by Jim Lyon, Senior Pastor

I’m often asked what book (or books) I am reading. The presumption is that I read widely and can recommend interesting titles. I’m not altogether certain this is true. But, I have always liked to read.

When I was 14 and my parents asked what I’d like for my birthday. I replied, “The collected works of Woodrow Wilson, published by Princeton University.” It was a dusty, seven-volume set edited by Ray Stannard Baker that I had seen in a cavernous used book store near the Pike Place Market that I used to love to haunt. I know my parents were perplexed. “How about a football or baseball bat?” they secretly wondered. They smiled and bought me the books. They’re still on my shelf. What a geek. Nerd does not even come close to describing my loser self then. Or now. Maybe oddball would be a better term.

Of course, my thirst for all things Woodrow Wilson in those days probably represented a fantasy world in which I dreamed of dramatic battles for the right in a world gone wrong. Wilson was a heroic figure in real life, inspiring the nations to “make the world safe for democracy.” In a way, I suppose, reading old books about World War I was my way of escaping into Mortal Kombat. Seems passé now—but, on the other hand, have you seen Speilberg’s new film War Horse? Maybe I wasn’t so weird, after all.

What we read can have enormous impacts on who we are. Even with new technologies and exponential access to audio and visual media, reading remains the most compelling and deeply formative medium of ideas. In addition to opening vast horizons of knowledge and experience, reading can hone your verbal skills and enhance your ability to interact with the world around you. The Word became flesh and dwelled among us: this is the stuff of reading John’s Gospel.

My taste in reading (as in the collected works of Wilson above) may be, admittedly, so out of touch with the mainstream as to be useless. On the other hand, I can still recommend reading itself—and share a few recommendations.

Start with the Bible. Never take the Scriptures for granted. If you read nothing else, commit to reading God’s Word. Every day. I embraced this discipline when I was 12 and have been true to it to this day. Nothing has formed me more profoundly than this. Pick up a Life Application Study Bible. It will supplement your daily reading with footnotes and explanatory articles that can enrich your understanding and sense of context. But even the naked text read alone, without helps, is transformative, supernatural, encouraging, and stretching, all at once. It can define life and transform life. Always for the good. The Life Application Study Bible comes with several different English translations. The New Living Translation (NLT) is what I currently use as a base for public preaching; it is the most conversational English translation available today. The New American Standard Bible (NASB) is the most functionally literal translation. I recommend both.

I am just finishing Mark and Grace Driscoll’s new book, Real Marriage: The Truth about Sex, Friendship, and Life Together. As with everything Driscoll writes, controversy is sure to follow. He is bold and bald in his assertions, a straight-talker who can offend, stir-up, and dare. He is also a man devoted to the Word. The book has created a sensation; it is worth the read. I believe it will surface in a class or teaching series at Madison Park someday.

I’m also reading Laura Hillenbrand’s Unbroken: A Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption. This is the telling of one man’s amazing journey through the Pacific theatre of World War II. It’s a breathtaking true story of overcoming impossible odds. I’m not through the book yet—and so the jury’s still out. But, when reading, always remember that every biography—every true story from life—proves God’s Word true. Our lives cooperate with God, ignore Him, or defy Him. In every case, His Word is proved true.

There is a genre of reading that I do not often reference, but it is one I have always loved. Often an escape, but also often a teacher, it is science fiction. As a teenager, I devoured science fiction books by Isaac Asimov and his tribe. A Canticle for Liebowitz and the Stars Like Dust will never be forgotten. Frank Herbert’s Dune trilogy mesmerized me.

But, at an even higher plane, C. S. Lewis began to instruct me with science fiction. I am revisiting his classic Out of the Silent Planet (first published in 1943). A part of a triology, Lewis (as in the more famous Chronicles of Narnia) masterfully buries spiritual themes in this fictional flight to the Mars-like Malacandra. Earth proves to be the “silent planet” and the framing of life on earth as seen from “out there” in spiritual terms is still very relevant and provocative. Fanciful and thoughtful.

