Hostage

5 week series

We’re all held hostage by something...what is your captor? Maybe it’s past hurt, fear of the future, lust, or deception, or even anger. The good news is that our ransom has been paid in full. Join us for Hostage and discover how to break free, once and for all, from the traps of life.

Week 1-Contaminated by Bitterness
Week 2-Overwhelmed with Worry
Week 3-Trapped in Addiction
Week 4-Consumed with Anger
Week 5-Living in Lies

Don't miss any of the messages in this series and visit my blog often over the next 5 weeks. Prepare to break free! http://newcommchurch.blogspot.com/

Christmas Dinner Jesus Style

Luke 14:12-14 (NCV)
12 Then Jesus said to the man who had invited him, "When you give a lunch or a dinner, don't invite only your friends, your family, your other relatives, and your rich neighbors. At another time they will invite you to eat with them, and you will be repaid.
13 Instead, when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind.
14 Then you will be blessed, because they have nothing and cannot pay you back. But you will be repaid when the good people rise from the dead."

Announcements 12/21/08 from Katie Shipp on Vimeo.

I making gifts today

After my study time this morning, Michelle, Sam and I will begin two days of preparing for Christmas. Making gifts, writing letters, singing carols, doing a puzzle, eating, drinking........oh yeah and watching the snow melt. WHAT A GREAT TIME OF YEAR!

More Relational Giving Ideas

A few more ideas to get your creative juices flowing...

Spending time together:

Prepare a feast with candles, wine, and music for your family or friends.
Give your child a baseball bat for a trip to the batting cages together.
Wrap two copies of a used classic book to read with a friend.
Wrap a coffee shop gift card for a coffee date.
Help your neighbor put up Christmas lights.
Wrap popcorn, gourmet root beer, and a classic DVD for a movie night.
Cook a meal for some one's aging parents.
Take a friend to a concert or a play.
Create a scavenger hunt for your nieces and nephews.
Host Monday Night Football at your place and make homemade pizzas.
Go on a day hike together and take a sack lunch.
Have a food fight in the back yard with your kids.
Bake a cake to celebrate Jesus' birthday with children and tells God's birthday story.
Go night skiing with friends.
Bundle up with a thermos of hot cocoa and walk through a neighborhood with lots of Christmas lights.

Creative activity coupons:

A "use-our-house-while-we're-on-vacation" coupon for the young married couple living in a cramped apartment.
A house-project coupon to help your friend finally build that tool shed.
An out of town adventure coupon for you and the kids.
A babysitting coupon for some worn out parents.
A back rub coupon for your spouse.
A change-the-oil coupon for a busy friend.
A breakfast in bed coupon for your spouse.
A yard work coupon for an elderly person in your life.
Ask yourself: What can I do? What can I give? What do they like? Make time to do it with them.

Things to make:

Record a "Best of 2008" mix CD for friends.
Create a photo album of the kids for the distant relatives.
Cut up old magazines to make funny Christmas cards.
Compile your favorite recipes.
Knit a scarf.
Record an interview with the grandparents on the history of their life to give to the family.
Build a raised garden bed.
Write a meaningful letter of appreciation.
Paint a picture or make a sculpture.
"Publish" a story written and illustrated by the kids.
Make a memory book for a friend of a trip you took together.
Bake Christmas goodies.
Make aromatherapy oil: www.bellaonline.com.
Make herbal tea: www.coffeetea.about.com.
Find something else to make: www.readymademag.com.

Give around the World:
Participate in NCC's Advent Conspiracy giving project by bringing a water bottle back full of change to dig a well.
Give some extra money or write an encouraging letter to missionaries.
Buy something tangible like a goat or a fruit tree in some one's name for a person who needs it (World Vision and Samaritan's Purse have catalogs).
Visit www.rethinkingchristmas.com to exchange ideas with people around the world.

This isn't about creating a bunch of new rules to follow for Christmas. It's OK to spend some money. Don't create a new set of pressures, worry, and guilt by feeling like you can't spend a dime. Just step out of the consumerism, be thoughtful, and enjoy the celebration!

Give Presence with Presents

The holiday season is fast approaching and many parents are concerned about the family financial situation and the money problems they may be experiencing. Many parents are wondering what they will give this year as they tighten the money belt and attempt to weather the financial storm through the holiday.

Perhaps the answer lies in the gifts that are given. Give children what they really want from their parents, presence not presents. All children spell love T-I-M-E. What we can give to them is our attention, our availability, our mindfulness, our closeness, our time.

Consider the following suggestions as a way to give the most important present, your presence this holiday season.

1. Be there regardless of what you are doing. The holiday season requires an added measure of balancing kid’s schedules, work responsibilities, visiting family, cooking elaborate meals as well as regular requirements of keeping up with the laundry, etc. When feeling pulled in several directions, many parents turn to multi-tasking. We’re suggesting that you avoid the urge to multi-task and strive to stay focused on the moment at hand. When you sit with your children, whether it’s to play a game or read a book, give them your undivided attention.

