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Jesus Birth

Making Room: Delight (Matt. 2:1-12) Chris Altrock – December 25, 2016

Making Room Series for Blog

Is life with a baby or young child something that is wonderful and full of joy? Or is it something that is challenging and full of frustration? It probably depends on who you talk to or what day you talk to them. Different people have different perspectives on what life is like with little people.

Rachel D’Apice is a comic who uses humor to talk about life with youngsters. She says you might think that taking a walk with a toddler would be a marvelous to do. In truth, it can be a maddening thing to do. D’Apice uses an imaginative play on Google Maps to illustrate. Google Maps will give you directions from one place to another. Imagine a Google Maps that described the way young children get to a park.[1]:Read More »Making Room: Delight (Matt. 2:1-12) Chris Altrock – December 25, 2016

The Good News of Christmas – Part 2 (Luke 2:7) Chris Altrock

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A friend of mine has a nativity set which he displays each December in his home. Mary’s face is serene. Joseph’s is solemn. The sheep are meticulously shorn and mercifully silent. The wise men appear as if they stepped out of a first-world fashion shoot.

But one December the manger was mangled. My friend’s toddler grabbed some Sharpies in one hand, baby Jesus in the other and splashed lines of permanent color all over the scene. When his father stumbled upon the demolition he could hardly recognize the familiar display. Never had such saintly figures been so sadly soiled. A polished and perfect nativity became a mess in a matter of minutes.

In a way, that mangled manger is more true to life than most of our refined sets. Entering our world as an infant was risky for Jesus. It was no walk in the park. The manger was more mayhem than magnificence. More danger than delight. Nothing could be more perilous. Yet nothing created intimacy with us than Jesus’ infancy.Read More »The Good News of Christmas – Part 2 (Luke 2:7) Chris Altrock

The Good News of Christmas-Part 1 (Luke 2:7)

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On an unusually blue-sky afternoon in March 2015 I stood with seven intrepid explorers from Highland on the ancient stones of the Forbidden City. Our visit fell several days after the Chinese New Year. This holiday left factories vacant and the smog they produced dormant. The workplaces rested like giant napping dragons. For a few glorious days we joined Beijing’s twenty-one million in celebrating crisp air and clear skies.

Our guide, a native of Beijing, shared tales which brought the venerable palace to life. The Forbidden City was the geographical, economical, spiritual and emotional center of Beijing. From its heart pumped life to the rest of the city and the region. Built as the home of China’s emperors, the “forbidden” in Forbidden City meant that most were banned from entering. Unless your status was unusually high up, its gates remained closed up.Read More »The Good News of Christmas-Part 1 (Luke 2:7)