Do You Hear What I Hear? Advent 2024

               "Joy to the World" 7 Days Away "Joy to the World" Why?--because "The Lord is come!" What do we do now? "Let every heart prepare Him room." Let us enjoy the lyrics to the beautiful Christmas classic and prepare room in our hearts for the realization that we have a Savior.  Joy to the World, the Lord is come! Let earth receive her King Let every heart prepare Him room And Heaven and nature sing And Heaven and nature sing And Heaven, and Heaven, and nature sing Joy to the World, the Savior reigns! Let men their songs employ While fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains Repeat the sounding joy Repeat the sounding joy Repeat, repeat, the sounding joy No more let sins and sorrows grow Nor thorns infest the ground He comes to make His blessings flow Far as the curse is found Far as the curse is found Far as, far as, the curse is found He rules the world with truth and grace And makes the nations prove The glories of His righteousne...

              "Angels We Have Heard on High" 8 Days Away Today is about worship. "Sweetly singing." Who is doing that singing?  Angels.  Many of the details surrounding Jesus' birth are, well, not normal. In order to be more kind, I could say, not typical, but I really do mean not normal.  The announcement of Jesus' birth is certainly not normal . Angels announced Christ's arrival. Angels. While we can quickly conjure up images of Christmas pageants past with our littlest children donning white sheets, wings, and halos, the reality can be much more complex to fathom.  Angels? Heavenly beings?--Yes! Yes! Yes! With the glory of this realization comes the sobering fact of those of the reality of those on the other side. Let us glory in Jesus AND let us put on the full armor of God in order to face each day prepared for our spiritual battles. Music:  "Angels We Have Heard on High" Meditation:  "The Son is the image of the...

             "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel" 9 Days Away This is the point in the holiday season in which the reality can be overwhelming. Let's be honest today; the reality is overwhelming. Today we are not going to focus on any of the external "stuff"--wrapping paper, lights, recipes, shopping lists, clutter, Christmas cards, and to do lists. Today we are going deep into the internal portion of this holiday. Let us look at the reality of our hearts and do some serious cleaning.  Music:  "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel" "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel" (the Christmas version~The Piano Guys) "O come, O come, Emmanuel,  And ransom captive Israel." Meditation: "Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel." ~Isaiah 7:14 "This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came togethe...

            "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" 10 Days Away Ten days! I hope that anticipation--and peace--are filling this holiday season. It is exciting--each and every year. We imagine and anticipate the sounds, the gifts, the foods, the fellowship of this blessed time of year as we celebrate the birth of Christ the King.  While we do anticipate Christmas Eve and Christmas Day--the day we Christians celebrate the birth of the Christ Child, there is so much that we often miss or can not even comprehend. Have we ever considered the role of the angels? They hear the plan in heaven--they are given their orders. Go, speak with Mary. Go, speak with Joseph. Go, announce to shepherds. These angels knew the magnitude of the event.  Music:  "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" "Glory to the newborn King." Meditation:  "And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to t...

           "Little Drummer Boy" 11 Days Away "Parum-pum-pum-pum." After hearing only a few notes of this Christmas classic, we know the song. Have we ever thoroughly considered the sentiment behind the simple lyrics?  Music:  "The Little Drummer Boy" As with yesterday, the concepts behind the lyrics are powerful. Come--behold the baby Jesus. But when visiting we often bring gifts. What can we bring? What can we offer? Sadly, our inner, worldly Grinch can often appear here. During the holidays it seems everyone--everywhere--is asking us for more. More gifts, more donations, more time. When we have had enough, we start looking around to scrounge up whatever we might already have on hand to give.--Maybe a gift card will do? Maybe we can re-gift something? We check clearance aisles.  "Our finest gifts we bring...to lay before the King." Today, let's individually reflect on what we can bring to Jesus. As we reflect, let us each ask God what we hav...

          "O Come, All Ye Faithful" 12 Days Away Today, let us be "joyful and triumphant" instead of grumpy and stressed. O Come, friends, let us reflect on the season with some music and meditation.  Music: "O Come, All Ye Faithful"  ~ Red Rocks Worship " O come" because we need to prepare for a journey this Christmas season. Not one that requires us to get bundled, grab extra cash, and load up the car with the kids, the pets, and hastily wrapped gifts. No, this is a spiritual journey. Where are we going? Not a bustling mall, not a meandering car-ride through brightly lit neighborhoods. We are not even necessarily going to a candle-lit church. We are going on a personal, spiritual journey to meet with our Creator and Savior. What are we going to do? Shopping? Ice skating? Hot Cocoa? The faithful are going on this spiritual journey to adore  Him--Christ the Lord. What a novel idea! We sing it--Do we mean it?--Do we ever do it?--Let us come be...

         "The Commission" 13 Days Away Time for some meditation and music. Is it possible that whatever is swirling around us--literally or figuratively--will be okay if we don't put our focus on the swirls for a few moments? Today I recommend that we listen to the music before our time of meditation. Music:  "The Commission" Meditation: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it." ~ John 1:1-5 "The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth." ~ John 1:14 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in h...