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December 2 – O Little Town of Bethlehem (A Christmas Carol Advent)

December 2, 2009 in Christmas, Music with 1 Comment

23 MORE DAYS UNTIL CHRISTMAS!

Video

History

An Episcopal Priest from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania named Phillips Brooks wrote the lyrics to O Little Town of Bethlehem in 1868 three after visiting the tiny town of Bethlehem and being inspired by that visit.  The music was added by the church organist named Lewis Redner.

Commentary & Analysis

This song comments on the seeming clash between the silent and sleepy town of Bethlehem and the birth of God in that town one sleepy silent night.  Theologically the song is dead on!  In the dark streets of Bethlehem, like our darkened heart, God shines an everlasting light in the form of his son Jesus Christ.

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December 1 – Christmas With A Capital "C" (A Christmas Carol Advent)

December 1, 2009 in Christmas, Music with 1 Comment

24 MORE DAYS UNTIL CHRISTMAS!

Video

History

From the album titled Snow, Christmas With a Capital “C” is performed by the Go Fish Guys.  Go Fish is a popular Christian groups whose music, for the most part, targets children but with an “adult friendly” angle.  In other words, it’s kids’ music that most adults don’t mind listening to.  However, their harmonic Christmas album Snow is wonderful for all ages and includes this song which has had a viral response on the internet with over 9,000,000 views of their youtube video.

Commentary & Analysis

This song revolts against the current cultural trend which tries to separate Christ from the celebration of his birthday.  Go Fish defiantly reminds us that “It’s about the birth of Christ, and you can’t take that away.”   No matter what our society does with Christmas, as Christians we must remember what the day is really all about.  It’s about the birth of our savior Jesus Christ.  In the second verse, the song introduces the basics of the gospel – that we all sin (“God’s got a law and we pretty much destroyed it.”), that we will be judged (“We’re gonna get judged, there’s no way to avoid it.”), and that Jesus came to be our savior (“But Jesus came down to take the punishment for me.”).  Ultimately, that IS what Christmas is all about!

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A Christmas Carol Advent

November 26, 2009 in Christmas, Music with 2 Comments

The purpose of this post is to announce a change of pace for the month of December.  I love Christmas.  I always have.  I love Christmas Day, and I love everything that goes along with the Christmas season.  I love Christmas music of all sorts.  In fact, I loved it all long before I ever knew Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior.  Obviously, since that time, it has taken on a whole new meaning.  This Christmas season, I decided to use this blog to feature some of my favorite Christmas songs.

So, Beginning December 1 and continuing through December 25, this blog will host A Christmas Carol Advent.  We will count down until Christmas through 25 popular Christmas songs.  Each day will present a different song complete with a link to a youtube video, a brief history, a commentary and analysis of the song, a listing of questions that can be used for reflection and devotion and the lyrics to each song.  I have tried to feature a mixture of traditional and contemporary songs.

I hope that you will interact with this advent calendar by posting comments on the many Christmas Songs that will be featured.  If you have an interesting fact about the song, feel free to post it.  If you want to answer one of the questions posed for each day, please feel free to leave a comment.  I hope you will enjoy this feature, and we will get back to normal posts and articles following Christmas!

What are Your Thanksgiving Traditions? (Children’s Ministry Moment #6)

November 24, 2009 in Children's Ministry Moments, Thanksgiving with 1 Comment

Childrens_Ministry_MomentsThis past weekend in our large group teaching, I was talking to the kids about the Thanksgiving traditions in their family and reminding them what we have to be thankful for above all other things. We were talking about family coming and visiting relatives. We were talking about who does and doesn’t like turkey. Then, I started to ask them what else they had for Thanksgiving. We went through the usual suspects:

  • Turkey
  • Ham
  • Any other kind of meat
  • Corn
  • Potatoes
  • Stuffing
  • Sweet Potatoes
  • Green Beans
  • Pumpkin Pie
  • Pecan Pie
  • Other Vegetables

Then I asked if anyone had anything else every Thanksgiving they I hadn’t mentioned yet.  There were a couple of answers (which frankly I can’t remember as I write this), then one little boy raised his hand, and I called on him: Continue Reading…

My Favorite Palm Sunday Story

April 5, 2009 in Palm Sunday with 1 Comment

Many people have a favorite Christmas Story or even Easter story, but I have a favorite Palm Sunday story. I’ll get to that later, but first let’s remember the reason behind this day:

And when he had said these things, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. When he drew near to Bethphage and Bethany to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two of the disciples, saying to them, “Go into the village in front of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her, on which no one has ever sat, on which no one has ever yet sat. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ you shall say: ‘The Lord has need of it and will send it back here immediately.’” So those who were sent went away and found it just as he had told them. And as they were untying the colt, its owners said to them, “Why are you untying the colt?” And they said, “The Lord has need of it.”

This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet saying:

“Say to the daughter of Zion, ‘Behold, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.”

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Let us never forget…

November 16, 2008 in Thanksgiving with 0 Comments

One of the little girls in Sunday school this morning proudly told me that Psalm 118:1 was “Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good.”  We were learning about Thanksgiving, and her point was right on track.  I told her that that was one of my favorite verses, and reminded her that the whole Psalm, indeed the whole Bible, was full of great points like this one to remember and build our lives upon.  When I got home this afternoon, I looked up Psalm 118 again to refresh my recollection.  I was not disappointed.  Anything I can say will pale in comparison to God’s word, so here is Psalm 118 with some of my favorite verses highlighted:

1 Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good;
his love endures forever.

2 Let Israel say:
“His love endures forever.”

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