 (chapters 27-28), involving the Apostle Paul.

The original words of the 1861 version are:

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Eternal Father, strong to save,

Whose arm hath bound the restless wave,

Who bidd'st the mighty ocean deep

Its own appointed limits keep;

Oh, hear us when we cry to Thee,

For those in peril on the sea!

O Christ! Whose voice the waters heard

And hushed their raging at Thy word,

Who walkedst on the foaming deep,

And calm amidst its rage didst sleep;

Oh, hear us when we cry to Thee,

For those in peril on the sea!

Most Holy Spirit! Who didst brood

Upon the chaos dark and rude,

And bid its angry tumult cease,

And give, for wild confusion, peace;

Oh, hear us when we cry to Thee,

For those in peril on the sea!

O Trinity of love and power!

Our brethren shield in danger's hour;

From rock and tempest, fire and foe,

Protect them wheresoe'er they go;

Thus evermore shall rise to Thee

Glad hymns of praise from land and sea.

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Here's the song by the U.S.Navy Band & Chorus,

a very moving, very powerful version.  Video background

is simply satellite footage over the "blue planet."

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ADVENT SERIES RETURNS SATURDAY

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Out Advent Series - now in its third season,

will return on Saturday.  The series is a blend

of imagery, text, music, and occasional video.

  Once again, we'll try to take time and embelish

 each day's entry, so that it isn't just a replay of

what you saw last year.

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GOOD KING WENCESLAS

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The Irish Rovers version of the title song (below) is
excellent!.

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"Good King Wenceslas" is a popular Christmas carol about a king who goes out to give alms to a poor peasant on the Feast of Stephen (the second day of Christmas, December 26). During the journey, his page is about to give up the struggle against the cold weather, but is enabled to continue by following the king's footprints, step for step, through the deep snow. The legend is based on the life of the historical Saint Wenceslaus I, Duke of Bohemia (907–935), known in the Czech language as Svatý Václav.
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 In 1853, English hymnwriter John Mason Neale wrote the "Wenceslas" lyrics, in collaboration with his music editor Thomas Helmore, and the carol first appeared in Carols for Christmas-Tide, 1853. Neales' lyrics were set to a tune based on a 13th century spring carol "Tempus adest floridum" ("The time is near for flowering") first published in the 1582 Finnish song collection Piae Cantiones.
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 Source Legend
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Wenceslas was considered a martyr and a saint immediately after his death, when a cult of Wenceslas grew up in Bohemia and in England. Within a few decades of Wenceslas's death four biographies of him were in circulation. These hagiographies had a powerful influence on the High Middle Ages conceptualization of the rex justus, or "righteous king"—that is, a monarch whose power stems mainly from his great piety, as well as from his princely vigor. . Referring approvingly to these hagiographies, the chronicler Cosmas of Prague, writing in about the year 1119, states: "But his deeds I think you know better than I could tell you; for, as is read in his Passion, no one doubts that, rising every night from his noble bed, with bare feet and only one chamberlain, he went around to God’s churches and gave alms generously to widows, orphans, those in prison and afflicted by every difficulty, so much so that he was considered, not a prince, but the father of all the wretched."
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  Several centuries later the legend was claimed as fact by Pope Pius II, who himself also walked ten miles barefoot in the ice and snow as an act of pious thanksgiving. . Although Wenceslas was, during his lifetime, only a duke, Holy Roman Emperor Otto I posthumously "conferred on Wenceslas the regal dignity and title" and that is why, in the legend and song, he is referred to as a "king".  The usual English spelling of Duke Wenceslas's name, Wenceslaus, is occasionally encountered in later textual variants of the carol, although it was not used by Neale in his version. Wenceslas is not to be confused with King Wenceslaus I of Bohemia (Wenceslaus I Premyslid), who lived more than three centuries later.  
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 From Wikipedia

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Good King Wenceslas looked out
On the feast of Stephen,
When the snow lay round about,
Deep and crisp and even.
Brightly shown the moon that night,
Though the frost was cruel,
When a poor man came in sight,
Gathering winter fuel.

Hither, page, and stand by me.
If thou know it telling:
Yonder peasant, who is he?
Where and what his dwelling?
Sire, he lives a good league hence,
Underneath the mountain,
Right against the forest fence
By Saint Agnes fountain.

 
Bring me flesh, and bring me wine.
Bring me pine logs hither.
Thou and I will see him dine
When we bear them thither.
Page and monarch, forth they went,
Forth they went together
Through the rude wind's wild lament
And the bitter weather.

 
Sire, the night is darker now,
And the wind blows stronger.
Fails my heart, I know not how.
I can go no longer.
Mark my footsteps my good page,
Tread thou in them boldly:
Thou shalt find the winter's rage
Freeze thy blood less coldly.

In his master's step he trod,
Where the snow lay dented.
Heat was in the very sod
Which the saint had printed.
Therefore, Christian men, be sure,
Wealth or rank possessing,
Ye who now will bless the poor
Shall yourselves find blessing

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Even as a young child, I remember feeling moved

as I sung this unusual carol. Why does Good King Wenceslas

have such a deep and lasting impact on its hearers?

Perhaps it is because there are so many levels of meaning

to this carol. A child may hear one thing,

an adult may hear another. I find that I can

sing it again and again, and new meaning continues

to pour forth from the carol. Recently the phrase

‘Fails my heart, I know not how, I can go no longer’

really spoke to me. It reminded me that sometimes

there are times in our lives when life and its stresses

seem to overwhelm us, and we feel that

‘we can go no longer.’ .