Give the X-Box a rest. Turn the TV off. Pick up a good book. Place it under your Bible (always keep your Bible on top). And make a decision to read in 2012. You’ll be the better for it.

Kids Need Care Too

DivorceCare for Kids provides healing and fun

The experience of feeling scared, sad, confused, alone and helpless can be traumatic for children of families going through a divorce.  MPC is seeking to provide a ministry through Divorce Care 4 Kids (DC4K) to help children heal from the pain caused by a separation or divorce.

DC4K provides children with a safe and neutral place to recognize and learn to share their feelings in a fun and caring group.  Judy Campbell, leader for Madison Park’s DC4K shares,  ”I love the program.  It deals with topics like facing their sadness and anger, and still realizing that mom, dad, and God all love them very much  It covers forgiveness.  Also, kids do not have the ability to process what all is happening and many times will assume it was their fault mom and dad divorced.  There was an actual case where a boy didn’t clean his room, dad yelled at him for that, and when dad left one week later, the boy thought it was all his fault, and if he had just cleaned his room, dad wouldn’t have left. So the program helps the kids understand that divorce is an adult problem, and not a kid problem.  And it is so healing for the kids to realize that. “

Each of the 13 sessions is filled with games, crafts, role playing, discussion times designed to help children process divorce and move forward in their lives. The program has proved to be a helpful, encouraging and a powerful ministry for kids ages 5-12 and the kids look forward to each time they get together. One parent comments, “My kids are happy to know they are not the only ones going through this. DC4K helped foster communication between my children and me.”

The weekly themes center around questions and feelings the children may be experiencing.  “It teaches a lot about anger,” Judy continues. “Anger is a normal part of life when hard things happen. Anger is like a ball of energy inside.  Holding that energy inside and never talking about it can hurt ones body–like causing stomach aches.  It wants to come out, and needs to come out and will usually come out through the areas of the mouth, hands or feet. The program teaches the difference between good healthy choices and harmful choices for expressing that anger.”

Everyone in a family needs to find healing from the hurt and pain of divorce. MPC also offers DivorceCare (DC), a support group for parents that compliments the children’s program. The group creates opportunities for meaningful conversations about the issues parents face within themselves and in relationship with their children. Kim Wolfe serves  as a support group leader and contact person. DC seeks to provide a place to be around people who understand what you are feeling and hear valuable information about ways to heal from the hurt of divorce.

“I just love the program being used,” concludes Judy, ” It hits right where everyone is hurting and struggling, and yet gives hope and inspiration through scripture,  offers very practical suggestions for application and  gives reassurance  that God still has a plan for them, and that it is a terrific plan!”

DC4K and DC meet at MPC each Sunday at 10:45am in Rooms 176 and 180. The 13-week sessions repeat periodically throughout the year. Contact: Judy Campbell at (765) 649-8687.

by Jim Lyon, Senior Pastor

I grew up with See’s Candy, a West Coast tradition (based in California, but entrenched from Seattle to San Diego). I know, I know, there are local favorites with roots here in central Indiana, but the See’s Candy store at Northgate has been for me, for a lifetime, like a second home. Dark chocolate, chocolate butter cream. Mmmm. Nothing better.

During the weeks leading up to Christmas in 2011, there was a See’s Candy store at the Castleton Mall. See’s Candy is all made in California and the distribution network necessary to preserve the delectabes during hot, humid, Midwestern summers prohibits opening a year-round store in the Indy metro. Or so says See’s. Believe me, I’ve asked. They’re not buying my, “if there’s a will, there’s a way,” line. But, I digress.

The Castleton See’s drew me like a moth to the flame. A pound here, a pound there. And, I’m not just talking about the boxed candy. I’m talking about the very physical side effects of consumption on this old guy’s frame.

Which brings me to my 2012 New Year’s Resolution: “Stop it.” By that I mean: “Stop eating so much chocolate, Jim.” It’s hard to surrender our vices.

New Year’s Resolutions tend to fall into predictable categories. The Top Ten lists you can find everywhere all bear witness to the American public’s good intentions as each new year begins. Research also demonstrates our good intentions are, most often, just that: good intentions with little action to back them up.

