COPIED —- When you say “I’ll pray for you,” you’re stepping into sacred ground.
Those words aren’t filler, they’re faith in motion.
And someone’s hope may be resting on the prayer you promised today.
—- To which long time friend IRL and colleague Holly Wood had this to say yesterday: “What if our New Year’s Resolution was to make our prayer list and set a time to daily pray. It’s easy to say I’ll pray for you, but not so easy to keep our promises.”
And I am still reminded, convicted, challenged, and grateful.
How about you?
With gratitude to Crystal S. Mitchell —
Happy Monday!!!
What are you waiting for??
Start NOW!!!
“Who among us will celebrate Christmas correctly?” asked Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
His answer: “Whoever finally lays down all power, all honor, all reputation, all vanity… and goes to the manger.”
One wrote, in the generic-specific language of the era —
“The Son of God
became a man
to enable men
to become sons of God”
— The other wrote, and we still sing this, but usually only at Easter —
“Made like Him,
like Him we rise”
— How are we doing at living into such truth, Church?
The Rivers of Life Clergy Band enjoys sharing this Matthew West song —
Here comes the letdown: Christmas is over
Here comes the meltdown, there goes the cheer
But before we have a breakdown, let us remember
The light of the world is still here
[chorus] Happy day after Christmas
And merry rest of the year
Even when Christmas is over
The light of the world is still here
The light of the world
Come January I’m ready for summer
The Super Bowl’s over and I’ll settle for spring
Sometimes we all need a change in the weather
But it won’t change the reason we sing
So take down the stockings, take back the sweaters
Take down the lights and the star and the tree
But don’t let this world take your joy after Christmas
Take joy to the world and just sing
— Let’s you and me get back to this song before long.
Under God‘s Christmas Tree
The amazing Linda Veath and I met at a Bible study it’s my honor to lead locally. She wrote the following in a 2020 devotional, “Under God’s Christmas Tree,” and it could not be more timely —-
“I have a question for Jesus this Christmas. ‘Jesus, what would You like for Your birthday? What would You like me to give?’
I suspect that His answer might be simple. ‘I want you to give the gift of your presence, your grace, and your mercy, just as I have given you.’
Oh…. And I think He would want me to give a helping hand too. There are many who are in need of a hand-up this holiday season.”
47% say yes
48% say no
5% are not sure
“The harvest is ripe, but…” says Christ Jesus.
For the rest of his appraisal, check out Matthew 9:35-38.
And who will you bring with you?
The Word was first,
the Word present to God,
God present to the Word.
The Word was God,
in readiness for God from day one.
Everything was created through him;
nothing—not one thing!—
came into being without him.
What came into existence was Life,
and the Life was Light to live by.
The Life-Light blazed out of the darkness;
the darkness couldn’t put it out.
There once was a man, his name John, sent by God to point out the way to the Life-Light. He came to show everyone where to look, who to believe in. John was not himself the Light; he was there to show the way to the Light.
The Life-Light was the real thing:
Every person entering Life
he brings into Light.
He was in the world,
the world was there through him,
and yet the world didn’t even notice.
He came to his own people,
but they didn’t want him.
But whoever did want him,
who believed he was who he claimed
and would do what he said,
He made to be their true selves,
their child-of-God selves.
These are the God-begotten,
not blood-begotten,
not flesh-begotten,
not sex-begotten.
The Word became flesh and blood,
and moved into the neighborhood.
We saw the glory with our own eyes,
the one-of-a-kind glory,
like Father, like Son,
Generous inside and out,
true from start to finish.
— The Gospel According to St. John 1:1-14, in the MESSAGE version
What’s all this Advent-Christmas stuff about, anyway? —
This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again.
God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son so that anyone who believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. God did not send his Son into the world to condemn it, but to save it.
God did so love the world, that His Son — the only begotten — He gave, that every one who is believing in him may not perish, but may have life age-during. For God did not send His Son to the world that he may judge the world, but that the world may be saved through him.
— Yup, those are three difference versions of John 3:16 + 17.
Not subtle.
Pretty clear.
Very clear, in fact.
Yup, that’s Christ Jesus!
Neil Chadwick tells this —
A number of years ago I listened to Juan Carols Ortiz tell what happened in his church in Argentina one Sunday morning.
He got up to preach and said, “The message for today is, ‘Love One Another,'” and then he sat down. Everyone just sat there waiting for what would happen next — I guess they weren’t accustomed to such a short sermon! So the Pastor got up again and said, “The message for today is, ‘Love One nother,'” and then again sat down. The third time he went to the pulpit he said, “The message for today is, ‘Love One Another,’ and until we begin doing that, there won’t be any more messages.”
Slowly, a rather strange thing happened. People began turning to one another, talking with each other, praying for each other, and even opening their wallets and giving money to those near them who were going through difficult times financially. Eventually, they did hear other messages from the Pastor, but they did learn that important messages bear repeating.
— How’re we doing with this, Church?
joescheets 