Dec 19, 2010
What do Facebook and Christmas have in common?
This morning at church, they played a video that really inspired me. It’s gonna sound so weird when I describe it, but here goes anyway: It’s the “cast” of the original Christmas story, but followed and recorded via a social media platform like Facebook.
And when I tell you that tears streamed down my face during it, you might really think I’m crazy. But watch it and see what you think:
A few things struck me as I watched it:
- Mary’s faith and reliance on God: I think whoever made this video honored what we see of her in the Bible–her faith, her character, her resolve to do the Lord’s will. I want to be more like that.
- A love story between Joseph & Mary: When he gets the news that Mary’s pregnant and he goes to type “hurting” but then backspaces and writes “confused.” Just thinking about the humanity of their emotions in the midst of the experience of bringing the Son of God into the world made me wreck.
- Their JOY: Just like you and me, they were overjoyed and awestruck with their child. And yet there was a whole crazy dimension to their experience that you and I never will experience, knowing that they are beholding God’s Son–the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.
Also, I think it was especially moving to experience this video in a room with a few hundred others. There was laughter. There were tears (trust me, I looked around and I wasn’t the only one wiping my eyes). It really struck me that here were are, thousands of years later, gathered together to worship and celebrate the same thing the angels and shepherds celebrated that night…
Immanuel, God with us.
It’s still the most shocking and scandalous story ever told: God puts on human flesh and is born of a woman. (Think of how many religions would be offended by just that statement alone.)
And while some might scoff at a video like this, thinking it’s an attempt to make Jesus “relevant,” I would say that yes, Jesus is relevant. He’s the most relevant reality that’s ever been. And if people tell His story over and over in ways that’ll break into my cold, hard, media-soaked heart, then I say bring it on.
I need the Christmas message. I need Mary and her firm and child-like faith. I need Joseph, and his confusion and then his tender regard for his very pregnant wife. I need the shepherds and angels to be my examples of worship. I need Immanuel, the little baby God who turned heaven and earth upside down.
I need Christmas.
(HT: 22 Words)
I saw that video this morning and was really surprised how it struck me as well. I guess I was expecting to roll my eyes at it, but was really touched. I guess I’ve always kind of viewed them more as iconic figures than as actual human beings. Normal human beings. Great video.
I saw that video this morning and was really surprised how it struck me as well. I guess I was expecting to roll my eyes at it, but was really touched. I’ve always kind of viewed them more as iconic figures than as actual human beings. Normal human beings. Great video.
Molly,
This is such an unusual serendipity moment for me, that you posted this item just now. I am doing Christmas cards for the best of the best in my life. There used to be just a Liberty Bell on my stamps, a reminder of our freedom, but now, there is a new stamp called Holiday Evergreens. It is also a FOREVER stamp!
I was licking them and attaching them to envelopes and pondered….
how many Facebook people would be worth a “Forever” stamp?
There may be 500 million on FB, but few are worth nearly 2 quarters to say “I love you”. Snail mail is from the heart; a treasure to be “pondered” ala Mary.
I never view YouTube embeds, since I am deaf, and few YouTubes bother to use a “Close Caption” for deaf or hard of hearing (some do).
But I clicked yours, and lo and behold, I could read it all. And I did. It’s wonderful.
We speak in the darkest time of the year of Immanuel/Emmanuel….
God with us! This is no accident for the Gospels open up with the Facebook story, and in verse 23, Matthew declares an opening enlightment for the first time (after geneology to the present time 2,000 years ago…”God with us”.
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+1&version=NIV
Matthew opened the Gospels with that.
During the balance of the year, Emmanuel tends to die off as a calling to Christ. I suspect LACK of use of that title causes us to forget “God is with us”.
But I love the very last words penned by Matthew as he closed his Gospel, “Good News” with the same way he began.
Matthew 28:20…the final sentence, quotes Jesus Christ as speaker.
There, the Emmanuel at the beginning of Matthew says this to all of us:
“And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
The Alpha and Omega of Matthew is the same; Emmanuel, God with us….
