The Other Side of Christmas

This past Tuesday night, on the way to my men's bible study, I had a big problem. I was supposed to speak the next day and I had no idea - no idea - what I was going to preach on the next evening for our church's monthyl First Wednesday gathering. The bigger problem is that recently, I'd kind of outdone myself with preparation for First Wednesday. You'd think, with Christmas coming up, I'd have a million angles I could take.

But I couldn't think of anything. Nothing. I was blank. For the past two weeks, I'd sat down to try to write this thing, and it had just flopped.

Enter my men's group.

Jon, our fearless leader, suggested that we just read the Christmas story aloud, and then reflect on what it means to us, what it meant back then, and what it could mean for us going forward. The stufff that was said around that table. Man. By the end of the evening, I had taken careful notes, gotten careful permission to use my careful notes, and had my sermon written. So I want to thank Jon, Jeff, Jason, Josh, Josh, Jeremy and Russell (the only other non-J) for their inspiration, wisdom and thoughts.

If you're interested, these are the tracks. You can also, because the sermon is so heavy on historical visuals, download the PowerPoint Presentation I used. Pretty cool, eh?

PowerPoint Slides
Quicktime Movie

The Other Side of Christmas
Track 01
Track 02
Track 03
Track 04
Track 05
Track 06
Track 07
Track 08
Track 09
Track 10