The 19th Century in many ways looked fantastic. However, the scars of a civil war and the new order of Jim Crow was an ugly underbelly of the Gilded Age. Christmas traditions in America start to take shape through the pens of Washington Irving and Clement Moore. Santa Claus comes into his own during this time, but is the “naughty and nice” theology really harmless fun? We’ll ask that question and look at a few answers this week in An American Christmas
Revolution is a great description of America in the 18th century. The colonies were maturing to the point that they didn’t appreciate the taxes from England. For our purposes what was Christmas like in a America in the 18th century? Did the revolution touch culture the same way it did politics? Undoubtedly yes, but the effect on Christmas really isn’t all that noticeable.
An American Christmas sounds patriotic, doesn’t it? Why it’s like apple pie and mom! This year we’ll take a look at some of the traditions that we practice and see how they compare with life in America going back two to three hundred years. Alot has changed.
Politics might be the farthest thing from your mind right now? After all it’s a new year – a new church year, that is. For our final lesson in our study Politics we go down the rabbit hole how of slander, assassination, and bribery.
Politics have always been a messy business. Don’t believe me? This week we went back in time to the 5th century BC. Nehemiah, the Cup Bearer to King Artaxerxes of Persia, went back to Jerusalem to git ‘er done!
Church and state don’t really go great together. There are many things that do go great together. Husbands and wives, chocolate and peanut butter, a burger and fries are a few examples. The problem with mixing church and state is that normally one group gets in the way of the other.
Certain things go great together. Church and state aren’t on that list. This Sunday we’ll see how God loves the idea of church and state being separate. There are some dangers that go along with the mixing of the two. In some ways this can’t be avoided – roads, police, fire, etc. However there are very real risks for others. If I take money from the government, will there be strings attached? Join us as we explore this very important topic.
All Hallow’s Eve has morphed into Halloween! How did we get from hijacking a Celtic New Year Holiday to what we see annually as Halloween in America? We take a trip down memory lane and look at some of the traditions. We’ll also see what our God has to say about these topics.
The prophet Daniel was thrown to certain death in a lion’s den. The next morning, after our God protected him from the lions, what do you think his attitude would’ve been towards the king? Defiance? Maybe a little taunting. The point is that Daniel is a great example of showing respect to our leaders. It doesn’t matter if we’re talking about a leader whom we voted for or one that we don’t agree with. God calls us to give them respect and honor.
Our Lord controls all things for the good of his children, but that doesn’t mean the state is always a friend of Christianity. We’ll look at few examples in Scripture of the state in action. At times to is a little difficult to tell if an action is truly evil because God has a way of working everything out for the good of his children.
The kingdoms of this world are ruled by our God. It might not look that way. We’ll spend some time comparing the two kingdoms and then apply what we’ve covered. Jesus’ rule is over all.
Are you looking forward to the election? Do you dread having to watch or listen to another political add on your favorite source of media? Maybe you’ve sworn off Facebook until November 4th? This week we started a new Bible study on politics. In this first lesson we looked at the two kingdoms that the Christian lives in. The first is the church. It’s a great place to be!
“Git er done!” That was the cry from Haggai to God’s people as they lagged behind. Their reason wasn’t a good one. Putting their homes before God’s home isn’t following God’s plan. He asks to be number one in our lives. Listen as we see where the glory can be found in the temple of God.
