Holy day...

We are rapidly aproaching this great holiday of Christmas! I've been fortunate enough to actually be able to spend some time with family, my sister has been here all week and leaves tomorrow. We've had a great time! This has been the most time ever that just her and I have spent together...without any parents. Like I've said, it's been a great time! I received an email from one of my fellow brothers about Christmas, he writes:
"I recently heard some disturbing news about Christmas this year. The report is that larger churches, particularly those in major cities, are foregoing church services on Christmas Day.

Why?

To me, this makes no sense. Granted, there will be people who skip, preferring to sleep late, or visit family, or stay home so they can participate in that mainstream commercialism of Christmas known as "opening presents." But to me, Christmas is not just a holiday, but a Holy Day, and if God's Church is not going to celebrate it as such, then who is?

And this year Christmas falls on a Sunday, which now gives us two reasons to celebrate this doubly Holy Day, the Lord's Day and Christmas.

Through the grapevine of the mainstream media, I keep hearing about this so-called "War on Christmas." Apparently some Christians are complaining because major retailers like Wal-Mart and Target are foregoing the use of "Merry Christmas" in favor of the more eclectic "Happy Holidays." Now, I'm not going to argue one way or another whether such a "War on Christmas" is a genuine effort to secularize the holiday or not. But I will say this: if you want to win this so-called "War on Christmas," then it seems to me the best way to do so is to celebrate it in the appropriate way: In Church. That's right. Instead of following the way of the world and ignoring the call to celebrate the Lord's Day, I am suggesting actually attending Church, giving thanks to God for the gift of his Son, Jesus Christ, and celebrating the mystery of his Incarnation among fellow believers in Christ.

And granted, these large churches may be looking at diminished attendance on the Holy Day, but so what? Surely there must be some Christians out there—even those that attend these big city mega churches—that want to celebrate the Holy Day. It would seem to me that the Church has a responsibility to minister to their needs, rather than to accommodate those who choose to ignore the Holy Day.

I am reminded of that old cartoon, "How the Grinch Stole Christmas." In this cartoon, that mean old Grinch decides to ruin the holiday by stealing everybody's stuff. He takes not only their decorations and presents, but also all their food, leaving them absolutely nothing. But on Christmas Day, the people celebrate anyway. Why? Because Christmas was something far bigger than anything the Grinch could do to stop it. They celebrated anyway, because Christmas wasn't about presents and food, but something far deeper. To us Christians, it is nothing short of the birth of our God, when our Lord left his heavenly glory and took upon himself our lowly human estate. Our God came down from heaven so to meet us.

So do you care about keeping the "Christ" in "Christmas?" Then get up on Sunday and go to church. And if the church you normally attend is one of those that decided to close on this Lord's Day, then find one that is having Christmas services and attend there. And let the leaders of your regular church know that you think it far more appropriate that they actually celebrate Christ's coming than to follow the ways of the world by shutting their doors to worshippers on this most holy day. Let's not let that mean old Grinch steal the true meaning of this holy day from us.

Oh, and one more thing: if the concern is to give your pastor a chance to enjoy the holiday, then that is commendable. But instead of foregoing worship, perhaps it would be more appropriate just to have Scripture readings and music instead of a sermon. Personally, I plan to preach both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, but I can certainly understand a pastor wanting a chance to relax. I just don't feel it is appropriate to forego worship on this holy day, especially when Christmas is on a Sunday." -Thomas Wright (A fellow LCMS brother.)

Christmas is cancelled!

