Advent & Christmas

And here's the wreath for this Sunday:

advent_wreath_3_a.gif

It's Gaudete Sunday! Gaudete is Latin for Joy, and it's when we celebrate that Advent is at least halfway over. Though the candle looks pink, the technical color is "rose", which is formed by mixing purple (symbolizing penance and self-examination) with white (symbolizing purity and holiness.)

Have a joyful Gaudete Sunday, and remember that our King is coming soon!

Thanks for sharing the wreath and the history of the rose candle. When I was little, I used to be confused by the fact that the special colored candle didn't represent the last week of Advent. I was so sure that it did that it was quite shock for me to learn that it didn't...
 
A portion of a letter I was writing to my sister Saturday ...

inky said:
Same with the wise men, I am discovering in my lectio divina; they were “following a star,” but Jesus, the true light that was coming into the world, John says, was already there. It was Jesus drawing them to Himself — He was the light! And He was/is already there/here. No waiting! ☺ It’s so magical. I try to tell people, but they don’t get it ... “God with man is now abiding darn it! Yonder shines the infant light!” Ack, I am going to start crying again...
 
A portion of a letter I was writing to my sister Saturday ...

inky said:
Same with the wise men, I am discovering in my lectio divina; they were “following a star,” but Jesus, the true light that was coming into the world, John says, was already there. It was Jesus drawing them to Himself — He was the light! And He was/is already there/here. No waiting! ☺ It’s so magical. I try to tell people, but they don’t get it ... “God with man is now abiding darn it! Yonder shines the infant light!” Ack, I am going to start crying again...
 
All these years of doing the Advent Wreath and I am just now finding out the rose candle is #3 not #4 :eek: Thanks Prince of the West for enlightening us; and thank you inky for your enlightening thoughts about the Light who was the True Star of Christmas being present all along drawing wise men to Himself...

I have revised the lyrics of Awesome God into a special Christmas version. Enjoy!
--------------------
When Jesus / came down to earth
He wasn’t / putting on a show
(Our God is an awesome God)
God’s /love and redemption
Jesus came to let us know
(Our God is an awesome God)
For /God so loved the world
that He gave His only Son
That /whosoever trusts in Him shall have new life
He’s the /Reason for the Season
for His love has won
Our God is an awesome God.

Our God is an awesome God
He reigns from heaven above
With wisdom, power, and love
Our God is an awesome God

When the /sky was ablaze
with a holy light
(Our God is an awesome God)
Fear not! cried the angel
for a baby in the night
(Our God is an awesome God)
though lying in a manger
he brings hope and heaven
Mercy and grace He will give us at the cross
He’s the Reason for the Season
and in Him we are forgiven
Our God is an awesome God.

Our God is an awesome God
He reigns from heaven above
With wisdom, power, and love
Our God is an awesome God...
Our God is an awesome God
 
Interestingly, Lent has an equivalent Sunday - Laetare Sunday, which is the fourth Sunday of that season. It is amazing how poorly that tradition has been passed on. I remember in my household growing up, we had explained to us every year why the rose candle was lit on the Third Sunday of Advent. Yet in my own parish I had to instruct the sacristan of the proper form - she'd been lighting the rose candle on the Fourth Sunday as well, and nobody ever corrected her.

I can't help but wonder if it's another instance of the Church being "evangelized" by the world. After all, the culture's "Christmas season" begins in mid to late November, builds to a crescendo on Christmas Day proper, then completely collapses. The Church's Christmas Season begins on Christmas Day and continues through at least Jan 1st (Feast of the Circumcision, in classical usage) or Jan 12th (the Epiphany), and sometimes as late as Candlemas (Feb 2nd, the Feast of the Presentation in the Temple.) You want real Christmas partying, go with the Church's calendar!
 
I remember from my youth the excitement of Advent: the steady countdown to Christmas, the increasing number of candles burning at dinnertime, the accumulating marks of the season (the tree, household decorations, etc.) Even now I draw sentimental joy from those time-honored traditions, and thank the Lord that He has arranged the seasons to work with our natural human inclinations toward cycles.

This Christmas, though, I've been trying to delve deeper into the mystery of the Incarnation, and what we're really celebrating. There's nothing wrong with sentiment, and excitement, and loving the family times and the gift giving and all. But the heart of Christmas isn't sentiment - it's something much deeper, more profound, and more demanding.

