I was just telling my kids this week that the “Gregorys” from history were popes, and none of them were all that great. But I forgot about the desert fathers! And here’s a great Christmas sermon from my namesake from Nazianzus:
Christ is born, glorify Him! Christ from heaven, go out to meet Him! Christ on [...]

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John became Archbishop of Constantinople, known as the “golden mouthed”…this is what “Chrysostom” means. It will not be difficult to see where this name came from.
What shall I say to you; what shall I tell you? I behold a Mother who has brought forth; I see a Child come to this light by birth. The [...]

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The pastors and theologians of the early church caught on quickly to the paradox and the beauty of the incarnation.
He is the One through whom all things have been made, and, on Christmas, Who has been made in the midst of all things…
He is great in the eternal day of the angels but small in [...]

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Seminary friend Tony Jones posted the first Christmas sermon (by St. John Chrysostom in AD. 386), and that sent me on a big hunt to see what else the ancient church fathers and mothers have said about Christmas.
Wow.
I’ll probably use some of these tonight at our Christmas Eve services, but thought I’d post a few [...]

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Here in soggy Newberg Oregon, we’ve been frozen up for about a week. Tonight the table on our deck has 9 inches of snow, by far the most I’ve ever seen here. School’s been closed, things at the office have been mellow…and I asked Elaine tonight if we could order this up the week before [...]

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Yesterday was the 3rd Sunday of Advent, and in the Advent Conspiracy, we got to the theme “Give More.” Here’s what I shared.

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The biggest “sting” of the conspiracy is to fight back against the power of consumerism and worship God fully. One way to do that is to spend less on Christmas gifts…not just because it’s a good or prudent thing to do, but as a way to take a stand against the way “things” try to [...]

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I’m really excited that we’ve joined the Advent Conspiracy full force at NFC this year. This seems right in so many ways, and the feedback we’re getting from folks is great. If you haven’t heard about it, please do follow the link and learn about this good thing.
The theme for the first week of advent, [...]

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Newberg Friends is an interesting Friends meeting. We have many, many committed Quakers; and we have many committed Christians from other backgrounds. I’ve been feeling nudged more in the last couple of years to talk more about our specific core values as Friends, and yet to find ways to do so in a diverse environment.
Some [...]

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Back on October 26, we were still working through the book of Galatians on Sunday mornings. In chapters 4 and 5, joy becomes a strong theme of Paul’s. Here’s what I shared that day.

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