Maybe we should cancel the way that we practice this holiday. That's my feeling on the day. If we are going to give gifts, we should do it on Epiphany...that's when Jesus got his gifts, right? I'm not going to take this too deep today, but I do want to share a picture that my grandma sent me:
Hahahahaha! I thought that that was hilarious!
Here's a picture that I took at the beach a few weeks ago...I had a little spare time and it was an idea that I'd had since I first found out that I was going to be in Florida for the winter (some of you have already seen it):


MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Christmas...Holiday

I'm on an impressive streak here, this is my fourth blogging day in a row! Is it that I have extra time...not really...more so trying to release some energy to get other things done. But this is definately not my scrap work.
Last night was the Christmas Contata at my church. It was really great. There's one song that I really enjoyed that they did called "Christmastime," and some of the kids sang the openning to it. Seriously, it was so awesome.
So, with all this commotion about Christmas being called a Holiday, I was reminded by the "Grrr" section by By Mike Straka of FOXnews of what Holiday means. Well, here's the Grrr that was posted by one of his readers:
Sean in San Antonio, Texas: With all the mindless ranting about the use of the dreaded "C" word, I find it highly amusing that the recommended alternative is "Holiday." Now, those familiar with the English language--and I mean the real English language not the PC version -- know where I am going with this. If you look at the etymology of the word "Holiday," you will see that it actually means "Holy Day," or a day devoted to God. Now, I am sure this will spark a new uprising against "Happy Holidays," but until then, I'll just smile when I hear the language police try to de-emphasize the Christ in Christmas by wishing me a Happy Holy Day.
Ah-ha! Isn't English great?! If you have the opportunity to hear someone wish you a "Happy Holiday(s)," remind them that "Holiday" means "Holy Day," see what happens!

Munchkin Christmas Show

So, last night was hilarious! We had our Open Arms Preschool Christmas Show, it was so funny. The little ones had actions to go with their songs and they did them all, but it so reminded me of The Wizard of Oz's munchkins...on drugs. These kids sung their hearts out and after each class sung their song, they ran around to the back of the sanctuary...seriously, I laughed pretty hard. The best was their last song when they sung "We Wish You a Merry Christmas," they'd raise their right arm and then swing it across the front of their bodies, that's really what made it look like something from Oz.
Okay, so a guy name Mark plays guitar for our praise service and his family came out to the Christmas show, he also has an older sister. So, right as I'm shaking her hand, an old guy walks up and says, "Now, you're not giving away your daughter, yet are you?" Whoa! That was very weird...and I wasn't too uncomfortable with it, but I saw that she was. That was my first experience with someone doing that right in front of me, I've heard about that happening with other guys. (That aproach seems a little weird for me.) My option was fight or flight, well, since I was on my way to deliver a mitten left in the sanctuary, I flight-ed. I probably shouldn't have, oh well.
About 45 minutes after their show, I had to shift gears and get ready for a memorial service for one of our members who died at the beginning of the month. I learned some things about Gene: he was a Korean veteran, he played practical jokes on people, and really enjoyed the men's Bible study on Thursday mornings at Perkins. I met his two sons last night, they both have a lot of the same facial features and expressions that their father had.
So last night on MSNBC, I watched this special report by Brian Williams on "A Day with the President." It was a really good program where Williams followed Bush around all day long and had sporadic times where the two sat down and talked. Bush answered some of the hard questions that he's been dodging and they even showed part of the clip in Philly where he had just given a speech and instead of having picked out people to ask specific questions, it was an open bi-partisan forum. And the President answered those questions as well, which ranged from getting out of Iraq to why did we start this war. (Williams asked some similar questions as well.) All in all I was impressed with how our President answered all the questions.
Yesterday, while I was working out, I saw a brief little news clip about how the phrases, "Homosexuality is a Sin" and "Jesus will set you free," are not covered under freedom of speech. Huh? I watched that on CNN news and this morning I went to cnn.com to see if I could track this story down and I couldn't find anything. However, I did run across a blogger that was discussing this issue. He wrote, asking, What's the difference between homosexuality and greed? (On a sin level.) There isn't a difference. We probably treat it differently because it's rather repulsive...I'm not hating on anyone here, I have a family member that is gay and I love that person. Perhaps it is one of those sins that we don't see any confession on, unlike someone who might be greedy seeking confession...but in either case, if someone is in a form of habitual sin, doesn't someone else need to step and help that person out. That doesn't necessarily mean changing them, but by first loving them, showing them that someone does care. This goes to my blog from Monday, what about adult film actors/actresses? Should we keep them outside of our church walls? Jesus talked about coming to heal the sick, do we think that we are so well that we do not want to be infiltrated with their sin disease? We are all sick individuals and the help we each need will be different from one person to the next, from one degree to another. And Jesus is the only one who can eternally make the difference, because he already made the difference when he died on that cross nearly 2000 years ago. I say, first we need to help the individual by bringing them the Gospel, then help them with their particular sin- whether it is lust (which counts for straight and gay individuals), greed, malice, or whatever else their problem is.

