SIMPLICITY IN CHRIST: "Be Thou My Vision"

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SIMPLICITY IN CHRIST: "Be Thou My Vision"

For years this hymn has been my go to song…from the time I was “in the convent” back in the late 1960’s to this very day no matter my Christian context. And recently it has been my morning song as I awaken the dawn walking in my area — even as the darkness is departing and my neighborhood owl is singing out the final hoo-hoo of his “day.”

And so I sing…even aloud…despite the high school young people passing me by on their way to the bus stop, wondering about this weird, white haired woman softly singing. I love the focus. I love the plaintive melody. I love my indwelling God who draws me toward thoughts of HIM Alone. And I love the story behind the song…

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My Word for 2022: SIMPLICITY

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My Word for 2022: SIMPLICITY

Drum Roll please … simplicity is the word the Lord has given me for this year. And actually, it came to me during my devotions about a month ago.

I had been feeling like we Christians can make everything about knowing God and living the Christian life so complicated and sometimes, so intense. It was then that the Holy Spirit brought me again to a cherished, heart-warming, favorite verse of mine BUT in a different translation:

But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
2 Cor 11:3 NKJV

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A WORD of the Year Received

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A WORD of the Year Received

Here we are again, friends. Another year has past, and for many it’s a time for the infamous “New Year’s Resolutions.” But several years ago I turned away from that initially hopeful, but later, dreaded “setting yourself up for failure,” tradition to a new thing altogether.

And thank God, because 2020 and 2021 destroyed any expectations and traditions I may have expected to rehearse again this year. So my yearly quest to discern my God-given word of the year stood me in good stead during these years of amazing change.

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Post Christmas Comfort: Fear Not...Emmanuel Finally & Forever (Part 3)

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Post Christmas Comfort: Fear Not...Emmanuel Finally & Forever (Part 3)

As the old year is coming to a close and the holiday glitz and cheer have dwindled, what is rushing in?  Anxieties and fears for today and the year yet to come? Then hear these words again from your Creator and Savior:

Fear not, for I am near you!

Fear not, for I am closely associated with you! I've gone through it all too!

And now finally and forever...

Fear not, for I am united with you forever...we are one!

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Post Christmas Comfort: Fear Not! Emmanuel, One of Us (Part 2)

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Post Christmas Comfort: Fear Not! Emmanuel, One of Us (Part 2)

As near as God has always been to His people, when Jesus Christ, the Son of God, pierced through and entered our human history, everything changed.

But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman... Galatians 4:4

God came closer still... He became one of us and so He took on our fears, the greatest of which is our separation from Himself.  Even though God was nearby, there was separation...until Jesus!

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Post Christmas Comfort: Fear not...Emmanuel Still! (Part 1)

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Post Christmas Comfort: Fear not...Emmanuel Still! (Part 1)

Now that gifts are unwrapped, the food at least half-eaten, the many emotions grabbing at us during the season fading, the loneliness getting deeper and the grief, abandonment, "being left out" -- all having left their wounds...and the dread of bills looming in the back of our minds…we feel lost!

So enters in...fear! Yes, fear!

As we meditate on story after story of the coming of Jesus, the Son of God, to our fear-infested, dangerous, earthly, human existence, we hear His message…

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Are You Shipwrecked at the Stable? Brennan Manning

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Are You Shipwrecked at the Stable? Brennan Manning

The shipwrecked at the stable are captivated by joy and wonder. They have found the treasure in the field of Bethlehem. The pearl of great price is wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. Everything else is cheap, fake, painted fragments of glass. . . .

Jesus Christ is of no importance unless he is of supreme importance.

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4th Week of Advent: I Wonder as I Wander

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4th Week of Advent: I Wonder as I Wander

My friend Penny is a walker (a very serious, fast walker, by the way).  But Penny doesn't just walk for exercise, she also "walks" closely with the Lord.  So when Penny shares, I listen. And when she shared about a favorite Christmas carol, it made me take notice. Why?  Because while walking, Penny has been doing what this song describes.

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A Cappella "Mary, Did You Know?"

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A Cappella "Mary, Did You Know?"

While we were traveling to be with our daughter and family for Christmas a few years ago, a dear friend shared a link to this article from GodTube via Facebook. I couldn’t resist passing on the backstory as well as this unique rendition of this most moving of contemporary Christmas songs.

