The Threads Blog

For the month of January, we’ll focus on a few areas of our lives that we all can improve upon. Hopefully by this time next year we’ll all be able to point and say “This is how my faith grew in 2012.”

A link to the Top 10 Theological Stories of 2011.

Michael Kelley’s study is the first Threads resource to penetrate the iTunes bookstore — and hopefully there will be many that follow.

Merry Christmas from the LifeMatters team! Thank you for making us a part of your on-going Bible study. We hope you have a wonderful time of worship on Christmas morning, and we look forward to growing with you in the new year.

We dread Christmas shopping. We grumble about how much we hate the mall at Christmastime. Wrapped up in our petty problems, we forget about the people on the other side of the counter, who have sacrificed time with their loved ones so they can work long hours while listening to all of us grumble and complain about the checkout lines, prices, and crowds.

Joseph was open to obeying God’s plans, even when that plan wasn’t predictable. So were the wise men. Hopefully you and I can be ready to obey God’s perfect, unpredictable plan for our lives as well.

It’s Theology Thursday! And today we’re going to spend a little time looking at the X in Xmas. Or the Christ in Christmas. Or both.

Our families are the most influential people in our lives. Depending on who shares your DNA, that can be a blessing or a curse. Most of the time, it’s a blessing. Perfect families don’t exist, but psychoanalyst Donald Winnicott claims that “good enough” families are more common than not. God wired us to be attached to other people. As we mature together, we manage to work out most of the relational kinks.

As you prepare for Sunday and the study on Mary and Joseph’s obedient responses to God’s plan for their lives, spend time reading and dwelling on this week’s Advent reading from Luke 1:57-80.

Here’s the link to the iMix for the songs from the Winter 2011-12 playlist. Enjoy!