The nativity story is a play in three acts revealing to us God’s essence. In the first act Luke sets the story squarely in a real place and time. “In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered.” Luke starts at the top with Caesar because in… Read more »
Posts Tagged: Christmas
Lights Please…
The girls are home from school this week as we get ready for the Christmas holiday. As I started to write my Christmas Eve sermon I invited the girls to help me. I read them the Christmas story from Luke’s gospel, and I invited them to ask me questions about the story or to tell… Read more »
Dr. What’s-Your-Problem, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Coffee
This Starbucks red cup thing needs no more press (yeah, so here’s a blog post about it . . . smooth). Some are upset that Starbucks’ holiday disposable cup doesn’t saying anything about Christmas. I would hope that Christians are too busy with doing the things Jesus said to do as he read from the… Read more »
Rejoice!
Earlier this week a couple of folks emailed me asking about the order of our Advent candles–Peace, Hope, Love, and Joy. One member noticed that we had been lighting the candles using a different order than the traditional church–Hope, Peace, Love, and Joy. I will say it’s never a bad day in the kingdom when… Read more »
Season of Senses: Taste
Click here to listen: It was about ten years ago that Christie and I sat together in the pew for our first Christmas Eve service as husband and wife. We raised our candles high as we sang “Silent Night,” and I remember the feeling of anticipation as the service was ending, the joy of all… Read more »
The Dance of the Divinely Human and Humanly Divine (Luke 2:41-52)
The day after Christmas is nearly unavoidably anticlimactic. The presents have been opened, television programming seems blasphemously normal, and mom and dad get to experience what presents the children actually enjoy and which presents they said they wanted but have not yet bothered to acknowledge. This year on the day after Christmas, Christie and I… Read more »
Jesus’ Wish List
Advent is a time of preparation. The first week of Advent we lit the candle of hope. Hope begins with the acknowledgment of brokenness. The world is broken. The shooting in Oregon and the massacre in Connecticut unveiled a reasonless exercise of evil, which defies explanation. This is not the first time that violence surrounded… Read more »
Jesus' Wish List
Advent is a time of preparation. The first week of Advent we lit the candle of hope. Hope begins with the acknowledgment of brokenness. The world is broken. The shooting in Oregon and the massacre in Connecticut unveiled a reasonless exercise of evil, which defies explanation. This is not the first time that violence surrounded… Read more »
Christmas is Not Your Birthday: Giving Up on Perfect
Not until I became a father have I ever felt pressure to offer the perfect Christmas. My wife Christie may tell you that still after becoming a father I’m not quite concerned about offering the perfect Christmas. With that said, some of us can put an amazing amount of pressure upon ourselves to offer the… Read more »
Christmas Is Not Your Birthday: Expect a Miracle
One of my favorite Christmas traditions is singing “Silent Night” by candlelight at the end of the Christmas Eve service. Not only is Silent Night one of the most theologically rich hymns of the Christian tradition. Not only does it sound beautiful on organ or guitar or with no accompaniment at… Read more »