Could you do this? Don't think I could.Sorry for no post last night. We had our family Christmas gathering then because Steve & Michelle leave for Michigan tomorrow (Monday). By the time we'd eaten homemade pizza, WAY too much of several desserts, opened gifts and spent the requisite time laughing like fools I was too tired to put together coherent thoughts. And a decent bedtime is required for preachers.
Those same preachers rarely have coherent thoughts in Sunday night, either. But I can't go two nights without a post. The world would end, wouldn't it?
Just so you know not to expect much out of what follows.
This morning's sermon falls into a class that I think all preachers can identify - those which get a hold on us beyond our ability to communicate come Sunday morning.
Friday night's post asked the question, "After we've stripped away all the embellishments we've added to the Christmas narrative (Luke 2), what is the point, the lesson God wants us to get from the sparse details he did provide?" Our answer this morning, the preacher's proposition: The birth narrative establishes the theme of humility." We saw how the all the details of the birth narrative point that direction - the places (Nazareth & Bethlehem), the people (Mary, Joseph, the shepherds), the site (a cave & a feed trough) - and then how that theme plays out through Christ's public ministry and should play out in the lives of his followers.
Well & good, but I have this nagging sense that, while I'm confident that's the point of the narrative, I don't think I got that point across with the power it deserves. The matter of humility is central to so many biblical narratives (second hour we talked again about Saul's journey from humility to fatal pride) that I'm pretty sure we don't talk enough about it.
Speaking of Sunday night quarterbacking, did the Cardinal football team really travel east to play the Pats, or was that a group of guys they pulled together from local pubs? Could they have beat the Lions today?
Phoenix is just about the only place in the country where the weather wasn't news. I had special interest in Seattle's weather which has my folks - and everybody else - stuck inside. Church canceled. Western Michigan and my Michigan peeps? Church canceled.
I want to hear from Al Gore.
Those same preachers rarely have coherent thoughts in Sunday night, either. But I can't go two nights without a post. The world would end, wouldn't it?
Just so you know not to expect much out of what follows.
This morning's sermon falls into a class that I think all preachers can identify - those which get a hold on us beyond our ability to communicate come Sunday morning.
Friday night's post asked the question, "After we've stripped away all the embellishments we've added to the Christmas narrative (Luke 2), what is the point, the lesson God wants us to get from the sparse details he did provide?" Our answer this morning, the preacher's proposition: The birth narrative establishes the theme of humility." We saw how the all the details of the birth narrative point that direction - the places (Nazareth & Bethlehem), the people (Mary, Joseph, the shepherds), the site (a cave & a feed trough) - and then how that theme plays out through Christ's public ministry and should play out in the lives of his followers.
Well & good, but I have this nagging sense that, while I'm confident that's the point of the narrative, I don't think I got that point across with the power it deserves. The matter of humility is central to so many biblical narratives (second hour we talked again about Saul's journey from humility to fatal pride) that I'm pretty sure we don't talk enough about it.
Speaking of Sunday night quarterbacking, did the Cardinal football team really travel east to play the Pats, or was that a group of guys they pulled together from local pubs? Could they have beat the Lions today?
Phoenix is just about the only place in the country where the weather wasn't news. I had special interest in Seattle's weather which has my folks - and everybody else - stuck inside. Church canceled. Western Michigan and my Michigan peeps? Church canceled.
I want to hear from Al Gore.
Hanukkah began 10 minutes ago, local time. Great story, so if you don't know it you should go someplace like Wikipedia to read about it. Maccabean revolt, a David & Goliath story from the intertestamental period.
"Dreidel, dreidel, dreidel...."
I told you not to expect much here and I don't want to disappoint. I'm going to heat up some leftover pizza, pop open a Diet Coke and zone out in front of Panthers/Giants.
See you tomorrow night.
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