The Lion, the witch and the wardrobe

Wow! What an amazing film. If you haven't seen it, see it.

I got the Chronicles of Narnia for Christmas and have been re-reading the series. I am up to the 4th book - Prince Caspian. They are such a great series. The allegorical account of the creation of Narnia is fantastic.

My favourite quote from The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - which I loved when I read it and also when I heard it in the film, was a description of Aslan. When Mr Tumnus was asked if Aslan was safe, he replied, "Safe? He's not safe - but he is good".

What an amazing description of God! He's not safe - but He is good.

And the newer kids on the block...

Just read this about the Baby Busters and Mosaic generation (born from 1984 to 2002) that is also in the report referenced in the post below this one. This report can be found at www.barna.org

It's about young adults in the church - v v interesting and resonates with my experiences.

A final pattern discovered by Barna this year relates to the faith trajectory of the young adult generations (the Baby Busters and the Mosaics). “Overall, they are interested in matters of faith, but they have few assumptions about what a life of faith must entail. They are leaders in the pursuit of new models of faith experience and expression, such as house churches, cyberchurches and marketplace experiences. They are the most prolific practitioners of newer forms of evangelistic outreach, such as Socratic evangelism. They are pioneering language that bridges the gap between postmodern cultural imperatives and first-century biblical principles, to create new buzz words and expressions for believers. And they have certainly championed a novel universe of relational networks in which faith is a cornerstone of friendships and shared experiences.” He predicted that within the next five years young adults will boldly introduce a blizzard of unique expressions of faith that will cause heightened tension with the older generations of believers.

"The Energizing of Evangelicals" according to Barna

George Barna, a social and religious trends researcher said the following in his latest report. It is related to America but contains intersting insights for Aussies.

Although the data show that just 7% of adults are evangelicals, their voice gets an unusually large share of media attention. Further, Barna provided numbers showing how substantially different evangelicals are from the rest of society. “They are by far the most active in evangelism, most likely to read the Bible, to pray, to attend church services, to volunteer at a church, and to engage in a small group during the week, and give away almost three times as much money as do other Americans. They are several times more likely to possess a Biblical worldview as are others, are the only people group among whom a majority consider their faith to be their top priority in life, are more involved in alternative models of church than anyone else, are the most concerned about how their children are raised, and are also the most well-informed among Christians regarding the interaction between their faith in Christ and current public issues.”

Asked why he felt evangelicals became more active in various public and spiritual matters this past year, Barna offered three possibilities. “Certainly the 2004 presidential election, with its heavy emphasis upon evangelicals, gave them platforms for communication and organizing that were not previously available. Second, we also find that increasing numbers of evangelicals are simply fed up with the nonsense that our society is proposing or producing. They have been driven to a deeper relationship with, and reliance upon God, as a result. Third, it appears that a larger share of evangelicals is choosing to exercise their freedom as religious people in America before that freedom is taken away. It’s kind of an example of the ‘use it or lose it’ philosophy.”

A thought to reflect upon

We spend a lot of time thinking about a lot of things at this time of the year.
Presents, food, special events and services, holidays.....

In the midst of that, I like to reflect upon what this celebration is all about....

A God who chose to come near
A saviour who dwells with us
A creator who makes himself at home in the human heart.

We could have had a God who made us chase Him but instead He came near... to love, and to make a way.

In the midst of everything, it's good to take a few moments to reflect on this. Is 7:14 Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel--`God is with us.'

A re-emerging.....

Well, I feel like I have re-emerged from my week of the Christmas dinner cocoon! I basically lived, ate and breathed Christmas dinner.... but it was certainly all worthwhile! They were both great nights in so many ways- food, entertainment, ambience.. all of it was great.

It's funny when you oversee something - it's a strange mixture of big picture and little picture. From
Overall theme
Items
Ambience
To
Cutting an inch off every candle cause they were too tall for the hurricane lamps
Making sure all teapoons all out and placed in the same direction on the plate
Fixing up candles that were leaning over in the centrepieces

It was a great mix of wonderful and exhausting and satisfying!

One of the greatest things is seeing the multitudes of people working together and using their gifts to pull off a fantastic event! THANK YOU to everyone who made these nights possible!

We are the champions!

We have finished all our Christmas Shopping!!!!!