One year my husband and I attended a church conference in Kansas, and stayed part of the time with friends who lived on the outskirts of a small town not far from our conference site. The town was so small that it had just one restaurant, one pizza place, one traffic light.
After the busy days of meetings in over hundred-degree weather, it was wonderful to return to their quiet town and their cool guest quarters in the basement of their home. We shared a light evening snack, some good conversation, and had a wonderful time together.
Once we were home, we decided to send our friends a thank you gift for their hospitality, and settled on a small wood carving by an Indigenous artist. We wanted to send them something unique to the West Coast where we live, and since our friend was a woodcarver, we thought they would both appreciate the beauty of the wood and the craftsmanship. What’s more, the card that came with the carving said that while the eagle is a symbol of power, eagle down is a symbol of friendship. That seemed like just the right gift for our friends.
In a letter to the Thessalonian church, Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy ask, “How can we thank God enough for you in return for all the joy that we feel before our God because of you?” (1 Thessalonians 3:9). The choice of words in the original Greek means “to give back as an equivalent.” So the force of their question is “how can we thank God in a way that’s equal to all the joy we feel?”
For the three co-workers, that was a rhetorical question. Of course there was no way they could thank God enough! The Thessalonians were their “glory and joy” (1 Thessalonians 2:20). They could never give back to God an equivalent gift of gratitude.
Perhaps that’s why they kept repeating their thanks over and over throughout their letter:
- In their introduction immediately following their opening words of greeting: “We always give thanks to God for all of you” (1 Thessalonians 1:2)
- As the letter recalls how the Thessalonians first came to faith: “We also constantly give thanks to God for this” (1 Thessalonians 2:13)
- In response to Timothy’s report on his visit to the church: “How can we thank God enough for you” (1 Thessalonians 3:9)
- As the letter draws to a close: “Give thanks in all circumstances” (1 Thessalonians 5:18).
Four times in this one short letter, Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy couldn’t stop expressing their thanks to God and encouraging the Thessalonians to do the same. They could never thank God “enough,” but that didn’t stop them from trying!
Like Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, I sometimes ask myself, how can I thank God in a way that’s equal to all the joy I feel? How can I thank God in a way that feels just right like the eagle carving felt just right for our friends?
I know I can’t possibly give thanks enough for all the blessings I’ve received: for God’s constant presence and generous provision, for the people that God has graciously brought into my life, for the wonder of creation all around me. Nothing seems big enough to express my thanks to God. Yet like Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, I won’t stop trying to express my gratitude.
With Psalm 30:11-12, I can say:
You have turned my mourning into dancing;
you have taken off my sackcloth
and clothed me with joy,
so that my soul may praise you and not be silent.
O Lord my God, I will give thanks to you forever.
This then is my gift of gratitude—not that it will ever be enough, but like the psalmist, like Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, I’ll keep on giving thanks in all circumstances.
image by Flash Alexander on Pixabay
Looking for inspiration for your celebration of Celtic Advent and Christmas, or looking forward to Lent and Easter? Or perhaps you are looking for a gift for a friend who could use some encouragement. These cards include 10 prayers inspired by ancient Celtic saints like Patrick or contemporary Celtic writers like John O’Donohue. A short reflection on the back of each card will introduce you to the Celtic Christian tradition, along with prayers by Christine Sine and imagery crafted by Hilary Horn. Also makes a lovely stocking stuffer! Celtic Prayer Cards can be used year-round or incorporated into various holidays. Available in a single set of 10 cards, three sets, or to download.
Today I pulled out my Celtic-themed labyrinth and walked its path, reciting the prayer above. I will do this every day throughout this second week of Celtic Advent. This is also the last official week of the church year and for me, and for many others, the culmination of our season of gratitude which ends with American Thanksgiving on Thursday.
I love that when I celebrate Celtic Advent, the beginning and the ending of the year intertwine like this. In this week we are reminded that each year begins and ends with giving thanks, a circle of delight in God’s world in which the beginning and ending are woven together. It reminds me of how I begin a new ball of wool when I am knitting. I don’t tie a knot; I tease out the threads of the new and old balls and weave them together. The end of the old supports the beginning of the new. This is more profoundly expressed in life where the old falls into the ground and nourishes the new. The new needs the nourishment of the old to flourish. All that was good, all that was challenging, all the hope and the despair of the past are not discarded, they are woven into the new.
