Merry Christmas everyone! As a proud dad, I am amazed at my own short-sightedness in not being ‘constantly vigilant’ for ways to bless my kids & spouse. Luckily, my wife is amazing at it and brought back some of her Lutheran roots with our family celebration of Advent.
Growing up Baptist, we didn’t celebrate Advent…probably more to minimize my love of fire than anything else… Anyway, what a great way to celebrate the birth of Christ for a whole month instead of just one day! We have the advent wreath with candles & light a new one every Sunday starting 4+ weeks before Christmas. Then we read verses together around the meaning that Jesus plays in Christmas in 4 different ways & pray together. Advent studies abound & you can usually find one, with candles included at a local Christian bookstore or giftshop.
Another thing we’ve started to do is to READ THE CHRISTMAS STORY to our kids in shorter sections instead of all at once! This works great for kids’ attention spans AND usually works well for your small group as well!!! (adds in discussion time on the main points) Here is a suggested reading plan from BSF International.
Christmas Story Reading Plan for Families or Groups
A Savior King is Promised – Isaiah 7:14; 9:6-7; Jeremiah 23:5; Micah 5:2-5a
The Angel Visits Mary – Luke 1:26-38
The Angel Visits Joseph – Matthew 1:18-25
The Trip to Bethlehem & Stable Lodging – Luke 2:1-7
The Christ Child is Born – Luke 2:6-7
The Angels Visit the Shepherds – Luke 2:8-14
The Shepherds Visit the Manger – Luke 2:15-18
The Wise Men Travel to Jerusalem – Matthew 2:1-8
The Wise Men Worship the Christ Child – Matthew 2:9-12
The Trip to Egypt – Matthew 2:13-15
Enjoy the Season!


and he has a quote that has been stirring around in my head a while. The quote is “If the church will not pray, God will not act.” (not that He can’t, but that He won’t…there is some implied partnership that He desires from us)
until the money runs out.” He explains in his “Assumptions” podcast that people come to love programs and all the great things that have come out of those programs/habits and are far more focused on maintaining them than evaluating where they are still effective or not.