Posts from December 2010

Are You a Christmas Christian?

Sam Hamstra | Dec 29, 2010

A few Easters ago, following the example of many preachers, I offered a sermon in which I asked “Are you a Good Friday Christian or an Easter Christian?.” The premise of the message was that, from time to time, we live as if Christ were still in the grave, instead of living as followers of him who walked out of the tomb and ascended to heaven from which he reigns as King of Kings and Lord … Read More …

Mary’s Song - And Our Song - Of Praise

Sam Hamstra | Dec 14, 2010

Each Advent Debbie and I not only put up our Christmas tree and the decorations that have been amassed over the years, but we also pull out our growing collection of Christmas books, movies and music. Included in that special collection is Preparing for Jesus a collection of meditations on the “coming of Christ, Advent, Christmas, and the Kingdom” written by Walter Wangerin Jr. It's a lovely little book with devotions for each day of Advent, … Read More …

An Advent Meditation

Sam Hamstra | Dec 3, 2010

My worlds are converging. As pastor of the Living Hope Church, I have been searching for Advent meditations to share with my congregation. Last night, in my Church History class at Northern Seminary, I offered a brief introduction to German mysticism of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. This morning my daily reading brought me to an Advent meditation by a German mystic named Joannes Tauler, a fourteenth-century Dominican priest. Those three streams converged leading me to reprint a portion of … Read More …