Christmas Colors Are Christian
Advent · Christmas · Uncategorized

Christmas Colors Are Christian

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Continuing the discussion of the Paradise plays performed on Christmas Eve, the evergreen tree (green) was decorated with apples and white wafers tied to the limbs.

The apples represented the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.  Was the fruit in the garden an apple? No, but it was the fruit they had available.  The bible does not give us any description of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.

The fruit represents mans rebellion from God.  Eve wanted to be a god.  She believed Satan’s words and she ate the fruit.  Then she persuaded Adam to do the same.

I find it interesting that the result of their sin was their separating from God.  He walked with them each day, but this time when He came they hid.

God takes the pair and removes them from the garden and allows them to know both Good and Evil in their life. Before they had only known what was good.  Now they knew suffering, pain and death.

Back to our tree.  The actors placed white wafers on the tree.  These were unblessed eucharist to represent Christ whose birthday they would celebrate the next day.  God stepped down from heaven to be born a baby in a stable.  He lived and taught and loved the people around HIm.  Then as a Passover Lamb He was sacraficed to cover the sins of all who trust Him as Lord of their lives.

We now have red, white and green–Christmas.  They would leave the tree up for Christmas day adding sweets and treats for the children to find in the morning.

Meditation

Spend time looking at my life and the times when I am in Rebellion from God.  Look at where I may say the words, but I am not living like I believe him.  Or I want something so I make excuses to justify what I want.

Prayer

Pray for forgiveness of specific sins and ask Christ to help me have true faith–to believe all He has said.

Action

When I see the Christmas colors of red, green and white, I will stop and thank Jesus for stepping down from heaven and for giving HIs life to cover my sins and build a bridge back to Him.

Paradise Tree, Christmas Tree, and Tree of Life
Advent · Christmas

Paradise Tree, Christmas Tree, and Tree of Life

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Two trees stood in the mist of a paradise on Earth.  A garden created by God with the intent to bring pleasure to his creation.  The word Eden means pleasure.  God gave the Garden of Pleasure to Adam and Eve for their home.  The trees provided delicious food, beautiful sights and aromas to please.  And God told these two humans they could eat anything they desired except the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.

The humans tempted by Satan chose to believe the him and to disobey God.  Their sin was not trusting God and once done, they hid themselves from God when He came to walk with them in the cool of the evening.       Their sin separated them from God.

Millenniums later, in the fourteenth century after Jesus’ birth, followers of Christ created a series of plays which told the stories in the bible.  One play presented Adam and Eve’s tale.  The presentation occurred on Adam and Eve Day or December 24th.  To tell the tale, they needed a tree playing the part of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.  Someone went out and cut down an evergreen (available in winter).  The tree was left up as part of the Celebration of Christ’s birth the next day.  Over time, the tradition of having a Christmas tree in the home at Christmas time spread to other parts of the world.

But there is a third tree.  The first tree represents mankind’s break from God through sin.  The Christmas tree represented the bridge God built between HImself and mankind.  He became human and died for our sins.  I will look at this more tomorrow.  But the third tree was the Tree of Life.  It existed in Eden and those who ate from it would live for ever.

Genesis 3:22 “now, lest he put forth his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat and live for ever”

We hear about the Tree of Life again at the end of the book.

Revelation 22 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal,flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.3 No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him.4 They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.5 There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light.  And they will reign for ever and ever.

 

Prayer: Ask God to show me what life lived with God reigning on earth would be like.

Action:  Read Revelation 21 and 22

Meditation:  Visualize what the world will be like when we are living in the new heaven and new earth.

Where is my Hope?
Advent · Christian.

Where is my Hope?

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The first candle of Advent represents Hope.

Merriam Webster defines hope as follows:

intransitive verb

1:  to cherish a desire with anticipation <hopes for a promotion>

2 archaic:trust

transitive verb

1:  to desire with expectation of obtainment

2:  to expect with confidence :trust

Where is my hope?

People like Simeon and Anna (Luke 2:26-38) longed to see the Messiah.  They were rewarded for their faithfulness.  When Mary and Joseph brought Jesus to the temple, they knew he was the promised one.  Imagine they held in their arms the one they long to see.

Meditation:  Do I long for Christ’s return?  Do I even think about Jesus’s return on a regular basis?  If I daily think about HIs return and have confidence that He will return, would I live my life differently?

Prayer:  Each day during this season, I will pray “Come, Lord Jesus” an echo of John’s words in Revelation 22.

Action: Go out each day and look towards the eastern sky.  And think about Christ’s return and talk with the Lord about helping me to live my life in expectation of his return.  I want to hear the words “Well done my good and faithful servant.”  I know I am cleansed of my sins.  I know I will live with Christ forever.  But I want to know He will be pleased with how I lived my life.

Advent · Christmas

Advent Challenge

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DSC00623Advent represents a time of preparation.

Not just preparation for the Celebration of Jesus birth,

but preparation of the heart for his return.

I intend to challenge myself this year with a commitment to prayer, focused meditation and action each day of this advent season.  It is a fast of sorts.  A fast from the commercialism of the season by changing my focus (as cliche as it sounds) to the reason for the Season.

I will post my daily challenge in case anyone wants to join me in this fast.

