Archives For November 30, 1999

2014: Thanks for the memories (in free verse)

Meredith Flynn —  December 29, 2014

HEARTLAND | Eric Reed

O Lord, my God, when I in awesome wonder consider all the works Thy hands have made in 2014…

365 days marked by evening and morning, 365 sunsets and sunrises, as 143,341,000 people were born onto this planet and 56,759,000 departed, all receiving 1,640 minutes each day and blessings beyond number, I say

Thank you, Lord, for saving my soul; thank you, Lord, for making me one of the billions you have saved by grace through faith. I was sinking deep in sin, far from your holy standard, and yet you made a Way for me—for us—to be rescued.

And His Name is Jesus.

Dear Lord and Father of mankind, forgive our foolish use of time and grant that we may more wisely employ our moments and our days to share your peace with a world that has suffered its absence this year: the death-march of ISIS and the persecution of Christians in the Middle East, the kidnapped girls and the lost boys; the fear in Ferguson, and the failure of our social contract. We are grateful for God’s peace in our hearts, even as we realize the fragility of peace in our streets.

Sixty years after D-Day, bless the Greatest Generation who secured our freedom, and guard the young soldiers whose service today has redefined sacrifice.

calendar 2014.In this, the year of Ebola, we pray: Eternal Father, strong to save, whose arm hath bound the deadly wave with wonder drugs and rescue teams, hazmat suits and quarantines. For healthcare, though at times it’s costly, sparing lives that once would lost be; for ribbons pink and yellow wristbands and friends who live strong when faced with cancer. (And their hats.)

O God, our help in ages past, our hope for the year to come, we’re grateful for a stronger economy, steadier jobs, and the roof overhead. Our kids are warm and safely tucked in; thank you for the joy of children (those here now and those a’comin’).

For our Baptist family on bended knee lifting lost ones up to Thee; for our dear church, where would we be without your Body on earth that meets just down the street and comes over for small group?

For faithful friends and faithful givers, co-laborers in Christ who become brothers and sisters, the cloud of witnesses in heavenly places who cheer us on as we run our races.

Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed is all you made and we marvel still at your inscrutable creation…yet little things cheer our hearts and make us sing “Happy” songs. I love breakfast (oh it’s so good!), foods I eat and foods I should. Coffee hot and iced tea sweet, mittened-hands and sock-warmed feet; feeling glad when winter comes and gladder still when winter goes.

Clinging to the hope of spring, there are 10,000 reasons for my heart to sing…Bless the Lord, O my soul, O my soul…because whatever comes in 2015,
“I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39).

Eric Reed is editor of the Illinois Baptist and IBSA’s associate executive director for the church communications team. This column was written in the style of the late Joan Beck, Chicago Tribune columnist, whose annual “thanks” essays inspired readers for 30 years.

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Tuesday Briefing: Christmas edition

Meredith Flynn —  December 23, 2014

The_Briefing_ChristmasTHE BRIEFING | Grinches might have tried to ruin a nativity scene in Indianapolis, but organizers at the Indiana Masonic Home got back-up in the form of GPS monitors placed inside the Jesus statue and several others.

After Baby Jesus was stolen Dec. 6 (and returned Dec. 11), BrickHouse Security made the Masonic Home the latest recipient of its “GPS Jesus” tracking devices,  USA Today reports.

Speaking of festive holiday displays, a Christian group in South Korea has decided not to reconstruct a Christmas tree tower on the border between North and South Korea, Christianity Today reports. “The establishment of our Christmas tree [tower] was to be a religious event aimed at promoting peace,” Christian Council of Korea (CCK) senior official Hong Jae-Chul told reporters. “However, our pure intention caused undesirable misunderstanding that it would aggravate inter-Korean friction.”

Where are people a little less worried about big holiday displays? In New Jersey, apparently, where Liquid Church is planning a “spiritual flash mob” for Christmas Eve. Read the Christian Post story here.

“We tend to idealize holidays, but human depravity doesn’t go into hibernation between Thanksgiving and New Year’s,” blogs Russell Moore. The president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission gives five pointers for those who face tension around the Christmas dinner table.

