It's really not all that complicated...

Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 1 John 4:8 (NIV)













Love is an innate emotion in all human beings. Evidence that God is in all of us.

Yes, that's right. I'm in complete disagreement with Robert Plutchick's Wheel of Emotions which has dominated academic opinion on the matter of basic emotions since the 1980's. Bob believes trust is the emotion that initially bonds a child with their parents and only the addition of joy with trust can love then be created.

I don't know that Bob's an atheist, but if it sounds like a duck...

What I do know is the words love, joy and trust each hold a fundamental place with me personally that fit into the equation of faith. There are other variables in that equation if you want to be all scientific about it, but Paul's letter to the church in Corinth states that love, faith and hope will endure for eternity, and that love is the greatest of the three (1 Corinthians 13:13).

By the way, that fits perfectly into God is love.

The word love and variations like loved or loves are mentioned 442 times in the KJV and 697 in the NIV of the Bible. The name of God appears over 4,000 times in each. Is that significant? Not really...because each of the 807,361 words making up the Holy Bible are derived from God.

...and God is love.

I earnestly try to live every single day of my life with the impression of 1 John 4:8 stamped on my heart. Sure. There are days that I come up way short of that goal. I need to learn to be more tolerant of people like Bob Plutchick for one because God doesn't qualify whom I should love in His Word. I'm just commanded to love.

He sets the ultimate example of love for me when He came to Earth for my benefit...

Joy Has Come

One of my favorite things about Christmas is the music.  I love Christmas music. As you shop, the brightness of Christmas music can calm your frazzled nerves, give you that last push to finish, or just make you smile.  I love to bake for Christmas with Christmas music in the background.

I have many favorite Christmas songs.  One of my favorite Christmas present as a child was a record player – yes, a record play – I am that old.  With it I received a variety of 45’s to spin.  I listened to Frosty the Snowman, probably to the frustration of my parents, over and over and over and over again.   It’s hard to rank Christmas songs, but I do have a ranking.  On one side of one of those 45’s was the song Good King Wenceslas.  I wore that out too.  While you rarely hear it, and almost no one knows it, it is still my number one favorite in English.  You can sing along here.

My number one favorite all time forever Christmas Carol is a Norwegian one.  I hear it and I melt.  I think of snow and Brooklyn.  I think of Jul Tree Fests.  On a cold evening in January, holding my dad's hand, I would dress in festive clothing and crunch through the snow to a church.   I remember most the Salvation Army – in a great room with a huge decorated Christmas tree we’d take our little songbooks with the Norwegian flag and sing as we circled the tree holding hands. 

A few years ago, someone gave me a copy of a Norwegian Christmas recording.  It was Sissel’s Glade Jul.  On the recording was Jeg Er Så Glad Hver Julekveld.  My brain had forgotten this most beautiful of Christmas hymns.  My heart had not.   I cried when I heard it again.  Now I make sure I play it often during the Christmas season. You can listen to Sissel sing it here.  The lyrics in English are here (scroll down).

When asked, what’s your favorite Christmas Carol, as does happen this time of the year, I never answer with either of the above favorites.  While they are my top choices, most people find them obscure and just glaze over at my answer.  I have another favorite.  It’s number three on my list and most appropriate for this week.  It’s JOY TOTHE WORLD!  Even mentioning it’s title makes my heart want to burst into song – I love the triumphant announcement of this Carol.

It was written by Sir Isaac Watts and is based on Psalm 98.  Interestingly, and actually quite appropriate for the Advent season (that time of waiting and reflection on the return of our Lord) this song is about the triumphal return of Christ to this earth.  It’s a celebration song of the coming return of our King.

Joy – Joy to the World – the Lord IS come…

With joy we can declare the mystery of our faith –

Christ has died

Christ has risen,

Christ will come again. 

What a reason for Joy!  What reason to lift our voices and announce, Joy has come.

Weekly Advent Bible Reading Plan:

Monday, December 5, 2011:  John 16:16-24
Tuesday, December 6, 2011:  Ezra 3:11-13
Wednesday, December 7, 2011:  Psalm 126
Thursday, December 8, 2011:  Hebrews 12:1-3
Friday, December 9, 2011: Philippians 4:1-9

The Kingdom of God is at hand...

 Like Joyce, I worship at a church that doesn't follow the liturgical calendar, but I truly appreciate the focus of Advent.

