Category: Advent

Tickle Me Pink
Advent · Christmas

Tickle Me Pink

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Early days of advent, the people spent the weeks prior to Christmas in preparation.  This included fasting and prayer.  The third Sunday was a day to break the seriousness.  A rose or pink colored candle was used.  This Sunday we concentrate on Joy.  The joy we have in Christ.  Not the giggly always bouncing around happy type of happiness.  But the deep inner joy and contentment of a relationship with Christ.

John 15:9 As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.

The Joy of Christ comes from keeping Christ’s command.  And what is that command?  What must a person do in order for Christ’s joy to be in you and for that joy to be complete?

John 15:17 This is my command: Love each other.

True contentment and joy comes from loving our brother’s and sister’s in Christ as He loved us.  Christ’s love is sacrificial love.  Jesus loved us so much  He stepped down from heaven to be born in a stable and slept in the trough where the animals ate. Walked the earth and taught the people.  He  died on the cross to cover our sins.
This the type of love we are called to possess for one another.

The idea of loving fellow Christians as Christ loved us has been on my mind a lot lately.  It occurs to me that many of us have become proficient at pretending to love. We hug and kiss and say we love one another when we are together.  But who are we when we are alone or with a different group.  Do we bad mouth? Do we shake our heads?  Are our thoughts about how we are better than Sue?  Or boy, Josie needs to get her act together?

I think the love that Jesus wants is the kind of love that doesn’t talk behind someone’s back.  It cares about the person and will sacrifice for that person.  Joy comes from a heart free of self righteousness,  a mind clean of mean thoughts, and a mouth silent if nothing good can be said.

Prayer:  Lord you know those who I have difficulty with.  Please help me to love them.  I place on the altar before you all my selfish thoughts and self righteousness.  Please forgive me and fill me with your joy.

Meditation: Why do some people make me angry?  Why do I talk about some people behind their backs?  Are there times when I act like I love someone, but actually resent them?

Action: Watch my actions and thoughts during the day, when I start to talk about someone or feel resentment, I will pray for the person.

Action:

Ring the Bells
Advent · Christian. · Christmas · Uncategorized

Ring the Bells

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Bells, church tower bells, hand held bells, bells on bob tails, bells, bells everywhere bells.

Nothing is more Christmas than bells.  Yet, history rings loud with bells well before Jesus. Bells sounded a warning, or signaled people to come together.

The early church had no tower bells or loud bells to identify where they were meeting.  No, they would use little hand bells in the early days to indicate they were starting a service, but drawing attention was not high on their list of things to do.  For the first few centuries, they faced off and on persecution for their faith.

Then the Emperor Constantine declared Christianity to be acceptable and the churches started adding bells to indicate when special events would occur.  They built buildings with bell towers to ring out for events like Christmas.

As caroling started growing in popularity, some carolers would ring bells as the music for the singers and to draw attention.  The bells became more and more a part of the Christmas traditions.

But today, the bell ringers we think about most with the season stand outside of stores ringing their hand held bells.  Cold weather or hot, rain or snow, these men and women hold their posts from Thanksgiving until Christmas. The bell rings as we walk past.  If we drop a coin, we hear a Merry Christmas in reply.

Over a hundred years ago, one man saw the need of the poor in his town of San Francisco.  He desired to find them food for Christmas.  This one man found a pot and stood out asking people to drop coins in it to feed the needy at Christmas. He collected enough to feed over a 100,000 people that year.
Now similar pots are positioned all over our country and others who care about the poor stand outside of stores ringing a bell to draw attention to the need for the poor. Captain Joseph McFee and his Salvation Army pots have feed millions since the 1890’s

Today, we think of Christmas when we hear those bells ringing.  And when we think of Christmas we should think of the poor and needy.

Matthew 25

34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:

35 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:

36 Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.

37 Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?

38 When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?

39 Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?

40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

Prayer:  Lord help me to see those in need.  Help me to know how to help in a healthy way.  Guide me to a person who cares for those in need.

