December 7, 2014 Advent Devotional - Peace

Today's devotional readings from the LEC Family Advent Devotional are Matthew 11:25-30 and Philippians 4:7.

And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, 

will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.  

In 1955, Sy Miller and Jill Jackson, wrote the song "Let There Be Peace on Earth."  That same year, they introduced the song to a group of teenagers selected from their high schools to attend a week-long retreat in California.   Sy Miller wrote in his own words what happened:  “One summer evening in 1955, a group of 180 teenagers of all races and religions, meeting at a workshop high in the California mountains locked arms, formed a circle and sang a song of peace. They felt that singing the song, with its simple basic sentiment – 'Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me,' helped to create a climate for world peace and understanding."

When I was in elementary school, our chorus sang the song "Let There Be Peace on Earth."  I was chosen to be part of a group that sang the descant on the last chorus of the song.  I remember singing that song at MYF meetings - yes, I'm old enough to remember when we were the Methodist Church!  I remember singing it in church as a young mother.  And I still enjoy singing -- from memory -- that song that I learned so many, many years ago.  I was a child of the '60s but must admit that I did not know about all of the strife and war that was waging in the world at the time.  And certainly during these times of international and domestic strife, this song has special meaning.  But there's one phrase that resonates with me -- "and let it begin with me."  My prayer today, as we light the second Advent candle of peace, is that we remember, as today's devotional writer wrote, that "Jesus came to bring God's peace into chaotic hearts and a fearful world.  May we all make room in ourselves that God's peace may live in us and hence through us."

 Today's Advent Photo of the Day

#peace #pictureadvent

This is one of my first songbooks and probably the first place, besides singing this song in my elementary chorus, that I sang and played along "Let There Be Peace On Earth."  It was the Genesis Songbook compiled by, none other than, Carlton "Sam" Young.  The copyright on the book is 1973 -- my senior year in high school.

December 6, 2014 Advent Devotional - Still

Today's devotional reading from the LEC Family Advent Devotional is Psalm 46:10.   

He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; 

I will be exalted among the nations, 

I will be exalted in the earth.”   

This picture is of a plaque I have hanging over my bedroom door.  My bedroom is my sanctuary, my place of calm -- we even painted it blue not too long ago because blue is supposed to be a calming color.  But it also reminds me each morning as I start my day to be still, listen to God, and know that he is with me.  Today's devotional writer reminds us to "center ourselves on the simplicity of the event (Christmas) by bringing stillness into our season.  And with this, we will have the accompaniment of a deeper essence to the nature of the Christ child."  I am all too familiar with the hectic nature of this season.  Besides the normal Christmas activities of family gatherings, parties, baking, shopping & wrapping Christmas presents, decorating the Christmas tree, I am also ALWAYS in the throws of preparing a Christmas cantata with my choir for our church.  This is one of the reasons that I am focusing this Advent season through this devotional.  It allows me about an hour each morning to be still, read God's word, and have him tell me what I should know.  I hope you will watch the following YouTube video of a presentation of "Be Still," a choral anthem written by Herb Frombach and Mary McDonald, and take a few moments to center yourself for the day before you start your hectic, pre-Christmas activities.

 Today's Advent Photo of the Day

#still #pictureadvent

This picture was taken this summer at the Life Enrichment Center.  I am the president of the Florida Chapter of the Fellowship of United Methodists in Music and Worship Arts and every summer we sponsor a Church Music Workshop.  This past summer the theme for our 58th Annual Church Music Workshop was "Seeing God with New Eyes" and we were asked to post pictures through the week of where we saw God.  Not surprisingly, most people saw God in nature, in the stillness of the morning or the last rays of the day.  "Be still and know that I am God."

December 5, 2014 Advent Devotional - Teach

Today's devotional reading from the LEC Family Advent Devotional is Deuteronomy 6:4-9 --  Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.  Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.  These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts.  Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.  Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.  Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.  This verse is called the Shema which means "to hear" and is one of the most sacred and special verses to the Jewish people.

I found this very interesting flow chart for this verse that shows the importance that this instructional verse is to Jewish parents:

In today's LEC Advent Devotional, the devotional writer asks us who are the people in our past who taught us about faith in Jesus Christ, what things did we do with this person, and how can we pass on these traditions of faith to the next generation.  One of my fondest memories of growing up in the church is of a lady we called "Aunt Becky."  She didn't have any children of her own, so we were ALL her children.  She was our children's choir director, and I remember her teaching us songs that we sang in church.  For the past 25 plus years, I have been a part-time church music director, and every church that I have served in, I have had a children's choir.  Perhaps the reason that I have always made it a priority to have a children's choir is because of that early memory that I have and the foundation of faith that I learned from those songs.

Today's Advent Photo of the Day

#teach #pictureadvent

This is a picture of a wooden recipe box that was my grandmother's.  Many of my fondest childhood memories are baking with my grandmother.  She owned a roadside bake stand and when I visited in the summer, she would let me bake with her and sell whatever I baked.  I received the money from the sale of my baked goods.  I still love to bake and, in fact, have just rekindled that love of baking.  I have a new stand mixer and have tried to recreate many of the favorites that my grandmother baked.  Now that I have many of her recipes, I hope to be able to leave this legacy for my children and grandchildren.

