Christmas Spirit #5: Happy Birthday, Jesus!

How gracious and beautiful it is that we worship a God who makes us realize how valuable we are to Him!
It’s His birthday, and yet the purpose of his first coming was to save us and bring us into the Father’s heart!
What kind of love is this? It is God-love, it is unconditional, and it is passionately pursuing us.
Unbroken fellowship, no more separation, Christ is our bridge, our way, our truth, our light, and life.
Hallelujah! Praise God!
His love and generosity are never-ending!
Happy Birthday, Jesus! You are so worthy of our praise!

O Holy Night! The stars are brightly shining,
It is the night of the dear Saviour’s birth.
Long lay the world in sin and error pining.
Till He appeared and the Soul felt its worth.
A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices,
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.
Fall on your knees! Oh, hear the angel voices!
O night divine, the night when Christ was born;
O night, O Holy Night , O night divine!
O night, O Holy Night , O night divine!

Led by the light of faith serenely beaming,
With glowing hearts by His cradle we stand.
O’er the world a star is sweetly gleaming,
Now come the wisemen from out of the Orient land.
The King of kings lay thus lowly manger;
In all our trials born to be our friends.
He knows our need, our weakness is no stranger,
Behold your King! Before him lowly bend!
Behold your King! Before him lowly bend!

Truly He taught us to love one another,
His law is love and His gospel is peace.
Chains he shall break, for the slave is our brother.
And in his name all oppression shall cease.
Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we,
With all our hearts we praise His holy name.
Christ is the Lord! Then ever, ever praise we,
His power and glory ever more proclaim!
His power and glory ever more proclaim!

Christmas Spirit #4: Can’t buy me Love

Recently, I read an article about some folks who’ve started a movement called, ‘The Advent Conspiracy’.
It’s a big effort to help us all to see the true meaning of Christmas and not get caught up in the stress and commercialism of Christmas as an industry. http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20091215/us_time/08599194759000
I posted the link on facebook and got some interesting responses to it:
Elaine: That’s the best thing I’ve read today.
Melissa: I know, imagine how different it would be if parents just spent quality time with their kids instead of buying crap that encourages them to be little hermits in their bedrooms playing video games.
Bob: Imagine if parents just told their children they loved them, and their children believed them.

It’s my gut feeling that folks of all colors, creeds and backgrounds long for something different during this season. There’s something about this time of year that gives us reason to pause and become more reflective. Christians and non-Christians alike get caught up in that Christmas spirit . . . it’s that feeling of a little tug in your heart that longs for something more, something true and beautiful and fresh and pure, a burst of light and hope.
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Truth be told, we long for that feeling in all seasons of life, but I guess the Christmas spirit becomes so infectious that in our humanity we find our own ways to create rituals that would fill this longing, like giving gifts and putting up decorations that shine and sparkle. But whether your Christmas is dysfunctional or like a Halmark commercial, these rituals never quite fill the void, do they?

What a wonderful thing it is that God would come to us in the very package which can fill the void: a new, beautiful, true and pure little baby, a burst of light and hope. Christ, the embodiment of love.

My Christmas wish and prayer is inspired by what Bob said: that we would all hear God telling us how much He loves us and that we would believe Him.

Kanye and Taylor

here’s the deal.
someone should have filled him in on the fact that winning video of the year is a little better than simply best female vocal. so maybe the artists don’t actually know who’s winning what, but if they did, it would have even stopped kanye from making a complete fool of himself.

or maybe not.

maybe he wanted beyonce to win both awards. regardless, mtv obviously had it worked out well with taylor winning then performing. and beyonce performing then winning. russell brand you’re my hero.

Food for thought #1: TRUTH, TACT, GRACE, SUGAR, and MARY POPPINS

How are truth, tactfulness and sugar related?
Well, you might say that grace and Mary Poppins are what tie it all together! Sound crazy?
Let me explain . . .
Right now, I am reading The Grace Awakening by Chuck Swindoll. I am learning so much from this book!

Chuck talks about claiming the grace to respond to what (and who) we encounter in life; in other words, the art of not being abrasive.
He uses the words of St. Paul as his anchor for expounding upon this idea:
“Conduct yourselves with wisdom toward others, making the most of the opportunity. Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned, as it were, with salt, so that you may know how you should respond to each person.”
(Col. 4:5-6)
Chuck explains: “There is nothing like a nice supply of grace to make the truth attractive. Grace helps us cushion our words so that the truth can be received without needless offense.”
He then goes on to quote Sven Wahlroos, who has some real gems of wisdom on this stuff:
“Tactfulness is an approach to another human being which involves being sincere and open in communication while at the same time showing respect for the other person’s feelings–and taking care not to hurt him unnecessarily . . . It involves a trust or faith in the other person and communicates this message: I trust you will be able to handle what I’m going to tell you. I respect your feelings and will do my best to guard against my own destructive tendencies so that I don’t hurt you unnecessarily.”

And lastly, Chuck uses Mary Poppins as a perfect illustration:
“Who was it? Mary Poppins, I think, who said, ‘A spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down’.”
(Hmmm . . . I wonder if this need for grace is the real origin of my incurable sweet tooth?!)
Thanks, Mary!

And Thanks, Chuck!