Every time a bell rings … It’s a Wonderful Life is on TV again. Especially this time of year. But there’s more to the classic movie than just serving as a staple of Christmas-time viewing. Critic Phil Boatwright says, “Without any sermons or altar calls, It’s a Wonderful Life reveals how God’s love transforms and sustains. For me, that makes it the best film of all time.”

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One year after tornado, rebuild team puts families in new homes

Meredith Flynn —  December 22, 2014

NEWS | Meredith Flynn

“Our town is starting to come back,” said Pastor David Siere. For a year, he has watched Brookport, Ill., recover from a tornado that destroyed several homes and killed three people in Massac County, located at the southern tip of the state.

The storm hit on a Sunday afternoon, part of a tornado outbreak that wreaked havoc all over the state. Siere’s church, First Baptist in Brookport, sits next to a mobile home park that was almost completely destroyed, he said.

But Brookport is rebuilding, and Siere and his church are playing an integral role in the process. The town is starting to look a lot better, he said, and “we’re praising God for what He’s done so far.”

Brookport_1_1222

The Massac Pope County Recovery Committee has helped rebuild five homes since a tornado tore through the region last November. Nine more new houses are under construction. Photo from MPCRC Facebook page

Immediately after the tornado, FBC became Brookport’s ground zero for storm recovery. A ministry facility they had built in 2011 across the parking lot from the main building housed donated food, water and clothing. The pastor sees God’s provision in that building—“I don’t know what we would have done if we hadn’t had it.”

Illinois Disaster Relief teams moved quickly into the area to cut down damaged trees and visit with shaken residents. About a week after the tornado, Siere was approached by a city leader about being part of a long-term recovery team. Two of his church members, Bob Craig and Jerry Muniz, also joined the Massac & Pope County Recovery Committee.

So far, volunteer groups working through MPCRC have built five houses in Brookport, and nine more are in process. In August, the first homeowners moved in, including Clark Blasdel, who said he had never been through anything as bad as the tornado, and had never had anything as good happen to him as his new home.

“It’s unbelievable. I’m happy,” Blasdel told WPSD in Paducah, Ky.

The work of the committee is funded through grants and donations, combined with money provided to residents by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Their goal is two-fold: To provide housing for people who were displaced after the tornado, and to make Brookport a better place to live. In doing so, the team, which includes members of local churches, is also looking out for the spiritual well-being of their town.

“We keep God at the center of it, and I think that’s what makes a difference,” said Craig, noting that without God, it would be difficult to keep a sweet, loving attitude. The committee’s meetings start with prayer and Scripture reading, and they recently sponsored a “gospel sing” on the one-year anniversary of the
storm.

Craig, who pastored FBC Brookport before Siere, told around 200 attenders that with all the safety precautions people take—like storm shelters and weather radios—there’s a greater safety to be found in Christ. “You might not make it through another circumstance like this, and you need to have that provision taken care of,” he said.

When asked if there are stories from the past year that stand out, Craig recalls one young man whose mobile home rolled over several times during the storm, even as his wife and child were inside. They were bruised and banged up, Craig said, but survived. And the young man gave his heart to Christ.

“It was such a thrill, because it was a son-in-law of a long-time brother in Christ that I’ve known many years.”

To God be the glory
After the tornado, Siere was unsure what to put on the church sign, in light of everyone who had done so much to help Brookport. He settled on a simple message: “Thank you, everybody.”

Certainly, many are thanking the church in return. All of the houses built through the recovery committee have been constructed by volunteer workers, and those workers are fed at the church through the efforts of a woman from Metropolis who coordinates the meals. She was looking for a way to help and, Siere
said, “God led her here.”

The volunteer teams have slowed down for the winter; one group is scheduled for late December and one in January. But as the weather warms up, the committee expects more people will come to help.

When they started a year ago, eight houses was set as a goal, Siere said, and “God has seen fit for us to do a lot more than that.” The number 23 has come up, but whether or not the committee is able to see that many projects through, they want to help as many people as possible get a place to live.

Ultimately, he said, they want God to get the glory.

“We meet once a week still, here at the church, and as we’re seeing things happen, we just thank God because it has to be a God thing.”

