Holidays

Mother’s Day: Disappointment or Happiness?
It happens too often. A friend posts about how disappointed she is in how her family celebrated her birthday or Mother's Day. She's hurt or angry and she's sure no one really cares about her. Is that true, though? You know it isn't. I used to feel the same way and I couldn't ask for…
Avoid The Awkward Pause
One of the great joys of the holiday season is the chance to spend time with family members that you don't get to see the rest of the year. Unfortunately, that's also one of the stressful things about the holidays – extended family that you don't see the rest of the year. (more…)
Preparing for Christ-Centered Holidays
  The holidays are rapidly approaching, and while we all enjoy the feasts and the fun, there's so much more than that. The trick, really, is remembering why we celebrate, being sure to teach that to our kids, and somehow figuring out how to plan a big family celebration without losing sight of the One who…
Planning A Christ-Centered Thanksgiving
  Thanksgiving is one of our favorite holidays! It's one of the least commercialized and mangled holidays of our culture. Even the name points people toward the God who gives good gifts. It's fascinating talking about Thanksgiving with our children. The Pilgrims were really people a lot like us: they were principled Christians who were…
Reformation Day: A Celebration of Heroism for Over 450 Years!
Are you as surprised as we were to find out that Reformation Day has been celebrated as a holiday in the church since at least 1567? We were delighted to find out that rather than sanitizing a holiday that celebrated death, our enemy, we could enjoy a holiday to remember true heroism — a man…
Bringing an Old Celebration to New Life
Are you as surprised as we were to find out that Reformation Day has been celebrated as a holiday in the church since at least 1567? We were delighted to find out that rather than sanitizing a holiday that celebrated death, our enemy, we could enjoy a holiday to remember true heroism — a man who…
Somebody’s Behind the Mask
Oddly enough, we were on the way to church when the subject of Halloween costumes came up. Our approach to the event has been contrarian from the start (more…)
Boo to All That!
“What is it that drives people to dress like that for Halloween?” my wife asked me. She wasn’t talking about little girls dressed like ballerinas and fairies, but folks of any age play-acting the monster variety. Why, indeed, would anyone want to pretend to be a zombie, a vampire, or a ghost for a few…
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers”
Today is St. Crispin's Day, my son informs me, the 596th anniversary of the Battle of Agincourt.   [caption id="attachment_3842" align="aligncenter" width="486" caption="King Henry V at the Battle of Agincourt in 1415, John Gilbert (1817-1897)"][/caption]  King Henry V of England was hopelessly outnumbered by the approaching French Army, but (more…)