We hang lights indoors and outdoors but Christmas is really about one light revealed in many ways. This season we will explore the way that Light was revealed to us all in the Gospel accounts of Christ's birth.
Light to the Prophets - Isaiah 60:1-3
Light to the Holy Family - Luke 2:1-5
Light to the Shepherds - Luke 2:8-20
Light to the Magi - Matthew 2:1-12
Light to the Prophets - Isaiah 60:1-3
Lessons for the first week of Advent
Light of Advent
Advent is a season of four weeks including four Sundays. Advent derives from the Latin adventus, which means "coming." (United Methodist Book of Worship p.238)
How is Christ coming into your home this season?
We do a lot of preparing during the Christmas season. Its a joyous time of gifts given and receiving, decorations, meals, and family gatherings. Let's of course not forget to prepare to usher in Jesus presences in a special way this season as well.
A wonderful way to do this is to read the message of the Sheep and the Goats and to remember that when we serve those in need we serve Jesus.
Read Matthew 25:31-46
Light of Justice
Amos 5:24 But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream .
The prophet Amos is looking forward to a day when all peoples rich or poor powerful or oppressed will find justice as ever present as a mighty stream that does not dry up. Martin Luther King Jr. famously captured this imagery in regards to his vision of the Civil Rights movement during his I Have a Dream speech. For him Amos was giving a direct promise to the fortunes of the oppressed. It was a promise that one day justice would indeed come to all.
Maybe you have experienced injustice in your life. Cruel words or sentiments uttered about you that hurt you or your reputation or both. Maybe when you were most vulnerable you were preyed upon. Many around the world today experience these sorts of injustices. In India statics about the vulnerability of woman in public is abhorrent. For young people in certain regions of Mexico there is little hope of escaping cartel gang violence of some form or another. Blacks in America are five times more likely to be arrested than whites. Once arrested blacks are five times more likley to be sentenced and Hispanic 3.1 times more likley to be convicted. than whites. Women are still paid on average a lower wage than their male counterparts. Justice in America and elsewhere hasn't yet to become the river of justice Amos proclaimed and Luther hoped for. Until the coming of the Lord injustices will persisted.
But each of us in our own way can be one more drop of Justice in our community. We may not work on the scale of a Martin Luther King but that doesn't mean we don't have a part to play in bring God's justice to life. Find time to become of aware of some of the challenges the disadvantaged face in your community. Reach out to family services and other helping networks to ask what you can prayer for and do to help the less advantages in your neighborhood and county.
Family Resource Center Grant County, Indiana (765) 660-2128
White's Family Services
Grant County Rescue Mission (765) 662-0988
Light to the Holy Family - Luke 2:1-5
Lessons for the second week of Advent
Making Space
When we decorate for Christmas at our house we have a chest that sits under our living room window. Its full of games and family activities for those wonderful nights when everyone is home and together. But at Christmas this hope chest is moved out of the way to make room for the Christmas tree. My wife always wants one just a little to big for the space and every year I have to cut about a foot off to make it work. And she always winces as a saw away that extra foot of glorious tree. She will mutter, "If only we had room for a taller tree." I wish we could make even more space for the tree but I don't think a Christmas tree warrants the cost of new cathedral ceilings. Jesus however does warrant us making room. Adjusting our lives and our treasures to not just fit him in but to make him the center of our hearts like that tree becomes the center of our family gathering space.
Read Matthew 13:44-46
Reflect on what you need to 'sell out for the pearl of Christ and the treasure of the Kingdom.'
Perhaps there is a treasure God is calling you to go and sell.
How will you make
Let us celebrate the promise that our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ
will bring all peoples and all things
into the glory of God's eternal kingdom.
The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk,
the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear,
the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them.
Light to the Prophets - Isaiah 60:1-3
Light to the Holy Family - Luke 2:1-5
Light to the Shepherds - Luke 2:8-20
Light to the Magi - Matthew 2:1-12
Light to the Prophets - Isaiah 60:1-3
Lessons for the first week of Advent
Light of Advent
Advent is a season of four weeks including four Sundays. Advent derives from the Latin adventus, which means "coming." (United Methodist Book of Worship p.238)
How is Christ coming into your home this season?
We do a lot of preparing during the Christmas season. Its a joyous time of gifts given and receiving, decorations, meals, and family gatherings. Let's of course not forget to prepare to usher in Jesus presences in a special way this season as well.
A wonderful way to do this is to read the message of the Sheep and the Goats and to remember that when we serve those in need we serve Jesus.
Read Matthew 25:31-46
- Prayerfully consider supporting one of our Advent Mission Highlights.
- Find a neighbor who needs a helping hand
- Encourage a frustrated mom when out shopping
- Give an extra generous tip to a food service worker
- Write a card to someone who you know maybe grieving this Holiday.
Light of Justice
Amos 5:24 But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream .
The prophet Amos is looking forward to a day when all peoples rich or poor powerful or oppressed will find justice as ever present as a mighty stream that does not dry up. Martin Luther King Jr. famously captured this imagery in regards to his vision of the Civil Rights movement during his I Have a Dream speech. For him Amos was giving a direct promise to the fortunes of the oppressed. It was a promise that one day justice would indeed come to all.
Maybe you have experienced injustice in your life. Cruel words or sentiments uttered about you that hurt you or your reputation or both. Maybe when you were most vulnerable you were preyed upon. Many around the world today experience these sorts of injustices. In India statics about the vulnerability of woman in public is abhorrent. For young people in certain regions of Mexico there is little hope of escaping cartel gang violence of some form or another. Blacks in America are five times more likely to be arrested than whites. Once arrested blacks are five times more likley to be sentenced and Hispanic 3.1 times more likley to be convicted. than whites. Women are still paid on average a lower wage than their male counterparts. Justice in America and elsewhere hasn't yet to become the river of justice Amos proclaimed and Luther hoped for. Until the coming of the Lord injustices will persisted.
But each of us in our own way can be one more drop of Justice in our community. We may not work on the scale of a Martin Luther King but that doesn't mean we don't have a part to play in bring God's justice to life. Find time to become of aware of some of the challenges the disadvantaged face in your community. Reach out to family services and other helping networks to ask what you can prayer for and do to help the less advantages in your neighborhood and county.
Family Resource Center Grant County, Indiana (765) 660-2128
White's Family Services
Grant County Rescue Mission (765) 662-0988
Light to the Holy Family - Luke 2:1-5
Lessons for the second week of Advent
Making Space
When we decorate for Christmas at our house we have a chest that sits under our living room window. Its full of games and family activities for those wonderful nights when everyone is home and together. But at Christmas this hope chest is moved out of the way to make room for the Christmas tree. My wife always wants one just a little to big for the space and every year I have to cut about a foot off to make it work. And she always winces as a saw away that extra foot of glorious tree. She will mutter, "If only we had room for a taller tree." I wish we could make even more space for the tree but I don't think a Christmas tree warrants the cost of new cathedral ceilings. Jesus however does warrant us making room. Adjusting our lives and our treasures to not just fit him in but to make him the center of our hearts like that tree becomes the center of our family gathering space.
Read Matthew 13:44-46
Reflect on what you need to 'sell out for the pearl of Christ and the treasure of the Kingdom.'
Perhaps there is a treasure God is calling you to go and sell.
How will you make
Let us celebrate the promise that our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ
will bring all peoples and all things
into the glory of God's eternal kingdom.
The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk,
the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear,
the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them.