Living Christmas

 Avondale-Patillo United Methodist Church was preparing a booklet of daily devotions for the Advent season in 1991. I was asked to write one. I wrote this one, but they chose not to use it. I figured that it was because I mentioned Caitlin’s impending birth; and after she was stillborn, they made that decision. They didn’t ask me; that was just a choice somebody made, with good intentions I am sure, to avoid potential additional pain.

 

Living Christmas

Scripture reading: Luke 1:26 through 22:52

The Christmas season this year finds me more aware than usual of the anticipation involved in the biblical account of the birth of Jesus. As we anticipate the birth of our first grandchild and see our daughter-in-law becoming “great with child” during this advent season I’ve begun to wonder about the feelings, thoughts, and responsibilities of the earthly family of the savior as they looked forward to his birth. How did they respond to so great a joy and responsibility? The biblical record gives us a few clues to answer these wanderings. What clues we have center almost entirely on the feelings, thoughts, and responsibilities of Mary, the mother of Jesus (and to a somewhat lesser degree Joseph, his earthly father.) Through rereading the story of Christ’s birth and focusing on Mary and Joseph's character and responses to life, I find some suggestions about how any person might experience the birth, and therefore the life, of Jesus today.

 

We know that Mary had faith that God knew what was best and would provide strength and wisdom to those who follow his will. Mary first reacted to the knowledge that she had been chosen to bear the son of God by questioning. However, that questioning was followed immediately by acceptance of God's will. In Luke 1:38, Mary says, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. Let it be to me according to your word.”

Joseph also was willing to accept God's word and will for his life. In Matthew 1:24, after the angel of the Lord told joseph that he should not be afraid to take Mary as his wife, the scripture says, “He did as the angel of the Lord commanded him. He took his wife.”

Lord, help me to have faith to live by your will in my life.

The Bible shows us that Mary and Joseph were true to the divine trust that was given to them. They provided physical care for God's son. By providing food, nurture, and training, they brought the child Jesus to full manhood.

Mary and Joseph were thoughtful and deeply spiritual parents who provided spiritual leadership for their children. The Bible tells us that Mary “pondered all these things in her heart.” Some of the most beautiful scripture we have is what is called The Magnificat, found in Luke 2;46-55. In this passage Mary expresses her feelings about this responsibility. She expresses awe, and wonder, and obedience, and gratefulness, and joy. The wisdom and spiritual discernment of Mary and Joseph was further shown in the circumcision of her Son, his presentation at the temple, and Mary's own purification 40 days after the birth. Through the years, they made the customary returns to the temple for sacrifices and worship. Every parent who gives birth to a child has received a trust from God and will someday give an account of his/her stewardship. Each of us has an area of responsibility for which he/she will be held accountable.

Lord, help me be true to the trust that you have given to me.

Jesus came to bring peace on earth. Those of us who are seeking peace in this advent season would do well to follow the example that Mary and Joseph gave us as they prepared for Jesus’s advent into the world:

·         have faith to live by god's will for our lives and

·         be true to the trust he has given us.

And this way, perhaps we can truly be prepared for the advent of Jesus in our lives.

 

The Love and the Gift of Christmas

Christmas is so often misunderstood in our society. People, even those in the church, sing about JOY and GIFTS without realizing what true joy is or what the real gift of Christmas is. In this morning's readings, I read this truth. #TruthMatters

"authentic joy ...fills the heart freed from sin. Sin carries a sadness with it that leads us to close ourselves up within ourselves. Grace brings with it the true joy that does not depend on having things but is rather rooted in the most intimate, deepest part of the person, and that nothing and nobody can take away...Christianity is the proclamation of the victory of grace over sin, of life over death. . . .It is necessary therefore to learn to say no to the voice of egoism and to say yes to the voice of authentic love." Peter M.J. Stravinskas

So the JOY of Christmas is the freedom to be truly ourselves without the burden of sin - this freedom is ours because of the GIFT of God's grace in providing us a way out of our sin and the heaviness it has put into our lives. I hope and pray that each of us will truly receive the GIFT of God's grace into our lives so that we can experience the true JOY of the season.

Ready for Christmas?

 The 12th poem of 2022 in the writing group, Deadlines for Writers, is due today. The prompt was "centre."  Here is the poem I submitted, finishing my fourth year. 

Ready for Christmas?

Can you forget the favors you have done

And ponder just the blessings you’ve received?

Can you forgo the credit due to you

And celebrate what others have achieved?

 

Can you forget that someone did you wrong

And love that “someone” as a child of God?

Admitting you have sometimes been at fault -

Not blameless – just a human, fully flawed?

 

Can you trust and know that love will win the day

And work for hate and evil to subside?

Can you nurture seeds of happiness and joy,

And in God’s love and peace each day abide?

 

If so, you’ll know that Christmas time is here.

The Light has come – a new and glorious morn!

The love of God is centered in your heart.