ALWAYS…to the very end of the age.
Merry Christmas Molly, and thanks for a video I can read with pleasure, over and over.
And now, I go back to choosing WHO is worth a Forever stamp.
I wonder if the answer is on Facebook, or on the video about Facebook you have presented.
Best regards to Abraham and the growing crew. Forever.
Thank you for this beautiful and encouraging comment. I need to pause again and again for more Jesus (especially this week).
Oh Molly,
I came to view the video again as it is one of few I can “read” to hear. And Lucy’s words below, humbled me anew.
Allow me to echo Lucy, and let your audience know that Deaf and Hard of Hearing ALWAYS yammer away. When WE talk, you cannot.
This is not done to deny conversation, for those who live in silence are desperate for it. The “unending talk” is done to avoid the horrible experience of misunderstanding whatever YOU say, by not allowing you to SAY it. Embarrassment leads to yammering as a protection device for those without ears to hear.
In the final analysis, the silence grows.
There is no room for sound at the manger of my ear.
But there are other portals.
Your reply was 21 Words, and I just know that will make Abraham love it! :)
The 22 Words blog directs folks here, and I return at times, for I have my own “Felicity’s”….multiple. Long ago, I learned that Grief shared is cut in half, while Joys shared are doubled.
I am growing with you and Abraham, though my Chosen would now be in college.
That said, I note you are looking to pause for more Jesus (especially this week). Do you have a mirror?
Jesus met them…ten of them. They had not lost the sense of hearing, they lost the sense of touch, for that is what lerosy does.
Without the warnings of pain via touch, body parts are destroyed.
So Jesus healed ten of them. The story is here for anyone to read:
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%2017:11-19&version=NLT
I am in awe of this story, and you, Molly, are IN the story!
Listen to these words:(from the link)
“One of them, when he saw that he was healed, came back to Jesus, shouting, “Praise God!” He fell to the ground at Jesus’ feet, thanking him for what he had done. This man was a Samaritan.
Jesus asked, “Didn’t I heal ten men? Where are the other nine?
Has no one returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?”
Were not ten of you healed? WHERE are the other nine?
You are not among the nine Molly, for this very day, you did as the tenth leper, and said “Thank You”.
And in saying “Thank You”, you are not only a “ten”, but you give glory to God, as it is written.
So as a result of your kind 21 words, I ask you to note your own drawing nearer to Christ….by looking in the mirror to see what a “ten” looks like. Every thank you gives glory to God.
I suspect the ratio of one out of ten saying Thank You is true even now.
You and I and the readers share a slice of infinity, that saw the Millennia change from 1000 A.D. to 2000 A.D. Very few humans ever created, see such a moment.
And this night of Winter Solstice, finds the Earth between the moon and sun, for the first time in 456 years. Step outside in a couple of hours and be in awe. We are twice blessed, in times to live.
A poem became a song, and though I no longer hear, it is my favorite to listen to in my mind each Christmas.
“O holy night, the stars are brightly shining;
It is the night of the dear Savior’s birth!
Long lay the world in sin and error pining,
Till He appeared and the soul felt its worth.”
We are so busy that we rarely think about our souls.
But when God comes near, when He appeared, when Emmanuel was born,
the SOUL FELT its worth. The “leprosy” of no sense of touch in our soul is always dissolved when we pause again and again for more Jesus, and our SOUL feels its worth each time.
That deaf guy yammered too much again, and now, I must go above and look at a marvelous Facebook inspired video.
I just wanted to first Thank You for being a “ten”, to me….and to God.
Blessings,
Danny Lucas
I had the same response, Danny… I am hard of hearing, too, and was worried about the lack of captions. Was pleasantly surprised that I didn’t need them! :)
Thanks so much for sharing, Molly! I’m with you – I don’t know why, but the few Facebook-centric clips that I’ve seen that show someone typing one thing then erasing it to type something different gets me every time. How often we censor ourselves!
