{"id":1329,"date":"2009-12-25T19:01:26","date_gmt":"2009-12-25T19:01:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/?p=1329"},"modified":"2010-12-22T11:42:28","modified_gmt":"2010-12-22T16:42:28","slug":"7467","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2009\/12\/25\/7467\/","title":{"rendered":"Christmas &#8211; A Different Manger Perspective"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By Don Meyer<\/p>\n<p>CHICAGO, IL (December 25, 2009) \u2013 <em>\u201cDo not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger\u201d<\/em> (Luke 2:10-12 TNIV).<br \/>\n<!--more--><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.covchurch.org\/uploads\/zx\/qK\/zxqKTXMCFblyq2l08eefgg\/Nativity.jpg\" alt=\"Nativity\" hspace=\"4\" vspace=\"4\" align=\"right\" \/>It was a children\u2019s sermon at our home church &#8211; North Park Covenant in Chicago &#8211; that caught my attention as Interim Pastor Judith McCullough suggested a different way of thinking about that manger in Bethlehem.<\/p>\n<p>A manger, she reminded us, was a feeding trough of sorts \u2013 a place where hay was put to feed the cattle. Interesting that God would choose such a strange place to hold his son, his precious gift to the world.<\/p>\n<p>Not so, Pastor Judith observed. She used John 6:35 to connect the dots, where Jesus declares: <em>\u201cI am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry \u2026\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The manger, then, becomes a place not only for feeding hungry animals of that day, but symbolic of the place where we, too, can be fed with the \u201cBread of Life\u201d and never experience spiritual hunger again.<\/p>\n<p>May the manger and all that it represents speak anew to our hearts this day as we once again celebrate the birth of Christ \u2013 the Word become flesh and dwelling among us, the Bread of Life.<\/p>\n<p>Merry Christmas!<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-report-this\"><a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire?moderation_action=report_form&#038;object_type=post&#038;object_id=1329&#038;width=250&#038;height=300\" class=\"thickbox\" title=\"Report This Post\">Report This Post<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>CHICAGO, IL (December 25, 2009) \u2013 \u201cDo not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger\u201d (Luke 2:10-12 TNIV).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1329","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Christmas - A Different Manger Perspective - Covenant Newswire Archives<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2009\/12\/25\/7467\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Christmas - A Different Manger Perspective - Covenant Newswire Archives\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"CHICAGO, IL (December 25, 2009) \u2013 \u201cDo not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger\u201d (Luke 2:10-12 TNIV).\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2009\/12\/25\/7467\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Covenant Newswire Archives\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-12-25T19:01:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2010-12-22T16:42:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.covchurch.org\/uploads\/zx\/qK\/zxqKTXMCFblyq2l08eefgg\/Nativity.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/2009\\\/12\\\/25\\\/7467\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/2009\\\/12\\\/25\\\/7467\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/2a26f1b1df304098ad9cbae0bbf2c6e8\"},\"headline\":\"Christmas &#8211; A Different Manger Perspective\",\"datePublished\":\"2009-12-25T19:01:26+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2010-12-22T16:42:28+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/2009\\\/12\\\/25\\\/7467\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":254,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/2009\\\/12\\\/25\\\/7467\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.covchurch.org\\\/uploads\\\/zx\\\/qK\\\/zxqKTXMCFblyq2l08eefgg\\\/Nativity.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/2009\\\/12\\\/25\\\/7467\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/2009\\\/12\\\/25\\\/7467\\\/\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/2009\\\/12\\\/25\\\/7467\\\/\",\"name\":\"Christmas - A Different Manger Perspective - Covenant Newswire Archives\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/2009\\\/12\\\/25\\\/7467\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/2009\\\/12\\\/25\\\/7467\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.covchurch.org\\\/uploads\\\/zx\\\/qK\\\/zxqKTXMCFblyq2l08eefgg\\\/Nativity.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2009-12-25T19:01:26+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2010-12-22T16:42:28+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/2a26f1b1df304098ad9cbae0bbf2c6e8\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/2009\\\/12\\\/25\\\/7467\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/2009\\\/12\\\/25\\\/7467\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/2009\\\/12\\\/25\\\/7467\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.covchurch.org\\\/uploads\\\/zx\\\/qK\\\/zxqKTXMCFblyq2l08eefgg\\\/Nativity.