It's that time again!!! The bells are ringing outside of shopping malls and grocery stores. The 2013 Holiday TV Guide is sitting on the coffee table. We are planning our first viewing of our favorite Christmas movie- Elf. Online shopping lists are growing and orders are being placed. The neighborhood is beginning to shine with Christmas lights, a particular treat with the sun setting before 6:00 p.m. The Christmas cards are here and ready for addresses of loved ones near and far. Christmas music fills our ears and tugs at our hearts as we reflect on another year full of challenges and blessings.
Every year, as I begin to address the cards, I'm reminded of God's rich blessing in the people He brings into our lives. Surprisingly, we've sent a Christmas card every year for the past 19 years without missing a season. Last year, I wasn't in a particularly merry mood and decided to skip a year. Kyle insisted on sending a card, even offering to order and address them himself, so our record remains unbroken. I truly love sending and receiving cards and have a long standing tradition of filling our refrigerator with the photos of dear families who have shaped and blessed our lives. However, as I stare at the beautiful, smiling faces in these pictures, I'm also aware that there is struggle, sadness and sacrifice taking place in the homes of these dear friends. Marriage and parenting stretches many of us daily. Grief, insecurity and loneliness are familiar experiences to others of us and the holiday season can be a painful reminder of great loss in our lives. In the recent days, I have smiled through tears while watching my Dad twirl and dance with Caroline on a recent Thanksgiving video. We've enjoyed seeing Kyle's Mom in many of these holiday videos with her continually sweet, loving and gentle presence. As I get ready to send our 19th picture perfect family photo with "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" prominently displayed across the bottom, I'm struck with the comical, even sad, truth that this is not true for many who send and receive cards just after the Thanksgiving holiday.
Also after Thanksgiving, we will begin singing Christmas hymns during worship and we will continue reading the Gospels containing the story of the incarnation. We will be reminded of the hope, joy, and peace that comes only from our Lord. We will also be reminded, in this season filled with cultural tradition and festivity, that God's abundant mercy, His great faithfulness and His steadfast love remains our only hope in life and in death. With just a few days before our first holiday celebration, King David's song of thanksgiving especially encourages my soul during this most wonderful time of the year.
"Oh give thanks to the LORD; call upon his name; make known his deeds among the peoples! Sing to him; sing praises to him; tell of all his wondrous works! Glory in his name; let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice! Seek the LORD and his strength; seek his presence continually!.......
Sing to the LORD, all the earth! Tell of his salvation from day to day. Decalre his glory amonth the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples! For great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised, and he is to be held in awe above all gods. For all the gods of the peoples are idols, but the LORD made the heavens. Splendor and majesty are before him; strength and joy are in his place. Ascribe to the LORD, O clans of the peoples, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength! Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; bring an offering before him! Worship the LORD in the splendor of holiness; tremble before him, all the earth; yes, the world is established; it shall never be moved. Let the heavens be glad and let the earth rejoice, and let them say among the nations, "The LORD reigns!" Let the sea roar, and all that fills it; let the field exult, and everything in it! Then shall the trees of the forest sing for joy before the LORD, for he comes to judge the earth. O give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever!" from 1 Chronicles 16
Saturday, November 23, 2013
Saturday, November 16, 2013
A Pilgrim's Anticipation
We've entered a season of anticipation for the Thanksgiving and
Christmas holidays. I love every bit of Thanksgiving, including the
smells and tastes of the food, the focus on gratitude and some time to
rest and enjoy the finer things in life..... family, food, and sadly,
much football. Go Commodores! However, upon return from the
break, we will have a unit on the Grinch to kick off the winter holiday
season. This is fitting as my attitude and anticipation of Christmas
resembles the Grinch, considering the commercialization
involved in celebrating the incarnation of our Lord. Even Santa makes
me grumpy as he represents all that is greedy and indulgent in our culture. But I
digress.....
This week in kindergarten we covered the pilgrims' voyage to the new world, including their desire for religious freedom, the conditions of the ship (with just over 100 passengers for 66 days) and the storms and struggles during the journey. We simulated the dimensions of the Mayflower in the hallway and collected all 120 kindergarteners and 6 teachers to discuss living in close quarters for longer than our current days in school. We brought traveling "trunks" to class with just a handful of important items to help on the journey to America. In a five year old friendly way, we made it real and personal without making it too dark for them. They learned that half of the passengers died during that first harsh winter and that the trip across the ocean was very difficult. We wrote about what we would think or say if we were on the boat. Some of the responses included: "It is cold."..... "I feel sick.".... and "I do not like this ship. It is stinky and scary."
