Tis the Season to OWS- WTF?

I was driving home from church today and my mind began to formulate a blog article. I was listening to the news, percolating on the sermon I had heard, thinking about my friend's challenge to me to build some discipline and they all got jumbled up in my pointy little head. So I thought about Christmas instead.

I feel strongly both ways about Christmas. I love decorating the house, singing carols and in general all the warm fuzzies the holidays can bring. I hate the pressure to buy. I hate that I am separated from my kids, I hate that I have no one to celebrate the season with. Mostly I hate that Christians ought to celebrate Christmas and Easter every day and we don't. Many of us put more effort into Black Friday sales events than we do with the Advent. We read or listen to or watch the news nearly every day and we have plenty of opinions about what we see, read or hear. We all feign shock when the stores put out the Christmas decor in September but why? We say we are to live our lives for Christ 24/ 7 but we don't celebrate each day like it's Christmas. Our Messiah has come, He has conquered death and He has imputed his righteousness to us. That's something to celebrate with every breath we take. Don't you think?

What's OWS-WTF got to do with any of that? I am taking liberties here to get your attention and I bet it worked. OWS: Occupy Worship Services. If there is anything I wish folks would do during this holiday season it's OWS. I am sometimes not able to make it to church and am often content to OMR (Occupy My Recliner) on a Sunday morning. I avoid the hustle and bustle of the season. It tugs at my heart that I don't have my kids near or my grandson to spoil rotten. It's easier to cancel Christmas than to face it alone. Yet the point of the season is to remember Christ. Not with my credit card or shiny ornaments, but with my worship.

WTF? Where to Fellowship. Unfortunately not everyone can attend my wonderful church. I love my pastors, elders, deacons, brothers and sisters. I hope you have a place to go and fellowship with other believers. I hope you are a believer. Maybe you just want to go check out what Jesus is all about but you don't know where to go. Try to find a church that holds to either the London Baptist Confession of 1698 or the Westminster Confession of Faith. Call and ask questions of the pastor. Be selective and start with the conservative. Find a church that holds to the inerrancy of Scripture and the deity of Christ. Ask them if they agree with the 5 Solas. Pick up your bible and read about the birth of our Savior. Find someone who knows Him and ask them were to begin your research. Kick Santa to the curb and find out about Christ.

Character Flaws, Sin and Remediation

I have been thinking about my last post in which I offered to talk about how having a job has shown or magnified my character flaws. Before I do though, I want to distinguish between character flaws and sin. My character flaws predispose me to sin in certain areas more readily than in others. Indulging in my character flaws is sinful. Entertaining the idea of indulging my character flaws is sinful. They are the weaknesses in me where my flesh makes itself known by screaming, "You know you want to!!" Too often I hear Christians lamenting that they "make mistakes" or are victims of their genetic make-up and intimate that they should, therefore, be excused from culpability for being prone to certain activities. Our cultural dependence on a medical model to define our behavior has given many what they see as a plausible excuse for sin. I don't see that caveat in the Word. For Christians, the Word is always our standard. It is the standard by which all will be j

Fear Down, Hope and Peace to Go!

Last night I had the honor and privilege to present some information to the women of my church. I cannot begin to tell you how much I love and appreciate them. The seminar I did was on fear. God is clever and He had me present the information to them because I needed it. It's not that I don't want to study things for my own benefit and growth, but whenever I do a topical study to teach it, I see how badly I needed it and how much more I have to repent of than I realized. Sometimes you don't know what you don't know. That's a topic I want to return to in another post. I want to talk about the ladies for a moment. They are an incredibly loving group of women. Women who seek God and are teachable. They have gone out of their way to include me and love on me, which speaks volumes of their characters because I am not all that lovable. I am not being self-deprecating here. I am a mix of endearing and maddening qualities like anyone else. What I am telling you is

Super Church a song for the Emergent-sy

In the early 70s I was in a youth choir at my church. Our youth pastor was a musician and his way of connecting with us as a group was through the choir and music. Somehow there was an affiliation between him and The Continental Singers, New Hope and Jeremiah People. He was worked with Moishe Rosen of Jews for Jesus too, I think. Are any of these names familiar to you? Though I remember the church fondly I was a profoundly lost and troubled young woman during my years there. That and time have muddled the memories quite a bit. Today I was digging through some old paperwork and one of the books to the musical we did. It's Getting Late For the Great Planet Earth, a folk rock oratorio by Cam Floria. Yes, that's right. Cam Floria put Hal Lindsey to music. There's a lot to laugh about and some to groan about but as I was looking through the songs and remembering, I found this little ditty and I only wish I could sing it for you. Just remember that this is circa 1972 and even th

rambling rosemarie

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