The Caffeinated Christian

God gave the sign of the rainbow to assure Noah that He would never flood the Earth again.  I would like to ask God for another sign, one to assure me that He will never let it snow on Sunday again. Early on in my ministry I gave the church a sign - Wal-Mart.  If the planets ever aligned, pigs flew, Hades froze over and it snowed on Sunday I charged the church to call Wal-Mart.  If Wal-Mart was open, we would be open.  For the last 10 or so years of my ministry it has almost become another Bible verse to our congregation, “If Wal-Mart is open, we will be open.”  On Sunday Wal-Mart was open, but I cancelled the worship services.  I broke my own commandment.  I ignored the sign.  I blew it. Here is how it happened. It was the Sunday after Christmas.  As all good pastors do I asked our youth pastor to preach.  Youth pastors are heavily sought after preachers on Memorial Day, Labor Day, and post-Christmas day weekends.  I had originally planned to preach on the 26th, but I felt bad for our

I rarely go to movies.   I have good reasons.   Movie theaters are cathedrals of annoying human behaviors.   These behaviors would include, but are not limited to the guy who can’t open a bag but is yet ever so determined to rattle the life out of it, the people of the world who did not heed their momma’s advice to chew with your mouth closed, and the girl who whispers in decibel levels just below waterfall.   Movie theaters are built for a primo acoustic experience.   The vicious byproduct of this acoustical engineering is that it gives people that chew like a horse, whisper like a waterfall, and rattle bags like a chain gang a Dolby surround sound opportunity to get under my skin.   To amplify my frustrations with these patrons of the acoustic dungeon; God has displayed His humor by giving me an acute spinal sensitivity to each and every one of them. Last night we went to the Alabama Theater’s showing of the Christmas movie Elf.   During the Christmas season the folks at Alabama Thea

Baptist Press released an interesting article yesterday on how Americans celebrate Christmas.  The article relates well to our topic this month of "Recovering Christmas."  Here is an excerpt ( entire article here ): "Overall, a little more than one-third of all households (38 percent) encourage belief in Santa, compared to 42 percent of Christian households. Just 27 percent of agnostics or those without a religious preference, 22 percent of those claiming other religions, and 18 percent of atheists encourage belief in Santa Claus." "Santa is more popular among households with children under 17 (52 percent) than among households without children (33 percent)." "Encouraging belief in Jesus as Savior is actually more common among all Americans, at 58 percent, than encouraging belief in Santa. In fact, more than three-quarters agree, 62 percent strongly, with the statement, "I believe Jesus is the reason for the Christmas season,"

From 1950 – 1993 the Uniform Code of Military Justice forbid homosexual men and women from military service.  In 1993 President Bill Clinton offered a compromised policy that became known as “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”  The policy forbid military recruiters from asking about an applicant’s sexual orientation.  The policy also demanded discharge for any military personnel who claimed to be homosexual or expressed intent to engage in homosexual activity. [i]    On Saturday (12/18/2010) Congress voted to repeal Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.  On Wednesday (12/22/2010) President Obama will sign the repeal into law. Opponents of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell cited first and foremost that the policy violated the civil rights of gay Americans.    Opponents also appealed to the changed American conscience and its opinion of homosexuality, more particularly its opinion of gays serving in the military.  According to an article posted by The Christian Science Monitor, 2/3 of active military personnel do not object t

My friend Chris shared this information with me yesterday in response to my post " Struggling to Recover Christmas ."  It looks like there are others out there who are not wanting to be legalistic with Christmas, but at the same time are taking practical steps to do better with the season.  This is the intro video from adventconspiracy.org.  I think it really sums up what many of us have been feeling as we seek to recover Christmas.

It is not difficult to confess how misguided we have become with Christmas.   The difficult part is figuring out how to find our way again.   We are going to exchange gifts as a family, but we have cut back.   Instead of trying to simply fill the wish list, we are trying to be more thoughtful and personal with our choices.   We have chosen a passage to meditate on and talk about throughout the season.   We are involving our daughters in missional acts this season.   But it is still busy, still expensive, and Christmas still feels as if it can be easily lost again this year. Between family, school, church, the rec. team and a few other odds and ends our daughters are involved with, it seem as if for the next few weeks there is a party every 30 minutes, each of them requiring a $5 - $10 gift.   Before you know it, you’ve spent $60 - $80 on relatively frivolous things.   I know I sound “scrooge-ish” but I guess this year my conscience has been more awakened to the materialistic waste of i

So what's the real story behind reducing "Christmas" to "Xmas?"  Is it simple shorthand, an atheistic ploy to rid the world of Christ-mas, or something far more sinister?  The answer may be less offensive than you think.  R.C. Sproul shares what X-mas may actually mean . Excerpt: "First of all, you have to understand that it is not the letter X that is put into Christmas. We see the English letter X there, but actually what it involves is the first letter of the Greek name for Christ. Christos is the New Testament Greek for Christ. The first letter of the Greek word Christos is transliterated into our alphabet as an X . That X has come through church history to be a shorthand symbol for the name of Christ." "We don’t see people protesting the use of the Greek letter theta , which is an O with a line across the middle. We use that as a shorthand abbreviation for God because it is the first letter of the word Theos , the Greek word for God

