Magnificat

 I will sing of the Lord's great Love forever; with my mouth I will make your faithfulness known through all generations, I will declare that your love stands firm forever...Psalm 89:1-2

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. John 1:4

Advent is a time of anticipation and reflection. It is said that one of the best things about a trip is the anticipation while planning it; it is a tangible benefit of the experience. The memories of that trip or vacation also have great value in refreshing us. 

I love to think of Christmases past and anticipate the things that will make this season feel festive and magical. I remember being pregnant for two of my long-ago Christmases and sharing with Mary's expression in the Magnificat. The awareness of miracles is always a wonderful awakening.

When I was a teenager, I found such treasure in the late night or midnight Christmas Eve services. To go to church at such a late hour seemed a rare privilege and added to the special nature of the celebration. We would see people we rarely saw and have the joy of spending that special time with them. The service felt more intimate than the pageantry I associated with Christmas, and that appealed to me.

I like to think that Advent calendars tell a story. The story is slowly revealed in the time of waiting, like the nightly continuing tales of Scheherazade. Christmas books enchant me. I have a friend who displays all her Christmas storybooks on her living room shelves and tables during Advent, when she celebrates her December birthday with a cookie-decorating party. It is like being in a Christmas library.

Advent carols tell the roots of our faith, the events leading up to the birth of Jesus. It is powerful imagery to anyone of any age. The stories have so much symbolism, and we take that symbolism into our own stories so that the original story deepens in personal meaning.

To think of the candles and lights which decorate so many homes and neighborhoods, is always such a joy. "Look at how a single candle can both defy and define the darkness" is one of my favorite expressions from Anne Frank. Light, like faith, wrests power from darkness and fear. We see the truth of darkness for what it is, when we use the light that is given to us, The light is a reminder of what we are preparing for, and what we want to become.

I loved learning that the last Sunday before Advent (also the final Sunday of the church year) is known in the UK as "Stir Up Sunday", because it is the time to stir up the Christmas puddings. The Collect for that Sunday from the Book of Common Prayer of 1549 begins "Stir up, we beseech thee, O Lord, the wills of thy faithful people; that they, plenteously bringing forth the fruit of good works, may of thee be plenteously rewarded". The Christmas puddings need to mature throughout Advent before being set afire with brandied sugar cubes on Christmas. The preparation of that Christmas pudding involves stirring up ingredients, just as we are to stir our own hearts and minds to do great things. The waiting time of Advent is important to puddings and Christians alike.

Whatever Advent means to each one of us, it should have a little of the secular connected to the sacred. In order to understand Emmanuel, God with us, we have to be able to elevate the things we love in our daily life to the level of the inexplicable and eternal things that God infuses us with.

A translation of the Magnificat by Joy Cowley:

My soul sings in gratitude,

I'm dancing in the mystery of God.

The light of the Holy One is within me

and I am blessed, so truly blessed.

This goes deeper than human thinking.

I am filled with awe

at Love whose only condition

is to be received.

The gift is not for the proud,

for they have no room for it.

The strong and self-sufficient ones

don't have this awareness.

But those who know their emptiness

can rejoice in Love's fullness.

It's the Love that we are made for,

the reason for our being.

It fills our inmost heart space

and brings to birth in us, the Holy One.

Amen.

Mollie Manner (reprinted from 2018)

Don’t Worry, Be Thankful

“Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as member of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.” Colossians 3:15

Being grateful and thankful for all God has given us are the most powerful factors to improving our lives and fulfill our purpose. Are you a grateful person?  Regardless of all the challenges we face, there are many things that all of us who follow God can and should thank him for.

Gratitude is a constant theme in the Bible; it is mentioned more than 150 times and commanded on more than 33 occasions. In Colossians verse, Paul, the author, admonishes us to become increasingly grateful. Gratitude is our choice. Since we can’t always control the circumstances, we need to practice adapting our responses to them. There is always something to rejoice about in every situation. Although our culture constantly reminds us of what we don’t have, consider these facts:

•              If you own just one Bible, you have more than one-third of the people in the world.

•              If you woke up healthier than ill, you are more blessed than the one million people in the world who will not survive the next week.

•              If you have never experienced the danger of battle, imprisonment, starvation, arrest, or torture, you are more fortunate than 500 million people around the world.

•              If you have food in your refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof over your head, and a place to sleep, you are richer than three-fourths of the world.

•              If you prayed yesterday and today, you are in the minority because you know that God hears and answers prayers.  (Excerpted from frankerb.org, 2021)

Prayer: Lord God, guide us to be grateful and thankful for the problems and worries we have. Let us realize that had we not been given so much by God, we wouldn’t have the experiences or find ourselves in situations that lead us to worry. Help us turn our worries into gratitude. Amen

“Some people grumble because roses have thorns,

I am thankful that thorns have roses.”  (Alphonse Karr)   

Carol McClain

Love One Another

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us. He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 1 John 4:7-12 

We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, “I love God,” yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. 1 John 4:19-21

Be imitators of God, therefore as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. Ephesians 5:1-2

And now, dear lady, I am not writing you a new command but one we have had from the beginning. I ask that we love one another. 2 John 5

It is pretty easy to love those you like but very difficult to love those who irritate you, do you injustice, or hurt you in any way. Think about these verses, they don’t say only love those you like. Do you think they apply to your neighbors, your friends, your school mates? We, as humans, sometimes make quick decisions about those around us. Sometimes we are quite surprised when someone we didn’t like before does something good and you change your mind about them. How about trying to love all others? How about praying for those you dislike?

This is my command: Love each other. John 15:17

Prayer: Dear Father in Heaven, be with us as we go about our days. Let us see the difference in others when we show love to all. Amen. 

 Sandra Hilsabeck                      

Discipline of Prayer

We practice the spiritual discipline of prayer because prayer changes things. But we mostly practice it because it is through prayer that we commune with the living God, and He changes us ~ from Encountering God: Cultivating Habits of Faith through the Spiritual Disciplines by Kelly Minter (current Wednesday Morning Bible study at Eastridge)

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Give Thanks

This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. Psalm 118:24

And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Colossians 3:17

Happy Thanksgiving!

 

Thankful words from Psalms

Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love, for his wonderful works to humankind. Psalm 107:8