Music and verse capture, preserve, and allows the participant to access deep truths with a melody that matches the beauty, mystery and hope of the message. This is what we have in Christmas hymnody. In this episode of Breaking Bread, Katie Miller, Arlan Miller, Isaac Funk, Shauna Streitmatter and Matt Kaufmann share their favorite Christmas lyrics that capture the wonder of Christmas – God with us.

Show notes:

Arlan:

O Little Town of Bethlehem by Phillips Brooks

The hopes and fears of all the years

are met in thee tonight.

Isaac:

In the Bleak Midwinter by Christina Rossetti,

Angels and archangels may have gathered there,

Cherubim and Seraphim thronged the air;

but His Mother only, in Her maiden bliss

Worshiped the beloved with a kiss.

Shauna:

O Holy Night, by Placide Cappeau

The King of kings lay once in lowly manger,

In all our trials born to be our friend;

He knows our need,

To our weakness is no stranger.

Behold your king.

Katie:

I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day by Henry W. Longfellow

In despair I bowed my head

“There is no peace on Earth,” I said

For hate is strong and mocks the song

Of peace on earth, good will to men

…

Then rang the bells more loud and deep

God is not dead, nor doth He sleep”

Matt:

Angels, From the Realms of Glory by James Montgomery

Justice now revokes the sentence,

Mercy calls you, break your chains.

Parenting our children through the highs and lows of our technological world can be a challenge. In this episode of Breaking Bread, Jon Moser provides us with four helps. He gives us one technology lesson to instruct our children in. He gives us one technology danger to protect our children from. He provides one issue that we should be able to engage our children about and he gives us one redeeming quality that technology offers our kids.

Show Notes:

Instructive: 

·        Help your kids understand how social media algorithms work to populate their feeds. Help them understand the goals of the social media platform.

Protective:  

·        Protect your family’s privacy. Encourage the use of privacy settings on social media platforms. Have a conversation about contact lists and who should be allowed into them. Consider using a VPN to protect against malware infection.

·        Example: protonvpn.com

Engaging:  

·        Engage with your children about technology use. Have a discussion about using technology well. Learn to identify when technology is controlling us. Learn to detach from technology and connect with the real world.

Redeeming:  

·        Technology can be used well. When we are better able to redeem our time because of the convenience of technology, we are using it well. Connecting loved ones across distances offers wonderful advantages.