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.covchurch.org\\\/uploads\\\/zx\\\/qK\\\/zxqKTXMCFblyq2l08eefgg\\\/Nativity.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/2009\\\/12\\\/25\\\/7467\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Christmas &#8211; A Different Manger Perspective\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/\",\"name\":\"Covenant Newswire Archives\",\"description\":\"Evangelical Covenant Church\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/2a26f1b1df304098ad9cbae0bbf2c6e8\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/ed9f85aca58d0540113c3fcae90abb716831fd0b1d806d275666cf7052268ea9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/ed9f85aca58d0540113c3fcae90abb716831fd0b1d806d275666cf7052268ea9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/ed9f85aca58d0540113c3fcae90abb716831fd0b1d806d275666cf7052268ea9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/author\\\/covwebster\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Christmas - A Different Manger Perspective - Covenant Newswire Archives","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2009\/12\/25\/7467\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Christmas - A Different Manger Perspective - Covenant Newswire Archives","og_description":"CHICAGO, IL (December 25, 2009) \u2013 \u201cDo not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger\u201d (Luke 2:10-12 TNIV).","og_url":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2009\/12\/25\/7467\/","og_site_name":"Covenant Newswire Archives","article_published_time":"2009-12-25T19:01:26+00:00","article_modified_time":"2010-12-22T16:42:28+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.covchurch.org\/uploads\/zx\/qK\/zxqKTXMCFblyq2l08eefgg\/Nativity.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2009\/12\/25\/7467\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2009\/12\/25\/7467\/"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/#\/schema\/person\/2a26f1b1df304098ad9cbae0bbf2c6e8"},"headline":"Christmas &#8211; A Different Manger Perspective","datePublished":"2009-12-25T19:01:26+00:00","dateModified":"2010-12-22T16:42:28+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2009\/12\/25\/7467\/"},"wordCount":254,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2009\/12\/25\/7467\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.covchurch.org\/uploads\/zx\/qK\/zxqKTXMCFblyq2l08eefgg\/Nativity.jpg","articleSection":["News"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2009\/12\/25\/7467\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2009\/12\/25\/7467\/","url":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2009\/12\/25\/7467\/","name":"Christmas - A Different Manger Perspective - Covenant Newswire Archives","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2009\/12\/25\/7467\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2009\/12\/25\/7467\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.covchurch.org\/uploads\/zx\/qK\/zxqKTXMCFblyq2l08eefgg\/Nativity.jpg","datePublished":"2009-12-25T19:01:26+00:00","dateModified":"2010-12-22T16:42:28+00:00","author":{"@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/#\/schema\/person\/2a26f1b1df304098ad9cbae0bbf2c6e8"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2009\/12\/25\/7467\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2009\/12\/25\/7467\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2009\/12\/25\/7467\/#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/www.covchurch.org\/uploads\/zx\/qK\/zxqKTXMCFblyq2l08eefgg\/Nativity.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/www.covchurch.org\/uploads\/zx\/qK\/zxqKTXMCFblyq2l08eefgg\/Nativity.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2009\/12\/25\/7467\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Christmas &#8211; A Different Manger Perspective"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/#website","url":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/","name":"Covenant Newswire Archives","description":"Evangelical Covenant Church","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/#\/schema\/person\/2a26f1b1df304098ad9cbae0bbf2c6e8","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ed9f85aca58d0540113c3fcae90abb716831fd0b1d806d275666cf7052268ea9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ed9f85aca58d0540113c3fcae90abb716831fd0b1d806d275666cf7052268ea9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ed9f85aca58d0540113c3fcae90abb716831fd0b1d806d275666cf7052268ea9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"url":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/author\/covwebster\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1329","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1329"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1329\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4995,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1329\/revisions\/4995"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1329"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1329"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1329"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}