Well, it’s nearly here! Merry Christmas for Wednesday!

There won’t be a normal Refill next Sunday, so thank you for being part of The Sunday Refill this past year and especially for all your little encouragements about articles or links you’ve found helpful.

So, for one last time in 2019, here’s your seven up…

1) After a bruising year, Christmas offers lessons in unity, healing and reconciliation – Loved this Christmas reflection from recently re-elected MP and Christian, Tim Farron.

2) Christmas Carols Radio – If you’ve not come across Christmas Carols Radio, you’re missing out! Sick to death of Christmas cheese? Tune into a glorious selection of carols interspersed with Christmas Bible readings and bitesize engaging Bible reflections on the nativity. A great site to share with those who might appreciate this playing in the background…

3) 19 Pieces of Goodness in 2019 Pop Culture – Enjoyed this comprehensive round-up of the good, true and beautiful in popular culture this past year.

4) Frozen 2 – Review – Amy from Faith in Kids reviews the Frozen sequel. Oh, and if you haven’t seen Faith in Kids’ video on ‘Saving Christmas’, it’s a brilliant one for playing at this week’s carol services!

5) If God Can Show Up in Bethlehem – This helps us to reflect on the surprise of that first Christmas.

6) How Emotions Drive Unbelief – Nothing really particularly Christmassy about this, but Andrew Wilson gives us a fascinating look at a new book on unbelief from church historian Alec Ryrie – a subject which is of course interesting to reflect on at a time of year when lots of people grace church buildings with their presence, but ‘struggle to believe’.

7) Chewbacca Does Silent Night – For something a bit different, this has to be seen to be believed…

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If you subscribe to the weekly blog round-up email but also would like to receive daily (Monday-Saturday) Advent email devotionals from the book of Ruth, you can subscribe to those separately by following this link.

If you want to catch up or get a flavour of previous reflections from Ruth chapter 1-2, you’ll find the links at the top of yesterday’s devotion here.

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Seven up…

1) Christmas: The Fairy Tale That Must Be True – Loved this from Scott Sauls. As Pascal said, communicate the gospel in such a way ‘that good men wish it were true’.

2) Hope does not disappoint – the way forward after the election – Gav Calver, CEO of the Evangelical Alliance, shares his reflections after Thursday’s UK General Election.

3) Pastors & Burnout: A Personal Reflection – Because if there’s a time of year where pastors feel the pressure, Christmas is it – or perhaps as we collapse in a heap after Christmas.

4) New Music – Thought I’d share a few new tracks that have caught my eye recently: Alanna Glover from EMU Music has written Saviour in a Manger, perfect for Advent & Christmas. CityAlight and Colin Buchanan have teamed up for a new track, Jesus, Strong & Kind, which seeks to be a song all ages can cling to through different seasons of life. And I also loved this new arrangement of Sovereign Grace Music’s Behold Our God, with international voices and languages – a moving glimpse of the Revelation 7 picture of people from every tongue praising God.

5) Accusations emerge online that shocking depiction of Jesus in a manger was ‘staged’ by his mother – Can you believe it?!

6) Preaching at Christmas – Ian Paul and Glen Scrivener share their reflections on preaching at this time of year. Actually, Glen managed to get a second article out on preaching at Christmas here!

7) 52 things I learned in 2019 – For something a bit different, as lists go this is pretty eccentric – but fascinating too!

Sharing is caring. Know someone who might find these links interesting? Why not forward it on?

If you subscribe to the weekly blog round-up email but also would like to receive daily (Monday-Saturday) Advent email devotionals from the book of Ruth, you can subscribe to those separately by following this link.

If you want to catch up or get a flavour of last week’s reflections from Ruth chapter 1, you’ll find the links at the top of yesterday’s devotion here.

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Seven up…

1) But That’s Just Your Interpretation – How often do you run-up against Christians saying something like, ‘Well, we just can’t know that for certain – it’s just your interpretation.’ The latest edition of online journal Themelios is out and this is fantastic from Don Carson.

2) 8 reasons to quit social media before 2020 – Ok, maybe now’s the time. Have a read. Convinced? Even if it’s not a wholesale ‘quitting’, I imagine many of us will read and acknowledge we could do with a serious stock-take on our social use.

3) Top 10 Books of the Year – Yes, it’s that time of the year when the internet seems full of book lists. Now here it can sometimes feel like people are trying to out-do each other in obscurity. I’ll focus on Christian lists (or at least lists by Christians): Russell Moore offers a rich top 10 (my score: 3 on shelf; 1 read!), as does Brit Andrew Wilson (3 on shelf, 1 read). Blogger Trevin Wax also offers his list (2 on shelf, 1 read). The Gospel Coalition also have their 2019 Book Awards with different categories (4 on shelf, 1 read). You might also like the perspective of the New Yorker (0 on shelf and 0 read, but I’ll argue that I tend to get to non-Christian books a year or two late!).

4) Tim Keller’s Moral Universe – The Atlantic interviewed and ran a feature on Keller – and I think it showcases well Keller’s ability to engage with and expose our culture, which is surely one of the things he does best.

5) Theos Annual Lecture: Sally Philips on Human Dignity, Different Lives & the Illusions of Choice – You may recognise Sally from her work as an actress and comedienne, having starred in Smack the Pony, Bridget Jones’s Diary, and more. Motivated by her own experiences raising a son with Down syndrome, she helped make a BBC documentary called ‘A World Without Down Syndrome,’ a few years ago, looking at the ethics of pregnancy screening for Down syndrome. She recently gave the annual Theos lecture reflecting on some of those themes. As you can imagine from Philips, it’s not your average ‘lecture’. I haven’t been able to listen to the whole thing yet, but from the sample I’ve heard I’d like to soon. Not dissimilar, you may also appreciate this talk from pastor Pete Jackson from a different conference: Why I teach my congregation about Abortion Once a Year.

6) One Man’s Mission – It was fascinating to see BBC online do such an in-depth piece on this guy’s endeavours to buy-up old Welsh chapels. What do you make of it?

7) The Piano Guys – All I Want For Christmas Is You (LEGO Music Video) – For something a bit different, if you like your Christmas movies you’ll love trying to identify the different scenes in this impressive video from the Piano Guys and Michael Hickox.

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