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I want to forget some things. But does God forget? Does God choose not to remember and if so, how does this help me heal? I once visited the ancient ruins of Olympia, Greece. The tour guide told me that in the entrance to the athletic stadium there were once pillars and inscribed on them were the names of people who had cheated in their events. Not only that, but alongside the athletes' name was the name of the town they came from. It was a simple message of shame and guilt for all the world to see. The athlete and the town now had a reputation. What would it be like to have your crimes and sin etched in stone for all the world to see? Who would be your friend when everything about you was exposed and known? Maybe only someone who has experienced the same level of humiliation and exposure. I forget I would like to forget some events in my life. Things that people have done to me and also things I have done to others. I seem to be able to forget my shopping list, where I put my keys, and what I had for dinner last week. But it's harder, much harder, to forget what seems to have been etched into my heart. Those etchings have seemingly formed and shaped my life from an early age. The bumps and bruises have pushed me this way and that. Talk to anyone at a deep level and before long, we discover how early life events have forged deep and long-lasting conclusions. It takes time to rewire some of those early childhood conclusions. Over the top, generous, grace-filled time. But all of those events, good and bad, must be stored up in some cosmically vast data bank somewhere. Matter doesn't just simply disappear. I wonder if God forgets any of it. Does God forget? I don't believe God forgets anything. That might frighten you because you've had experiences where people have dragged up past events to use as some sort of evidence against you. Instead, you would much rather those events to be forgotten and done away with. But what if God recorded everything? The good, bad, joys, struggles, triumphs and the simply plain boring stuff of life. All recorded without any judgment of right or wrong. It's simply there as a recorded event. Oh, yes, and it's not just your stuff, it's everyone else's too! You can see the entire story of everything – AND I MEAN EVERYTHING. But we, in our humanness, have a bias towards the negative. We have a velcro tenacity to hold on to the bad and be teflon slippery to the good. The brain is like Velcro for negative experiences, but Teflon for positive ones. [This] shades “implicit memory”–your underlying expectations, beliefs, action strategies, and mood–in an increasingly negative direction. Rick Hanson. I would suggest that many of us, deep down, think God has a similar mindset bias. That God holds on to our list of sins and is ready to throw it all back in our faces, whilst negating any good. This progresses on to the view of God that God is ‘checking a list to see who's been naughty or nice cause Santa God is coming to town.' Wipe the slate clean One of the earliest writing tools we had as humans was slate. In 18th- and 19th-century schools, slate was extensively used for blackboards and individual writing slates, for which slate or chalk pencils were used (wiki). From this use of slate, we have the phrase ‘To wipe the slate clean' which means to wipe away all the old stuff and to start anew. In fact, here in New Zealand, we have the clean slate scheme as part of our legal system. God has an even better scheme. God says this. I am He who wipes the slate clean and erases your wrongdoing. I will not call to mind your sins anymore. Isaiah 43:25 Other versions of the Bible put it differently. “I—yes, I alone—will blot out your sins for my own sake and will never think of them again.” Isaiah 43:25 I, I am He who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins. Isaiah 43:25 God chooses to not drag up the past and to hold it against you. God is capable of regurgitating all the muck and mess of your life, but because God is love and has a reputation of love to ‘kept up' as such, chooses not to remember. A ‘choosing to not remember', is vastly different from a ‘forgetting', which is a very human thing to do. Holding on or handing over? Why do we keep holding on to hurts? Why do we find it so hard to forgive ourselves and others? I think these hurts can become like little thorns digging into the psyche. Poking, prodding, and causing us pain. These little thorns grow into giant splinters, digging into every area of our life. We compensate by avoiding certain topics or people because we know that will set the whole firewood pile ablaze and burn up everything and everyone around us. But we hold on to it because someone has to pay. We can't let them go because we believe someone has to pay. It's a debt and debts have to be paid. We are the bookkeeper