Category: Christian Living

Pursuing a holistic expression of Christian faith that is true to the Bible and applicable for today’s world.

Do You Wish People Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays?

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date December 14, 2014
2 Comments on Do You Wish People Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays?

My wife wishes people a “Merry Christmas,” while I say “Happy holidays.” We both have our reasons for doing so, and we are both right.

It’s important to us to keep Jesus as the central focus of Christmas. One way my wife does so is by wishing everyone a “Merry Christmas”—every chance she gets.

She never says “Merry Xmas” and doesn’t shop at stores that resort to that godless abbreviation. She also never says “Happy holidays”—and gives me a critical glare when I do.

I am, however, quick to say “Merry Christmas” to people who follow Jesus and am happy to return the greeting to others who offer it to me.

My preference, however, is a more intentional “Have a wonderful Christmas,” because the idea of making merry is a bit too jolly for me, obscuring the wondrous love of Jesus and what he came to do.

However, when expressing season’s greetings to people of unknown faith, I prefer a less confrontational “Happy holidays.”

While people of other faiths could take my “Merry Christmas” greeting in a secular sense, they could likewise be incensed at a perceived attempt to proselytize. That would not be my intent; I do not want to offend.

My wife thinks I’m over-analyzing something simple.

I consider it this way: How would I feel if someone wished me a “Happy Kwanzaa,” a created holiday originally intended as an “oppositional alternative” to Christmas?

Someone did, and I was offended. Caught off guard and unwilling to reply with “Happy Kwanzaa,” I blurted out “Merry Christmas.” Sadly, I responded to his confrontation with an equally confronting retort.

I wish I had just smiled and said, “Happy holidays.”

Celebrate Christmas in a fresh way with The Advent of Jesus. It’s a forty-day devotional that prepares our hearts to celebrate the arrival of Jesus in an engaging read. Begin your Advent journey now and gain a greater sense of wonder for the season.

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

Tags Christmas, follower of Jesus, holiday, Jesus

Christian Living

Do You See Good or Evil?

I recently read a series of movie reviews in a conservative magazine. With three pages of critiques to consider, all but two movies earned advisory warnings. With no R-rated movies covered, several cautions were for PG and even G-rated movies.

Their items of concern struck me as overly critical.

One obscure line from an animated feature earned it an advisory warning. This was a vague quip that kids would miss and require adults to make an assumption.

With multiple possible inferences, only someone looking for sexual innuendo would find it. (I missed it when I saw the movie.) Are these reviewers able to spot evil most anywhere they look?

I wonder if these cautious caretakers of morality have read the Bible. What might they write in their review of it?

After all, the Bible contains a myriad of problematic content: rape, murder, incest, cannibalism, violence, and sexual misconduct. Would they slap an advisory warning on the Bible?

These self-appointed guardians of goodness irritate me. Though they may have worthy motives, the result is they fixate on what is wrong, and when they find it, they highlight it to make sure everyone else is aware of it, too.

Just as there is evil in most things around us, there is also good. Do we seek the objectionable or notice the laudable? What we choose to consider reflects our focus in life and forms our perception of the world.

The Bible encourages us to think about things that are right, pure, and admirable. That is, to fill our minds with good, not evil.

While this may warrant not seeing some movies, it also means to look for good in the ones we do watch.

[Read through the Bible with us this year. Today’s reading is Philippians 1-4, and today’s post is on Philippians 4:8.]

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Tags biblical Christianity, good or evil, spirituality, supernatural

Christian Living

Life’s an Adventure

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date December 2, 2014

Don’t Miss It

For the past four months my wife and I have been living with our kids while we are between houses. In the summer we stowed most of our belongings in a couple of storage pods and loaded the remaining essentials onto a moving van.

As we considered what we would need and what we could do without; practicality took precedence. Most things were deemed nonessential, which is a lesson in itself.

A prime consideration was clothes: summer clothes, fall clothes, and winter clothes. Though half of my clothes are in storage, I’ve mostly forgotten about them and don’t miss what I can’t access.