One thing the Lord is helping me to see this Advent is the depths of humility that He delved. When we moderns think of phrases like "God became man", we tend to take that lightly - after all, what else would He do? Seeing as how we're such Hot Stuff, why wouldn't He want to hang with us? But Lewis used a great analogy to drive the point home: "Imagine becoming a slug, or a crab." The "distance" between us and a slug is much narrower than the distance between the eternal Son of God, Second Person of the Divine Trinity, and us.

But He bridged that distance out of love for us, and com-passion (literally: "suffering with") for our sinful plight. He lay aside the prerogatives of His heavenly glory and came among us. He who holds the universe in the palm of His hand shrank Himself to live on a tiny mote in the corner of just one of His galaxies. He who created time elected to become bound by it, and He who spans the heavens wrapped Himself in a human frame.

And as if that wasn't enough, He elected to be born in the most humiliating of circumstances. Those whom He invited to participate in His mission - His mother Mary and His foster father Joseph - were not even allowed to bear Him in their own humble dwelling. Mary was denied the most fundamental of rights owed every woman: to bear her child in conditions of basic human dignity. No, the holy couple was uprooted from their home to travel to a strange land and seek lodging with strangers. Even then there was no room for them, and they had to find a corner of the garage in which to stay.

It was there that He was born - in the most humiliating of circumstances. We've so sentimentalized the Nativity with our crèches and pageants that we lose sight of the fundamental message: Jesus was born in a barn, right there with the cattle dung. It was the first sign of the humility that would mark His entire life, until He was nailed naked to a tree to writhe in agony, dying beneath the Mediterranean sun. The path of Christ is that of abject humiliation, of laying down rightful claims for the good of others.

And, from the beginning, He has asked His followers to tread the same path. Mary and Joseph were the first, but His call echoes to all who follow them: this is the path; walk in it, and don't forget to bring your execution stake because you'll need it. You'll need it for your pride, for your self-esteem, for your opinions, for your desire for adulation. Want to walk with Me? The journey begins in this barn and goes downhill from there.

Can I really rejoice in that this Advent? God help me to do so.
 
Rejoice in this, Roger: that God who sees the end of all roads knew what it would cost Him to make man in His image and give him free will. And seeing the cross ahead, the whips, the crown of thorns and even the two great armies at Armageddon, he still breathed into Adam and he became a living soul.
 
That's so true, Magister! To think that He had the humility to know what it would cost Him to create humanity, and then did it! It isn't as if He started this project that went awry, then sighed and said, "I guess if that's what it'll cost to fix this mess, I'll pay it!" He knew it all - ALL - from the outset, and elected to go ahead anyway.

Incredible love.
 
Rejoice in this, Roger: that God who sees the end of all roads knew what it would cost Him to make man in His image and give him free will. And seeing the cross ahead, the whips, the crown of thorns and even the two great armies at Armageddon, he still breathed into Adam and he became a living soul.

That's so true, Magister! To think that He had the humility to know what it would cost Him to create humanity, and then did it! It isn't as if He started this project that went awry, then sighed and said, "I guess if that's what it'll cost to fix this mess, I'll pay it!" He knew it all - ALL - from the outset, and elected to go ahead anyway.

Incredible love.
YES! And that's the thing -- God doesn't call us to look in horror at His humiliation and then sneer down at us, daring us to be as degraded as He was. He calls us to look at the love that He showed, and to accept it, to accept that we are so important to Him that He would give up everything for us ... we're not supposed to feel like worms before His sacrifice, but to feel like the Prize that He would do anything to win! Until we accept that love, and recognize our worth because of the way He values us, then we can't walk in the same humility in which He walked -- or, if we do let ourselves be degraded because we want to be as humble as He was, it is disgusting to us and hard for us. But if once we recognize our worth in Him, then we simply forget about ourselves altogether so humiliation and hardship (with and in Him) become our paradise -- because anywhere we are with and in Him, that is paradise!

My brother started reading Henri Nouwen's "Return of the Prodigal" and said he couldn't take the thought of a love like that which in turn demanded that he love like that because he couldn't do it! It made him feel guilty that he couldn't love like the Prodigal Dad loved. But he's missing the point -- the point is, first, to accept that we are loved like that. Once we receive that, and revel in it, then it fills us so completely that it flows out of us willy-nilly. But until we accept it and revel in it, then we can't begin to love that way.