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A drive-thru Christmas story, from creche to cross

Meredith Flynn —  December 22, 2014
Danielle and Jonathan Spangenberg portray Mary and Joseph at Living Faith Baptist Church’s living nativity scene Dec. 6.

Danielle and Jonathan Spangenberg portray Mary and Joseph at Living Faith
Baptist’s living nativity scene Dec. 6.

HEARTLAND | Meredith Flynn

“Start tending the sheep!” The warning is issued from a pint-sized shepherd on this chilly Saturday night in the parking lot of Living Faith Baptist Church.

The shepherds are a middle stop of the church’s drive-through nativity experience, and these kids in belted tunics have been waiting for the first car to arrive at their scene. Inside the cars, families listen to a CD of the Christmas story they received as they drove in; each track corresponds to a different scene. Outside, the shepherds act it out, tending their sheep like any other day, until a heavenly host appears above them.

“Christmas seems to be the most hectic time, the most stressful time of year,” says Pastor Adam Cruse. “And so, really, we want to bring it back to what is Christmas truly all about? The simple message of Christmas is about a savior who came into the world, and so we just wanted people to come back to the focus of it all.”

Living Faith planned to do the nativity last year, but were snowed out, making this year the “second annual attempt,” according to associate pastor Daniel Waters. A few minutes before this year’s performance is set to start at 5:30, cars begin lining up at the edge of the parking lot. Turning off their lights, they drive single-file past several scenes: Mary and Joseph hearing individually from angels; the couple with their new baby and the manger, shepherds tending their flocks; and wise men from the east visiting the family.

The last two scenes don’t feature any actors. In the corner of the parking lot stand three empty crosses, the middle one slightly larger with a white cloth wrapped around it. Next to the crosses, a small trailer has been fashioned into an empty tomb.

“We didn’t want to just focus on the Christmas scene, because it’s very easy to forget what Christ did and why he came,” Cruse said. “He came to die on the cross and then to come out of the grave, so we wanted to depict those scenes as well.”

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Cuban church in spotlight after diplomatic decision

Meredith Flynn —  December 19, 2014
Cuban children learn to pray during a weekly meeting held in the home of two ladies with a passion to evangelize children. In 2010, the religious affiliation of Cuba was estimated by the Pew Forum to be 59.2 percent Christian (mostly Roman Catholic), 23.0 percent unaffiliated, 17.4 percent folk religion and the remaining 0.4 percent other religions. Wilson Hunter/IMB

Cuban children learn to pray during a weekly meeting held in the home of two ladies with a passion to evangelize children. In 2010, the religious affiliation of Cuba was estimated by the Pew Forum to be 59.2% Christian (mostly Roman Catholic), 23% unaffiliated, 17.4% folk religion, and the remaining 0.4% other religions. Wilson Hunter/IMB Photo from BPNews.net


NEWS | President Obama’s announcement Dec. 17 that the U.S. will renew its relationship with Cuba had pundits talking about the political and economic implications. Meanwhile, many Christian leaders focused on what the decision could mean for Cuban believers.

Phil Nelson has traveled to Cuba 11 times since 2003, speaking about the gospel with college students and on one occasion, a university president.

“Everybody we met with, we talked with about the gospel,” said Nelson, pastor of Lakeland Baptist Church in Carbondale. The Cuban Christians he has worked with are “passionate about the gospel, unashamed about anything. They had a boldness that we just don’t know anything about here in the United States.”

Still, there is the specter of oppression, said Kevin Carrothers, who traveled with Nelson to Cuba in 2006. He remembers noticing from Cuban people and visitors to the country that no one wanted to draw attention to themselves. The stereotype most people apply to the Caribbean – bright clothing, a festive, celebrative atmosphere – didn’t hold water in Cuba, said the pastor of Rochester First Baptist Church.

Their mission team saw people come to Christ, though, including one woman who stopped them by the side of the road to ask for a drink of water. Nelson talked with her about the living water that Jesus offers; right there on the road, Carrothers said, she accepted Christ.

