My Grown-up Christmas List

Amy Grant recorded “My Grown-up Christmas List” for her “Home For Christmas” album. The lyrics imagine an adult going back to Santa with a different perspective on what matters most in life. Instead of material things the writer now asks for good things for others. I love the sentiment of the song. No more lives torn apart That wars would never start And time would heal all hearts Everyone would have a friend And right would always win And love would never end This is my grown-up Christmas list I thought about my “grown-up” Christmas list this week. I would love for all of the things in the lyric above to come true. But I have lived enough to know they will not. Everyday lives are torn apart. Wars start too frequently. Time does not heal every heart. Some who are reading this are lonely. Right seems to lose way too often and love ends for many. So what could
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Need Another Gift Idea For Jesus?

I love Dave Barry. As long as he is alive I will not have the weirdest brain on the planet. Here is his take on the secularizing of Christmas greetings. Once again, we come to the Holiday Season, a deeply religious time that each of us observes, in his own way, by going to the mall of his choice. In the old days, it was not called the Holiday Season; the Christians called it “Christmas” and went to church; the Jews called it “Hanukkah” and went to synagogue; the atheists went to parties and drank. People passing each other on the street would say “Merry Christmas!” or “Happy Hanukkah!”or (to the atheists) “Look out for the wall!”  These days, people say “Season’s Greetings,” which, when you think about it, means nothing. It’s like walking up to somebody and saying “Appropriate Remark” in a loud, cheerful voice. But “Season’s Greetings” is safer, because it does not refer to any actual religion.
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The Horror of War Paused by a Silent Night

One of my favorite Christmas stories happened during the horrors of war. The Christmas carol “Silent Night” was responsible for a wartime Christmas miracle. The year was 1914 and soldiers were having to spend Christmas Eve night on the battlefields of France during World War I, the Great War, as it was called. After only four months of fighting, more than a million men had already perished in the bloody conflict. The bodies of dead soldiers were scattered between the trenches. Enemy troops were dug-in so close that they could easily exchange shouts. On December 24, 1914, in the middle of a freezing battlefield in France, a miracle happened. The British troops watched in amazement as candle-lit Christmas trees began to appear above the German trenches. The glowing trees soon appeared along the length of the German front.  Henry Williamson, a young soldier with the London Regiment wrote in his diary: “From the German parapet, a rich baritone voice had begun to sing a song I remembered my German nurse singing to me…. The
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Weekend Wildcard: Coming Attractions

Please take a moment to sign up to receive each new article as it is posted at Confessions of a Bad Christian. Next week I am posting an article about a World War I Christmas Miracle plus the first two parts of “A Gift List for Jesus on His Birthday”. Go to the front page by clicking here. Look to your right just below the smiling disembodied picture of yours truly and my well thought out mission statement. “Bringing sporadic joy and intermittent wisdom to tens of readers several times a week.” There you will find a “sign up for my blog” box. Type in your email address and hit send. You will receive a confirmation email to make sure you really want to go through with this. Hit the confirmation link and you will have the latest ramblings delivered to your email as they are rambled. Thanks for taking the time! Your encouragement is a blessing and inspiration.
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Hump Day Hope: This Little Light of Mine

For some reason this song came to mind today. This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine. The song was written by Moody Bible student Harry Dixon Loes as a children’s gospel tune. “This Little Light of Mine” also became a Civil Rights anthem in the 50’s and 60’s. Racial reconciliation is still an area that could use a lot of Gospel light. I didn’t realize that the full lyrics included a bit of light for each day. Monday gave me the gift of love, Tuesday peace came from above, Wednesday told me to have more faith, Thursday gave me a little more grace, Friday told me to watch and pray, Saturday told me just what to say, Sunday gave me the power divine, Just to let my little light shine. Wednesday is have more faith day. Regular readers know that I will love Thursday. Jesus told His followers that we are to be a light to those
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Monday Musing: Can Santa Clause Influence Your Christian Journey?

(Today I am re-posting one of my favorite Christmas articles. Consider it “regifting” and feel free to regift to others!) Recently I poured over the new titles at the local Christian bookstore. The usual suspects dominated most of the shelf space. One of the most important books in my Christian journey was not displayed. And that is a shame. Because this book has a message that needs to be heard. The original version of the book was entitled TrueFaced and the newest revision is called The Cure.  I don’t think I have ever had a book (excluding the inspired one) impact me as much as this one. I am borrowing one little bit of content that is very timely during this month. John Lynch is one of the authors of the book and in this section he addresses how we are programmed from childhood to default to performance theology. He calls it the “Santa Claus is Coming to Town theology”.
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