manna?

Sunday December 12,2004

Posted by Ed and Lois

Manna meets @ 10:42 AM in The Park Theatre

248 South River Avenue
Holland, Mi 49423-3201

Talking a break from Acts for December. Will resume in January.

True Cost Of Christmas by Kim Khan (CNBC)

Posted by Ed and Lois

Your true love had better start saving, because the price of French hens has gone through the roof. The whole ‘12 Days’—done right—now tops $66,000.

You think saving for a new flat-panel plasma television for the holidays is daunting? Be thankful you don’t have to save for the original gifts of the “12 Days of Christmas.”

To buy the partridge in a pear tree, the 12 drummers drumming and all the gifts in between in the verses of the famous song you’d have to shell out $17,296.91, according to PNC Advisors’ annual survey. And if you were really true to the song, buying all the gifts including the repetitions? That would cost a cool $66,334, about the price of a new Jaguar XJR.

Full Post:http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/invest/extra/P101694.asp?GT1=5936

Christmas Movies

Posted by Ed and Lois

Everyone has a favorite Christmas movie, what are yours? Mine are as follows.

1. Holiday Inn
  Bing Crosbyand Fred Astaire star. Irving Belin’s White Christmas first appeared in this film. Bing opens a inn   thats only open on Holidays. Fred Astaire does a great dance routine after a few too many.

2.  Going My Way
    Bing Crosby as a Catholic priest sent to save a local parrish. The Dead End Kids star as well.

3.  The Bells Of St. Marys
    Bing Crosby as a Catholic priest again. The sequel to Going My Way. Ingrid Bergman as a boxing instructor
    with T.B. A great story about the power of prayer.

4.  The Bishops Wife
    Cary grant as an angel who comes to save the local parrish, wait haven’t we seen this movie? Worth a watch
    just to see Cary ice skate with Loreeta Young. Also stars David Niven. Redone as The Preacher’s Wife with
    Denzel and Whitney.

    I’ve left plenty of room here so lets hear what your favorites are?

    Ed ( a Christmas movie kinda guy)

Manna Book Club

Posted by Ed and Lois

We’re still meeting at Barnes and Nobles on Thursdays at 7:00 PM. Usually lasts a couple hours.

We decided to read Skipping Christmas by John Grisham for the Holidays. This book is the basis for the movie Christmas With The Kranks with Tim Allen and Jamie Lee Curtis. Come and join us. Last week we needed three tables to fit everyone around. We talk about the books some, but mostly whatever strikes our fancy.

Frankly Continued by Michael Bishop (@ Next Wave)

Posted by Ed and Lois

Hello?

If you are reading this and have some vested interest in a community of faith - whatever your flavor, old-school or new-school, emerging or submerging - do yourself a favor and stop caring about the following things:

1. The number of people in your church. Really, it doesn’t matter.
2. The “relevancy” of your common worship.
3. How often or if ever a new person shows up at one of your common worship times.
4. The size of your church budget, building, or paid staff.
5. What any other church in the world is doing - good or bad or otherwise.

And please start caring about the following things:

1. Actively looking for the evidence of God’s kingdom - where what he wants done is done - at work, at home, at Starbucks (heaven forbid), at the beach, and anywhere else you might find yourself in the course of living your normal life.
2. Simple, honest worship.
3. Having friends that don’t give a rip about your church. Maybe you might just rub off on them.
4. Giving away money to people who need it; using existing, familiar (and free) spaces for common worship such as homes, restaurants, parks, or community centers; flattening the organization’s need for paid leadership and support roles.
5. Go on a unique, unreproducible journey with a group of people and rejoice with other groups of people who do the same.

I’m not making any promises here. If you do these things it won’t make the perfect church, but you most likely won’t be mired in burnout or depression either. Maybe the best I can offer is my own personal experience. Three years after I [mostly] stopped caring about those five things and started caring about those other five…well…I still suck as a Christian, but I don’t suck as bad! Hurrah!

I really, really, really, really, really, really love being a part of the Church Jesus is building.

Full Post:http://www.the-next-wave.org/stories/storyReader$447