Best Idea today: Going to the Christmas show last night. Again, it was hilarious.
Worst Idea today: Not that I can control this, but it's cooled off a lot outside. I know that I'm in Florida, and you're not (a variation of SNL's weekend update with Chevy Chase), but that doesn't mean that it's cold out here. Maybe if I'd stop wearing shorts and t-shirts that might make a difference too.

Slogan of the day: "Get the Door- It's Brett Snider."
(You can sloganize your name at http://www.thesurrealist.co.uk/slogan.cgi)

Pearl Harbor Day

It was 64 years ago on this date that we, the United States, were brought into the Second Great War, thus making it World War II. I had a chance to see Pearl Harbor this past May, it is a somber sight, seeing all of the names of the servicemen that died on all of those ships that day. Four years after the war started, do you think that we had war protesters? No. Did we have people questioning whether we should have gone into attack Nazi Germany, since it was the Japanese that attacked us? No. Instead, we did the right thing, we went after those who where oppressing people, nations of which we fought for and in which fight against us today. Fast forward 60 years from the attack on Pearl Harbor to 9/11. It was the first devestating attack on America since Pearl Harbor. This time we were attacked by a nationless people, cells of terrorists that are spread throughout this world. Again, we have a president that wants to do the right thing, go after the people responsible. Perhaps Iraq isn't the exact place where all the terrorists are, we know that there are some in Afganistan, but by bringing a war to Iraq, we bring the terrorists there instead of here. Further, we are making headway in that country by establishing a free people. Sure, I would love to know where the WMDs are, but the best we can say is that they are gone. But, it's interesting that Dems. are attacking the President on this issue, yet they saw the evidence of these weapons...hmmm. Or, what about the intelligence we had from France, Germany, and Russia that agreed with our own and the intelligence we had back from the Clinton era? Very interesting stuff. But, I think that we need to take a look at how our country supported our troops and government during World War II and perhaps take a page out of that time's history and do our best to serve our country.

Speaking of wars and our country...I must agree with Bill O'Reilly that we do have a culture war going on in our country that has been going on for decades, which has only hit mainstream over the past 10-15 years. This Christmas, somethings just seem completely out of hand between secularists and traditionalists (to use O'Reilly's language). I'm obviously pulling for the traditionalist side of things, being one myself. And I'm happy that Target has finally agreed to use the "Merry Christmas" phrase in their advertisements...should we ban stores that do not use this phrase, not necessarily. But I will say that if stores and other things in our culture do not want to use Christmas during this time of season, perhaps they should rethink how they market and also remember that Christmas shopping accounts for nearly 50% of all of their sales. But on that note, do we/have we Christians succumbed to society when it comes to the commercialism of Christmas? I think so. I do include myself in this judgement as well, even though I am becoming less and less about the gifts and becoming more and more about the "reason for the season." It shouldn't be about gifts or any of that crap, it is about Jesus Christ- the Son of God, that was born to die for all of humankind! Heck, get rid of all of that happy, joyful, whatever crap...not that those things are bad, but that's not exactly what Christmas is about. People want to make Christmas a "family day," or a time to be joyful for anything...that's a load... A true telling of the times is that there are tons of churches around our country that aren't going to be opened on Christmas day, which is on a Sunday. They say that it's a "family day," or "we have too many volunteers and we don't want them to work." Talk about allowing the culture to dictate the church! It's like those churches are saying, "We'll let you have your day off, because our culture has the day off too." Or, "Because we are already a hyper-individualistic culture; you do your thing, I'll do mine." Seriously, what the crap has happened? Now, I must add to that that my home congregation has never had Christmas day worship...which is sad. I've gone once, to Our Savior's Lutheran in Excelsior, MN for a Christmas Day service. But this year, I get to preach on Christmas Day at my church here in Florida! I'm actually excited for the day. I think that where ever I end up, I'm going to make sure that there is a Christmas Day service. Oh, and I like the idea of an Easter eve service too...but that's something for some other time.

