Andy looks back on the year, from baptisms to putting ash on the forehead of people in passing cars, and reflects on who God really is - that he is not, in fact, a drive-by God. That he is here, and he is here eternally.

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While shopping for bikes, Andy finds himself discussing what it means to be a pastor with all that's going on in the world with the bike salesman. Andy talks about how Christmas is a very simple story. At its roots, the story is simply that the baby Jesus came to bring us peace.

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This week, Ann contemplates where she can go to find peace in today's world.

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The question has been asked before, but there’s still a lot to unpack - what is it that’s necessary to believe in order to not be a heretic? And what do we need to keep about the Christmas story?

The group gets into common misperceptions and the way our misinterpretation of the Christmas story doesn’t mean we’re getting the point of it wrong.

Here’s the article Kaitlyn mentions. (Link: https://www.christianitytoday.com/history/2018/december/putting-christ-back-in-christmas-not-enough-nativity-americ.html)

We’ll be back in a few weeks! Ask us a question! FMHouston.com/AMA

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In this week's short homily, Ann discusses "reversals" and an impromptu soccer match that happened on the front lines one Christmas Day during World War I.

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After referencing John Wesley last week, a new listener asks about the importance of Wesley, and whether the group could give him a starting point on Wesley's ministry and sermons. Unsurprisingly, Kaitlyn and Brandi are INCREDIBLY excited about this prospect.

Ask us a question, or send feedback! FMHouston.com/AMA

Here's links to the sermons referenced in this podcast:

The Scripture Way of Salvation (link: https://www.umcmission.org/Find-Resources/John-Wesley-Sermons/Sermon-43-The-Scripture-Way-of-Salvation)

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The amount of stories that are all the same is vexing Andy, and he complains about how every movie he goes to seems the same. But then he shows us how the story of Christmas is the Hero's Journey - the simple story, the same story told over and over again, of hope lost and found again.

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As he looks at the Christmas season, Brant considers what he calls "One-Dimensional Gifts" - simple gifts that don't last very long. He warns us that when we begin to look at Jesus' birth one-dimensionally, we miss a lot of what makes this season so special.

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A woman who had a profound experience in which a stranger told her that she had seen Jesus walking besides her wanted to know: do we believe in angels? Do we think that the person she met could have been an angel?

It’s a question that group hadn’t considered before, and so there’s discussion of the nature of angels in scripture, the presence of the Divine in every day life, and how American culture affects what we think we can and can’t believe.

Ask us a question, or send us feedback! This, plus every AMA episode, is available at FMHouston.com/AMA.

Andy talks about what it takes to prepare your heart for Christmas - what it takes to truly celebrate Christmas well. What if, these last 30 days of the year, we chose to live our lives wholly as servants for Christ?

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