I love too that the liturgical year begins before the secular year does. It reminds me that the practice of my faith, the solid bedrock of Christ’s presence in my life, provides the foundation on which all of my life rests.
Celtic centrepiece (c) Christine Sine
This has been particularly meaningful for me as I set up my Celtic garden and the centerpiece on our table this year. Everything is recycled, drawn from the treasure trove of special items gifted to me over the years. Yet already there is a beautiful newness emerging as I use these to write new prayers and create new and meaningful practices. The old and the new are interwoven. Without the old foundations there would be no dreaming, no imagination and no new creativity.
Walking the labyrinth, even a finger labyrinth, is a great way to stir our imaginations and our creativity. I extoll the virtues of labyrinths in my last book The Gift of Wonder
Labyrinths are used not only for prayer and healing, but also to get ready for meetings, to break through writer’s block, and to cure insomnia. Labyrinths provide a legitimate pathway for questioning and problem solving. Finger labyrinths can be found in third and fourth century churches. Their circuits are well worn by the passage of innumerable fingers “walking on pilgrimage” to the center and out again.
It seems weird, but research suggests that when we trace a finger labyrinth with our non dominant hand, it accesses our intuition and helps stir our creativity. (The Gift of Wonder 88)
I encourage you to draw from the joys and despairs, from the grief and gratitude of your past to create new symbols of hope for the future. Perhaps, like me, you need to create an unusual Advent centrepiece this year that helps you enter into the wonder of the season in fresh ways. Or you might like to use a finger labyrinth to help stir your creativity. If you don’t own one, create one using this fun exercise adapted from The Gift of Wonder, or download one. Or, find a labyrinth near you and set aside time to walk it each day. There are lots of possibilities.
At the least, walk the path of a finger labyrinth and recite a prayer like the one above or a psalm like Alex Tang suggests. For this week I did a bible search of all the scriptures that mentioned walking. I decided not to use a psalm but chose this beautiful scripture from Isaiah 2:3-5
Many peoples will come and say,
“Everyone, come! Let’s go up higher to Yahweh’s mountain,
to the house of Jacob’s God; then he can teach us his ways
and we can walk in his paths!”
Zion will be the center of instruction,
and the word of Yahweh will go out from Jerusalem.
4 He will judge fairly between the nations
and settle disputes among many peoples.
They will beat the swords they used against each other
into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks.
No nation will take up weapons against another,
nor will they prepare for war anymore.
5 O house of Jacob, come let us walk
in the wonderful light of Yahweh!
The words let us walk in the wonderful light of Yahweh really impacted me. Combined with my prayer and my labyrinth walking they provided a rich foundation for my meditations this week.
I hope that this kind of practice will guide and inspire you this week too and help you intertwine the end of one liturgical year and the beginning of the next.
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An enriching accompaniment to Christine Sine’s latest book The Gift of Wonder, our online course will have you remembering childhood stories, doodling for fun, painting on rocks, relearning the awe and wonder of nature walks, and so much more. We invite you to reawaken your inner child and rediscover the depths of awe and wonder that reconnect us to our passionate God who delights in life, celebrates with joy, and exudes a sense of awe and wonder! Click here to sign up for 180 days of access to retreat at your own pace. Don’t have the book yet? Don’t worry… Click here for the book, and click here for all the related resources!
A contemplative service with music in the spirit of Taize. Carrie Grace Littauer, prayer leader, with music by Kester Limner and Andy Myers.
Permission to podcast/stream the music in this service obtained from One License with license #A-710-756 with additional notes below:
“Da Pacem Cordium” Copyright and all rights reserved by GIA/Les Presses de Taizé
“See I Am Near” Words, Music by Taizé copyright © 2008 GIA/Les Presses de Taize. All rights reserved.
