The World and Everything in It: December 23, 2022

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Good morning!

Today on Culture Friday, CCM artist Amy Grant says she’s hosting a wedding with two brides. We’ll talk about how best to give an answer when you’re asked to participate in a same-sex ceremony.

NICK EICHER, HOST: John Stonestreet joins us after the news.

Also today on our last program before Christmas, a roundup of a few of our staff’s favorite Christmas movies.

And one more installment in our Music of Advent from around the world…This time we head up to Canada.

BROWN: It’s Friday, December 23rd. This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Myrna Brown.

EICHER: And I’m Nick Eicher. Good morning!

BROWN: Up next, Kent Covington with today’s news.

KENT COVINGTON, NEWS ANCHOR: Weather » Something is blowing in from the arctic this weekend, and we’re not talking about reindeer.

Forecasters are calling it a once-in-a-generation winter front. President Biden said Thursday,

BIDEN: It’s not like a snow day, you know, when you’re a kid. This is serious stuff.

Temperatures plunged far and fast yesterday as a winter storm formed ahead of Christmas weekend … promising heavy snow, ice, flooding and powerful winds across much of the country.

The Great Lakes and portions of the Midwest will see blizzard-like conditions.

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine:

DEWINE: We are facing a unique and dangerous situation for the next few days in Ohio.

And in the south, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp warned Thursday …

KEMP: Communities across the state are about to see temperatures that they haven’t experienced in a decade or more.

Temperatures are likely to drop to 11 degrees Fahrenheit in Georgia and even colder in some parts of the South.

Ukraine » 

SOUND: [Kyiv "My Way" NATS]

Meantime in the streets of Kyiv …

SOUND: [Kyiv "My Way" NATS]

A band played Frank Sinatra’s “My Way” against a backdrop of darkened storefronts. Even without heat or power, Ukrainians continued Christmas preparations. … as Russian attacks on the power grid continue.

US Secretary of State Tony Blinken told reporters Thursday …

BLINKEN: Russia has shown no interest in meaningful diplomacy, in meaningfully engaging to bring this war to an end.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with Polish President Andrzej Duda in Warsaw on Thursday after visiting Washington the day before.

Funding bill » And there is more aid for Ukraine in a $1.7 trillion dollar spending bill the Senate passed yesterday.

SOUND: The yeas are 68. The nays are 29.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said it took a lot of hard work and compromise.

SCHUMER: But we have funded the government with an aggressive investment in American families, American workers, American national defense.

The bill will fund the government through September.

It contains nearly $800 billion dollars for domestic programs and more than $850 billion for defense. Critics say it’s also loaded with pork and wasteful spending.

Aside from the funding measures, the bill would restrict the Chinese-owned app TikTok on government devices.

The House is expected to pass the bill and send it to the president’s desk today.

AZ to remove shipping containers » Arizona will take down a makeshift wall on the US-Mexico border after the Biden administration sued to force its removal. WORLD’s Kristen Flavin has more.

KRISTEN FLAVIN, REPORTER: Stacks of shipping containers topped with razor wire form a single file line a temporary wall along parts of the border.

Final details are still being worked out, but the Biden administration says it will fill gaps in the permanent wall soon. Arizona has agreed to remove the containers by January 4th.

A spokesman for Ducey said finally, now that the situation on the “border has turned into a full blown crisis, they’ve decided to act.”

For WORLD, I’m Kristen Flavin.

Unemployment » Slightly more Americans filed for jobless benefits last week than the week before.

The Labor Dept. says unemployment claims inched up only slightly--about 1% to a total 216,000.

The Federal Reserve has been raising interest rates for nearly a year to try and slow the economy in order to bring down prices that are gobbling up Americans’ paychecks.

So far, the labor market remains strong.

Netanyahu » Incoming Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he has successfully assembled all of the pieces of a ruling government. WORLD’s Mary Muncy has more.

