An Introvert Looks at Advent – "I'm willing to suspend my cultural cynicism for a moment and speculate that at the root of American consumer Christmas is a deep-seated desire for meaning. I may be way off on this, but I suspect the decorations, the music, the saturated social calendars, the capitalistic flurry, and the caloric overload are attempts at finding something true, something significant. Hopes for discovering community and transcendence … The problem, I think, is that our culture doesn't know how to truly celebrate. Over-consumption and over-stimulation are the only ways we know how to mark a special occasion. Even though most of us implicitly know it doesn't work and that we're going to wake up with a hangover, it's all we know how to do. When there is a significant event, we commemorate it by scurrying around, spending absurd amounts of money, gathering a crowd, and turning up the volume. If we're not weighed down by anxiety and insomnia, then it must not be a very important occasion."
Christmas Has Always Been Complicated – "From a historical perspective, controversy surrounded Christmas for the first five centuries of church history; and its effects still linger in some circles today … The Ebionites, a legalistic first- and second-century cult, denied the Virgin Birth … In the second and third centuries, the Gnostics likewise denied the incarnation … In the fourth century, the Arians affirmed the humanity of Christ, but denied his full deity … The Nicene Creed, in essence then, was a defense of the biblical understanding of Christmas."
Material Possessions and Dependency on God – "Let’s be honest here, the American church has taken material wealth to levels never even dreamed by the founders of the New Testament church. 'Give us this day our daily bread' was a genuine, heart-felt prayer reflective of a deep-seated daily need by the early church. My church, on the other hand, raised $1.5 Million last year for a new air conditioner in our Sanctuary … The sad truth is, we just do not need God to meet daily needs when we have material wealth." So this begs the question, where is the point at which we need God?
Not Sure What To Say – Most of us don't have a handy collection of responses when one or both members of a couple announce they are dealing with infertility. Telling them they can borrow your kids isn't helpful: "Now, there is lots of room in the world for great aunts and uncles. I have taught children for several years without having my own children. But when you dismissively offer to give away your children (or tacitly encourage the abduction of your children), you minimize their value and worth. Yes, we know that kids are hard. We are paying thousands of dollars to try to have one anyway. Either you are pretending that children are not really worth it, or you are just a miserable person who should not have had kids to begin with."
George Whitefield Would Have Loved Twitter – Or, according to this article, Facebook and YouTube. You either loved him or hated him: "Actors felt threatened when Whitefield, an actor-turned-evangelist, decided to build a church called the Tabernacle in London just down the street from the theaters. 'He’s lampooned in really popular plays, the most famous being the ‘Dr. Squintum’ play, which is just a total sensation in Britain,' said [Thomas S.] Kidd of Whitefield, who was cross-eyed after a childhood ailment. He had rotten eggs, turnips and stones thrown at him and once was saved from a stoning by his beaver hat, wrote Kidd." The article goes on to suggest that it was Whitefield and Wesley who started "the battles that continue between Calvinists and non-Calvinists."
Persecution Up Close and Personal – American Pastor Saeed Abedini writes, "These days are very cold here. My small space beside the window is without glass making most nights unbearable to sleep. The treatment by fellow prisoners is also quite cold and at times hostile. Some of my fellow prisoners don’t like me because I am a convert and a pastor. They look at me with shame as someone who has betrayed his former religion. The guards can’t even stand the paper cross that I have made and hung next to me as a sign of my faith and in anticipation of celebrating my Savior’s birth. They have threatened me and forced me to remove it. This is the first Christmas that I am completely without my family; all of my family is presently outside of the country. These conditions have made this upcoming Christmas season very hard, cold and shattering for me. It appears that I am alone with no one left beside me."
Our Tabloid Fascination with Rob Bell – "This is precisely why Rob Bell has and still does connect with so many of us—we may have different stories, but we all know what it is like to be taken out into the Evangelical church parking lot for asking the wrong questions … Rob has come to symbolically represent so many of us who have experienced the deep pain of being told, there’s no room for you in this inn. As I have gotten to know so many out there … the one trend I have noticed is this: we all have very similar stories of pain, hurt, and loss that immediately followed our questions. Some are kicked out of churches, some out of seminaries, and many have real-world friendships stripped away from them—often over areas that are clearly “secondary” theology where there is room for charitable Christian disagreement."
Christian, Celibate, But Same-Sex Attracted – Julie Roys addressed this issue on a program for Moody Radio, and then profiled a counselor at Wheaton College who fits that description for an article at World Magazine. In turn, that produced a reaction from Carl Trueman: "Indeed, to say that those who use the label ‘gay’ should not find their identity in their sexuality is akin to saying that people who declare themselves to be Democrat or Republican may do so as long as they are not making a statement about their political sympathies and allegiances. If you do not find any part of your identity in your sexuality, then you should not use language which exists solely for the purpose of expressing identity through sexuality … One wonders what exactly the thinking on this issue is at Wheaton."
Someone Had to Go First – Just a month after approving women as bishops in the Church of England, the first such bishop, Reverend Libby Lane was appointed.
Paul Wilkinson and his wife are deciding whether to exchange cards this year, or spend the money going out for dessert.
