GraceBlog

Santa Claus Reconstructed: a real Christmas story...

Friendly readers, here is a nice piece of demythologization that is truly inspirational!  Someone reconstructed the "historical Santa Claus"--Nicholas of Myra.  It's a real Christmas story!  --LDB

 

Yes, Virginia, There Is a Santa Claus -- Here's What He Looks Like  

David Gibson in Politics Daily, 12/24/09

 

Is this the real Santa Claus? By tradition, no one is supposed to see the actual Saint Nick. Come Christmas night, as the song has it -- and even the Boss sings it -- he sees you when you're sleeping, he knows when you're awake. So you'd better be snoozing as well as pretty darned good, or else.

 

   Besides, we all know what he looks like. Since the advent of Clement Clark Moore's "Night Before Christmas" in 1823 and his invention of that "jolly old elf," we have become so conditioned by the kid-friendly version of the roly-poly guy with dimples and cheeks like roses that we stopped wondering who the real Santa Claus was, much less what he looked like. From movies like "Miracle on 34th Street" to all those Santa stand-ins at the mall -- and his visage on every piece of Christmas kitsch you could ever sell -- the myth is so widespread and so good there seemed little reason to question it.

 

   Until, that is, the invention of powerful computers and some fancy new software that uses "virtual clay." The technology makes possible the reconstruction of a face from a skull, even one as old as that of Nicholas of Myra -- also known as Saint Nicholas, also known as Santa Claus -- who lived and died in the fourth century in what is now Turkey.

 

  So holy was Nicholas that after his death his relics were carefully preserved, and through the vagaries of history -- basically a Muslim-Christian war a thousand years ago -- the saint's skull and other bones were relocated (stolen or rescued, depending on your point of view) to Bari, a city on what would be the Achilles' tendon of the Italian boot.

 

   In the 1950s, the bones were removed while the crypt was spruced up. While they were out, the Vatican asked an anatomy professor at the University of Bari to take thousands of minutely detailed measurements and x-rays of the relics. Flash forward to the present day, and another University of Bari expert, forensic pathologist Francesco Introna, decided to commission an expert facial anthropologist, Caroline Wilkinson of the University of Manchester in England, to reconstruct the saint's face and head using the new technology and the earlier measurements.

 

   The wizards at Image Foundry in England then took the data, and presto!

 

   Delighted? Disappointed? Arguments for the veracity of the face are strong. Every face has the same 26 muscles but each skull is different, and that underlying bone structure gives a unique form to each person's face. Which is what happened when Wilkinson began laying the virtual muscles onto the 1,600-year-old skull of Saint Nicholas of Myra.

 

   Moreover, this Nicholas is in many respects not so far removed from the Santa Claus or at least the Saint Nick who was long venerated in icons like the lineup the folks at the St. Nicholas Center have helpfully put together.

 

   To be sure, he's more olive-skinned than rosy-cheeked, and his eyes are more piercing than twinkly. But the white hair and beard, while a bit of artistic license, make sense: the beard is in the style of the time, and the white hair would fit a man who died in his 70s after a life a sanctity that prefigured the Santa Claus of our time.

 

Nicholas of Myra (270-346 AD) was born into a patrician family of some wealth, but as a devoted Christian he used what he had to help others (and to intervene on behalf of the falsely accused).  The most famous story to come down to us is how Nicholas, hearing of the plight of a father who could not afford dowries for his three daughters, secretly left bags of gold coins at their home to provide a dowry and preserve the ladies from a likely fate as prostitutes.  In one version of the story, the father lay in wait the third time the donor was to visit and thus discovered the identity of history's first secret Santa.

 

   But Nicholas was much more than a kindly, anonymous gift-giver.  As a bishop in the fourth century, he was also deeply involved in the raging disputes of the day over core issues of church doctrine that we now take for granted, or ought to.

 

   Back then, even three centuries after the death of Jesus, many beliefs remained unsettled. Chief among these was the true nature of Christ, and hence the nature of the Trinity. Was Jesus both God and man? Or was he just a man, a creation of God, albeit a special one? That was the line taken by followers of Arius, known as the Arians. So fierce was the divide over Christ's nature that Constantine, the Roman Emperor who had only recently legalized Christianity and ended the persecution of the church, called all leading bishops together for a council at Nicaea in the year 325 to settle the matter.

