With my daughter home from college and temps rising, I am ready for summer. Maybe you’re getting there, too? There’s nothing like a good book by the pool (or ocean!) to make a perfect summer day.
Christmas, Consumerism, Music, Theology, Recommendations
Saint Nicholas is our guy: Clarissa Moll interviews Ned Bustard, “There’s a story of Nicholas battling Artemis, the goddess of the city in which he served as bishop. He prayed against the goddess, and her statue fell over, kind of like Dagon in 1 Samuel 5. How much of these stories are true? We don’t know, but we do know that he really did exist and has this reputation for being generous.”
Mama, you don’t have to save Christmas: Staci Eastin says,
Advent, Christmas, Heaven, Music, Worship
In Talladega Nights, Ricky Bobby (Will Farrell) offers up an irreverent prayer to baby Jesus,
“Dear Tiny Infant Jesus...” Ricky prays. His wife interjects, “Hey, um... you know, sweetie, Jesus did grow up. You don't always have to call him baby. It's a bit odd and off puttin' to pray to a baby.” Ricky responds, “Well, look, I like the Christmas Jesus best when I'm sayin' grace.”
Some of us are more comfortable with baby Jesus as well. He can feel more approachable than the suffering Jesus on the cross or the reigning Jesus on the throne.
Throughout this Christmas season, we are examining profound truths in four lines from Charles Wesley’s (brother of John Wesley) popular hymn and Christmas carol “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing.”
Advent, Christmas, Music, Theology
Everyone loves Christmas! And what would Christmas be without its carols? In 1739, one of the most theologically rich carols ever was penned: “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing.” Its author, Charles Wesley, an itinerant evangelistic preacher and brother to John, was one of the most masterful hymn writers in history. In his lifetime, he wrote 6500 hymns (averaging more than two per week!). The lyrics we sing today are identical to Wesley’s original text in 1739, with one notable exception. His first line read, “Hark, how all the welkin rings.” Welkin means “heavens” or “sky.”
Recommendations, Christian Living, Culture, Church, Nature
Sex, virtue, technology: Marc Sims with an important article on the impact of technology on sexuality, “Imagine a world of thorns and thistles and serpents and porn and affairs and divorce. (Shouldn’t be too hard for you). It is a world that has attempted to peel sex out of the context of covenant and commitment—even out of relationship itself—and pursue the physical pleasure as an end of itself.”
Stay put and make disciples: David Mathis begins, “This is a plea for aging Christians not to follow millions of your peers in making a tragic mistake: leaving the place, and especially the local church, where you have built up years, if not decades, of relational capital.”
Evangelism, Mission
In JRR Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, two of Frodo’s hobbit companions, Merry and Pippin, get kidnapped by the orcs and eventually are rescued by the Ent, Treebeard. Meanwhile, the rest of the Fellowship prepare to confront Saruman and his forces at Isengard, attempting to weaken him so that Frodo and Sam can complete their mission to destroy the ring. In Peter Jackson’s movie adaptation, Merry and Pippin beg the council of Ents (called Entmoot) to make haste so that they can join their friends on the verge of war.
