Christmas has long been a favorite season and event for me. Christmas carols pre-evangelized me, and it's always been a wonderful time. So I've got some links to my past writing (and some of your contributions, Dear Readers) to share you might have missed:
- From my web site, there's the essay To Tell the Truth, Virginia.... It's a Gospel presentation keying off of Isaiah 7:14.
- From December of 2004 comes the sermon Longing for Christmas, in which I preach on the flow of OT prophecy pointing to the Messiah, Jesus.
- Then in December of 2007, in the sermon titled Immanuel, I focus on the prophecy in Isaiah 7, taking note of both the Hebrew and the context. You'll see that I am unpersuaded by the approach many evangelicals take today.
- Though it isn't High Art, here is a painting I appreciated last year.
- I wondered in February of 2007 whether we have actually listened to the "angels we have heard on high."
- Under orders from my dear wife in 11/07, I sparked a good discussion of Christmas music. (You're the ones that made it a good discussion!)
- Then, moving seamlessly from the sublime to the gastronomical, there was the 2006 Christmas Eve pizza spread.
- Now from the gastronomical to the historical, in 12/06 we shut down the humbuggers' popular myth-conception that Christmas is just a pagan holiday.
- So, whatever its associations, should we use Christmas to preach Christ? My man Spurgeon says yes! (For the record, so do I.) (Also for the record, "Duh!")
- Back in 2005, I wondered whether "virgin conception" would be a better term than "virgin birth" — though the latter necessarily includes the former, while the reverse is not true. Got that? No? Ask your mom.
- And then, gliding to the silly-but-fun, I reviewed a Brian Setzer Orchestra Christmas concert.
- Still in a fun vein, a particular subset of my readers will especially enjoy "Open the present... NOW!!!"
- In a post austensibly about preaching, I sneak in my reasons for declining to lie to my children about Santa Pelagius.
Posts
9 comments:
"Ask your mom."
Yes, please--because Dad would rather not talk about it.
Duh!
::sigh:: The video for Open The Present, NOW is gone.
And my curiosity was truly peaked... even though I don't watch 24 - too much blood and violence (and repetitive story lines...) for me.
Merry CHRISTmas, Dan.
Oh, I'm sorry. And I can't access YouTube from work. I'll check it later.
OK, try now. I think I have a good link.
I may have mentioned this before, but my favorite question of my then 5 y.o. re: the whole virgin birth thing...
"Mom, if God put Jesus in Mary's tummy, and God put me in your tummy, why am I sinful but Jesus wasn't????"
I was tempted to answer - "It's your dad's fault."
But settled for "That's a a really good question we'll have to talk about more one day. But now how about we talk about the presents you're going to open Christmas morning!! What do you think is in all those boxes??"
Appeal to rampant childish materialism successful. Crisis averted.
For now...
To quote my dear wife: "It's hard to explain the hypostatic union to a two-year-old."
Rachael: "Mom, if God put Jesus in Mary's tummy, and God put me in your tummy, why am I sinful but Jesus wasn't????"
I was tempted to answer - "It's your dad's fault."
ROFL!!!!
Not only did my parents lie to me about santa, but they lied to me about the three kings also..which supposedly come by everyone's homes on their, apparently, flying camels and leave gifts for every kid under the tree...BIG disappointment...all that much effort spent collecting grass for the poor camels to eat. I was always so happy to see all the grass gone and the cookies and milk half eaten...of course and the toys under the tree..
I ain't doing the same. There are no exceptions to the 9th commandment that I know of.
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