Today is Friday.  This is important information because every Friday you can find me at the Finders Pub  in West Boylston, Mass around noon.  And that is important information because today, I’m going to share a bit about my plans for the Christmas and New year’s holidays.

Tonight is date night.  Carie and I will go out to dinner and talk and pretend like we’re not really glad that it’s Friday, but the reality is we’re thrilled and relieved.

Saturday night I have a match with the monopoly posse scheduled, and I will continue to attempt world domination at this very festive game.

On Sunday morning, Fellowship Church will be presenting the last message in our series,”the Advent Conspiracy.”  It should be ana amazing service with some creative things planned, so if you’re in town, invite some friends and family and check out one of our two services at FC.  Those times are 9:30 and 11:00 am.  The music, videos, and message will be awesome, and what a better way to spend a Sunday morning than celebrating the birth of Christ!

After Sunday morning, Carie and I will be away for a short time, leaving Jessica at home I think, and we’ll be returning on Monday afternoon.  Christmas Eve night is typically when Carie and I celebrate together as “the Holman” family.  Interestingly enough, my time with her on Christmas Eve and the parties that go along with the season, are my two favorite things about celebrating.

On Tuesday, we’ll be celebrating with her family.  It will be a blast.  No, that wasn’t sarcastic, that was for real.  Her family has gone through some hard times in the last couple of years, and some of those things have been “patched up”.  So this celebration on Christmas should be a good time.

Oh, I forgot to mention the blog.  My blog all next week will be a Christmas story that I’ll write from day to day.  I get this idea from Katie Ferguson’s blog.  (wow!  I just found out in linking you to Katie’s blog that her husband Ian has one too. I didn’t know!)  Every November she writes a novel in National Novel writing month or something and this year she blogged it.  Actually she put my name in her novel.  You can check out what I did here.

So even right now I’m coming up with ideas for a Christmas short story (Don’t have the discipline or time right now to do the novel thing) all next week on my blog. 

Then throughout the week Carie and I will be working on the house and finalizing the move we started last week.  Carie has the week off and I’m going to take a few days off to prepare the house and organize stuff.

Lastly, on December 31st, Carie and I will be having a new Year’s Eve party at the house.  Feel free to join us.  Hopefully we’ll be able to accomplish some tasks this week to prepare for the party, and hopefully the couch we ordered from Jordan’s Furniture (not on credit, ha) in early November will have been delivered to our house.  Please O Please…

Then on January 1st, my lead team at FC has a very important meeting to start off 2008.

So that’s my plans for the week.  I hope that you have a very merry Christmas, and a happy New Year! 

Until next time…

Christmas is an amazing time.  At the risk of being trite, it’s a time to be with family, friends, to give of yourself for others, and unfortunately, to watch a butload of Christmas movies on the Hallmark Channel and eat enormous amounts of food.

But one thought I’ve had this season so far is, Who is my family?

At this point you’ll probably wonder if I’m okay, and would like some help or to be transported in an ambulance or by car, but I think it’s a fair question.  Consider this:  In the Bible, a man asks Jesus what the greatest commandment is.  Jesus replies with the very famous verses on Loving God with everything and loving your neighbor as yourself.  The man then asks, “Who is my neighbor?” 

It’s really not a bad question.  Let’s get specific Jesus.  Let’s not deal with the general, let’s figure this thing out.  Who in the world is my neighbor?  Jesus, of course replies with the parable of the good Samaritan.  You can find this story in Luke 10.

So this Christmas, because we all say that it’s about family and friends and neighors and peace and giving, I’d like to ask this question:  Who is my family? 

Come on, based on the “neighbor” story in Luke, this thing can’t just be about bloodlines and middle children and inheritance, and I want to know who my family is.  Now please understand, I love my immediate family.  My beautiful wife Carie is the most patient, caring, and sweet person who ever existed.  My parents are amazing people who love God more than any people I know.  My sister Amie has a great family, and when we talk, we talk like two people who are both living in cold tundras.  (This is because I live in Massachusetts and she lives in Green Bay)  My youngest sister Brooke works really hard in a home for troubled boys,and has such a huge heart.

I began thinking of this when I was a bachelor working at Fellowship Church in the early 2000′s. I was invited over to some friends house for Christmas morning, an invitation to which I accepted and had a great time.  Afterwards, the family invited me over to their extended family’s house for more Christmas fun, only to be rebuked by the matriarch of the family for inviting a stranger over, and having their request denied to have me join them for their Family Christmas.

