This is a great two-minute video that was produced by a Catholic group called Busted Halo. They have a lot of short educational videos. The one below is very good. It explains the relationship between Advent and Christmas pretty well. I found it by f0llowing @rethinkingyouth on twitter. The Rethinking Youth Ministry website is a great resource.
Tag Archives: Advent
Healing
I love Christmas lights. I don’t put very many up myself, but I love other people’s (from Thanksgiving through New Year’s Day. I’m not so much of a fan of them on Valentine’s Day). I especially love displays that have well-synced flashes. I remember as a kid there was a house on our block that always had perfectly neat and straight lights running along their gutter, and they blinked in a way that created a wave. I thought they were so pretty. The ones I didn’t like so much were the ones that blinked, and you could could exactly how many strands of lights were strung together because each one blinked at a different time. It seemed like every once in awhile they were merge and it would look like they were synced, but it was just a trick of timing and pretty soon they would all be random again.
I think our lives are a lot like Christmas lights. Sometimes it seems like everything is happening at random and there is no way to sort out the mess. Things are happening, but there is no way to make sense of any of it. Then there are the times when we are synced up. There might be a lot happening, but we feel like we can handle it. I know that there have been times when the Christmas lights of my life looked liked this:
This is an amazing video to watch. Isn’t it great when our lives feel like this? When everything just seems to fit. To me, this is what healing is all about. Healing is not the absence of disease. It is the presence of order. The source of cure is the chemical compounds that I do not unerstand. The source of healing is the mystery of God that creates order out of chaos, creates light out of darkness, and gives new life to what was once dead.
Healing was a huge part of the ministry of Jesus Christ, and as Christ’s Church it needs to be a part of what we are doing. Unfortunately in most churches healing is seen either as a money-making gimmick of sheisters, or it is limited to the “concerns” part of the congregational prayer.
I believe we need to reclaim the healing ministry of Jesus. We need to stop focusing on cure, and start thinking of how Jesus orders our lives. That amazing light display took hours of time. It took a central computer to coordinate all of the parts. All of those blinks and flashes, if seen on their own, would have appeared to be nothing more than a random display. But since all of those lights were plugged into the central source of power, you get to see this remarkable display.
Our lives are no different. If we are not connected to the central source of power – the Holy Spirit – we will be nothing more than a collection of random blinking. When we connect to the power that is offered in Jesus Christ, watch out. Amazing things can happen. Much more amazing even, then the video above.
So this Advent season, as we prepare the way of the Lord, let us first prepare the way of the Lord in our hearts. Do as Jesus said, and “Open Up.” Open up to the power of the Holy Spirit. Open up to healing. Open up to forgiveness. Open up to reconciliation. Open up to grace. Open your heart to the power of the Holy Spirit, and watch what can happen.
At Riverside UMC, we will be offering people a chance to open up every Wednesday evening in Lent. We will come to the chapel with the sacrament of Communion laid out in front of us, and we will open up to the power of the Holy Spirit. So come every Wednesday at 6:00 p.m. and be healed.
Filed under Christianity
Keep Christ in Christmas
I tell people, “Happy Holidays.” Does that make me any less of a Christian? I don’t think it does, but apparently some people do. As we approach the holiday season, I am bracing myself for the onslaught of “Keep Christ in Christmas” slogans on facebook. I decided to make a preemptive strike, and created this picture.
It seems to have struck a chord. Maybe I’m not the only one that is tired of the righteous indignation of people that think that there is a war on Christmas because a department store puts up a sign that says “Happy Holidays.”
Believe me, I want to keep Christ in Christmas, but I’m not looking for Christ at JC Penny or Kohls. If I want to find Christ in Christmas I will look to a local food pantry or a wardrobe ministry. I will look to a homeless shelter or domestic abuse shelter. If I want to find Christ in Christmas I will go to worship with my brothers and sisters in Christ. I will sing the songs of the ages, and proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ to the world. I will invite my neighbor to worship with me, or I will read the Bible and pray.
Nothing can keep Christ out of Christmas if I endeavor to be the body of Christ this Christmas. So please, spare me the “war on Christmas” rhetoric.
Do you want to know who is waging a war on Christmas? Do you want to know who is spoiling the birth of Christ? It is not the people that have the gall to greet you with “Happy Holidays.” The ones waging a war on Christmas are those that think greed and discrimination are Christian values. They are the ones that think that performance fleece, ipads, diamond earrings, and flatscreens have anything to do with the birth of Jesus Christ.
And before I get too carried away with this rant, let me pause for confession. I know that I can get caught up in the consumerism of it all. I enjoy buying presents for my family and my daughter. I enjoy receiving presents, and am already thinking about “What I want for Christmas.” I know that I will enjoy a holiday in a warm home with plenty of food, and a few gadgets that I certainly don’t need. But I’m going to try.
I’m going to try and live simpler. I’m going to try and seek the true gift of Christmas – the peace of Jesus Christ. I am going to pray more. I am going to read more. I’m going to give a little more. I’m going to sin, but I’m also going to forgive. My economic gain or lower prices will come at the cost of another, but I’m also going to do justice. I’m going to be selfish but I’m also going to show mercy. I’m going to be very happy if this little picture catches on and goes viral, but I’m also going to try and walk humbly with my God.
