Christmas is like God, timeless and eternal.
Christmas is not just a season of a day in the year, but a condition of the heart.
Christmas is the message that there is hope for all humanity.
Christmas is love in action ~ giving, sharing, opening ourselves to others ~ loving ourselves and loving others.
Christmas is the celebration of a baby, born in a manger. A baby who lived and grew and loved and taught and gave of himself unselfishly for others and died and lives again. A baby who changed the world that was and changed the world that is and changed the world that will be.
Christmas is so much more than a moment or an hour or a day. It is life and living and death and dying and the event that brought heaven and earth into harmony in a manner that will not be seen again until God only knows. So, let’s celebrate, rejoice, praise God and share the message of a baby born in Bethlehem so many years ago!
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Something to Think About - 7
"Veiled in Flesh" - Devotionals from the Peachtree Road Staff; Advent 2010
As fall unfolds, it’s not hard to look around and find the presence of God in many places. To see the vibrant colors emerging on trees and the coolness in the air offers credence that there is a larger presence in our world.
While there are visible signs everywhere, there are also every day blessings we receive from others – you just have to realize them. My family went through some health challenges and continues to, yet I constantly see God in my home. My husband has chronic hip and leg pain and it is difficult for him to walk, sit or stand. He can no longer enjoy the activities he use to such as playing tennis or golf, exercising or doing outdoor activities with our daughter. While this might be discouraging for some, he continues to amaze me with his effervescent attitude. Despite his constant severe discomfort, he wakes up happy, smiling and has an incredible outlook
every day – a true blessing by the grace of God.
As a result of witnessing her father’s pain, my daughter has become more sympathetic, empathetic, caring and thoughtful which will hopefully be a part of her soul for the rest of her life. I truly believe that out of an any adverse situation comes many blessings. Through God’s presence, I am lucky enough to be the recipient of many of these and live my life with two of them.
Robin King
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, just as he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love. He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace that he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and insight he has made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ, as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. In Christ we have also obtained an inheritance, having been destined according to the purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to his counsel and will, so that we, who were the first to set our hope on Christ, might live for the praise of his glory. In him you also, when you had heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and had believed in him, were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit; this is the pledge of our inheritance towards redemption as God’s own people, to the praise of his glory." ~ Ephesians 1:3-14
As fall unfolds, it’s not hard to look around and find the presence of God in many places. To see the vibrant colors emerging on trees and the coolness in the air offers credence that there is a larger presence in our world.
While there are visible signs everywhere, there are also every day blessings we receive from others – you just have to realize them. My family went through some health challenges and continues to, yet I constantly see God in my home. My husband has chronic hip and leg pain and it is difficult for him to walk, sit or stand. He can no longer enjoy the activities he use to such as playing tennis or golf, exercising or doing outdoor activities with our daughter. While this might be discouraging for some, he continues to amaze me with his effervescent attitude. Despite his constant severe discomfort, he wakes up happy, smiling and has an incredible outlook
every day – a true blessing by the grace of God.
As a result of witnessing her father’s pain, my daughter has become more sympathetic, empathetic, caring and thoughtful which will hopefully be a part of her soul for the rest of her life. I truly believe that out of an any adverse situation comes many blessings. Through God’s presence, I am lucky enough to be the recipient of many of these and live my life with two of them.
Robin King
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Something to Think About - 6
"Bigger Than a Stable" - Crosswalk the Devotional - Dec. 8, 2010
By Katherine Britton, Crosswalk.com News & Culture Editor
"In that day you will say: ‘Give thanks to the Lord, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done, and proclaim that his name is exalted. Sing to the Lord, for he has done glorious things; let this be known to all the world.'" - Isaiah 12:4-5
My felt Advent tree gains one velcro ornament each day until Christmas. I love this calendar, because each unique ornament tells a little bit more about the story of redemption from Genesis onward. A grey felt heart stands for the Fall into sin. A beaded crown reminds of the Prince of Peace and Wonderful Counselor foretold in Isaiah. A fuzzy lamb represents John the Baptist's announcement of Christ's purpose.
The calendar is paired with devotional readings for children, which have surprised me in their simplicity and breadth. Like the ornaments, these readings tell a continuing story, in which Christ's life is not the beginning or the end, but the event that makes sense out of both. With this bigger context, an otherwise chaotic history becomes simple enough that a child can understand.
How often do we take time to contemplate the magnitude of this story, which began in the Garden of Eden and won't finish until Christ's second coming?
I think my Christmas cheer is too often confined to the stable. To use a loose analogy, I'm a bit like the dwarves in C. S. Lewis's "The Last Battle," who convince themselves that their dingy stable-prison could not possibly hold the miracle of a whole new Narnia. And so, the dwarves get left behind in their imaginary confinement with nothing to celebrate when everyone else begins to explore the beautiful new world. Like the dwarves, I can put my little Christmas story in a little room, and forget to see the whole miracle of redemption.
