Devotional for the week of Dec. 24 & Christmas Day

Choose someone to light the first candle from three weeks ago.
Choose someone to light second candle from two weeks ago.
Choose someone to light the third candle from last week.
Choose someone to light the fourth (red) candle.

Scripture Reading: Matthew 2: 1—12.

Devotional:

Look under your Christmas tree. There’s been a lot of fuss to get those gifts there, hasn’t there?

You started thinking about the important people in your life. You thought about the kind of gift that would make them happy. You made a decision. You shopped. Maybe you even checked around on-line. You had the gift wrapped. You signed the card. And, be honest, you probably checked out the ones for you and tried to guess what might be in there.

We enjoy giving gifts. We like getting gifts, too. They’re signs of love from people who care about us.

Some really smart folks saw a star in the eastern sky. The star hadn’t always been there. They noticed it as something different and followed it to Jerusalem. These priests and sages must’ve had some powerful connections, too, because they were able to meet with Herod…the king.

“Where’s the King?” they asked.

A strange question to ask a king, don’t you think?

“We need to worship Him,” they said. “We’ve brought gifts.”

A strange thing to tell a king, don’t you think?

Herod is disturbed. He calls his top advisors and asks them to comb the Old Testament and figure out when and where this Messiah is to be born. The manage to find Micah 5: 2 and it tells them: Bethlehem. In Judea. The new King is going to born, ummm, well, right here, sir.

Herod calls the visiting sages and asks them how long they’ve been traveling and when they first saw the star. He tells them to find the Messiah. And when they do, make sure to let him know, okay?

The wise men still followed the star. Took them right to the house where the family lived. They saw the Child…a toddler. They gave the family gifts…fit for a king. Money. Rare presents. These “outsiders” worshiped the King…while His own nation tended to ignore him.

And that’s what Advent is about.

The Child is born. The Savior of the World. Worthy of our worship. Worthy of our gifts.

Because the people who lived in darkness now have a Great Light.


For Christmas Day:

Choose someone different to light the four candles.

Scripture Reading: Revelation 21: 12--17, 20 & 21

Advent.

People living in darkness seeing a great light.

And the reality is that He will have another "advent." He will come again, and we wait in hope. The reminder this Christmas Day is in that very reality, that He will come again for His people and establish His throne forever.

Amen.

Have the head of the household light the center candle.

Reflect on there is now a Great Light to the world through a time of silence and prayer.

Leave them lighted until your gift giving is complete.

Devotional for the week of Dec. 17

Choose someone to light the first candle from two weeks ago.
Choose someone to light second candle from last week.
Choose someone to light the third (purple) candle for this week.

Scripture Reading: Luke 2: 1—20.

Devotional:

We have streetlights. Every house has electricity. We have plenty of businesses open. Cars drive using headlights. It doesn’t really get dark in our city, even at night.

In the winter of 4 or 5 B.C. on a hillside near Bethlehem it was seriously dark. No streetlights. No electricity. No businesses open. No cars. Maybe a campfire here or there, but that’s pretty much it.

And a group of young men were still awake, doing their job. They’d been busy all day tending the sheep. Keeping the snakes away. Making sure predators didn’t devour their animals. Keeping thieves from taking them. Being a shepherd required the same diligence during the night time.

Then a blinding light. The kind of light only an angel of the Lord can bring. The kind of light that makes you fall on your face and cover up to keep your eyes from hurting.

Then a voice tells you not to be afraid. And not only that, but then the angel tells you the best news anybody has heard for some 400 years: The Messiah has been born. You can go see Him. He’s about two miles away, in a feeding trough.

Nothing else is important. The snakes, the predators, the thieves, the sheep. Just get there. See the Messiah. Run. Faster. The kind of adrenaline rush that makes your heartbeat pound in your ears. Just get there. See the Messiah. That’s all that really matters.

The teenagers burst in on another teenager. Now she’s a mom. The father’s there, too. They see the baby. Yep, right there in the feeding trough. They tell the new parents the story of what happened on that hillside. An angel. The Messiah. That’s why we’re here.

Mom treasures these things in her heart. It’s been an interesting 9 months to say the least.

And the shepherds go back, praising God for what they saw that night outside Bethlehem and seeing the fulfillment of prophecy. They’ve seen first-hand that God is at work in their history…and that reality is life-changing. Everything in their life has changed because they’ve seen the Messiah. God is at work. The Messiah is alive, and I’ve seen Him. And that changes everything. It will be an interesting 33 years, to say the least.

Devotional for the weekend of Dec. 10

Choose someone to light the first candle (purple) from last week.
Choose someone to light the second candle (purple) for this week.

Scripture Reading: Luke 1: 13—23, 26—38.

Devotional:

Two angelic announcements.
Two different responses.

Zacharias and Elizabeth are old. Don’t be offended. That’s how Zacharias describes himself and his wife in verse 18. But they are told that they’ll have a baby boy. They’re supposed to name him John.

John’s going to be one interesting fellow, too. He will be joyful and be glad. People will be happy that he was even born. He’ll be great in God’s eyes. He’ll never touch alcohol. He’ll be filled with the Holy Spirit (which didn’t happen to everybody in the Old Testament, either) even while he’s in Elizabeth’s tummy.

He’ll be pretty remarkable, too. Lots of the sons and daughters of Israel, God’s chosen people, will turn back to the Lord their God. He’ll even have the privilege of announcing that the Messiah is coming.

Remember that silence we learned about last week? The one that lasted 400 years? Yeah, well, that’s going to be over soon. In nine very short months. The people living in darkness will see a great light.

