Today I sat in a McDonald’s and munched on a nasty cheeseburger and waxy fries. Hey, sometimes you need the comfort food from home. Besides, Mickey D’s has A/C and wireless internet. I had a couple of hours to kill and a laptop full of homework to finish, so I sat down to eat lunch and knock off some chapters of my Hermeneutics Class.
Sometimes it is hard to know what holidays from home are coming up, because all of the cultural markers that we grow up looking for a simply not present here. But Christmas seems to be a year round event here. You can hear Christmas Music and see Santa Clause everywhere in Taiwan all times of the year. I know a couple of churches and stores that have “Merry Christmas” banners up year round. It speaks more to a cultural seeking of good luck charms rather than any particular love for the holiday.
As I sat in Ronald’s house of arterial blockage, I noticed the music was almost totally Christmas Music this time. OH! Sure, it is Christmas time for real now. I soon notices something else. This was REAL Christmas music... not the typical Jingle Bells and You’d Better Be Good silliness that I hear the year through. They were playing songs that spoke of the Lordship of Jesus and the Salvation that he brings!
I was overcome in the Holy Spirt! Here I am in the middle of a restaurant with other people, as we all eat our cheeseburgers (a kind of cholesterol communion) and we are all totally oblivious to the declaration of the Good News of Jesus Christ that is being pumped into our ears. It was just noise. It was just a feel good, toe-tapping, emotional engineering SOUND that helped one to digest the meal.
I wanted to run around the room and ask people if they understood.
Are we just a noise that people associate with Christianity? Are we just a sound that helps the world be diverse and multicultural? Or are we the messengers of Good News that is above and beyond culture, nationality, race, religion, and culinary tastes?
Oh Lord, that my message is more than musak in the department store.
Sometimes it is hard to know what holidays from home are coming up, because all of the cultural markers that we grow up looking for a simply not present here. But Christmas seems to be a year round event here. You can hear Christmas Music and see Santa Clause everywhere in Taiwan all times of the year. I know a couple of churches and stores that have “Merry Christmas” banners up year round. It speaks more to a cultural seeking of good luck charms rather than any particular love for the holiday.
As I sat in Ronald’s house of arterial blockage, I noticed the music was almost totally Christmas Music this time. OH! Sure, it is Christmas time for real now. I soon notices something else. This was REAL Christmas music... not the typical Jingle Bells and You’d Better Be Good silliness that I hear the year through. They were playing songs that spoke of the Lordship of Jesus and the Salvation that he brings!
I was overcome in the Holy Spirt! Here I am in the middle of a restaurant with other people, as we all eat our cheeseburgers (a kind of cholesterol communion) and we are all totally oblivious to the declaration of the Good News of Jesus Christ that is being pumped into our ears. It was just noise. It was just a feel good, toe-tapping, emotional engineering SOUND that helped one to digest the meal.
I wanted to run around the room and ask people if they understood.
Are we just a noise that people associate with Christianity? Are we just a sound that helps the world be diverse and multicultural? Or are we the messengers of Good News that is above and beyond culture, nationality, race, religion, and culinary tastes?
Oh Lord, that my message is more than musak in the department store.
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