Wednesday, December 1st
Light the candle and pray: Jesus light of the world, shine into our darkness and be our hope!
Pray: Psalm 119:17-20, 24
Read: Luke 1: 5-25
Reflection: Vivian Mitchell
Advent 2021
It’s hard to believe that it is once again the Season of Advent........the year has gone by too quickly. But now is a good time to slow down and reflect on just why we celebrate Advent, the anticipation and waiting for the promised King. Often, for me, it is a time of reflection – of celebrating memories of past Advents.
As a child, we did not celebrate or observe Advent. In fact I really didn’t know about it until I went to a Women’s Christmas Luncheon at Rose Hill Presbyterian Church back in 1982. The more I thought about it, the more I thought what an awesome way to bring Jesus into our Christmas celebration and make Him the star of Christmas. After all He is what Christmas is all about and I didn’t want my children to get so caught up in the commercialism of the holiday that Jesus was placed somewhere in the corner of their minds and not at the very forefront. And so, we began to make Advent a major part of our Christmas – a time every night when we would stop our daily routine and Celebrate Jesus.
I was always looking for new ways to bring Jesus to the center of our celebration. One year we had an empty crib where the children to put straw in it every time they did a kind act so that on Christmas morning Jesus would have a soft bed to rest in (this wasn’t one of my more successful ideals – there wasn’t too much bedding). But I would like to share with you one of my favorites (and to this day, all of my kids think it was the cheesiest). Back in the ‘80s, Michael Card was one of my favorite recording artist and he wrote a book, Immanuel. In his book he told of a Christmas tradition that he and his family did that I wanted to share with my family...........
Most artist interpretation of the birth of Jesus show a serene setting in a peaceful stable but if you have ever been to a stable you would realize that just isn’t the way it was. The reality was that it was dirty and probably smelly. But this is the truth of where and how our Blessed Savoir entered this world! He came to be the King and Savior for all mankind, not just the ones who had their act together but for all of us. So, this is where we went to read the Christmas story........our barn where the chickens and ducks and goats lived. Stacy was Mary, Scott was Joseph and Courtney and Alex were Shepard’s. My Mom and Dad and my sister and her family were with us. For me it gave the picture of how God not only sent His Son to earth but how He brought Him into the dirt and filth of this earth to give us Light and Hope. He came so that all of mankind could be saved! For me that is more beautiful than the most beautiful Christmas card ever designed. It gives me the knowledge that even with all my sin, as dark as it is, He came so that I might be saved and will live with Him forever!
May all of you have a blessed Christmas!
Sing: “Comfort, Comfort Now My People”, by Johann Olearius