 

 

The Soft Breeze of a Change of Seasons
Seasons of life

The Soft Breeze of a Change of Seasons

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Swung the door open on Sunday, expecting normal late summer Texas weather, only to be shocked by a cool breeze.  Fall arrived right on time.  I ran back inside telling everyone to plan to spend the day outside.  Our week of fall was here and you don’t want to waste it.

I have the same sense that a new season is blowing into my life.

My two oldest children have left the nest and only the youngest chickadee remains.  College tours and the stress of waiting to receive acceptance letters is still ahead of us, but I feel the breeze of a change in seasons.

My friends talk about retirement, financial plans and how they want to spend their after work years.  And a breeze ruffles my hair reminding me a change of seasons is coming.

Ecclesiastes 3
There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens:

2     a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
3     a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
4     a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
5     a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
6     a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
7     a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
8     a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace. (NIV)

A question arises from this thought.  What purpose will my empty nest years serve.  This new season follows years of secular work in business and lay work in churches; years of babies, children and teens, and years of mistakes and sound decisions.

I traveled with my Lord through a season of needing forgiveness and a season of His teaching me to forgive myself.  What a wild season.  It followed a season of pain that I brought on myself.  He didn’t just heal me.  The Lord took me on an exciting trip where He taught me he acts in our world today.  He taught me to listen to his voice. (I slip away at times, but I have never ever again doubted He is out there and cares about my day to day). God taught me walking with Him can be fun.

We traveled together through a season when He gave me an advance education regarding letting go of fear.  He showed me that fear highlights an area where I have not given something over to God.  That summer every where I went and everything I read dealt with one topic.  I didn’t seek out this education.  He chose it for me.  We worked through how fear results from idols in our lives.  Peace comes when we trust God even accepting the loss of what we love.  I had to learn to daily give what matter most to me over to God.  I actually would awake in the morning and place everything important on the altar before God as a symbolic way to remind myself it belonged to God.   Man is it hard to not take things back off that altar.

Now, I get hints of a new journey God wants me to take with Him.  Just as with Fear, God keeps prodding me with the idea of Charity (Christian Love) and Mercy.  My intuition tells me this journey is preparing me for the new season of life gently blowing into my life over the next few years.

Well, I am ready.  I don’t want to waste this season as I have wasted some seasons in the past.

 

Christ knows your works
Uncategorized

Christ knows your works

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Reading the letters to the churches in Revelation chapters 2 and 3.

Christ repeats the phrase ” I know your deeds” (or also interpreted works in some translations)

Rev 2:2; Rev 2:19; Rev 3:1; Rev 3:8; Rev 3:15

Christianity stands on the foundation that we are saved by faith.  We trust in the sacrifice Jesus made on the cross.  We claim Him as our Lord and Savior.  We know we are sinners and can not work our way to salvation.

But

We are called to good works.

Ephesians 2:10

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

The reality is that our actions, our deeds, the way we spend our time demonstrates what we believe and what we value.  Christ repeats the phrase “I know your deeds” because the way we use the hours and minutes of our day mirror our true beliefs.  The path we take indicates who or what we trust.

You say you believe in prayer, but when faced with a challenge your last action is to say a pleading prayer after all your efforts have failed.  Would your deeds indicate that you believe in prayer.  Given an hour to accomplish a task would you spend the hour in prayer? Two minutes in prayer and 58 minutes working?  Or would you pray and work through the full 60 minutes?

When you know Christ’s teachings are in conflict with something you want, would you say “Well God would want me happy so I am sure He will understand this time.”  And then proceed to satisfy your desires rather than following the teachings of Christ.

Do you worry more about politics and campaigning for a political party then you do sharing the love of Christ?

Do you worry more about securing your financial future than you do about building the Kingdom of Heaven?

Lately, I feel convicted by what my works say about me.  I believe Christ called me to specific works, good works, but I allow all kinds of businesses to fill my days.  I reach the end of each day having raced around but barely touching the things of God.  My deeds show my priorities even if my words would claim different.

What do your deeds say about your beliefs and priorities?

 

 

Only A Branch
Branch and fruit · Vine · Vine

Only A Branch

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“I am the vine, ye are the branches.”—John 15.5

“Tis only a little Branch, A thing so fragile and weak, But that little Branch hath a message true To give, could it only speak.

“I’m only a little Branch, I live by a life not mine, For the sap that flows through my tendrils small Is the life-blood of the Vine.

“No power indeed have I The fruit of myself to bear,

But since I’m part of the living Vine, Its fruitfulness I share.

“Dost thou ask how I abide? How this life I can maintain?— I am bound to the Vine by life’s strong band, And I only need remain.

“Where first my life was given, In the spot where I am set, Upborne and upheld as the days go by, By the stem which bears me yet.

“I fear not the days to come, I dwell not upon the past, As moment by moment I draw a life, Which for evermore shall last.

“I bask in the sun’s bright beams, Which with sweetness fills my fruit, Yet I own not the clusters hanging there, For they all come from the root.”

A life which is not my own, But another’s life in me: This, this is the message the Branch would speak, A message to thee and me.

Oh, struggle not to “abide,” Nor labor to “bring forth fruit,” But let Jesus unite thee to Himself, As the Vine Branch to the root.

So simple, so deep, so strong That union with Him shall be: His life shall forever replace thine own, And His love shall flow through thee.

For His Spirit’s fruit is love, And love shall thy life become, And for evermore on His heart of love Thy spirit shall have her home.

 

Freda Hanbury