 Go out and live the joy that Christ is born!

Christmas in Review

Thirteen Best Moments of the Christmas Holiday 1.... At the Christmas Eve service I really heard for the first time some of the words to the hymn "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day". I came home and did a little research on Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and the circumstances surrounding his writing of this song. It was written in the midst of the American Civil War; his nation was suffering a near-mortal tear in its very fabric. His wife had died just a year before when her dressing gown caught fire and Longfellow had received serious burns trying to extinguish the fire. His son was struggling to recover from a war wound. Life looked very bleak for Longfellow when he wrote this hymn. He wrote about how we speak of "Peace on Earth" and yet wars persist, people continue to struggle with private agonies, and real peace seems unattainable. Then he writes: And in despair I bowed my head "There is no peace on earth," I said, "For hate is strong, And mocks the song Of peace on earth, good will to men!" Then pealed the bells more loud and deep; God is not dead; nor doth he sleep! The Wrong shall fail, The Right prevail, With peace on earth, good-will to men. It struck me in a new way that this is truly what Christmas is - a recognition that peace is not the result of positive life circumstances but a state of mind brought about by acknowleging the fact that God is in control and truly want us to experience peace and joy. 2. Our daughter invited us to join her family for a Christmas train ride. We had a great 2-hour train ride from Blue Ridge, GA to Copper Hill, TN on the Santa train. We sang Christmas song, saw some gorgeous scenery, and got a visit from Santa and Mrs. Clause. 3.... My three in-town grandchildren and their parents invited us to their house on Christmas morning to see them find what Santa had left them. We were in their living room when they ran in filled with excitement and found just what they were hoping for. Love those faces! 4…. My three out-of-town grandchildren ran into our house about noon on Christmas day, after a two-hour drive to get here, excited to arrive and anxious to tell us what Santa had brought. They managed to convey that their excitement wasn't all about their gifts. They let us believe that much of it was the anticipation of spending time with us and their cousins. 5.... When my youngest grandchild, E, took his turn wearing the Santa hat and passing out gifts at our extended family gathering (my Mother, 7 sibs, 7 sibs-in-law, all their children, children-in-law and grandchildren -- a total of over 50!) E. seriously put on the symbolic hat and in his firm 5-year-old authoritarin voice called out the name printed on the package, looked around for acknowledgment, and presented the gift to the recipient. 6-8.... Actually this is several moments - but each time one of the young ones in our large family group opened his/her present, he/she spontaneously expressed appreciation and got up to hug the giver. It is good to see affirmation that the social graces are still being learned 9-11.... Again, this is several moments, but the instances of intergenerational communication and enjoyment that I witnessed. For example: Late in the day of our large family gathering, most of the older adults were gathered in one room talking, and the young folks (including several twenty-somethings, several teenagers, and a large number of elementary-school-age children). I happened to walk past the doorway where the kids were and saw that my twenty-three-year-old niece, who was home from New York where she is pursuing an acting career, was conducting an impromtu acting class with the children. Children ages 5-15 were enthusiatically improvising motor noises and motions in the creation of some kind of a machine. I did not enter or ask questions because I didn't want to intrude 12.... When I realized that my Mother had all 7 of her children, all their spouses except one, and all but 7 of her grandchildren and great grandchildren gathered at her home at one time. This is the first time that all 6 of my siblings and I have been together with Mother in quite some time. 13.... When our inner circle of 12 returned to our house after the extended family gathering. My DH, our daugher and son-in-law, our son and daughter-in-law, and our six grandchildren wound up the Christmas celebration talking about our favorite parts and then playing some of the games the children had received. Adults, teenagers, and children together, we played a hilarious game of "Mad Gab" and several other games. What fun! What memories! What love! What a Christmas!

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!



The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!
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Christmas Music Misheard

Music is a big part of any celebration, and there is a plethora of Christmas songs, both sacred and secular. Unfortunately, song Lyrics are not always easy to understand and are often misheard as the listener tries to make sense of what he/she is hearing. I am sure all of us know someone who understood the beginning of the United States national anthem as "Jose, can you see..." or the line in the Lord's prayer as "How, Lord, be thy name?" or "Howard be thy name." Christmas songs have often been misheard, too, of course.

As I was surfing blogs this week (frittering away my vast supply of free time in the week before Christmas), I found an interesting post at Scribbit about misheard lyrics to Christmas songs. Most of these were actual examples taken from children of her acquaintance. I enjoyed reading them; so I have stolen and amplified part of that post and embellished it with other examples.

The First Noel: "Oh, Well, Oh well, Oh well, Oh we---ell"

Angels We Have Heard on High: "GloooooooOOOOOOOO--ria!In-ex-pen-sive Day-OGloooooOOOOOOOO--ria!" or "In-egg shells she's Day-AY-O!"

Jingle Bells: "Oh what fun it is to ride in a slippin' slippin' sleigh-AY!"

or "Oh what fun it is to ride in a one Norse sopen sleigh." or "In a one horse soap and sleigh."

