Archives
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Churches push Advent Conspiracy to teach real giving
Posted: 12/14/07
Sarah Blakeman (left) and sister Elli Blakeman are making their own Christmas gifts by knitting scarves. Their father, Clark Blakeman, joined the Advent Conspiracy last year to focus on relational gifts and donating money to charity at Christmas. Churches push Advent
Conspiracy to teach real givingBy Nancy Haught
Religion News Service
PORTLAND, Ore. (RNS)—The Christmas contradiction gives Pastor Rick McKinley a headache.
Americans will spend about $475 billion this year on gifts, decorations and parties that many won’t even remember next year. They will run themselves ragged—shopping, wrapping and celebrating. And some won’t pay off their Christmas debt until March, if they’re lucky.
12/14/2007 - By John Rutledge
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Christmas brighter for children of military families, thanks to UMHB student project
Posted: 12/14/07
Two-year-old Anna Phillips works on painting the interior of a new playhouse built by students at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor. Christmas brighter for children of military
families, thanks to UMHB student projectBy Laura Frase
University of Mary Hardin-Baylor
Advent: Red Letter Days
• Happy New Year? For Christians it began with Advent
• Christian motorcyclists and mudders bring Christmas cheer in Beaumont
• Churches push Advent Conspiracy to teach real giving
• Fair-trade items offer Christmas gifts with a conscience
• Christmas brighter for children of military families, thanks to UMHB student project
• For some, happy holidays means no gifts
• International students share Christmas joy
• Who were those “wise men from the East” bearing gifts?
• 2nd Opinion: The two sides of advent
• What if Christmas had not come?
• Finding the ‘spirit of Christmas'BELTON—Globs of blue paint drip from 2-year-old Reagan Clark’s tiny hands. But before they form much of a puddle, he offers a high five to the blank canvas of his playhouse. He admires his artwork with pride and repeats his mark several times, then he immediately whirls around with a wide grin and fresh paint on his face, ready to go back for more.
Students built and painted four playhouses for four military families from First Baptist Church in Belton. All of the families have young children whose fathers won’t be home for Christmas.
12/14/2007 - By John Rutledge
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For some, happy holidays means no gifts
Posted: 12/14/07
For some, happy holidays means no gifts
By Michele Melendez
Religion News Service
AUSTIN (RNS)—Scrap the gift lists. Trash the wrapping paper. Blow off the mall.
That’s the mind-set of Americans who can’t stomach exchanging holiday presents. They aren’t grinches or scrooges. They just reject what they consider the wastefulness and stress of the season.
12/14/2007 - By John Rutledge
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International students share Christmas joy
Posted: 12/14/07
International students share Christmas joy
By Laura Frase
University of Mary Hardin-Baylor
BELTON—When Operation Christmas Child sought gifts for children in developing countries, University of Mary Hardin-Baylor international students heeded the call. For the last month, UMHB students from across the globe posted fliers, collected items and wrapped presents for children around the world.
Li-te (Anastasia) Li experiences a newfound joy in serving others as she assembles boxes of gifts for Operation Christmas Child. Li and her friend Liu Chen (Linda) Tang in the background are both from mainland China. (Photos by Carol Woodward/UMHB) 12/14/2007 - By John Rutledge
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Who were those ‘wise men from the East’ bearing gifts?
Posted: 12/14/07
Who were those ‘wise men
from the East’ bearing gifts?By Benedicta Cipolla
Religion News Service
WASHINGTON (RNS)—They came. They saw. They gifted. That’s about all we know of the foreign visitors who traveled to Bethlehem to see the infant Jesus.
The scene ingrained in the public imagination—a stately procession of three kings in turbans, crowns, elaborate capes and fancy slippers, with an entourage of servants and camels trailing behind—isn’t from Scripture.
Stefan Kalipha (Gaspar), Nadim Sawalha (Melchior) and Eriq Ebouaney (Balthasar) portray the Magi in The Nativity Story, now out on DVD. Most of what's believed about the Magi is drawn from tradition rather than the Bible, experts agree. (RNS photo/Jaimie Trueblood/New Line Cinema) 12/14/2007 - By John Rutledge
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What if Christmas had not come?
Posted: 12/14/07
What if Christmas had not come?
By BO Baker
Can you imagine anything more saddening than a Christmas without the Savior? Whether one is a believer or not, we are all involved in the season of Christmas. We purchase gifts to give away. We joy in the sound of music showering down the neighborhood where we live. Expressions of care arriving come so invitingly as we listen to choirs of angels who never seem far away. I’ll be honest with you: I like it, all of it. Our cold hearts need the lift that Christmas brings.
Think about it: What if Jesus had not come? What if he had never entered the mind and heart of the Creator-God?
Suppose the Cross-figure had been little more than a poor grandstander, a radical religionist looking for attention.
Now to be honest, one must add to the story of the birth of a baby from Bethlehem Who introduced him, the touch of miracles that pointed to him, the cross that held him as he gave himself to all mankind, the tomb that lay open because of him, the angels who clung to the battlements of heaven longing to worship the King of Kingdom Come. Yes, all of this, and more. This is the truth that makes Christmas for all of us. Our future hope rests in the fact of the person of Jesus Christ.
