I really like Advent. Great season for anticipation, which is my
favorite word for Christmas. This past
Sunday the seasonal emphasis for the day was Joy. Again, how can you beat a whole day that is
dedicated to being joyful? We started
out the service by defining the word.
One of our college girls who was home for the holidays helped me out on
that one. We were discussing what the
best way to explain the concept would be to a three year old. I have a lot in common with three year
olds. We like to see things rather than
just talk about them. So I wanted to
demonstrate the Hebrew word for joy.
Lora and I gave our best demonstration of leaping and twirling. Actually she did much better than I did,
since I was hampered by that nagging knee injury. I have to say, though, that we were both put
to shame in the category of frolicking by the little baby goats in the video we
saw. Very cute. If you want to check it out, see: http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/b4_EdJ-XkUA?rel=0
Another example of joy was in the clip from
the movie Elf. The store manager tells Buddy
that Santa will be there the next morning, and Buddy is absolutely overwhelmed
with excitement. He shouts. He tells everyone. He stays up all night and decorates the
department so that it will be just right when Santa gets there. He even confronts the guy they hired to play Santa
because he is an imposter and not the real thing. There’s a lot of application to the way
Christians are supposed to be living in there as we anticipate Jesus to coming
back.
We have been memorizing one particular
Bible verse together for the season. Romans
15:13. Great one, because it mentions the
emphasis for three of the weeks of Advent.
The first week we read it out loud together. Last week we did a visual verse. This week we sang it. Jimmy, our worship leader, managed to somehow
make the verse fit into the tune of Jingle Bells. He did a much better job than I did,
too. It was a lot of fun. We’ll have to try that again sometime. Now I have to come up with a different way to
learn it for next Sunday. Any ideas?
My favorite part of the day came during the
last song, a very upbeat version of The Lord’s right Hand. While we sang everyone blew bubbles. That’s right.
One of our youth guys gave everyone a bottle of bubble juice, and we all
blew bubbles and sang. How’s that for
getting down to childlikeness? Great
fun. Like I said, I have lots in common
with three year olds.
So next Sunday’s emphasis is love. Guess I’ll have to start ruminating on that
one. Creative ways to express God’s
love. Hmm …
Romans 15:13 says, “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in
him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”
Father, thank you for the whole idea of
Joy. Makes for a much more pleasant
approach to life. Amen.
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