Post Christmas Playtime Car Track Looping Awesomeness

Courtesy of Tony Steward …

Car Track Loop Post Christmas Awesomeness from Tony Steward on Vimeo.

Merry Christmas from The Daily Scroll

“But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.”

Galatians 4:4-5

O Horrifically Amateurish Night

Perhaps you’ve heard this (if so, I’m sorry):

(HT: Denny Burk)

Origin of the … um, ‘performance.’

Great photos: ‘Christmas Around the World’

At Ben Witherington’s blog.

‘In Defense of Santa Claus’

At Boundless, Candice Watters reflects on a Wall Street Journal article by Tony Woodlief about the benefits that come from preserving a mystical, fictional concept like Santa Claus in our homes:

“You may be thinking the links between Santa, Darwin and Jesus a bit flimsy or hokey, but trust me, they’re there …”

Take a Christmas quiz

… at Christian History dot net:

“3. Who is credited with creating the first Nativity scene (or creche) on Christmas Eve in 1223?

• Bernard of Clairvaux
• Pope Gregory the Great
• Raphael
• Francis of Assisi”

(HT: David Gibson)

Weekend Walkabout, December 20, 2008

26 posts from the week that escaped mention (almost!):

“All” Always Means ALL. Right? - Phil Johnson

A Bad Sign - The Sacred Sandwich

CCM Magazine’s Top Ten Artist Blogs of 2008 (HT: Worship.com)

Don’t Waste Your Sexuality - Josh Harris

The Elvis-Beatles Relativity Fallacy - Rod Dreher

“Free” Christian music downloads from CompassionArt - Gospel Soundcheck

Glorifying God in Our Christmas Shopping - Tony Reinke

“Does my gift serve the soul of the recipient?”

How Hellish is ‘Time Out’? - Russell Moore

If Only it Were That Clear - Mark D. Roberts

Jonestown and the Reformed Movement - R. Scott Clark

“As weird and impossible as Jonestown seems today, what happened to them and what they did to themselves, is not utterly unrelated to ideas, causes, and personalities in the Reformed movement over the last three decades.”

Killing is My Business, and Business is Good - Paul Manata

Lewis’s Famous Essay on Bulverism (HT: Victor Reppert)

Martin Luther’s Christmas Book - Between Two Worlds

No Good Reason - Cerulean Sanctum

“In sorting through this clothing, the realization that I throw away just about nothing hit home.”

Online Community…Does it exist? YES! But I Think You Are Asking the Wrong Question - Rhett Smith

Phillips Daylight Window Concept Presentation - Joshua Sowin

Q+A :: How many U.S. churches exist? - Church Relevance

Reflections from a Church Pianist - Amy Scott

“When I have a brain freeze at a bad time, I’ve got a special look for the other musicians that asks, ‘What are you people thinking, man?’”

Six Christmas Poems - Marcus Goodyear

Tim Challies Day - Justin Taylor

Unpacking forgiveness in real life - Dan Phillips

Volition: A Short Film - Jonathan Ignacio

“It is a fifteen minute film focusing on three of the worst atrocities of human rights this world has faced.”

Why read through Calvin’s Institutes in 2009? - Ligon Duncan

Xmas Giveaway - Trevin Wax

“For the next ten days (Dec. 15-25), you have the opportunity to register to win all ten of my favorite books this year. Plus, an ESV Study Bible. That’s $260 worth of books!”

You Should Subscribe - Green Baggins

Zeitgeist as Agent? - Pseudo-Polymath

“Consider … for a moment the intelligent ant colony … from the ant’s perspective … here with man as ant. “

255th Christian Carnival

The 255th Christian Carnival went up yesterday at Parableman, but I’m told it’s still up today. (Be sure to use chains if you drive … there will be snow. Parking is around the back, next to Woolworths.)

Some of the posts featured:

• Save Your Christmas
• Fasting: Keeping It Secret In Our Culture of Food in America
• Stewardship 101
• 5 Inspirational Bible Quotes To Enhance Your Day

Some ‘gentle’ Christmas carol corrections

… courtesy of Philip Schroeder, at The Thinklings blog:

“‘We Three Kings of Orient Are‘ –The Bible doesn’t say how many wise men there were. Traditionally the songs and stories only say there were three because there were three gifts. Wise Men, or Magi, were not kings. They were advisers and magicians for kings. As for the Orient, they were from the middle-east, not the far-east.”

From ASBO Jesus:

Who’s up for a list?

The lists come out like snowflakes near the end of the year, don’t they? Here are a few you might be interested in:

• Ten Important Archaeological Discoveries in 2008 Related to the Bible - Claude Mariottini (HT: Todd Bolen)
• Top 10 Emergent/Missional/Post-Evangelical Blog Posts of 2008 - Raffi Shahinian (HT: TallSkinnyKiwi)
• Top 11 Holiday Libations - James Poulos
• Not Just Another Christmas List - girltalk

There’ll be others before January 1, I assure you.

Caroling your neighbors into the Kingdom

At the reformed evangelist, Chris de Vidal offers a practical post explaining how to evangelize by organizing a group to sing Christmas carols.

“First scout out a good neighborhood with houses close together. You might choose a poor neighborhood which blesses both those in the home and your group as well. Avoid my mistake and make sure the neighborhood isn’t gated; I didn’t scout ahead, and we went to a locked neighborhood. Oops!”

Read the whole thing.

Do the angels sing?

Fred Sanders weighs the (absence of) biblical evidence for angelic singing at The Scriptorium:

“Flip to your favorite passages to see if you can catch them singing, and you get surprised by the total lack of musical terminology …”

‘Deconstructing Christmas’

In an essay posted at Emergent Village, Mark Douglass, co-leader of the Wilderness Way Community, considers which Christmas elements are worth keeping, and which need to be ‘tossed’:

“Keep: Songs and Traditions from Around the World — again, the transcultural/contextual paradox of Christ’s birth invites a wealth of music and celebration to connect us with the world’s celebration of Christ …
 
Toss: Material Gifts — We live in a time of year-round excess that needs a strong witness to restraint. What better witness than turning Christmas into a season of charitable giving and gifts of time, presence, and community rather than another opportunity for material excess?”

Read the whole thing.

UK: “‘Vicar bans ‘O Little Town of Bethlehem’”

… because “the words were ‘too far removed from life in Bethlehem’ and no longer ‘represent the modern-day reality of the war-torn city,’” blogger Cranmer reports.

When was Christmas, really?

New Testament scholar Darrell Bock has the skinny:

“The most we can get for the biblical data is a range of years.”

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