Raise a glass to Saint Nicholas, the real Santa

While the 4th century pastor who inspired the tradition of Santa Claus did not live in the North Pole or travel by reindeer, he certainly was a model of graciousness, gentleness and Christian charity. Though little is known of Nicholas' childhood, his love and concern for children is recounted in various myths, which have gained him great renown. One legend tells how a citizen of Patara (a region in the Diocese where Nicholas was Bishop) lost his fortune because he could not raise dowries for his 3 young daughters and was going to give them up to prostitution. After hearing this, Nicholas took a small bag of gold and threw it through the window of the man's house. He apparently performed the same gracious deed for the other 2 girls on the succeeding nights. Interestingly, the 3 purses of gold which are sometimes portrayed in paintings of Nicholas are thought to be the origin of the pawnbroker's symbol of 3 gold balls. 

In yet another legend, Nicholas saved several youngsters from certain death when he pulled them from a deep vat of vinegar brine and afterwards, Christians remembered the day by giving one another large crisp pickles.

Whilst the actual truthfulness of such tales has clearly been distorted over the centuries, it is evident from reading about Saint Nicholas that he was a particular champion of the downtrodden, bestowing upon them gifts as token of the grace and mercy of the gospel. One such evidence is Nicholas comment that:

The giver of every good and perfect gift has called upon us to mimic His giving, by grace, through faith, and this not of ourselves.

It is such a view and the inspiring stories associated with such godly men that have been the inspiration for Christians to act as they do not least in their habit of gift giving during the season of Christmas. To all you Christians, raise a glass to Saint Nicholas. To everyone else, enjoy the blessings of Christmas gift-giving on us!

The positives of working somewhere where there’s no Starbucks

Tim Keller says somewhere that his advice for rookie pastors wanting to gain early experience to prepare and equip them for the long term is to consider being a ‘country parson’. In other words, he advises ministers to seek work in churches that are out in the country, in places deep in the sticks, somewhere where there’s no Starbucks. Among the reasons Keller gives for this counterintuitive counsel is that having to work in rural (often small) churches will expose ministers to the full spectrum of ministry tasks and skills (fund-raising, counselling in various settings, visiting and spending time with a vast spectrum of people, speaking in very diverse contexts, training most if not all the lay volunteers, etc, etc) which would tend not to be the case in more urban, often larger churches. Having been in a semi-rural parish for the past 4 years, Keller’s argument resonates with me and in the past few days, another reason has vividly been presented to me. I was recently visiting a parishioner who’s only just started coming to church. At the end of a very cordial visit, I was presented with among other things, the incredibly sized goodies pictured below (The smaller ones are supermarket bought). When was the last time you saw anything like this at your local grocers? Well know ye today that being in a rural parish vastly reduces thy shopping bill and affords thee wholesome goods that make thy taste buds tingle. Also, young pastors should not turn up their noses at such places!


 

Just look at the leaves alone on that - impressive hey!









Doesn't the tiny shop bought one look terribly anaemic?













Onion soup galore here we come!

Advice for the next time an atheist denies miracles

With great thanks to the brilliant C.S. Lewis...

Why do we go to church?

The funny poem below was published by a vicar back in the 19th century. I am sure that I've been all of these people at one time or other (allowing of course for some modification here and there) but I now pray God that I might be more the last on the list...

 SOME GO TO CHURCH

Some go to church just for a walk,

Some go to stare and laugh and talk,

Some go there to meet a friend,

Some their idle time to spend,

Some for general observation,

Some for private speculation,

Some to seek or find a lover,

Some a courtship to discover,

Some go there to use their eyes,

And newest fashions criticise,

Some to show their own smart dress,

Some their neighbours to assess;

Some to scan a robe or bonnet,

Some to price the trimming on it,

Some to learn the latest news,

That friends at home they may amuse,

Some to gossip false and true,

Safe within the sheltering pew,

Some go there to please the squire,

Some his daughter to admire,

Some the parson go to fawn,

Some to lounge and some to yawn,

Some to claim the parish doles,

Some for bread and some for coals,

Some because it's thought genteel,

Some to vaunt their pious zeal,

Some to show how sweet they sing,

Some how loud their voices ring,

Some the preacher go to hear,

His style of voice to praise or jeer,

Some their sins to vanish o'er,

Some to sit and doze and nod,

But few to kneel and worship God.

Why do you go to church?

Here's when you should refuse going to heaven

We want HIM! I should refuse heaven if Christ were not there. Take Christ away from heaven and it is but a poor, unheartsome, dark, waste dwelling. Heaven without Christ would look like the direful Land of Death. Ah, saith Christ, your joy must full, John 14:3, then I will come again and receive you to myself, that where I am, there you may be also. I confess, mansions are but as places of briars and thorns without Christ. I want heaven in order to have Christ, not Christ in order to have heaven.

— Samuel Rutherford, Christ dying and drawing sinners to Himself  

Even the worst can be woven into God's purposes

As Jeremy Begbie beautifully illustrates through music...

Research shows working mums outperform kiddie free women

That's the conclusion of recent research cited by the Washington Post. Here is one of the key paragraphs:

For men, fathers of one child and those without children similarly throughout much of their careers. But men with two or more kids were more productive than both groups. The effect for women was even more dramatic. Using their own method for analyzing research publications, the authors found that within the first five or so years of their career, women who never have children substantially underperform those who do. (The difference in productivity between women with one child and those with no children is more muted using a different ranking for research. But in both cases, mothers with at least two children perform the best.)

One of the reasons given by the Washington Post for such surprising data is that mums with multiple children tend to be hyper-organized. Whilst agreeing with this, pastor-theologian Peter Leithart adds another important factor - the effect parenting has on settling people:

The research may be “counterintuitive,” but anyone with kids knows it’s accurate. Like marriage, parenthood focuses attention and forces efficiency in time management. Probably more importantly, parenthood, like marriage, settles, and no one is less productive than the unsettled.

That intiuitively makes sense to me and as we are expecting the third kipling I'm off to share this with the lovely Mrs K.