Christmas

That isn’t what Christmas is all about Charlie Brown

By Paul Koch –

Every year, just as the seasons change and the weather falls into predictable patterns, we encounter a rhythm that is attached to our celebration of Christmas. There is a predictability to Christmas that can bring both comfort and frustration. The comfort is rooted in something we know and expect. We already know that we like it. We know the familiar patterns of the events, and so we welcome it. However, the frustration comes when we long for something more, something that steps beyond the normal pattern of things. What if the usual way of observing this season leaves us longing for more? What if the predictability of Christmas traditions has left us disconnected from the real reason for the season?

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Christmas is wherever Jesus is

By Joel A. Hess –

In the 1980s, some well-intentioned, rich entertainers wrote the Christmas song “Do they know it’s Christmas” to raise money to help those suffering from hunger in East Africa. I was going through my 80s English phase and loved the song and the singers. I mean come on, it was written by Bob Geldolf from Boomtown Rats fame. And it was far better than its American copycat tune, “We are the world.”

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Have yourself an apathetic little Christmas

By Cindy Koch –

It’s only a week away. Baking, wrapping, and packaging. Mailing, singing, and giving. Parties, church services, and family dinners. Frantically running, exhaustedly buying, tension and family stress is building. Everything is pointing to that final day, December 25, when we will culminate with cries of Christmas joy. But the closer we get, the more frustrated we seem to become. Because all of our attention is pointed at a day that does not last long enough. It is almost more disappointing than joyful. And as soon as Christmas arrives, December 26 follows—and the celebration is over.

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Merry Christmas from a Former Member of the Advent Police

By Joel A. Hess –

Every December, besides Christmas trees and carolers, we can expect a couple other accoutrements of the holiday season. First, someone will freak out over Starbucks cups and store greeters who exchange the word “Christmas” with “holiday.” Second, pastors will moan loudly and publicly about the fact that it isn’t officially Christmas yet. It’s advent!

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Turning Gifts into Guilt

By Joel A. Hess –

By now, many of you have exchanged gifts, said thank you and you’re welcome, and wished each other a merry Christmas. Gift giving and receiving are strange things. At first, it seems like a great idea. But what a stress when it’s all said and done! First, it begins with a lot of pressure to get the right thing for so and so. Then, as we are on mid-journey to the party, we have this bad feeling that we forgot to buy a gift for so and so. As we get closer to Christmas Day, we crumble under the weight of having too many people on our shopping list. Many of us begin in the fall. Somehow, we are left running around and just grabbing items on Christmas Eve! Was that you?

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God In The Dirt

By Paul Koch –

When my wife and I took a trip to the Holy Land back over a year ago I noticed that as I would enter into some ancient church to take a few pictures and examine the details of the architecture and art forms throughout the building, my wife would often disappear from my side. She would often make a cursory pass through the building and then slip back outside. When I found her sitting on a bench outside one of the old church buildings she confessed that it was a just too much. These holy sites were covered by old churches, most of which had newer churches built over the tops of them, and inside there were icon screens and oil lamps and gold candlesticks and paintings on the walls and what appeared to be levels upon levels of man-made coverings over these places where our Lord walked this earth. What she wanted was far more simple than the artistry and craftsmanship we had taken in. What she wanted to see was just some dirt: some dirt where, perhaps, once upon a time our Lord walked.

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Putting Christmas on the Bench

By Bob Hiller –

Last week, the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Memphis Grizzlies played back-to-back games. On Tuesday, Cleveland lit Memphis up 103-86 in Cleveland. The next night, in Memphis, the Grizzlies got back at the Cavs winning 93-85. Now, one might think that a simple change of venue wouldn’t matter that much. If the same teams play back-to-back nights, you might expect the same results. Well, herein lies the rub. The exact same teams didn’t play back-to-back nights. In fact, Cleveland’s three best players, LeBron James, Kyrie Irving, and Kevin Love, didn’t travel with the team. They stayed home. For whatever reason, Cleveland coach Tyronn Lue wanted to rest his best for the trip.

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Solving the Antinomian Santa (Why there is an Elf on the Shelf)

By Paul Koch –

Last Friday evening, my wife and I hosted our annual Christmas cocktail party. My home was alive with friends, family, church members, and loved ones. There was live music, a mountain of appetizers, and a steady flow of spirit-lifting cocktails, of course. People danced, talked, drank, and laughed late into the evening. At one point, I found myself in the kitchen area (my wife hates it when we congregate there) having a conversation with a few friends about their Christmas traditions. It was here that I learned about the Elf on the Shelf for the first time.

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