Every year as Christmas draws near I hear bah-humbug arguments insisting that the Church’s Christmas celebration is non-historical. It’s just a selling out, they say, concocted to compete with pagan winter festivals. Well, it’s time to bah-humbug the bah-humbugs.

Thirteen summers ago, I packed up my college dorm room only to unpack in another rather Spartan apartment near my graduate school of choice. Meanwhile, the roommate with whom I exchanged goodbyes headed off to Westport, Connecticut to work at a financial company called Bridgewater Associates. We’ve stayed in touch as our lives have developed and as our families have grown. This weekend I picked up the New Yorker and saw an article about Bridgewater. It got me thinking about “the world’s biggest hedge fund” where my college roommate works and its corporate culture.

If I were more savvy to the Internets, I would have posted this last week to coincide with July 4th. But my reflections are slow and it takes awhile for thoughts to form. You see, over the last week, I’ve been thinking about finales.

Our kids love swimming pools. They splash contentedly for hours in heavily-chlorinated water. I, too, am fond of swimming, but my real love is sitting in the sun and reading. Therefore, I place great value on my kids ability to floating without my immediate physical presence—whether through their own prowess or through the use of artificial floatation. Our floatation device of choice is water wings.

Since Sunday, I’ve been second-guessing the sermon I gave on Mother's Day. As I said in that very sermon, ‘Mother's Day is an impossible day.” One of the reasons it’s an impossible day is because it unavoidably calls attention to our differences. I’ve been thinking about those differences.

Virginia Commonwealth University’s improbable and bracket-busting run in the NCAA tournament has got me thinking. Thinking about under-dogs, thinking about the power of sports to bring a city together, and (unfortunately) thinking about riots.

Wondering aloud about where all the good men have gone and what the Christian message says about it.

As City Church prepares to move into a new worship space, Erik reflects on core characteristics for the church to embody through the new location.

Reflections on City Church's upcoming move to a new location for our Sunday afternoon worship and two dangerous responses we should avoid.