I’m going to do all of those things because that, I think, is the true meaning of Christmas.
On twitter use #BeChristInChristmas to share how you are working for the Kingdom of God this Christmas season.
11 Ways to Be Christ in Christmas
Filed under Christianity
Keep Christ in Christmas
This is the time of year when people start to talk about the war on Christmas. It is a popular slogan to “Keep Christ in Christmas.” There is nothing wrong with that sentiment, unfortunately for many the battleground for the war on Christmas is in slogans, names and semantics. It’s just a matter of time before someone targets a store to boycott because they have the atheistic gall to put up signs that say “Happy Holidays.”
Keeping Christ in Christmas is about more than how you greet someone or what the sign at JC Penny’s reads, or what you call the decorated tree on the lawn at City Hall.
If you want to keep Christ in Christmas, do something that Christ would actually care about. Feed the hungry, cure the sick, share the good news of Jesus Christ, invite someone to church, pray for others, read your Bible. Those are the things that we can do to keep Christ in Christmas.
Here’s one way Chenoa UMC is trying to keep Christ in Christmas: by giving food to kids over Christmas break. We are trying something new at our church. It was an idea that started in a small group Bible study. Inspired by the call to Risk-Taking Mission, the group decided to try and make Christmas Lunch Boxes for elementary school students that would not have lunch over Christmas Break.
So they started collecting food, and telling others. In a matter of a few days a few hundred dollars and a table full of food has been donated. The principal of Chenoa Elementary was contacted, and a letter is going to go out to every student inviting parents to either make a donation or to call the church to get a Christmas Lunch Box.
We don’t know what is going to happen next, but we feel the power of the Holy Spirit in this mission. We know that there is going to be a child that wakes up on Christmas morning, and might not know a thing about Jesus or the Bible, but they will also not know hunger. That child will sit down at a table and eat a sandwich and Christ will be there – right smack dab in the middle of Christmas.
(If you would like to help with the Christmas Lunch-Box program, please call 815-945-7155, or send checks payable to Chenoa United Methodist Church, and mark them “Lunch Box.”)Filed under Christianity
Advent Poem
I wrote and posted this poem last year, but only a few people were following this site back then. It has a sort of Dr. Seuss rhythm that works better in some stanzas then others, but here’s my first try at poetry in over ten years:
“Established, Unfinished”
by Robb McCoy
Established, unfinished; at hand, yet to be.
For the Kingdom of God, we are waiting to see.
Where’s the Prince of Peace in the midst of such war?
Made the image of God, yet corrupt to core.
It is peace that we seek, for peace do we yearn.
While cities and buildings and children still burn.
Dividing walls built in hearts and with brick,
By people who hold onto Bibles so thick.
Telling us who we can and cannot love,
Like Pharisees all, they strangle the dove.
Through the darkness does break a beacon of hope.
In midst of rough waters a life-saving rope.
Lo a child is born in a manger so rough,
Letting us know that, YES, love is enough.
Love your neighbor, Love God, there is nothing more.
And at once the seams of the curtain, they tore.
In the midst of fighting and chaos and doom,
We know our Creator is saving a room.
The Kingdom of God is still unfulfilled,
We continue to struggle for what God has willed.
Love mercy, do justice, walk humbly with God.
Eat dinner with sinners, the poor and the odd.
Though sometimes the Kingdom comes painfully slow,
Together we struggle, together we go,
to the Kingdom of God, our victory won
Established, unfinished, our stuggle not done.
Another poem. This one is called “Invitation (or Evangelism)”
Filed under Christianity
Etablished, Unfulfilled
It’s a little cheesy, and you can tell that I have been reading some Dr. Seuss with my daughter, but here’s my first try at poetry in over ten years:
Established, unfulfilled, here and yet to be.
People of God, unwilling to see.
Where’s the Prince of Peace in the midst of such war?
We’re in the image of God, yet corrupt to core.
Peace that we seek, for peace do we yearn.
While cities and buildings and children still burn.
Dividing walls built in hearts and with brick
By people who hold onto Bibles so thick.
Telling us who we can and cannot love,
Pharisees all try to strangle the dove.
Through the darkness does break a beacon of hope.
In midst of rough waters a life-saving rope.
Lo a child is born in a manger so rough,
Letting us know that, YES, love is enough.
Love your neighbor, Love God, there is nothing more.
And suddenly the seams of the curtain, they tore.
In the midst of fighting and chaos and doom,
We know that our Creator is saving a room.
The Kingdom of God is still unfulfilled,
We continue to struggle for what God has willed.
Love mercy, do justice, walk humbly with God.
Eat dinner with sinners, the poor and the odd.
Though sometimes the Kingdom comes painfully slow,
Together we struggle, together we go,
to the Kingdom of God, our victory won
Established, unfulfilled, our stuggle not done.
Filed under Christianity
The Fat Pastor 