Meditation:  When I face Jesus will he see me as a sheep who cared for Him when he was hungry, sick or in prison. Or am I a goat?

Action:  As I see people in need, visualize them as if they are Christ, before deciding how to respond.

Cookies for Santa Lucy
Advent · Christmas · Uncategorized

Cookies for Santa Lucy

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Traditions associated with Saint Lucy Day on December 13

  1. She brings gifts for good children
  2. She brings coal for bad children
  3. Cookies left on the mantle
  4. Children need to be a sleep when she arrives

A wealthy young women who loved Jesus lived in Sicily around 310 AD.  She desired to stay a virgin and to spend her life working for God.  One powerful pagan man in her community intended to marry her even though Lucia did not want to marry him.  She set her mind to using her dowery for helping others and to stay in service to the Lord.

The man denounced her to the authorities for being a Christian in retaliation for her not being willing to marry him.   The magistrate ordered Lucia be burned to death.  The tradition says her body would not burn until she had received the sacrament.  There are many wondrous stories associated with her death and it is difficult to know all the details.

In some traditions, the 13th of December, her saint day, starts the 12 days of Advent.

Regions of Italy, and other parts of Europe, have a tradition that Saint Lucia on a donkey brings either sweets or presents to children who are good.  Bad children receive coal.  If you are not a sleep, and you see Lucia, she will blow ashes in your eyes making you temporarily blind.

Swedish traditions have a young girl with a crown of candles on her head carrying saffron buns.  The lights symbolizing both her name which means light and the fire she suffered for the Lord.

Others say that during the persecutions of the christians, Lucy brought food to christians hiding in the catacombs.  She created a wreath on her head and attached candles so she could see and her hands would be free.  They believe the Swedish tradition comes from this story.

Prayer:  Lord around the world Christians suffer.  They are persecuted and punished for loving you. Please open my eyes to their plight.  Where I can help show me what I can do.

Meditation:  Read the stories of Christians in Egypt, Syria, Africa, China, India, Indonesia who are being persecuted for their faith.

Actions;  I will keep a record of every story I hear about persecuted Christians.  I will pray for them daily.  I will look for ways to help them.

13 Shopping Days–What Do I Get Jesus?
Advent · Christmas · Uncategorized

13 Shopping Days–What Do I Get Jesus?

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Only 13 shopping days till Christmas, seems I should give to Him who is celebrated

What do you get the one who created the world?

He asks for so little.  Only trust and love.  Not your ordinary love but that agape kind  The sort of love that God shows us.  That is the love He wants us to give.

But how do you give the love he desires.   This love refuses to get upset when offended or hurt  My typical reaction is to get angry instead of being patient  Could I give to God my anger and pain?  Would He want that for Christmas?

Or maybe I could be observant and watching. Looking for those times, I can be useful to others.  Would God appreciate 13 acts of kindness?  That might be a good stocking filler anyway.

I wonder if God would be satisfied with just plain love?  Agape is hard.  I mean not getting angry, or lashing out.  Not thinking about getting revenge.   Not keeping records of other wrongs.  I like to have my list and check it twice of all the ways that someone has hurt me.

I wonder if He would be satisfied if I just donate some money?  No, He wants agape.  Guess I need to keep thinking.

Agape expects me to protect my brothers and sisters in Christ, to trust them, to hope the best for them. And it expects me to persevere with them through all things.

I feel like the child who wants to get their parent a gift, but doesn’t have enough money to buy what they want to give.  Mom or dad gives the child a little money so they can buy the gift they to give.

I need my heavenly father to fill me with Holy Spirit without the Spirit working in me I cannot give Agape to my Jesus.  I cannot love all His children as he asks.

Jesus please help me to give you the gift of Agape

Prayer:  Fill me with the Holy Spirit and teach me to love as You Love

Meditation:  Who do I know who shows Agape type of love

Action: One act of kindness every day until Christmas.