I hated that they were put in that position to tell me I couldn’t join them because…

I wasn’t in their family.

This Christmas, I ask the question, who is in your family?  Is it just you and a few select others who are “special enough” to be allowed into your gatherings?   Or would you extend the definition of family to allow others into your home for the holidays and for Christyear just as Jesus extended the definition of who my neighbor might be?

This could really be an excellent means for Discipleship.  You see, when you bring someone into your circle, you allow them access to who you really are, and if that’s a good thing, then the good that is who you are should eventually transfer to them, especially (but not limited to) if you’re a good teacher.

So my challenge to you is to allow a new family member into your home or your celebration this Christmas, and if it gets vetoed by the king or queen, take your royal celebration somewhere else next year.

Until next time…

Our services were cancelled this Sunday due to inclement weather.  Because of this, I have placed my sermon transcript on my blog this morning.  Later, I will place a recording of the text online as well.  Have a great Sunday morning!

Matthew 2:9 – 11 – “After this interview the wise men went their way.  And the star they had seen in the East guided them to Bethlehem.  It went ahead of them and stopped over the place the child was.  When they saw the star, they were filled with joy!  They entered the house and saw the child with his mother, Mary, and they bowed down and worshipped him.  Then they opened their treasure chests and gave him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.” 

What we have been looking at over the past several weeks is how to celebrate Christmas, and not just celebrate a holiday.  Because if we want to celebrate a holiday, we could celebrate a holiday however we want, but it we want to celebrate Christmas, we need to celebrate the way Christ intended us to celebrate Him, especially if we’re going to make a big deal about the title of the holiday. 

Like most conversations about the Christmas season, we’ve talked in this series so far about making Christ the “Reason for the Season” and making Him the focal point of how we’re celebrating, but where this series differs is in applying truths that hold not just to this month, but to the rest of the year.  In a sense we’re not celebrating Christmas, but we’re celebrating Christyear! 

My question for us today is this:  What is the appropriate way for me to give gifts and how does the idea of giving gifts fit into God’s plan for how I should be living the rest of the year?  Because giving gifts isn’t evil, and in fact, the reason we give gifts to others is rooted in God giving us a relational gift: His Son, Jesus Christ.  So how do we give gifts to others in a godly way, and how do we apply that – not just for a day, a month, or a particular season – but as a new perspective on living? 

Now as I’ve talked about the last several weeks, I absolutely love Christmas!  And I say the same thing today about gifts.  I really love gifts!  I love giving them.   I love getting them.  In fact, I’d like to share with you my top 5 Best Christmas gifts ever: 

5.       Gift:  Waterbed (wavy, not one of them stiff ones)  Year:  1988         
          Giver:  My parents, Marty & Susan Holman

4.       Gift:  Ten speed bike         
          Year:  1987         
          Giver:  My Parents, again 

3.       Gift:  Ben Roethlesburger Jersey         
          Year:  2005 (Super bowl year, by the way – coincidence, yeah right)         
          Giver:  My wife, Carie. 

2.       Gift:  Civilization 4, the video game         
         Year:  2005 (This was a every good Christmas)             
          Giver:  Carie’s mom, Angela 

1.       Gift:  Guitar Hero games and controllers                  
          Year:  2006         
          Givers:  Carie, Angela, and Mike Burns 

So before we really get into today’s sermon, I want you to know that I get gifts too, and I accept them, and I love them.  But this brings me to a question: Doesn’t it seem like sometimes at the end of gift giving or gift getting you feel empty inside?  Doesn’t seem, and maybe not as a kid, because you just received a whole lot of things, but as you got older, even if you get a guitar hero, or even if you just watched your kids get all the stuff they want, that there is something missing?  Whether it’s a guitar hero or a nice pair of socks, something seems amiss about a time and a place where I can come and give gifts to those who don’t need gifts, and then I hope for the best possible gift I can get as an adult.  

Oh come on, don’t act so self-righteous, you all know you’ve struggled to get the best gift at a yankee swap, to the point of dissing someone else’s chance of getting something good. And it’s not only that, but something feels empty about setting aside a time and a place when we are supposed to be extra nice to people.  Uncle Jack and Cousin Matt hate each other, but they need to “put on their best smiles and be nice” because it’s Christmas! 

