It is a moment when we remember the faithfulness of God in helping our congregation in the struggles of the past. It is a time when we confess together as we sang together in worship this morning, “Your grace is enough for me!” The song is based on the word of Scripture, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Co 12:9 NIV). We also sang of God’s faithfulness. This is also a point when we look forward to what God is going to do through our church in the future until Jesus returns.
This is a big season for me and my wife personally too.
Next Sunday begins a new series of messages with the exciting theme, Love Can Build a Bridge. Marilyn Wilsch suggested it to me after hearing the song by that title sung by the Judds. After thinking and praying about it and looking at the kinds of messages needed for our winter calendar, I decided it was just the right series for this time between the New Year’s messages and the beginning of our Lenten emphasis in March. Shaun and Mystical Harrington, father—daughter duet, will be singing the theme song for us. One of our drama props folks is making a sturdy bridge to be the focus of the platform décor for the series.
A big thank you today goes out to our church webmaster, Steven Sgroi, for giving me a new look. I’ve been blogging for a year and I thoroughly enjoy it, so we are marking my year anniversary with a new theme. Don’t you love it? The theme called Mystique comes in black, but Steven knows I don’t like black so he achieved some continuity with the old color scheme by changing the black to the textured blue. I hope you enjoy the new functionality on the right side too. I was looking for an archives feature and now I have it. I will learn to manage some of the right side features better as time goes along, I am sure. The new theme also allows for “read more” so you will see that feature being used in future long posts.
One of the key elements of our daily time alone with God is the devotional resource that we choose. How do we go about choosing what to use?
A good resource fits you personally.
First of all, a good devotional resource for you has to fit you and the kind of time alone with God that you are planning to have. Do you like to read or is reading not your thing? How much time do you have? If you are a neophyte, I recommend something fairly short such as the Our Daily Bread booklet from Radio Bible Class that our church distributes. But if you are planning to spend a half hour or 45 minutes at prayer, you might want to try something meaty like A Guide to Prayer for Ministers and Other Servants (Reuben P. Job and Norman Shawchuck).
One of the first tasks for every Christian at the beginning of the year is to plan for their devotional life for the coming year. The plan has several parts.
Bible reading is the heart of devotional time
The key part is an organized Bible reading plan. The Center for Bible Engagement says that only 1/3 of Americans read their Bible weekly and only 13.9% read it on weekdays. Let’s be part of improving those stats.
Personally, I am at the halfway point in reading my Bible end to end again and propose to finish easily this year. But many of you, my readers will be looking for other plans. I recommend two. One is to use a devotional book that has readings attached. In addition to my sequential readings, I’m using a new collection of E. Stanley Jones writings selected for use as daily devotionals. It has selected readings too. A third tactic that I have also used is to get a Bible reading schedule. Many are available. I have included one good link http://www.backtothebible.org/index.php/Bible-Reading-Guides.html in my suggested links. Here’s another link that offers multiple devotional series. http://www.crosswalk.com/devotionals/.
What brings joy at Christmas? It’s not just one thing. It’s a combination of many.
Family get-togethers
We started the season early, heading out to Keely’s and Mark’s in mid December as they go West for Christmas. Their large townhouse was elegantly decorated and it was so good to spend time with them; exchanging gifts, playing games and going to see The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Then there is my annual birthday dinner; always a joyous time with friends from church who come to help me celebrate another year with a big dinner. We also try to drive down to Bath and Haskinville, NY too. That way we can touch base with JoAnne’s side of the family and also attend the big extended family Christmas celebration at my Mom’s house. I think there were just shy of 30 people in Mom’s house this year. There is always a program at that Christmas celebration, which JoAnne discovered is very Victorian.
This last Sunday at Community Wesleyan was a festival of gifts. In the Nativity Story (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0762121/), the old shepherd tells Mary that each one of us has a gift. This is a biblical truth. He also tells Mary that her gift is the baby within her. Later, at the stable, Mary repeats the line to him as he reaches to touch baby Jesus; then as she holds out the child, she says, “He is for all mankind.” As with Mary, our gifts are not given us for ourselves but to help others. That’s what I saw happening this last Sunday at Community Wesleyan.
To begin, it was the day when many brought the gifts they had purchased for those less fortunate and placed them around the brightly decked Christmas tree on the platform. It was stacked with gaily wrapped presents. They represented the generosity of so many, a noble gift to the Christ-child indeed. The gifts were made more beautiful by the decorations—the result of Leah’s behind-the-scenes touch.
