A happy new year to all our customers from everyone at The Good Book Company.
Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:13-14)
It's the last week of December. A time to thank God for the highs (and the lows) of the year gone by. And a chance to think about the year ahead. If you're anything like me, you are probably planning the usual keep-fit campaign (which will doubtless falter within the first couple of weeks of the new year). But here in the Good Book Company offices we are also planning what we are going to read in the first few weeks of 2012. We're thinking about how to ensure our "love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that [we] may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ" (Philippians 1:9). We're thinking about which tools might be helpful to each of us as we aim to be "transformed by the renewing of [our] mind" (Romans 12:2). And we thought you might be interested to see our list. So here are some of our book picks for early 2012...
Alison (Children's Editor)What are you hoping to read in 2012? Comment below. Whatever you choose to read in the coming year, we hope it encourages you in your walk with the Lord.
Servant… Son… Slave… What does it look like to minister like Jesus?
That’s the question we’ll be looking at during January’s Bible-Centred Youthwork Conference. It’s four days of refreshment, challenge and support for children’s and youth workers:
There are still some spaces left on this, our tenth conference – and we’d love to serve as many youth and children’s workers as possible. The dates are Monday 23rd – Thursday 26th January 2012, at High Leigh conference centre in Hertfordshire. You can find full details, a downloadable brochure and book here. Or contact Alison Mitchell on 0333 123 0880 or alison@thegoodbook.co.uk. Catch the early-bird rate by booking before January 12th.
And to whet your appetite, you can download all of the talks and seminars from last year’s conference for free.
“God I thank you that I am not like others—hypocrites and slanderers” (with apologies to Luke 18 v 11).
I’ve been reading through 1 Peter and reached 2 v 1: “Rid yourselves of all malice and deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind.” Yes, I struggle with some of these, but, “At least I’m not a slanderer” I thought.
Later that morning, while cycling to work, I was thinking about a recent and very painful situation, and started having a conversation in my head. “I should have said more about…” “Do they realise how unfair that felt?” “That’s not what they said last time – they’ve changed the goal posts.” “They did just the same things to me last year” and so on.
Suddenly I sat up straight. (Well, as much as you can on a racing bike!) Just half an hour earlier I’d been congratulating myself on not slandering people. But here I was doing just that in my head. Traditionally “slander” is spoken. But if the Lord Jesus says we can commit adultery in our hearts (Matthew 5 v 28) then I’m sure we can commit slander in our minds.
So what’s the solution? It’s all too easy when you’re hurt or angry to start thinking horrible things about the people involved. My aim now is that as soon as I catch myself doing so I’ll first ask for God’s forgiveness and help to change; then pray for the people concerned, thanking God for them and asking Him to be working His good purposes in their lives. I’m hoping that will help me be more godly in my thought life.
My only problem with putting this in a blog is that now, when I tell someone I’ve been praying for them, they may start wondering why I’ve been slandering them in my mind…
What you've all been waiting for, the On to a Good Thing Christmas special!
The snow had started falling and the setting was perfect. What better way to start Christmas?
I was waiting at Sheffield station to catch a train to London late last night, quietly drinking a cup of coffee, when a rich heavenly sound filled my ears. Not just any tinny choir of children, but the Sheffield Philharmonic choir echoing round the atrium at the shiny new station forecourt. The voices were well balanced - strong tenors and basses giving glorious counterpoint to the pitch perfect sopranos and contraltos. Under the echoing roof with surprising good acoustics, the total effect was simply stunning. Having been to and taken part in hundreds of carol concerts, you could forgive me for being blasé about such things.
But the words of praise caught me up: Veiled in Flesh the Godhead see, hail the incarnate deity. Born as man, with man to dwell, Jesus our Emmanuel…' . I shed a tear (yes! me!) and prayed a prayer of gratitude over my steaming tea cup...
But then another, more disturbing, observation. While there were a few who stood, listened and applauded appreciatively, there were many who did not. Most of the 20- and 30-somethings walked past without registering any interest at all. Some openly mocked and laughed, while others had faces twisted in distain. Why?
