Advent: Hope

Stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.
-Luke 21:28 (NRSV)

Wow, here it is, Advent season again. A time when the church basically remembers to be watching for Christs return. A few years ago, I decided to give up something for Advent, I tried to give up rich foods and desserts until Christmas, hoping that my heart might be more open to the presence of Christ. It was a challenging sacrifice, and I didn't fair so well.

When suffering, hardship, or disaster come, are we ready to stand firm and place our hope God? I recently read an article online about a South African who spoke about her families history, they lived during the beginning of apartheid. Families were taken in trucks from their homes and towns and taken into exile to the so-called homelands. Singing arose on those trucks as loving parents comforted their children and offered songs of hope.

In dark times gifts of memory and hope comfort us, bringing strength to stand in the face of cruel injustice. God give us the strength to stand for you. To hope in you, and to find strength in You during this Christmas advent season. Remember to reach out to those around you who find this time of year difficult. Show them the Hope of Christ

Live it out

Today is the time to begin to live Worship! Not tomorrow, not yesterday, not the new year.

Everyday we have to choose. We can choose to live the same old way or we can start to live it to our best through living a life of worship. Does this mean we need to go around singing, dancing and praising every minute of the day? By no means. What I mean is living in integrity and being thankful for what God has done, and is doing.

So how do we begin to live a life of worship? Forgiveness is a place to start. If we hold anything against anyone or towards God we can't live our lives in worship.

Next, give honor and glory to God. God does so much for us each day that we don't give Him credit for, So take time to thank God for the simple things.

Next, pray. The word says to pray without ceasing. This doesn’t mean that every word from your mouth should be a prayer, it simply means that we need to stay in contact with God through our thoughts. When we do, we have less time to think about distractions that try to take us out of our lives of worship. We tend to forget about distractions and difficulties when we are focused on prayer!

Then we should take time each day to read the bible. when we do this we are actually hiding God's word in our heart. God will help us to understand His word and hide it in our hearts. You don’t have to memorize large parts of scripture. But if you take verses and meditate on them you can absorb these truths. They will help you to make better decisions while you are living your life of worship.

Last but not least you must take time to worship and praise. take the time to worship God in the way he designed for you. Whether it's on your face, or bouncing around the room, just take the time. You will find your freedom in praise when you are by yourself, but I encourage you to bring it to the sanctuary on Sunday. It is contagious. the more people who begin to feel free on Sunday, the more others will join, and soon we will all be worshiping freely in many different expressions