I also kept out what we needed for work, but not much else. I estimate about 95% of our belongings are presently stashed in some climate controlled warehouse.

When making this transition, my initial impulse was to seek to subsist during this season of in between. But even though this is a temporary situation, I can’t put life on hold just because I lack a permanent place to live.

Sharing a house with another couple (and their three pets) required some adjustments; not having all our stuff resulted in some sacrifices. But those were minor. Things are working out great, even better than we could have hoped.

As we wind down this phase in our lives, I look forward to being in our own house. I also know I’ll miss living with family. Life today is good; life tomorrow will be good, too.

I’ve seen people so focused on what was ahead, that they dismissed the present. I’ve also seen people so living for today, that they disregarded tomorrow.

I think many Christians also make one of these two errors: so focused on a future in heaven that they miss living on earth now or so fixated on life today that they forget eternity is ahead.

We are wise to do both.

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Tags family

Christian Living

What Do You Do When the Church Doors Are Locked?

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date November 30, 2014

My wife and I recently headed off for a church that met in an office complex, using space rented by a ministry organization. Through a series of errors on our part and a bit of misinformation on theirs, we got lost and arrived six minutes late.

We tried the first door we saw, and it was locked. Another entrance with the same name on it was locked, too. Then we spotted a third door, and it was likewise shut tight.

We walked around the complex, looking for hints of where to go or how to get in. Some walks were shoveled, and we noticed random footprints in the snow, but none of these hints revealed a common entrance or even a way into the building.

Then we got back in our car and drove around the facility, looking for a sign or another entrance. When this produced no new clues, we returned to the parking lot.

There were other cars there so we knew they were meeting. My wife pressed her ear against one set of double doors and could hear music emanating from deep inside.

She rattled the doors and even pounded but garnered no response. She waited and repeated her efforts, this time with more fervor and increased ire.

She returned to the car, frustrated over the situation. Now twenty-two minutes after the start of their service, my impulse was flight, while hers was to fight. We drove home in silence, wondering how something so simple could go so wrong.

She later vented to the pastor in a private Facebook message. He apologized but offered no explanation for the locked doors. He gave a vague description of which door to use, but we tried the door we think he mentioned.

We will visit again sometime, arriving plenty early so we can get in. This church claims to have a different approach to doing church, and I want to learn more.

I’m just not sure if I can work past my frustration of being locked out while the faithful gathered inside.

Get your copy of More Than 52 Churches today, available in e-book, paperback, and hardcover.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

Tags church services

Christian Living

Is It Wrong That I Haven’t Missed Missing Church?

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date November 23, 2014
3 Comments on Is It Wrong That I Haven’t Missed Missing Church?

I haven’t gone to church for the past two weeks. First, I was sick and stayed home to sleep. Last week, my wife and I headed off for a church that met in an office complex, but the doors were locked. I’ll save that story for later.

I wasn’t bothered about not being in church these last two weeks; I didn’t miss it one bit—and that does bother me. Church has apparently become such a trivial experience that I feel no void when I skip it.

I actually feel guilty because I experience no guilt over my truancy.

Of course part of the problem is that, despite knowing better, I still tend to attend church as a consumer: What will church do for me? What will I get out of it? Since I get little from most church services, I don’t value them much.

So why go to church? I can think of two key reasons.

One is to worship God. If our goal is to truly worship God, then nothing else really matters: not the music, the message, the people, or the facility. Yes, those elements can make worshiping easier or harder. I’m still working on that one.

What I do know is that I find worshiping God easier in places other than most church services.

Another reason is to hang out with other followers of Jesus. In fact, the Bible tells us to persist in meeting together. This could happen at what we call church or it could be something else, such as meeting at a coffee shop or sharing a meal.

Having recently moved and presently in a temporary situation, I’ve not made many connections with people to hang out with. Plus, in visiting churches, I’m unlikely to ever again see the folks I meet.

This meeting together is what I call Christian community; it’s what I miss and what I need: not superficial community but true, deep, intentional spiritual comradery.