Then there were the gifts of talents. I am always so appreciative of those who take the time at this busy season to make sure that they give their talent back to God. So many just bury it or use it only for themselves. But always there are some faithful ones who will offer their musical and other talents back to God in worship. We enjoyed two beautiful instrumental pieces. One was a string trio, a classical sound so fitting for carols and brought to us by Josiah Durfee, Alex Paige and Carmen Hunn. Another was a contemporary touch – two guitars, drums, and piano playing “Go Tell On the Mountain” (Mark Cloutier, Shaun Harrington, Aaron Wilkinson, and JoAnne Jones). We reveled in the quiet of the carol, “Silent Night” sung a cappella in a perfect family blend by Licia, Cassie, and Kaitlyn Swain. Mike Lamb, unofficial poet-in-residence, read a new, thought-provoking work he had written and the choir directed by JoAnne Jones inspired us with Vivaldi’s “Gloria” and the striking “In the First Light.”
Then there were the personal gifts – probably some I will not know about who gave gifts to a teacher or friends. I received some. I helped to collect and give one special one to someone who has helped us so much here at Community Wesleyan, our webmaster.
It all blended with the theme of the message too – if we, as imperfect as we are, know how to use our gifts for others and give gifts that are appreciated; how much more will our heavenly Father give good gifts to those who love him!
advent wreath on the fourth SundayJoAnne leading choir on a fourth Sunday of Advent while we served in Bentley Creek PA
How do you describe the Sunday before Christmas? From my observations over the years, at church, it’s one of the most musical of the year. Many churches put on special dramatic presentations on this Sunday. Special groups such as vocal or Handbell or brass choirs are more likely to sing or play on this day than any other except perhaps Easter. Here we will enjoy a string trio this Sunday–what a treat. It is also the most likely Sunday of the whole year for children’s dramatic and choir events – those memorable times when the Wallace Purling’s of the world add their own unforgettable touch to the Christmas story (http://www.santaclaus.com/christmas-stories/wally.html).
From a decorations point of view, it’s always one of the most beautiful Sundays of the year at church too. Christmas wreaths, lights, ornament, candles, a Christmas tree stacked with gifts for those-in-need, and lots of poinsettias all combine to create a wonderfully inspiring scene. Our talented decorator, Leah, has accented richly with red! Here in Syracuse area, there’s about an 80% or more chance that it will be snowing outside too for that extra touch of romanticism – did I say that?
The sense of anticipation is heightened as the Advent wreath burns brightly– all four outside candles lit, waiting only for the coming of Christmas Eve and the climactic lighting of the center candle, the Christ candle, that proclaims again that Jesus is indeed the light of our world too. The whole motive for this Advent emphasis is to help us keep the main thing the main thing in the Christmas season; to assist us in keeping the reason for the season, the reason for our own celebrations; to remind us that giving to others happens because “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 (John 3:16).” So as the light of the wreath burns brighter, our spiritual eyes brighten too with joy looking forward to celebrating again the arrival of the one who is the light of the world, the light of our lives, and who is also the light of that eternal city that He is preparing for all who love Him.
JoAnne and I still very much enjoy Christmas cards. We send them and we like to receive them too. Most of the cards we receive are refreshingly beautiful too. We’re one of those couples who write the annual Christmas letter, now complete with color pictures, and copy it onto Christmas stationery to include in our cards. We do this because we know how we are disappointed when we open a card from an old friend only to find nothing inside but a signature, perhaps even a pre-printed one.
Cards feature Christmas pictures
It’s a retro thing, I guess. Christmas cards just seem a little more personal than the e-touch. They also fit with the season; email happens all the time. We’ve experimented with moving our letter to email and saving all that money on stamps. That works, I suppose, but it just doesn’t have the same feel. I came from a home where we hung the Christmas cards around the wide hallway entrance to the old parlor. There were always enough of them to go all the way up one side across the top and down the other side. As I think back on it, it was like our family Christmas was surrounded by extended family. It was shared in some small way by a life-time collection of friends and loved ones. So JoAnne and I have returned to more cards and less email.
We also have kept track of many friends over the years through our Christmas cards. Many friends we have only written once each year, but that communication opened the way for a visit, or a longer letter, or a phone call or email conversation at a later time. Some very good friends we were sad to lose track of because they moved or did not return our cards. Sometimes, by perseverance we would find a good address again through a mutual friend.
We always try to pick cards that focus the true meaning of Christmas and include verses of Scripture. It is one more way to help us remember the first Christmas and our reason to celebrate; and to share that focal point with our friends and family too.
I decided that News Commentary should be a category rather than a page series. It is time sensitive; posts allow for shorter comments; and it will have an RSS too. I hope my readers find the change helpful.
