Bill
Backer & Roger Cook
Okay,
I confess. I’m a bit of an iron marshmallow. Christmas is a time for warm memories
for me. Add to that, being from Atlanta, I’m a Coke fanatic. I still remember
having a youth pastor who’d grown up in Central Illinois and being shocked that
he had this weird soft drink product in his office called “Pepsi.” Until then,
I don’t think that I ever knew that there was such a product.
Coca-Cola is as Georgian as peaches and peanuts. In 1886, pharmacist
John Pemberton from Columbus, Georgia invented the original Coca-Cola drink
(though it was originally sold as a medicinal beverage). In 1892, the Coca-Cola
Company was formally founded in Atlanta.
I
remember being shocked when I first came to Wisconsin and a friend showed me
the “pop machine” in the dorm. If you’re in a restaurant in Atlanta and you
request a drink, you might say, “Coke.” You’ll often then be asked, “What
kind?” Sprite or Fanta Orange are acceptable responses.
One of Coca-Cola’s greatest marketing campaigns was in the early 70’s,
with the song, “I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing.” It was later
re-recorded as a Christmas version with an international, multi-ethnic choir
holding candles. It was a beautiful picture!
Yet, our world knows nothing of unity. The first attempt, The League of
Nations was a greater failure than the United Nations has been. Ecumenicalism is
a futile attempt to break down walls between religion, but there can be no
unity with such diametrically opposed worldviews. Hatred, prejudice, division,
enmity, poison our world and our relationships.
As
a result, it’s easy to understand the despair of Longfellow in his heartfelt
Christmas song, I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day:
And in despair I
bowed my head;
“There is no peace on earth,” I said;
“There is no peace on earth,” I said;
“For hate is
strong,
And mocks the song
Of peace on earth,
good-will to men!”
What
the world can never do by edict or political gamesmanship, a tiny infant, the
God-man has already done at His incarnation. It wasn’t His birth that brought
peace and true unity, it was His sacrificial death. The Church of Jesus Christ
has something a lost world can only philosophy about and long for – Unity.
Believers will be united in heaven for all eternity, but Jesus plan and command
is for it to start here and now. As Paul wrote, “There is neither Jew nor
Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you
are all one in Christ Jesus” (Gal. 3:28).
Our unity has precedence over every area the world is divided over:
ethnicity, economy, sociological groups, politics and genders. It also includes
age and forms of worship – we are all one in Christ Jesus.
That struck me anew as I came across a new Christmas album by Jonathan
Butler. Each year I like to find a new Christmas album to listen to, to breathe
fresh air for me into the familiar holiday. Over the years it’s been albums by
Pentatonix, Kenny G, Celine Dion and the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir (to name a
few). This year it’s Jonathan Butler.
Jonathan Butler is a South African singer-songwriter. Born and raised in
Cape Town during the travesty of Apartheid, he began singing and
playing acoustic guitar as a child. His first single was the first by
a black artist played by white radio stations in racially segregated South
Africa.
What I love most about Butler is that though we’ve never met, he’s my
brother in Christ. Let me share his testimony from his web page:
God’s
word became real to Butler when he was just a teenager. At 19-years-old,
Butler’s life forever changed when he became a Christian. ‘It was love
that drew me to Christ,’ he smiles, ‘the love of someone who cared enough
to talk to me about Jesus and take me in when I was basically a broken
young man in South Africa. It was my late brother-in-law, my wife’s
brother, who led me to Christ. He was that person in my life that actually took
the time to talk to me about Jesus, and it didn’t take me long to
give my heart to Christ because of that’.”
In
spite millennia of division we frequently forget the power and common
foundation of the gospel. The gospel alone breaks down the dividing walls and
brings unity. Christians are to live out Jesus’ command, “A new
commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I
have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will
know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” That
means that as a Christian, I have more in common with a black South African
than I do a Caucasian American who is an unbeliever.
That was wonderfully brought home to me when Jane and I visited Taiwan.
As we attended a worship service where we couldn’t understand much of what was
said, we were family with people that we’d never met before. Each Sunday
Peace Church shares a meal together after their worship service.
Though they’d never met us, we were invited to join them for their meal. Jane
and I were with brothers and sisters that we’ll spend eternity with. Christmas
is the great uniter!
Each week I pray for a list of pastors and churches in our community who
preach the gospel, that God will bless them and their ministries and use them
to reach more with the gospel. That’s because we’re co-laborers, not
competitors. We may differ on minor doctrinal nuances, yet we are united at the
cross and in the gospel. We’re united because God the Father gave His only Son
as the first Christmas gift 2,000 years ago.
I
listen to Jonathan Butler on Spotify. Let me encourage you to download his
Christmas album and let it be a reminder to all of us of the blessed unity that
we have in Christ because “unto you is born a Savior.”
Can
we help you spiritually? Can we help you know Jesus better? Please check out
more resources on our church's web page, Gracechurchwi.org. Or, call us at
262.763.3021. If you'd like to know more about how Jesus can change your life,
I'd love to mail you a copy of how Jesus changed my life in "My
Story." E-mail me at Carson@gracechurchwi.org to request a free copy.
Please include your mailing address.
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