(I know, I know… the video is about Jesus and here I am yammering on about captions and censorship. But I loved the video, really. I’ve felt overwhelmed lately by life in general and will probably be going back to this clip a few more times for the sweet reminder that God is WITH us.)
This was really great to watch – thank you for sharing it. I cried like a baby, too… or the pregnant woman that I am right now!
I cried, too. Thank you for sharing!
Tears here too… and I expected to roll my eyes and laugh a little… it brought the story to 2010 :>) Very cool.
Dag nabbit good stuff you whpipersnpaerps!
It’s fab isn’t it?! I think Joseph is my hero!
Totally skeptical when I heard about this, or something similar the other day. It made me cry, too, though. It’s as if they translated the Christmas story into a new language.
While I didn’t cry, I was covered head to toe in goosebumps when I watched this. What an interesting way to convey the Christmas story! I loved this and posted it on my facebook. And I agree – Jesus is relevant. He always has been and always will be.
Thanks for posting about this, Molly! Merry Christmas!
Tears….His story is moving and touching and EVERYTHING to me no matter how it is presented
Thank you for sharing this, Molly. Wonderful!
I thought it was beautiful, too!
Merry Christmas to the Pipers!
It was touching. I agree, it’s easy to not view Mary and Joseph as regular people, that seemed to make them a little more ‘real’. The part that got me the most was when ’23 people unfriended Joseph’.
Molly, have you ever watched The Nativity Story? It really brings out the emotion surrounding the scandal in such a wonderful way, too. I’ve never been impressed with many movies around the nativity, but this one really gets it, i.m.o.
Hope you and yours have a great Christmas..
The Nativity Story is on on Thursday at 8pm on CBC – now I’m even more excited to watch it!
Oh, Molly! My heart is so heavy. We just lost another child (miscarriage) and it is our second loss this year. And people are having babies all over the place and facebook is where they post the most recent pictures, ultrasounds, and their joy for everyone to see. But it’s heartbreaking for me to read about their joy.
So, seeing this video was kinda…timely. I don’t know what to feel. I’m very sad and it’s very real. This video made Jesus’ birth and the excitement of it very “relevant” in my life. Especially while we are going through this loss over the holidays and while people are expressing the joyous news of their own families that I need to be focusing on the birth of the Savior. That this Baby was real and that He was born to real parents who were scared and hopeful. They were promised a Son who they would see suffer and die when He was relatively young.
Thanks for sharing this video. I had heard about it from some others (on facebook) but didn’t know if I would like it or not…and I do. So thank you. Thank you for the fresh perspective – just what I needed to prepare my heart for Christmas. Thanks!
I cried. I think what moved me most is when Joseph was unfriended actually. It just struck me what an amazingly insane thing to tell people, that your fiancee is pregnant…by God. All the talking and gossip that was surrounding our Saviors birth and then, the small group of those who had been waiting and praying for this day to arrive…it was humbling and beautiful. So thankful for Jesus.
I didn’t think I would like this…..but sure enough, I was in tears by the end. I loved how it portrayed the very human side of Christmas. This year, for fun, I wrote a journal as if I were Mary. I tried to write down the thoughts and feelings that she might have had as the expectant mother of our Lord. I’m 19 and probably just a little older than Mary was when she had Jesus. I figured I could relate to some of the feelings she had. Anyway, when my grandma read it she said, “I love how this shows the human side to a very GOD-sided story.”
Our hero was wrapped in flesh…I guess that’s what makes Him a hero.
Hi Molly!
Just wanted to tell you how much I love your blog (and your husband´s too) I read it all the way from Prague, Czech Republic.
I am married with no kids yet, but I would love to be such a great mom one day too..You are an inspiration to me and you make me smile when I read your blog.
Tereza
Loved the post! It reminded me of our sermon. Our pastor related the movie Christmas Carol with the past, present and future to the real Christmas story and the 3 angels! He spoke about Mary’s and Joseph’s faith. Such a great way to relate it to our lives!
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