Category: Family History
America, the City on a Hill, and the Pursuit of Happiness
You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden, nor does anyone light a...
What was the Reformation and Why Did it Happen?
What was the Reformation, why did it happen, and what role did Martin Luther play? The Reformation...
The Face Off Between David Bentley Hart and NT Wright
In news other than immigration and Mueller, there are rumblings among theologians within the...
Should Christians Celebrate Christmas?
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Ash Wednesday, Good Friday, Easter Eggs and Maundy Thursday: Where Did Our Easter Traditions Come from?
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For the past several days, I’ve been compiling information on local services for Easter and Holy Week. Aside from the Easter and Christmas Christians, there really are people out there that don’t have a church they would feel comfortable walking into if they felt so led. This was my little contribution by removing one excuse from the equation.
Shavout & Pentecost: A Celebration of God’s Faithfulness
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Do you know what today is? It is the day of Pentecost. The anniversary of the beginning of the church and the day the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples waiting for commissioning in Jerusalem.
After Jesus rose on the third day after his crucifiction, he appeared to his disciples and others, explaining many of the Scriptures for the next 37 days. Forty days after Passover, he ascended into heaven. Before he did, he told them to preach the Gospel to all nations, but before they went, they were to wait upon the Holy Spirit.
So they went back to Jerusalem and waited. Waiting, watching, and praying.
Ten days later, on Shavout, the Holy Spirit fell upon them, baptizing them in spirit and power.
Passover: Promise and Deliverance
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Passover is viewed differently by different people. If you are Jewish, it is one of the main holy feasts that is observed whether you are particularly observant or not. It is part of your cultural identity. If you are a Christian, it may be several things. You may know it from the Exodus story from Sunday School, or you may be familiar with it from how often it is a part of the account of Jesus’s ministry in the New Testament. If you are into Biblical prophecy, both those fulfilled and those yet to come, you see it as one of God’s appointed times and Passover and the surrounding feasts were all fulfilled through Jesus’s death (at the same time as the slaughtering of the sacrificial lamb,) resurrection (on First Fruits,) and the coming of the Holy Spirit (Shavout/Pentecost.)
Saint Valentine and Standing Firm
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It’s Valentine’s Day, and most of us are focusing on notes, sweets, and spending time with loved ones. But in looking at the root of the holiday, there is a deeper meaning and lessons to be learned.
Like many of our holidays (“holy days,”) Valentine’s Day began as an observance on the church calendar marking the death of a saint, a believer who numbers among the “great cloud of witnesses” in Hebrews 12:1 that we can be encouraged by and take example from.
Christmas, Candy Canes, and Chaos
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A week ago my daughter, Avery, came home from a church LEAD team party bubbling with stories of her friends. She had a candy cane in hand and showed me the card with a poem about candy canes. I’m sure you’ve seen it:
St Nicholas and Isaiah 58
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As I mentioned in another post, I go into the Kingwood Garden Center once a week to get information for their newsletter. This week Michal wanted to include a blurb titled “Ho, Ho, Ho! Merry Citrus” as a lead in to suggest giving citrus trees as gifts.
As I started gathering the information, the thought crossed my mind to see if there was actually a connection between Christmas and oranges. So I googled “Christmas and oranges” and a whole series of articles on oranges in Christmas stockings and St. Nicholas came up.
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