Probably because I despise what Christmas has become...even for Christians.

To avoid making a hypocritical statement for those who know me, it is very true that I love and get into the Christmas season. But the struggle to overcome the hyper-commercial nature surrounding the celebration of the greatest gift ever given in all of human history is at times...exhausting.

I don't think we do any favors to our faith by stonewalling the season as a demonstration we (as Christians) are not 'of the world.' We live in the world. We are commissioned to evangelize to the world. We are commanded to love other and not judge. The Bible is very clear on all these matters. While I absolutely agree that Christians can't act in some of the same manners as the lost around us, I also clearly see the example of Jesus who immersed Himself in some of the most vile of places to be the Light that we are instructed to be. Wait...that's salt and light according to Matthew 5:13-16.

So how do we do it? How do Christians avoid losing the message of hope, love and joy that come into full blossom during the Christmas season to the forces of greed and selfishness that seem imposed?

Focus to me is the key. Focus honed by diligent prayer. The vast majority of at least this country find the unique condition of having a  somewhat softened hearts this time of year (of course, there are exceptions that wield pepper spray while shopping). What better time to plant the seed of the Good News?

The hoopla of the Christmas season is as a direct result of the capitalist society we live, work and play in daily.  The two go hand in hand. Is capitalism a perfect economic system? Absolutely not, but the alternatives are far less appealing and often come with a number of governing restrictions that diminish or destroy personal freedoms (i.e. worship)...and that is not okay by me.

So as the celebration of Christ's birth approaches, I vow to concentrate and focus on what that means to me as a Christian. That will include prayer time asking for guidance from my Father for His will to be done in my words and actions. Starting in my own home, I will be an example for my wife and children each and every day. Through it all...I will focus the honor and glory on the One who is the sole source of my true joy and hope...forever and ever. Amen.

Advent - Hope

Yesterday was the first day of Advent for 2011. According to the World English Dictionary the word advent is defined as:  an arrival or coming, especially one which is awaited.

Many children will begin opening an Advent calendar on the first day of December as their countdown to presents. I love presents too (sure, it’s great to be the giver but I love receiving just as much), but Advent is much more than the countdown to opening presents. A true Advent season waits with anticipation of the Gift, which is Christ. Some churches celebrate Advent, others hardly acknowledge it. I’ve attended both types of churches but since I was 20, I’ve celebrated Advent through daily Bible readings, directed towards the 4 themes for each week of Advent – hope, joy, peace, love.

Join the Kingdom Bloggers each day for a personal reflection on the week’s theme; included each day will be a Bible reading which will engage you into the theme of Advent as well. We welcome your comments and Christmas Advent memories.

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My Man has been watching Occupy Vancouver (a takeoff from Occupy Wall Street) with great interest, but as he watches the news, he is more and more frustrated and agitated by them. A few Facebook friends have also commented about our local situation with disdain and judgement. I understand their judgement. It’s easy to criticize the behaviour but when we look at the heart, as the Lord does, we see they have lost hope so this is the very best they can do to try to summon up hope.

I see hopelessness or misdirected hope all the time; what’s most difficult is when I realize many people prefer to carry on hoping in the ridiculous, rather than Jesus, who is the hope of the nations. My hope is in Jesus and the promises of God – everyone else or everything else will fail me but Jesus and the promise will never fail.

Romans 3:23 says that we have all sinned and fall short of the glory of God, but Colossians 1:27 explain the antidote for lost glory, which is Christ in us, the hope of glory. This is incredible. Through Christ, we can have it all because it was paid for by the cross. Truly this is the hope Hebrews 11:1 refers to, “now faith if being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.”

And hope is not only for the future but it is for now as well. Proverbs 13:12 says, hope deferred makes the heart sick but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life. We don’t have sick hearts because through Christ and the new covenant, we are given a new heart and our longings are fulfilled. Instead of choosing from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which satisfies only the soul, we can pick and eat from the tree of life, which satisfies our spirit.

This is hope, and it is Christ who has come into the world and is coming again.

Is Christ your hope?

WeeklyAdvent Bible Reading Plan:

Monday, November 28, 2011:  Colossians 1:3-27

Tuesday, November 29, 2011:  Psalms 130

Wednesday, November 30, 2011:  Lamentations 3:21-33

Thursday, December 1, 2011:  Ephesians 1:3-15

Friday, December 2, 2011:  Hebrews 7:11-28