Not So Silent Night

If you had to pick an "all around" Christmas favorite, my guess is that "Silent Night" would be near the top of the list. It is a great traditional Christmas song.

But I suspect that first Christmas night was filled with noise, not silence. Animals crying out, a scared young mother screaming out in the pain of childbirth, and a baby that was much like all others....wailing out a loud hello to the world. There were no modern comforts. Yes, it was bloody and painful. Bethlehem's version of diapers to wash out. No handy wipes. And no room in the inn. God in FLESH, not spiritual idealism.

Think about it. Mary was pregnant. She had never had sex. How could that happen? All this for trying to live a decent life. She endured morning sickness. She was alone and afraid. She could have been stoned to death. So much for the health and wealth gospel.

"You will give birth to God's Son," Gabriel had said. "Push!" Joseph yelled. "The Messiah. Christ the Lord. Unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior." "Push!"

That night an angel chorus sang to the shepherds, but their notes were drowned out by the screams of a young woman, a baby having a baby. Somewhere in the night Jesus communicated with sinful mankind for the first time. He cried out.

Mary wiped off the bloody baby, wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger.

Thirty-three years later, this child would again cry out for sinful mankind, his bloody body wiped off, wrapped in burial clothes, and laid in a tomb. The Gospel according to Jesus is bathed in the real world.

Hollywood likes it's glassy-eyed Jesus that stares down evil and weirds his way into miracles. We all want to sleep in heavenly peace.

But Jesus came to live as we live...a good laugh with friends,hunger pains, tired feet, and a sore back sometimes...to be one of us. And to take our place.

Just as the impossible happened with Mary becoming pregnant, so it was in that tomb. Sin defeated. Death overcome. A way out for you and me. Welcome to the real world Jesus. And Merry Christmas.

(Thanks to David Sisler for inspiration and some quotes.)

Kel Varnson

Who is Kel Varnson?

He is the guy you are when you need to fake your identity. Origin Jerry Seinfeld, Larry David. Isn't it a great name? "No, Lance isn't here. Kel Varnson speaking."

"Who said that?" I think it was Kel. "Who forgot to put the trash out?" You guessed it...Kel.

What about the picture of the guy that comes with the new picture frame? It's Kel again. We had a picture of Kel on our refrig for many years...he became part of the family. My wife thought he was cute. I think she liked him better than me. Maybe that's why I am Kel sometimes.

If you Google good ole' Kel, you will find a movie producer and a baseball team owner (or maybe the baseball team...not real clear).

Maybe you will see me walking down the street with my best friend, Art Vandelay......you know the importer/exporter/architect.

So, did you like this blog? If you checked yes box, thank you...written by Lance
If you checked no, written by that weird jerk Kel Varnson.

Number Three

If I decide to blog quarterly, I am done. Have you done your 2007 Christmas shopping yet?

Enin Rebmun

Mih Ssim, Mih Ssim. Nam Daed A Si Luap.

Number Two

Like most things, bloggers get fired up for a while and then disappear. I was thinking about doing all my blogging for 2007 today so i could get it over with. What do you think?

Number One

If someone blogs about nothing and tells no one, can one hear a tree fall in the forest? This dilemma has plagued the great philosphers since the beginning. If black is the absence of light, then what is nothing? Does it include ringing in the ears? What about the background refrigerator compressor noise, or those things you see floating across your eyes when they are closed? See, this blog about nothing is something. It depends on what the meaning of is is and what side of the bed Matt sleeps on.

Number One is not to be confused with Number Nine which is about backward things. Later, lj