and everything is recorded for future reference in a court of law where we are judge, jury, and executioner. Handing over of the pain and the memory to God is a risky business because you never quite know what God might do with it. God may well not do what you want or think God should do (think of the story of Jonah). It's a process too. The brain wants to keep us going back to the old and familiar. But with grace filled prayer, it slowly changes and lets its grip slip away. God holds all, knows all, and is full of justice, mercy, and grace. Can you hand over those memories into safe and all knowing hands? God forgives and chooses not to remember. Can we do the same? Can we give over to God a memory that haunts and holds us tight? To say ‘I will never forgive …' is to say ‘I will never be free.' What's takes more energy to maintain? A clenched fist or an open palm? Can we trust God to clean us from things that hold us back? If we say that we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and refusing to accept the truth. But if we confess our sins to him, he can be depended on to forgive us and to cleanse us from every wrong. And it is perfectly proper for God to do this for us because Christ died to wash away our sins. 1 John 1:8-9 Questions? Comments? Email me
From my “Chris Moose Holidays” album, our SONG TO CHEW this week is THE TOOTH FAIRY, EASTER BUNNY, SANTA & GOD. They're all stories that most of us have heard since we were little. Each of them a bit mysterious and none of them willing to simply show themselves, to prove to us that they're real. They require some level of belief. We've seen hints of their existence; a dollar under our pillow, an Easter basket at the end of our bed, or Christmas presents under our tree on Christmas morning, (maybe some cookie crumbs from the cookies and milk we left for Santa on Christmas Eve.) Each of them a source of great expectations and at times, ... the cause of great disappointments. Today, we'll chew on the idea that when a story has some spirit that touches you, ... you can hold it in your heart and make it true. I'm Peter Alsop. Follow this podcast, and I'll be back next week with another ‘Song to Chew'! ~ Listen/subscribe to my Songs To Chew podcast anywhere you get podcasts or = https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/peter-alsop-s-songs-to-chew/id1446179156 ~ My most recent album = https://www.amazon.com/Camping-Dads-Peter-Alsop/dp/B08CS871QW/ref=sr_1_1 ~ www.FaceBook.com/WeLikePeterAlsop ~ www.Youtube.com/peteralsop = videos ~ www.Patreon.com/peteralsop = support my music & other artistic endeavors ~ www.peteralsop.com/music = CDs & downloads
Santa God (S8.Ep30) Guest: John Farrar (liveon4legs.com) It's that time of year again: Time to celebrate the holidays Pearl Jam Style! For the month of December, we're exploring the final group of Christmas songs in the PJ catalog. This week, John Farrar visits to have a chat about “Santa God”… References: Donate to your local food bank at https://www.feedingamerica.org/ Wisconsin Public Radio - “Why Ticketmaster is under antitrust investigation following Taylor Swift debacle”: https://www.wpr.org/why-ticketmaster-under-antitrust-investigation-following-taylor-swift-debacle “The Messed Up Truth Of The Council Of Nicaea” - https://www.grunge.com/247323/the-messed-up-truth-of-the-council-of-nicaea/ “Santa God” on Apple Music: https://apple.co/3Hb8twy Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/brandenp Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/BrandenP Twitter: https://twitter.com/BetterBandPod Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/betterbandpod Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BetterBandPod Pearl Jam Podcast Community on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/606225600228342/ Podcast encoded with Forecast by Overcast (https://overcast.fm/) Podcast feed & host via RSS.Com (https://rss.com/) The Better Band Podcast is produced by Branden Palomo, and published using a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 License. Please visit CreativeCommons.Org, or email BetterBandPod@gmail.com for more details. (Music played is owned by their respective copyright owners and publishers, and is for review purposes only, under fair use.)
This is the problem: It's too easy to mix-up God and Santa Claus. The text version of every chapter-a-day podcast can be found and shared at tomvanderwell.com. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/wayfarer-tom-vander-well/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/wayfarer-tom-vander-well/support
Santa doesn't just want you to be happy. Santa needs you to be happy. Matt Croasmun explains how the contemporary Christmas myth—the Gospel of Christmas according to St. Nick—sets emotional norms that are vastly different from the Gospel of Christmas according to St. Paul.
