Here is my partial list of Christmas books that we get from our library each Decemeber (we start selecting them for holds the weekend before thanksgiving)
https://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/wishlist/RIRSRQ9YP59W/ref=cm_wl_list_o_2?
Wednesday, December 30, 2015
Friday, December 04, 2015
Our Christmas Hope
Today in David’s town is born
In a home so humble & forlorn
The holy, precious Child
So innocent, meek & mild.
The promised Messiah come
Of Him the world knew none.
Did He already know
The way His life must go?
How Your heart must have torn!
Causing You to mourn
The sinful state of man
The rebelliousness that can
Be so bold & strong
Blinding us to wrong.
How could we ever hope to see
Salvation—so great, so free?
Holy Lamb of God
Gentle, with a rod.
Crucified, sinful man to save
Knowing we would crave
The hope that He would bring
So loving hearts could sing
Of the wonder & grace
That radiates from His face.
- C. Sanders
I wonder...
Based on a my study of Mary (part of the Woman After God's Own
Heart series) by Elizabeth George. It has been a wonderful reminder of the true
"reason for the season" and I've been thinking about how as humans
the characters of the Christmas story may have felt.
Here as some of the things, I wonder:
- I wonder if Mary:
1: at the angel's words was afraid and distressed, while amazed
and giddy, knowing the penalty for a woman pregnant and not married. Was her
mind racing with a thousand questions? Was she worried about how to tell Joseph
and how he if he would dump (break the engagement) her? The angel never assured
her that Joseph would stay with her.
2: was scared about giving birth to her Son, with no attendant,
doula, or mother AND on the road in a foreign place, in a cave?!
3: wondered how people would recieve a 13/14 year old saying she
was pregnant with the Messiah? how would we have treated a young girl from a destitute place/ part of town if she
said that?
4: did she tell anyone besides Joseph that her baby was the
Messiah or was it a secret she kept to herself His whole young life? did her
other children know? how did they feel about it?
5: what happened in the "silent" times between her at
three months pregnant leaving Elizabeth's house and traveling to Bethlehem at
8+ months?
6: when Mary "treasured all these things in her heart" & heard the things Simeon at the temple said of the "sword that would
pierce her own heart", did she understand what was going on? or was she
trying to put the pieces together and at His death and resurrection it made
sense? That would be a long time to wonder.
7: I wonder how it would have felt to know the baby moving
inside her was the Son of God?! How delievering a baby, but knowing this was
the delivery of God most High!?! Of looking in the angelic face of
"her" newborn and realizing she was was looking on the face of God in
a way no one had before.
I wonder at Joseph:
1: how he must have felt when told/ or found out news that Mary
was pregnant. The thoughts and pain he must have felt. hurt by her. hurt at
what he had to do..dreams and hopes lost. trust gone.
2: what did he think and feel when awoke from his dream where the
angel appeared to him? relief? joy?
3: did he ever doubt or second guess when he and Mary were in rough times in their relationship? How do we respond under pressure?
4: how helpless he must have felt with having to take Mary with
him on the long journey to Bethlehem and subject her at nearly 9 months
pregnant to that grueling trip.
5: I wonder how it felt for Joseph to know that this child
was not his, and to suffer the shame of having a baby before marriage, and to
"adopt" Jesus as his own.
6: How did Joseph feel delivering his child in a time/culture
where men usually weren't even in the room? How did he know what to do?
I wonder:
1: did they ever feel during that journey what an inconvenience & hardship with this was with Mary so close to 9 mo pregnant? how she could
have complained and made life miserable as that time of pregnancy is often so
miserable and long anyway! think about having to walk 40-70 miles (riding a
donkey would probably have been worse).
2: how worried they must have been with her being so close to her
due date - where is she going to have the baby? will there be anyone to help? will
there be a home/ inn available?
3: what a way to start a marriage- pregnant and on the road, and
tension/ nerveous with the birth of the Savior imminit. how much hardship and
inconvience are we willing to endure as God's instrument?
4: I wonder how Mary and Joseph felt on thier way to Bethlahem
seeing Roman soldiers trying to stamp out "rebellion" to the king
when the one true King - the threat - was unseen still in the womb.