After Obama’s announcement, leaders weighed in on whether the decision would help or hurt people in the country. “This change is not going to help the Cuban people [under] a communist government in power for more than 50 years,” said Óscar J. Fernández, a Tennessee minister who holds political asylum from Cuba. “I will applaud if Cuba makes any concessions, but they are not [likely to do so],” he told Baptist Press.

But David R. Lema, whose family left Cuba for Spain when he was 7, said “any normalization of political ties between Cuba and the U.S., regardless of political implications or results, should prove beneficial for Christian work.”

“Travel for Americans going to Cuba would flow smoother and with less inconvenience—anyone that has gone to Cuba knows what I am talking about here,” Lema, director of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary’s Center for the Americas in Miami, told BP. “Churches and individuals will have more freedom to help the churches directly without having to worry about U.S. embargo violations.”

Carrothers said he didn’t know whether more mission teams will begin traveling to the Caribbean country. “What I do know, and what I think the reality is, is that where the church has been oppressed, and the church has been persecuted, the gospel has flourished.

“And that certainly was the case in Cuba, the gospel was flourishing in the midst of oppression.”

By Meredith Flynn, with additional reporting by Baptist Press

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Tuesday Briefing: 63% of Americans favor church at Christmas

Meredith Flynn —  December 16, 2014

JesusTHE BRIEFING | Meredith Flynn

How well do Americans fare at keeping Christ the center of Christmas? Pretty well, according to a new survey from LifeWay Research. 79% agreed that “Christmas should be more about Jesus,” and 70% said “Christmas would be a better experience if it had a more Christian focus.” 63% of people said the holiday should include a visit to church.

Even so, LifeWay reported, people are less sure about the season’s theological details: Only 56% agreed that Christ existed before Jesus’ birth.

As you send your Christmas cards this year, remember who’s on the receiving end, Kay Warren said in a Dec. 4 Facebook post and a later article for ChristianityToday.com. Warren, whose son, Matthew, committed suicide in 2013, said receiving cards with happy family photos served as sharp reminders of their own family’s grief.

As protestors rallied to speak out against grand jury decisions in Ferguson, Mo., and Staten Island, N.Y., the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission changed the theme of its second annual leadership summit to racial reconciliation. The March 26-27 meeting was set to focus on pro-life issues, but ERLC leaders announced the new emphasis in light of national response to current events, Baptist Press reported.

Christian leaders will gather today in Memphis, Tenn., to discuss the church and race relations. “It’s Time to Speak” will be streamed live from the Lorraine Motel and National Civil Rights Museum. The event, organized by Memphis pastor Bryan Loritts, also includes John Piper, Derwin Gray, Matt Chandler and Darrin Patrick. Gray told The Christian Post, “This event will be a call for the local church to be what she was meant to be – a multi-ethnic and multi-class of communities of reconciliation, love, and unity.

The plywood nailed to the windows of homes and businesses reminded Stoney Shaw of living near the threat of hurricanes when he was younger.

“People would brace themselves for the storm that was coming,” said Shaw, senior pastor at First Baptist Church of Ferguson, Missouri. “That’s exactly what is happening here; a devastating storm. But praise God things seem to be winding down and there is a lot of rebuilding going on, which is what we’ve been praying for.” Read the full story from the Illinois Baptist.

More than $30,000 has been donated online to help three families in the wake of a triple murder in Florida. Southern Baptist pastor Tripp Battle was one of the victims in the Dec. 4 shootings, which also took the lives of Denise Potter and Amber Avalos. Avalos’ husband, Andres, was arrested Dec. 6 in connection with the deaths, Baptist Press reported.

The upcoming movie version of Louis Zamperini’s life may not fully explore his faith, but the WW2 survivor’s conversion was in the spotlight leading up to the Dec. 25 release of “Unbroken.” The 1949 Los Angeles revival where Zamperini was saved not only changed him, wrote Religion News Service’s Cathy Lynn Grossman, but also transformed the ministry of the young evangelist preaching those nights.

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In Ferguson, new ministry follows riots

Meredith Flynn —  December 15, 2014
Numerous fires were set in Ferguson, Mo., following the decision by a grand jury not to charge Officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of 18-year-old Michael Brown. Photo from BPNews.net by Victor Miller

Numerous fires were set in Ferguson, Mo., following the decision by a grand jury not to charge Officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of 18-year-old Michael Brown. Photo from BPNews.net by Victor Miller

NEWS | Kayla Rinker

The plywood nailed to the windows of homes and businesses reminded Stoney Shaw of living near the threat of hurricanes when he was younger.

