Throw Some Gold On Him... Tim Hawkins

Here's Tim Hawkins on another dumb Christmas song to avoid...



Kevin De Young saw it first

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Three Wise Men - #3 Brown On Syrup & A Classic Album

Jamie Brown @ Worthily Magnify has a good post called 'Say No To Syrup.'

he says There’s nothing wrong with syrup… on pancakes. There is a problem with syrup in church. It tastes sweet and it makes people feel happy, but it has no nutritional value. Half an hour after the service is over they’re hungry again. You’ve missed your chance to feed them eternal truth and you can’t get it back. Oh the deceptive allure of syrup. How do you know if you're getting syrupy? Try asking the following... Is Jesus presented as the glorious Savior or as a cuddly little baby?... Will [the visitor] hear predictable, fluffy, Ford Taurus commercial background music – or will he hear the good news of the Gospel?... Does the song reference there being snow on the ground?... Does it “beat around the ‘gospel bush’”?

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Jamie also took the time to big up Andrew Peterson’s “Behold the Lamb of God” as one of the all time greatest Christmas CDs. I heartily concur with his comments


[It] masterfully tells the story of salvation in twelve songs. The first five songs deal with themes such as the Passover, Israel’s longing for a King...“Matthew’s Begats” [is] the genealogy of Jesus Christ set to a bluegrass tune. It works. Really. I can’t say enough good things about this album. It’s full of rich, biblical truth, and tells this familiar story in a fresh way. I only have one small quibble with a phrase he uses on the first song, “Gather Round Ye Children”, where he says Jesus “gave up his pride and came here to die like a man”...that phrase could be seen as implying that...Jesus was prideful, and the wording of Jesus coming to “die like a man” might be a bit confusing. All in all, though, a fantastic CD and a good resource for some special songs to sing during Advent. And the rest of the year too.

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Family Man

Another Sackful Of Tomlin Christmas Cheer

If you don't already have enough Christmas music - you can stream Chris Tomlin's Christmas album Glory In The Highest at New Release Tuesday for the rest of the week.


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Three Wise Men - #2 Acuff On Killing Santa

I have lots of kids. Groucho & Chico hated Santa from the get go, both in his department store incarnation but most especially in the "Hey kid, I'm gonna sneak into your bedroom while you're asleep" mode that scared the stuffing out of 'em and I was glad to put their minds at rest. Harpo and Zeppo on the other hand quite like the jolly fat guy, and once again I'm all conflicted. Jon Acuff @ Stuff Christians Like sums up the dilemma and the options nicely...


1. We can welcome Santa with a creed like “Arms wide open.”
2. We can kill Santa
3. We can combine Santa and Jesus

My friends have a theory that if you tell a kid for 6-8 years that there’s a magical, semi all knowing entity named Santa and then pull the rug on them later, it will be harder for them to believe in God. The idea is that if I can’t trust that what you told me about Santa is true, why should I believe you about God. I think they raise a good point...

It will be easier to focus on the true meaning of Christmas if you go ahead and pop the Santa sleigh into neutral, tie the gas pedal to the steering wheel with a bit of festive ribbon and ghost ride Santa over a cliff. Killing Santa would allow you to focus on Christ’s birth...

My fingers felt a tiny crackle of lightning just typing the sentence, “We can combine Santa and Jesus.” God is a jealous God. If you try to make Santa the fourth member of the trinity, or put a red hat on Jesus, please buy at least 10 copies of the Stuff Christians Like book first, because then at least people will have something funny to read at your funeral...

If you're in need of more serious council Noel Piper has some wise words on the DG website

And here's someone who took the 'Kill Santa' option too seriously...





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Labour Of Love

At our recent Christmas meeting we sang a beautiful song by Andrew Peterson called Labour Of Love. A few people have asked me about it so I thought I'd post it. It's performed here by Jill Phillips & her husband Andy Gullahorn.



From the same concert (and album) Andrew Peterson performing Matthew's Begats.




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