Don’t Read Blogs on Christmas!
Advent Synchroblog
Don’t forget that there is another Advent Synchroblog next week. Please begin thinking now about what you want to write for it! These Synchroblogs are great ways for people to discover your blog.
Here is the description of what to write on:
Christmas Day has come and gone, even the after Christmas sales far more exciting for some than the birth of Christ, are behind us. But did any of us really get what we expected? This long anticipated season celebrating the birth of Christ our Saviour, often comes with unexpected consequences. The gifts never quite meet everyone’s expectations and leave behind mountains of wrapping paper and ribbon that will add yet more indestructible rubbish to the landfills. And Jesus doesn’t always give us what we expect either. We welcome him as a cute little baby but if we continue to journey with him, we soon realize that he wants to turn our world upside down. A child born in a stable is much easier to cope with than a revolutionary leader. This month’s synchroblog is centered around the unexpected consequences of our journey with Jesus. Where has it led us that we never anticipated? In what ways has it really turned our world upside down?
Coming down from Christmas always leaves us in a little bit of a fugue state. Let us know your thoughts and perspectives on this with links to your blog in the comment section at the Synchroblog blog. Please get them in by 7 pm (EST) on Tuesday, December 27, 2011.
As always, the breadth and depth of perspective here will be one more gift for all of us to open.
I plan on participating again. How about you?
New Locations on Grace Ground
I am part of a blogging community over at Grace Ground, and want to welcome two new contributors:
The first is Kimberly Parker.
In her opening post, she writes this:
When God teaches me a lesson, He often does so through the people I am closest with. Do you find that? In every encounter, with every face we meet during the day, we have the opportunity to see God at work – however, those we share our homes and workplaces with afford us the most opportunity because it is with those that we have the most influence.
Absolutely true! So often we go looking for people to help and serve across town or around the world when the people God really wants us to love are under the same roof or over the backyard fence.
The second new contributor is Alastair McCollum, who is a “Vicar in the Church of England.” What is a Vicar in the Church of England? You’ll have to head over to his first post to find out.
Here is an excerpt from his first post:
When I applied for this position, as Vicar to the Five Alive Mission Community, three years ago it was partly because the Five Alive bit caught my attention, but mainly because of those last two words. Mission Community. This was and is a new term in the C of E, and was a name chosen to reflect the two purposes, as described in a report called ‘Moving on in Mission and Ministry’, of the Parish Churches of the Church of England. Those two purposes: Being in Mission and Being in Community.
Head on over to Grace Ground to read the rest of these posts, and welcome them to the blogging community!
Biggest Hoping Day of the Year
Today is one of the most important days of the year.
No, not because it is one of the biggest shopping days of the year, but because it kicks off one of the most celebrated seasons of the Calendar Year: the Season of Advent.
One of the reasons the Christmas Season is so celebrated is because it focuses on hope. Christmas is a Season of Hope. It looks to the birth of Jesus in the past, and all the hope that was wrapped up in that tiny baby born in a manger 2000 years ago, and generates hope in us today as well, that things can change, that things can get better, that redemption can come, that pain and wars and famine and sickness and trials and hunger can disappear, that tears will be wiped away.
Christmas season pulls all the hopes and dreams of the entire world and wraps them into a celebration of hope.
Christmas is probably the most widely celebrated Christian festival in the world. Incredibly, the birth of a tiny baby two thousand years ago in an obscure village in Palestine still has the power to impact and transform lives. Unfortunately it is also the most commercialized event on our calendars and even for many Christians is fast losing its religious significance. So what are we really expecting this Advent and Christmas season? Are we just waiting for a baby born in a stable or are we expecting a Saviour who will transform the world? This month’s synchroblog is centered around our expectations for the Advent and Christmas season. What are we expecting? How will it impact our lives and our faith?
I answered this question with my post here.
Well Said…
Here are some of the best blog posts and blog comments I read this week:
Great Blog Posts
- Have you been hurt by the church? Kathy Escobar is starting an online class called “Hope for the Wounded: Helping Those Hurt by the Church.” I encourage you to participate, if you can.
- Valdez from a new blog called “Faith in the Postmodern World” wrote a great article summarize the Emergent/ Emerging/ Missional/ Organic church that has been developing over the past twenty years or so. If you are wondering about these movements, or need a refresher, go check out his post.
- Brad Brisco from the Missional Church Network wrote a great post called “Meeting the Neighbahs.” If you need ideas for loving and serving your community, reading that post is a great place to start, and then head over to Sam’s series on Loving Your Neighbors for a more in-Depth look.
- Eric Carpenter from A Pilgrim’s Progress asked some great questions about how big of a church is too big? What do you think? Go on over and read his post, and weigh in on the conversation.
- I was interested to read what Alan Knox wrote this week about speaking in tongues, since I knew that I would be posting on it earlier today. Alan has some great input on the subject, pointing out that when we are “gathered with the church (i.e., other Christians) [we should] always and only do and say things that will benefit the group.” Right on, Alan! (As always)
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