MRTU: Season's Greetings?

What is the appopriate seasonal greeting from 26th to 31st December?

This may sound pedantic, but I'm one of those people who looks at his watch before he says good morning, to make sure I don't accidentally say it in the afternoon...

The way I see it, you can wish someone a "Happy Christmas" from around 7th December, although ideally on your last meeting with the person before Christmas day. And when you do, it means, "I hope you have a happy Christmas."

You can also say Happy Christmas on Christmas Day itself, which means something like, "Christmas is Happy, and I hope you agree."

But on Boxing Day? My relatives said it to me on Boxing Day, and it sounded weird. My brother's housemate said it the day after, and it was just wrong.

As far as I'm concerned, ""Happy New Year" doesn't come into play until it is actually New Year's Day, and you can say it for as long as you like, depending how you define 'New.'

So what do you say in the meantime? Is there an appropriate greeting, or should it just be "did you have a good Christmas" (which usually means listening to their reply).

Or maybe "hello"?

End of Year Preview

As the end of 2008 draws nearer, bloggers galore are offering their reviews of 2008. Bish reviews his blogging year, and also tells us his top Christian books, his top fiction books and his top films of 2008. Tom, Peter and Dave have also offered their top films of 2008, and the chaps at proGnosis have had a look back at their blogging year. I thought I ought to keep up, but I haven't exactly been the most diligent of bloggers. So I decided I'd do something a bit different...

The past year has been a bit mind-boggling. Loads has happened, and I've got a lot to be very thankful to God for. In fact, I'm not sure where I'd start (although probably here, here, here, here or here...). So, instead of a REview of 2008, I give you a PREview of 2009. Here are a few things I'm looking forward to in the coming year, God willing:

• New Year in Southend - I'm going to be seeing the back of 2008 in Southend-on-Sea... seems sort of fitting really.
  
• Staff Conference - a week with my quality colleagues, with some special guests. Apparently I'm signed up for something called 'Blitz', but I can't let my boss think I'm a wuss...
  
• FREE Weeks - giving out hundreds of copies of Mark's gospel to students, then explaining what it means. Awesome.
  
• New Leaders Training - Basically, getting together student leaders from all over the South East. This year Michael Green (Legend) will be joining us. I still can't quite believe I get paid to go to stuff like this.
  
• Anna's 21st Birthday - she'd be grumpy if I didn't mention it...
  
• New Word Alive 2009 - promises to be an exciting Bible-centred week of Jesus-related fun (although it's in North Wales, and I almost got hypothermia last year).
  
• Summer Mission - more details about this soon, but it's going to be good.
  
• Forum 2009 - basically, there is absolutely no way the weather could be as bad as last year, so things can only get better. Good job too - I've already volunteered to camp... But the weather is a minor detail. Forum is always a highlight, and this year I might actually have a clue what's going on!
  

And these are just some of the things I know about - I've already figured out that it will probably be a slightly unpredictable year. But I'm pretty excited. Bring on 2009!

Waiting for the Coming of the King - 24th December

"But the angel said to them, Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord."
- Luke 2v10-11

HAPPY CHRISTMAS!

Waiting for the Coming of the King - 23rd December

"So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn."
- Luke 2 v 4-7

Holiday Fun...

After a long time of it being rubbish, I finally fiddled around with my website yesterday and made it a bit more decent. I think it looks a bit cooler now (the seaside theme didn't really work now I live in the 'Ding), and it's a lot simpler.

In celebration of the update, I've added a couple of new items. They've appeared on this blog before, but I've added them to the website as pdfs. You can get them here:
Romans 4 - the infamous talk I gave at RUCU last month.
Colossians 4v2-6 - another talk from RUCU, this time from their houseparty. This one was made slightly more interesting by the excruciating pain in my chest after a nasty bundling incident...

Waiting for the Coming of the King - 22nd December

"The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned."
- Isaiah 9v2

Waiting for the Coming of the King - 21st December

"On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshipped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh."
- Matthew 2v11

Surrey vs Reading: Round 1!

The CUs I work with are a talented bunch. A few weeks ago I posted RUCU's FREE week promo video. Now Surrey have followed suit, and have produced their own. In a characteristically diplomatic manner, I think both are great.

So first, hot off the press, here's Surrey's sterling effort...



And here's Reading's...



In the interests of healthy competition I thought I'd make things interesting - there's a poll on the right-hand side of my blog >>>. Watch both, and see which is your favourite! (You can vote for more than one, which I obviously have because I think they are different but equally good in different ways).

[Update: I felt a bit mean having the poll, so I removed it. I think I have a lot more FaceBook friends from Reading than Surrey, so it wasn't exactly fair. Let's call it a draw...]