I know, I know, you’ll hate me for this.  But the truth is, it really is a modern way of thinking.  That I need to set aside time, about a month out of the year, to be really nice to people.  To give gifts to people who I wouldn’t normally give gifts to. 

Maybe right now you’re thinking about the Bible, and how Scripture promotes holidays and special celebrations where the Jews were to celebrate special things.  But the truth is that each time Scripture talks about a special day, either in the OT or the NT, it always puts the focus of that celebration on God, and the implication being that each time we celebrate something, that the focus of that celebration be put back on Him.  

(Isaiah 1:13 – “Stop bringing me your meaningless gifts; the incense of your offering disgusts me!  As for your celebrations of the new moon and the Sabbath and your special days of fasting- they are sinful and false.  I want no more of your pious meetings.”) 

So where does that put us?  What do we do?  Of course, our purpose here at Fellowship Church is to lead people into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ.  An important piece of that purpose that we often miss is “to lead.”  So many times we follow.  We follow culture like a puppy dog follows his “best friend” or like a junior high boy follows young girl  he likes.  We follow whatever the trend says.  But our desire here at Fellowship is to be leaders. And so we want to use culture to our advantage, not to be led by the culture in which we live. 

And there are times when Culture and our beliefs disconnect, and when that happens we need to begin speaking up, not just with our mouths but with our actions.  Remember, this series is more about rethinking our way of life than it is about rethinking Christmas. 

So what does God have to say about gifts?  And about Gift giving?  Mucho Grande. I searched all through Scripture, and it certainly isn’t a narrow search. Spread out throughout all of Scripture, the word Gift is used 154 times, and the word Giving is used 219 times in various ways, but for the most part, the two types of gifts the Bible mentions is the type of gifts that you and I give and receive and spiritual gifts that Paul often refers to.  Our focus will be on the former. 

But today I want to look at a passage in Proverbs a book of wisdom in the OT, that talks about gifts.  Now it does not talk about Christmas, as the passage that was read earlier discusses, but it does focus on gifts, and the types of gifts that are not good.   

This book (of Proverbs) was written by one of the richest, most powerful men in all the world at the time of its writing.  He was a king.  People were always giving him gifts.  And this is what he writes.  We’re going to look at 2 verses today in Proverbs 22. 

Proverbs 22:15 – “A youngster’s heart is full of foolishness, but physical discipline will drive it far away”  

That is, a child (or anyone who gets whatever they want) will be spoiled and will ultimately act however they want to act.  I mean, you don’t need a Bible verse for this, do you?  You’ve seen that kid in the mall, even this Christmas season, acting out because they are not getting what they want when they want it.  You’ve seen the temper tantrums of the spoiled. Maybe it’s someone in your children’s school?  Maybe it’s someone at church?  Maybe it’s at the store over the hoidays?  Wherever it was, you know that this proverb is true.  That the child, left to his or her own devices, will ultimately act however they want to.     

“But physical discipline will drive foolishness far away.” 

This is not just for young people, but the author is assuming that older people have figured this out.    In other words, discipline in your life and in my life – The discipline to say no.  The discipline to not buy that.  The discipline to not act on that impulse.  The discipline to say no to that night, that weekend, that proposition, will in a sense, drive foolishness far away. 

This is true of many areas of our life.  This is true of hygiene. This is true of homework.  This is true of marriage and relationships.  And this is true of buying gifts at Christmas.  

So is the next verse… Proverbs 22:16 – “A person who gets ahead by oppressing the poor or by showering gifts on the rich will end in poverty.” 

That there is something, there is a connection between your money, and how you use your money in your relationship with others that is directly connected to how successful you will end up being in the long run. That is, It may seem like a good idea at the time to be able to buy a gift inexpensively at the sake of the child who made the item you’re buying, and to not have to think about that process, but in the end, it will turn out badly for you. 

Or, It may seem like a great idea to shower your kids with the maximum amount of gifts possible in order to make them happy and unwanting, or to shower your boss with the gift that’s gonna make him see you in some sort of a good light, or give gifts to people who might have more money than others and ignore people with whom you don’t care how they see you, but in the end, it will not turn out good for you, but it will turn out bad and, and you will not get more but you will have less, and you may even end up in poverty. 