It may just be that this traditional music is not to the taste of this hip-hop and indie-band soaked generation, or perhaps it was just an inconvenience on their commute home. It may be that, like the Grinch, their hearts are just several sizes too small. Or it may be that this age range is more hostile to the God dimension of Christmas than others. Without stopping them to ask, we'll never know. But there may be some disturbing implication for the future of our Christmas outreach here.
Christmas is perhaps, our biggest opportunity for Gospel-telling we have. People come in their droves to church at Christmas, and we look with gratitude over church buildings filled to the rafters. But who is this traditional package not reaching? It is probably touching the over 50s who are sentimental for the the experiences of their youth. It may have many younger children who are brought along. But our gratitude to God for the size of the crowd may be blinding us to our failure to engage with a whole generation of more cynical people, who are actively turned off by Victorian choral music.
As you run, we hope, packed Christmas Carol service events over the next two weeks, just cast an eye over the congregation. How many in their 20s and 30s are present?
And then ask the question: Is there an alternative Christmas event with a different kind of music that will reach them?
This week we're offering a great deal on our remaining stock of Christmas resources. We don't want them sitting in the warehouse for the next 12 months so we're offering a huge 40% discount. To guarantee delivery before Christmas don't forget to upgrade to first class delivery. Simply enter the code: crackers at the checkout to make the most of this offer. The offer only lasts till midnight and while stocks last...
Great radio interview on the BBC website where Jason Robinson, one of England's greatest-ever rugby players in both league and union, talks about how finding Christ saved him from himself, and from the emptiness that worldly success had brought him.
His story is fairly well-known among those of us who love both Christ and sport, but what is always striking is the way he came to faith through his team-mate, Vaiga Tuigamala, who was a living embodiment of 1 Peter 2 v 12: "Live such good lives among the pagans that … they may see your good deeds and glorify God".
His autobiography, Finding my Feet, has been around for a few years, but is a great read—you can get it second-hand here
I recently caught the tail end of Radio 4’s Today programme. A presenter was apologising for a remark made earlier in the programme. In a discussion about inventions she’d commented that children would probably vote Father Christmas as one of the best ever inventions. A flood of tweets and texts followed. People were concerned that children able to hear the radio as they journeyed to school by car would discover that Father Christmas is only an invention!
The mock-horror tone of the complaints and the light-hearted “grovelling” apology do not altogether disguise the fact that many people today hold very dear a child’s “right” to believe in the existence of Father Christmas. Undermining that belief in any way before the “appropriate” age is viewed as tantamount to child abuse.
How should Christians respond to these expectations? In our over-commercialised, secular culture, where the true Christmas story is largely buried or avoided, it’s not surprising that non-Christians cling to the modern “myth” of Father Christmas with a religious-like fervency. But what about Christians? Don’t we have compelling reasons to be different?
This tradition of safeguarding the belief of small children in Father Christmas is also alive and well in our churches. It’s not hard to imagine the outrage if someone were to spill the beans about Santa at a Christmas family service. In fact, this is precisely what happened to a preacher that I know in the early days of his ministry. Interestingly, the unhappy complaints came not from visitors, but church members.
So, what should Christian parents be teaching their children about Father Christmas? I and my husband took the approach that there are two Christmas stories—one is magical but fake, whereas the other is thrilling and wonderfully true. And from their earliest days we wanted our children to know the difference.
We didn’t want our children to reach an age where they realised that we hadn’t told them the truth about Father Christmas, and to draw the parallel conclusion that we were not telling them the truth about Jesus Christ.
We didn’t want them to miss out on the fun and enchantment of Christmas. But we wanted them to be enchanted with the true story of Christmas, and the wonder of Jesus Christ’s birth into our dark world—a wonder that needn’t fade as they grew older but could sustain them all through their lives because it is true.
We wanted to have fun with the Christmas traditions too. Precisely because we’ve always told our children that Father Christmas is made-up, we’ve been able to play with all the Santa traditions—stockings mysteriously filled with gifts, half-eaten snacks on Christmas morning, and so on—without any fear of misleading our children.
Of course we need to be sensitive to non-Christian friends and family at this time of year. But in our own homes and families, let’s be unabashed in being different from our culture, honest with our children, and gripped with awe and wonder by the true story and person of Christmas.
