Hello friends,
As we prepare to celebrate the birth of Jesus in just a few days I thought some of you might be interested in what we are filling our minds with in our household this Christmas. Feel free to ignore this email if this is not for you, but I wanted to make a few recommendations for ways to to think about “Whatever is true, noble, light, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent and praiseworthy”. So here are my recommendations
To watch:
This afternoon I took my kids to watch the new David animated movie. It is excellent. I may have shed a tear or two, but I’m sure it was only allergies! The story is very close to the Biblical narrative of the life of David before he became the king of Israel. I won’t spoil it for you, but the standout moment for me was near the end of the film when David is strung up on a tree about to die for his people. Remind you of anyone?
It is currently in theatres and I can highly and strongly recommend it.
To listen to:
As many of you know I have been a fan of Tim Keller for years, and I have recently dived back into the Gospel and Life podcast. It continues to stir my heart each time and I am so thankful for the life and ministry of the Kellers. As a pastor it is good to listen to other preachers bring glory to Christ in every sermon. If you want to continue growing in your faith walk with real depth, let me encourage you to subscribe!
Continuing on that theme, I also want to highly commend fellow pastor and friend Isaac’s substack and podcast to you. He has been writing and producing now for some time, and in his Theology in the Trenches substack he tackles deep theology in a way that is really digestible. My recommendation is to start from the start - it is really well worth your time and will give you a theological arsenal for the spiritual battle.
To jam out to:
Maybe that’s the wrong phrase, but Christmas time is really tricky for good music. Christmas carols are mostly overly sentimental in my opinion. We like stable scenes with Mary and Joseph and camels and sheep and a lobster (for those of you who know the Love Actually quote). But that’s not really how the first chapters in the gospels go. People are terrified, Mary and Joseph have to flee to Egypt, many babies in Bethlehem are slaughtered. But we don’t write songs about those things. What if there were Christmas songs about these things? Jarring ones but true ones? Have a listen to this song about Joseph, Mary and Jesus’ flight to Egypt.
I can also recommend the haunting questioning of the mothers in Bethlehem whose children didn’t survive Herod’s slaughter.
To Read:
Finally let me encourage you to read the gospels afresh this Christmas. The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and you can still meet him every day when you open his Book.
Merry Christmas!