Advent 2017

New Beginnings: See? I Am Doing a New Thing!—God

Introduction

God challenges us to new beginnings; because it’s part of His plan for renewal, and He reminds us not to live in the past: “Forget about what’s happened; don’t keep going over old history. Be alert, be present. I’m about to do something brand-new. It’s bursting out! Don’t you see it?” (Isa. 43: 18-19a, MSG).

Yet although life is filled with new beginnings, as creatures of habit we may prefer that our circumstances remain the same. Furthermore, this preference may not only apply to positive situations but to negative or harmful ones, too. How can this be? Do people really prefer the consistency of bad events over trying new experiences, and how is this possible? You may be familiar with the expression, “Better the devil that you know than the devil you don’t.” This saying means that it’s better to deal with unpleasant or negative individuals or circumstances with which you are familiar versus risking a change and finding yourself in even worse situations. And this fear may underlie the reasons some folks resist change. Therefore, we may need to pray that God help us to be open to a new start in our lives, because God promises, “I’m about to do something brand-new…,” (Isa. 43: 19a, MSG), and He invites us to join Him in His recreation.

Consequently, this year’s Advent theme will focus on “New Beginnings: See? I am doing a new thing!--God” But what is Advent? “Advent” means the arrival of an important individual, thing, or event. Christians celebrate Advent to commemorate the birth of Christ. Each year the season of Advent begins on the Sunday that falls between November 27th and December 3rd and lasts for 4 Sundays leading up to Christmas. Then the new Christian year begins with the 12-day celebration of Christmastide, which is from Christmas Eve until Epiphany on January 6th.

[see http://www.christianity.com/christian…/…/what-is-advent.html ] We will again refer to the symbolic candles that are used in the traditional Advent wreath to reflect upon and wend our way through the series of new beginnings associated with the Nativity account. Advent wreaths usually consist of an evergreen wreath surrounding 3 purple candles (Hope, Preparation, and Love), 1 pink candle (Joy), and the white, Christ Candle. As in past years, we will continue our meditations through to Epiphany.

Please join me for this journey of New Beginnings, and may you be blessed by the meditations and challenges to discern the new things that God is doing in your heart and life.

Suggested Daily Scripture Readings:

Sunday-- Isaiah 43: 16-19

Monday—Isaiah 42:1-9

Wednesday—Lamentations 3: 19-26

Thursday—2 Corinthians 5: 15-21

Friday—Isaiah 62: 1-5

Saturday—Ephesians 5: 17-24

Blessings and Peace

Elizabeth Hogan Hayduk

Former Salvation Army Officer (pastor)

CanadaGod challenges us to new beginnings; because it’s part of His plan for renewal, and He reminds us not to live in the past: “Forget about what’s happened; don’t keep going over old history. Be alert, be present. I’m about to do something brand-new. It’s bursting out! Don’t you see it?” (Isa. 43: 18-19a, MSG).

Yet although life is filled with new beginnings, as creatures of habit we may prefer that our circumstances remain the same. Furthermore, this preference may not only apply to positive situations but to negative or harmful ones, too. How can this be? Do people really prefer the consistency of bad events over trying new experiences, and how is this possible? You may be familiar with the expression, “Better the devil that you know than the devil you don’t.” This saying means that it’s better to deal with unpleasant or negative individuals or circumstances with which you are familiar versus risking a change and finding yourself in even worse situations. And this fear may underlie the reasons some folks resist change. Therefore, we may need to pray that God help us to be open to a new start in our lives, because God promises, “I’m about to do something brand-new…,” (Isa. 43: 19a, MSG), and He invites us to join Him in His recreation.

Consequently, this year’s Advent theme will focus on “New Beginnings: See? I am doing a new thing!--God” But what is Advent? “Advent” means the arrival of an important individual, thing, or event. Christians celebrate Advent to commemorate the birth of Christ. Each year the season of Advent begins on the Sunday that falls between November 27th and December 3rd and lasts for 4 Sundays leading up to Christmas. Then the new Christian year begins with the 12-day celebration of Christmastide, which is from Christmas Eve until Epiphany on January 6th. [see http://www.christianity.com/christian…/…/what-is-advent.html ] We will again refer to the symbolic candles that are used in the traditional Advent wreath to reflect upon and wend our way through the series of new beginnings associated with the Nativity account. Advent wreaths usually consist of an evergreen wreath surrounding 3 purple candles (Hope, Preparation, and Love), 1 pink candle (Joy), and the white, Christ Candle. As in past years, we will continue our meditations through to Epiphany.

Please join me for this journey of New Beginnings, and may you be blessed by the meditations and challenges to discern the new things that God is doing in your heart and life.