 

   The Council of Nicaea, which produced the Nicene Creed that believers still recite as the foundational expression of Christian belief, was hardly the somnolent discussion that one might expect of such angels-on-the-head-of-a-pin topics. Instead, there were nasty arguments and periodic fisticuffs, and at one point Bishop Nicolas of Myra -- who already had a reputation as a staunch defender of orthodox belief against the heresy of the Arians -- popped Arias himself in the face.

 

   The new facial reconstruction certainly gives credence to Nick's reputation as a battling bishop who gave as good as he got -- just look at that strong jaw and his broken boxer's nose. "It must have been a very hefty blow because it's the nasal bones between the eyes that are broken," Wilkinson, who did the reconstruction, told The Guardian.

 

   In the end, Nicholas and the other orthodox bishops carried the day, vanquishing the Arians and confirming the belief that Jesus was true God and true man -- the heart of the mystery of the Incarnation that is observed on December 25. (Ironically, Christmas was not widely observed in Saint Nicholas' day, nor was there an agreement on a date to mark Jesus' birth. Easter was the oldest and most important celebration, and its date was one of the other debates settled at Nicaea.)

 

   There is some speculation that Nicholas may actually have had his nose broken during the persecution of Christians under the Emperor Diocletian, who reigned from 284-305 AD.

 

   Yet whatever the source of the broken nose, the reconstructed face of Nicholas of Myra reminds us that the real Santa Claus came from a time before Christmas, and from an era when the meaning of Christ was something worth fighting about.   --David Gibson

 

Source on Dec. 25, 2009:

http://www.politicsdaily.com/2009/12/24/yes-virginia-there-is-a-santa-claus-and-heres-what-he-look/

Every Road...A Lesson

A brief observation on a long run...

 

The first Saturday in December I ran my fifteenth or so marathon—the St. Jude Marathon in Memphis.  It was my second go at that race in that frantic town.  I think I have run fifteen marathons; but I lose count.  After a few of these runs the starting lines, finishes, water and aid stations begin to blur in the memory.  Plus, your physical state of being contributes to the blur—anxiety at the start line, dizziness at the finish, pain-focus in between.  This was number, um, fifteen.  I will remember my second go at Memphis.

 

It was awful.  By mile 13.1 I thought seriously about following the half-marathoners to their finish line.  I looked for someone official-like to talk to about this impulsive course adjustment.  But since I signed on as a marathoner not a half-marathoner, I wondered what confusion this might create; how would the finish-line software react to an early and unexpected guest, me—#1308 in a marathon bib?  Seeing no one “official looking” I just went on.

 

Something else made me go on.  It was an accountant in my head.  He was tallying up the price of my hotel, race fee, gasoline and drive to and from Memphis, the cost of time away from my family, and the pricey months of preparation since July.  “Larry,” the accountant demanded, “you didn’t pay this much to not finish.”  Odd motivation, maybe.  I trudged on.  By mile 16 the insults from the accountant stopped and it was too late not to go on.  More trudging, only ten miles more.  Memphis 2009 would be my first-ever 5-hour (f-i-v-e) marathon.  There, I said it: five hours!  Five hours…

 

So, from mile 16 on I was grasping for real reasons why I keep on with this marathon business.  On the drive home, “why?”  The voice of my gentle father-in-law echoed in my head, “Why?”  He has often asked me.  In a previous life he used to run.  But I instinctively suspect and deflect questions like that from former runners, because I detect (or think I detect) a suggestion rather than a question.  I think the suggestion goes something like, “Maybe it’s time for you to be a former runner too.”  I may be wrong, still I deflect.

  

Pride and reputation have something to do with running marathons.  How could I not run?  That’s a reason why.  Conversations with friends, acquaintances, and fellow Jesus followers usually come round to my running.  People always feel free to ask me about my running.  “Are you still running?”  “How’s the running?”  I’m also a pastor.  But people never ask me about my praying or believing.  “Do you still believe that resurrection business?”  “How's the prayer life?”  "Keeping up with Greek, Hebrew, and theology?"

