New Year New Bread

I really can't stand that stupid song known as Auld Langs Aye or whatever it's called. The ditty that's sung at midnight every New Year's Eve. Nobody I've ever asked knows what it means, yet people sing it to each other, usually while they're totally polluted (drunk), to people they've never met before, in a pub or at some monument like Shandon Steeple in Cork. I mean, how strange is that? How about doing something with our friends that has a bit of meaning.

This New Years Eve at Grace we're celebrating with a gathering we call The New Bread, in Irish it's known as An tArán Nua. As a young boy growing up in Cork I remember how on New Years Eve a lot of the adults would throw a loaf of bread at the front door of their house at the stroke of midnight. The loaf of bread is called a skull, probably because it was the bread that was given out to the poorer children at school many years ago.. The Irish word for school is pronounced skull (Scoil). By throwing the bread at the front door, they believed that they were keeping hunger from the home & family for the new year.


Yeah, I know, a load of superstition. But it was very real for some of the older people at the time, who really knew what hunger was when they were young. And rather than have a laugh at them, why not take that old superstition and turn it upside down by bringing the Gospel into it.

So on New Year's Eve, as we gather together at church, our celebration will be called The New Bread. Instead of throwing a loaf of bread at the door we'll celebrate the Breaking of Bread (Communion),the fact that the blood of Jesus is on the doorposts of our homes and of our church community, even as it was for the children of Israel at Passover. And it's there because of the cross of Calvary today. It's there for all of us who believe. I can't think of a better way to celebrate the change of year than to do it with my brothers & sisters before the Living God! If you're in Cork on New Years Eve come along. It's better than Shandon Steeple anyday!

Ecclesia Christmas

Christmas is a bit of a strange time. There's so much about Christmas that is very Biblical, and then there's so much about it that is anything but Biblical. The Nativity story is heard by many who would normally never listen to anything Scriptural. But then the excessive drinking, wild parties, and over the top materialism is closer to that which is from below than that which is from above.

For those who believe, for those of you reading this who love Him, and know His healing touch in your lives, remember.....
Remember that we were called to stand apart from the darker side of Christmas...
Remember, really remember, that you are part of the Ecclesia...
Ecclesia, the word that refers to the church and means literally The Called Out Ones. We've been called out, yet also called in, into be part of the family of God.

We were called out of The World, with it's values and ways of doing things that are based on selfishness & greed. We're called to a higher way. A better way. Not that we are higher or better than anyone else, far from it! But He is!!!! And His way is the way, the narrow path that leads to life.


And we are called to be a part of the Ecclesia, the Community of God's people. This Christmas let's take what is good about the season, leave what's not so good, and celebrate the reality that His birth has called us out and also brought us in. Celebrate with the Ecclesia this Christmas.