5: I wonder: how did Joseph and Mary feel about the Wisemen
visiting? These were pagans - who not just dabbled in, but were immersed in
astrology, horoscopes and the like. Not rich kings like we imagine. Was it
scary having these pagans there to worship the Savior? Was it shocking and awe
inspiring? Did they covert on that trip/night?
I wonder about the Wisemen:
1: what they thought about or imagined what they would find at the
end of their journey? they knew a king...were they surprised He was a baby? did
they in their wildest dreams, imagine that?
I wonder at the Shepherds:
1: how surprised were they as the dirty, low down, despised of the
day, to be told the news of the Messiah?
2: how did people respond to the Shepherds (the dirty, low down,
despised of the day) telling the news of the Messiah? how do we treat those we
think are less than ourselves? surprisingly, God may want to use them.
3: I wonder if the Shepherds were terrified of the Angels because
they appeared in the night (seemed like ghost), they were so huge or bright, or
because they appeared to strong? They are warriors after all.
I wonder at Elizabeth:
1: no jealousy of a young teen being chosen by God to bear the
Messiah and not herself, though the bible makes perfectly clear she had lived
her whole life "righteously and blamelessly." she could have thought
"why wouldn't God chose me? i deserve it more than her...i've proved my
whole life that i love God." what humility!
2: living righteously despite the pain, embarrassment and
unanswered prayer. how do we hold up under those experiences?
3: what a blessing it must have been to spend time with someone
who believed her and knew the truth about the baby in her womb. How encouraging
Elizabeth must have been to Mary at a time when she really needed someone to
believe what the angel had told her and to encourage her to not lose heart. How
honored she was to be the mother of the Messiah, even though she wasn't married
and could be stoned for pregnancy before marriage.
Wednesday, December 02, 2015
No moment of waiting is meaningless
The tradition of Advent was observed formally in my home church growing up, but I never really understood what it was about. This month, I have been reading up on Advent and am blown away by the depth of the thoughts to ponder.
The Gospel Coalition wrote the following, "In Advent, Christians embrace the groaning, recognizing it not as hopeless whimpering over the paucity of the present moment but as expectant yearning for the divine banquet Jesus is preparing for us. In Advent, the church admits, as poet R.S. Thomas puts it, that "the meaning is in the waiting." And what we await is the final Advent to come! Just as the ancient Isrealites awaited the coming of the Messiah in flesh we await the coming of the Messiah in glory. In Advent, believers confess that the infant who drew His first ragged breath between a virgin's knees has yet to speak His final word."
(http://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/why-celebrate-advent)
As I mulled on this thought, I realized that God has placed me in a situation where I must wait. We have experienced infertility and loss in the last 5 years, and this waiting to see if and how God will add to our family is often excruciating. In this, I am not assured that all will be right in this world, but the the expectant waiting helps me to understand in the spiritual realm the purpose for waiting and what longing unfulfilled looks like.
This season is not JUST about what did happen and how God kept His promises, but also about the glorious promise that He will COME AGAIN and my heart is to be captivated by that! How awesome is that? How we need these kinds of reminders in dark days, with Syria, Lebanon, Turkey, Paris, and terror acts in the USA fresh in our mind! God has NOT forgotten and He is on His way - SOON!
This is the message I want to mull over and teach my daughter this year. She knows the story of Nativity, the meaning, and the depth - very well, but this is a whole other area to explore with her. It will be meaningful to her because she is the child who often pauses and looks up at the sky, noting..."it looks like Jesus could come back today"; or crying because she can't go to Heaven today; or will bust out saying " when is Jesus coming back? I've been waiting a REALLY long time (hilarious...she's only just turned 8)." And the Lord uses her to reprimand my heart...why am I not so taken with His coming? Why am I so focused on the here and now? Even she can get taken up with this world and its injustices that are placed upon her, so to refocus our hearts on Jesus' return and the setting of all things right will be a balm to our weary souls.
A recommendation of the article referenced above, was to list some ways the world is broken as a family, and to talk about how God is already at work redeeming and saving the lost. Then plan some family activities around the theme of relieving human suffering in your neighborhood - maybe help out at a soup kitchen, or food pantry, a homeless shelter, or handing out Christmas gifts to the needy. One activity we have planned is to take cookies and cards to community helpers and people working in needed ministries as an encouragement to them. What can you do this year to show God's love and promote the hope of His return?
"Advent reminds us to listen for the message God is speaking, even in the waiting." Gospel Coalition
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