You see, when you spend unwisely, it does not help you, it hurts you.  And the stats when it comes to Christmas spending are not pretty in America.  455 Billion dollars on gifts.  And to make matters worse, Consumer credit debt right now is 2.4 Trillion.  And when people spend unwisely, foolishly if you will, or without the discipline of saying, “I will not spend more than I can afford”, than the end is poverty.  

It only makes sense. And the writer of this proverb, who’d been there and back again, who was one of the richest men in the world at the time, and who was spoiled as a child and spoiled his own kids, in the end said, listen, God has set up the world in such a way that he will get the glory, not you, so you better treat people a certain way in all aspects of life, including your stuff and including the gifts you give.  

So What can I do and what can you do? The answer is to give Relationally, because God gave relationally. In other words, Because God gave us His Son, Jesus Christ as a relational gift, we can then rise above the trap of materialism and overconsumption and give relationally to our family and friends, without “making the rich, richer and the poor, poorer.”  Here’s how we can do that: 

1. We can give gifts to meet needs.

That’s what love is all about, right?  love is meeting needs.  So we ask the question, What does this person need?  If I care enough to give this person a gift, I should know what this person needs.  I could ask.  Here’s an interesting concept, if you ask someone what they need for Christmas, and they answer, “I don’t need anything”, take them up on that, and tell them you’ll give a gift (in their name) to someone who does need a gift, and do that.I can hear the complaints now – “But that’s not the Spirit of Christmas if I don’t get my friends gifts” No, that’s not the spirit of 21^st century, modernistic, commercialistic, make us all rich and fat Christmas.  But it is the spirit of my Jesus who loved me enough he knew what I needed – a Savior. 

2. We can give gifts to express my love for those I love 

(We don’t have to express our love by spending more) If you think you have to spend more to love more, than you have it all wrong.  Some of my favorite gifts from my wife (with the exception of the Steelers Jersey, which is more about the emotional attachment than the gift) have been cards, notes, text messages, and little things she does for me throughout the year, including Christmas. Could it be that there is more to be said about the effort of giving a particular gift than the purchase of buying an expensive gift? 

3. We can give gifts to express my love for God  

So we can ask, What is the gift that I can give this person that can show how much I love God?   Now listen, it doesn’t have to be from a Christian bookstore, though it can be.  I’m not even saying it has to be a Christian gift, trust me on this one.  I’m simply saying that if you give a gift, does it come out of an expression of your love for what God has given to you? For as we’ve seen in the last several weeks, the gift that God gave us was so special and so relational that it had an amazing impact on the entire world.   

And as leaders, and as culture creators and culture cultivators, I want to have an amazing impact through my gift giving on my entire world.  My family, and my friends, and my coworkers and my children and anyone I would give a gift to. 

I want to give relationally, because God gave relationally  Because He sent His Son down to this earth to give of Himself, and become our Savior, saving us from a separation from God that was too deep for us to cross, but not too deep for Him.  

So this Christmas, before you go out and get gifts for everyone, think about this:  What is the gift that will link this person (the person to whom I’m  giving the gift) to my heart?

Today in new England we’re about to get hit with a whole weekend of snow.  I believe this is connected with the lack of snow we’ve had before Christmas for the last two years, so we’re about to get crushed over the next 3 days.  This is not bad news.  But I am asking God to move the snow away from Sunday morning.  He hasn’t got back to me yet.

To commemorate this weekend, however, I will be sharing my fave top ten recorded Christmas songs with their respective artists.  I hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoy them.  But if not…you might be a scrooge.

10. All I want for Christmas is you. (Mariah Carey) – Listen, when she wrote it in 1994, I thought she was talking about me.

9.  Celebration (Mannheim Steamroller)  So classic. 

8.  Christmastime (Michael W Smith) – I used to stand in front of the mirror at college, and secretly mimic the fact that I was Smitty singing this Christmas tune in front of thousands.

7.  The Christmas Shoes (Newsong) – I love this song so much, it would be higher on the list, but I’m afraid you’d listen to it and start crying.

6.  Christmas is all in the heart (Steven Curtis Chapman) – I first heard this song in a log cabin in the backwoods of Georgia with light flakes of snow falling over a Georgia hillside.

5.  Christmas Time is here (Vince Guaraldi Trio) – I think of Charlie Brown.  I think of the Peanuts.  I think of presents. I think of Christmas.  And it’s all this songs fault.

