The other day I talked about breaking the Conservative Evangelical rule that every sermon has to be expository. Here is the paradox, you may have ended up being at least as if not more expository by relaxing the rule. I say potentially more expository first, because what happens when we try to force fit an… Continue reading Why that Christmas talk may have been more expository than you think
Tag: Christmas
Something bigger and better than Giant Santa.
It’s good to see a happy story from our neighborhood make it into the local papers. This story is about a family who live in the road where our church meets and they have opted to decorate for Christmas with a giant inflatable Santa Claus It certainly brightened up our morning when we first saw… Continue reading Something bigger and better than Giant Santa.
Preparing to preach at Christmas? … First break all the rules
Or at least two of them… One of my favourite books is by Marcus Buckingham and it’s called First Break All the Rules. It’s about how leaders are taught a whole load of conventions or rules but truly successful ones break those rules. In effect Buckingham is seeking to discover a better set of leadership… Continue reading Preparing to preach at Christmas? … First break all the rules
Leaning into advent
My friend, Steve Kneale, argues here that we should not give over every Sunday to Advent. His argument is that whilst it is not sinful to celebrate Christmas as a cultural festival, we are not required to, it’s not a Biblical command and nor is Advent a Biblical thing. So, he argues, to give up… Continue reading Leaning into advent
Worthy -Christmas E-Book
If you are looking for something evangelistic to share with friends to read over Christmas, why not have a look at our E-book “Worthy: What are you worthy of this Christmas”. The book traces links between the lost sheep, coin and son to the story of Bethlehem.
Home and grief
It’s now 3 years since we said goodbye to my mum and Sarah’s dad within the space of a few weeks. In both cases, there was an unexpectedness although we were aware of serious health conditions. In mum’s case, she had gone into hospital for surgery on a hiatus hernia but didn’t recover from the… Continue reading Home and grief
Why do we do Carol Services?
This year our church will have three main Christmas events, an evening Carol’s by Candlelight, a family Carol service and then a Christmas Eve all age event. We don’t have access to a building for Christmas Day unfortunately. I thought it might be helpful to share a few thoughts about how we do them and… Continue reading Why do we do Carol Services?
The troubling of Herod
This weekend is often associated with the feast of Epiphany, the culmination of Christmas and the wisemen’s journey to Bethlehem. We spend so much time these days pointing out that they were not kings and we don’t know if there were three of them that we can miss out on the things the text in… Continue reading The troubling of Herod
The gift is …
The waiting and anticipation is over. It may be that some of you knew all along what you were getting for Christmas. You made a list, you were asked for suggestions. Some presents will have come as a surprise, you weren’t expecting them. I’m a traditionalist, so that means I don’t like the idea of… Continue reading The gift is …
Xmas and Christmas revisited. Why I don’t like that CS Lewis essay
I mentioned the other day that I don’t like CS Lewis’s essay mocking “Xmas”. I wrote a year or two back about why.
Faithroots 