MARY MUNCY, REPORTER: Netanyahu has reportedly informed Israel’s president that he has secured enough support in parliament outside of his own Likud party to begin governing.

The center-right Likud party won a plurality of seats in November’s election. And Netanyahu now has the support of religious factions.

That will make him Israeli prime minister for the third time. He is already Israel’s longest-serving prime minister.

For WORLD, I’m Mary Muncy.

I’m Kent Covington.

Straight ahead: Culture Friday and a discussion about same-sex weddings and a world without God.

This is The World and Everything in It.

NICK EICHER, HOST: It’s the 23rd day of December, 2022.

Glad to have you along for today’s edition of The World and Everything in It. Good morning, I’m Nick Eicher.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: And I’m Myrna Brown. It’s Culture Friday!

Joining us now is John Stonestreet, president of the Colson Center and host of the Breakpoint podcast.

Morning, John!

JOHN STONESTREET, GUEST: Morning.

BROWN: Couple of weeks ago, John, we were listening to lawyers for Lorie Smith defend her rights before the Supreme Court.

She’s trying to operate her website business consistent with her faith as it relates to same-sex marriage.

Of course, that’s a big platform for that kind of battle.

Now, most of us will not likely have to fight a battle of that magnitude or at least a public fight.

But I’m thinking of this with the recent news about Contemporary Christian artist Amy Grant saying she and her husband will host her niece’s bride and bride ceremony at their farm. The rationale came down to this, and I’ll quote:

“Honestly, from a faith perspective, I do always say, ‘Jesus, you just narrowed it down to two things: Love God and love each other.’

“I mean, hey—that’s pretty simple.”

And with that, she’s said loving one another means supporting something the Bible clearly condemns.

But I want to bring this to the personal level. It’s rare to be on the stage of the Supreme Court or be a well-known Christian artist. But we’re not immune to faith-testing dilemmas. Say we receive an invitation to a friend’s or family member’s same-sex ceremony. I’m thinking of this because I’ve been there.

I’d like to know, John, how you’d recommend responding. Because I think it’ll help to have thought this through in advance, to be ready with the right thing to say and do.

STONESTREET: I think the very first thing we have to do is to find what the word love means. It's the most used and least defined word in the Christian lexicon, as demonstrated by the quote that you read earlier. Amy Grant's not wrong. Jesus did narrow down the law to love God and love others. The challenge is that he thought that that was a way of summarizing the law, not replacing the law. He thought that was a way of fulfilling the law, not coming up with a new one, not negating all the things that had been clearly said. And, in other words, to understand what it means to love God and to love each other, we need to understand what God has revealed about himself, what God has revealed about human beings, what God has revealed about human relationships, what God has revealed about each other, and none of that is present in something that just quickly dismisses the controversy and embraces something that confuses niceness with love. The word love has just been defined down, and it's not helpful at all. So without that level of theological catechism, without some sort of ground about what is true, and what is good, and what is real, and all of those things, we're not going to be able to fulfill those commandments. Jesus did not intend to give us this commandment to love God and love one another as if nothing else said in Holy Scripture mattered. And that's oftentimes the way Jesus is misquoted here and I think Amy Grant is misquoting Jesus here.

Now, your specific example about receiving an invitation to a same sex ceremony, I think it's very helpful to know what the truth is and then make a commitment to not say what's not true and not endorse what's not true. This is the Life Not By Lies approach to this. I don't think that every same sex marriage that we get invited to is necessarily our place to make a big deal about and to protest publicly or anything like that. But when you go to a wedding, you're going to a wedding as a witness. There's a line in there, which is if anyone knows why this couple should not be wed, and there's a number of times throughout most wedding ceremonies where people are referred to as being a part of it, and joining in that day and supporting and that's all stuff that someone who has a clear definition of marriage simply cannot do. Now, hopefully, there's a level of understanding, especially if you're talking about family, there's a level of understanding about where somebody is that precedes this. So I think there's a lot of things that we can do to preempt these sorts of awkward situations, but I don't think it is an okay thing to actually go and celebrate a same sex wedding. I don't know that you can actually go without celebrating it, without lending some level of endorsement. And that's actually what the ceremony is.

