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
Tag: Jesus (Page 63 of 68)
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
I have become more and more of a morning person. I never thought that it would happen but now it seems as if I can just jump out of bed and get right to work. For the longest time I would awaken only to struggle and struggle. You’d have to pry my eyelids open with toothpicks some mornings! Some mornings I just couldn’t stay awake. Continue reading
I have a privilege of having trial of satellite radio in my vehicle, and the message had an interview with Natalie Grant about her new album. As I listened to her share her story and the meaning of each of the songs, my heart was drawn to one particular song – Clean. What an amazing song! What an amazing story! I know that I won’t do it justice but we’ll give it a shot. Continue reading
We all have a story to tell. What’s yours? With the news hitting recently about all of the devastation and destruction and evil hitting our world, it’s probably a good time to focus on the story that makes us who we are. 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.
What voices do you listen to in this world? Is it the news? What about your friends? Or is it your spouse or significant other? Do you listen the voices of the pop culture superstars? Or the self-help gurus?
If you’re listening to any of these, then you’re probably not finding a lot of comfort in your self-worth. I remember growing up, my parents would always tell me Remember who and whose you are. Those words echo in my mind constantly even 20 years later. Continue reading
Pretty sure we’ve all been there. You know one of those – my life just flat stinks kind of days. You wake up and think it would have been better if you’d have just stayed in bed kind of days. This week’s song is Glow in the Dark by Jason Gray. Continue reading
I’ve become very fond of music that’s a bit folky sounding, and this one is a great one! Imagine for a moment being lost in a fog. Better yet, think of all of those ships navigating their way to shore and the fog covers the horizon to the point that they can’t see where to go next. They call out on the radio for assistance and the lighthouse attendant activates the intense light beam to guide them to shore. Continue reading
No one can hold it all together all of the time. We’re all bound to break at some point. We can only run so fast of so long before we just crash. As a pastor I have a tendency to fall into this category of holding it all together. I’m the kind of person who likes to make sure that everything gets done right, even if that means I do it myself. Continue reading