One book I would recommend in researching the history of Christmas is Bruce David Forbes' Christmas, A Candid History .  I usually refrain from recommending books I have not read completely, but yesterday I finally finished this one, I think.  I have used this book as a primary historical resource for the “Recovering Christmas” series and in doing so, I have not read it consecutively, but in sections.  I have criss crossed, highlighted, and notated it, and I must say it is very entertaining, easy to read, and incredibly interesting.  As far as its historical accuracy, I have found that when it comes to Christmas, as stated in my previous post, there are many versions of the legends, but always similarities.  At most every point I have cross referenced Forbes‘ information with other historians and he holds consistent with reliable sources.    The author is a fellow believer, a United Methodist, and a religious studies professor, who seems to be struggling, like many of us, with th

I want to recommend some of the resources I have used in researching for this series "Recovering Christmas." Before I do, allow me to strike a few extremes off of the list. By showing you the kinds of things I chose not to use, maybe it will not only save you some time, but also help you form a more balanced opinion of the holiday. Suffice it to say there are a gazillion websites and books about the history of Christmas. The good news is that when you pull them all together they basically offer only slight variations on the same historical episodes. If you choose to chase the paper trail of the historical Christmas you are going to have to sift through legend. When it comes to Christmas, it is difficult to conclusively verify the origins of many of the season's traditions. In this respect, Christmas is very mythological. For example, there are several legends of the Christmas tree and even more surrounding Santa Claus. Why is gift giving such a big part of the mod

A couple of weeks ago I shared the history of the Christmas tree in a sermon; no need to rehash it here.    Suffice it to say that the story behind how the Christmas tree made it into your living room is interesting.   If you did not hear that sermon either take a few moments to listen or do some research on your own.   The moral is that every Christmas tree tells a story.   What does your Christmas tree say about you? Our family Christmas tree says distinctly that we have two daughters.   Between the bows and balls there are princesses.   Our tree says that they played soccer, once, and because it did not go well, now we swim.   Our tree says that on Shannon’s first trip to New Orleans a few weeks ago she learned why the world loves Beignets at Café Du Monde.   Our tree is full of family crafts and pictures that make the tree uniquely us.   Our tree is our story. As I sat and thought about our tree I wondered if in telling our story, what does it say about our faith?   Does it reflec

There is an argument that Christian parents should not promote belief in Santa with their children for fear that when the child does come to realize there is not a Santa Claus they will also question their belief in God.   Even worse, some fear their children will stop believing in God.   A logical digression of this argument is that Christian parents who choose to “play Santa” with their children are sinning against their children and against God for propagating false belief.   So what are Christians to do about Santa? 1.        Ultimately we must observe the Biblical principles of Christian liberty and conscience.   Life is full of cultural grays, for many Christian parents Santa may be one of them.   In my observation, legalism has caused many more children to rebel against Christ than Santa.   At the same time, if a family holds a sense of Spirit led conviction that Santa is not for their home, I support that conviction.   The Christian community should be one that fosters a sense

As the finale to every holiday parade and the hero of almost every Christmas movie, Santa Claus has become a beloved icon of the season. He has been given several names through the years, most notably, St. Nick. While history and legend propose ideas on the significance of this name, we know that his “sainthood” was bestowed primarily for his goodwill and generosity. However, as believers, we too have been called to be saints, not for anything we have done, but because of what Jesus did for us. As saints of God, we are to be proclaiming the excellencies of Christ. Listen to Audio

Many of our current Christmas traditions have evolved and changed as they have been passed down through time, cultures, and even religions. The Christmas tree is yet another icon of the season that modern Christians have claimed and perpetuated through society. However, the tragedy is that we tend to evangelize our traditions much better than our faith. What are we really communicating to the world around us about this holiday, our decorations or our God? Listen to Audio

Over time Christians have claimed and transformed the holiday of Christmas as their own. In truth, this celebration is rooted in secular festivals of the winter season. While it is a good thing to redeem the culture and even its holidays for the cause of Christ, in our actions, we have disconnected our lives from the very one we claim we are celebrating. We are instead now connecting more with our chosen holiday- Christmas, Easter, Sunday, etc. than we are to its substance, the gospel. These holy days should be a time of remembrance and preparation for our Christ who is no longer a baby, but our returning conquering King. Listen to Audio

Last week I spent time with family for Thanksgiving.  For the better part of this week I have been in New Orleans.  I am a little behind on posting.  Tonight I have just enough time to offer a suggestion that pertains to our current series on Recovering Christmas, and point you to a related website.  Last Sunday, as part of the sermon, we talked about the history and evolution of the tradition of the Christmas tree.  I drew attention to the idea that our Christmas trees tell a story.  I challenged everyone to evaluate their Christmas traditions, especially their tree, and see if it includes your story of conversion.  Another idea that may add meaning to your Christmas tree is the Chrismons.  I was not familiar with the Chrismons until my time as pastor of Lantana Road Baptist Church in Crossville, TN.  Each year the church held a traditional service that involved decorating the sanctuary Christmas tree.  When I think ornaments, I think silver balls, bells, garland, lights, and candy