“People would brace themselves for the storm that was coming,” said Shaw, senior pastor at First Baptist Church of Ferguson. “That’s exactly what is happening here; a devastating storm. But praise God things seem to be winding down and there is a lot of rebuilding going on, which is what we’ve been praying for.”

Despite the rioting and arson surrounding the grand jury’s Nov. 24 decision not to indict Officer Darren Wilson for the shooting death of Michael Brown, Shaw said there are glimpses of hope among the ashes.

“On that very same plywood, artists have drawn pictures of encouragement and hope,” he said. “We are the real Ferguson people, black and white. As a whole we are not the ones marching and picketing, we are the ones getting looted and broken into. There are a lot of other narratives, but the reality is that this is a terrible tragedy and it does not have our best interest in mind.”

But because of that reality, it leaves Ferguson-area churches with a unique opportunity to minister to a broken and hurting community. Shaw said FBC is engaged with the city to promote positive changes.

For example, when the district closed a nearby school because of the impending threat of rioting, FBC opened its facilities to provide meals, tutors, and a safe place for the kids to be during the day. The City of Ferguson has also used FBC’s fellowship hall for their “Talk-Back” meetings for people to express their grievances and appeals for change to the mayor and city leaders.

“It’s exciting to be a practical part of the solution to a very complicated situation,” Shaw said. “I’ve said it before but we were at Ground Zero before it was Ground Zero. These are scary times and we are living in the shadow of that. God has called Christian people and churches in Ferguson to go and do what needs to be done together, in order to recover our fine city for Him.”

Sean Boone is pastor of New Beginning Christian Fellowship, an SBC church plant in nearby Hazelwood, Mo. “What I’m seeing and hearing is more about believers being white or black before being Christian,” Boone said. “As believers we must step back and ask are we rendering grace to both sides? Are we looking at everything through the lenses of U.S. citizens or (as) citizens of the body of Christ?”

He said only when believers answer these questions honestly can Biblical and fair solutions for all people be found.

“If we only rely on a system born out of the flesh of sinful man, we will constantly get flawed results,” Boone said. “One side or the other will always feel disenfranchised. Right not we are witnessing an expression of a group of people feeling hopeless. The church needs to address the reason for this hopelessness…which is sin.”

Shaw believes there are legitimate issues and injustices regarding the treatment and the voice of the majority of Ferguson residents. He said that more than anything, this tragedy has shined a light on those problems.

For starters, the African American subgroup in Ferguson makes up 70% of the city’s total population, but there is only one African American member of the city council. Shaw said the city needs to push for everyone to register to vote.

“We are blessed to have some neat African American ladies in our church who have started taking young adults in the 18 to 30 age range and teaching them the basics of our democratic republic,” Shaw said. “We have a nation of people who don’t know how it works. When only 10% of the majority 70% of the population is registered to vote in a city, it’s bad. People start to feel like they aren’t included and can’t change anything, which leads to looting and burning.”

And that idea of feeling included is what lays heavy on Shaw’s heart because he knows where it needs to begin: within the body of Christ. Though pastors and churches have come together to pray for one another in light of recent events, Shaw says that trend needs to continue.

“It sends a wonderful message that we are united as one body of believers,” Shaw said. “We need to get back to really associating with each other and that may require churches, whether predominately white or black, get out of their comfort zones: team up, serve together, go on mission together, fellowship together and even periodically do a pastor swap.”

“We are only racially divided if we want to be,” Shaw said. “We need to be living like Christ throughout this crisis.”

Special to the Illinois Baptist. Kayla Rinker is a reporter living in southwest Missouri.

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A real gift: Seeing grace in Christmas consumerism

Meredith Flynn —  December 11, 2014

Nick_RynersonCOMMENTARY | Nick Rynerson

It’s that time of year again. Christmas pageants, Advent sermons, beautifully lit homes, crowded malls, and—of course—television commercials showing you “the perfect gift for this holiday season.” Consumeristic binge-shopping and “once a year sales” have become as much a part of American Christmastime as trees, stockings, and the Nativity scene.

