Every December I make a special appointment. I always take the man I consider my pastor out to lunch and treat him like I want to be treated. He has a great interest in the Civil War, so I try to give him some unique gift with a Civil War connection. This year I gave him two DVDs: The 1980s mini-series The Blue and the Gray, and a 2007 movie called The Last Confederate. I also gave him a rather worn 1864 5¢ currency bill printed by the government to replace coins because of a shortage of metal during the war.
I love to see the lights go on in his head when he opens the gifts. I make sure to tithe my Christmas bonus to him and pick up the tab! We have a delightful time talking about our mutual friends in ministry and, of course, our mutual aches and pains. I know this luncheon will happen each year just before Christmas, so I plan all year long what to get him, which gives me time to be creative.
That is one of the highlights of my Christmas celebration. Do you have a special friend you get a special gift for each year? Tell us about it.
Tags: Christmas, Civil War, gifts
Martin Luther, that giant of the Protestant Reformation, confessed, “Next to faith, this is the greatest art: to be content with the calling in which God has placed you.” This raises a few questions to ponder:
- How content are you with your gifts and talents?
- Is it okay to have certain gifts and not others?
- How well do you know and accept your limits?
I know of two businessmen that were each installed as elders at a church. Both of those men resisted the decisions of their pastor strongly and led to the pastor’s resignation and ultimate demise of the church, which is no longer in existence.
Later those two leaders both confessed, independently, that they had felt a call to ministry early on in their lives and felt like they missed God. Either they did not have the gift of pastoring, or they were disobedient to the call. Yet they both felt they had the authority to make pastoral decisions for the church without shouldering the responsibility.
They did not value the calling God gave them, but sought out a calling they desired. And it backfired!
Identify your true calling and stay faithful. And do not step into a calling that is not yours. Doing so can cause great harm to the Body of Christ.
Tags: contentment, gifts, Luther
Christmas customs change from generation to generation. I’ve seen quite a change in customs from the 1950s when I grew up to today. So I asked my Dad a couple of years ago how they celebrated Christmas when he was a child (latter 1920s, prior to the Great Depression). The economy was booming and my grandfather was proprietor of Diehl’s Jewelry Store in Butler, so they were better off than many in a small town.
He told me they set up a small evergreen tree on a table in the living room, and decorated it with tinsel. On Christmas morning he found fruit and nuts in his stocking near the tree and one gift, usually an item of clothing.
Perhaps a little simplicity around our Christmas celebrations today wouldn’t be so bad. Perhaps the generation who had won World War II and felt invincible spoiled its children with an ever increasing array of gifts that the next generation can never keep up with. Perhaps the gifts that used to come with joy from love, now come with a load of debt from a sense of duty.
Does that mound of guilt-reducing gifts really enhance Christmas joy? Do our children really appreciate us more for it? I think I’ll try to simplify Christmas this year.
Tags: Christmas, gifts, simplify