Angels (Messengers of God)
Advent · Christmas · Uncategorized

Angels (Messengers of God)

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Drive through town and there are angels everywhere.  Angels made of metal frames lit with lights.  Angels topping trees.  Angels on wrapping paper.  And all the angels look strangely girly.

But Gabriel, the Angel sent to make all the announcements about Jesus most definitely looked like a man.  Trouble is I am not sure a guy sitting on top of the tree has the same impact.  I know he looked like a man because of the description in the book of Daniel.

Daniel saw Gabriel and described the being he saw as “one who looked like a man”.  The actual word in Hebrew means warrior or a valiant man.

This is our first look at Gabriel, but he is really busy in the Gospels.

And every where Gabriel appears, the first words out of his mouth are “Do not be afraid”.  I am not sure if his general appearance is frightening but I suspect it is his tendency to just appear suddenly that causes the fear, but either way, it is obvious he isn’t the soft sweet angel of Christmas tree decorations.

Now, I think Gabriel made a mistake telling Zachariah not to be afraid.  When the old priest first sees the angel standing in the Holy area of the temple where no one other than the priest was allowed to be, he was terrified.  The angel tells him:

Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John.14 He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth,15 for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even before he is born.16 He will bring back many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. 17 And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”

 

Now you would think Zechariah’s response would be wow this angel (word means messenger from God) just popped in from no where to tell me my prayer is going to be answered.  But no, his first response is how can I know this is really going to happen.

Think about it on two levels.  First minutes ago he is trembling in awe of the messenger.  Now he is how do I know you can do what you say.  And second, this is answered prayer.  Why was he praying if he didn’t think God could answer?
Gabriel doesn’t appreciate this change of attitude and tells Zechariah that he will not be able to speak until the baby is born.

This baby grows up to be John the Baptist–a man of great faith.

Now Gabriel gets a new assignment a few months later.  He appears to a young teenage girl.

The virgin’s name was Mary.

28 The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”

29 Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be.30 But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God.31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”

34 “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”

35 The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. 36 Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. 37 For no word from God will ever fail.”

 

Now I doubt Mary had been praying let me get pregnant by the Holy Spirit and no one in my village will believe me.  They might even stone me.  Joseph will not want to marry me.  Yep that is what I want Lord.  I am doubting it had ever crossed her mind.
But Mary’s response to Gabriel’s message is:

38 “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her.

I look at my life and wonder how often I am a Zechariah.  Do I pray my prayers without truly believing God can answer the prayer?  When I see God move, do I see his hand or do I wobble and doubt?

 

Prayer:  Lord help me to have stronger faith.  Help me in my unbelief.

Meditation: Think about answered prayers

Action: Make a list of answered prayers; write it down.  Look at it often to remember what God has done.

Sing, Sing a Song
Advent · Christmas

Sing, Sing a Song

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Name another time of year so closely associated with specific songs.  Christmas carols ring out in grocery stores, in the malls, on the radio, and every where else that you turn.  These days the songs are both secular and religious.

Half the population can’t wait for the Christmas carols to start. The other half is cringing. Every singer seems to do at least one Christmas song. Many create whole albums.  They vary from classical to rock to hip hop.

The first Christmas song started around the year 125 AD.  Telesphorus, the leader of the church in Rome, declared it acceptable to sing Gloria in Excelsis Deo (Angels Hymn) on Christmas Eve at Midnight mass.  The priests sang the songs. I guess technically the angels sang it 125 years before that, but from the human perspective.

The music stayed the same for the next thousand years.

Now if you are in the group who cringe at the sound of Christmas music blame Francis of Assisi again.
Our dear Francis of Assisi, as part of his Christmas Eve telling of the story of Christ’s birth, used music to tell the story. He wrote Psalmist of Nativitate.  Francis wanted upbeat music people could sing and celebrate with.  Happy, you could dance to it music, to tell the wonderful story of Jesus birth.  He put latin words honoring Jesus birth to familiar cheerful music for people to sing where ever they went.

Psalmist of Nativitate is considered the first Christmas Carol.  Over the years more and more Christmas Carols were written and played.