“Atme In Uns” Copyright and all rights reserved by GIA/Les Presses de Taizé
“Lord Be With Us Kyrie” Text and music by Kester Limner, shared under the Creative Commons License, Attribution (CC-BY)
“Parable Song” Music by Kester Limner and Andy Myers, text by Kester Limner, shared under the Creative Commons License, Attribution (CC-BY)
Thank you for praying with us! www.saintandrewsseattle.org
by Tom Sine
IT IS TIME TO GO INTO EMERGENCY MODE
After extending the COP26 climate negotiations an extra day, nearly 200 countries meeting in Glasgow, Scotland adopted on Saturday an outcome document that, according to the UN Secretary-General, “reflects the interests, the contradictions, and the state of political will in the world today”.
“It is an important step but it is not enough. We must accelerate climate action to keep alive the goal of limiting global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees”, said António Guterres in a video statement released at the close of the two-week meeting.
The UN chief added that it is time to go “into emergency mode”, ending fossil fuel subsidies, phasing out coal, putting a price on carbon, protecting vulnerable communities, and delivering the $100 billion climate finance commitment. We all need to not only ask how much time do we have to move out of Emergency Mode for this created world, our most vulnerable neighbors and for Generation Next? 13 November 2021 UN News: Climate and Environment.
Can you remember when you first became concerned about our shared environmental future? Can you remember what first awakened your concern? I got my first environmental wake-up call on that first Earth Day, April 22, 1970. I was working at Maui Community College in Hawaii. As a young 30 year old I prided myself on keeping up on what we called “current events” but we had no sense that our world was changing. On that first Earth Day our president invited Dr. James Dator, a professor from the University to come and share his projections for the future as we were racing towards the year 2000. Many of us including the Faculty and students were just as overwhelmed by his daunting projections…particularly for the projections he made for the global environment.
That afternoon a group of 40 students walked down three blocks to a motel on the beach that routinely put its garbage on the beach for the ocean to take away. They filled 50 large bags with the garbage and took it into the lobby. I came along to see what would happen. To my surprise by 5 pm the manager of the motel, who was very angry, caved in and promised to hire a garbage service.
Dr. Dator’s address was a wake-up call for me too. I resigned my position as Dean of Students at Maui Community College and two months later I moved to Seattle to pursue a PhD in History and a strong minor in Environmental and Urban Forecasting.
Remarkably my first course was on the future and the past was entitled “Utopia/ Dystopia.” It was taught by a professor named Frank Herbert. Only after we started meeting for classes in his living room did I discover he was a science fiction author who was very concerned about the future of the environment. Frank became both a friend and a mentor in helping me learn how to anticipate some of tomorrow’s concerning problems.
Several years later Frank and his wife moved to Port Townsend. Out of his keen concern for the environment, he constructed a huge windmill in his backyard, and bought one of the earliest electric cars, never going back to a gas station again.
Only when the new Dune movie came out did I learn about what motivated his strong concern for the environment that played a very direct role in writing Dune. By the way, the movie is many times better crafted and reflective of Dune than the first film. Do view it on the big screen if possible.
John Notarianni recently wrote in his article How an Oregon battle between human and nature inspired Frank Herbert’s Dune:
“Frank Herbert’s epic 1965 science fiction novel Dune tells the story of a future civilization fighting to control precious resources on a harsh desert planet. The book has been praised as the first major ecological science fiction novel and spawned decades of subsequent novels and on-screen adaptations.
“But while the story of the clash of civilizations on the planet Arrakis is set in a time and a place far away, Herbert’s inspiration for the story came from a battle between man and nature in the rolling sand dunes of the Oregon coast.
In the early 20th century, the coastal Oregon city of Florence was under threat of being consumed by the nearby dunes that were being whipped across human structures by the coastal winds. Roads, railroad tracks, even homes were being swallowed up by blowing sand. Starting in the 1920′s, the US Department of Agriculture ran a program to try and stabilize the dunes by planting European Beach Grass. The hope was that its dense roots would hold the sand in place and prevent it from burying nearby cars and homes.’
Herbert came to Florence in 1957, planning to write an article documenting this battle between man and nature. He was awestruck by the power of the blowing desert sand.“Like you can tell from his books, he was interested in everything,” says Meg Spencer, District Director of the Siuslaw Public Library District. “He took a flight over the dunes, he took multiple photographs, he walked out onto them.”