December 4, 2014 Advent Devotional - Share

Today's devotional reading from the LEC Family Advent Devotional is Luke 3:11.  It is easy to take this passage literally and inspect how well we personally help those in need.  And this is a great lesson for our children and is the back bone of our response to mission ministries.  But I also think the challenge that the devotional writer has made --  "You have a treasure in your possession and you have the ability to show or share that treasure.  The question is -- will you?" -- is one that is a harder response to make.  The scene leading up to this reply by John is his rebuke of those coming to him to be baptized.  The last thing that John wanted these Jewish people to think was that they were entitled and that they would automatically be part of the family that God had promised to Abraham so long ago.  They also didn't need a bunch of rules to follow.  They needed some basic principles to prepare themselves and show that they were serious about their desire to be God’s people.  Being God’s people required a new way of life and a new way of thinking. They would no longer be able to think only of themselves. They needed to learn principles of serving and loving others and thinking of others' interests even before their own.  

The devotional writer ends with the following thoughts about John Wesley:  "John Wesley reminded his early Methodist constituents to adhere to this principle as he concluded his covenant prayer with that focus on giving as an act of glorifying God." 

I freely and heartily yield all things to thy pleasure and disposal.

And now, O glorious and blessed God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit,

thou art mine, and I am thine.

So be it.

And the covenant which I have made on earth,

let it be ratified in heaven.

Amen.

Today's Advent Photo of the Day - Share

#share #pictureadvent

 

When my granddaughter was 3, she wanted to give her pennies to help people.  So she counted all of the pennies she had saved and she and her mother went to the grocery store and bought canned goods to donate to their local rescue mission.  My granddaughter also colored a picture for the people (my daughter gave the picture to a man that was sitting outside of the mission; he told her it reminded him of his grandchildren) and she donated the pennies that she didn't use to buy her canned goods.

 

 

December 3, 2014 Advent Devotional - Pray

Today's devotional reading from the LEC Family Advent Devotional is Colossians 4:2.  The key words of this scripture are "watchful" and "thankful."  Watchful is defined as being carefully observant or attentive.  Dare we say that this is probably not something that most of us do.  We may think that we're observant.  We're told to be aware of our surroundings when we're walking in parking lots.  We're told to watch out for our neighbors through Neighborhood Watch programs.  We think we're attentive to our children but often find that we're tuned out when they ask us a question.  Perhaps the key to this scripture is the verb -- "devote."  We need to give ourselves over to prayer and purposefully observe the blessings that God gives us and thank Him for these blessings.  One of the most popular anacronyms for prayer is ACTS -- Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication.  Or how about PRAY -- Praise, Repent, Ask, Yield. 

Today as you enter into your own time of personal prayer, devote yourself to praying watchfully and thank God for the blessings He has given you.  I also challenge you to pray for those who are hurting during the holiday season.  For many, this is not the joyfully celebration time that most of us enjoy because of personal losses in their lives.  One of my favorite anthems is by Pepper Choplin, "Pray for the People."  I encourage you to listen to this song and pray for the person on your left & your right that you meet each and every day.

Today's Advent Devotional Photo of the Day - the Prayer Labyrinth at the Life Enrichment Center
#prayer #pictureadvent

December 2, 2014 Advent Devotional - Darkness

Today's devotional reading from the LEC Family Advent Devotional is John 1:5 -- The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.  

Advent Photo for Today -- #darkness #pictureadvent

I take a Vitamin D supplement every day because my Vitamin D levels tend to be low and I've found that it affects many things with my health -- especially lower back pain.  I've been told that if I get out in the sun more (even just 10 minutes a day) that it will help my Vitamin D levels.  Now I live in Florida, so you'd think that I would be able to get at least 10 minutes a day of natural, from-the-sun, Vitamin D.  But evidently I don't.  So I pop one 2000IU of D3 every morning and get another 1000IU in my multiple vitamin.  Of course, the analogy in this scripture is that Jesus is the light and Satan is the darkness.  Wouldn't it be nice if we could just pop a Vitamin D3 "Jesus" pill every day to put his light into our world?  But we all know it's not that easy.

December 1, 2014 - Advent Devotional

Today's devotional reading from the LEC Family Advent Devotional is Mark 1 and specifically, as it relates to Advent and our preparation for the coming of the Messiah, the quote from Isaiah 40, verse 3:  

“I will send my messenger ahead of you,
    who will prepare your way^" —

“a voice of one calling in the wilderness,
‘Prepare the way for the Lord,
    make straight paths for him.’”

Having been a church music director or involved in worship ministries for over 25 years (plus working another full-time job on top of my part-time church job), I learned early that I needed to prepare for Christmas early.  For many years, I have put up my decorations and tree on Thanksgiving weekend because I knew if it didn't get done then, it might not get done until the week before Christmas.  My time to prepare in the past few years has not been as crucial as in the past, but I still make sure I have everything finished during the first week of Advent so that I can enjoy the decorations and the lights.  So this past weekend, I took down all of my Thanksgiving decorations and started putting up my Christmas decorations.  One of the first things I did on Sunday was to get out my Advent wreath.  Since this year I am purposefully preparing during this season of Advent by blogging, I felt it was appropriate to focus at the beginning of each week of Advent by lighting my Advent wreath.

Advent Photo for Today - #pictureadvent

My prayer is that you will prepare your hearts for Jesus' coming in the same way that you prepare your house for Christmas - with care and love.