Patriotic Displays Common in July 4th Church Services
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“Most pastors (56%) say it’s important to incorporate patriotic elements into worship services the week of July 4th to celebrate America, including 27% who strongly agree” - Lifeway
Pew: Nearly half of states now recognize Juneteenth as an official holiday
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“Juneteenth National Independence Day, which celebrates the end of slavery in the United States, became a federal holiday last year.” - Pew
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4 facts about Presidents’ Day
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“Washington’s birthday was Feb. 22 and was a source of unofficial celebration throughout the 19th century. The celebration was eventually made into a federal holiday after the American Civil War.” - C.Post
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The Hanukkah Hang-up
In my service for The Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry, one of the things I set out to accomplish this fall was to study the subject of Hanukkah in order to bring special messages on that topic.
With God’s help, I was able to do so in three churches, along with sharing the material in a Bible study group that I teach regularly—and I have greatly enjoyed the experience!
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3 tips for meaningful conversations when you deeply disagree
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“We speed past the questions that would help us get to know another person’s story and instead immediately look to the places of greatest difference and disagreement.” - Denison Forum
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Drive-thru live Nativities are tailor-made for a COVID-19 Christmas
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“The church’s Lafayette Living Nativity, which Faith has hosted since 1991, may be one of the few Christmas traditions that go off in usual fashion in a pandemic year.” - BPNews
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Why Thanksgiving Is a Cultural “Ebenezer” to Be Grateful For
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“Robinson is not suggesting in his hymn that we all go out and build monuments to God. Rather, as he observes in the next stanza, our hearts are prone to wander and we need touchstones in our lives to remind us what God has done for us individually and, by extension, all God’s people ‘thus far.’” - TIFWE
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C.S. Lewis loved the Incarnation. Not so much the Christmas holiday
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“It wasn’t just the commercialization of Christmas that Lewis disdained. It was the trivialization of the historical event of Christ’s birth. Lewis thought the commercial racket should be detached from the remembrance of what the angels celebrated nearly 2,000 years ago.” - Christianity Today
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Sorry, Halloween isn't worth celebrating
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“Yes, Halloween is big business. Beyond padding retailers’ pockets, it has little to no positive effect.” - Washington Examiner
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Putting the X Back in Xmas
Reposted from The Cripplegate.
I’m all for putting Christ back in Christmas. And there is no doubt that our secularized culture is working hard at surreptitiously ushering the Baby out, without losing the murky bathwater of gift-giving and commercial celebration. But I’d like to address the misinformed concern that the use of “Xmas” as a placeholder for “Christmas” is part of the conspiracy to excise Christ from his holiday.
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