What's new at Nativity

Christmas Countdown: 5 Days

Well, there was a flurry of activity today in preparation for Christmas and most of it comes in basically two styles: the people who are at the Fairgrounds cleaning up, setting up and decorating and the people back here at the office basically preparing the program. This is a post mostly about the latter. Maria, […]

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What's new at Nativity

Christmas Countdown: 6 Days

Today we began the move to the Fairgrounds. The jumbo-tron on York Road in front of the Fair now announces our presence and our event. Once there we took possession of the Cow Palace and got to work (by “we,” of course, I mean not “me” but a lot of other people under the direction […]

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What's new at Nativity

Christmas Countdown: 7 Days

Despite the sadness of recent days, preparations continue for our Christmas Eve celebration at the Maryland State Fair. Each year Christmas Eve is a joyful celebration, but we always strive to be mindful of those who are not joyful. It can be a very difficult holiday for those who mourn. So we always try to […]

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Scripture

Heartbreaking

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 […]

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What's new at Nativity

The Christmas Countdown: 11 Days

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 […]

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What's new at Nativity

Christmas Countdown: 12 Days

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 […]

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Making Church Matter

The Countdown to Christmas Begins

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 […]

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Making Church Matter

Loving Christmas and Expecting Miracles III

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 […]

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