I recently read in the newspaper a little blurb about Christmas that floored me. Apparently, "cancelling" Christmas was a phenomenon at some Protestant churches in the US. Due to fears of low turnout, they declined to hold services on Sunday, the 25th. I certainly get it. I'm ashamed to admit that I had a groan moment when I realized that Christmas Day fell on a Sunday this year. Its not so much not wanting to be at church on the day, it's just adding the pressure of getting eight people dressed nicely and out of the house in a timely manner on Christmas morning that is intimidating. But as soon as that internal shudder went through my body, it was immediately followed by guilt. There's no way around it - being upset about church interfering with secular Christmas activities is an unacceptable state of the heart for anyone who calls themselves a Christian. And, as is usually the case, God had our backs - Christmas can get a little hairy between the stress and mess. The timeout from those fun but unimportant activities was exactly what we needed to refresh and calm ourselves and have our hearts in the right place to celebrate the true meaning of the day.
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Monday, January 30, 2012
Almost Done
Posted by The Merry Band of Fife at 8:57 AM 1 comments
Sunday, January 29, 2012
SOS
...Jesus said that "all the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments": love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind and love your neighbor as yourself (see Matt. 22:34-40). The two commandments go together. The first produces the second, and the second proves the first.
Posted by The Merry Band of Fife at 5:43 AM 2 comments
Labels: Christianity, SOS
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Christmas - Hero
Posted by The Merry Band of Fife at 6:23 AM 2 comments
Friday, January 27, 2012
Can Time Move Faster?
Posted by The Merry Band of Fife at 2:18 PM 1 comments
Labels: Christianity, reading
Christmas - Allegra
Posted by The Merry Band of Fife at 7:16 AM 2 comments
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Christmas - Ian
Posted by The Merry Band of Fife at 8:58 AM 0 comments
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Christmas - Colin
Posted by The Merry Band of Fife at 7:23 AM 1 comments
Labels: Colin
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Christmas - Cecily & Elinor
Monday, January 23, 2012
Christmas Eve - Part 2
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Spirit of Sunday
I've been thinking that I love the newsy, scrapbook style of my blog, for the most part. It was originally started as an electronic record of all of our goings-on, after all. But I sometimes feel the urge to speak my mind on more philosophical matters, and I think there can be a place here for that too. I like the idea of a recurring Spirt of Sunday (SoS, which seems apropros, does it not?) post, where I delve into what's been kicking around in my brain for the week, spiritually-speaking. It sounds kind of daunting, all of the sudden, when I write it out like that. But my goal is not to discourse on theological matters at all (oh how I would fail on that account!), but more to share some small thing that has either given me cause to think or encouraged me.
James and I are currently working our way through the book of Job. Boy it's a tough book. We like to read stuff through on our own first, without any guides or anything like that, just so we don't go in with any preconceived notions. But, this will be a book that can definitely use a re-read, when we're done, with the help of a study guide. Last night we digested chapters 11 and 12. At first glance they seemed rather depressing, but, especially in chapter 12, we found a great deal of comfort. The theme seems to be that here, on this earth, evil people often prosper, while the good suffer. One would need to be blind to not see that truth, as its reflected in every aspect of our culture. It's also a common argument brought up by non-Christians when attacking the Christian faith, and probably one of the harder ones, for me anyways, to answer. It was a comfort for me, to have it reaffirmed that I can let go of that sense of "unfairness" and injustice and place it in the hands of God's superior wisdom and understanding.
Posted by The Merry Band of Fife at 1:24 PM 2 comments
Labels: SOS
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Christmas Eve - Part 1
Posted by The Merry Band of Fife at 6:26 AM 0 comments
Friday, January 20, 2012
"Feeding" the Reindeer
Posted by The Merry Band of Fife at 8:16 AM 1 comments
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Photo Inspiration
Posted by The Merry Band of Fife at 3:11 PM 1 comments
Labels: Elle
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Too Much, Too Late
Posted by The Merry Band of Fife at 10:32 AM 1 comments
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Christmas Cookies
Friday, January 13, 2012
One Last Program Picture
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Recital Time
Posted by The Merry Band of Fife at 8:16 AM 1 comments