Today on Listen Up, we're searching for the Best Christmas Present ever...
It’s Christmas time and North American shoppers are hitting the
malls and the Internet, in search of the perfect Christmas gift.
Retailers are happy to meet the demand, and stores are all decked out
to entice shoppers into the Christmas spirit. For the indecisive giver,
gift cards abound. With pre-loaded plastic, it’s now possible to
give a loved one a gift of everything from groceries to gasoline. One
hotel chain this year is offering gift cards loaded with up to
$100-thousand dollars.
Catalogues are also big at this time of year. Luxury retailer Nieman
Marcus suggests their idea of the perfect Christmas present for the
person who has everything: a trip into outer space. While charitable
organizations have gotten into the catalogue business as well, inviting
shoppers to purchase everything from livestock to clothing for poor
third world families. World Vision is one of those organizations
offering an alternative to the consumer gift-giving
trend.
A CONVERSATION WITH MIKE RICH
LU: Why do this movie now?
MIKE: I still thinks it’s incredibly relevant and the approach we
wanted to take was different, we wanted to show them as people rather
than stick figures, get into their characters - faith, struggle, doubt,
that’s the approach we wanted to take
LU: How did you personally spiritually and emotionally tackle this story?
MIKE: It’s different than any other story I’ve done,
it’s the nativity story, the reverence people hold this story
with I wanted to make sure I got it right, I knew I had to write
speculative scenes, it’s intimidating, I put a lot of faith into
the writing of the script…if you were just to write this script
from the gospels, you’d have a 15 minute movie, the opportunity
that was before us because of the Passion of the Christ which opened
the door to have this type of movie made and my own personal desire to
tackle it is why we are in the situation where this film has done what
it has done.
LU: Will non-Christians respond to or understand this story?
MIKE: In some of the early screenings folks who are non-believers
respond by either being very moved or view from a mythological
perspective, it’s actually a great compliment we can receive
somebody who does not share the same faith but still respond to it,
it’s very gratifying…
LU: You had do quite a bit of speculative writing to fill in the “gaps?”
MIKE: One of my favourite scenes is on the journey to Bethlehem they
have a heart to heart discussion, are you afraid, why us, those are
tricky scenes to write but in the end they were my favourites to
write…
LU: What is your hope for this movie?
MIKE: My hope is it will serve as a break from the holiday season, ..if
families can watch this and strike up a conversation about Mary’s
faith, Joseph’s courage then that will be a great
thing…We’ve created a film that I think is true to the
tone and text of the gospel, but also resonates as a story that
Hollywood does like to pursue…It showcases God’s desire to
have the greatest of Kings coming to earth under the humblest of
circumstances, it’s a theme we carried throughout the movie, this
child was for all mankind not just the rich or the powerful, Even King
Herod’s fear of the prophecy, the last thing he was thinking of
was a young child.
I’m just going to un wrap one word that stuck with me from today’s
Christmas program. The word was “redemption.” You do it when you return
a gift you don’t want, when you spend a cash card, when you re-gift a
present to someone else.
But – redemption is also at the heart of
the true meaning of Christmas. Redeemed from our own selves. Redeemed
from a world where all that matters is us and our own weak ways.
Redemption. It means we no longer have to be separated from God. That
is the very best present to unwrap this Christmas – the word
redemption. This baby Jesus that we celebrate as the gift of God to the
human race was God’s way of taking away our separation from God. It
requires that I reach for this gift, that I take it and believe and say
oh yes, thank you God, I want to be redeemed and brought into your
salvation for my life.
The best Christmas present ever.. From all of us at Listen Up TV, Merry Christmas.
WORLD VISION GIFT CATALOGUE www.worldvision.ca
“One of my
favourite stories I have is a lady who gave a stable, and the kids had
named all the animals, I just want you to know they pray for each of
the animals by name, these are the most prayed-for animals on the
planet…” - Dave Toycen, President of World Vision Canada
HAMILTON CITY KIDZ www.citykidz.ca
“A lot of our families live in
financial difficulty, at Christmas it grows because there's all this
pressure to meet the needs of their children and expectations, for a
parent who is doing the best they can… it's hard…There will be about 2
thousand kids this Christmas (that we’re giving gifts to)… it's a
little thing but we're building a bit of hope. The Christmas message is
that Jesus Christ came as a gift! We're family to these families, not
just an agency… The Hamilton community is good to us, not everybody is
as fortunate as we are, a 3 year old knows what another 3- year old
wants, these are wonderful gifts, part of the joy of Christmas is
unwrapping the gifts, create the experience, that's why we do it!” -
Todd Bender, Exec. Director of Hamilton City Kidz
ALI MATTHEWS www.alimatthews.com
Singer
Ali Matthews was a big winner at this year’s Gospel Music Association
Covenant Awards – with 11 nominations and 4 awards.
She says she
loves everything about the Christmas season. Her song, Emmanuel, is
about heaven’s greatest gift – the fact that God willingly came down to
dwell with us and offer us hope. The word Emmanuel means “our God is
with us now.”
Ali says, heaven’s greatest Christmas present is why we celebrate the season at all.
Listen Up with Lorna Dueck is available ON-LINE in a variety of ways.
Click here to find out more!
Pacific 1:30
am Monday
Mountain 2:30am
Central 3:30am
Eastern 4:30am
National Religious Broadcasters (NRB)
Eastern 8pm Monday
10:30am Wednesday
DVD's of all our shows are available for sale. To place an order, please call (905) 336 9777 x27. Copies are $15.00 which includes shipping. Payment can be made by cheque (made payable to Listen Up TV); VISA or Mastercard.
Read Lorna's Globe & Mail columns by searching
our archive.
Read 'Media & The Message'. Lorna says if the church wants to impact society, we need to share our stories.
On April 30, 2005 Lorna was privileged to receive an honorary Doctorate of Christian Ministries from Canada's largest Christian university, Trinity Western University. Lorna was recognized for the witness and leadership that Listen Up TV has provided in public messaging: "a leader in the voice of evangelical life in Canada."
