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Getting Christmassy Again – with the theology of presents and carols

BONUS EDITION

Getting Christmassy Again

 

with the theology of presents and carols

with Michael Jensen and Megan Powell du Toit

We revisit episode 7 of With All Due Respect:

In For Argument’s Sake, Megan and Michael get Christmassy and tackle some holiday-themed sticky questions: Is Easter better than Christmas? Should we really be giving Christmas presents?

Megan points to an essay by G.K. Chesterton on the theology of Christmas presents. Find out why the duo think material gifts can be quite an important tradition, with a theological basis.

Michael suggests that Christmas is a display of God’s abundance. It’s also an ideal that can often be a terrible judge on those who don’t match that ideal. And so, says Megan, “our abundance must not be a selfish abundance … it should flow out onto the lowly, the unloved … the lonely.”

In a new Q&A segment, Megan and Michael answer a listener question: As two leaders in conservative denominations, how does the Holy Spirit move in your own lives? How open are you both to the prophetic and to signs and wonders? — asked by Kirsty Farrugia (who also has her own podcast!)

Megan and Michael unpack what ‘conservative’ might mean in that question, running through their own denominations (Megan: Baptist, Michael: Anglican) and the variety of ‘types’ you can find in those denominations. Then they get straight into speaking in tongues, dreams and visions. Have either of them experienced such things? And do they think it matters if they haven’t? Tune in to find out.

Check out some of the other suggested questions, here.

 

Then, in Marg and Dave, Megan and Michael continue in a Christmassy spirit by reviewing Christmas carols! What is the theology and background of the carols we sing every year.

Hint: they’re not sure about Away in a manger … of course Jesus cried as a baby!

They’ve created a Spotify carols playlist, for your listening pleasure. Check it out here. And here a few helpful resources to get deeper into the background of some of the most popular carols:

WHAT IS WITH ALL DUE RESPECT?

Less aggro, more conversation.

Is it even possible to have a deep discussion without it descending into chaos? Michael Jensen and Megan Powell du Toit think yes, and want to show the rest of us how to do it.

There’s plenty of things they disagree on: free will, feminism, where you should send your kids to school and what type of church you should go to. But there are also plenty of other things that they have in common. They want to talk about all these things with conviction. But they also want the conversation to be constructive. Tune in to find out if that’s possible.

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