4.  I celebrate the day (Reliant K) – The best Christmas song you’ve never heard of, because its from a punk band.

3. Baby, it’s cold outside (Dean Martin) – This song was so taken over by Will Farrell and his counterpart in the movie “Elf”.  But it’s a great one!

2.  O Holy Night (Sister Hazel) – One of the greatest combinations of all time, The story of Jesus and Sister Hazel.  Check out Hazel’s new album, “Santas Playlist” here.

1.  The Christmas Song (Nat King Cole) – This song.  Unbelievable.

Friends, enjoy the holiday.  My plea to you is to make the whole thing about Christ.  It’s not easy, but it will be worth it.

Today I’ll be posting two blogs. The first is a recap of Sunday events at Fellowship Church, the second is a review of the book, “Uncovered Truth:  A Pastor’s Life Exposed.”

So here’s the recap.

*We started a new series about Christmas this week called, “The Advent Conspiracy”.  We’re looking through the Christmas story to recover ways we can rethink, not only Christmas, but out way of life.  This week we talked about Bringing down the empires in your life, and taking simple steps of faith.  Matthew 2:1-8; 13-17

*The band did a great job, led by Al Dancy, our new Director of Sunday programming.  He sang and led in worship.  I was pumped to see him up there.

*There was some great energy in both services, and it appears people are really enjoying there new pastor.  Either they are really great actors, or they actually are lovin the Fellowship!

*We interviewed Jeff Campbell, our life group director, this week in the service.  Jeff is an amazing guy who I am thrilled to get to work with.  He’s doing a great job with our life groups too.

*Last night we had our 3rd Christmas Traditions,and it was amazing.  We honored the MacNeils and the Kenneys, two families at Fellowship Church for their desire to see people growing in a relationship with Jesus Christ.  We are giving two sheep from the Heifer project to families in other countries and giving it in the name of these two super families.

*We also ate.  alot.

*We played “Whose line is it anyways” and some people did a great job of being funny.  We have some funny people at our church.

*Then groups went out and went caroling. 

*The whole day was amazing, and Fellowship is building up some steam as we prepare to go into 2008!  Praise God for what He is doing in the life of our church, and in our lives as individuals.  Check out pictures I’ll post of Christmas traditions on Facebook.

*Happy Birthday to my sister in law, Jessica, who was in a car accident this morning on her way to work, but she is okay now.  Only minimal damage to the front passenger side of the car, and no damage to her.  Good news.  and Happy Birthday jess!

Until next time…

Christmas time is here and the ever-rising cost of Christmas has joined this yuletide season.  Toys, decorations, gifts, parties, and food all bring with them the idea of spending lots of money.

To share with you this idea, I have borrowed a popular advertising scheme on print, radio, and TV to show too, that the virtue of self-sacrifice is a rising cost.  You may or may not know this, but following Jesus means sacrificing your desires and wants for Him – Giving Him all the praise and glory for everything in your life.  Sound easy?  Let’s just see about that:  (We’ll start with an easy one)

*Cost of two cheap tickets to a NFL Sunday afternoon game:  $200
*Cost of food for two at the same game:  $50
*Cost of investing in someone and inviting them to your Sunday morning service:  Priceless

*Cost of staying home on Thursday night because it’s been a long hard day at school or work:  Free
*Cost of ordering a pizza that evening because you have nothing in the house:  $15 (including a 2-liter of soda, of course)
*Cost of going to your Thursday night small group (or whenever you might meet) and growing together with other followers of Christ who’ve also had a hard week:  Priceless

*Cost of sitting and reading a novel at lunch time during work hours:  $6 (You bought the novel at Wal-Mart)
*Cost of walking to the mall to get some last minute shopping done during lunch time:  $150
*Cost of spending quality time with a co-worker, and investing in them relationally because you care about them as a person and as a follower of Christ:  Priceless

*Cost of 2 Sunday evening tickets to see the new holiday movie, “Enchanted”:  $20
*Cost of eating at the theater that evening:  Unprintable as it might go up after today.
*Cost of attending “Christmas Traditions” at Fellowship Church and connecting relationally with others here at your church:  priceless

*Cost of being born in a manger in an animal setting:  A little comfort
*Cost of walking around Israel and the surrounding areas speaking the truth, loving, and serving people:  A little rest
*Cost of giving your life for a world that will choose to ignore what you did for them just so they would be able to have a relationship with the Heavenly Father:  Priceless

So how much did you want to pay?