Sunday's sermon about Herod's massacre in Bethlehem reminded me why the grander picture is so vital. You'll remember the story - only a short while after the angels announced "peace on earth," Herod's blazing temper led to the mass murder of baby boys in Bethlehem. The arbitrary deaths of these little ones seems so disconnected from what we celebrate, so outside the realm of God's grace. That event - like so many other injustices - seems to overwhelm the baby sleeping peacefully.
We can compartmentalize Christmas so it remains untainted by such events, can't we? But that's just it - as the grey heart on my felt Advent tree me, Christmas has to begin with an understanding of sin. We have to see the world's desperate need for grace before we understand why a baby requires such a hullaballoo, and we have to look back at God's plan to see how a baby can redeem even those situations. Therein lies the astonishing glory of what happened at Christmas, and the beauty of what we proclaim to the world.
As the days go by and my calendar grows fuller with symbolic ornaments, I get more and more excited about Christmas Day. Into this world with so much baggage came a child who remained in it and not of it, who knew what we are and loved us anyway. By God's grace, my understanding of Christmas keeps getting bigger - and with it, my reasons to "let [it] be known to the all the world" what he has done, is doing, and will continue to do!
Intersection of Faith and Life: Christ's incarnate birth makes little sense if we forget why he had to come and what he came to do. As you focus on the manger scene with your family, encourage each other with the bigger story of Genesis to the end of time, knowing that this little baby redeemed every moment in time. May your Christmas be big as your consider the grandeur of redemptive history on both sides of the manger!
http://www.crosswalk.com/devotionals/crosswalk%20devo/11641720/
By Katherine Britton, Crosswalk.com News & Culture Editor
"In that day you will say: ‘Give thanks to the Lord, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done, and proclaim that his name is exalted. Sing to the Lord, for he has done glorious things; let this be known to all the world.'" - Isaiah 12:4-5
My felt Advent tree gains one velcro ornament each day until Christmas. I love this calendar, because each unique ornament tells a little bit more about the story of redemption from Genesis onward. A grey felt heart stands for the Fall into sin. A beaded crown reminds of the Prince of Peace and Wonderful Counselor foretold in Isaiah. A fuzzy lamb represents John the Baptist's announcement of Christ's purpose.
The calendar is paired with devotional readings for children, which have surprised me in their simplicity and breadth. Like the ornaments, these readings tell a continuing story, in which Christ's life is not the beginning or the end, but the event that makes sense out of both. With this bigger context, an otherwise chaotic history becomes simple enough that a child can understand.
How often do we take time to contemplate the magnitude of this story, which began in the Garden of Eden and won't finish until Christ's second coming?
I think my Christmas cheer is too often confined to the stable. To use a loose analogy, I'm a bit like the dwarves in C. S. Lewis's "The Last Battle," who convince themselves that their dingy stable-prison could not possibly hold the miracle of a whole new Narnia. And so, the dwarves get left behind in their imaginary confinement with nothing to celebrate when everyone else begins to explore the beautiful new world. Like the dwarves, I can put my little Christmas story in a little room, and forget to see the whole miracle of redemption.
Sunday's sermon about Herod's massacre in Bethlehem reminded me why the grander picture is so vital. You'll remember the story - only a short while after the angels announced "peace on earth," Herod's blazing temper led to the mass murder of baby boys in Bethlehem. The arbitrary deaths of these little ones seems so disconnected from what we celebrate, so outside the realm of God's grace. That event - like so many other injustices - seems to overwhelm the baby sleeping peacefully.
We can compartmentalize Christmas so it remains untainted by such events, can't we? But that's just it - as the grey heart on my felt Advent tree me, Christmas has to begin with an understanding of sin. We have to see the world's desperate need for grace before we understand why a baby requires such a hullaballoo, and we have to look back at God's plan to see how a baby can redeem even those situations. Therein lies the astonishing glory of what happened at Christmas, and the beauty of what we proclaim to the world.
As the days go by and my calendar grows fuller with symbolic ornaments, I get more and more excited about Christmas Day. Into this world with so much baggage came a child who remained in it and not of it, who knew what we are and loved us anyway. By God's grace, my understanding of Christmas keeps getting bigger - and with it, my reasons to "let [it] be known to the all the world" what he has done, is doing, and will continue to do!
Intersection of Faith and Life: Christ's incarnate birth makes little sense if we forget why he had to come and what he came to do. As you focus on the manger scene with your family, encourage each other with the bigger story of Genesis to the end of time, knowing that this little baby redeemed every moment in time. May your Christmas be big as your consider the grandeur of redemptive history on both sides of the manger!
http://www.crosswalk.com/devotionals/crosswalk%20devo/11641720/
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