This is War

One of my soapboxes comes around every year, right around this time, and it is centered around two personal thoughts. I think we rush Christmas and forget the meaning of Advent, and I mostly dislike the pop Christmas music that the radio seems to be playing earlier and earlier every year. This year, I decided that I would take control of my own Christmas spirit and find some palatable music. I love hymns. I'm not so into the Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree kind of stuff. But I also like new and fresh arrangements for the hymns I hold dear. I was look for fresh and different but not puffy. And that's how I came across a song that I've been completely into since I heard it. I already like Dustin Kensrue as he has frequently come up on my Pandora playlists, but I'd never heard this song. It's called "This is War."

This is war like you ain't seen.
This winter's long, it's cold and mean.
With hangdog hearts we stood condemned,
But the tide turns now at Bethlehem.

This is war and born tonight,
The Word as flesh, the Lord of Light,
The Son of God, the low-born king;
Who demons fear, of whom angels sing.

This is war on sin and death;
The dark will take it's final breath.
It shakes the earth, confounds all plans;
The mystery of God as man.

Never you worry. It is not lost on me that the image of war is a troubling image, but in a way (a strange kind of way) it reminds me of what it all seems to be about. The Christmas season is so wrapped up in hope and peace, so how can I get behind a song called "This is War"? Well, for one thing, Dustin Kensrue's voice is pretty sexy. But for another, what is Christ but a paradox? Emanuel...the mystery of God as man. God, in Christ, turns everything, EVERYTHING, on its head. God with us is so countercultural that we can scarcely wrap our minds around the idea. Jesus changes the eveything.

This song has been stuck in my head for days now... Happy Advent! I pray for the wisdom and the courage to be so countercultural that I can be a kingdom maker in the here and now, the already, to prepare for not yet.