Same thing here, I think: if we focus on the humiliation and degradation of Christ and try in our own power to walk His path without complaint, to strip ourselves of conceit and be humble, we will fail or we will be miserable. But when we accept that His humiliation was the price He gladly paid because of His great love for us, when we accept that we were worth everything to Him, then of course it becomes our joy to live as He lived -- it's not humiliating, but liberating!
 
Well, that's kind of the point of true Christian humility: not seeing ourselves as worthless worms, but seeing ourselves as God sees us. That means understanding that we are at the same time 1) extremely tiny, mere dust specs in God's creation, and 2) dearly loved for all that.

It is only human limitation that automatically associates "small" and "insignificant". An infinite God can love even the tiniest things as much as He loves galaxies and universes. Thus we fall into one or the other (or both) of two errors: magnifying ourselves as if we were Quite Something and puffing up our pride (thus forgetting our place as very small creatures), or supposing that we are insignificant and worthless (thus forgetting that God's love is truly infinite.) True humility consists in seeing ourselves exactly as God sees us: tiny, but dearly loved.
 
Comparative size has no meaning in God's universe. There are an infinite number of distinctly different points on the head of a child, just as there are an infinite number of distinctly different points on the Earth's Moon. Where the child becomes much, much more than the Moon is that the Moon cannot feel or think, cannot aspire to be less than tomorrow and more than yesterday.
 
Well, that's kind of the point of true Christian humility: not seeing ourselves as worthless worms, but seeing ourselves as God sees us. That means understanding that we are at the same time 1) extremely tiny, mere dust specs in God's creation, and 2) dearly loved for all that. ... True humility consists in seeing ourselves exactly as God sees us: tiny, but dearly loved.

Comparative size has no meaning in God's universe. There are an infinite number of distinctly different points on the head of a child, just as there are an infinite number of distinctly different points on the Earth's Moon. Where the child becomes much, much more than the Moon is that the Moon cannot feel or think, cannot aspire to be less than tomorrow and more than yesterday.

Both very good points!

here's my blog from today ...
_______
The Word was in the world,
but no one knew him,
though God had made the world
with his Word. (John 1:10, CEV)

He came into the world, and though the world was made through Him, the world did not recognize Him [did not know Him]. (John 1:10, Amplified).



We are running out of time to complete our Advent passage; the Advent season is too short. Too short a time to prepare our hearts for the coming of the true light!

Let us seize the moment and contemplate this passage: the true light came into the world, and though He had made the world, the world didn't recognize Him.

You've heard me tell my story -- that although I was "a Christian" for most of my life, it was not until I was well into my 40's that I actually came to know Christ, to feel His love, and experience Him in a personal way. Although He had made me, I didn't recognize Him!

Usually I lament that it took me so long to make a personal connection to Jesus, but look at this passage, and at the birth of Christ. Two of the people who did recognize the Messiah were ancient: Simeon and Anna.

They were prophets who stayed in the temple all day, according to Luke 2. Simeon had been promised by God that he wouldn't die until he had seen the Messiah -- and he was already an old man. Anna was even older!

They had to wait many years for the fulfillment of all their hopes, for the chance to behold the salvation of their people ... and when the light came, they recognized Him, old as they were.

If you've been walking with Jesus but you don't really hear His voice or feel His love, and there are a lot of things that seem more important to you than spending quiet time with Him, don't fret. He has all the time in the world, and He will be waiting for you when you finally begin to see the light.
 
Praise God for deepening your faith so dramatically by His love, Inky... How wonderful to know His arms are always open towards us; and because of your spiritual journey you are His perfect tool for reaching out with love toward those that might mistakenly think God is far away.

I can't believe it is Christmas Eve. Earlier this month my daughter planned our Advent lighting family time, printing up scripts with prayer, Bible readings, and carols and assigned parts. My son led our family Advent devotion last night, sharing scriptures and songs that mean a lot to him personally, including Mary's Magnificat in Luke 1:

46 And Mary said:

“My soul glorifies the Lord
47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
48 for he has been mindful
of the humble state of his servant.
From now on all generations will call me blessed,
49 for the Mighty One has done great things for me—
holy is his name.
50 His mercy extends to those who fear him,
from generation to generation.
51 He has performed mighty deeds with his arm;
he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.
52 He has brought down rulers from their thrones
but has lifted up the humble.
53 He has filled the hungry with good things
but has sent the rich away empty.
54 He has helped his servant Israel,
remembering to be merciful
55 to Abraham and his descendants forever,
just as he promised our ancestors.”

