|
REFLECTION FROM THE PASTOR
With a chill in the air and mistle-toe appearing in
stores and homes Christmas is not far off. Here at
the church we are busy preparing for extra special
Advent Sundays that will encourage, inspire and
challenge our Christmas season to new heights of
understanding and connection. I find that we have to
be intentional in our connecting with the season. If
I just let it happen and unfold without some
purposeful seeking or searching for the Christ in
Christmas I miss out on God’s new message for this
particular year. I can get so wrapped up in the busy
movements surrounding Christmas that I neglect to
center my thoughts each day on Christ and his
message for me in the moment. What is it that Jesus
wants to teach you this Christmas season? Is there
more to learn?
Have we heard the message of
Christmas so often that it has become veiled behind
a curtain of glitter and garland? With that said,
how might we capture the spirit of Christmas once
again as if we were experiencing God’s gift for the
very first time? I suggest that we all make a plan
to start out our days in Advent with a reading of
Scripture and prayer for insight and application.
There are helpful Advent devotions that can be
acquired online or in your local Bookstore. Or you
can divide up the Christmas passages in the Gospels
and Old Testament to read and meditate on throughout
the 24 days of Advent. The point is if we don’t have
an intention a plan to focus our thoughts each day
in Advent we will miss out on the deeper blessings
of Christmas waiting for us to discover and enjoy.
Start with the passage below. How does this passage
inform your Christmas spirit?
“Have this attitude in yourselves
which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He
existed in the form of God, did not regard equality
with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied
Him-self, taking the form of a bond-servant, and
being made in the likeness of men (Philippians2:5-7)
MerryChristmas,
Pastor Mike
|