Why not meditate afresh as you read and listen. And a blessed Christmas to you and yours!

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Advent Devotions: Hail, the Incarnate Deity!

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Advent Devotions: Hail, the Incarnate Deity!

We would give up everything we've ever written to have penned this one verse, a stanza that comes as close as is humanly possible to capturing the splendor of who Jesus is. 
Jesus Manifesto: Restoring the Supremacy and Sovereignty of Jesus Christ, by Leonard Sweet & Frank Viola, p. 173-174

What is that one verse? that one stanza?  Authors Sweet & Viola are referring to the last stanza of the well-known carol, Hark, the Herald Angels Sing.

In my opinion, however, it isn't just the last stanza that is all glorious with the splendor of Christ...it's the entire song. In fact, even the stanzas that were removed* from the older version are splendid indeed.  But I'm getting ahead of the story.

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Advent Devotions: Us with GOD

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Advent Devotions: Us with GOD

A few Advents ago, I met a new-to-me British author, Tim Chester, through his Advent devotional The One True Light. I’ve loved this little volume that has led me year by year through the first eighteen verses of the Gospel of John.

Well, this year I discovered his other two Advent books: The One True Gift (On Philippians, chapter 2) and The One True Story (on the story of Christ through the Old Testament to Jesus’ Coming). So this year, each Advent day finds me meditating through all three, each one in turn.

The books are not coordinated, but one day in reading all three, a thread grabbed and entwined me in an amazing truth: Jesus is not only Emmanuel, God with Us; He is also Emmanuel, Us with God!

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3rd Week of Advent: EMMANUEL, Our God is WITH Us

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3rd Week of Advent: EMMANUEL, Our God is WITH Us

If ever we needed to know God is WITH us in every possible way, it's NOW, after another year of the unanswerable "why's" of life.  We struggle to make sense of all the violence, suffering, and injustice we see all around us.  Though we can't know the answers, we can turn afresh to the One Who has us in the palm of His Hand. The God Who became One of us...flesh and bone and joint and sinew...who experienced every emotion possible, raw and gripping, tender and affectionate!  He felt it all!  And He feels our current struggle with us too!

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Reflections on Emmanuel, God WITH Us

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Reflections on Emmanuel, God WITH Us

Emmanuel…a Christmas Reading
by Kathy Compton

Christmas means different things to different people. For some, it is a difficult holiday because of memories that are cherished…but they are just memories now.

There is an emptiness about Christmas. 

For some, it is the delight of family and friends, of decorations and cards, of cookies and carols. There is a fullness about Christmas.

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2nd Week of Advent: the Really Good News -- GOD with US!

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2nd Week of Advent: the Really Good News -- GOD with US!

"The Good News isn't just that Jesus died for our sins.  The Good News is EMMANUEL...GOD WITH US!"  So declared Deb at the end of our Bible Study.

As John and I drove home that evening, we reflected on her statement.  We recalled a conversation we had had years before when we were discussing what the heart of the gospel ("Good News") is.   The Good News isn't just that our sins are forgiven so we can go to heaven someday (and now we just do the best we can in the meantime).

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Of the Father's Love Begotten ... Emmanuel

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Of the Father's Love Begotten ... Emmanuel

For the past several years, I have been following an Advent devotional by a British author Tim Chester. One of the unique things that the author does is quote some “unknown to me” hymns and carols. However, the other day I recognized the final lines of each stanza in the quoted hymn of the day. Sure enough! I had been listening to that very carol each year on an old Christmas CD in our collection.

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1st Week of Advent: O Come, O Come, Immanuel

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1st Week of Advent: O Come, O Come, Immanuel

When I was a child, I always loved Advent.  There was a melancholia, a longing...but mixed at the same time with anticipation and hope. How did I get all that as a child?  I'm sure I didn't, except to say that maybe all the sights and sounds and smells...all the scriptures and songs and prayers and stories of the "liturgical celebration" weren't entirely lost on me, nor on many of you.  The reality of our God-Man Jesus has grown in me over the years as I've walked and talked with my Savior.

But whether you have had that sort of background as a child or not, why not journey with us these next weeks.  Take it all in as if for the first time...all the sights, sounds, and smells...all the scriptures and songs and prayers and stories.

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