Herbert finished his article on Florence, but it was never published. Instead, he began to dig deeper into desert ecosystems and human interactions with nature. “The experience here seeing the dunes — and the interaction between the people here and the environment they were living — that really did become the center of Dune and Arrakis,” says Spencer.
But it was the ecology of the desert he witnessed in Florence that most inspired Dune’s setting onArrakis. “It’s easy to say he was prescient,” Spencer said, “but maybe it’s better to say he was far-sighted. He saw how that interaction between people and the environment could result in chaos and unintended consequences.”
Dune tells the story of a civilization struggling to balance their relationship with an unforgiving natural world, and the unintended consequences of their actions. Ironically, that same struggle is playing out today on the sand dunes of Florence. The efforts to plant European beach grass did manage to hold the dunes in place, “but what they discovered is that the beach grass is also an invasive species,” Spencer says. “The amount of land that is the sand dunes has decreased and decreased, year by year.”
“It’s a perfect example of the unintended consequences you see in Dune,” Spencer says. “Now there’s a lot of work being done to remediate that, to allow humans to go on living here successfully and having roads and buildings, but also trying to make sure that we save this incredibly special gem that we have.”
Still, the sand dunes of the Oregon coast retain the majesty that inspired Frank Herbert more than 60 years ago. Spencer says she feels the alien landscape of Dune every time she visits.
photo by Paul Brennan on Pixabay
‘Tis the season to celebrate the Reason–the Light of the World born in a humble manger. Explore Advent and Christmas alongside Christine Sine and others in one of our Advent devotionals, bundled with beautiful Prayer Cards! Waiting for the Light: An Advent Journal + Prayer Cards is more than a devotional; it is a complete guide to the Advent and Christmas season, providing liturgies, weekly activities, and daily reflections to equip and nourish us all through the season. Lean Towards the Light This Advent & Christmas is our newest resource, perfect for the times we are living in, and comes in several bundles, including downloadable forms and bundles that include a journal to enrich your quiet time. A Journey Toward Home: Soul Travel from Advent to Lent + Prayer Cards approaches the rich seasons of Advent to Lent playfully, yet with yearning and determination, providing daily reflections from many theological and cultural perspectives, shared family activities, and recipes that will enrich the season for all seekers. All these Advent resources and more can be found in our shop.
by June Friesen,
Universal Children’s Day is to bring awareness for all children worldwide to have a right to education in a safe and comfortable environment.
When I think of children and how one can honor them, I am reminded of something someone told me when my first child was born. It was about respect and how even a baby deserves respect. You may react, but that doesn’t even matter to the baby. May I give you an example? Most of the first few weeks of a baby’s life are spent eating and sleeping. To show a baby respect one should respect the baby’s sleeping and feeding schedule even if it may be a bit different than you would choose. One thing I was taught and appreciated was to let a baby sleep even when there were visitors, even if the visitors wanted to hold the baby. If they wanted to see the child, let them observe them sleeping if they were sleeping. Yes, preparing a child for a more healthy life begins in the home environment. And then when the child moves outside the home environment there should also be that space where they can feel safe whether that is in the school and/or public setting. Jesus encouraged the people when they were around Him to allow the children to be a part of the gathering as well. And when the children wanted to go and sit with Him or stand beside Him He welcomed the opportunity to include them. Luke’s gospel records Jesus’ response in one situation:
People brought babies to Jesus, hoping he might touch them. When the disciples saw it, they shooed them off. Jesus called them back. “Let these children alone. Don’t get between them and me. These children are the kingdom’s pride and joy. Mark this: Unless you accept God’s kingdom in the simplicity of a child, you’ll never get in.”
Yes, Jesus invited the children to be included in His surroundings. Another place where it talks about the children is in the march into Jerusalem at the Passover time just before Jesus’ crucifixion. It tells us that the children were singing and waving palm branches.
