Second Day of Christmas Present

December 27, 2010

Second Day of Christmas present

Winter, and very cold,

and the night at 

its deepest.  The politicians,

as usual, double-tongued.

The town chaotic, teeming

with strangers.

And tonight, as often

in winter, in Bethlehem,

snow is falling.

I always love how each flake,

torn from the sky,

arrives separately,

without sound, almost

unnoticed in

a flurry of others. How

each one (on a clear 

night) lies there glittering

on the swelling breast

of snow, crisp

and intact, as wholly itself

as every radiant star

in a sky sparkling

with galaxies.

How many new 

babies tonight

in Judea, coming

like snowflakes?

But plucked,

dazzling, from the 

eternal heavens,

into time,

tonight is born

The One.

-Luci Shaw, Accompanied by Angels:  Poems of the Incarnation

snowflake photograph by Kenneth G. Libbrecht

http://www.its.caltech.edu/~atomic/snowcrystals/photos/photos.htm

(visit injoy-karen.blogspot.com for a biblical reflection on this poem)

On the First Day of Christmas

Last night as I was leaving the 7:00 pm service, I got in my car which was facing the Church building. It was a beautiful sight. Luminaries lighting up the walk way and the steps to the church. The lights inside the Church shinning out (one is stained glass). It would have made a perfect Christmas card. So I paused to ponder and enjoy this Christmas card from God. Then I noticed it. The night sky was all dark behind the Church except for one very bright star shinning just above the steeple. It was beautiful. I hung around a while so that I could point it out to the several people who were still lingering inside. It was my Christmas gift to them. The lesson is one that I've heard continually during the Advent season this year. Pause in the midst of the secular Christmas craziness and reflect on the real meaning for the season. And the star came to rest over where the child lay. Merry Christmas Cindy Rosen

Fourth Advent Candle

 Candle of Joy

Fourth Sunday in Advent

December 19, 2010

Read from your bible: Luke 1: 46b-55

This week our candle is pink, symbolizing “Joy.”  Mary was full of joy when God told her she would be Jesus’ mother.  She knew her baby would bring joy with justice and compassion for all people.  Whether it is something God has already done or something God promises to do, we have so many reasons to be full of joy! 

Can you think of reasons for Joy that start each letter of the alphabet?  For example, “A” is for Aunt Susan who always makes me smile, “B” is for bread baking in the oven,  “C” is for Children International who help children all over the world have enough,…….

In worship we light the fourth advent candle in worship sing:

We pray that your Word may be born in our hearts, that we may shine bright with the joy it imparts.

We pray as we wait for Emmanuel’s birth,

The light of our hope may illumine the earth.

 

Third Advent Candle

The candle of Faith

Third Sunday in Advent

December 12, 2010

Read from your bible:  Psalm 80: 1-7, 17-19

The psalms are poems chanted by Jewish people as they worship.    Even in hard times, they celebrate God’s faithfulness and practice their own faithfulness to God. People sing these words so often they know them by heart.  Jesus grew up singing and knowing them.  Jesus is God’s song of faithfulness made flesh, as a real person.

The words of Psalm 80 may be hard to hear.  They are words of “repentance.”  The people knew they had not been faithful to God.  God still promised to be love and care for them.  That’s not easy when someone you love has hurt you. Can you remember a time when someone hurt you?  Can you remember a time when you did something hurtful to someone else?  We all do hurtful things, sometimes by accident.  Other times we know what we are doing, and do it anyway.  God sent Jesus to help us get past all the hurts between God and us, between us and each other.

We lit our third candle in worship this week with words you can sing or say together now.

As Mary prepares for new life to begin

we trust in your Promise still hidden within.                 

              Transfigure our hearts as from night into day,

that we by our faith may prepare you a way.

As you light the third candle together, say:

                        “Faithful Jesus, we are ready.” 

Second Sunday in Advent

The candle of Hope

Second Sunday in Advent

December 5, 2010

Read from your bible: Isaiah 11: 1-10

“Advent” means coming.  A long time ago, when the words you read were first spoken, God gave them to the prophet Isaiah as a word of hope.  The people of Israel were living in hard times.  They had to do what another nation’s king told them to.  They couldn’t praise God freely or live the way God had taught their grandmothers and grandfathers too.

     Isaiah said that God would keep the promises God had made. They would be “fulfilled.”  God wants to fill our lives with good things.  What are the very best things that God fills your life with?  What do you hope God will fill all of our lives with?  As we wait to celebrate Jesus’ birth, we hope to see God’s promises fulfilled in our world.

This morning in worship we lit the second candle as we sang together.  You can read or sing these words now.

Oh, hear us we pray, God for dark is the night,

and still we are waiting in hope for the light.

 Oh teach us to trust you, preparing the way,

until with rejoicing we enter the day.*

As you light the second advent candle, say together,

“Come, Jesus, come!”

Advent Wreath Week One

The candle of Peace

First Sunday in Advent

November 28, 2010

Read from your bible:  Isaiah 2: 1-5

Today we light a purple candle.  Purple is a symbol for royalty.  It is special color because it is hard to get a truly bright and wonderful purple color to stay in cloth.  So it was expensive and saved for special people like kings and queens.  Many special people use their power to make life better for themselves and the people they like.

But the purple candle tells us that Jesus is a special person who uses his power for everybody, so that no one will have to fight for what they need. God’s creation is made so that there is plenty for everyone, if we use the power God gives us to share.  What do you have to share with others?

Here are the words we sang together in worship as we lit our church advent candle.  You can read them out loud or sing to the tune of “Away in the Manger.”

             Your advent, Emmanuel, now we embrace,

 your peace with all creatures,

your promise of grace. 

Your word is made flesh and your blessing you give,

that we too, in peace with all others may live.*

As you light the first advent candle, say together,

“Welcome Jesus, King of Peace!”

Why an Advent Wreath?

Can you imagine how it was in Europe in “the old days?”  Before there were furnaces to keep houses warm and electric lights to brighten dark days, winter seemed like a very long, very cold, very dark season. 

Families didn’t have refrigerators or canned food, or grocery stores, and so winter was also a time when people worried about whether what they had dried and stored would last until the days lengthened and warmed again.

People looked for signs of hope, bringing evergreen branches into their homes for the holidays, and lighting candles to symbolize the light of life, tenaciously burning in the dark and cold.

When people in Europe began to follow Jesus, they keep these traditions, knowing that Jesus, the Christ, is the source of life and hope.  They made advent wreathes in a circle to show that God’s love is with us all the time and everywhere.  “Emmanuel” is an old name (from Middle English) for Jesus that means, “with us is God.”

Christ followers named the candles for gifts that Jesus brings and lit them, one a week, as Christmas celebrations drew near, names like “Peace,” “Hope,” “Faith,” and” Joy.”

                 Your family can share this tradition too, lighting an advent candle each Sunday to celebrate Jesus’ presence in your home.  Remember to pray for all the other families in Jesus’ network of hope as they light the candles too!

*The words for our Advent songs were written by Rev. Steve Garnaas Holmes, Pastor of Bows Mills  United Methodist Church in Concord New Hampshire, and are used by permission.

These Advent wreath meditations were created by Rev. Karen L. Munson, Pastor of Readfield United Methodist Church © 2010 and may be copied with permission.