Modern Christians are quick to point out the gross consumerism that surrounds the celebration of Christ’s birth and we often viciously fight to curb and challenge Consumeristic Christmas™.

Perhaps rightfully so. As we all know, Christmas is more than just an excuse to spend money in excess, get together with family, and watch “It’s a Wonderful Life.” Christmas is a time to celebrate that God loved humanity enough to send His Son to free us from the unsolvable mess of sin we’d gotten into. Christmas marks the beginning of the end for humanity’s sin problem.

And, amazingly, we live in a culture that recognizes that.

Our culture may not recognize that they recognize it, but think about it for a second: probably almost everyone you know (if you live in the United States) changes up their life rhythms to spend prodigious amounts of money on other people, make an effort to get together with estranged relatives, and even go to church (sometimes)!

Christmas shoppingWhenever I think of how most non- Christian Americans celebrate the Christmas season, I’m deeply moved. The secular “holiday spirit” reminds me of Paul’s words to the Greek pagans in Acts 17:

“And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, for, ‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are indeed his offspring’” (Acts 17:26-28 ESV).

If we set aside our criticisms to consider the Christmastime shopping habits of most people, we will glimpse something that echoes the woman in Mark 14:3-8 who anointed Jesus’ feet with expensive oil—people spending reckless amounts of money on gifts for their children, parents, friends, and relatives. At the mall, masses of people seek to communicate the deep and Christ-reflecting love they have for their families and neighbors in the best way they know how: through gift-giving.

While there are clearly sin issues at play in American consumerism, let’s be encouraged that—at least at Christmas—the generosity of Jesus flows through our malls and checkbooks. And when we talk with our non-Christian neighbors about Jesus this Christmas season, we, like Paul, can affirm God’s image, God’s love, and God’s common grace in them.

Nick Rynerson is a staff writer for Christ and Pop Culture and works for Crossway Publishing in Wheaton.

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The Briefing: Is racial justice a ‘gospel demand?’

Meredith Flynn —  December 9, 2014

Leaders debate in wake of grand jury decisions

THE BRIEFING | Meredith Flynn

The Christian Post reports on a disagreement among some Southern Baptist leaders, following a grand jury’s decision not to indict Police Officer Darren Wilson in the death of Missouri teenager Michael Brown.

The_Briefing“Seems to me that racial reconciliation is a good thing and is a social issue, not a doctrinal or theological issue, and certainly not a “gospel demand,'” blogged Texas pastor Randy White. “If there is something Biblical that expresses racial reconciliation as a gospel demand, I’ve missed it.”

White’s Nov. 26 post at randywhiteministries.org was in response to Southern Seminary vice president Matthew Hall, who wrote about racial injustice after a Missouri grand jury decided not to indict former Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson in Brown’s death. Hall blogged the gospel demands racial reconciliation and justice, and gave five reasons why Christians ought to heed its instruction on the issues.

“…It’s high time that we start listening to our African-American brothers and sisters when they tell us that they’re experiencing a problem in this country,” Russell Moore said after a Staten Island grand jury did not indict Officer Daniel Pantaleo in the death of Eric Garner. In a Questions & Ethics podcast recorded after the verdict was announced Dec. 3, the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission President denounced racial divisions in and among churches.

As a 13-year-old, Christian rapper Lecrae went free after harassing people with a pellet gun, he said in a Dec. 3 Facebook post. “One officer decided not to arrest me years ago but instead challenged me to get in my Bible.” The post was published on the same day as the Cleveland funeral of 12-year-old Tamir Rice, who was shot and killed by a police officer while carrying a pellet gun.

A Southern Baptist pastor in Florida was killed Dec. 4 by a gunman who also took the lives of two women. Baptist Press reported police arrested Andres Avalos in Bradenton two days after the murders of Pastor Tripp Battle, Amber Avalos (Andres Avalos’ wife), and Denise Potter. Battle was the pastor of Bayshore Baptist Church in Bradenton; his father-in-law, Keith Johnson, was formerly on staff at FBC Machesney Park and Vale Church (Bloomington) in Illinois.

