Monday, November 24Tonight I will be telling a little Christmas story at Edisto Gardens. Tonight I look forward to walking with those children, including my son, through the light displays that will fill the night. I’ll be there for the Kids’ Walk at 6:00 p.m., and I hope many children will join me.Tonight I will be telling a little Christmas story at Edisto Gardens. Tonight I look forward to walking with those children, including my son, through the light displays that will fill the night. I’ll be there for the Kids’ Walk at 6:00 p.m., and I hope many children will join me.
Tonight, I think, it will really feel like the Advent season is about to begin. Advent, which leads to Christmas will not officially start in the church until this Sunday, though.
In our culture it seems, Christmas starts earlier and earlier each year. One area station I know of is already playing all Christmas music. And for this, I am sad.
See, when we go ahead and celebrate Christmas before Christmas Eve arrives, we miss out on the joy of expectation fulfilled. If we wait patiently, holding our breath until the Savior arrives to save us, we gain blessings we could not have known otherwise.
I like to celebrate Advent before Christmas. There can be great lessons learned as we wait on things: especially as we wait on the coming of Christ. What have you learned while waiting in your life? What are you waiting for now, and what might God be trying to say to you there?
Tuesday, November 25
There’s a little known Old Testament book in the Bible called “Nahum”. Nahum was a prophet who was given one vision from the Lord to speak of, a vision about Ninevah. Ninevah was the capital of the ancient nation Assyria, and was located across the Tigris River from present-day Mosul, Iraq. There’s a little known Old Testament book in the Bible called “Nahum”. Nahum was a prophet who was given one vision from the Lord to speak of, a vision about Ninevah. Ninevah was the capital of the ancient nation Assyria, and was located across the Tigris River from present-day Mosul, Iraq.
In Nahum’s day, Assyria had conquered the kingdom of God’s people Israel and was a fearsome power. But Nahum’s vision said that God’s wrath would be poured out on Assyria for their abuses and force. Nahum says: “The Lord…rages against his enemies. The Lord is slow to anger but great in power, and will by no means clear the guilty.”
It is not God’s desire for nations to get so drunk on power that they harm God’s children. Though we may look at the world and wonder why the Lord is not pouring out wrath and judgment on nations who do not follow the divine will, we can be assured that judgment will come. What was true of God in Nahum’s day is still true today. Vengeance belongs to the Lord, and it will come upon those who set themselves as enemies of God. Today, let us pray to be faithful to God as a people, and let us pray that all nations will turn to the Lord, that we all may see God’s salvation.
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Cooks are preparing turkeys and dressing. Families are traveling. Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. But not everyone finds it easy to give thanks this season.
As happy families gather around tables, many are lonely or grieving. For many, this is the first Thanksgiving without someone who was a part of them. As yams bubble in lots of ovens, many other kitchens have bare cupboards, in homes where parents struggle to put food on the table each day. As many of us stuff our bellies with food, many others are too sick to eat.
Yes, for many, today it can feel pretty hard to give thanks.
So today, tomorrow, indeed during this whole season, let those of us who can and do lift joyful prayers of thanks to the Lord for our many blessings also offer a different kind of prayer.
Let us pray for those who, for reasons of poor health, grief, hurt, or poverty have difficulty counting blessings. Let us pray that the Lord will shower them with grace and provision. Let us also pray that God will use us to be blessings of care for them. Let us listen for the call to care and be open to the movement of the Lord’s Spirit in this and every season.
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Today is Thanksgiving Day. We celebrate bountiful gifts of God’s harvest on this day; we count our blessings. Today, we also pray for those who find it hard to give thanks. And I’d like to invite us today into one more form of prayer: that of confession.Today is Thanksgiving Day. We celebrate bountiful gifts of God’s harvest on this day; we count our blessings. Today, we also pray for those who find it hard to give thanks. And I’d like to invite us today into one more form of prayer: that of confession.
As we teach our children about this holiday, we accentuate the positive. That is natural. And there are beautiful things about the origin of this day and the origin of our nation. But there area also things that we as a nation may find it hard to confess. European settlers certainly did not always treat Native peoples in the “new world” in a manner worthy of God. Today, as a result, many Native American communities are caught in poverty and lack of education.
This history teaches us that, as noble as we humans are, we do not always act in ways that are noble. We can always learn from our mistakes and do better. More than that, we can thank God in this and every season that the Holy Spirit never gives up on us, and keeps working within us to make us more the people God created us to be. Let us pray today for our nation and all its peoples, that the Lord would work in mighty ways to make us righteous and holy altogether.
Friday, November 28, 2008
I will not mention any names, but certain members of my extended family have a long-standing tradition for this day. They are the early-bird shoppers of the day after Thanksgiving. Each Thanksgiving Thursday after we eat, they begin to scrounge through the newspaper ads for the best Christmas gift deals. They get up long before the sun, and they begin to shop.
Today, I would like to challenge us to a new kind of shopping tradition. What if this Christmas, we made or wrote or crafted all our Christmas gifts? Or what if all of our gifts were donations the favorite charities of our friends and family members, made in their names? What if we used our online computer access to research environmentally-friendly or fair-trade gifts to give? Or what if we vowed within our families and circles of friends to give the gift of time this Christmas, rather than anything money can buy? At the very least, perhaps we could all agree to spend less on material things, so that we might focus on the spiritual blessings of the season.
What do you say? I’ll be starting some new Christmas gift-giving traditions this season. Will you join me?
