Midnight Moments

Spending Christmas back with my family in New York is always an interesting experience after four years of college in Indiana and living the last 3 years in Kentucky.  Saying Merry Christmas is apparently taboo. Even telling sales clerks "Merry Christmas" you're bound to get a dry "Happy Holidays" in response.  And the act of Christmas shopping in general is a bit audacious in lieu of the real purpose of Christmas: to celebrate the birth of Christ.  Sure, historically He most likely wasn't born in December, but December 25th is the traditional day chosen by the Church universal to remember the occasion.  And how do we celebrate it?  By storming down old ladies to get Tickle-Me-Elmo's and training kids from the age of 1 to be materialistic and self centered. Now, this is clearly an overstatement, but I think most of you get the gist of my argument.  Christ has been lost from Christmas.  It's become about marketing and materialism.  And even for tho...

Hypocrisy is always a big reason, or excuse, that people give for why they don't go to church.  Now, I'm not going to try to defend the Christian Church and say that we aren't riddled with hypocrisy because I won't win that arguement.  Reality is unfortunately that Christians don't always practice what they preach.  Another reality is that hypocrisy is not unique to the Church or Christians.  It is unique, however, to humanity.  And that's what this blog is specifically about. So, you won't set foot in the door of a church because of hypocrites.  What about the hypocrites in the workplace?  What about the hypocrites in your family?  What about the hypocrites in public office?  What about the hypocrites in the media and Hollywood?  What is it about the Church that people are so quick to jump on their hypocrisy, but much more willing to ignore the hypocrisy in other arenas to a lesser degree? To those who call themselves Christians, an...

In Luke 2: 21-38, Mary and Joseph take their 8 day old son Jesus to the temple to be circumcised.  Among those at the temple are Simeon and Anna. Simeon and Anna (who was a prophetess) had been waiting their whole lives for the Messiah. Both were near the end of their lives, but God had promised them they would live to see the Messiah.  When they saw the tiny baby Jesus, they both instantly knew who He was and worshiped Him.  The Scriptures tell us, starting with verse 25: "Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him.  It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord's Christ. Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, Simeon took him in his arms and praised God saying: 'Sovereign Lord, as you have promi...