An angel told Zacharias these things. But it didn’t sound right. He’s old, remember? So’s his wife. Too old to be having children, anyway.

The angel told him he wouldn’t be able to talk until the child was born. See, Zacharias didn’t believe what the angel told him.

Mary is young. Probably somewhere between 14 and 17. She was engaged to be married to Joseph. From what we can gather she’s a pretty good girl, too. She’s also related to David…the great king of Israel. Remember what we read in Isaiah? Yeah. THAT King David…the one in which the Messiah would sit on his throne.

An angel told her she was going to have a baby, too. He’ll be pretty remarkable, too. He’ll be the Son of the Most High. God will make this baby a king who sits on the throne of David and rules over the nation of Israel. His kingdom will never end.

Yeah. That’s a great light to people in darkness.

An angel told Mary these things. He also told her nothing is too hard for God to accomplish. Mary said that she would be the Lord’s willing servant, no matter what the cost to her personally.

Two angelic announcements.
Two reactions: one lacking faith and one showing a deep faith.

What's our reaction to the absolutely amazing reality that a virgin will bear a child? And what does that mean to us today?

Suggested Activity for teenagers for the week of December 3!

Make a "date" or "appointment" with your teen(s). It doesn't have to be anything fancy...just some time where you can get together alone with them. One suggestion is just to have a family-style meal time together. No television. No answering the phone. Just arrange a time when you'll be together.

Have that meal around your Advent wreath and light some other candles, too, if needed.

Read the Scripture used in the devotional.

Tell your teen a story of your favorite Christmas and tell them why it was.

Ask them which one has been their favorite thus far and why.

Then tell you teen the story of how your life is more abundant because Christ is in it. In other words, share your "testimony" with your teen. If you've already done that and are sure they know it, share with them the current work of Christ in your life and what feelings/emotions/thoughts this brings out in you.

Ask them to tell you what their favorite story about Jesus is and why. Really listen to their response. Ask them to describe their thoughts about Christ and what, if any, reality that has in their day-to-day life.

Ask them what your family can do to make this holiday season more meaningful than those in the past. What attitudes or actions would need to change in either of your lives to make this happen?

Children's Activity for week of December 3!

You'll need a flashlight.
You'll want to get to a very dark room (maybe a closet or bathroom with no windows, etc.).

Get in the room with your child(ren) and turn the lights off.

Ask the questions to your child: What are you thinking right now? What are you feeling right now?

Tell your child(ren) a story of when you were younger that involved darkness. Being in the dark and having something uncomfortable or scary or maybe bumping into something. Something along those lines.

Turn the flashlight on.

Pose a question to your child(ren): How is having the light on better than being in the dark? Do you feel any different? What are the good things that light does for you that darkness can't?

Ask your child(ren), "How is Jesus like a light?"

Discuss with your child how the world was once "dark" to you. It doesn't have to be detailed or too "deep," just how you were "lost." Talk about how Christ showed you the light. Talk about how Christ is like a light to you.

Devotional for the week of December 3.

For the week preceeding December 3, 2006.

Choose someone to light the first (purple) candle.

Scripture Reading: Isaiah 9: 2—7.

Devotional:

400 years.
The people of God hadn’t heard a prophetic word from God in 400 years.
That’s roughly 20 generations…almost twice as long as the United States has even been a nation.
That’s roughly 20 generations of silence from their Heavenly Father.

You can imagine what those times would be like if you hadn’t heard a word from Him in 400 years: Darkness.
No vision. No direction. Can’t see what’s ahead. Can’t really see what’s behind you either. Just surrounded by pitch black darkness.

And then the lights come on!

Can you imagine?

Look at the tenses of the verbs in these verses! They “will see” and lights “will shine” and they “will multiply.” These are words of certainty. They will happen. People who live in the darkness will see a great light.

This light will make them glad, like when the sale is made and the money comes in. Like when the war is won and the celebration begins. Like when an innocent prisoner is released. Like when the work is finished and the day is done.

A child will be born. A son.

He will be a King.
He will have a name: Wonderful Counselor.
He will be God—our Father, who has been such since the beginning of time.
He will bring peace on earth.
He will be a descendant of David
His government will have no end.

And there will be justice and righteousness…

…from then on and forever. Because of the passion of the Lord.

That is light.
That is what eliminates and and all darkness.
The people living in darkness WILL see a great light.
And that gives hope.
And that is something to look forward to.

Getting Started: The Advent Wreath

You might find it helpful to make or purchase an “advent wreath.” They can be found in many Christian bookstores and on-line shops in a variety of styles and prices. If you choose to make one, all you’ll need is some evergreen foliage (real or artificial, which you can round into the shape of a wreath), three purple candles, one red candle and one larger white candle. The colors and such from purchased wreaths may vary as different churches use different symbolism.

Explanation of the wreath:

The circle made by the wreath reminds us that God has no beginning and no end.

The green color is symbolic of life, in this case, eternal life.

The candles symbolize Christ as “light of the world.”

The space between the candles (which should be placed at “2, 4, 8 & 10” if the wreath were a clock face) represents the four centuries of waiting between Malachi’s prophecies and the birth of Christ.

The colors of the candles (which vary widely depending on church traditions) as we chose them are:
Purple: Royalty. Obviously symbolic of Christ being King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
Red: Joy.
White (the candle placed in the center of the wreath): The “Christ candle,” white for His purity, and central location reminds us the “heart” of the message: Bringing light to the world.