On this special episode of Random Draw, we listen to songs taken from the annual Pearl Jam Fan Club Christmas singles. All of the songs played on today’s episode were taken right from the annual vinyl releases that Pearl Jam would send out to its fan club members. There’s Christmas songs, covers and some originals mixed in. Hope you have a holly, jolly listen. All Songs By Pearl Jam:Let Me Sleep (1991)Angel (1993)Last Kiss (1998)Don’t Believe In Christmas (2002)Better Man (2004)Shattered with Jeanne Tripplehorn(2013)Someday At Christmas (2004)Little Sister with Robert Plant (2005)Can’t Help Falling In Love (2000)Santa God (2007)Keep Me In Your Heart (2017)Redemption Song with Beyonce (2015)Jingle Bells (2007)Love Reign O’er Me (2006)Imagine (2014)
THIS EPISODE: Yo, this is still fun so I keep doing em! I talk to KJ (super funny comic from the mitten, now in LA) about cosplay, Julian Assange's neglected cats, saying the N-word "educationally", scary noises and if KJ was Santa & God. its a real power trip and fun listen IG: @howtobekj
Is our idea of God setting things right that of an angered father punishing us?
You better watch out, you better not cry... Actually, Advent is about watching out AND crying. Crying in the wilderness, that is! Changes we make because someone else ("Santa-God"?) might be watching rarely stick around. Changes we make because we are living into a preferred future have a much better chance. Susan digs into Luke 3:1-19 and helps us check our internal whiny children in this 3rd Sunday of Advent message.
This is the fourth and last chapter of Chris Moose Holidays. (for kids and families) Makes sense to listen to them in order, and then you grown-ups might want to listen to the 4 chapters of Ebenezer's Make Over: Songs from the Feminist Men's and Women's Movement. Just click on the title and it will stream to you. More shows coming in January! Please share with your friends. Happy Holidays. Peter Alsop CHRIS MOOSE HOLIDAYS Chris Moose(3:22) Little Tree(9:44) The Gift(2:40) Daddy's Roll(2:39) Christmas Cheer(1:42) Buy Me Something!(2:45) When Jesus Was A Kid(4:14) The Night Before Hanukkah(2:44) G-Gee, It's Warm Out Here(2:42) I Believe You(2:05) The Tooth Fairy, Easter Bunny, Santa & God(2:43) Pass It On!(1:30) Clean Out The Attic(3:37) Earthsong(3:57) CREDITS: Produced by Peter Alsop Music Engineer: Greg Hilfman Recorded & Mixed at Barely Sound Studios, Topanga, CA Teletalent, Hollywood, CA, and LaRocque Studios, N. Hollywood, CA Peter Alsop - vocals, guitars, jingle bells, autoharp, spoons, bass, jaw harp, tambourine, triangle, washboard, Greg Hilfman - synthesizers, keyboards & all other sampled insturments, background vocals(14), elf, orchestra bells(1), autoharp percussion (4), Mr. Leibovitz Joachim Cooder - dumbeks Miriam Cutler - clarinet, background vocals(7) Shelby Flint - background vocals Ellen Geer - background vocals Willow Geer-Alsop - lead vocal (3, 7, 11) Brette Gentry - lead vocal (4) Michael Hamilton - engineer Roger LaRocque - engineer, percussion & drum programming(7) Melora Marshall - background vocals (10, 14) Marshall McDaniel - lead vocal (5, 11) Tosha Scarfe - lead vocal (11) Nick South - bass (13) Cory Thompson - lead guitar (11) Bill Buerge - cover art Terri Asher - layout Kids: Kailani Ector, Willow Geer-Alsop, Brette Gentry, Chenoa Hernandez, Abe Hilfman, Jacy Hernandez, Kai Hernandez, Marshall McDaniel, Tosha Scarfe, Talia Wabnig Thanks to Chris Fletcher & Bill Harley P., C., 1994, Moose School Music, Box 960 Topanga, CA 90290 All songs written by Peter Alsop, Copyright 1994, Moose School Music (BMI) unless otherwise noted. (10) Copyright 1992, & (7) Copyright 1991, Moose School Music (BMI)
