Christmas is coming....

Did you know that Christmas is coming? In just 24 days, we will celebrate the birth (and subsequent death and resurrection) of Our living Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Isn't it cool?

I come from a tradition where Advent is considered part of getting ready to celebrate Christmas. that is all I see it as, is a way to focus my heart in thankfulness to God for all that he has done for me. I know that there are individuals who don't think that advent is worth celebrating. That the roots of it are something they don't want to associate with. And though I can kinda understand it, I think that many people are like me... they just see it as something to do to help focus attentions and nothing more. The roots to things get lost over time..... making them in many ways unimportant.

Anyways, for the month of December I will do doing advent devotions. I will be taking them from a variety of sources (I think) and focusing on God and his extended grace to us. :) I will also be doing a small advent sticker thing with our boyo. I really want him to start seeing the wonder of God's grace in our lives.

Without further delay, today's reading comes from Goshen College.

The reading is taken from 1 Thessalonians 3:9-13. It reads as follows:

9For what thanksgiving can we return to God for you, for all the joy that we feel for your sake before our God, 10as we pray most earnestly night and day that we may see you face to face and supply what is lacking in your faith?
11Now may our God and Father himself, and our Lord Jesus, direct our way to you, 12and may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, as we do for you, 13so that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.

Do you see Paul's concern for the lives of other believers? How he wants to help them to grow in their faith? He is joyful in their faith in God and prays for them all the time that they may grow in their faith. he is concerned for what he sees lacking in them. His prayer is that their love for each other will increase. He wants their hearts to be blameless in holiness for when Christ returns.

We need as Christians to be concerned about the lives of other believers. We need to pray for them and encourage them. We need to point out areas in their lives where their faith could be strengthened.

I like that Goshen college includes questions with their devotionals. Here is what they asked
1. What are the ways in which we can share our love for the greater good?
2. How do we become faithful witnesses, beacons of light?
3. How do we encourage one another to move beyond our privileges (earned and unearned) to co-create a more just and equitable society?

My thoughts on this
1. I can share my love for other believers by: talking with them, encouraging them, teaching them, praying for them regularly, and living a life of faith as an example, and even sometimes challenging them to do better.
2. I can be a faithful witness best by knowing Jesus as well as I can. This impacts how I live my life. Shows me more and better ways to pray for others. Shows me more ways that I can show HIM to others.
3. This question I admit seems politically laden to me... the "just and equitable society" bit. I guess I"m not worried about making a just and equitable society as the world might see it. What I want is for God's word to be taken seriously by the world, and the way I can do that, is by living and speaking a life of mercy and of grace to all those I encounter in it.

What are your thoughts?