Googling the Gospel

Dismay was the emotion I felt, when I read Google chose to honor Cesar Chavez's birthday rather than Easter, by doodling their main page banner with his image.  My disappointment did not lie in Google's decision, but in the response of many Christians online.  Talk swirled around boycotts of Google, defections to Yahoo and Bing, and barbed attacks on the atheistic stance assumed to be at the heart of Google.

The reaction, in my heart, came from a singular question:  Who's responsibility is it to connect people to the Kingdom of Christ?

The trashing of Google centered around the principle, in which, somehow a company which has never proclaimed to know Christ, never performed out of Christians concern, and never espoused to even know the Gospel, should be expected to place it front and center in their company's priorities.

Before you assume a wrongness in my theology.  I believe Christianity is the exclusive truth of salvation.  Christ being the only way to heaven.  I believe every person, whether they work for Google or grow fruit on a farm will give an account to God someday for their choices concerning His Son and their belief in the Easter narrative.  What I do not believe is the unchurched are responsible to be the ambassadors of His Kingdom.  Ambassadorship is bestowed on Christians alone.

While energy was wasted on Resurrection Sunday deriding Google's decision, I wonder how much energy was given to reaching out to neighbors, engaging in conversations with visitors at church, in showing grace to waitresses over Easter dinners out, and understanding the commission for the believer to go into all the world.

I hope the Church is not waiting for Google to proclaim Christ, instead of doing it herself.  I hope Christians will recognize Google never recognizes Easter (with one exception over a decade ago where two Easter eggs replaced the oo's in Google's name).  I hope there are tears over a culture which doesn't work from a Christian foundation, which leads Christian hearts to care enough to live and share the Gospel into the lives of people.  I hope we are not googling the gospel, by giving it to Google, but by being the Church which loves, shares, and reaches out with grace to people who do not know Christ, boldly holding to the truth which is the very foundation to our faith.

Don't be surprised when the unchurched don't do the work of the Church.  Let the real question be, are you doing what Christ has asked you to do.  --Gary VanDeWalker

The Red 78

As Tim poured over the internet in search of Christmas gifts, he discovered my last blog about Burl Ives.  A comment on my Facebook page spoke of someone who had Ives' Christmas music at one time on a “red 78.”  Puzzled, he asked me what sort of device a “red 78” would be.  I explained records were an ancient technology he had never seen.  I told him of the wonders of vinyl pressed into 78s, 45s, and 33s.  James, the youngest, listened with careful ears to my explanation to Tim, then announced he knew what the numbers meant. “They are how much memory each record disc could hold.”  There is a mystery to Christmas, which is unwrapped in its own wonder, just as my boys wondered about records.  

The whole story is mysterious.  Visitations by angels, magi from the East, a wicked King who hates babies, and a Virgin holding her own child.  Today we sing carols, put up trees, and gives gifts while the mystery of the holiday remains in the background.  We know the external trappings, but the heart of Christmas eludes our celebration.

Most 78 records had a single song to a side.  There wasn't much memory, but to grasp the core of Christmas doesn't take much.  C.S. Lewis summed up the mystery of Christmas this way: “The Son of God became a man to enable men to become the sons of God.”

A Burl Ives Christmas

            He’s the voice of Christmas.  When I hear the lyrical tenor of Burl Ives, I know the season has arrived.  Now some of you, who are younger than me, read this and have no idea who Ives was or what his voice sounds like.  But if I told you he is the narrator of the Christmas classic, “Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer” and the character of the snowman in the special, his voice will arise in your memory.

            People like Ives have a distinctive gift, they can give their talents in solo.  Given an instrument and an audience, Ives could entrance an audience with his folksy, operatic voice and accomplish a work of art, which defines a season.  The Rudolph special contains part of his legacy.  The story revolves around a reindeer who doesn’t fit in the world and misfit toys which don’t fit anywhere either.  As Ives character, Sam the Snowman says, “Well, time passed slowly. Rudolph existed the best he could.”

            Rudolph chooses a solo life.  Unlike the life of a singer, solos in a life lived alone are frustrating.  Christmas is a hard season for people who are by themselves.  The first Christmas is a story of misfits who don’t fit well in their world.  A couple, newlyweds, whose child belongs to another father.  Shepherds, whose only job is watching other people’s flocks because it’s the only job they can hold.  A tyrant, who wants to be loved but is hated and a child, who comes to walk a road to a cross.

            The story of Rudolph ends on the upswing.  The misfits find homes, the odd reindeer becomes the lead of the sleigh team.  The Christmas story ends up on the upswing also, as it continues to unfold in history.  The cross leads to a resurrection and all the misfits and soloists of the world await for the child who is returning as their king.

            I always remember this every time I heard Ives sing, “Oh by golly have a holly, jolly Christmas this year.”