2. Make a “Be” choice. How you choose to “be” affects whatever you choose to do. When you are with your children choose to be interested in what they are interested in. Choose to be happy that you have the time to focus on their needs and wants. Choose to be excited about the time you have with them. Even when misbehavior occurs in your children, choose to be glad that you have the opportunity to help them learn a new behavior or a new way to communicate a desire or express a feeling.

3. Focus on listening rather than telling. Children spend a great portion of their day following directions such as, pick up your clothes, make your bed, sit down, be quiet, go play, chew with your mouth closed, stop picking on your brother, hang up your coat, brush your teeth. The list of commands seem unending. Remember, children have valuable things to say too. Many times parents get so focused on telling that they forget to listen. Value your children’s opinion. Allow opportunities to vent. Embrace their point of view. Invite suggestions. Listen to their voice.

4. Connect physically. Touch is a powerful way to communicate “I love you.” Get close and touch your children’s heart with a warm embrace or a gentle squeeze of the shoulder. Snuggle under a blanket and read together. Go for a walk and lock hands. Wrestle on the living room floor. Distribute hugs, smiles, winks and an occasional high five.

5. Connect emotionally. Feelings are always more important than things. Create an environment where it is safe to be emotional. Encourage the expression of feelings. Allow your feelings to extend to your children as you share traditions, reflect on holidays past and gather as a family. Have empathy, compassion, and understanding.

6. Unplug from the electronic world. The television, computer, video games, and ipods have the potential to create a disconnect from personal interaction. Unplug, turn it off, and walk away. While riding in the car unplug the headphones, turn off the DVD player and tell your children a story about the day they were born or about a favorite holiday memory. Shut down the computer, turn off the Xbox and play a game of chess, checkers, or monopoly together. Stand up, walk away from the TV and go shoot baskets, skip rope, or ride bikes with your child.

7. Play by the kid’s rules. Play with your children at their level. Build mud pies, jump in rain puddles, roll down a hill, spray shaving cream on the kitchen table and join in the creation of artistic designs. Cover the driveway in sidewalk chalk. Let your children take the lead and change the rules of a game if they want. Know that play, no matter how childish or silly it may appear, is an investment in connecting with your children. Play regularly and remember the reason for play is to play, not to win.

Make a commitment this holiday season to give the best gift you can give by being present in your child’s life. Be active and interactive on a daily basis with your children. Be the parent you were called to be. Give your presence.

Give the gift of you

"relational giving" - a concept that deals with us giving of ourselves more than stuff.

Because, after all, Christmas is about the best relational gift of all... YEAH!

Listed below are some ideas I wanted to pass along... gifts that in some way increase the relational capacity you and another person could share over the course of a year.

52 packets of gourmet hot chocolate with a personal coffee cup: So that you can share a special time together once a week.

Two journals: You each write in one for two months and write down various things you see in the other person during that time - steps of growth they're taking, outstanding qualities, any blind spots, and so on. Then at the end of two months you switch.

Deck of cards and book of card game rules: This gives you an excuse to do something to hang out together.

Collage of special photos: Highlighting your favorite memories together.

Bottle of sparkling cider and a picnic basket filled with deli cheese and fruit: Make plans to have a picnic together, even if it's inside.

Disposable camera or rolls of film: Devoted for the sole use of capturing future memories together.

Craft supplies: Geared to help you do something creative together.

Gardening gloves with a plant or flower seeds: Indicating you'll work on a garden together.

Homemade cookie mix with instructions for baking: Take turns making each other a round every couple of weeks.

Fancy magazines tied together with a pretty ribbon: Read them together and talk about the articles.

Gourmet popcorn and video rental gift certificates: Movie nights every week for a month - 'nuff said.

Locally made barbecue or steak sauce with basting brush: Use this as a way to not only spend time together but also invite some new friends into your relational circle.

Pancake or waffle mix and a bottle of real maple syrup: Sometimes you just need to start the day off together right... use this to guarantee the food is good.

Movie theater gift certificates: Take turns picking movies to see together - no complaints.

Board games: Draw people of all ages and backgrounds together through the games you play together.

Books: There are still a few for under $10 that you can read through together.

Basket filled with kitchen gadgets: Decide you'll spend some extra time finding recipes that force you to use them and cook for each other.

Prepaid long distance phone cards: Especially helpful if you are separated by miles.

A watch with an alarm on it: When it goes off you pray for each other.

Colorful Post-It notepads: Give each other permission to leave encouraging notes in unexpected places around the house

Puzzles: There's nothing like the good old fashioned task of putting the pieces of a puzzle together... and it gives you plenty of time to talk.

Got any more?