In Chapter 2 the kids and I sang about the problems with smoking, over-eating, drinking alcohol and even shopping compulsions, … now here's Chapter 3! CHRIS MOOSE HOLIDAYS Chris Moose(3:22) Little Tree(9:44) The Gift(2:40) Daddy's Roll(2:39) Christmas Cheer(1:42) Buy Me Something!(2:45) When Jesus Was A Kid(4:14) The Night Before Hanukkah(2:44) G-Gee, It's Warm Out Here(2:42) I Believe You(2:05) The Tooth Fairy, Easter Bunny, Santa & God(2:43) Pass It On!(1:30) Clean Out The Attic(3:37) Earthsong(3:57) CREDITS: Produced by Peter Alsop Music Engineer: Greg Hilfman Recorded & Mixed at Barely Sound Studios, Topanga, CA Teletalent, Hollywood, CA, and LaRocque Studios, N. Hollywood, CA Peter Alsop - vocals, guitars, jingle bells, autoharp, spoons, bass, jaw harp, tambourine, triangle, washboard, Greg Hilfman - synthesizers, keyboards & all other sampled insturments, background vocals(14), elf, orchestra bells(1), autoharp percussion (4), Mr. Leibovitz Joachim Cooder - dumbeks Miriam Cutler - clarinet, background vocals(7) Shelby Flint - background vocals Ellen Geer - background vocals Willow Geer-Alsop - lead vocal (3, 7, 11) Brette Gentry - lead vocal (4) Michael Hamilton - engineer Roger LaRocque - engineer, percussion & drum programming(7) Melora Marshall - background vocals (10, 14) Marshall McDaniel - lead vocal (5, 11) Tosha Scarfe - lead vocal (11) Nick South - bass (13) Cory Thompson - lead guitar (11) Bill Buerge - cover art Terri Asher - layout Kids: Kailani Ector, Willow Geer-Alsop, Brette Gentry, Chenoa Hernandez, Abe Hilfman, Jacy Hernandez, Kai Hernandez, Marshall McDaniel, Tosha Scarfe, Talia Wabnig Thanks to Chris Fletcher & Bill Harley P., C., 1994, Moose School Music, Box 960 Topanga, CA 90290 All songs written by Peter Alsop, Copyright 1994, Moose School Music (BMI) unless otherwise noted. (10) Copyright 1992, & (7) Copyright 1991, Moose School Music (BMI)
Today in Chapter 2 of Chris Moose Holidays, we pick up with our discussion about Santa Claus. CHRIS MOOSE HOLIDAYS Chris Moose(3:22) Little Tree(9:44) The Gift(2:40) Daddy's Roll(2:39) Christmas Cheer(1:42) Buy Me Something!(2:45) When Jesus Was A Kid(4:14) The Night Before Hanukkah(2:44) G-Gee, It's Warm Out Here(2:42) I Believe You(2:05) The Tooth Fairy, Easter Bunny, Santa & God(2:43) Pass It On!(1:30) Clean Out The Attic(3:37) Earthsong(3:57) CREDITS: Produced by Peter Alsop Music Engineer: Greg Hilfman Recorded & Mixed at Barely Sound Studios, Topanga, CA Teletalent, Hollywood, CA, and LaRocque Studios, N. Hollywood, CA Peter Alsop - vocals, guitars, jingle bells, autoharp, spoons, bass, jaw harp, tambourine, triangle, washboard, Greg Hilfman - synthesizers, keyboards & all other sampled insturments, background vocals(14), elf, orchestra bells(1), autoharp percussion (4), Mr. Leibovitz Joachim Cooder - dumbeks Miriam Cutler - clarinet, background vocals(7) Shelby Flint - background vocals Ellen Geer - background vocals Willow Geer-Alsop - lead vocal (3, 7, 11) Brette Gentry - lead vocal (4) Michael Hamilton - engineer Roger LaRocque - engineer, percussion & drum programming(7) Melora Marshall - background vocals (10, 14) Marshall McDaniel - lead vocal (5, 11) Tosha Scarfe - lead vocal (11) Nick South - bass (13) Cory Thompson - lead guitar (11) Bill Buerge - cover art Terri Asher - layout Kids: Kailani Ector, Willow Geer-Alsop, Brette Gentry, Chenoa Hernandez, Abe Hilfman, Jacy Hernandez, Kai Hernandez, Marshall McDaniel, Tosha Scarfe, Talia Wabnig Thanks to Chris Fletcher & Bill Harley P., C., 1994, Moose School Music, Box 960 Topanga, CA 90290 All songs written by Peter Alsop, Copyright 1994, Moose School Music (BMI) unless otherwise noted. (10) Copyright 1992, & (7) Copyright 1991, Moose School Music (BMI)
