Awaiting the Already - 3 and 4

Rejoice, it's Christmas! Our King has been born!

I love Christmas music. It just makes me happy. The new songs that praise the king and focus on Jesus, each with a different focus or melodious creation, force me to keep my eyes on Emmanuel.

Week 3 had us look at the songs of the nativity story. Luke records many. We discussed the fear of the shepherds, the faith of Mary and Zechariah even though they both questioned and received different responses. We pondered the shepherds and why they were chosen to receive the splendid serenade. They were humble and lowly. They were also out in the fields. They didn't have other distractions. Maybe we need to be available, humble and attentive to receive the splendor?

Which song resonates with you?

Week 4 brought us to John's illuminating words that mirror Genesis. Jesus is light. Period. He is here for a broken world, filled with hurting people. He is enough. In the festive season many of us feel left out because there isn't much to celebrate - family issues, illness, financial struggles, job loss.  As Christians we are called share the light of Christ with others. We are to tell the world about the redeemer who understands, comforts, loves and forgives. The one who spoke the cosmos into being is  here, for each of us because he loves us and wants to take us home.

Does the call to be light have the proper place in our lives? How do we share this with a hurting world that looks to worldly solutions?  Choose one or two Christmas songs that will be played throughout the year because of their message that speaks to you and keeps you focused on living for him.

May Christmas be a blessed day, celebrating the awesome glory and goodness of the triune God. May we sing his praises and listen for his song that calls us to be light with our families and neighbors.

Communion - more depth

Hi, ladies.  I ran across this article this morning and had to share! It's not really related to the overall study, but certainly adds an element to the communion discourse in lesson one.

http://gentlereformation.com/2016/12/03/he-didnt-choose-the-lamb/

In summary for this week, let's go forward each day with two goals -

• Look at people, really look at them, and love them in tangible ways
• Respond to God in faith like Joseph instead of Herod

Ok, I'm adding a third.  Enjoy the Christmas season preparing to be a vessel, and with that as your goal, enjoy the season as it works for you.

So glad we are doing this study together!

Here's a song that relates to this week's lesson.  I first heard it one night when it was God's perfect timing.  May it bless your heart, or be the perfect song to share with someone who needs the message of his love and hope, not the twinkling lights and shopping lists.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTHE9c9qXV0

Steven Curtis Chapman - Christmas Card

Awaiting the Already - week 1

I've got my coffee and my cough.  Yuck. I may just sip Dayquil and Delsym all day.  I'll be on Governor's Parkway a few times, so you may want to avoid it.  Do you have a beverage and your book?

Awaiting the Already, although a light read, is definitely filled with great information that encourages us to explore how we view Advent. Four of us gathered on Monday to discuss it. So let's start!

P. 16 starts with bullet points about our hurried and impatient lives. The gospel of Mark doesn't mention the baby; Mark starts with John the Baptist. Don't you love learning about the different words used for our English words? Prepare.

We see two words for prepare - prepare something to be used. (p.18)  We are to make ourselves "ready to be the vessel through which God's love can enter into humanity."  And we are to prepare in anticipation for a big event.  P. 19 summarizes these  - change our lives and hearts to be ready for Jesus, and have a willingness to suffer fir hum and have a hope for the future. 

We hadn't thought about Advent in that way.  It has been a time to consider the power and majesty of God's love and crazy redemption plan, but certainly not this type of preparation. Mark then moves in to Communion. The words he uses are powerful. It's not an act of just remembering, but an act of almost feeling like we are there with Jesus at that last supper. It's a reminder to vividly recall that moment, but to also live in the blessed hope of his return.  He links advent, communion and baptism on p. 23.

Mark then gets to walking straight.  We all enjoyed this part and agreed that we cannot walk straight, and we hope we're never pulled over for DUI suspicion because we will fail.  Epic fails.  No backwards ABCs or walking straight lines.  But it's ok - we are self-controlled and don't have to worry about that! (see Corinthians lesson 5, day 5)  We are to keep our eyes on Jesus because we are prone to wander and cannot walk straight without our eyes on him.

We are to be double prepared.  Wow. We often associate repentance and introspection with Lent, not Advent. "It means setting our hearts straight and asking God to reveal to us everything that is wayward in our lives."

Whoa. Stop the decorations and gift-buying lists.  It's time to pray and get our paths straight. 



What else did you see in this lesson on Mark's perspective of the coming of the Christ child?

• P. 28, question 2 on top - How do you need to slow down? What are items on your to-do list that might get in the way of spiritual preparations?
• question 2, bottom - What other things that communion and baptism do you remember with such clarity that you feel like you're there again?
• question 3 - what paths need to be made straight in your heart today?
• Here's a group question, in addition to those above.  Read p. 26 3rd full paragraph. 

"It means living a sacrificial and sacramental life, in which we become the very bread that Jesus takes, blesses, breaks and gives out for the world, so that we can become the very incarnation of the Incarnate One among us."

Read this a few times and really think about what it's saying.  What do is this saying to you? I think this is the whole of advent, and really, how we are to live every day. Being like Jesus, but not just for our own salvation, but for the world. How do we make this a reality this Advent season? Let's talk about this and use it as a prayer focus for the upcoming week.