It was the one night of the year when I didn’t want to stay up late. Staying up late meant delaying Santa Claus. I know that might not make sense; however, as a child I knew the sooner I went to sleep the sooner morning would come. That’s why it blew my mind when my […]
The king was stunned. Heartbroken he wept. 2 Samuel 18.33 The Bible tells us that King David had a heart after the heart of God. The Bible also tells us that he wept openly on several occasions, notably the death of Jonathan his best friend and Absalom his son. There are certain situations that are […]
Like me, my nephew Jack likes Christmas…a lot. And he likes Christmas decorations a lot…much to his mother’s exasperation. Christmas trees, Christmas villages, nutcrackers, snow globes, reindeer, every variety of Santa and lights, lights, lights. The kid has lights everywhere. Very proud of him. I am taking the days before Christmas to blog about our […]
Here’s some more on our Christmas celebration at the Maryland State Fair. The Cow Palace, where we’ll be, is huge. So big, in fact, we actually only use half of it. Half is seating, 3800 seats, and the other half is used as a backstage area for ministers and musicians. Besides the regular seating, there […]
Everyone who knows me knows I am all about Christmas. I love Christmas. And I get to be pastor of THE Christmas Church. I mean, to begin with, we’re named after Christmas. And we have the biggest Christmas celebration of all (OK, St. Peter’s is bigger, and so is Rick Warren’s Church, and probably Cardinal […]
Ever since we started the miracle series, people have been stopping me, and seeking me out and e-mailing me (a minor miracle in itself, since I am somewhat inaccessible via e-mail). And they’re telling me about miracles…miracles they’re seeing or experiencing just because they’re on the look out for them this season. Apparently there are […]
As I was saying (see previous post), many of the people we meet in the Christmas story (see Matthew chapters 1 & 2 and Luke 1 & 2) are expecting miracles and God keeps sending them. And maybe those two things are not unrelated (ps: they are related). On the other hand, others in the […]
I will be honest with you. I am not one of those jaded, post-consumer minded anti-holiday bah-humbugs when it comes to Christmas. I love Christmas, hands down my favorite time of the year. Love it all: the lights, the music, the holiday movies and specials, the gifts, the parties and dinners. Yep, it’s all just […]
Don’t know exactly where I came across the expression, maybe I thought of it myself (unlikely, but possible). Anyway, I say it all the time, so much so that people around me have taken to saying it too. It goes like this: unexpressed gratitude is ingratitude. Ingratitude is a big problem because what we do […]
This weekend we are celebrating Stewardship Sunday all weekend long. It is the one time of the year when we reflect on the financial stewardship of Church of the Nativity. We have been increasingly disciplined about this in recent years, eliminating fundraisers and other distractions from the giving God wants. We talk about giving that […]