While the school days have included considering the pilgrims' anticipation of a new world and their endurance on the challenging journey, my early mornings have been spent reading through family lines in 1 Chronicles and our evenings have included hours and hours of family home videos recently converted from VHS. The footage shows all of my grandparents, my mother-in-law, father-in-law and my Dad. All of them have all left this world and entered eternity with our Lord. The Bible readings of genealogies have been a tough slog, but our own family genealogy has been a passion of mine in previous decades. I created history books for each of our girls. With over a century of stories and individuals included in them, only my Mom is still living. The video clips of my heritage, including lots of Thanksgiving and Christmas memories, have reminded me that we are all pilgrims in this world. Granted, I'm a very spoiled and blessed pilgrim with no understanding the physical hardship of those traveling on the Mayflower, but I struggle each day with sin and spiritual attacks on my faith and I live in anticipation of a new world and my citizenship in heaven.
As I've read (and felt bogged down) in Kings and Chronicles, I've also been encouraged while reading through Hebrews.
"Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the people of old received their commendation. By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible."..........
"These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city." excerpts from Hebrews 11
For over a year, Kyle has been preaching through Revelation on Sunday mornings. We've covered dark and intense assaults on the people of God as pilgrims in this land. Teaching children's church has been a challenge to say the least. Tomorrow morning, we have the blessing of hearing a sermon from Revelation 22 where we will consider the end of the story and this new city of God. As a fellow pilgrim, I anticipate the new heaven and the new earth and joining loved ones who have gone before me in worship around the throne of God.
"The angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city....... No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face and his name will be on their foreheads. And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever."
This week in kindergarten we covered the pilgrims' voyage to the new world, including their desire for religious freedom, the conditions of the ship (with just over 100 passengers for 66 days) and the storms and struggles during the journey. We simulated the dimensions of the Mayflower in the hallway and collected all 120 kindergarteners and 6 teachers to discuss living in close quarters for longer than our current days in school. We brought traveling "trunks" to class with just a handful of important items to help on the journey to America. In a five year old friendly way, we made it real and personal without making it too dark for them. They learned that half of the passengers died during that first harsh winter and that the trip across the ocean was very difficult. We wrote about what we would think or say if we were on the boat. Some of the responses included: "It is cold."..... "I feel sick.".... and "I do not like this ship. It is stinky and scary."
While the school days have included considering the pilgrims' anticipation of a new world and their endurance on the challenging journey, my early mornings have been spent reading through family lines in 1 Chronicles and our evenings have included hours and hours of family home videos recently converted from VHS. The footage shows all of my grandparents, my mother-in-law, father-in-law and my Dad. All of them have all left this world and entered eternity with our Lord. The Bible readings of genealogies have been a tough slog, but our own family genealogy has been a passion of mine in previous decades. I created history books for each of our girls. With over a century of stories and individuals included in them, only my Mom is still living. The video clips of my heritage, including lots of Thanksgiving and Christmas memories, have reminded me that we are all pilgrims in this world. Granted, I'm a very spoiled and blessed pilgrim with no understanding the physical hardship of those traveling on the Mayflower, but I struggle each day with sin and spiritual attacks on my faith and I live in anticipation of a new world and my citizenship in heaven.
As I've read (and felt bogged down) in Kings and Chronicles, I've also been encouraged while reading through Hebrews.
"Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the people of old received their commendation. By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible."..........
"These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city." excerpts from Hebrews 11
For over a year, Kyle has been preaching through Revelation on Sunday mornings. We've covered dark and intense assaults on the people of God as pilgrims in this land. Teaching children's church has been a challenge to say the least. Tomorrow morning, we have the blessing of hearing a sermon from Revelation 22 where we will consider the end of the story and this new city of God. As a fellow pilgrim, I anticipate the new heaven and the new earth and joining loved ones who have gone before me in worship around the throne of God.
"The angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city....... No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face and his name will be on their foreheads. And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)