 

Miles in the exercise “account” keeps me going.  That’s another reason why.  I started distance running about 18 years ago at the advice of an internist friend and running companion for seven years.  Ever since, a week does not go by without running.  A year has not passed without training for a marathon even if the flu in October messed up my training and I had to bail out.  Marathons keep me moving and moving is good for you.  So, I’ve got too much in my training bank to let it all go to waste.  I’d rather flame out moving than rust out sitting.  How could I become a former runner? 

 

And this is the lesson those five hours on the ragged streets of Memphis taught me: every road has a lesson; every race gives up wisdom.  I have remembered roads in Charlotte, Columbia, Charleston, Boston, Atlanta, and Huntsville.  Now this five-hour road in Memphis.  The marathon puts you in a place where you get to spend a lot of time, during the weeks of training and then race day, with yourself at the limit of yourself.  Maybe some people get to this place via a near-death experience or base jumping.  It’s in that borderland between “Will I last or not?” “Will I quit or will I finish?” that you can make discoveries about yourself, what you value, where the rest of your life is going, and who’s important to you.  I guess this time it took me about five hours to sort some of that out.  Every road has a lesson.  Thanks Memphis. 

Wake Up Call...

  

 

   Here's a kick-in-the-pants, motivational article for any of you who might feel (as I often do) that it's hard to just to get started, or it's hard to keep training, or you ask, "Where do I go from here?"  I read this article the other night while BJ was watching Angels and Demons (conspiracies are so much better than real life...) and I just knew it (the article) was something to share.  And it doesn't matter if you're young, old, older or confused about where you fit in those categories (hey, with fitness you can live in "denial" or "realization" and be totally normal), here is some wisdom and motivation to keep moving the rest of your life. 

 

   You Hammer Nutrition people probably already have this piece, but in case you don't, here's a link to the November 2009 issue.  Click here: Go Faster-Get Younger   Please believe me that it's a modest proposal; not as boastful as its title.  My favorite quote:  "If you don't feel driven by your goals you are more likely to reach them. Most of the accomplished older athletes I know are not too concerned about their achievements; they just like to play."  --Bill Nicolai, in Hammer Nutrition 

 

I love that last phrase: "...they just like to play." 

 

So, keep playing and be well. 

 

That's health insurance anyone can have.

THANK-FULL-NESS

   In a word, thankfulness or gratitude expresses the sincere motive for doing, saying, or being anything toward God and your neighbor.  The thankful one is utterly impressed that everything is a gift... the colors of fall with the angular way light breaks through the trees in the darkening late afternoon...the timely call from a friend...the health and vitality of one's genetics...the next breath...forgiveness offered.  Did I mention forgiveness offered--the possibility of a new start with God and your neighbor?  

   You are so utterly impressed that, having gotten down to the bottom of everything you find, everything is a gift.  If that impression has ever hit you, you know (at the bottom of it all) that all you can say, do, or be is grateful--full of thanks.  That's what the messages have been about at Grace Church.  Jesus heals ten lepers but only one comes back thank-full.  What a surprize about the nine that didn't make the connection between Jesus and their healing.  What a shock that only one came back.  I guess God keeps pouring on the good stuff though about a tenth of the time any one takes notice.  In his letters to new converts in the expanding resurrection of Jesus movement, Paul tells the Christians how grateful he is to them and for them.  Paul is a weaving tent-maker stitching together upward praise to God and horizontal gratitude for the fellowship of transformed humans in Rome, Corinth, Colossae, et cetera. 

Leading up to Thanksgiving week, that's what we're talking about at Grace--thank-full-ness.  When you get down to the bottom of all the gifts piled on you and look up, you will not suffocate.  Instead you can breathe out thanks and be full of it. 

November  1  "The One-Word Difference"

November  8   "Horizontal Gratitude"    John Cartwright, speaking

November 15  "How Are You Looking?"

   Larry

 

He Makes Me

Love Him: Jesus Overheard

You don't have to eavesdrop with Jesus.  He's very plain; hard to misunderstand.  His words are not secret and his actions, well, they "speak" like words--they are his body language.  Overhear Jesus again in the Gospel of Mark.  Meet with us this fall at Grace Church.  The messages are from the Gospel of Mark, a disciple of Jesus who overheard many, many stories told by the Apostle Peter about Jesus.  Mark wrote down what he heard and his writing is the Gospel according to Mark.  When I hear Jesus speaking, I only want to love him more.  I want that to happen for you. 