12/14/2007 - By John Rutledge
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Finding the ‘spirit of Christmas’
Posted: 12/14/07
Finding the ‘spirit of Christmas’
By Sam Underwood
I was listening in (OK, go ahead and call it eavesdropping) on a conversation a couple of people were having in a restaurant. In my defense, it was one of those places where the tables are so crowded together, you might as well be sitting at the table with the ones next to you. I had not paid any real attention to them until one of them gave a heavy sigh and said, “I’m having a hard time getting in the Christmas spirit.”
Advent: Red Letter Days
• Happy New Year? For Christians it began with Advent
• Christian motorcyclists and mudders bring Christmas cheer in Beaumont
• Churches push Advent Conspiracy to teach real giving
• Fair-trade items offer Christmas gifts with a conscience
• Christmas brighter for children of military families, thanks to UMHB student project
• For some, happy holidays means no gifts
• International students share Christmas joy
• Who were those “wise men from the East” bearing gifts?
• 2nd Opinion: The two sides of adventWhat if Christmas had not come?
• Finding the ‘spirit of Christmas'
Of course, that comment set off my radar. I wanted to hear the response of her companion, so I began to listen closely. Her reply was the sort that falls into the category of “What on earth does that mean?” But she said it anyway: “Oh, you will when the weather turns cold.” I’ve heard that one before, and I always wonder at its meaning. Is Christmas a season marker? Or does it depend on whether or not we have snow, like in the song or the movie? If that’s the case, there’s been no Christmas spirit around here in a very long time.
Even more, I have continued to think about what the first woman meant. What is “the Christmas spirit” she was asking about? Perhaps she meant she had not yet begun her annual shopping that supports the well-being of the economy. You know that siren song: You’re not a good American unless you’ve spent more than you can afford, and you’re not in the Christmas spirit until you’ve worked up the courage to brave mall crowds. Maybe her comment was nothing more than an expression of the dread she had for an unpleasant task.
12/14/2007 - By John Rutledge
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Miles cannot diminish connection between Texas volunteer and Moldovan orphan
Posted: 12/14/07
Miles cannot diminish connection between
Texas volunteer and Moldovan orphanBy George Henson
Staff Writer
CHISNAU, Moldova —Initially, Clay Palmer didn’t know why God led him to Moldova. But looking back, he can see two reasons—so God could work in his life and so he could meet a little girl named Tanya.
Palmer traveled to Moldova with Children’s Emergency Relief International, the international arm of Baptist Child & Family Services, to put shoes on the feet of Moldovan orphans.
Tanya, who was left parentless after her father left her family and her mother died, helps other orphans, working as a translator for the Children’s Emergency Relief International volunteer team that delivered winter boots and warm clothes to orphanages in Transniestria. 12/14/2007 - By John Rutledge
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Volunteers share warmth of God’s love with needy people in Moldova
Posted: 12/14/07
Volunteers with Children’s Emergency Relief International, the global arm of Baptist Child & Family Services, fit children in Moldova’s Transniestrian orphanages with warm socks and winter boots. Volunteers share warmth of God’s
love with needy people in MoldovaBy George Henson
Staff Writer
TIRASPOL, Moldova—Mission volunteers from Texas, West Virginia and Tennes-see converged on Moldova’s Transniestrian region to warm the hearts—not to mention heads and feet—of impoverished people.
Children’s Emergency Relief International, the international arm of Baptist Child & Family Services, facilitated the trip. Volunteers delivered shoes, winter boots, socks and hats to 31 churches, three correctional facilities, three adult-care facilities for the elderly or disabled, three day-care centers and 12 orphanages.
See Related Articles:
• Volunteers share warmth of God's love with needy people in Moldova
• Miles cannot diminish connection between Texas volunteer and Moldovan orphan
• Transitional living program keeps teen orphans from falling through the cracks
• Former atheist shapes God-centered program in Moldova
Children beam with joy as they receive new shoes and socks from volunteers with Children’s Emergency Relief International. 12/14/2007 - By John Rutledge
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2nd Opinion: The two sides of advent
Posted: 12/14/07
2nd Opinion: The two sides of advent
By Jason Patrick
As a pastor, I’ve experienced a few difficult Advent seasons in recent years. The season of great expectations seemingly arrives when I’ve experienced significant personal losses.
As a 24-year-old pastor in west Texas during the Advent season of 1999, I was going through the initial stages of a divorce; yet I was fortunate to have the comforting church family of Champion Baptist Church hold me up.
Two years later, while pastoring a church in Waco, Advent arrived soon after I received the news that my ex-wife and daughter were moving to Virginia. I knew the time I spent with my daughter would suffer significantly. They eventually moved back to Texas four years later, and I am thankful. But at the time of their departure, I leaned heavily upon Downsville Baptist Church. They held their pastor up.
12/14/2007 - By John Rutledge
