Christmas Parade

Millersport puts on a nice Christmas parade, but wow, Gatlinburg's Christmas parade was something else.  We headed down the mountain around 3:30 and found somewhere to park (we found a really good spot, it turned out, as we were able to buzz straight out after the parade).  Then we walked up and down the "downtown" Gatlinburg area for a while, checked out a fun craft show (indoor), and staked out "our spot."  We found that many people set their chairs out the night before to stake their claim for parade-watching, but we (a) didn't have chairs; and (b) we didn't have chairs.  But we did have a blanket, and Tara found us a great spot by a trash can and a light post.  "Great" because it was a spot by the road and because we had something to lean on and because the odor from the garbage can was drifting the other way.  AND because the people next to us had two little boys, aged 7 and 5, with whom Jonathan and Andrew had a blast before the parade.

The parade itself was a lot of fun.  Not much candy, but I did manage to get hit on the head by a bag of M&Ms (when I was changing batteries on the camera) :-)  The temperature dropped while we were out there, but we dressed warmly - in many, many layers, and we bought hand warmers. 

Pictures will follow...

Christmas Morning in the Vinson House

If a picture is worth a thousand words, you've just been given a six thousand word essay.

Wondering What to Say?

I had one of those nights last night.  One where I woke up in the middle of the night, stressed about getting everything that's on my plate done.  I won't bore you with all of the details of things I need to do, because I'm sure most of you are or have been in the same boat.  But one detail is pertinent: I'd been struggling with what to preach on Christmas Eve.

I'm sure I'm not the only one; many (if not most?) pastors struggle to say something unique and relevant on Christmas Eve and Easter.  We want to figure out new and fresh ways at Christmas to tell of the birth of Jesus Christ and at Easter to tell of His resurrection.

Yesterday I was puzzling over a sermon that just would not write itself.  I had come up with what I thought was a really good idea (which I'm still going to stick into my "idea bank" to preach another time) but it just wasn't coming along at all. 

This morning in my prayers, I asked God to help me know what I should preach.  As I prayed, the sermon idea immediately came into my head.  Of course, about 180 degrees away from what I'd already been struggling to write.

Then when I opened my igoogle homepage this morning (that's a page that has all of my Google applications all in one place; my Google Reader (blog reader), my gmail, weather, news, etc), the first item on my reader was a blog post by Perry Noble.

In it, he was talking about how his little daughter repeats everything he says.  Then he wrote this:

Hey pastor…are you stressing out about what you are going to say for your upcoming Christmas service?

Why not just do what my little girl does…just listen to your Father and then repeat what He says!

What a great reminder. 

Priscilla Shirer: Catalyst Speaker recap

Honestly I don't remember all of what Priscilla Shirer said - my notes were few. I do remember that she was awesome in saying it. She is an extremely gifted speaker. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree (her father is a gifted speaker as well).

Her theme was from Joshua 3, where Joshua acted immediately in response to God, crossing the Jordan at flood stage. She focused on "God is the leader; follow Him."

She told some stores about her family - one was about Christmas morning when she and her husband attempted to remind their 5 and 3 year old children about the real reason for Christmas:

Dad: "Whose birthday are we celebrating?"
5 year old: "Jesus"
3 year old (looking at his pile of presents): "am I Jesus?"

She didn't just leave a funny story to stand on its own, however; she immediately showed its relevance: Don't we often act like that? Like we think we're Jesus?

As I write about this, I can't help but think about Christmas - how we say we're celebrating Jesus' birthday, but we do all but that. Our parties and our gift-giving center around us - ourselves, our families, and our friends. We must be Jesus then. Can you sitting on the floor on Christmas morning, surrounded by piles of gifts, then looking over and seeing Jesus alone on the other side of the room...

As a church leader, I am convinced that our church can change this trend. Or at least we can start to do a better job of celebrating Jesus' birthday.