 

Sept.   6                 He Lets You Listen to Yourself

Mark 7:24-37

 

Sept.  13                His Questions Go the Heart

Mark 8:27-38

 

Sept.  20                He Stoops to Speak

                                Mark 9:30-37

 

Sept.  27                He Hates Hell

                                Mark 9:38-50

 

Oct.   4                    He’s Severe and Merciful

                                Mark 10:2-16

 

Oct.  11                  He Tells the Truth in Love

                                Mark 10:17-31

 

Oct.  18                  He’s Hard Not to Understand

Mark 10:35-45

                                        Larry

 

 

 

 

 

HALF AN IRON MAN: My First Triathlon—May 9, 2009

  This is more than you want to know about what I’m into.  This is the narcissism of our age—blogocissism.  Absolva me, absolva me.  I’ve got to tell you; a lot of you have asked.  At the end of a study leave week at Billy Graham’s “Cove” in Asheville, NC, I traveled south to Panama City Beach, FL.  Panama City has been host for the last twenty-seven years to the Gulf Coast Triathlon—a half iron man event of 1.2 miles swimming, 56 miles cycling, and 13.1 miles running.  About 1,045 men and women, from “age-groupers” to “professionals” assembled for the agony.  Some turned it into a relay just to dish the pain around.  Some of us wanted the pain all to ourselves.

 

THE SWIM—1.2 miles / My time: 50:33 minutes

   The swim was in high rolling surf followed by interminable choppiness.  If you don’t breathe right, you’re gagged by Gulf salt water.  At the start line—the Gulf’s edge—loud speakers blared an old Rolling Stone’s hit, “Start Me Up.”  At the signal, I went in very conservatively, sans wetsuit—I didn’t have one.  This conservative way means letting all the day glow-green-capped guys go in first.  No sense getting beat up in the mass entrance.  The surf was enough bashing.  I was saving myself for the rest of the day’s fun.

 

   “Speedon’t”  I swam “old school” in my swim team Speedo brief.  Friends, this isn’t anything you really want to see.  In the early sixties, this was how we dressed for swim meets in Southern California.  It seemed practical enough that day, and a signal to my friend Conrad that the water was perfect—no wetsuit needed.  He swam fully dressed anyway, and beat me!  Back to the “practicality”—this came in the transitions.  From swimming to biking all I had to do was slip on the padded bike shorts.  In the biking to running transition all I had to do was change from bike shorts to running shorts.  Since all this changing was to be done in public, the Speedo brief seemed the modest strategy.  I have since been advised that there is a single pair of triathlon shorts that can be worn for all three elements: swimming, biking, and running.  Now that is a modest invention.  I’m buying a pair. 

 

THE BIKE—56 miles / My time: 3:11:38 hours at 17.5 mph

   The bike ride was fabulous under scattered high clouds, and I felt good throughout.  I fueled carefully (the smart science of Hammer Nutrition), and I hydrated properly.  My watch alarm signaled every fifteen minutes to sip a bit from my Perpetuem® fuel bottle, and then chase it down with water.  Remember the Dream Bar ice cream dessert?  My fuel tasted like a luke-warm melted Dream Bar.  I also choked down broad-spectrum electrolyte capsules.  I think they worked but next time I’ll just mix the stuff in my fuel bottle.  All this sounds so complicated compared to the 14 or so “Gatorade-and-go” marathons I’ve done.  But at the end of the day, I was glad for the nutritional science that helped me to last, though I wasn’t very fast.

 

   Some of the riders amazed me.  Flat tires within the first miles—amazing!  (My tires are three years old; stock stuff from the day of purchase in ‘06).  Tires blow because the super-competitive super-inflate their tires.  The solid-er the tire, the more efficiently power moves you forward instead of being soaked up by a lowly inflated 120 lb. per square inch tube.  Makes sense.  But changing a blown tire on the roadside seems to me to soak up a lot of time.  The bike gear amazed me: special bars with elbow rests, streamlined helmets, wind-tunnel tested bike frames, and rear wheels called “disks”—solid carbon fiber wheels and spokeless.  I’m told that the disk cuts wind resistance and can even give a sail-like effect to the ride.  Cheaters!  Mine is a very adequate Trek 5000 of carbon fiber construction.  But my bike had none of the aforementioned extras.  On the road big bright orange pylons—you-can’t-miss-‘em cones—kept riders safe from busy traffic in the congested areas.  But I clipped one in a moment of inattention, then flattened another in yet another lapse.  Amazing!  I was wide awake the rest of the ride but no quicker; suffered no flat tires. 

