{"id":11900,"date":"2016-11-18T09:35:08","date_gmt":"2016-11-18T08:35:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/archive.richardlittledale.co.uk\/?p=11900"},"modified":"2016-11-18T09:35:08","modified_gmt":"2016-11-18T08:35:08","slug":"please-stop-here","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/176.32.230.12\/richardlittledale.co.uk\/2016\/11\/18\/please-stop-here\/","title":{"rendered":"“Please stop here”"},"content":{"rendered":"

A review of ‘Hidden Christmas’ by Timothy Keller<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

It has already happened – just over half way through November and I have spotted my first fully decorated house – tinsel swags at the window and fairy lights winking in the late Autumn dusk. Before long, I shall doubtless see one or two signs hopefully hammered into lawns with the message ‘Santa: please stop here’<\/em>. I’m not a big fan, as it seems to emphasise the getting, far more than the giving, at Christmas.<\/p>\n

That said, I feel like erecting just such a sign over this book by Timothy Keller. It would\u00a0say ‘pastor\/preacher\/chorister\u00a0[delete as applicable] : please stop here’. <\/em>To anybody ‘professionally’ involved with delivering the message of Christmas, I would heartily recommend this book. Its eight chapters will take the reader back to the very heart of Christmas and make him or her think<\/em>. The pages of this slender volume will remind the one delivering that Christmas message that they need to hear it as well as speak it.<\/p>\n

There is something reassuringly straightforward about Tim Keller’s approach – writing the kind of things which you would expect an experienced pastor to write. That said, he has a gift for writing them in a manner so arresting that it stimulates the imagination. Who, for instance, has ever seen Jesus described as a ‘billiard ball’<\/em> before? You’ll have to read the book to find out why. Consider this phrase too:<\/p>\n

‘The manger at Christmas means that, if you live like Jesus, there won’t be room for you in a lot of inns’<\/em>.<\/p>\n

To anyone who has maybe grown a little weary of delivering the Christmas message, I would say: please stop here<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\"book\"<\/a>

CLICK for details of the book<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A review of ‘Hidden Christmas’ by Timothy Keller It has already happened – just over half way through November and I have spotted my first fully decorated house – tinsel swags at the window and fairy lights winking in the … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/176.32.230.12\/richardlittledale.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11900"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/176.32.230.12\/richardlittledale.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/176.32.230.12\/richardlittledale.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/176.32.230.12\/richardlittledale.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/176.32.230.12\/richardlittledale.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11900"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/176.32.230.12\/richardlittledale.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11900\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11903,"href":"http:\/\/176.32.230.12\/richardlittledale.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11900\/revisions\/11903"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/176.32.230.12\/richardlittledale.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11900"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/176.32.230.12\/richardlittledale.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11900"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/176.32.230.12\/richardlittledale.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11900"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}