Psalm 95:1

 O come, let us sing unto the Lord: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation.

Prayer:  Ask God to accept my offering of songs through this season.

Meditation:Think through all the Christmas songs I know, which express what I feel at Christmas regarding Christ.  (My song that best expresses my feelings at Christmas is not what most people think of as a Christmas song–Lord I lift Your Name on High.  Why?  He came heaven to earth to show the way.  And isn’t that what Christmas is all about)

Action:  Sing all day long.  Make a play list for the rest of the season and sing to God every day.

 

Tired of Christmas Plays Blame Francis
Advent · Christmas · Uncategorized

Tired of Christmas Plays Blame Francis

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Do you feel excited about remembering the birth of Jesus?

Seven hundred years ago, the people did not read and did not own bibles.  Francis of Assisi wanted the people to understand and be energized by the birth of Jesus.

St. Bonaventure (d. 1274) Life of St. Francis of Assisi

It happened in the third year before his death, that in order to excite the inhabitants of Grecio to commemorate the nativity of the Infant Jesus with great devotion, [St. Francis] determined to keep it with all possible solemnity; and lest he should be accused of lightness or novelty, he asked and obtained the permission of the sovereign Pontiff.

Then he prepared a manger, and brought hay, and an ox and an ass to the place appointed. The brethren were summoned, the people ran together, the forest resounded with their voices, and that venerable night was made glorious by many and brilliant lights and sonorous psalms of praise.

The man of God [St. Francis] stood before the manger, full of devotion and piety, bathed in tears and radiant with joy; the Holy Gospel was chanted by Francis, the Levite of Christ. Then he preached to the people around the nativity of the poor King; and being unable to utter His name for the tenderness of His love, He called Him the Babe of Bethlehem.

Thus started the tradition of Churches acting out the Nativity Scene, and eventually other Christmas plays.
But have we become unexcited over the story of Jesus?  Do we think of the babe and become filled with tenderness? Jesus existed before the world was formed yet He stepped down from heaven to become a human baby.  He entered the world in as humble a way as I can imagine.

Some times I think the traditions and the rituals which I love so much have caused me to lose the excitement over the reason for the season.

Prayer:  Lord help my mind and heart to feel the trill of the story of your birth.  Please forgive me for allowing myself to have lost the excitement of your birth.  Help me to find ways to tell the story so others are excited by your birth.

Meditation:  Jesus existed before he came to earth think about what He left to be born of a young woman, in a stable.  A babe to be cared for by its mother.  A child that must grow and learn and be subject to his parents. And then remember He did it for me.  He did it for each individual person on earth so they would have  the opportunity to be reconciled with God.

Action:  Come up with at least one creative way to share the story of Jesus birth.  Something different.

They Will Know You by Your Love
Advent · Uncategorized

They Will Know You by Your Love

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I Love You; You Love Me; We are a great big family.  My daughter loved Barney when she was young.  Horror of horrors if she ever reads this and finds I let out her secret.  But the second advent candle represents Love.  And the Christian love is much like that song.  God loved me; I love Him; He wants me to love all his children so we will be a great big family.
God gave us the ultimate present one night two thousand years ago and He gave it out of love.

John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Jesus guides us in three areas of love:

1) Love the Lord with all our heart, mind and soul

2) Love our neighbor as our self

3) Love our Christian brothers and sisters as Christ loved us.

1 John 4 verses regarding love.

7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

13 This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. 16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.

God is love.  Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. 17 This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. 18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

19 We love because he first loved us. 20 Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. 21 And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.

Christ instructed us to love our neighbor, but my understanding of the verses above and the verse in John 13:34-35 is that we are being given a higher command than to love everyone as we love ourselves.  We are being commanded to love as Christ loves and we are not capable of this with our human selfishness.