Time magazine last year featured the ten New Year’s Resolutions most often made—and most often broken. Number One? “Lose weight and get fit.” Sadly, Time’s research contends that 60% of all new gym and health club memberships at the front end of the year are left unused after a few weeks. It’s hard work, all of that heavy lifting; aerobic = exhausting.

Number Two: “Quit Smoking.” Using tobacco is bad for you—really bad. Yellow teeth. Stinky clothes. Social ostracism. And, then, of course, there’s the whole cancer deal. And, the cost of it. Steep. So why smoke? Give it up. But, easier said than done. Time says only 15% of those who resolve to quit smoking actually do.

Other resolutions on the list include: “Spend More Time with Family,” “Get Out of Debt,” “Drink Less” (I think alcohol is in mind here, not orange juice with extra pulp), and “Learn Something New.”

One of the top ten that particularly caught my eye was this: “Be Less Stressed.” By Time’s reckoning, this is an especially troublesome wannabe, because tackling stress is, well, stressful. And failing to follow through with all of those other resolutions breeds, yep, you guessed it: more stress. Even making a resolution can set us up for worse.

As I contemplate the prospects for my 2012 resolved to do list, one overarching, empowering idea comes to mind. Try this: “Pray More.”

The reason we so often fail to follow through is our consummate failure to pray more. Focus on the discipline of prayer and your chances for success are magnified; stumble on the prayer front and you’re doomed to fail in both the short and long haul.

If I’ve learned anything in the last few months in my family’s own personal journey it is that prayer matters. The more I’m on my knees the more remarkable are the outcomes. The more I try to get things done on my own terms by the light of my reason alone, the more negative the result. Seeking God’s face, humbly, openly, routinely, and deliberately fuels personal disciplines on every other front.

Taking this truth into account, here then are some New Year’s Resolution Tips for 2012, framed as “I will” statements: (1) “I will book time in my daily routine to pray.” Set a specific, regular time of the day in which to pray alone, every day. (2) “I will write down the key ideas in the Lord’s Prayer and follow this outline every day in prayer.” The Lord’s Prayer (read it in Matthew 6:9-13) is the flawless guide to effective prayer, given to us by Jesus Himself. Each phrase—and the order of the phrases—helps us focus on the essentials. For instance, acknowledge and honor God, seek His will, ask for His material provision, receive and give forgiveness, ask for protection, and so on. (3) “I will choose to believe that prayer in Jesus’ Name—approaching God through His Son Jesus—opens Heaven’s door.” Prayer in the Spirit of Jesus works. It really does.

With prayer as a platform, you’ll be empowered to actually achieve any other resolution for the good to which you put your mind.  From your waistline to your finances to, yes, even smoking. Prayer matters. Prayer works. God listens. He really does. Happy New Year.

Dear friends at Madison Park Church of God:

Warm greetings from Indian Gospel League! As a result of your donation of a Life Center, a matching gift was given by the Patmos Foundation to build an additional Life Center for Pastor T.A. Paul. We thought you might enjoy the dedication report and pictures.

Pastor T. A. Paul shared the following during the dedication service:

Church in Chalakudi, Kerala, India

Today is one of the best days of my ministry. God heard our prayers and enabled us to see this day to glorify Him in this beautiful church. After my conversion, I was called by the Lord to do the ministry in these areas. As I obeyed to that, God started using me mightily.

 I began my ministry in 2001 in a small rented house with 2 believers. The ministry started growing slowly as I presented the message of salvation here. As a result of this, we have about 50 baptized believers today worshiping he Lord and having fellowship with one another.