Let It Snow, Let It Snow: "and since there's no place to go, yellow snow, yellow snow, yellow snow." Alternately, this has been misheard as "lettuce snow, lettuce snow, lettuce snow."

O Little Town of Bethlehem: "Yet in thy dark streets, China." (I thought Bethlehem was in the Middle East!"

Frosty the Snowman: "Frosty the Snowman was a jolly, happy ho--With a cock-eyed pike and a runny nose and two eyes made out of coal . . ."

Feliz Navidad: "Fleas on my Dog"

Hark, the Herald Angels Sing: "Hark the hairy angel sings"

Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer: "Olive, the other reindeer" (Hey, I thought this song was about Rudolph!)

Enjoy the music of the season and sing with heart -- however the lyrics hit your ear.

(If you enjoy this kind of exercise, there are lots of sites on the internet to find misheard lyrics. One good site: The Archive of Misheard Lyrics)

Happy Christmas Eve!

Happy Christmas Eve!

Christmas Cakes

Ummm -- I wish you could all smell our house right now. I just finished baking and frosting two cakes: A chocolate pound cake with dark chocolate fudge frosting and a jam cake with creamy caramel frosting.

These are "made from scratch" cakes baked from long-standing family recipes.

The cakes are pictured with a gift basket that our neighbors brought over as I was taking the cakes out of the oven.

The chocolate pound cake and fudge frosting are my Mother's recipe. The jam cake recipe is from a family friend, and the wonderful caramel icing is my mother-in-law's recipe. She was well-known all over her home city of Corbin, KY, for her caramel cake, on which she used this frosting.

To paraphrase Emeril, I wish my blog were a smellablog, so you could enjoy it with me. I've probably gained five pounds just by breathing for the last hour!

Happy Christmas Adam!

In our family, we've always referred to the day before Christmas Eve as Christmas Eve Eve, but that might just be changing. A pastor friend of our says his son decided years ago to call this day Christmas Adam. His reasoning was that since Adam was created just before Eve, Christmas Adam must be the day before Christmas Eve.

So Happy Christmas Adam to you!

Christmas Tag

The Good 'ol Days

Christmas 1955

I got tagged with this meme by Beth at Blue Star Chronicles.

Ok this is how it works. The player (me) must list 3 things that I would love to get for Christmas. Then I must list 3 things that I definitely do not want to get for Christmas. Then I tag 5 friends and list their names. The one I tag needs to write on their blogs about their Christmas wishes then tag 5 more people. They must also clarify all the rules. When you tag someone you need to leave a comment that says “you’ve been Christmas tagged!” in their comments and tell them to read your blog. Ok everybody.

Three things I would love to get for Christmas:

1. World Peace. I unashamedly quote Sandra Bullock in her role as "Miss Congeniality". So trite, but so true -- I guess that is really the first wish for most of us.

2. A high-capacity flash drive.

3. Hey, this is a wish list, right? so --- a huge, ostentatious home on at least 10 acres (and the income to keep it up!)

Three things I definitely do NOT want to get for Christmas:

1. More stuff. I DEFINITELY do not want more "stuff." As a matter of fact, I told my children that their best gift for me would be to come get some of my "stuff" and haul it off.

2. Clothes that don't fit. I really dislike returning items to stores.

3. A Pet. While I do not want to spend MY time, money, and energy taking care of a carpet-soiling animal and having a house that smells like a kennel, I will defend to the death YOUR right to do so! I certainly do not dislike animals, I just prefer to spend my time reading, writing, walking, surfing, and talking to someone who can talk back.

I Christmas tagged: You. If you are one of 5 readers of this blog who has not already been tagged, then consider yourself tagged with this meme.

Thursday Thirteen. 13 Christmas Pictures

Thirteen Pictures from Christmases Past 1. Christmas 1955 - My parents (Ruth of Ruthlace) with their first 6 children. That's me standing on the right. The Median Sib Carol has the "praying" hands; Blue Star Chronicles Beth is the baby; Alone on a Limb Terrell is "alone in a picture" as the only boy here. Interestingly, the two non-blogging sisters shown here are both professional writers. 2. My paternal grandmother loved to decorate for Christmas and open presents. 3. Baby brother and his wife Christmas 1977 4. E. admiring the Nativity Set we have used every Christmas since my DH bought it in Israel in 1986. 5. A fuller view of the Nativity Scene. 6. The downstairs tree decorated with our traditional, sentimental ornaments. 7. In the foyer 8. The Upstairs Christmas tree. 9. B, E, and N decorating gingerbread men at Breakfast with Santa. 10. B,E, and N visiting the Live Nativity. 11. B,R,E,N,D,A on Christmas Day 2003 12. Santa Cousins 13. My two offspring BONUS: The Littlest Shepherd is tired. Get the Thursday Thirteen code here! The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!