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A La Carte (December 13)

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Seven Messages in the Meals – Most of us have been on both sides of this one. “To the family to whom we are giving a meal because they are going through a challenging time: When we hand you a dish with homemade lasagna and a salad kit, or spaghetti casserole, or a turkey hot dish, we’re not merely saying ‘be warm and well fed’. Here are a few ideas we want you to understand and consider while you’re sitting down to eat it.”

How to Get People to Read the Bible Without Making Them Feel Dumb – From Trevin Wax: “Stress the simplicity of the Bible, and the people you are hoping will read the Bible next year may begin to wonder if they’re just too dumb to understand it. I wonder if, in our efforts to get people reading Scripture, we might be minimizing the tough parts, and unintentionally undercutting our people’s sense of joy when they grow in biblical knowledge.”

Christmas In Dark Places – I enjoyed this poem. And this short film.

The Changing American Family – American households have never been more diverse, more surprising, more baffling. In this special issue of Science Times, Natalie Angier takes stock of our changing definition of family.”

Son of God – I don’t know anything about the Son of God movie (coming next year), but I do know it will be pushed hard in churches as a great evangelism opportunity. See also this article by Brett McCracken as he writes about two more big Bible movies coming our way next year.

Knight

When Satan fell he may have lost his innocence but he did not lose his intelligence.

—Trevor Knight

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