A Christmas Letter

Genealogy is one of my favorite hobbies. I find it especially gratifying to get acquainted with ancestors that I otherwise could never have known. For instance, I never met my great-grandfather, Frank J. Scribner (he died four years before I was born), but I am quite certain that I would have greatly enjoyed him. Not only did he share my ministerial calling, but by all accounts he was a kind, intelligent and loving man.

One of the primary means through which I have gotten to know him is through reading his journals, sermons and various personal correspondences. Among these are this Christmas letter which he penned 57 years ago, and which I enjoy reading annually this time of year. I hope you will enjoy reading it and be blessed by it as well.

An earlier version was originally posted on 12/20/12.

A Christmas Letter

I never met my great-grandfather, Frank J. Scribner (he died four years before I was born). I'm quite certain I would have enjoyed him. Not only did he share my ministerial calling, but by all accounts he was kind, intelligent and loving: the kind of man I aspire to be.

Though I never did meet him, I do feel as if I've gotten to know him a little through reading his journals, sermons and various personal correspondences. Among these are this Christmas letter which he penned 55 years ago, and which I enjoy reading annually this time of year.

So, What Exactly Am I Supposed to Render?

Yesterday I preached from Matthew 22:15-22, "So What Exactly Am I Supposed to Render?" In this sermon, we took a look at what exactly it is that we do (and don't) owe the government, and why this is so. Click here to access audio from it as well as from prior sermons.

Matthew 22:15-22 (ESV) - Then the Pharisees went and plotted how to entangle him in his words. And they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that you are true and teach the way of God truthfully, and you do not care about anyone's opinion, for you are not swayed by appearances. Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?” But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, “Why put me to the test, you hypocrites? Show me the coin for the tax.” And they brought him a denarius. And Jesus said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” They said, “Caesar's.” Then he said to them, “Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.” When they heard it, they marveled. And they left him and went away.