Have you ever felt like you were coasting? I've felt that way all week long. I'm unmotivated to write my sermon for Sunday, actually, that's why I'm writing here, hopefully I can get the wheels turning. I think that I'm going to try to get a head start on my Christmas Day sermon as well, perhaps that will give me the necessary inspiration. But of course, it's the Word that inspires me, but perhaps looking at different texts from the Bible, will increase productivity for a sermon output for this coming Sunday. Oh, what's the bad part about coasting, is the attempt to do other things deminishes as well. Which is just sick. All that can be done is just asking God to git'r'dun (in Blue Collar terms). One thing that I do know about times of coasting is that you need to just push through it, even though the emotion might not be there, it will come back. Thank you Dr. Biermann for that. He's a seminary prof., that said that we should help out our people in churches to know that even though they may not want to go to church because they don't "feel" it, they should, because emotions will come and go and we shouldn't rely on our emotions to carry us to and from church, but the Word of God should be what leads us to want to go to church, the love that we respond to what God has given us, and and the fact that Christian fellowship is key for a Christians life. (Some of that is what he said, some of that is me adding on.)

Best Idea today: I'm on day three for consistant getting up, it's going well, so well, in fact that I forgot to set my alarm last night and woke up 2 minutes after 7, 7am is my get goal. (Even though I don't have to be at the office until 9.)
Worst Idea today: Coasting...I've already expressed myself on this issue. I also hate the feeling of being hungry too...I've had that all morning, even though I ate a good breakfast (yogurt, toast and OJ).

Do you have the rubber monkey?

