advent

Advent Week 4Theme: Peace – Can you imagine holding a baby who came to be light in a dark world?

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This scripture today is the conclusion of Advent readings. I don’t know how many of these scripture readings you’ve followed along with, if you’ve enjoyed them or learned anything new. I know everyone says time flies and that’s what happened here. It’s been 4 full weeks of daily advent readings – what to do? Here’s my first thought no matter where we go from here.  Proverbs 17:22 “A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.” Treat yourself to joy every day!  So here we are at …

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Advent Week 4 Theme: Peace – Today, wise men and women still seek Jesus

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From the day we decorate our Christmas tree, until they day we put the ornaments away, our tree is illuminated. The lights add an unmistakable calm to the room. I have to be transparent here. My husband told me he didn’t feel like taking the tree down last year so I jokingly told him to leave it up. Well needless to say, it never found its way back to the storage area.  I wondered what it would be like to keep the tree up all year just because of the …

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Advent Week 4 Theme: Peace – It's Christmas Day! Merry Christmas everyone

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We have only a few days left of the Advent readings for this year. We all have traditions that we treasure: places we go, events we can’t miss, loved ones we visit, favorite things we bake.  I’ve enjoyed reading these scriptures the past four weeks and hope you’ve found joy in reading the historical Christmas story with me. I can’t believe this season is so quickly becoming history itself. Before we put Christmas away entirely for this year, today’s Advent reading takes us back to revisit the favorite story that …

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Advent Week 4 Theme: Peace – the Joseph and Mary way

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How many times have we been over the story of Joseph and how he found out that Mary was pregnant and he had to accept it, support her, and agree to be the Earthly father of Jesus? But how often do we consider the day after? Here is Joseph, sitting in a pile of hay beside his very young bride Mary who has just been through an unattended birth of a baby and he still has to go pay his taxes. I’m pretty sure he wasn’t thinking how lucky he …

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Advent Week 4 Theme: Peace – When do we get to the Christmas story?

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I had no computer for two days and a misbehaving phone. I’m not sure I want to ditch technology as a long term solution to busyness, but having a phone that didn’t work right and a computer that perpetually fell asleep while I was using it – was – well, let’s say, an interesting experience. Let’s see …. where were we? Tomorrow is Christmas Eve! If we were Mary and Joseph we would be traveling today. Maybe you’re traveling.  If you are, travel safely and whatever awaits you at your …

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Advent Week 3 theme: Joy – Seeking purpose is not a modern day syndrome

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This is the time of year we all take a little bit longer with thinking about out goals, contemplating our purpose, what we accomplished this year, how we can make changes to improve the coming year … tell me you relate.  If you think goal setting and purpose seeking are a syndrome of modern times your thinking needs to be adjusted. As it turns out, people have been born for a  purpose since the beginning of time. Maybe we just have so many more options we spend more time figuring …

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Advent Week 3 theme: Joy – Behind the scenes of the ultimate sleepover

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When you were growing up do you remember the fun of staying overnight with your best friend? Or maybe a group of you got together and had an all out slumber party. Pity the moms the next day when the most of the house looked like the dressing rooms at Macy’s after Black Friday.  If you’re a guy you won’t admit to having a ‘sleep over’ but most of you have to confess that you spent many nights around a campfire talking to dudes then sleeping on the floor of a …

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Advent Theme: Hope … Anticipation!

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Anticipation …. The moments we wait for, the days when we look forward to something with such excitement we can’t sleep, we go from room to room in total distraction from the task because our minds are racing ahead to one thing – the EVENT. Whatever it is that has our full attention, we can’t settle down till the day comes, till the moment arrives. That must have been how it was in the days when Malachi 3 was written. Anticipation…excitement…a message from God…a promise. December 10, 2015 Advent theme: …

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Advent Theme: Hope – what the world needs now

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Here’s something you might not know. According to Fisher Ames (1800) “Politics is the science of good sense, applied to public affairs”. Nice try, but probably not accurate even in the 1800s. Hello, reality! Politics has existed for thousands of years.  Having a conundrum of platforms and views to consider is nothing new, nor is deceit within people chosen to lead us.  The advent theme for this week is hope. I don’t know about you, but I sure need hope.  Jeremiah 17:7 says, “Blessed is the man who trusts in …

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Advent Theme: Hope – What are you waiting for?

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Have you ever been hiking in the woods and noticed something that seems strange? Like a tiny branch growing up through a dead stump or a tree in the middle of a rock.  Today’s advent reading has meaningful applications for our lives today, just as it did when it was written around 700 BC.  The Jesse’s stump is the defeated Judah but the green shoot (living branch) is the Messiah. This tells us that what grows from that stump will be stronger, more powerful, and more fruitful than the original …

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