When the wise men came from the east seeking Jesus, they went to Jerusalem. They were looking for a newborn king, so they naturally went to the palace located in the capital city. King Herod knew nothing of a king being born, because the birth of Jesus was not one fit for a king. Continue reading
Category Archives: Advent/Christmas
God is in the Manger
UPDATE: This is part 1. Part 2 here.
The nature of all sin is that we are so easily willing to settle. We could have the very best of all that God has in store for us, but all too often we take the easy way, the short cut, the path of least resistance or instant gratification. Instant gratification may the biggest temptation our culture offers today. A functional relationship with an actual human being takes time and effort, whereas “hooking up” for a one-night stand requires no long-term commitment. I contend that the long-term benefits make the commitment a worthwhile endeavor. A thief – or simply someone who is lazy – is thinking hard work pays off eventually, stealing pays off right now. But there are also consequences for cheating to get ahead. Sin is almost always an attempt to skip to the good part. Satan tempted Jesus three times with shortcuts; turn this bread to stone, prove yourself by jumping from a high place, bow down and worship me. (1) Any of those would have brought more immediate although less rewarding gratification than by taking the slow, painful path to the cross. Sometimes God’s will is the slow, tough path. The problem is that we are willing to settle for less.
The same is true with Christmas. Continue reading
From the Archives: Christmas
Here are a few articles on Christmas from years past that might be worth another look:
Rethinking the Angelic Choir examines the words of scripture carefully and challenges our notion of the angels that announced the birth of Jesus to the shepherds. The first thing angels always say when they appear in full glory to human beings is “Do not be afraid.” If they were beautiful women in choir robes, why would people tremble in fear?
Santa Claus Has Not Sold Out suggests that Santa has not become commercialized, but rather our American image of Santa is the product of commercialism. He wears a red and white suit because of those early 20th century Coca-Cola ads, and comes down the chimney because of department store Santas standing on the roof.
Christmas Card Theology is from last year, and begs the question what do we learn from the pictures on the Christmas cards we send? There are several things besides the fact that angels are beautiful women with long blonde hair.
All of the posts for Christmas and Advent are listed under the tag in the categories list, but these are a few of my favorites.
Celebrating Advent
I sort of imagine there are two kinds of people out there: those who understand Advent well and continue to observe time honored traditions, and then those who don’t know/don’t care what it is. If you are from a rich tradition of keeping Advent, then I should probably be reading your thoughts on the subject. If you’re in the don’t know/don’t care camp… well, I guess you didn’t even read this far, huh? But perhaps there is a third sort of person. If you have heard about Advent and are curious, then just maybe I can help you. Continue reading
Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh
I’ve written before on just who the Magi were and where they might have been from. The truth is, we don’t know how many wise men visited Jesus nor where they came from. The traditional names Casper, Melchior and Balthazar are from the Western Church tradition; Eastern Orthodoxy and Ethiopian Christianity offer different lists of names. Were they from Persia? China? Like I said, we don’t know. They were not at the manger either, but that’s another story. Continue reading
…And the Holy Spirit
God manifests himself in three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It’s easy to recognize the Father and Son in many of our Christmas stories and traditions, but the Holy Spirit is sort of the missing character. That’s just in our remembrance of the story; in the Biblical account, he is all over that story.
If we’re aware of the Holy Spirit in the Christmas narrative at all, it’s probably when the angel Gabriel tells Mary that the Holy Spirit will come upon her and she will conceive, Luke 1:35. That’s just the first time Luke will mention the Spirit. Continue reading
Advent: Faith
Week 2 of Advent is about faith, and we light the Bethleham candle. This candle reminds us of the faith Joseph and Mary had to go to Bethleham, believing God was fulfilling his promise to Israel and blessing their family at the same time. I began by reading Psalm 79. Most of the psalm is a lement over the destruction of Jesrusalem. Continue reading
Christmas Card Theology
What if everything we knew about Christmas came from studying the pictures on our Christmas cards? Even if you never pick up a Bible, there’s a lot to learn from the cards we send around each year. Here’s a list of some that I’ve noticed:
- Mary and Jesus are both white. I’ve even seen Jesus with red hair, and lots of it. Way too much for a newborn.
- Angels are beautiful women. They basically look like super models in choir robes. OR
- Angels are 6 year old children. They’re cute, and plump, and sometimes play musical instruments.
- There were 3 wise men. There were exactly 3 wise men, no more, no less. Two of them were white, one was black. AND THEY WERE AT THE MANGER.
- The manger was in a shelter made of wood with a straw roof. There were no other buildings of any sort for several miles in any direction.
These are a few of the things we learn when we get our theology from Christmas card images. Assuming of course that your cards have anything about Jesus on them at all. I’m going to leave it at this. Check out the first couple chapters of Matthew and Luke before asking stupid any questions.
Upside Down
Watch the video all the way through. At the end the message is “reversed.”
Vodpod videos no longer available.more about “Short Film: Upside Down – CreativePas…“, posted with vodpod
Merry Christmas
The Master's Table 