As I did some research on the meaning and purpose of this day, I found that we are encouraged to spend positive time with our children and especially to spend time in the outdoors and in nature. It is a time to encourage appreciation for God’s wonderful gifts in nature and even help in understanding how important many elements of nature are to our lives. It can be an opportunity to possibly even plant some plants and/or garden; or maybe harvest some fruits, go fishing or just take a nature exploration/education hike.
It could be a time for a family/church/school picnic or potluck with a focus on the children. There could be crafts, movies, storytime, all with the opportunity of building wholesome identity and relationships. Make it a time that is all about the children being appreciated and respected as individuals. Maybe an appropriate ending would be a time of blessing for each child present which could be done in several ways verbally, a specially chosen gift (can even be homemade), a prayer, etc.
May I encourage us to embrace the children around us today. The children in our family, the children in our neighborhood, the children in our churches, the children in our schools, the children we know as well as the children we do not know, the children in our own country as well as the children in all the other countries of the world….. Prayer is another way that we can make a difference whether it is praying for someone we know or someone we may not know except by name or even unnamed.
The future is a gift – it is a gift that has been given to you and to me by those who have gone before us. It is now a gift for you and I to hold carefully and pass on to the children coming after us. May it be a gift well cared for by us so that our children will also learn to care for it well and have the opportunity to also pass it on to the generations to come.
TO EMBRACE AND BUILD THE WONDER OF A CHILD
God, you gifted the world with children
Children filled with wonder, curiosity, sensitivity, and gifts,
You placed them in our care to love, to teach and to lead,
To nurture, to protect and do our best to meet their needs.
God, you desire that all children worldwide be cared for and loved,
Children of different colors, with different languages, and different cultures,
Different understandings of who You are, yet desiring a relationship with You,
So that they may find purpose and security in their lives as they grow.
God, sometimes as adults we forget what it was like to be a child,
We tend to get so focused on the future of the child/children
We neglect the present need(s) and desires,
And miss the opportunities You give us to prepare them for their place in the world.
Today as I listen to their questions and observations
So innocently spoken to anyone, everyone or to no one in particular
May I too be able to see the world around me with the eyes of a child,
Let me behold with wonder the hopping of a frog, the sniff of a puppy,
The purr of a kitten, the sweet smell of a rose, the freshness of cold water,
The delight of a puddle to step in, the ouch of a sharp thorn,
Yet in it all realize that it is for a moment and then it is on to another moment.
God, what a wonderful creation you blessed the world with–children so innocent and pure; entrusting them into the care of adults for protection and nurture until they are grown. May we be found faithful in caring for them while we truly see the gift they are to us every day, even in the troublesome spots. Thank you, God, for the wonderful gift of children. Amen.
‘Tis the season to celebrate the Reason–the Light of the World born in a humble manger. Explore Advent and Christmas alongside Christine Sine and others in one of our Advent devotionals, bundled with beautiful Prayer Cards! Waiting for the Light: An Advent Journal + Prayer Cards is more than a devotional; it is a complete guide to the Advent and Christmas season, providing liturgies, weekly activities, and daily reflections to equip and nourish us all through the season. Lean Towards the Light This Advent & Christmas is our newest resource, perfect for the times we are living in, and comes in several bundles, including downloadable forms and bundles that include a journal to enrich your quiet time. A Journey Toward Home: Soul Travel from Advent to Lent + Prayer Cards approaches the rich seasons of Advent to Lent playfully, yet with yearning and determination, providing daily reflections from many theological and cultural perspectives, shared family activities, and recipes that will enrich the season for all seekers. All these Advent resources and more can be found in our shop.
Being grateful for having a toilet must be one of my passions because I wrote an article for Godspace last year on this–although for some reason I did not post it on my own blog!
To be honest I do have a bit of a toilet obsession, having suffered with IBS for a time, until firstly I stopped gluten and dairy. I did that for a while and then got into QEC Counselling – which I do know I bang on about but it has changed my life. I do still worry about knowing where toilets are and if there are too many people in the house for the amount of toilets. Yes, it is a thought that passes through my mind. And I am sure I am not the only older person who feels that way!