Dedication of Church Facilities

 As our church was growing, we had lack of space. Therefore, we started construction in 2007 but were unable to raise the building. God has enabled Vision 2000 to strengthen our hands in building the church for His glory. Today we could see this great work as a result of our prayers and the sacrificial help of the sponsors. We as a family and congregation, whole heartily thank the donors of Patmos, Indonesia and Madison Park Church of God, U.S.A. for this beautiful gift to us. We commit to pray for the donors on a daily basis. Please do remember our ministry in your prayers. We will be ever thankful to the President of Vision 2000 for this help and also for his presence during this wonderful occasion

Plaque in new Church Building

Thank you so very much for your partnership which has provided such an excellent resource for these villages! We know that many will be brought to Christ through the ministries that will be available at these facilities.

by Jim Lyon, Senior Pastor

Many of my most vivid childhood memories are grounded in Christmas. I can see my dad stringing multi-colored outdoor lights around the big living room window on the house in Ballard—you know, the huge red, green, orange-yellow, and blue bulbs we don’t see much anymore. I can see the Christmas tree indoors, dressed in a gazillion strands of tinsel (we don’t see that much anymore, either). The great expectations. The new bike that appeared by the tree when I was in the second grade. The marshmallow castle my mom and I made every year with upside-down ice cream cones, gum-drops, and sugar spread like snow on the face of a big mirror which served as the castle’s platform.

And, of course, I remember the Sunday School Christmas pageants, the clunky costumes, the shuffled shepherds, and the Christmas carols sung inbetween scenes. One year we changed things up when Barbara Johnson themed the program Christmas Around the World. I think I was dressed up like a Swiss sheep-herder then.

But, for some reason, one of the memories most clearly etched in my mind’s eye is that of standing in the grand hallway of Daniel Webster Elementary School and singing It Came Upon the Midnight Clear, together with all of my friends in Mrs. Sime’s fourth grade class. Mrs. Lake’s fourth graders sang with us, too. Mrs. Lake doubled as the school’s music teacher. Our parents formed the audience. It was the last day of school before Christmas break.

I’m sure we sang some other traditional carols, also. Nothing like this would ever happen in Seattle Public Schools today, of course, but in my Ozzie and Harriet world of the 1960’s, it was quite common. For some reason, It Came Upon the Midnight Clear mesmerized me. I hummed it, committed the words to memory, and stopped whenever I heard it sung or played elsewhere.

The tune has an other-worldly waft about it. That’s part of its allure. The words, though, have always taken me back to an image of Bethlehem’s plain. The sky dark, but brilliant in the way the heavens can be at night when stars blanket the earth. The air still, crisp, cold. The soft lights of a small town hugging the horizon, clinging to the hillside above the gently rolling pasture. The quiet. The world in solemn stillness lay … or so wrote the carol’s author, a New England pastor named Edmund Sears.

When Sears wrote, the world around him was anything but still. It was 1849. Social upheavals consequent to the industrial revolution were turning even his home in rural Massachusetts upside down. The nation was bitterly divided by slavery—and in twelve years would be at war with itself; more than 500,000 would die. The California Gold Rush had lured thousands across a continent to San Francisco that year—an army of men seeking their fortune, escaping their past and present. Much was unsettled and unsettling.

And so it was that Sears wrote, “And ye, beneath life’s crushing load, whose forms are bending low; who toil along the climbing way, with painful steps and slow: look now! for glad and golden hours, come swiftly on the wing: O rest beside the weary road and hear the angels sing.”

All of this flooded back to me this week, as I stood at the end of my driveway on the 450, in the shadow of my home, now shuttered, abandoned, cold, and dark, following the fire that claimed it on November 30. I have many times, in years gone by, stood at the end of my driveway, thinking, praying, listening, staring at the sky. This night was all that I imagined that shepherd’s Christmas night to be: quiet, still, clear, crisp—with the faint evening light of my town edging the far southern horizon.

It’s a very unsettling time for us. And yet, it’s in times like these that angels suddenly seem to appear “to touch their harps of gold.” It’s just when you shiver wondering what’s next that you’re most likely to hear, “peace on the earth, goodwill to men, from Heav’n’s all gracious King.”

Words fail when attempting to express my gratitude for God’s love and care poured on my family following the fire. It has been poured from your hands, instruments of grace and kindness that have left us humbled and on our knees in prayer. Literally. We can only kneel and thank God for this amazing church family.