Seriously though, if praying is your thing, then pray for both CUs. The FREE project is going to be a massive opportunity for people to find out for themselves who Jesus is. As the videos explain, we're going to be giving away copied of Mark's gospel, and giving people the chance to explore what it has to say. So please do be praying for us if you can.

Waiting for the Coming of the King - 20th December

"On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshipped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh."
- Matthew 2v11

Waiting for the Coming of the King - 19th December

"On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshipped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh."
- Matthew 2v11

Waiting for the Coming of the King - 18th December

"After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, 'Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.'"
- Matthew 2v1-2

Waiting for the Coming of the King - 17th December

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it."
- John 1v1-5

Waiting for the Coming of the King - 16th December

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."
- John 3v16

Waiting for the Coming of the King - 15th December

"The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! "
- John 1v29

Waiting for the Coming of the King - 14th December

And there were shepherds living out in the fields near by, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.

But the angel said to them, Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger. Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,

"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favour rests."

When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about. So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them.

But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.
- Luke 2v8-20

More (possibly slightly too much) on Santa...

OK, maybe I've been thinking a bit too much about Santa today. I'm refraining from giving my own views on the (fictional) chap, but I saw this from Richard Perkins today and loved it:

Got a question today from one of the staff, "can you just remind me your views on Father Christmas...?"

Fair question. Don’t think she was expecting this: "Get rid of the fat man in the red suit - this is Jesus’ day, so he can butt out!"

Love it. And then I followed Richard's link to Abraham Piper's thoughts on the same subject, summed up in his usual 22 words. For any parents reading this (particularly parents of children I'm likely to meet in the next 12 days):

I worry what to teach my kids about Santa like I worry what to teach them about Rumpelstiltskin.

That is, I don’t.

Happy Christmas Charles!

OK, this isn't very original as a blog post (you can read it on about a million other blogs), but I thought I'd post it anyway. I was having a look at what Spurgeon thought about Christmas. Turns out he said this:

We have no superstitious regard for times and seasons. Certainly we do not believe in the present ecclesiastical arrangement called Christmas. First because we do not believe in any mass at all, but abhor it, whether it be sung in Latin or in English: Secondly, because we find no scriptural warrant whatever for observing any day as the birthday of the Savior; and consequently, its observance is a superstition, because not of divine authority. Superstition has fixed most positively the day of our Savior's birth, although there in no possibility of discovering when it occurred. It was not till the middle of the third century that any part of the Church celebrated the birth of our Lord; and it was not till long after the western Church had set the example, that the eastern adopted it. Because the day in not known. Probably the fact is that the "holy" days were arranged to fit in with the heathen festivals. We venture to assert that if there be any day in the year of which we may be pretty sure that it was not the day on which our Savior was born it is the 25th of December. Regarding not the day, let us give God thanks for the gift of His dear Son. - 24/Dec/1871

It also turns out he wasn't a big fan of Father Christmas either (he used the phrase, "deceptive, worldly Santa Claus"! But I'm not going to risk blogging too much about my feelings on that one...

As I often say to my students, who I'm trying to turn into Spurgeon fans, I like to think that if he was still around today, we'd have got on.

Waiting for the Coming of the King - 13th December

In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin's name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, Greetings, you who are highly favoured! The Lord is with you. Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favour with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus.
- Luke 1v26-31

Waiting for the Coming of the King - 12th December

"But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions - it is by grace you have been saved."
- Ephesians 2v4-5

O Holy Night?

This used to be one of my favourite Christmas songs (mainly from the version featured in Home Alone). But now I'm not so sure...



My 'favourite' part is around the 3 minute mark...

Waiting for the Coming of the King - 11th December

"But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times."
- Micah 5v2

Waiting for the Coming of the King - 10th December

"For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."
- Romans 6v23

Waiting for the Coming of the King - 9th December

When all the people were being baptised, Jesus was baptised too. And as he was praying, heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.
- Luke 3v21-22

Waiting for the Coming of the King - 8th December

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
- Isaiah 9v6

Waiting for the Coming of the King - 7th December

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
- Isaiah 9v6

Waiting for the Coming of the King - 6th December

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
- Isaiah 9v6

Waiting for the Coming of the King - 5th December

"For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."
- Isaiah 9v6

Waiting for the Coming of the King - 4th December

"Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel."
- Isaiah 7v14

Waiting for the Coming of the King - 3rd December

This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.
But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins."

All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet:
"The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel"—which means, "God with us."

When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.
- Matthew 1v18-25

Waiting for the Coming of the King - 2nd December

"It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas..."

New this week from the UCCF media machine...

Waiting for the Coming of the King - 1st December