living for eternity today
A favorite Christian artist of mine has to be Casting Crowns. They have a way of putting such amazing story into their songs. This one was supposed to be up yesterday on Christmas morning but for some reason it didn’t make it. So here it is.
While you were sleeping some amazing things have happened! There have been some huge changes to the landscape of our lives overnight. It’s amazing what can be missed while we sleep. Continue reading
It’s Christmas Eve! Tonight is the night when the children will all be snuggled in their beds. They’ll have a hard time sleeping as they await the coming of Christmas morning. But tonight should be a Silent Night. Continue reading
I love the season of Christmas! It’s wonderful and gives a strange sense of warmth that just isn’t there the rest of the year. But this year’s been somewhat different. There have been a lot of things going on this year and I just feel busier than normal. I’ve not really felt that whole Christmas spirit thing that I normally have by early October. Continue reading
This is one of my favorite songs of the Christmas season. It’s not an easy one to sing, especially for someone who isn’t all that great at singing. But it’s an uplifting song. Listen to the words. If you have a hard time keeping up, check out the lyrics here. Continue reading
This is Christmas week! It’s finally here! I know we’ll all be tempted to rush through this week in an attempt to just get it over with. What a shame! Christmas isn’t something to just get over with. As a matter of fact I even found myself in this train of thought this year. We were under construction at church, several family events leading up to Christmas, all of the extra worship services to prep, hospital and shut-in visits to make, and the list seemed to go on and on. I was just ready to wake up on December 28th and have it all behind me. Continue reading
As you are probably well aware, Christmas is about a week and a half away. With all of the prep for the big day, it’s pretty easy to get a bit lost in the shuffle. This week we’re going to slow things down quite a bit and take a minute to celebrate the beauty of this precious season. Continue reading
I thought it was time to change things up a little bit. After all, we’re only 3 weeks from Christmas! Are you ready? Are you getting it all set so that this will be the BEST Christmas ever? This time of year we hustle around to get the right gift for that special someone. We look high and low. We hunt the ads, bulldoze people through the store lines to get that door buster deal. Continue reading
Perhaps you’ve seen the news that Christians are in an uproar over the lack of Christmas decorations on the new Starbucks coffee cups. Perhaps you’re one who was offended that they chose to lose the symbolic Christmas icons on their cups. But I have to say, sometimes a cup is just a cup.
Let’s think about this for a minute. Some well-meaning Christians are upset that a secular business is not acting like a Christian business. Why is it that this upsets us? Should we expect any different? Why is this cup so important? Sure the Magi in the New Testament followed a star to find Jesus. Sure it was a cup that Jesus passed around at his last supper with his disciples but why are we combining the star and the cup? Why is this cup so important?
To be totally honest…it’s not! This cup has no significance at all. This cup holds coffee. It holds strong, dark, potent coffee! Christians, no matter how well-meaning, should not be angered over this decision. It’s a simple marketing ploy and some of you have fallen right into it. In the New Testament, Jesus promises that his presence is found not in a red holiday cup, but in a cup at the Sacrament of Communion.
It’s here, in this cup that we find the presence of Christ. It’s in the cup of wine and the loaf of bread that we see the blood and body of our risen Lord Jesus.
So why are we so confounded critical of a business that doesn’t want to use a tree on their cup? It wasn’t an evergreen tree that held our Savior on Good Friday. It was a tree in the form of a cross. The tree wasn’t green and filled with life. Rather it was dead, cut, and splintered. It was a tree that was hard. The tree was ugly. It was used for torture not joy. This is the tree that defines our lives as followers of Jesus.
Whether Starbucks wants to use a solid red cup or one covered with Christmas trees shouldn’t matter much at all. As Christians, our lives should demonstrate the meaning of Christmas regardless of what’s on our coffee cups. As followers of Jesus who carry the presence of Christ where we live, work and play, people should look to our words and actions to see the real meaning of this holy-day season. So perhaps we can be more concerned with how our lives reflect the tree of the cross than an evergreen on a red cup. Perhaps we should focus on living the called life everywhere we go instead of criticizing someone for a decision to change their method of distribution.
This Christmas wear the meaning of the season in your words and actions. Let others see the true light of Christmas not on your tree but in how Christ’s tree has illuminated your life. This Christmas may you know the meaning of the season is found in Jesus’ cup of righteousness poured out for all who believe. It’s not about a cup of coffee. Sometimes a cup is just a cup.
Christmas is all about gifts. Some you’ll love and some you’ll want to return, but what gift could you get that would actually guarantee your freedom? Listen as Pastor Derrick explains how Christmas means freedom.
Twas the night before Christmas, when Mary and Jo
In a manger were resting for their baby to show
A stable was where they would make up their beds
And straw was the pillow they’d use for their heads.
The evening was ending, the time was at hand
A baby named Jesus was born in that land.
She wrapped him up tight and swaddled him close
With this child came God’s love, and a heavenly dose! Continue reading
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