I hope to one day find that at a church, and I expect to find it outside of church.

But right now, I don’t have it, and that’s what I miss most.

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Tags church services, community

Christian Living

Can You Have a Meaningful Online Spiritual Community?

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date November 16, 2014

Many years ago, when public access to the internet was in its infancy and dialup was the only means to connect, I pondered the idea of church online.

The World Wide Web did not exist then, so I considered if Usenet (online discussion boards), file sharing, and email could cobble together a church experience. I concluded it was possible, but I’d let others pursue it.

Three decades later, courtesy of many technological advances, church does occur online: Internet church, e-church, church 2.0, church in the cloud, or whatever label you might want to call it. Church can indeed occur online—and it does.

Church is one thing. The more important question is community. Can Christian community occur online?

The quick answer is, “Yes, of course!” All manner of communities exist online, including Christian community.

Facebook groups, Google+ circles, blogs, and a myriad of other tools can all provide a means to make personal connections and foster community online.

This community can be good and may be the only community some people have.

Just as an online church can approximate a physical church experience, so to, an online Christian community can approximate the benefits of physical community. But is this enough?

To the point, can a meaningful spiritual community occur online? With effort we can get close, very close.

However, one element it would lack is physical touch. After all, what if the one thing a person needs more than anything else is an appropriate touch from another human being? How can you hug someone online?

But then, when is the last time you hugged someone who was in need at church?

Church, whether online or in person, often falls short of what it could be. So, too, community, both online and in person, often falls short, too. We can do better; we need to do better. We deserve it, and Jesus expects it.

The real question isn’t, “Can you have a meaningful online spiritual community?” The better question is, “Do you have meaningful Christian community anywhere?”

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Tags community

Christian Living

Why is Christian Community Important?

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date November 9, 2014

Consider the Importance of Church Attendance

I often write about the importance of being in meaningful community with other followers of Jesus. I also lament that churches frequently fail to provide significant community.

While many churches offer superficial community, few are able to provide a deep, nurturing, caring place. I long for this level of spiritual kinship—and right now I don’t have it.

However, I must remind myself that community isn’t the goal; it’s the means. While it’s comfortable to bask in the embrace of people who care for each other, groups with an inward focus don’t last.

They need a greater purpose. Here are three:

1. Spiritual Growth

Our spiritual community should spur us on to a deeper understanding of God, intensifying our connection with him and our interdependence. I’m not talking about another class or more Bible study.

We don’t need more knowledge; we need more experience. The result of growing spiritually is to put our faith in action, not inaction.

2. Minister to Others

Within community, we become ministers to one another. Then we move beyond our community to minister to those outside it. We teach through doing, and we model by our actions.

We learn to listen to God’s Holy Spirit, doing what he says, when he says.

He might not always make sense; it may be scary and will sometimes require risk. But God isn’t asking us to play it safe; he wants us to make a difference.

3. Serve Others

A third reason for community is as a platform for service. Through service, we demonstrate the love of Jesus to the world around us. When we serve without agenda or expectation, we surprise people by loving them as God loves us.

Though we hope to point people to Jesus through our actions, the motivation isn’t to proselytize, it’s obedience.

But, you ask, isn’t this what the church is supposed to do?

Yes, it is, and we are the church. So let’s go do this; it starts with community.

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Tags biblical Christianity, community, faith

Christian Living

Where Do We Find True Christian Community?

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date November 2, 2014

As I consider biblical Christianity, I feel a strong pull to community, a place where significant spiritual connections occur. This should be our experience at church, the reality of church, but it seldom is. We need true Christian community.

A friend read my updated home page on this website and asked, “Where do we find Christian community?” Her plea bordered on the imperative, “Tell us where.”

The truth is, I don’t know. I’m still searching.

That doesn’t mean I never see it, because I do. I sometimes see it after the official church service ends. It can occur in small groups; and it may pop up in service organizations amid the push to achieve a common goal.