Suggested Daily Scripture Readings:

Sunday-- Isaiah 43: 16-19
Monday—Isaiah 42:1-9
Wednesday—Lamentations 3: 19-26
Thursday—2 Corinthians 5: 15-21
Friday—Isaiah 62: 1-5
Saturday—Ephesians 5: 17-24

Blessings and Peace

Elizabeth Hogan Hayduk
Former Salvation Army Officer (pastor)
Canada

New Beginnings: See? I am doing a new thing. --God

Advent, Week 1: Hope and Rose-Coloured Glasses

(purple candle: “Hope Candle”, a.k.a., “Prophecy Candle”)

What is hope? Baker's Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology  describes hope from a Scriptural perspective, noting that we are to hopefully wait for God with the assurance that He will work things out for our good (Ro 8:28). Keep in mind this definition of hope as we contemplate how it fits into the lives of God’s Chosen People—including us

When we consider daily life in previous generations, many of us are thankful for the advances in health, science, and technologies. Conversely, nostalgia causes many people to long for “the good old days” when "life was so much simpler." This yearning is known as “seeing the world through rose-coloured glasses,” which means that they only focus on the good things of the past, resulting in an unrealistic perspective. Thus, when we examine the history of the Israelites, we discover that their lives were richly steeped in cultural pride, religious tradition, and gains. However, they also faced many adverse circumstances, including daily hardships, such as struggles, slavery, and losses. [Doesn’t that sound like our lives?!] Yet after 400 years of slavery in Egypt and pleading with God for their freedom, God sent His ambassador, Moses, to announce the good news of a life-changing event -- deliverance from slavery! Finally, there was a spark of hope in their future! Yet, things would get worse before they would get better—doesn’t that reality resonate in our spirit? We know that the Hebrews did eventually leave Egypt, with many treasures being heaped on them by the Egyptian people. On the other hand, their departure did not occur until God had sent 10 plagues upon Pharaoh and his people, during which time Pharaoh’s overlords made life miserable for the Hebrew slaves. [See Exodus, chapters 1-17]

Still, they hadn't been long out of Egypt when they found themselves in an impossible situation, with the Red Sea in front of them and Pharaoh's army fast-approaching from behind. They were miraculously delivered when God parted the waters, making a dry path for them to walk on. But even after God demonstrated His mighty power and protection, whenever trouble arose, their frequent complaint was, "We would have been better off in Egypt with the devil that we know that the devil we don’t!” It’s obvious that they were passionately using their rose-coloured glasses! Furthermore, throughout the Israelites' history, we see this pattern of hopefulness and excitement when they are promised new beginnings and things are going well, followed by criticism, dejection, and hopelessness when things are difficult and unexpected. In other words, sometimes their faith was weak and sometimes it was strong—sound familiar?

We can, as the Hebrews did, relate to Proverbs 13:12, “Hope deferred makes the heart sick….” But in Isaiah 9: 1-2 we discover that the Israelites' biggest hope and deepest longings—and ours-- were about to come true: those walking in obscurity walked into hope when they saw the Light, the Messiah.

Suggested Daily Scripture Readings:

Sunday        Micah 7:  1-7

Monday      Isaiah 9:1-5

Tuesday      Isaiah 43: 1-5a

Wednesday  Jeremiah 29: 11-14a

Thursday     Romans 15: 6-13

Friday         Psalm 130: 1-8

Saturday      1Peter 1: 3-8

Blessings& Peace

Elizabeth Hogan Hayduk

Former Salvation Army Officer, (Pastor)

Canada

SUFFERING SERVANTS PART THREE OF 7

From: THE OFFICER 1991

Captain Howard Webber

Praise

Many of us have considered it at some time. The only thing that prevented me from sailing away at one point in my officership was the fact that I didn't know the where­abouts of a boat big enough for the seven of us in our household! I praise God now that there was no such es cape available, for I have dis­covered (as our opening verse said), that he was there and he did teach me; in fact he has taught me far more than I could ever have imagined.

Much is said about the peace and joy that are the possession of the disciple, but little mention is made of the suffering that is to be his possession too. Much is said of Jesus being the burden-bearer who gives relief to the heavy-laden, but little with regard to the fact that as he takes upon himself our load, it is exchanged for us sharing in his.

Promise

I've yet to meet anyone who has taken 'The world will make you suffer' (John 16:33), or 'Everyone who wants to live a godly life in union with Christ Jesus will be persecuted' (2 Timothy 3:12), out of a promise box. We are selective with regard to the promises of God we treasure and hold to our heart.

         Suffering is not nice; but a better understanding of it, willingness to accept our share of it, and the discovery of how to respond to it, might not only enrich our own relationship with and understanding of God, but make us more effective for him in a most powerful way.

         The focus of our thoughts in terms of God's call tends to be on praying, preaching, pastoring, administration and various forms of caring, but I would suggest that God's call has as much, if not more, to do with suffering with him and for him than anything else. Willingness to suffer for Christ and with Christ is the pre­requisite of true discipleship and at the heart of everything.

         Jesus said, 'If anyone wants to come with me, he must forget self, carry his cross, and follow me. For whoever wants to save his own life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it' (Matthew 16:24, 25).

`If you endure suffering even when you have done right, God will bless you for it. It was to this that God called you' (1 Peter 2:20, 21). The words 'Take your part in suffering, as a loyal soldier of Christ Jesus' (2 Timothy 2:3) have more than a heavy implication that there is a suffering set aside for us that we should bear as Christ, and for Christ, if we are to be true followers of Christ.

When we enlist as soldiers under Christ's command, we join him in his war against Satan and as Paul Rees reminds us, 'soldiers are not only in battle to shoot, but to be shot at!' Being at war, it really shouldn't surprise us either, even though it disappoints us, when some of the fiery darts that inflict the deepest wounds come from a direction that we least expect. Which wounded Christ the deeper, the Judas-kiss or the soldier's spear?

END PART THREE of SEVEN

Major Howard Webber, Retired

Bournemouth, UK