And of course, wedding ceremonies today are heresies from the Christian church. I mean, they're actually ways of applying things that go back to something that God made, something that the church has figured out how it should be done. And so unless you go to something that's just completely off the wall, this is a reflection of something that clearly is attributed to God. I can't ask God to bless something that's sinful. I can't ask God to change the definition of something that he put into the creation itself. Is there a way to hold onto that relationship? Is there a way to celebrate what is good without celebrating what is not good? I think that's maybe when we can be more creative. And hopefully there's enough relational capital involved that the entire thing doesn't rest on whether or not I accept an invitation.

EICHER: OK, John, this year marks the 50th anniversary of publication of Francis Schaeffer’s influential book He Is There and He Is Not Silent. Albert Mohler at WORLD Opinions brought this to our attention with a tribute to the Schaeffer book. And he wrote this:

At the center of the spiritual crisis half a century ago, he wrote, “is a denial of God, and that denial of God produces an intellectual crisis that quickly translates into a cultural and moral catastrophe. The one central point that Schaeffer drove home was that the existence of the God of the Bible changes everything.”

He quoted Schaeffer that only one truth, one worldview “fills the philosophical need of existence, of being, and it is the Judeo-Christian God—not just an abstract concept, but rather that this God is really there. He really exists. There is no other answer, and orthodox Christians ought to be ashamed of having been defensive for so long. It is not a time to be defensive. There is no other answer.”

Fifty years later, is there a better summary of the current crisis than this?

STONESTREET: I don't think there's a better summary of the origin of the current crisis than this. I think the best summary of the current crisis, ironically, goes to someone who offered his analysis even earlier, made some predictions about what a world without God, it's interesting, very close to the same thesis of Schaefer—and when I say his name, everyone's going to be shocked—but Frederick Nietzsche. Nietzsche actually pointed to what the world without God would look like. And he was looking at the early part of the 20th century and saying, Look, you're not ready for the implications of the 19th century. The dismissal of God intellectually was going to work its way out in culture.

Now, of course, Schaefer is talking about this, that it's working its way out in academic culture. And there was this real attempt to build a way of thinking about all of these different aspects of academic disciplines or way of building government, way of building culture and civilization without God. Well, you fast-forward another 50 years, and what began as a philosophically failed project has now emerged as an existentially untethered existence. In other words, the dramatic increase in suicidal ideation, the dramatic increase in people admitting that there's just not meaning, the dramatic increase in seeking out various forms of distraction. And when you add them all up, it's just really an amazing sort of untethered existence. And it looks a lot like what Nietzsche wrote about in The Parable of the Madman. So what Schaefer is talking about is, look, this philosophical project, this God-shaped hole in our academic and intellectual understanding of the world can't be filled by anything else. It's going to fail. Well, 50 years later we see that it has failed. And not only has it failed to ground our understanding of the world, it's also failed to ground our sense of meaning, our sense of purpose, our deepest and most core and fundamental relationships. And so now, it's like everything is up for grabs, including reality itself that we think of as being up to our own recreation. And so, yeah, Schafer is always relevant. And it is interesting when you line him up with one of the most famous atheists in history, Frederick Nietzsche, and see that they kind of pointed in the same direction.

EICHER: OK, John, last question. Today is December 23rd which means Sunday is December 25th which means we have the big controversy about whether we ought to have regular Sunday worship on Christmas morning. Just to be provocative, I guess, the gang over at WORLD Opinions published a piece by the Lutheran pastor Hans Fiene saying not only should we have worship this Christmas morning but every Christmas morning. Do you want to weigh in on this one?

STONESTREET: Absolutely. Everyone should go to church. That’s what this day is all about.