 

THE RUN—13.1 miles / My time: 3:05:43 hours at 14:39 pace per mile

   What happened here?  From the beginning my run felt lifeless; my legs useless.  I was not sore or tight or hurting (the magic of Perpetuem®?).  I was just drained and weak; sapped.  So my half-marathon was a run-walk-run.  Not pretty.  Should have had more 7-hour workouts during the winter/early spring.  My longest workout would have been a 5-hour swim-bike-shortrun.  So I guess what I felt at the start of the half-marathon was the “wall.”  I must have hit it the instant I got off the bike; just didn’t know it.

 

TRANSITIONS—there are two of these guys: one transition follows the swim, the other follows the bike ride.  I transitioned slowly.  The first was 8:33 minutes and the second was 14:20 minutes (I could not find a single porta-john with tissue in the transition area.)  Hey, it’s all part of the “fun.”  Plus, like I said earlier, I’m getting a pair of triathlon shorts to speed through the transitions. 

 

The Aftermath

  There were a dozen or so participants from the greater Shoals area: Todd Allen (thanks for the Hammer Nutrition advice, Todd!), Adam and Tanya Collum, Pauline Bullard, Kevin Hutcheson, Jan, Linda Brewer, Conrad Pitts, Lance Willis, and I.  In Florida they don’t add an “s” to my last name like they do here in the Shoals (it's BaskiN, not BaskinS--don't worry, I'll remind you).  So I really enjoyed the finish line a little more.  I guess you don’t get the epithet shouted at you (“You are an Iron Man!”) until you complete the full iron man at twice the distance.  But I once heard a guy in an L.A. airport speak religiously--gazily--about his experience swimming, biking, and running the full iron man (Arizona Iron Man). Californians are like that.  I guess being half an iron man is spiritual enough for me.  It’s good being half…an iron man. 

  Larry

FaithMoves:

Jesus’ brother writes us a letter...

Faith does things.  It's the kind Jesus talked about: mountain-moving faith, your-friend-will-be-healed faith so lower him down through the roof to meet Jesus; that kind of faith.  This faith is your-daughter-will-get-well faith.  It's go-make-disciples-of-all-nations faith.  It's also the kind of faith you only need a tiny single seed amount of to make a difference.  So faith is never about gobs of it; just the kind of faith your faith is.  This faith takes action even if the action is the smallest most unnoticed thing ever, like believing God even when your life has troubles or giving up your seat to a poor stranger.  Faith gives a cup of water to the thirsty, it gives away one of your two coats to a man who doesn't even have one.  Faith does stuff, takes action, moves things. Faith moves. Well, that's the thrust of the letter to Christians by James.  Now, don't get James wrong, what we believe really matters.  But if what we believe really does matter, there will be something uncontainable within us that wants to break out and love, give, do justice, and generally take risks.  So, what's your faith doing?  Where's your faith going these days? The Letter of James kicks off our Summer series in the Word.  Faith does things...faith moves.  That's the idea: FaithMoves.  Here's the plan:

May  17                  Jesus’ Happy Refugees                       James 1:1

May  24                  The Arithmetic of Joy                           James 1:1-8

May  31                  More Than Smart                                   James 1:1-11

June  7                   Wisdom Keeps from Tripping             James 1:12-18

June  14                Doing the Word…Doing Faith-1           James 1:19-27

 

June  21                Doing the Word...Doing Faith-2            James 1:19-27

 

June  28                No Favoritism Anywhere                       James 2:1-13

 

July     5                 Faith Moves                                              James 2:14-26

 

July    12                Leadership Credentials                        James 3:1-12

 

July    19                Disarray in the Fellowship…                James 3:13-18

 

July     26               Disarray in the Fellowship...                 James 4:1-12

 

August    2             Faith Moves Spiritually                         James 4:13-17

 

August    9             Dollar Signs                                             James 5:1-6

 

August   16           Character in Waiting                             James 5:7-12

 

August   23           Summon the Elders                               James 5:13-20

 

August   30            Reprise: A Look Back...

