Merry Christmas From the Cox Family

Last year I made a slide show for my wife using Windows MovieMaker. It turned out really well, but the problem was, I set the bar pretty high for myself; not to mention, it took a very long time to produce. I think now the annual slide show is going to become a tradition. Thank God for Animoto. Here is this year's installment. Enjoy!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas Everyone! This is probably a tradition in most families, but starting this year our family will begin our evening reading chapter 2 of the Gospel of Luke. (I suggested that we cast lots to determine who gets to the read the Gospel. :) see, Acts 1:26) I'm excited and hope that our family will continue this as a tradition and devote oursevles to always keep 'Christ' in Christmas.
Merry Christmas!

LUKE 2 1-21
1 In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be enrolled. 2 This was the first enrollment, when Quirin'i-us was governor of Syria. 3 And all went to be enrolled, each to his own city. 4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, 5 to be enrolled with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. 6 And while they were there, the time came for her to be delivered. 7 And she gave birth to her first-born son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.

8 And in that region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear. 10 And the angel said to them, "Be not afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which will come to all the people; 11 for to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will be a sign for you: you will find a babe wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger." 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, 14 "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom he is pleased!" 15 When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us." 16 And they went with haste, and found Mary and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger. 17 And when they saw it they made known the saying which had been told them concerning this child; 18 and all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. 19 But Mary kept all these things, pondering them in her heart. 20 And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

21 And at the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.

WOW!

Here is a shocking video outlining the blatant racist agenda of Margaret Sanger, the founder of Planned Parenthood. It is amazing that so many people will support this organization without clearly undersanding its goals.

What's the Most Important Thing?

Our morning routine usually begins with my four sons and I eating breakfast together while we allow Mommy to get a few extra minutes of sleep. We then go on to do a few morning chores. The morning ends with loading the troops into the family mini van so the older two can get to school on time. The last thing I ask my boys is,"What's the most important thing?" to which they respond, "Knowing and loving God!" (Aidan, our 3 year old, will usually throw in a, "get your money and put it in your piggy bank," which is a reference to the fact that I am about to go to work.)

My boys understand that God is someone to be known and loved. That is because God knows and loves us. It is in the Incarnation that we truly see this. Jesus doesn't just represent God to us...Jesus presents God to us. Jesus shows us the "I AM", the One who is existence, and introduces Him as Father. Ultimately, Jesus shows us that God is "Abba" or "Daddy."

This is amazing. I can't even wrap my mind around God as an eternal being but Mary wrapped her arms around Jesus: God present to us in time and space. God is the uncreated creator but enters into creation in the person of Jesus.

Let us not forget the importance of this. This is why we bow our heads when we say, "...he came down from Heaven. By the power of the Holy Spirit, he was born of the Virgin Mary and became man." This is truly the moment in time when Heaven and Earth meet.

As Advent comes to a close, we must remember that this is the time when we await the coming of our Lord just as Jews awaited the Messiah who would gather all of Israel into one fold. Not only are we gathered into one fold, but we are gathered into one body, His Body. We commune with God!

Come, Lord Jesus!

The Philosophy of Jesus

I have recently been introduced to Peter Kreeft. Dr. Kreeft is a philosophy professor at Boston College and a fantastic Catholic apologist. He has written a Catholic version of the C.S. Lewis classic, The Screwtape Letters (one of my all time favorites).

I just started reading The Philosophy of Jesus and was floored with the introduction. Kreeft begins by explaining the four basic questions of philosophy:

1. What is real? (metaphysics)
2. How can we know what is real? (epistemology)
3. Who are we? (philosophical anthropology)
4. What should we be? (ethics)


Kreeft then goes on the say that philosophers have argued about these four questions for most of the last two millennia. One philosopher spends his time arguing that the others are idiots...and he usually proves it. The Christian response to these four questions is what has my wheels turning. This is what Dr. Kreeft has to say:

"The Christian answer: because the only adequate and final answer to all four great philosophical questions is Christ. The most philosophical writer in the Bible, John, begins his Gospel by identifying Jesus with the Logos ("In the beginning was the Logos, and the Logos was with God and the Logos was God...and the Logos became flesh and dwelt among us.") What is the Logos? It is an incredibly rich Greek word. Here are some of its meanings: the Logos means the Word of God, the Revelation of God, the Speech of God, the Wisdom of God, the Mind of God, the Truth of God, the Reason of God, the Philosophy of God.

"Jesus is God's philosophy. "

What does this mean for us? How is Jesus the philosophy of God? I am having quite a time trying to wrap my mind around this one. If anyone has any thoughts on this, please leave them in the comment box.