EICHER: All right. 11 years before that particular question comes up again. Sunday, December 25th, 2033. Until then, peace on earth!

John Stonestreet is president of the Colson Center and host of the Breakpoint podcast. Thanks, John, and Merry Christmas!

STONESTREET: Absolutely. Merry Christmas to both of you as well.

NICK EICHER, HOST: A couple weeks ago, the Sunday River ski resort in Maine had to create man-made snow for the more than 300 skiers who showed up. But it didn’t dampen the Christmas spirit.

Winter sport enthusiasts of all ages were dressed from helmet to boot in red and white fur.

Some skied, others snowboarded all dressed as Santa part of an annual charity fundraiser. Bob Waddell lives in neighboring New Hampshire. This was his third time.

The event raised more than $7500 for the food pantry, though with all those Santas in town, I wonder if the local stores had to put their cookies and milk behind lock and key--so there’d be enough for this weekend, you know, for the real Santa.

It’s The World and Everything in It.

NICK EICHER, HOST:  Today is Friday, December 23rd.

Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day.

Good morning. I’m Nick Eicher.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: And I’m Myrna Brown.

Coming next on The World and Everything in It: Christmas movies.

It’s a massive genre with more releasing every day, it seems. You could spend hours scrolling through lists of titles, looking for a good one.

Well, good news! Our team has pitched in with some thoughts on their favorite…and not-so-favorite…films of the season: Classics both past and present. We’ll start with production assistant Harrison Watters.

HARRISON WATTERS: At Christmas time, my family likes to drive around town looking at decorated homes. While we do, we listen to the radio dramatization of A Christmas Carol from Focus on The Family. When a movie about the book’s real-life backstory came out in 2017, I wasn’t sure if I should be excited or worried that the movie would ruin my nostalgia.

Thankfully, The Man Who Invented Christmas with Christopher Plummer has made me love A Christmas Carol all the more.

CLIP: So he's had a couple of flops, well who hasn't?

You have a new book in mind?

Oh of course he does!

The film captures the story of author Charles Dickens, played by Dan Stevens. He’s trying to keep his family afloat financially, but several of his books have bombed and dark boyhood memories oppress him. A spark of inspiration sends him on a journey that connects the world of his imagination to the world of his friends and family.

CLIP: If I get the name right, the character will appear.

Scratch…Scranger...Scrooge!

Shut the window. You I think I'm made of money?

Scrooge, how delightful to meet you.

I’m sorry I'll can’t say the same.

Over the course of the film, Dickens realizes that Scrooge’s story is not so different from his own, and that his own fate will be determined by the outcome of his frantic book project.

CLIP: I have to get to the printers by nine o'clock

But you still don't have an ending.

A very Merry Christmas to one and all!

I’m Harrison Watters.

BROWN: Next, Whitney Williams had high hopes for a new Christmas release.

WHITNEY WILLIAMS: Having grown up on the 90s sitcom Home Improvement, I tend to fangirl over anything Tim Allen.

CLIP: Yeah. [GRUNT]

So naturally, I welcomed Disney Plus’ new miniseries The Santa Clauses with open arms.

CLIP: “I retired too soon, I hired the wrong guy, I’ve gotta go back to the North Pole.”

I wanted, so badly, for it to be great, and even held out hope after dancing elves accidentally spelled out “We love Satan” instead of “We love Santa”

CLIP:  I don’t think so, Tim.

But in the end, I found the miniseries to just be okay.

Perhaps my expectations were set too high after I read, prior to watching the series, that Allen had fought for the true meaning of Christmas to be included in the show. He told producers,

ALLEN: “This is Christ-mas. It’s Christ-mas. It literally is a religious holiday.”

But all we get is a nod to the religious history of Santa Claus:

CLIP: Scott Calvin: “St. Nicolas, his parents died and he became quite wealthy, and then he gave all his money away to help those in need …”

St. Nicolas: “I thought I was telling my story. Anyway, life was hard during that time. Parents couldn’t always shield the children from the horrors of the world so I found ways to give back with food, candy, small joys … life’s kindling.”