So, I obviously have taken a little blogging hiatus...sorry about that, life happens, I guess.
It was a busy week. I preached a week ago and then again this past Wednesday, that made the first three days of this week really interesting. My sermon from a week ago went pretty well; I'm at a decent point, I would say, in my development in the office of preaching. I'm at the point where I have most of my sermon memorized. I must be honest, I was against....well, two things...memorized/manuscripted sermons and prewritten prayers. I was against both of those because I felt that the Holy Spirit wouldn't work through those. Let me first start with prewritten prayers, that's easier to talk about. I felt that, before I entered the Seminary, that prayers needed to be on the spot. And if you are like me, you tend to jumble your words a little bit, unless you have an idea of what you are going to say before hand. I have found that in prewritten prayers that they allow me to focus on what is important, that these prayers are being offered up to God, instead of the words that I'm trying to figure out how to "correctly" say- which I really attempted to do in college, and when we do "on the spot" prayer requests at my church here. In thinking about that, which is better, focusing on what is needed to be said (on the spot) or the prayers themselves that are being put forth to God (prewritten)? I'd definately say the latter. But, I do not/will not deny the importance of doing on the spot prayers. One thing that I like about a traditional Lutheran service, is all the prayers that are said throughout the service...there are a lot! Seriously, if you take away the hymnals, it'd almost be like a quasi-pentecostal service...quasi. And obviously, if you've read this, or know me, you'd know that I'm a fan of contemporary music, but I think that there are some traditional things that too many churches overlook in their non-traditional service.
Going back to the original topic of sermons/prayers, for a long time I thought that memorizing a sermon was bunk because it doesn't allow the Holy Spirit to work in/through the sermon...I was wrong. I find that I **have to** rely on the working of the Holy Spirit to keep me on target, other wise no one would get anything out of my sermons! Sure, I do memorize them and I definately do not read from my manuscript (I've only done that twice and I hated both times in doing that!), but I find that in the moment of the service another idea, more-often-than-not it is a better illistration than what I had previously conceived. Also, having a manuscript allows me to see where my train of thought will lead. One thing that I'm looking forward to, in going back to St. Louis for my final year, is getting more sermon helps. And I know that my preaching will only develop even more as I grow as being a pastor, which is like only a year and a half away! Time certainly does fly by!
So, my sermon for a week ago went pretty good...that's what everyone told me. But my sermon this past Wednesday...chaos! I was all over the place! It wasn't my worst here in Palm Coast, but it certainly wasn't my best. And I did jump ahead of myself in my sermon, so I verbally said that I jumped ahead and backed up. And, going back to the whole Holy Spirit leading me in my sermons, I was talking about Mary's visit by the angel Gabriel. And in my manuscript I said that "he scared her," well, in my sermon I said "he scared the beegeebees out of her!" The reaction of the congregation was hilarious! The choir was bent over laughing, I scared my supervisor...to what extent, not too sure of, which is fine. (Perhaps it was my sudden change in volume.) But, I almost started to laugh...I held back or that would have been it! One thing that many of the members commented on after that service is they enjoyed the fact that I was real with them, in saying that I went too far in advance during my preaching and that I'm not exactly fully-"reformed" (reformed meaning in pose), because it showed them that I am a real person. That was probably the best criticism that I've had, because it was so genuine. I honestly do not like to hear that I preached a good sermon every single time I preach...I'd rather hear how God has changed their lives through those words that He enables me to speak. But, when I hear that I preached a good sermon, out of the blue, aka from someone that normally doesn't say that to me, it means something.
Not to revel that I'm in Florida, but I went to the beach yesterday...not for a long time, but it was nice...the water is still warm too! I'll post a picture on here later this week of my time at the beach. I also played my first game of Halo last night too...that was a good learning experience and I started getting used to it by the time I left a buddy of mine's house.
Oh, we had our first evangelism training seminar yesterday...it went pretty good! I hope that those who came (about 7% of the congregation came, 20 people or so) actually put into practice what we taught. I really enjoy teaching...not just adults, but all ages. I find joy in helping those in the faith discover new and life-changing ideas that we have in the Bible! Today, I helped in the first-third grade class, which was pretty fun. I taught them that Xmas is okay to use. Many people do not know that an X, "Chi" in Greek, was used as shorthand to write Christ. So, by saying Xmas, you are not taking Christ out of Christmas, but just using a symbol to express Christ. Like what we see in churches with the "IHS," which some think means "In His Service," which isn't true. Again it is shorthand in Latin to express Jesus and it isn't "IHS" but "IES." It is just that an "e" looks like an "h" in Latin and Greek. Interesting tidbit, huh?
Oh, so, in Sunday School, there are twins in the class, Hayden and Evan...Evan says to Hayden, "Hayden, do you have the rubber monkey?" That was totally out of the blue...it was soooo funny! Katie and I couldn't help but laugh!
This evening in my small group, we started a new study, "Understanding a woman's heart." It's a part of the "Being God's man..." series, we finished another book in that study, "Standing firm under pressure," last week. I'm actually looking forward to this study, more for the insight that I'll gain from the other men in the group. Since I am not married, and by no means remotely close, it gives me an opportunity to learn from these men. We have a group of 7 guys, 4 are married, 1 is dating, another is a divorcee, and then myself. In seriousness of relationships, I'm probably on the lacking side of that...I've had one and even that one wasn't über-serious, aka talking about being married. I, obviously, have no reservations talking about that. The reason behind that is that I'm not exactly one that will just date for the hell of it, I at least want to have some purpose in the relationship, that does not equate to talking about getting married early in the relationship, but I wouldn't date someone that I didn't think it'd go some place. That is probably the big paradox in my life.

Best Idea today: Well, from yesterday, going to the beach...it was so awesome there yesterday.
Worst Idea today: I got like no sleep last night...not good, it affected my services today.