Today’s show is the first chapter of CHRIS MOOSE HOLIDAYS, which was originally released in 1994 as one of my albums. I have Christian and Jewish friends who tell me it’s part of their holiday ritual to sit together, and listen to this story every year. Amazing! I know. CHRIS MOOSE HOLIDAYS - CREDITS Chris Moose(3:22) Little Tree(9:44) The Gift(2:40) Daddy's Roll(2:39) Christmas Cheer(1:42) Buy Me Something!(2:45) When Jesus Was A Kid(4:14) The Night Before Hanukkah(2:44) G-Gee, It's Warm Out Here(2:42) I Believe You(2:05) The Tooth Fairy, Easter Bunny, Santa & God(2:43) Pass It On!(1:30) Clean Out The Attic(3:37) Earthsong(3:57) CREDITS: Produced by Peter Alsop Music Engineer: Greg Hilfman Recorded & Mixed at Barely Sound Studios, Topanga, CA Teletalent, Hollywood, CA, and LaRocque Studios, N. Hollywood, CA Peter Alsop - vocals, guitars, jingle bells, autoharp, spoons, bass, jaw harp, tambourine, triangle, washboard, Greg Hilfman - synthesizers, keyboards & all other sampled instruments, background vocals(14), elf, orchestra bells(1), autoharp, percussion (4), Mr. Leibovitz Joachim Cooder - dumbeks Miriam Cutler - clarinet, background vocals(7) Shelby Flint - background vocals Ellen Geer - background vocals Willow Geer-Alsop - lead vocal (3, 7, 11) Brette Gentry - lead vocal (4) Michael Hamilton - engineer Roger LaRocque - engineer, percussion & drum programming(7) Melora Marshall - background vocals (10, 14) Marshall McDaniel - lead vocal (5, 11) Tosha Scarfe - lead vocal (11) Nick South - bass (13) Cory Thompson - lead guitar (11) Bill Buerge - cover art Terri Asher - layout Kids: Kailani Ector, Willow Geer-Alsop, Brette Gentry, Chenoa Hernandez, Abe Hilfman, Jacy Hernandez, Kai Hernandez, Marshall McDaniel, Tosha Scarfe, Talia Wabnig Thanks to Chris Fletcher & Bill Harley P., C., 1994, Moose School Music, Box 960 Topanga, CA 90290 All songs written by Peter Alsop, Copyright 1994, Moose School Music (BMI) unless otherwise noted. (10) Copyright 1992, & (7) Copyright 1991, Moose School Music (BMI)
Jesus is God. Our view of God really matters. In this message, we will look at the bad views we sometimes have about God: absent God, the police God, the genie/Santa God and the scorekeeping God. And look at what the Bible says about who Jesus...
Jesus is God. Our view of God really matters. In this message, we will look at the bad views we sometimes have about God: absent God, the police God, the genie/Santa God and the scorekeeping God. And look at what the Bible says about who Jesus...
Jesus is God. Our view of God really matters. In this message, we will look at the bad views we sometimes have about God: absent God, the police God, the genie/Santa God and the scorekeeping God. And look at what the Bible says about who Jesus...
Jesus is God. Our view of God really matters. In this message, we will look at the bad views we sometimes have about God: absent God, the police God, the genie/Santa God and the scorekeeping God. And look at what the Bible says about who Jesus...
Jesus is God. Our view of God really matters. In this message, we will look at the bad views we sometimes have about God: absent God, the police God, the genie/Santa God and the scorekeeping God. And look at what the Bible says about who Jesus...
Jesus is God. Our view of God really matters. In this message, we will look at the bad views we sometimes have about God: absent God, the police God, the genie/Santa God and the scorekeeping God. And look at what the Bible says about who Jesus...