Scott Calvin: “You gave them what they needed. Hope.”

It’s more than we get in a lot of mainstream Christmas flicks and it’s certainly a step in the right direction, but if you’re looking for Jesus, and a whole host of Hollywood celebrities bowing to the one true King, look to the 2017 animated movie “The Star,” which also boasts a stellar soundtrack.

MUSIC: CAN YOU SEE

For WORLD, I’m Whitney Williams.

EICHER: Next, Anna Johansen Brown shares an old classic that may or may not count as “Christmas.”

ANNA JOHANSEN BROWN: My pick isn’t technically a Christmas movie. But I grew up watching it practically every year in December, alongside all the other Christmas classics. And hey, it has Christmas scenes in it.

AUDIO: Happy holiday…

It’s Holiday Inn. The old, black and white musical released in 1942, starring Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire. It was the first time movie-goers heard the song White Christmas.

AUDIO: You know I’ve written special music for each holiday and this sort of gives me a chance to keep a little promise I made to myself. I said I was going to sing this song at the inn tonight. I’m dreaming of a white Christmas, just like the ones I used to know…

The film does have some problems my 10-year-old self never considered. The plot involves lots of sneakery and truth-avoidance and stealing a fella’s girl from him after he’s bought the ring. The scene on Lincoln’s birthday features an inappropriate blackface routine that’s jarring to modern viewers.

Broadway producers cut that number when they put the story on stage. And they added some really excellent dance routines that might actually—dare I say it—improve on the original.

CLIP: Blue Skies

You can watch it with a free trial or subscription at Broadway HD. The Christmastime jump rope tap number alone is worth the price of admission.

AUDIO: Shake ‘em away! [applause]

For WORLD, I’m Anna Johansen Brown.

BROWN: Finally, Paul Butler’s family has a Christmas movie favorite that has a deceiving title:

PAUL BUTLER: I have to admit I enjoy the looks I get when I mention the 1949 film In the Good Old Summertime is one of our family favorites this time of year. Like Anna’s suggestion, this musical isn’t technically a Christmas movie, but the story’s climax occurs on December 24th. So December seems the right time to pull it out. Our family isn’t going to be all together this Christmas, so the kids and their spouses came home last weekend to watch it together:

SOUND: KIDS COMING HOME / MOVIE START

The story is set in early 20th century Chicago. The two main characters—played by Van Johnson and Judy Garland—are co-workers in a music shop who spar like cats and dogs at work yet unknowingly carry on an anonymous romance via the post office.

MOVIE CLIP: SCENE FROM LOCKER ROOM

The turning point in the film comes when Mr. Larkin discovers that his anonymous pen pal is none other than Miss Valerie Fisher.

MOVIE CLIP: SOMETHING OF THE MARKINGS OF MISS FISHER

The film is a masterclass in romantic comedy script writing. Scene transitions are seamless and often clever. Most of the characters have development arcs that are enjoyable to watch over the six month story-line. It’s not a perfect film by any stretch. There are a few plot holes—they are more quaint than annoying. And all the main characters have clear flaws. Judy Garland's character's readiness to throw off traditional roles is the film’s major drawback.

MOVIE CLIP: I DON’T CARE MUSICAL NUMBER

But what I enjoy about the film—especially today—is the reminder that sometimes there’s much more to people than what we can see--even those people who drive us crazy.

For WORLD, I’m Paul Butler.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Today is Friday, December 23rd. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Nick Eicher.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: And I’m Myrna Brown. Well, for the last four Fridays we’ve ended our program with a few musical selections from around the world. We’re hoping to help you better prepare spiritually for Christmas. Not every selection is commercially available, but most are—so we’ve created a Spotify and Apple Music playlist of those. We’ve included a link in today’s transcript.

This week we head up North for our Music of Advent series to hear how Canada celebrates the season.

