Take Time to Tell God What You’re Thankful For on Thanksgiving and Every Other Day Too The church I attended several years ago had a Thanksgiving practice of having members stand to share what they were thankful for. From my perspective this never went well, with too much silence or too much forced sharing and […]
Meditate on the True Meaning of Easter as a Christian Holy Day of Ultimate Importance Every Sunday morning for several years I have shared my thoughts about God, the Bible, and the church on this blog. Because Easter always falls on a Sunday, one post a year is usually about Jesus’s resurrection. This year’s reflection […]
Although I avoid making New Year’s resolutions, I do set annual goals. What’s the difference? Maybe nothing; maybe everything. To me, resolutions are akin to wishful thinking, with low expectations for success. Goals are concrete, with stated action and quantifiable results. I don’t think I’ve ever made a New Year’s resolution. If I discover something […]
Of the four biographies of Jesus in the Bible, my favorite is Luke’s. Luke also contains the best-known account of Jesus’ birth, made popular by the Peanut’s character Linus. Watch Linus explain what Christmas is all about. This well-known clip is from the 1965 TV special A Charlie Brown Christmas. Debuting over fifty years ago, […]
Christmas is almost here; my mind swirls with a jumble of thoughts as I try to connect the calendar with my celebration of Jesus. Here are three items I’m considering: 1. When my wife and I were in a state of transition between one home and the next. Most of our belongings, including everything relating […]
My wife wishes people a “Merry Christmas,” while I say “Happy holidays.” We both have our reasons for doing so, and we are both right. It’s important to us to keep Jesus as the central focus of Christmas. One way my wife does so is by wishing everyone a “Merry Christmas”—every chance she gets. She […]
Christmas, Good Friday, Easter, and Pentecost Quick, what are the four main Christian holidays? Well, there’s Christmas and Easter, for sure. Good Friday would make three. But what’s the fourth one? How about Pentecost? In my experience, Pentecost doesn’t receive much attention compared to the other three, but it should. Consider the progression: Christmas Christmas […]
Always Winter and Never Christmas In C. S. Lewis’s classic book The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, the land of Narnia is under duress: it is always winter and never Christmas. As winter drags on this year, I feel the same way. In Michigan, we enjoy all four seasons and in about equal proportions. […]
Yesterday was Christmas, a time to celebrate Jesus. Many people went to church to acknowledge the Christ behind Christmas and even more celebrated Jesus in other ways. For my family, the day marked the last of four celebrations. Now Christmas is over. We put it behind us for another year. Yet long ago, Isaiah looked […]
For people who follow Jesus, Christmas is a time to celebrate his birth. Yet Christmas is under attack. Some want to turn it into Xmas, others try to band its mention, and others say it doesn’t matter because we’ve already sufficiently removed Jesus from it. The reaction from Christ-followers is understandable, but the battle is […]