Every year the start of the
retail Christmas season gets earlier and earlier. Now it seems to be a common
occurrence for Christmas decorations to appear on store shelves even before
Halloween is upon us!
What is happening to
Christmas? Do people still see this as a
celebration of Christ’s birth, or just an opportunity to overindulge? Why
do so many people dread the holidays? What
should we be doing as Christians?
As a church we are going to
delve into these questions by studying a book together as we enter the Advent
season. The book is "Christmas is Not Your Birthday" by Mike
Slaughter, UMC pastor of Ginhamsburg Church near Dayton, Ohio.
We will be studying the
book together in small groups - some at church, some in homes. Home groups will
meet three times before Christmas. Sign-ups for the groups will be available at
church on Sunday, November 3. If you have any questions please call the church
office at 216-321-8880.
Not only does this book
look at what Christmas means to us, but following the example set by Ginghamsburg Church it explores sacrificial giving. You can read about what this church was able to do through their giving here.
To read more about Pastor
Mike Slaughter, check out his blog here.
Want to participate in a conversation outside your study group?
Do you have resources or other book suggestions to share on this topic?
Perhaps you already have experience of down-sizing Christmas and would like to share?
Or maybe you have some gritty questions on the topic that you're grappling with and would appreciate input?
For any of the above, you can post on this blog by clicking on the "No (or a number) comments" that is in purple under each post. If there are comments, you can hit "reply" and respond to any comment posted. Or, you can email cotsfastsandfeasts@gmail.com and I will post it on the blog for you :-)
Conversation helps us explore and go deeper, so I encourage you to use this blog as a tool to do just that.
