From Rudolf and Santa to Slinky Malinki and the proverbial Pukeko in a Punga Tree, there’s a Christmas picture book for everyone. In most bookshops, though, Baby Jesus is hidden behind Grinches, trains and elves. If you’re in the market for Christmas books for kids that tell the story of God coming into the world as […]
How can something as (potentially) shallow as Christmas gift shopping be a great way to make a difference in the world? Easy 🙂 If we aspire to living a life where our actions reflect our values, then how we spend our time and money on Christmas gifts can make a real impact on people beyond […]
I grew up with Father Christmas visiting each December. We had a particularly awesome system, in fact, that involved pillowcases instead of stockings (primarily so a board game could fit, I think). As I got older, I became aware that Father Christmas from the adult point of view was part of our family history, too. My […]
Yay! Advent is my favourite season in the church calendar, and it’s almost here! Actually, Lent was pretty cool this year, too, with our superduper Lent with Kids series, but the inspiration for that came from all the fun and surprisingly helpful things we did at home during Advent. So here we are! I […]
We don’t know for sure that Mary was a breastfeeding mother, but it seems a reasonable inference. In a time before formula and modern medical care, she would have had few other options, and if she or someone else hadn’t breastfed Jesus he would almost certainly have died in infancy, from malnourishment or water-borne disease, […]
About a third of you, Gentle Readers, are based in the Northern Hemisphere, where the church calendar was born and raised: Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Easter, and so on, until Advent begins another church year again. That means that your wintry Advent is naturally an expectant, waiting time that builds to the celebration of Christmas […]
Happy Advent, everyone! Today is the first Sunday in Advent, the four-ish-week period leading up to Christmas. Today was SBJ’s first appreciation of Advent. He’s almost two, so I wasn’t sure just how much would be appropriate for him, but lots of things surprised me about the day, so I thought I’d give a full […]
Please meet the wonderful Laura Giddey! We studied together at Carey Baptist College and it is my great pleasure to introduce her first guest post. Welcome, Laura! Laura Giddey is 25 with skills in brownie making and head massages. She is finishing up a stint as a youth pastor to attempt an experimental year as […]
On this last day of the Christmas season we are remembering that there was a great deal of suffering surrounding Christ’s birth. Mary was socially isolated to the point of giving birth while basically homeless. Joseph was charged with the responsibility of protecting a baby with a price on his head. And hundreds of children […]
This was one of the big surprises of the Christmas season last year. Co-Leader of the Green Party, Russel Norman, outlines the good news of Jesus Christ – with well-developed incarnation theology and everything. In a speech in Parliament. Prefaced by his identification as an atheist. It’s extraordinary. Here’s an extract (but you really must […]