Six in ten Americans say the government shouldn’t define or regulate marriage, according to this recent LifeWay Research study, and more than half say clergy should no longer be involved in the state’s licensing of marriage.

A group of religion leaders, including Pope Francis, have pledged to do everything they can to end human slavery by 2020.

Religion News Services wonders how Christians will respond to “Unbroken,” the Louis Zamperini biopic from director Angelina Jolie. The film reportedly doesn’t deal with Zamperini’s Christian faith, chronicled in Laura Hillenbrand’s 2010 book from its beginnings at a 1949 Billy Graham Crusade.

 

 

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Can this baby make a difference?

Meredith Flynn —  December 8, 2014

Why my family puts a shoebox under the Christmas tree

HEARTLAND | Serena Butler

UNCLE BENNY – The Butler family remembers the best reason to celebrate Christmas.

UNCLE BENNY – The Butler family remembers the best reason to celebrate Christmas.

Where do babies come from? It’s a question children have been asking through the ages and one that parents have found some creative ways of answering. My family has a unique explanation for a baby’s arrival to its new family.

When my dad, Charles, was about two years old, his mother was expecting a baby. The day came for the birth, and the doctor was summoned to the farmhouse in northern Florida. My grandfather took my dad and his older sister out into the fields to take a walk so that they would not be in the house during the delivery. A little while later, when they returned home, my newborn Uncle Benny was there. Because the family did not have a cradle for the baby, Uncle Benny was placed in a shoebox. So, if you were to ask little Charles Butler where babies come from, he would tell you that the doctor brings them in a shoebox.

Seventy-five years ago, Benjamin Harrison Butler was born and placed in a box. Two thousand years ago, another baby was born and placed in a box. Benny was a gift to his family. Jesus was a gift to the world.

This is the time of year when Christians remember the gift of the Christ-child. We hang lights, put up trees, and buy gifts for one another. We plan special worship services and send cards to family and friends. But we must remember that Christmas would not exist if it weren’t for the crucifixion and resurrection. The birth means nothing without the death. For this is the gospel, that Jesus died for our sins and rose from the dead, conquering the power of sin in our lives.

Grace, mercy, forgiveness, and new life are the true gifts given through Christ. But we celebrate the gift at its beginning, the birth.

2 Corinthians 5:17-18 says, “The old life is gone; a new life has begun! And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him.” When we accept the gift, our life is changed forever. In fact we are given a new life. And this new life is a gift from God.

We know that. We have heard it through numerous sermons and devotions. We know it through our own life experiences. But how often do we ignore the next part? Once we have received the gift of salvation, we then are given the responsibility of passing that gift on to others. The verse tells us that we have been “given the task of reconciling people to him.” That means sharing the gospel.

Christmas shopping season is upon us. We will visit malls and shop online. Some of us will spend hours making gifts to be given to loved ones. But the clothes we give will be outgrown or wear out. The toys will break or be cast aside. The electronics will become outdated.

Jesus is the one gift that will never fade away. It is truly the best gift anyone could receive. Paul describes it this way: “Thank God for this gift too wonderful for words!” (2 Corinthians 9:15)

A few years ago, my dad told the story of Uncle Benny’s birth to his Sunday school class. He also related it to the birth of Christ and how he was placed in a box. A few weeks later the class gave my dad a present. It was a baby doll in a shoebox to represent both Uncle Benny and the baby Jesus.

Now, if you were to visit the Butler home at Christmas and look under the tree, you would see a baby doll, dressed in blue, in a shoebox. He is named Uncle Benny, but he is a reminder to our family that the greatest gift of all is Jesus, a baby who was born and placed in a box. It is also a reminder that the baby should not stay with us, but we should be giving Jesus to others.

So, as you look for that perfect gift this Christmas, don’t overlook the gift you already possess. Jesus is the gift that is always the right size, won’t wear out or go out of style, and will be exactly what they were wishing for.

Serena Butler is Upper Midwest regional manager for Operation Christmas Child. She formerly served as IBSA’s director of missions awareness and Illinois WMU.

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