Two interesting things happened this past week for the people who work here at Church of the Nativity. First, we had our biggest (non-Christmas/non Easter) weekend ever. Over 4200 people (that’s a lot of people). The energy and life of the place was palpable and exciting. What a great way to kick off a New […]
When [the Magi] saw the star, they were overjoyed. Matthew 2.10 When Herod realized he had been outwitted by the Magi he was furious. Matthew 2.16 Today is the Feast of the Epiphany; in many countries it is the day for Christmas gift giving, in honor of the gifts of the Magi to the baby […]
Welcome to 2012 and thanks for checking out my blog. For my first post of the New Year I am going out on a limb (where I kind of spend a lot of my time) and “predict” what’s ahead for our parish, Church of the Nativity, in the coming months. No kidding, I am not […]
Today’s post looks back at the year 2011 here at Nativity, an amazing year of grace and favor from God. Here are my top ten favorite things (in no particular order). 1. “Catholic Atheist” My favorite message series of the year was, far and away, “Catholic Atheist.” Inspired by Pastor Craig Grochel’s book, “Christian Atheist” […]
He blessed them, and their numbers greatly increased. Psalm 107 We make no apologies, numbers are important to us. Every number is a person, a life, a soul. So we keep count. That’s what God wants; in fact a whole book of the Bible is called “Numbers” and guess what it’s about…counting the people (as […]
There is no doubt about it. Our Christmas services are my favorite of the whole year and this year is no different. I’m so looking forward to celebrating this extraordinary evening with all of you. I’m also incredibly thankful to the hundreds of volunteers who sacrificially serve and even take vacation time in an effort […]
This week our staff was discussing the difficulty of keeping the focus of Christmas on Christ. Brian Crook, our missions director, was remembering a couple of Christmases ago his 7 year old cousin creating a scene because he didn’t get the gift he wanted. His mother tried to console him with pious platitude about the […]
Remember Charlie Brown’s wistful lament? “I think there must be something wrong with me Linus, Christmas is coming but I’m not happy, I don’t feel the way I’m suppose to feel.” Maybe you’re not feeling the joy either this holiday, and you’re asking yourself, “What’s wrong with me?” But its not just you, there’s something […]
“This will be a sign for you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” Luke 2.12 For a lot of people, Christmas comes down to Christmas Eve, and Christmas Eve comes down to getting it over with, starting with Church. As a result, the vast majority of people try […]
Over the last couple of years, if you’ve been with us, you know that we’ve tried to do Christmas a little differently as a church family. If you’re new here, let me give you some background: the last two years we sponsored a program in which we encouraged people to spend at least a little […]