I met up with some older ladies in the park dog walking the other day, and they were doing the thing old people can be guilty of – saying the younger generation don’t know they’re born lucky- and one of the things was about outside toilets. Both ladies remembered having to go out into their backyards to use the toilet and worrying about spiders and other creepy crawlies. Though both did admit they wouldn’t go back to those days; it is alright to reminisce and look through rose-tinted glasses, but we do all like our inside flushing toilets and do very much take them for granted.
But imagine not having a toilet at all, or when you did go out to a shared outside toilet there was a chance of being bitten by poisonous spiders or snakes, or for the girls, the fear of being raped. And the cleanliness of these holes in the ground is not good at all.
The statistics on the United Nations World Toilet Day 19th November website are sobering.
- Globally, at least 2 billion people use a drinking water source contaminated with feces.
- Every day, over 700 children under five years old die from diarrhea linked to unsafe water, sanitation, and poor hygiene.
- 3.6 billion people live without access to safely managed sanitation [There are about 7.9 billion people in the world so that means nearly half of them do not have safe, clean water to drink or hygienic places to go to the toilet – I wonder how they feel about the whole “wash your hands for 20 seconds in hot water” mantra?]
But did you also know that for every dollar spent on hygienic sanitation and clean water $5 dollars gets saved in medical costs? Wow, so little can save so much.
But it doesn’t only save on medical costs, it helps with productivity in the workplace. Imagine being a woman without proper sanitation during your period or when pregnant! But when money is spent on toilets in the home, in schools, in the workplace, these women are not only safer and healthier but also able to reach their full potential and truly fulfill their role in their society. They would no longer be marginalised, fearful and “unclean”.
Sanitation is one of the basic human rights recognised by the UN which are not being met in far too many places. Perhaps as we move towards Advent and Christmas we should see how we can help promote human rights in countries that too often get ignored. One way is to sponsor a toilet via Toilet Twinning, and check out the UN website for ways to learn more. Be alert and aware as to how blessed we are in the West and how much we take for granted, and be willing to see what more you can do.
You might feel like just a drop in the ocean but if all the drops in the ocean stopped being drops then the seas would vanish. If each of us is our little drop then we can change the world.
Photo from World Toilet Day
Join us TOMORROW! There’s still time to sign up –even if you aren’t able to join live, if you sign up you will have access to the full retreat to watch and participate in later! Join Christine Sine and Lilly Lewin THIS Saturday, November 20th 9:30-12:30 PST (check my timezone) for an interactive, multi-sensory, creative retreat focused on the WONDER OF ADVENT! Come with a creative heart, be inspired, have fun, and reconnect with the WONDER of the season. And did you know? If you have attended a retreat with us before, we offer a discount. We also offer a group discount for groups over 5. Email us to get the code!
We are continuing our Gifts of Advent Series by opening the Gift of Roots and Rootedness and looking at the Family Tree of Jesus in Matthew 1 and the Root of Jesse passage in Isaiah 11.
I’ve been thinking a lot about family. After the absence of family gatherings last year, it is a welcome change to be able to get together in the same place. As we in America head towards Thanksgiving, I’m excited to get to celebrate the holiday in Denver with both of our sons.
What is our legacy of family? What about our roots? Our family tree? It’s fun to learn more about where we come from and our heritage.
Have you ever really thought about the family tree of Jesus?
READ or LISTEN TO THE GENEALOGY OF JESUS in Matthew 1:1-17
This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah[b] the son of David, the son of Abraham:
Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar, Perez the father of Hezron, Hezron the father of Ram, Ram the father of Amminadab, Amminadab the father of Nahshon, Nahshon the father of Salmon, Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab, Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth, Obed the father of Jesse, 6 and Jesse the father of King David. David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah’s wife, 7 Solomon the father of Rehoboam, Rehoboam the father of Abijah,
Abijah the father of Asa,
Asa the father of Jehoshaphat,
Jehoshaphat the father of Jehoram,
Jehoram the father of Uzziah,
Uzziah the father of Jotham,
Jotham the father of Ahaz,
Ahaz the father of Hezekiah,
Hezekiah the father of Manasseh,
Manasseh the father of Amon,
Amon the father of Josiah,
and Josiah the father of Jeconiah[c]
and his brothers at the time of the exile to Babylon.