He also shared Memley's O Magnum Mysterium, a song his concert choir did.
Here is a link if you'd like to hear it done by another college choir. It is peaceful and gorgeous at the same time.
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NoXZUPRRoFs>

This is my son's translation of the Latin lyrics:
O Great Mystery and wondrous sacrament
that animals should see the New-born Lord
lying in a manger.

Blessed Virgin, whose womb
was chosen to bear
Christ the Lord
Alleluia


Then we sang O Come O Come Emmanuel picking our favorite verses from various hymnals. (There really are a ton of verses for this carol!)

This Advent has been a special worship season for our family, not only to be together in worship but also to see that my children are owning their own faith, adopting their own favorite True Christmas songs, scriptures and traditions.

My husband says that worship is our birthday present for the Lord Jesus... and it is also His gift to us. May Jesus bless us one and all as we worship Him this Christmas Eve...
Emmanuel! God with us...
 
As I've meditated on the humility represented by the coming of the Lord of all Eternity to be born in a garage, the next step I've appreciated more deeply is the unspeakable love which He expressed to do that. Such humility is only done out of the deepest and most profound love for those who need Him so much. As Michael Card put it so well:

When the Father's wisdom wanted to communicate His love,
He spoke it in one final, perfect Word

He spoke the Incarnation and so was born the Son,
His Final Word was Jesus, He needed no other one,
Spoke Flesh and Blood that He might bleed and make a way divine,
And so was born the Baby who would die to make it mine.

Merry Christmas!

(and don't forget that it's 12 days long!)
 
Merry Christmas everybody

comes in as the Christmas angel Merrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrry Christmas :)

Happy Birthday to you,

Happy Birthday to you

Happy Birthday to you,

Happy Birthday dear Jesus,

Happy Birthday to you
 
Advent & Christmas 2014

Can you believe it is Advent already? Where did 2014 go?!

Today my family got down our boxes of decorations so we could set up the advent wreath and light our first candle. This year we are using a Bible study guide that ties in with the Staves of Dicken's A Christmas Carol, so over the course of the Sundays in Advent we will walk through that story as well as reflect on themes and questions brought up by that novella in light of scripture and the True Christmas.

My daughter helped me arrange the nativity sets in our parlor and on our piano. Our family tradition is instead of placing presents under our tree, we place them around a nativity scene. So it was fun taking down our regular decorations and bringing out our old familiar Christmas ones.

Also as a reminder for me to be focusing on the things above during this hectic season, I am choosing to wear a ring that is slightly too big for my finger... So every time the stone twists around and I have to stop and straighten it, I use that moment as a personal reminder to check in with God and pray.

Blessed Advent, everyone!
 
That has to be the most interesting mnemonic device I've ever heard of!

Advent has begun. We'll be lighting the candles at dinners and saying the Advent cycle of the Liturgy of the Hours, which is always a great reminder. I think this year, instead of grating my teeth every time I hear a Christmas song piped over the PA system of some store, I'll take the opportunity to pray for everyone in the store: that they'd receive the message of love that the Christ Child brings. Hopefully that will better prepare my heart for when the Christmas season truly begins.
 
Ironically there was one way of giving thanks that I used to use when I was a child and teen. I would go through my belongings looking for Christmas presents in years past and on Christmas Eve I would quietly wish them a "Happy Birthday". :)

I would then go on to a more spiritual part of the holiday, the annual viewing of "Santa Claus Conquers the Martians", which, if you have not seen it before, is life changing. (Note, I did not specify what kind of change).

All kidding aside, Advent has a mixture of spiritual, cultural, and sentimental meanings. That's ok, really, because so does a marriage and the raising of children or attending church. It's not a sin to talk to relatives you haven't seen in ages even if you happen to meet at Uncle Edgar's funeral and the funeral should be about Uncle Edgar. Human beings are like that...their spiritual lives are not one thing at a time because they are complex people.

That said, yes, we have a tree, we give gifts, and we have plenty of great things to eat. We also pray, put the year into perspective, and seek to make the spirit of peace on earth and goodwill toward men last through the coming 12 months.

Our tree goes up Thanksgiving or the day after, not because we are in a rush but rather because life is in a rush...something you realize fully when you are middle aged. Christmas is like an expensive wine, and it should be sipped not gulped. That we do.

Enough about me, tell me more about your plans...
 
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