The response of Good King Wenceslas was most interesting.

He said: ‘Mark my footsteps, my good page,

Tread thou in them boldly: Thou shalt find the winter’s rage

freeze thy blood less coldly.’

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Wenceslas reminds us that when we are all alone,

life can feel very bleak. It is at such times

that solidarity with another human being can help

‘our blood freeze less coldly’.

Wenceslas affirms that we are not alone,

and subtly points to the basic Christmas message that

Jesus our Master will never leave us in the cold.

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Rev. Ed Hird, St. Simon's Anglican Church

North Vancouver, B.C.

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ADVENT - THE SEASON OF WAITING

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From an essay by J.B Phillips

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"The Dangers of Advent"

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As a translator of the New Testament I find in it

no support whatever for the belief that one day all evil will be

eradicated from the earth, all problems solved,

 and health and wealth be every man's portion!

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 Even among some Christians such

a belief is quite commonly held, so that the "second advent"

of Christ is no more and no less than the infinite number

of "comings" of Christ into men's minds.

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Of course, no one would deny that there are millions of

such "comings" every year - but that is not what the

Christian Church believes by the second advent of Christ;

and it is most emphatically not what any writer of the

New Testament ever meant in foretelling his second coming.

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The New Testament is indeed a book full of hope,

but we may search for it in vain for any

vague humanist optimism.

The second coming of Christ, the second irruption of eternity into time, will be immediate, violent, and conclusive.

The human experiment is to end,

illusion will give way to reality,

the temporary will disappear before the permanent,

 and the king will be seen for who he is.

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The thief in the night, the lightning flash,

the sound of the last trumpet, the voice of God's archangel -

these may all be picture-language, but they are pictures

of something sudden, catastrophic, and decisive.

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In my judgment, the description which Christ gave

of the days that were to come before his return is

more accurately reproduced in this fear-ridden age than

ever before in human history. Of course we do not know

the times and the seasons, but at least we can refuse to be

deceived by the current obsession for physical security

in the here-and-now. While we continue to pray and work

for the spread of the kingdom in this transitory world,

we know that its center of gravity is not here at all.

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When God decides that the human experiment has gone on

long enough, yes, even in the midst of what appears to us

confusion and incompleteness, Christ will come again.

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This is what the New Testament teaches.

This is the message of Advent.

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It is for us to be alert, vigilant, and industrious,

so that his coming will not be a terror

but an overwhelming joy.

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Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched,
 He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, who also said, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven."
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Acts 1:9-11
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The season of Advent means there is something on the horizon the likes of which we have never seen before….What is possible is to not see it, to miss it, to turn just as it brushes past you.
 And you begin to grasp what it was you missed, like Moses in the cleft of the rock, watching God's [back] fade in the distance. So stay. Sit. Linger. Tarry. Ponder. Wait. Behold. Wonder. There will be time enough for running. For rushing. For worrying. For pushing. For now, stay. Wait.
Something is on the horizon.
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Jan L. Richardson
 Night Visions:
 Searching the Shadows of Advent and Christmas
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MUSIC - THE UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE OF MEN, ANGELS, AND SPIRITS

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From THE URANTIA BOOK

Part II, 44, 1

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Appreciation of music on Urantia is both physical and spiritual; and your human musicians have done much to elevate musical taste from the barbarous monotony of your early ancestors to the higher levels of sound appreciation. The majority of Urantia mortals react to music so largely with the material muscles and so slightly with the mind and spirit; but there has been a steady improvement in musical appreciation for more than thirty-five thousand years. 

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 Tuneful syncopation represents a transition from the musical monotony

 of primitive man to the expressionful harmony and meaningful melodies of your later-day musicians. These earlier types of rhythm stimulate the reaction of the music-loving sense without entailing the exertion of the higher intellectual powers of harmony appreciation and thus more generally appeal to immature or spiritually indolent individuals.

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 The best music of Urantia is just a fleeting echo of the magnificent strains

 heard by the celestial associates of your musicians, who left but snatches of these harmonies of morontia forces on record as the musical melodies of sound harmonics. Spirit-morontia music not infrequently employs all seven modes of expression and reproduction, so that the human mind is tremendously handicapped in any attempt to reduce these melodies of the higher spheres to mere notes of musical sound. Such an effort would be something like endeavoring to reproduce the strains of a great orchestra by means of a single musical instrument.

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 While you have assembled some beautiful melodies on Urantia,

you have not progressed musically nearly so far as many of your neighboring planets in Satania. If Adam and Eve had only survived, then would you have had music in reality; but the gift of harmony, so large in their natures, has been so diluted by strains of unmusical tendencies that only once in a thousand mortal lives is there any great appreciation of harmonics. But be not discouraged; some day a real musician may appear on Urantia, and whole peoples will be enthralled by the magnificent strains of his melodies. One such human being could forever change the course of a whole nation, even the entire civilized world. It is literally true,
 “melody has power a whole world to transform.”
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 Forever, music will remain the universal language of men, angels, and spirits. Harmony is the speech of Havona.

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This is from Paper 44 of THE URANTIA BOOK,
"The Celestial Artisans."  From the simple standpoint
of just "human curiousity," this is certainly one of
the more intriguing revelations in the book about
life "on the other side."
See the entire paper here:
http://www.urantia.org/en/urantia-book-standardized/paper-44-celestial-artisans
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