After the exile to Babylon: Jeconiah was the father of Shealtiel,
Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel,
Zerubbabel the father of Abihud,
Abihud the father of Eliakim,
Eliakim the father of Azor,
Azor the father of Zadok,
Zadok the father of Akim,
Akim the father of Elihud,
Elihud the father of Eleazar,
Eleazar the father of Matthan,
Matthan the father of Jacob,
and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, and Mary was the mother of Jesus who is called the Messiah.
17 Thus there were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to the Messiah.
What do you notice from the passage that you didn’t notice before?
What questions come up for you as you read or listened to the passage?
What did you notice about the family tree of Jesus?
You can READ the Genealogy of Jesus in other translations
Think about your relatives, the ones you love and the ones who drive you crazy. When you think about your favorite relative, who comes to mind?
When you think about your least favorite relative whose face appears? Why is it so easy to love some folks and so hard to love others? Talk to Jesus about this.
What gifts did your family give you ? Love of nature, sense of humor, spirit of adventure, love of books, cooking, generosity, faith, hospitality? What else? Take some time to be grateful.
Take some time to pray for your family members…
There might have been a lot of negative things in your family…No family is perfect. They all have problems, and there is a great deal of brokenness in many families. Lots of us have worked on our issues in therapy and twelve-step programs and with lots of prayer.
Jesus had an imperfect family too. His family tree reveals the beauty and wonder of God…the human side of Jesus. His relatives might not be invited to some gatherings…they all had their issues, yet they are in the family line of Jesus. And listed in our Bibles for all of us to remember!
The Family tree of Jesus included Prostitutes, Refugees, Cheaters, and a Murdering King, yet they all are included in His lineage. These people prepare us for the type of ministry Jesus will have when he grows up!
One filled with grace and love for ALL PEOPLE!
What hope does this give you?
NOW Consider your Spiritual Family Tree. Who has given you spiritual roots? Who are the people on your spiritual family tree? Save the TREE THE COLORING SHEET below or draw out a tree of your own and fill in the branches. Take time to pray for and thank God for these people who have given you roots and helped you grow.
Your Spiritual Family Tree
Who are you helping get rooted in Jesus? Ask Jesus to show you…take time to pray for this person or persons.
READ ISAIAH 11: 1-10 NIV
A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.
The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him—
the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and of might,
the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord— and he will delight in the fear of the Lord.
He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes,
or decide by what he hears with his ears;
but with righteousness he will judge the needy,
with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth;
with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked.
Righteousness will be his belt
and faithfulness the sash around his waist.
The wolf will live with the lamb,
the leopard will lie down with the goat,
the calf and the lion and the yearling[a] together; and a little child will lead them.
The cow will feed with the bear,
their young will lie down together,
and the lion will eat straw like the ox.
The infant will play near the cobra’s den,
and the young child will put its hand into the viper’s nest. 9 They will neither harm nor
destroy
on all my holy mountain,
for the earth will be filled
with the knowledge of the
Lord
as the waters cover the sea.
In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his resting place will be glorious.
Amaryllis Bulb
Maybe you’ve been feeling like a withered stump rather than a flowing, growing tree…maybe you need to remember your roots that are deep down in the soil.
Ask Jesus to show you more about your roots of faith today. Then imagine a new shoot growing up out of that old stump.
What new growth needs to happen? What new growth do you want to see happen this Advent season? Talk to Jesus about this.
We have a tradition in our family of planting Amaryllis Bulbs during Advent and Christmas each year. They are really ugly bulbs that grow into beautiful flowers. You might consider planting one and watching it grow and bloom this holiday season. Allow Jesus to speak to you about all he is growing in you as the Amaryllis grows.
Listen to this:
****FEATURED ART is called “SEEN” By my good friend Scott Erickson You can purchase his art and a “SEEN” print here. Scott has a great Advent devotional filled with his amazing work called HONEST ADVENT. Take some time to visit his website and follow him on INSTAGRAM for daily devotions. @scottthepainter
©lillylewin and freerangeworship.com This devotion was a part of our thinplaceNASHVILLE house church this past week. please email me if you’d like a PDF of the whole thing. freerangeworship@gmail.com
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