I have but two wishes this Christmastide
Let peace be on earth and let goodwill abide.
Not the peace of a tyrant who silences voices
But the peace of people who make different choices
Yet still find a pathway to love one another
Then goodwill is found: each preferring the other
and making a stand on not only what’s true
but treating each one how you wish they’d treat you.
So for peace and goodwill I ask: let it remain
For a day or a week or a year let love reign.
Amen.
I’m heading on the road for Christmas so this next week will be quite sparse on posting. Feel free to use the comments on this post to share your Christmas wishes, memories, and the general chatter of the season.
Merry Christmas to all….first to me.
“.. this next week will be quite sparse on posting.”
Um yeah, I’m going to need you to go ahead and come in this weekend and make some posts. Mmm-kay? And don’t forget to put the cover sheet on your TPS reports. That would be great.
No posts from me…lucky allya’allses!
third
Merry Christmas!!!!
It would have been nice to be first, just sayin’
Merry Christmas, even though it isn’t Christmas!
Darrell,
Take a break, brother, and enjoy some peace and quiet. We’ll be here when you get back!
B.R.O.
Merry Christmas everyone!
Darrell, please take a well earned break. Merry Christmas to you.
Merry Christmas to the entire SFL community-those still with one foot in the IFB, those who have just made that painful break, and to those who made the break decades ago. To those who have found that sweet spot both in their faith and in a new church group; to those who struggle with agnosticism; to those who are still struggling to separate the divine from the venial in what they’ve been taught. All of us here, I believe, long for the touch of God.
Merry Christmas, my friends. You all make this a welcoming community.
Blessings to all,
BJg
Very nice turn of phrase!
I just want to say thank you to Darrel for this website:) It is a great help in the development of “after fundy critical thinking skills” lol. Now I must go pack for my visit to fundy family:D
I almost forgot to say Merry Christmas. I also forgot there are real emoticons 😳
Darrell, SFL staff members, fellow posters, readers, lurkers, and trolls:
Have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all.
Best wishes and regards to your families.
Excellent! I don’t think I can improve upon this… to all SFLers: may your Christmas be glorious!
What he said.
I expect a pro-rated refund of membership dues.
Friends and fam’ly gathered ’round
Verbal sparring will abound.
Bite your tongue and say a prayer,
Focus on the love you share.
Stocking stuffed, and gifts with bows
Laughter, cocoa, fresh white snows
Points of wonder, stars a-light –
Marvelous this Christmas night.
(With apologies for the clunky “poetry.”)
With no malice, snark
A very merry Christmas.
Peace and joy abound.
Head full of stars,
But feet formed of clay,
I’m often disappointed
By Christmas Day.
I want carolers, sleigh bells,
peace and goodwill;
I get children complaining
Ungrateful and shrill.
I’m longing for something
This world can’t provide,
So, Lord, hear my prayer:
Give your grace to your child.
Though I long for perfection,
Still help me to see
The beauty that’s here
In our flawed jubilee.
A genuine Amen! to this post.
Merry Christmas, Seasons’ Greetings, Happy Holidays to all. Celebrate with joy however you celebrate. And most of all, know peace.
Wow, Darrell, at first glance I thought this post was going to be about “no more lives torn apart and wars would never start and time would heal all hearts, &c . . .”
Going into the lions’ den this Christmas (also known as visiting my fundy family). We’ll see how THAT goes. They are already mad because my wife and I usually go to the Methodist Christmas Eve candlelight service with my grandmother so my fundy family started to go too (because they labor under the impression that my grandmother is wealthy and they want to make sure they are the beneficiaries of that). This year, they already promised her they would go because they thought we were going. We aren’t. We already made other plans for Christmas Eve. So, this year, my fundy family has to go to Methodist church (or, as my mother calls it, “church that is just like the Catholics”) and I don’t! Wheee!
Deacon’s Son – You are about to embark upon a great crusade, toward which we have striven these many months. The eyes of SFL are upon you. The hopes and prayers of liberty loving people everywhere march with you. In company with our brave fellow bloggers, you will bring about the destruction of the IFB movement, the elimination of M-O-g tyranny over the oppressed peoples of the pews, and security for ourselves in a free world.
Your task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is well trained, well equipped and battle hardened, he will fight savagely.
But this is the year 2013! Much has happened since the glorious, godly years of the 1950s. The Internet has inflicted upon the Fundies great defeats, in open battle, man to man, blogpost to blogpost. Our on-line presence has seriously reduced their strength in numbers and their capacity to street preach. Our home fronts have given us an overwhelming superiority in different Bible versions, and placed at our disposal great choices of portable electronic devices. The tide has turned! The free men and women of the world are marching together to victory!
I have full confidence in your courage, devotion to duty and skill in battle. We will accept nothing less than full victory!
Good Luck! And let us all beseech the blessings of Almighty God upon this great and noble undertaking.
My apologies to General Eisenhower.
And oh yeah, we want a full report.
I’ll have you know, your mother’s comment that the Methodist service is “church that is just like the Catholics” will have me laughing for a very long time.
Seriously, I hope you & your wife survive Christmas with your crazy family. I’ll pray for sanity, if you’re ok with me doing that, Deacon’s Son.
Also, I expect Darrell to allow you to give a Field Report. (You both paying attention, men? This needs to happen.)
Do the Methodists at least get an apologetical Christmas card from you for sending your mother to them on what is supposed to be a night of niceness? 🙂
Warmest wishes for peace and Merry Christmas to everyone on SFL and Feliz Navidad to all the illegals…
Gracias.
Or, perhaps, Feliz Navidad to all the Spanish-speaking Christians?
I’m sure that’s what you meant.
Merry Christmas, Darrell. Thanks for SFL. You seriously don’t know how much you’re ministering to people. Hope your family has a blessed season together.
Merry Christmas, SFL community. The regulars,the POES, the incognito.
And, Merry Christmas, haters/IFB. Such were some of us.
Thanks be to God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Merry Christmas to all. I would love to say that my blog will be picking up the slack while Darrell is offline, but, well, it won’t be. And I’m not even going any where.
I’ll echo the Merry Christmas to all who post and read on SFL.
I’ve found SFL to be quite a mixture of people and ideas — quite like the “real world”. I’ve received help and comfort here, and (to be honest) have been dismayed at some posters’ comments.
I’ve been around here for almost 4 years now. It is just part of my daily routine now. I appreciate the exchanges that I’ve had with many of you over the years.
Here’s wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year!
ps. george says he isn’t going anywhere for Christmas so he will be around here to celebrate with everyone. 😉
With Yuletide carols sweet and clear
Don’t forget to drink a beer.
Merry Christmas SFL!
Merry Christmas Darrell!
I wish you all a happy new year of 2014 and a progressively less fundy existence in every way