Today, we at EDN begin a period of reflection and contemplation for these important seasons of the Church Year. Over the next few weeks, our attention will be on raising certain questions that we invite you to comment on. We will return to our series of controversial questions on January 4th.
TODAY’S QUESTION: What practices can you recommend during Advent that will make Christmas more meaningful?
[EDITOR’S NOTE: This post is part of our series on controversial questions. A YES post ran yesterday. Join in by posting your comments.] by Rev. Dr. Robert R. LaRochelle When I think of WAR, declared or undeclared, the following actions and attitudes come to mind: There is something or someone to attack, obliterate or defend…
[EDITOR’S NOTE: This post is part of our series on controversial questions. A NO post will normally follow a YES post. Join in by posting your comments.] by Elgin Hushbeck Is there a war on Christmas? If “war” is understood in a metaphorical sense as a deliberate effort to diminish and/or change, and Christmas is…
by Nancy Petrey After my book, Habitation of Honey: Poems and Songs, was published this May, I continued to write poems, and they came in quick succession. God would inspire me with a thought or a verse from Scripture, and the words would flow out in rhythm and rhyme. Writing a poem or a song…
We at EDN are in a period of reflection and contemplation for these important seasons of Advent and Christmas. Over the next few weeks, our attention will be on raising certain questions that we invite you to comment on. We will return to our series probing controversial questions on January 4th. According to the Gospel…
by Robert MacDonald Paul, thou art beside thyself; much learning doth make thee mad. Such words we read in the New Testament. Paul claims he was not disobedient (Acts 26:19) but Festus interjects a few verses later that Paul is mad. How do we know? We are not all given heavenly visions to ‘obey’ as…
by Steve Kindle Pastors in the Liturgical traditions find that Advent has been smuggled out of the church, and in broad daylight to boot! The Liturgical Year is a way of educating the people about the biblical story of salvation needed to offset the nearly universal illiteracy of Christendom in its formative years, until almost…
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I like to see advent as a time of reflection, asking what our true needs are and then what it is that we’d expect God to do. It’s a search for good hopes and expectations.
To accomplish this, I guess I’d suggest more things not to do. Don’t get taken up by the commercialization. Don’t just assume that we know and that we have the needs covered.
The goal, I think, is to focus away from my needs. Advent was a time of expectation for God to come in and change history and make things right. But the Christian view of what happened was that we became (or should have become) God’s intervention. God came near because God was already near.
So for me this advent reflection turns to how I can become a bearer of God’s presence in the world. How can I become the fulfillment of Advent hopes and dreams?
I’m not always very successful at this. Being in business means that at one and the same time I’m trying to reflect on the season backwards, while I’m also trying to sell books. But as a goal, I like it and keep moving toward it.
Or so I hope!
I really enjoy singing in our church’s annual Christmas musical. It is a lot of work and extra rehearsal time, but it is satisfying to present such beauty and true meaning of Christmas! Singing scripture is powerful, and the goal is feeling His presence. Also, memories of earlier Christmases are evoked, and the link with family and friends in past shared experiences are invaluable as we sing the carols throughout the season.
Have a Christ-filled Christmas, everyone!
Nancy
Thanks, Nancy. A blessed Christmas to you..Bob
Thank you, Bob. May you also be blessed by the presence of the Christ of Christmas. We attended a Christmas wedding, and the PRESENCE of Jesus was so strong, I cried as He touched me deeply. May He touch each and every one of us as He turns our lukewarm water into wine, the joy of His Spirit!!!!!!
In Yeshua,
Nancy