Wednesday, December 31, 2014

The Twelve Days of Christmas
On the twelfth day of Christmas,
my true love sent to me
Twelve drummers drumming,
Eleven pipers piping,
Ten lords a-leaping,
Nine ladies dancing,
Eight maids a-milking,
Seven swans a-swimming,
Six geese a-laying,
Five golden rings,
Four calling birds,
Three French hens,
Two turtle doves,
And a partridge in a pear tree! 


Reflection
It is an odd choice, yet everyone knows the twelve days of Christmas. Do you know why there are twelve days? For centuries Christians have celebrated 12 days of Christmas, from Christmas day, December 25 through the twelve night before Epiphany (when we celebrate the arrival of the Wise Men)  January 6. Some traditions have variations on this
timing but still maintain the twelve days. It  is called
Christmastide or Twelvetide which has drifted from
understanding in the United States partially because the Christmas shopping season ends on the first day of
Christmastide.  So, why go on and on about a
tradition that is all but forgotten? When we narrow the work of God in Jesus Christ to one day of the year we miss the point. We often bend our celebration of Christ’s
arrival to be about us. Christmas is a special celebration both of Christ’s first coming and His return. We cannot just thank God one time a year, but we must continually thank God for his continuing work among us through Jesus Christ. This year how can you think differently about Christmas and what it really means to you?

Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Joy to the World
Joy to the world, the Lord is come!
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare Him room,
And Heaven and nature sing,
And Heaven and nature sing,
And Heaven, and Heaven, and nature sing.

Joy to the earth, the Savior reigns!
Let men their songs employ;
While fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat, repeat, the sounding joy.

No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found,
Far as the curse is found,
Far as, far as, the curse is found.

He rules the world with truth and grace,
And makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders, wonders, of His love.


Reflection
“Joy to the World” was written by Isaac Watts. He wrote this song in response to Psalm 98. The Psalm begins, “Sing to the Lord a new song for he has done marvelous things.” Isaac Watts felt that singing about the birth of Jesus Christ and His eminent return proved the marvelous things God has done, is doing, and will do for us. What marvelous things has God done in your life that are worthy of a song?

Monday, December 29, 2014

Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus
Come, Thou long expected Jesus
Born to set Thy people free;
From our fears and sins release us,
Let us find our rest in Thee.
Israel’s Strength and Consolation,
Hope of all the earth Thou art;
Dear Desire of every nation,
Joy of every longing heart.

Born Thy people to deliver,
Born a child and yet a King,
Born to reign in us forever,
Now Thy gracious kingdom bring.
By Thine own eternal Spirit
Rule in all our hearts alone;
By Thine all sufficient merit,
Raise us to Thy glorious throne.


Reflection
“Come Thou Long Expected Jesus” was written by Charles Wesley and originally published in 1744. Although we most closely associate this song with Christmas, Charles Wesley was inspired by Haggai 2:7 which reads: “I will shake all
nations, and what is desired by all nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory,’ says the Lord Almighty.”
Wesley was disappointed and saddened at the shape of the world. He was distraught at the troubles that faced the
people of his time thinking that little had changed in the 1,700 years since Christ’s birth. He then thought about the birth of Jesus Christ and was immediately filled by a sense of hope. He reread the prophesy of Haggai and the hope that the prophet had for the first coming of Christ. It inspired Wesley to celebrate the first coming of Christ and  also to look forward with hope to the second coming of Christ. As we prepare for Christmas, what in your life makes you
distraught about our times and hopeful for the second
coming of Christ?    

Weekly Theme December 28 through January 3

Christmas Carol Special Edition

For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.  After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.
1 Thessalonians 4:16-17
Advent is the time of preparation and celebration for the coming of the Lord.  We just assume that means the celebration of Jesus coming into the world at his birth in Bethlehem.  It does include that yet this is only a part of the story.  Jesus promised He would return and that  He would finalize His victory over evil and death.  At Advent and Christmas, we should celebrate Jesus first entrance into this world and we should remind ourselves and prepare ourselves for the expectation of Jesus’ Second Advent.  The return of Jesus is the Blessed Hope of every generation of Christians.  The Second Advent of Jesus is what will bring about the fullness of our faith. The Second Advent of Jesus will leave no doubt for us that we serve a mighty and great God.  Advent is about our great and mighty God coming among us and bringing us salvation that we so desperately need.  This is what happened in Jesus’ first Advent and that is what will
happen in Jesus’ Second Advent.


Saturday, December 27, 2014

Revelation 3:19-20
19 Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent.20 Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.


Reflection
Throughout the scriptures we have read this week and many more, we have not studied we see the relentlessness of the love of God in Jesus Christ knocking and pushing its way into our lives and not wanting to be stopped by our no vacancy signs. It is a great reminder that there is hope for all of us. Is there room in your heart for Christ to be born?

Friday, December 26, 2014

Luke 22:7-13
7 Then came the day of Unleavened Bread on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. 8 Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and make preparations for us to eat the Passover.”
9 “Where do you want us to prepare for it?” they asked.
10 He replied, “As you enter the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him to the house that he enters, 11 and say to the owner of the house, ‘The Teacher asks: Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’ 12 He will show you a large room upstairs, all furnished. Make preparations there.”
13 They left and found things just as Jesus had told them. So they prepared the Passover.
14 When the


Reflection
In our scripture today, we see the preparation for Jesus’ last meal with his disciples. The fun part about this is that the word used for the Upper Room is the same word the
historian Luke uses to describe the inn (or guest room) in the birth narrative.  A pastor once commented that if there were a real innkeeper who did as we thought and turned Mary and Joseph away for one reason or another but upon hearing about the ministry of Jesus Christ it all came back to him. The star, the cries, and a newborn baby that he turned away. Repenting from his turning the Lord away, he invites Jesus and his friends to come and be his guest and this is where Jesus sends the disciples. Even if the inn
keeper is not real, this is a great reminder of the grace that God has bestowed on us in Jesus Christ. No matter if you have denied access to Jesus we can still turn and welcome him. What hope do you find in looking at the story in this way?

Thursday, December 25, 2014

Luke 2:6-7

6 While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, 7 and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.

Reflection
Merry Christmas! Again today we have the story of Mary and Joseph  unable to find room in the inn. On Tuesday we discussed how there is no actual innkeeper and why that might be. But you see there is a bit more to this story. The word here that is translated to have the phrase no room for them in the inn is a problem with the English translation. You see what the author is talking about here is there was no guest room available, meaning a room upstairs in a main house and because of the times this presumably Joseph’s extended family. Instead they are allowed to stay in the lower room of the house where animals would have been kept. This could be because there was no room, but it also may have been done to keep the families honor as Mary and Joseph having a baby would have been quite a scandal. Have you ever thought about the birth of Christ as a scandal? What does this mean for our faith today?

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