The Lamp Post

Like the first Christmas story, Christmas today is permeated with hurt, even as it is brimming with happiness. It’s filled with weeping while also being saturated with rejoicing.
It’s the hap-happiest time of the year! Christmas ‘tis the season to be jolly. We cheerfully wish one another a Merry Christmas and sing together Joy to the World. Every Hallmark movie, Christmas special and Santa song reminds us of this. Many understandably look forward to this time all year round!
Yet, at the same time, all things considered, it is also the most difficult time of the year. For many, the Christmas season is filled with loneliness, depression and even grief. It is literally the darkest time of the year. The shortest day of the year in the northern hemisphere falls on one of four days:December 20, 21, 22 or 23. Because of this, the Christmas season is the time of year when Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) begins to take effect.
It is the deadliest time of the year. Christopher Ingraham in The Wa…

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“Rick Harrington's book How to Find a Church is an excellent and informative read. The titles of each chapter clearly outline the steps a person would take in understanding the value of church, and in finding the proper one for themselves. Various scenarios are openly discussed in both truth and humor, highlighting the complexity of the human soul's search for belonging.”
Pastor Rick Amendola, New Life Christian Assembly of God.
"In a winsome, concise and uncanny way, Pastor Rick Harrington takes the confusion, anxiety, and weirdness out of finding a church family.I encourage those that have given up looking for a faith community or those actively seeking a faith community to read How to Find a Church to assist them in their journey to the relational joys of life together in Christ's Church."
The Reverend Canon Brian Bethke, the Anglican Diocese in New England.
“Choosing a local church can be one of the most formative decisions a person makes. H…

NEWS RELEASE FOR RECIPIENTS OF GRANTS IN THE 2019 NATIONAL CLERGY RENEWAL PROGRAM
First Baptist Church of Haverhill has received a grant of $49,980.00 to enable its minister, Pastor Rick Harrington, to participate in the 2019 National Clergy Renewal Program. First Baptist Church of Haverhill is one of 150 congregations across the United States selected to participate in this competitive grant program, which is funded by Lilly Endowment Inc. and administered by Christian Theological Seminary in Indianapolis. Established by the Endowment in 2000, the program’s grants allow Christian congregations to support their pastors with the gift of extended time away from their ministerial duties and responsibilities.  Ministers whose congregations are awarded the grants use their time away from the demands of daily ministry to engage in reflection and renewal. The approach respects the “Sabbath time” concept, offering ministers a carefully considered respite that may include travel, study, rest, …

Andy and Paula had reached their fundraising goal. Their passion for front-line global missions was contagious and had caused an excitement for reaching the nations to infect the whole church. The date was set, the plane tickets for their family of five were purchased, and travel plans were setting like concrete. Years of preparation were coming to fruition. A Commission Service and Reception were planned for Saturday, their oldest son’s baptism was planned for Sunday, and this family of five would fly out of Logan Airport on Monday to the mission field. Then half them came down with influenza.
            I received a call from another member, James, who struggled with alcoholism for as long as I’ve known him. His faith was genuine but raw. I had baptized him just a few years prior. He would go stretches dry and sober, but would inevitably fall off the wagon. Since learning he was slowly dying of prostate cancer, his drinking accelerated. As much as I sought to hold him ac…

C. S. Lewis imagines two people: one Miss Bates, a naturally cranky unkind woman who becomes a Christian and the other Dick Firkin, a naturally friendly kind person who has not yet become a Christian.
“Christian Miss Bates may have an unkinder tongue than unbelieving Dick Firkin. That, by itself, does not tell us whether Christianity works. The question is what Jane’s tongue would be like if she were not a Christian and what Dick’s would be like if he became one. Miss Bates and Dick, as a result of natural causes and early upbringing, have certain temperaments: Christianity professes to put both temperaments under new management if they will allow it to do so. What you have a right to ask is whether that management, if allowed to take over, improves the concern. Everyone knows that what is being managed in Dick Firkin’s case is much ‘nicer’ than what is being managed in Miss Bates’. That is not the point. To judge the management of a factory, you must consider not only the output but…

"It was [Nyi] who, talking with Mr. Taylor, unexpectedly raised a question the pain of which was not easily forgotten. “How long have you had the good news in England?” he asked unsuspectingly. The young missionary was ashamed to tell him, and vaguely replied that it was several hundreds of years. “What,” exclaimed Nyi in astonishment, “several hundreds of years! Is it possible that you have known about Jesus so long, and only now have come to tell us? My father sought the truth for more than twenty years,” he continued sadly, “and died without finding it. Oh, why did you not come sooner?”