To whatever point life has brought you this Christmas, dust off Sears’ classic hymn and drink from its well. The words are true and life-giving: “Still through the cloven skies they come, with peaceful wings unfurled; and still their heav’nly music floats o’er all the weary world. Above its sad and lowly plains, they bend on hov’ring wing: and ever o’er its Babel (confusing) sounds, the blessed angels sing.”

I speak for every member of my family when I say simply, but deeply, “Thank you.” Merry Christmas.

God Blessed Us, Every One!

MPC’s annual production of A Christmas Carol—with this year’s interpretation of the Spirits of Christmas Past, Present and Future (picture)— still stirs the imagination and soul of each who attends. The Charles Dickins’ classic tale of a bitter spirit transformed by love and redemption is a Christmas tradition worth celebrating and proclaiming. This year’s production was a blessing to many:

125 Volunteers to beautifully decorate MPC for Christmas and prepare set on stage for A Christmas Carol

125 Cast, Crew, Musicians gave of their time and talents to A Christmas Carol production

250 Guests at the Dinner Theater (graciously attended to by 38 volunteer servers)

4,650 Delighted audience members from throughout the community attended

13,000 Dollars were donated to benefit Dove Harbor

Counting the Christmas Blessings

MPC reached beyond its walls with a wide range of opportunities to impact the community with the spirit of giving and love at Christmas. The events require hundreds of hours in planning and preparation by volunteers and staff. Holiday Giving Opportunities are offered by MPC beginning in October and the response and results are powerful! Although too many to list, check out some of the highlights:

510 Shoe boxes donated for Operation Christmas Child given to children living in difficult circumstances all around the globe.

360 Children and families attended Breakfast with Santa. Sponsorships are provided to underwrite admission for under-privileged children.

11 Families  Deserving local families with school age children(5 1people in all) were provided a complete Christmas through Secret Families.

43 Children were given gifts through Angel Tree; helping connect parents in prison with their children.

11 Women and families were sponsored at Dove Harbor

12 Families helped through MPC

Many sponsored Gifts For India through the India Gospel League and Gifts For Haiti through Mission Haiti.

And the gift goes on . . .

by Jim Lyon, Senior Pastor

During the third week of December each year, the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) releases its Top Ten List of (Christmas) Holiday Songs, as determined by number of plays on over 2,500 radio stations in the United States (between October 1 and December 19).

The list has remained fairly constant over the years, with some songs moving up and down, but most of the standards still somewhere on the list. A song might appear or disappear based on a particular recording or artist’s interpretation (Michael Buble pushed Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow into the Top Ten in 2009, then it fell off last year), but some classics just never change (nobody moves Brenda Lee and her original rendition of Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree off the chart).

The list for 2011 isn’t in yet, but here’s the Top Ten from Christmas 2010: (1) Sleigh Ride (played 174,758 times on air), (2) Winter Wonderland, (3) Jingle Bell Rock, (4) It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year (yes, Andy Williams’ version always ranks high), (5) White Christmas (falls a notch each year as the memory of Bing Crosby fades), (6) Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, (7) It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas, (8) Frosty the Snowman (another song wed to its original star: Jimmy Durante), (9) Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree (the tree doesn’t have to be too big for Brenda Lee—she’s only four feet, nine inches tall; still rockin’ we presume: she turns 67 on Sunday, December 11), and (10) The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting)(played 84,049 times on air).

Did you notice anything about the Top Ten list? Is there anything striking about this collection of unforgettable, sing-able, hum-able, cherished Christmas classics? Yes, you guessed it: none of them mention Christ. Or Jesus. Or Bethlehem. Not so much as even a tip of the hat to the whole manger scene. You have to drop down the list passed numbers ten and twenty of the most-played to find a Christmas song that references the Christmas story at all (Little Drummer Boy). Hmmm.

Of the lot, Sleigh Ride probably has the deepest spiritual roots, in that the composer (a phenom named Leroy Anderson) developed his musical gifts at the feet of his mother, a Swedish church organist. Anderson loved the spiritual frame of his upbringing and made it central to the raising of his own family. A lifelong New Englander, he played the organ and led the choir in his local church (St. Paul’s Episcopal), even as he shared the stage with Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops (which featured most of his most famous compositions, including Sleigh Ride, Buglers’ Holiday, and The Syncopated Clock). Anderson wrote Sleigh Ride while digging a trench in his Connecticut yard during a blistering heat wave in the summer of 1946. The sound of sleigh bells cooled the whole day down. Still, it’s a long way from the Baby Jesus.

