I love being a member of the Baptist denomination of Christians. The other day I posted about the Body being so fractured and contentious that it is rendered ineffective. Generally speaking, though, unless we bite and tear at one another, there are worse things than a bit of denominationalism.
There is one thing that I miss from my days serving in the Presbyterian church, however, and that is the celebration of Advent. Celebrating Advent (and Lent) adds richness to the celebrations of Christ's birth and death, respectively, a layer of meaning we desperately need in this day.
I made the statement to my mother recently that "I hate Christmas." (Such a paragon of spiritual virtue am I!) What I meant is that I hate what we have made of the Christmas season. It has become all about decorating and purchasing, seems like; and, I've found myself thinking on more than one occasion, "Where is Jesus, in all of this mad scramble?" Some Christmas Eves past I have found myself thinking, "Thank God. It's over." My children are older now, which seems both easier, yet much less special in some ways. I miss, for example, how they would sneak around to try to find their gifts or would shake the packages under the tree. "Oh yeah...for sure it's clothes."
This year, I want to add back into my celebration of Jesus' birth the aspect of Advent, that time of preparation of my heart for His arrival. My three loved ones will be invited to participate. If you want to do that too, we need to get started tomorrow, the first Sunday of Advent, which is also Day 1 of Advent. Focus on the Family provides some free resources for families to use to celebrate Advent. They are my go-to source for this venture. Here is the link:
It may be that your own denomination provides resources for Advent, and if so, I invite you to take advantage of those.
You may have recognized the title of today's post as coming from the Christmas hymn, "O Come All Ye Faithful". It's the first line of the chorus. I've heard the phrase "For He Alone is Worthy" substituted for the former phrase in some renditions. Put together, they summarize what should be our attitude leading up to and through the Christmas season:
"O Come Let Us Adore Him,
For He Alone is Worthy.
Christ the Lord!"
His coming! Such marvelous grace! Such humility! Philippians 2:6-11 --- (The Message version)
He had equal status with God but didn’t think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn’t claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death—and the worst kind of death at that—a crucifixion.
9-11 Because of that obedience, God lifted him high and honored him far beyond anyone or anything, ever, so that all created beings in heaven and on earth—even those long ago dead and buried—will bow in worship before this Jesus Christ, and call out in praise that he is the Master of all, to the glorious honor of God the Father.
Dear Father,
If I'm devastatingly honest I must admit that I've prepared my house more for Christmas in years past than I've prepared my heart. I want this year to be different. In Jesus' name, amen.
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