Here’s WORLD reporter Anna Mandin.

ANNA MANDIN, REPORTER: Christmas in Canada ranges a lot from sea to sea. For one thing, some places celebrate Christmas with temperatures around 30 degrees. Others are closer to minus 20.

But Canadian advent traditions go far deeper than white Christmases. Those traditions include both French and English hymns, reflecting the role of French and British colonies in Canada’s history.

MUSIC: VENEZ DIVIN MESSIE by The Stairwell Carollers!

One of the most common French advent songs is Venez Divin Messie, or O Come, Divine Messiah.

The song was written in the 18th century by Simon-Joseph Pellegrin. It’s a prayer of longing for the return of a Messiah who can deliver his people from pain, death and guilt.

The chorus here ends,

“Come, Divine Messiah,
Save our unfortunate days,
Come, source of Life,
Come, come, come.”

The Mystery of Bethlehem is in English, written in Canada by British-born Healey Willan in 1923. In this performance by the Orpheus Choir in Toronto, Willan’s six movements tell about the birth of Christ.

MUSIC: "THE PROPHECY" from THE MYSTERY OF BETHLEHEM by HEALEY WILLAN. Performed by The Orpheus Choir

First, there was the prophecy, then Gabriel telling Mary she would give birth to the Messiah. The song then moves to Christ’s birth, the shepherds’ call to come worship him, and the Magi’s desire to seek out this God and king. Finally, it recognizes that Jesus has come. Heaven and Earth should bow down and worship him.

MUSIC: "THE FULFILLMENT" from THE MYSTERY OF BETHLEHEM by HEALEY WILLAN. Performed by The Orpheus Choir

Let no tongue on earth be silent,
Every voice in concert ring
Evermore and evermore.

The familiar hymn O Holy Night was originally written as a French poem in 1843 by Placide Cappeau, and turned to song by Adolphe Adam. While the English version has become popular around the world, in Canada the hymn has also been translated into one of the most common Indigenous languages, Cree. Here is singer Falynn Baptiste performing that version of O Holy Night.

MUSIC: O HOLY NIGHT by Falynn Baptiste

The song recalls the night when Christ finally came.

MUSIC: O HOLY NIGHT by Falynn Baptiste

“Long lay the world in sin and error pining
Till he appear'd and the soul felt its worth.”

The lyric explains how one day Christ will break slaves’ chains and put an end to all oppression.

In light of this coming hope, the song ends with a recommendation: Let all within us praise His holy name.

MUSIC: O HOLY NIGHT by Falynn Baptiste

I’m Anna Mandin, celebrating advent in Calgary, Alberta.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Well, it’s time to say thanks to the team members who helped put the program together this week: Mary Reichard, David Bahnsen, Lauren Dunn, Carolina Lumetta, Kim Henderson, Erica Kwong, Juliana Chan Erikson, Onize Ohikere, Anna Johansen Brown, Janie B Cheaney, Lillian Hamman, Cal Thomas, John Stonestreet, Harrison Watters, Whitney Williams, and Anna Mandin.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Thanks also to our breaking news team: Kent Covington, Lynde Langdon, Steve Kloosterman, Lauren Canterberry, Mary Muncy, and Josh Schumacher.

Plus, the guys who stay up late to get the program to you early … Johnny Franklin and Carl Peetz. Our producer is Kristen Flavin with production assistance from Emily Whitten, and Benj Eicher.

Paul Butler is our Executive Producer.

MYRNA  BROWN, HOST: The World and Everything in It comes to you from WORLD Radio.

WORLD’s mission is Biblically objective journalism that informs, educates, and inspires.

“For unto a child is born, to us a son is given and the government shall be upon his shoulder and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” (Isaiah 9:6)

Quick reminder before we go: We’re ever so close to our goal for the December Grassroots Giving Drive. If you’ve not given yet, I hope you’ll consider doing it today at wng.org/donate.

Go now in grace and peace. Merry Christmas!

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