The ASCAP list only illustrates what all of us already know: keeping Christ in Christmas will not happen naturally. There’s something about the celebration that is constantly drawing away from its intended center. You know, the whole Happy Holidays deal. I love the ASCAP Top Ten as much as the next guy, but Christmas without Jesus? C’mon. It’s a non-starter.

What to do? Be intentional. Bring Jesus back into the limelight as you march toward December 25. Christmas carols—Christmas songs that point to Christ—remain favorites everywhere. Sing some. Play some. Even your friends who rarely think about spiritual things know the words, Joy to the World. Help them to remember them. Invite somebody to worship with you on a Saturday night or Sunday morning. At this time of year, folks are more open to church than any other. Don’t let Christmas Eve pass you by without acknowledging the birth of Christ: we’ll have our 6:00pm Saturday Night service on Christmas Eve in the Crossroads and our 11:00pm Christmas Eve service in the Main Auditorium this year. Each service will be different, but no one will leave either without understanding Who Is the reason for the season. O come, all ye faithful. We’re not just talking about singing the carol, here—we’re talking about living it.

Send a Christmas card that elevates the Word. Add a note to your Christmas gift that helps the one who receives the gift to connect the dots, from a Christmas present to the Gift of God.

Pray before you eat. Even when entertaining friends and family who may not be accustomed to joining you as you do so. Don’t let anyone come and go from your house wondering what Christmas is really all about.

Sleigh Ride? Great tune. The Christmas Song? Nobody better than Nat King Cole bringing that one to life. Christmas? It’s all about Jesus. Merry Christmas. With a capital “C.”

by Jeanette MacMillan

In the fall of 2007, we sat riveted in our seats as Pastor Jim Lyon delivered a series of sermons entitled “Dreams Work.” Through this series, churchgoers were asked to prayerfully consider a financial gift; however, we were also asked to seek a dream through which our “unique gifts” could bless the ministries at Madison Park Church of God.

Later Pastor Lyon wrote in the “Dreams Work” brochure: “Sometimes dreams, though, are best described as words. Ideas, phrases, imprints of language seared into the soul, but remembered as text.”

God spoke directly to me and said I should use my dream of writing for the benefit of the church. I filled out the dream card we were given, but didn’t take it to the altar as the pastor encouraged us to do. I couldn’t visualize how my dream could help the church financially. I kept the dream card in my purse. At the closure of the church service the following Sunday we were invited once again to bring our dreams to the altar. The dream card was burning a hole in my purse and the dream was burning a hole in my heart, but I didn’t respond to the altar call. The following Wednesday, there was no service in the sanctuary, but I went to the church, opened the door to the darkened sanctuary, and placed my dream upon the altar.

The following week, Linda Teeple, whom I had never met, placed an article in Threads about organizing a church Writers’ Group.

Thus the Writers of Madison Park found each other, formed a small group, and began to write and share their dreams. Some of us are teachers or mental health therapists; others are involved in communications, music, or other ministries. Most of us are parents. We are published writers, and writers who are aspiring to have our dreams come to life on paper.

We gathered our “stray threads” of devotionals, poetry, song lyrics, and cartoons; took up the shuttle; and wove as the Spirit moved us.

Our book entitled, Woven Threads, is being released the first week in December. You should be able to purchase it in the commons both before and after all services during the month of December. Every penny of the profit will go into the general fund of Madison Park Church of God to be used where needed most. Now our dream is that every family will feel led to buy a book of their own and perhaps some for Christmas gifts. Thus you’ll be purchasing a gift which “keeps on giving” because the profit will go to the church and the church will be there for you and your family.

by Jim Lyon, Senior Pastor

During the last year, as part of my annual performance review, our Board of Elders asked me to have a physical exam in my doctor’s office—all a part of the “you need to take care of yourself, too” talk.

