A SONG OF THE HEART

In the Gospel of Luke, Luke recorded there an event that took place just before Mary the mother of Jesus left the company of Elizabeth and Zechariah, Mary's cousin. Elizabeth was pregnant with a son as well, John the Baptist. At hearing the voice of Mary the mother of Jesus, he leapt in his mother's womb. In response to the visit Mary had with Elizabeth she declared to Elizabeth and Zechariah the joy she could no longer contain in her heart. Read it for yourself Luke 1:45-56 and you can feel the jouy ozzing from every fiber of her being.

Now how full of joy is your heart? A saying became popular a few years ago, "Jesus is the Reason for the Season". But why? so many people ask. Isn't the season about giving and receiving? Isn't Christmas as much about feeling good as it is in doing good things? What about those people who don't have anything to give? Can they find joy in the season?

In response to this I would first have to say that in the whole mix of things that without Jesus there is no real meaning in the season. It's really all about him. The celebration and anticipation should all be about Him. The sooner we learn that Christmas isn't about us and our wants or needs for the matter, the sooner we will be able to place Him in the highest place. Thanks to commercialism and selfish desires we have lowered Him to a place that is unacceptable. Let's elevate Him to the place that He belongs, to a place above all places.

Ever feel like a shepherd?

In the gospels of Matthew and Luke both writers give us some of the detail of what took place on the night of Jesus's birth. The shepherds, as I mentioned in my message on Sunday, were the lowest of the low in society at the time. Hopefully you and I don't feel like the lowest of the low in our society but sometimes society can turn the tables on us rather quickly and we suddenly feel like we are the lowest on the food chain. Although many counselors and therapists will go to great lengths to encourage us that the only way this can happen is if we let it, I would have to take issue with that. We are all shaped by our upbringing and by those who influence us, however, that doesn't mean that we are defined by our upbringing. That's like saying because you were born in poverty don't ever expect to get out of poverty because it just won't happen. Fortunately we live in an enlightened age. At least more enlightened than they did in the days of Jesus. I suppose what I'm trying to say is that we shouldn't allow life apart from the influence of Christ to determine who we are and who we desire to become. Jesus's destiny was pre-determined by His Father. He wasn't bitter about this, rather He embraced His destiny and allowed God his Father to plan his life for Him. Are you allowing God the Father through Christ to direct your life. Are you and I willing to allow God to awaken in us what He desires for us to be passionate about? I trust that you can trust Him that much with yor life. I'll be praying that you will discover that He desires for you!

The Advent

Hello everyone! Sorry it's been several weeks since my last post. As I consider this time of year, I have a confession. It's not one of those earth shaking confessions fir most, but it is for me. Rita and I got married in the "good old days", 1977. She a lifelong lutheran and me a lifelong methodist. Even as short as my life had been, all of 21 years, I was not familiar with the custom and tradition of the Advent Season. Needless to say my formal education in church and church history was sorely waning. So soon after my wife and I married Christmas season came around and she suggested we buy an advent wreath or candle set to celebrate the season. Not wanting to feel foolish and let on like I had no idea what she was talking about, I said sure why not. Our first advent candle thing-a-ma-bobber was one that you light the candle weekly and as you light more candles the dealy thingy turns around until the candles burn out. The next year was a little leaner so we just bought a cardboard advent calendar and each day of advent season opens a new day for the season. At least I wasn't burning down the house! To make a long story short, we have done various things throughout the years for advent season. Some years we didn't do anything beyond the yearly christmas program at church and the annual choir christmas cantata.

What has impressed me most about the advent season is that it gets celebrated whether I participate or not. Jesus's coming to earth was impinged on whether or not I either believed or celebrated the advent season. I still as many others still, celebrate the birth of a Savior, our Savior, my Savior.

Will you do that regardless of the economy? Celebrate Jesus's birth as thought it has been a good year economically. Celebrate His birth as thought it were the first time you do so. With all the wonderment and joy or a 6 year old who still begs for the chance to sing Happy Birthday Jesus with their whole heart. For a while I was an old grinch, I thought that Christmas was only for the kids, but Jesus has taught me these many years that it's for my good that He came to, to be my Savior.