Happy Advent!

This is a repost of the Advent post from 2013. :)

Happy Advent!


The word Advent derives from the Latin word meaning coming. Basically, it is a countdown to Christmas day from the first Sunday after Thanksgiving and can also be thought of as a new year of the Church. The Lord is coming. During Advent we recall the history of God's people and reflect on how the prophecies and promises of the Old Testament were fulfilled. This gives us a background for the present. Today we can reflect on the past track record of God and so begin to understand what it means to us now for the sake of what is to come, in our own future and that of our world.

As mentioned earlier, Advent worship is like a journey through the Christmas story and most often people use Advent wreaths for the same. The circle of the wreath, made of evergreen branches laid flat, remind us of God, His eternity and His mercy, both which have no beginning or end. The four candles on the wreath represent the hope, preparation, joy and love, where the third candle is light pink and all others are purple, as seen in the figure. These are lit in the same order, one every Sunday. 

The first candle symbolizes faith in God keeping his promises to humanity. Read Romans 15:12-13

The second reminds Christians to "get ready" to receive God. Read Luke 3:4-6

The third candle recalls the angels joyfully singing about the birth of Christ. Read Luke 2:6-15

The fourth reminds Christians that God loves them enough to send his only Son to Earth. Read John 3:16-17

There are many more interpretations of the candles - hope, peace, love and  joy or God's people, the Old Testament Prophets, John the Baptist and Mother Mary. Please have a look at references 2-4 for various interpretations, prayers and references from the Bible for each week.

The final central candle, the Christ candle is lit the day before Christmas and symbolises what John 8:12 says, When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (NIV)

References:

1. http://www.catholic.org/clife/advent/advent.php?id=5

2. http://livinghopeomaha.wordpress.com/about-living-hope/bible-stud/the-meaning-of-the-advent-wreath/

3. http://resources.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/customs/adventwreath.html

4. http://www.patheos.com/blogs/markdroberts/series/advent-devotional-guide-preparing-for-the-coming-of-christ/

P.S.:Thank you Navya Varghese for reminding me :)
This post might be updated or further new posts added from time to time. Please check the main blog.

God Will Make a Way - Don Moen

- Anonymous
See more here: http://www.crosswalk.com/church/worship/song-story-god-will-make-a-way.html

Isaiah 43:19New International Version (NIV)

19 See, I am doing a new thing!
    Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness
    and streams in the wasteland.

An impossible situation might make you feel more depressed than excited. Don Moen’s song “God Will Make a Way” sprang from this kind of episode, a tragedy in his family In 1990, his sister’s family lost their oldest son in a car accident, as they were travelling between Texas and Colorado. Moen was unable to be with them in the aftermath, due to a previously scheduled recording session, but in his grief for them, he found solace by writing the song’s words on an airplane trip the following day.

Isaiah’s words (Isaiah 43:19) comforted him, so he rephrased them for the song’s lyrics. Friends of the family’s son came to accept God, because of the promise of heaven, and of seeing him again. The family’s own lives were fed as they involved themselves in their local church in a deeper way.

Fruit comes about in ways we don’t expect, Moen’s sister remembers.

Have you lost someone close? How are you dealing with it – does life seem unfair, maybe even impossible to comprehend, in death’s wake? There’s but one way to manage life, when death intrudes. It’s not pie-in-the-sky to hope in God and to prepare for a home with Him. I believe. If you don’t, what have you got to lose if you change your mind today? That’s what Don Moen and the prophet Isaiah have to say. There’s a way He’s made, though I cannot sometimes fathom it.

Lyrics:

God will make a way
Where there seems to be no way
He works in ways we cannot see
He will make a way for me
He will be my guide
Hold me closely to His side
With love and strength
For each new day
He will make a way
He will make a way

By a roadway in the wilderness
He'll lead me
And rivers in the desert will I see
Heaven and earth will fade
But His Word will still remain
He will do something new today

Buy this song on iTunes here: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/god-will-make-way-best-don/id626456799
See it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsMAXhc0QTs

Trofim Dimitrov & Thomas Hudson

- Anonymous

Psalm 5:11-12New International Version (NIV)

11 But let all who take refuge in you be glad;
    let them ever sing for joy.
Spread your protection over them,
    that those who love your name may rejoice in you.

12 Surely, Lord, you bless the righteous;
    you surround them with your favor as with a shield.

Trofim Dimitrov

Trofim Dimitrov could hear the dogs barking long before he reached the pit. On the way, he prayed fervently for his enemies, the guards, who then threw him down, naked to the hungry dogs.

Immediately, a great howling was heard. When the officers looked down into the pit, they saw Brother Dimitrov kneeling in prayer and the dogs in panic.

Barking wildly, the dogs were trying to jump the walls in order to save themselves from the strange power emanating from him!

Thomas Hudson - England 1558

The crowd looked on, curious at what the martyr would do next.  Thomas Hudson had come this far without denying his faith. The bishop had questioned him again and again, he'd not weakened in prison, and now he was walking to the place of execution. At the last minute, would he recant?

Just before the chain around him was made fast, Hudson stooped, slipped out from under the chain, and stood a little to one side. A hush came over the crowd-everyone wondered why he hesitated. The Christian prayed. Only Hudson knew the real reason he had stepped down. At the last minute he had suddenly been attacked with doubts and felt his faith grow weak.

Not willing to die while feeling this way, he fell upon his knees and prayed to God, who sent him comfort. Then he rose with great joy, as a reborn man, and cried, "Now, thank God, I'm strong. I don't care what man can do to me!"

Going to the stake again, he put the chain around himself. The fire was lit.