Pause in Advent No 4

Today is the last Sunday in Advent, next week is Christmas Day itself. Our Advent Box today at church contained a Wise Man and a Shepherd from our Nativity Set - to remind us that Jesus came for all people everywhere and also for the outcast and the lonely. The wise men came from the East and the shepherds were outcasts in their day, yet both were present to see the Son of God come to dwell with us. Who are the outcasts in our society today - remember that Jesus came for them too.

Also at church today we did a version of  Deal or No Deal - the TV show where contestants chose boxes which contain prizes. In our version each contestant chose a box number then before opening it they were offered another prize - they had chose either what they could see or what was in their box. The prize they were offered was always better than what was in the box. The point of this being that God will always offer us something better than we can find elsewhere. His deals are always better than those of the world - especially at this special time of the year we should remind ourselves that the baby in the manger is the best gift of all.

Jesus Is The Point

Another great offering from youtube.

A Pause in Advent - 3

Today's Advent Box contained a kaleidoscope! One of the lovely old-fashioned tin kaleidoscopes - which are actually very hard to find today in the toy shops. When you look through a kaleidoscope you see many different coloured patterns which are changing, you can't really describe them to other people, they have to come and see them for themselves. So it was for the shepherds out in the fields that first Christmas. Yes the angels visited them and told them all about what wonderful thing had happened, but they had to go and see for themselves. They had to go and visit the stable and see the baby Jesus for themselves. And so it is for us too today. We can listen to other people tell us of the marvels and wonders of God and of his love for us, but we really need to see him ourselves. So this Christmas find time to kneel in wonder at the manger for yourself, to reflect on what the coming of Emmanuel - Christ with us - really means for your life.

A Pause in Advent 2

Today's Advent Box in Church contained a surprise - a chocolate egg! Not what you would normally expect at Christmas time, we normally have chocolate eggs at Easter time! The first Christmas brought many surprises. Mary was surprised when the angel visited her and told her she would have a baby. The wise men were surprised to find the King born in a lowly manger. The shepherds, outcasts of their day, were surprised to be included in such a wondrous event. Christmas and Easter are linked together, the baby born in the manger was foretold as was his sacrifice for each one of us. We need to remember that God often surprises us in many ways and that the cross lies behind the manger!

This post is part of A Pause in Advent over at http://trocbroc.blogspot.com/

Bethlehemian Rhapsody

This was shared on Facebook but I thought I would post it here too.