34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

This love as Christ loves is not for everyone but for our brothers and sisters in Christ.  We are not capable of this level of love on our own.  Only through the Holy Spirit living and working in us can we live out this kind of love.  This love sacrifices self for others.  This love humbles itself to wash the feet of the lowliest member of the family.  This love says I will do without so you can have.  This love does not enable but also does not make excuses for not helping.  This love always has the other’s best interest at heart.

“By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another”
Can people tell I am a Christian by my love?

Prayer:  Jesus please fill me with your spirit and help me to love.  I must pray sincere prayers for those who I have trouble loving.

Meditation:  Does my life show love or does it show selfishness?

Action:  Find the people who I know are disciples by their love.  How do I know they love?  Journal what tells me they love.

Secret Santa
Advent · Christian.

Secret Santa

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It has become common knowledge that the person we call Santa evolved from a Bishop named Nicholas who lived in Myra during the forth century. Nicholas is one of the most revered Christian leaders from the early church. I think because he sought to live a life based on the teachings of Christ and on the scriptures.

Nicholas orphaned while very young inherited a great deal of wealth. Rather than following a life of business, he chose to serve Christ.  The lad learned to love Jesus at an early age and eventually was named Bishop of Myra.  Three traits, in my opinion, made Nicholas someone who lived out the Christian faith.

1  Gave what he had to help others and did it in secret.

Three young girls lived in the village where he was Bishop.  Their father did not have the money to provide their dowry.  Young girls in this era who had no dowry could not expect marriage. There prospects appeared dim.

The legend varies, but it seems Nicholas decided to sneak into their home at night. He found their stockings hung up to dry.  He dropped enough gold coins into each girls stockings to assure they had a dowry.  He met their need and shared what he had.

2.  He fought for those who could not fight for themselves.

Three men, accused of a crime, were sentenced to death.  Nicholas stood up for them and fought to get them free.  He won their release.

3.  He stood strong in his faith never wavering.

Nicholas during a time of persecution of Christians refused to deny Christ and was imprisoned.

 

Prayer:   Ask God to show me people who I can help.  Help me to see the need and to have the strength to do what is needed.

I also pray for strength to never deny my faith, to be willing to tell others who my Lord is.

Mediation:   Who could I be a secret Nicholas for?  Are their people who need my help?  What could I do and how could I do it without anyone knowing?

Also think about when do I stand for Christ?  Do I deny Christ with my silence?  If my admission of being a Christian came with a cost, would I stand.

Action:  Make a plan and act on it based on the results of my meditation.  Look for people who I can make their lives better.

 

 

 

The Light of the World
Advent · Christmas

The Light of the World

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Hanukkah started on Thanksgiving this year. The feast lasts for eight days, so it ends on December 5.

Jesus celebrated Hanukkah in Jerusalem.  How do I know?  The bible tells me so.

 

 

John 10: 22 

And it was at Jerusalem the feast of the dedication, and it was winter.

23 And Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon’s porch.

The Feast of the Dedication, Hanukkah, and the  Festival of Lights are different names for the same celebration.

An evil ruler controlled Israel about 165 years before Christ was born.  He stopped the worship of God in the temple and contaminated the temple with a statue of Zeus; he sacrificed pigs to Greek gods.

A group of men who loved the Lord fought and won their freedom from this corrupt ruler.

Once free, they worked to clean the temple and rededicate to the Lord.  The Menorah stood in the temple and it was to be an eternal fire before the Lord.  When they were ready to light it, they realized they had only enough oil for one day.

Then a miracle occurred.  The day’s worth of oil continued to burn for eight days.  This was the amount of time needed to prepare the oil for use in the temple.  The fire burned eternally.

 

John tells us that once when Jesus was at the temple he made the following statement

John 8

12 Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.

 

He is my eternal light.  When my heart and my mind are focused on Him, I walk in the light.  When the business of the world or the aggravations of this life become my focus, I stumble in darkness.
Prayer:  Ask Jesus to shine light in my life; to be my eternal flame.

Mediation: Think about what habits, attitudes, or desires block the light from my life.

Activity:  Practice going through the day in silent prayer asking him to keep me in the light.