I dutifully made the appointment with my family doc and friend, Scott Green. After jumping through all the ordinary hoops, he said, “Jim, you’re in good shape—for an old guy– but you really should have a colonoscopy—it’s recommended routinely for men over 50 and you’re, well, er uh, well past 50. Way past.” Chump kid, that Dr. Green.

Okay, okay, so I’ll have the colonoscopy already. Arrangements were made with a specialist who specializes in, ahem, this end of the business. I dutifully prepared myself for my date with destiny (you know, drinking that gallon of Gatorade with the icky stuff-to-get-your-digestive-track-ready, no food or water after that for 8 hours, etc.).  As I lay helpless on the exam table, waiting for Dr. Frankenstein, the attending nurse, who I did not know, took my pulse and blood pressure.

“You probably don’t remember,” she said kindly, as I stared blankly at the wall attempting to have an out-of-body experience, “but we’ve had our picture taken together.”

“Really?” I replied, trying to imagine the context.

“Oh yes,” she grinned, “my mother and I stood with you when you were Batman in A Christmas Carol last year; my mother has always loved Batman; the whole program was terrific.”

Hoping she would not ask anything about my faux six-pack that was part of the Batman get-up, I countered, “Well, the costume was a bit ridiculous, but I was surprised by how many people asked to have their picture taken with me, kids and seniors and all.“ Her mother? Well, there were a large number of senior ladies who seemed to be drawn to the caped crusader in the Commons.

She went on to say how she and her family have come to the Carol every year for 15 years. Her children have grown up with it; three generations of her family show up together every December to enjoy, to discover who the Second Spirit will be (Batman and Robin proved to be the Second Spirit surprise in 2010), to celebrate Christmas, and to support Dove Harbor. “A Christmas Carol is a wonderful gift to this community,” she concluded, “please thank the church for giving it to us.”

Her voice wafted into the distance as I fell into an anesthesia-induced never-never-land. The colonoscopy was uneventful, thankfully. The testimony about A Christmas Carol something to be remembered.

The nurse’s story is just one of many, all the year through. Now in its 21st year, the Carol continues to draw thousands at Christmastime to watch, wonder, laugh, and listen as Charles Dickens’ classic short story—and the Gospel that inspired it—comes to life on Madison Park’s stage.

It’s the Second Spirit narrative in the story that provides the surprises most often. We’ve adapted the role from its original motif into characters ranging from a Scottish highlander to the Beatles (singing Hey, Scrooge to the tune of Hey, Jude) to, well, Batman and Robin. This year’s Second Spirit will be the most ambitious and elaborate yet, with astonishingly entertaining and, at the same time thoughtful, script adaptations by our own Cheryl Shank.

Who will the Second Spirit be? Well, you’ll just have to come and find out—but, I will disclose that it will not include a Star Trek theme (as I have repeatedly suggested).

You might imagine that all of this cartoonish approach to the Second Spirit is silly and subtracts from the compelling storyline. But, in truth, the Second Spirit change-up’s never take away from the obvious lessons of the masterwork: our choices in this life determine our outcomes in the next, death knocks at everyone’s door in time and when it does, we’d better be at peace with our Maker, our past can inform our present, and confession of our sin and seeking God’s forgiveness in Christ can change everything for the good. The whole tale is wonderfully clear on stage, with a magnificent set, an original inspired musical score, stunning costumes, and a cast devoted to speaking into every heart, for Heaven’s sake.

A Christmas Carol opens December 8. Check out our website—and read on in this edition of Threads—for all the details. Invite your co-workers, your friends, your neighbors, and the person who serves your table at your favorite restaurant. Spread the Word by spreading the news about Indiana’s longest running annual production of the Dickens’ classic.

And, who knows: you may find yourself next year still talking about the magic, the power, and the life found in A Christmas Carol … talking with people you’ve never met before in the most unusual circumstances. Reminiscing about A Christmas Carol can make everything better, even the medical test whose name is “I’m glad that’s over.”

And, no, I’m not the Second Spirit this year. I have a teeny, tiny, little role. Great fun. Come and see.