But none of these are regular enough or reliable enough to provide the spiritual community my soul longs for.

True Christian Community

I’m more apt to encounter meaningful community when meeting a friend at a coffee shop or hanging out with other like-minded Jesus followers.

These experiences give me a sense of the type of Christian community that we can all realize but seldom do.

Although church should be the ideal place, she usually falls short, at least as church exists today. The present-day church is an institution. As such it’s good at providing structure but bad at offering true community.

This isn’t to imply I’ve given up on the traditional church. I haven’t (yet), but I am discouraged.

I write a lot about church, often with a critical tone, not because I’m down on church as much as I hope church will one day rise up and become all she can be, all she should be.

In a few hours, I’ll head off for church and later eat lunch with friends. I expect to experience better community afterwards in the restaurant than in the church sanctuary were it should occur.

Look for places where you can plug into true Christian community.

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Tags community, small group

Christian Living

Pursuing Quality Over Quantity

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date October 26, 2014

Celebrating When Less is More

I read a lot of magazines. For some I pay a subscription, others are free, and a few just show up.

It used to be most magazines came out every month, but with increased costs, decreased advertising, and other publishing pressures, many magazines have wandered from a once-a-month schedule: they may skip some months, combine issues, or revert to bimonthly or quarterly distribution.

They strategically plan their schedule to when readers read and advertisers advertise.

As a result, it seems I receive fewer magazines over the summer months and during the winter holidays—when publishers are apt to skip or combine issues—and more magazines in the fall and spring—when the traditional schedules are likely to hold.

This means I sometimes have a pile of magazines awaiting my attention and other times, very few. The number of magazines in my reading queue affects how I read them.

When there are many magazines vying for my time, I’m more likely to skip articles, skim sections, or even toss entire issues.

When I have fewer magazines to consider, I slow my pace and read extra articles, enjoy the content, and learn better.

Less is more.

Quality Over Quantity When Reading the Bible

When I’m on a read-the-Bible-in-a-year quest, I read faster and may even skim some sections (the genealogies come to mind). I must read three to four chapters a day, every day, if I am to conclude with the book of Revelation by December 31.

In making my mad dash for the yearend finish line, there is no time to tarry. Slowing down or rereading a section is a luxury that time prohibits.

Most years, however, my daily Bible reading has a much less ambitious goal. Quantity is not important, quality is. It’s quality over quantity.

I read shorter sections so I have time to savor the words, contemplate deeper meaning, and internalize its truth.

I cherish those times for the relaxed attitude it provides and the more enjoyable journey that unfolds.

This year, I’m reading about women in the Bible and relish what I’m discovering.

Reading less, means learning more.

Learn about other biblical women in Women of the Bible, available in e-book, paperback, hardcover, and audiobook.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

Tags read the Bible, Women of the Bible

Christian Living

Are You Being Fed at Church?

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date October 12, 2014

It’s Your Job to Spiritually Feed Yourself

Have you ever heard someone grumble about church by saying, “I’m just not being fed”? Perhaps you’ve even said it. I have. However, we’re not talking about physical food, but spiritual sustenance.

When we say this, we sound so righteous, but what we’re really doing is complaining that church doesn’t give us what we want. Where are you being fed?

We too often look at church through the eyes of the modern consumer, demanding church will meet our needs, to give us something in return for our investment of time and money.

When church fails to meet our expectations, our first impulse is to act like a shopper and take our business elsewhere.

However, the main purpose of church isn’t for us to receive what we want; it’s for us to give. We give God what he desires, and we give people what they need. Our goal at church should be to worship God and to serve others.

It’s countercultural today, but it’s what Jesus modeled for us two thousand years ago. Let’s follow his example today.

Yes, sometimes we are hurting, and sometimes we are in need. Then we should go to church to rest and to receive. But our normal, prevailing attitude at church—and everywhere else, for that matter—should be one of giving.

After all, it is better to give than receive. So don’t go to church to get something out of it but with the intent to give something to it: worship God and serve others.

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Tags church, God, worship