Monthly Archives: December 2014

Remember, Remember the 7th of December

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Today is the 73rd anniversary of the Japanese sneak attack on Pearl Harbor that drew the United States into the great conflagration known as World War II. Ask anyone who was living that day and they can tell you exactly where they were. It was an act of treachery and it proved to be foolishly short-sighted and ultimately fatal for the Japanese militarists. It was that generation’s 9/11.

Sadly the generation of Pearl Harbor is rapidly fading away. But its lessons remain and remind us that we must constantly be on guard as a nation because there are those out there who hate us and want to destroy us and end our way of life.

From the History Channel:

At 7:55 a.m. Hawaii time, a Japanese dive bomber bearing the red symbol of the Rising Sun of Japan on its wings appears out of the clouds above the island of Oahu. A swarm of 360 Japanese warplanes followed, descending on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor in a ferocious assault. The surprise attack struck a critical blow against the U.S. Pacific fleet and drew the United States irrevocably into World War II.

Read it all.

Cleveland.com: On Ohio State’s Thank You Letter to Michigan QB Devin Gardner

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Great letter. Great show of class in an increasingly classless society. Kudos to Gardner. Go Bucks!

16487194-mmmainHere’s the full text of the letter:

“I write, simply, to thank you for the inspiration you are and the class you showed as you consoled J.T. Barrett when he was injured this afternoon in your game against the Buckeyes.

“The Ohio State-Michigan game is important, but it pales in comparison to the humanity you displayed during that moment.

“As I think you know, J.T. Barrett has been an inspiration to the Buckeyes squad this season, coming in as he did when Braxton Miller was injured. He’s performed with maturity and poise well beyond his years. I suspect it’s been guys like you who have been his role models.

“You are an extraordinary young man and your example of sportsmanship and true humanity to thousands of young (and older) people this afternoon was, in my opinion, worth far more than any football statistics.

“Thank you again for showing us all how it should be done.”

Read it all.

Jesus Creed: Advent with Tim Spivey

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I preached on this last Sunday. See what you think.

Here are four practical reasons I think churches should celebrate Advent and Christmas:

1. Advent helps keep people on-track spiritually through the holidays. It isn’t OK for us to lament people’s “greed” and/or materialism at the holidays if we aren’t willing to lift up Christ in special ways during a season of temptation for people. It’s a great time to help reestablish a Kingdom perspective about money and possessions and call people to generosity—and to do so with great intentionality. We also have a special opportunity to help people understand the importance of incarnating the Gospel as they deal with personal and family difficulties throughout the season. I could go on here—but the point is the holidays are spiritually poignant and Advent provides a unique opportunity to pastor.

2. Advent focuses us on theological themes that should be central to who we are: incarnation and the Second Coming of Christ. Most Christians understand the importance of these two themes. However, one is “in” and one is “out” in theological circles these days. In particular, the Second Coming is something that needs much more emphasis—and Advent provides a fantastic opportunity to focus on our Great Hope.

Read it all.

Fox News: ’12 Days of Christmas’ Items Cost More Than $116G

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I’ll just settle for a new MacBook Pro, thank you. 🙂

geese-chicagoThe cost of six geese-a-laying spiked considerably this year, while most of the items in the carol “The Twelve Days of Christmas,” saw little to no increase, according to the 31st annual PNC Wealth Management Christmas Price Index.

A set of gifts in each verse of the song would set you back $27,673 in stores, an increase of less than $300 — or 1 percent — from last year. But shoppers turning to the Internet would see a bigger bump of about 8 percent over last year’s online prices, bringing the set of gifts in each verse to $42,959. Buyers looking to purchase all the items each time they were mentioned in the song — 364 that is — would spend $116,273, a modest 1.4 percent increase from a year ago.

PNC’s sources for the Christmas Price Index include retailers, the National Aviary in Pittsburgh, Philadelphia-based PHILADANCO and the Pennsylvania Ballet Company.

See the whole list.

Amy Julia Becker: Grateful for Graveyards

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This woman gets it. Read and take heed. Please.

49928I do not want to see [grandma’s] ashes scattered to the wind, as if she has become an abstract being, at one with the universe. I want to remember her as someone with a body, a body vulnerable to sickness and death, a body that in its vulnerability was also open to love. And I want to be able to come back here, back to this particular place in this particular town, to visit her grave and the graves of the others who died before her.

We stand in a line with the coffin (“a bed inside a box for Nana’s body,” we told the kids) in front of us, supported by large metal poles over a rectangular hole in the ground. The hole in the ground offers a visual enactment of our common mortality—ashes to ashes and dust to dust. The graveyard itself acts as a testimony to the inevitability and finality of death. But as we stand together, the minister reads from Scripture. These ancient words of defiant comfort words hover above the coffin, holding out hope that this inevitable and final word has been overcome: “Where o death is thy victory? Where o grave is thy sting?”

We head to the church, where the emphasis turns to celebration. Together we remember and celebrate the life of this remarkable woman who died within one mile of her birthplace, who cooked countless casseroles for new mothers, cancer patients, and bereaved spouses, who invited dozens of new people over for dinner after meeting them for the first time on a Sunday morning, who lived a life of unassuming service to others, with much laughter along the way. Perhaps more importantly, together we celebrate the work God has done for us and for her. We celebrate not only because of the memories of love, but also through the particularly Christian hope of resurrection.

I am grateful for graveyards, for their unflinching testimony to the generations past, for their insistence that our bodies cannot live forever in spite of our medical advances and our attempts to defy aging and death. I am grateful that my children were introduced to death through this grief that was contained by hope. Most of all, though, I am grateful for the one whose body went into the grave and rose again.

Read and reflect on it all.