                                                            Larry

 Resurrection...    

The Christian faith is based on the dramatic but seemingly impossible proposition that Jesus of Nazareth rose from the dead. 

Christianity got going in the first place because the early Christians believed that he had been raised bodily, leaving an empty tomb behind him, thereby launching God’s whole new world.  Christians need to understand that the stories of Jesus’ bodily resurrection are true. 

 

It really happened, and if it didn’t, there’s not much point being a Christian.  But it did happen, so there is so much for us to hope for and to do!

 

It’s too important a teaching to leave to Easter Sunday morning alone.  So, for several weeks before Easter—let’s talk about the real Easter, the resurrection of Jesus.  There’s a lot of confusion in the world and among some Christians about this indispensible article of our faith, this indispensible motive for hope-powered mission to the world. 

 

Jesus did not stay dead like his enemies had hoped.  He’s very much alive and himself.  You should know what it is you believe and why it makes you different.  This is the series of talks I'll be sharing at Grace Church, Shoals. 

 

March 22     "What Kind of Thing is Resurrection?"  

 

March 29     "What Kind of Thing is Resurrection?"

  

April  5          "You Can Believe Jesus' Resurrection"

 

April  8          "Jesus’ Death Was Extraordinary" 

  Wednesday Communion

  

April 12         "The Real Gifts of Easter"

  Easter Sunday

 

April 19         "The 15:58 Society"

 

April 26         "When or If Believers Die"

 

May   3          "Creation Re-Do"

                                          

Check us out at:    www.grace4shoals.org

Multiplying Leaders...That's What We Do...

 

    Last September I conveyed our oldest son Roger to Montrose, Colorado to begin a year of ministry as their 12-month youth ministry intern.  (We--I really--sang John Denver songs all the way out there.)  It's a fabulous ministry training and leadership development strategy.  So far Roj has been doing a lot of "hands on" ministry himself: Bible studies, events, activities, fund raisers, retreats, "building times" with kids, even sits through Session meetings on occasion.  It's all good stuff. 

    But now the better stuff is about to happen--developing a next generation of leaders--multiplying leaders.  It's what Jesus did.  He worked three years, poured himself into twelve men, and turned the world upside down!  Multiplying leaders is what the church is supposed to be doing.  So, this youth ministry leadership equipping strategy will, within the year, soon be in its second generation of youth leader development.  First Montrose will have spent about nine months equipping Roger.  Now Roj and his team are going after 2 to 3 summer interns to involve them in the same (albeit abbreviated) equipping process.  Multiplying leaders...it's what we do. 

   He just sent me the application packet for their summer (10-week) youth ministry intern experience.  It starts June 2, so you better get it in soon.  We'll have some packets in the church office at Grace.  But you can e-mail Roger, talk with him, and get the scoop yourself  roger.baskin22@gmail.com 

                                  --Larry

 

RESOLVED...JANUARY AND JULY...

 

 

'Tis the season for new commitments and resolve to do better, be better; to set some goal for self-improvement.  It is the right time to make some commitment to progress in your Christian life.  But I urge you to do it with spiritual realism, with grace, and with dependence on the Spirit's help if it is to happen at all. 

Jonathan Edwards, too popularly and narrowly known as a severe, fire-and-brimstone preacher from Northampton, Massachusetts, once made the following resolution in January:  "On the suppostiion that there should never be at any one time but one person who had the right mark of Christianity in him, resolved, that I be that man."   It went something like that.

 

Well, you might be encouraged to know that by July of that same year, the sincere pastor Edwards was making that resolution for a second time.  That's grace.  So I urge you from this example to resolve, resolve, and resolve again and again to be more like Jesus.  Do it with strong resolve.  Resolve a second, third, fourth time; don't give up.  But do it with humility, knowing that by July you will probably need to renew the commitment.  Do it with dependence on the Holy Spirit--who's pretty good at knowing how to transform you--how to "stamp" the image of Jesus into you.  Happy New Year!

     -Larry