4th Sunday of Advent

 Today was the 4th Sunday of Advent, and after the lighting of the 4th Advent Candle our choir presented  our cantata, "Christmas Forever Amen", and per my promise, here is the recording from our dress rehearsal.  I hope you will enjoy this Christmas message in song.  

After church our kids came over for lunch and Rose and I had a plan to make some Chex party mix and other Christmas snacks using different Chex cereals, etc.  Here we are:

Rose is making the traditional Chex Party Mix recipe that you can find on the back of most Chex cereals.  It uses all three, rice, corn, and wheat chex, plus we added cheerios, pretzels and mixed nuts. 

And I am making the kind that has white chocolate (almond bark) covering it, and it has cheerios, corn and rice chex, pretzels and peanuts.

Here are our trays of finished products:

Oh, Rose made one more, "Muddy Buddies" or "Puppy Chow" mix, and it uses chocolate, peanut butter, and powdered sugar, among other ingredients. I'm not going to post recipes because you can pull up these recipes online pretty easily.  Some are a little different than others and you can adapt them to suit your tastes!

I'm not sure where all of this is going yet...we divided it up between us and we may be sharing it with some people if it doesn't get eaten up before we can share it! LOL.  The main thing is we enjoyed doing this together, like a real "mother and daughter" kind of day, even though we are mother in law and daughter in law...I'm thankful we both enjoy each other's company and have fun spending time together. That is a true blessing.  I didn't take a picture of it, but this morning in church Benton and Rose helped to serve communion, and watching them standing there together serving the Lord's Supper to our church family nearly brought me to tears. It was a special moment that I treasure in my heart.

After Rose and I got finished mixing up all those snacks, we sat down to rest while they cooled and/or set before we could pack them up in containers.  While we were doing that, we were enjoying time with the guys, who were watching football, and then I remembered that we had received a special package in the mail for someone "extra special" in our house, and her name is Lily Grace. The package came from her "Auntie Debbi" in South Carolina, who is the dear blogging friend who sent Lily Grace to me in the first place. In true "Auntie" fashion, she sends Lily Christmas packages full of fun stuff every year. She had given permission for Lily to open the package before Christmas, and so we decided today would be a good time to do that while we were all together.  (If you aren't familiar with Lily Grace's story, you can click HERE for her arrival to our home about three years ago. And then Lily became so popular, she started writing her own blog, The Adventures of Lily Grace. However, because she needed my help to keep up with her blog posts, I'm afraid we kind of got lost by the wayside as I just couldn't keep up with writing two blogs, so now she mostly makes cameo appearances here on my blog posts, like today:

Here's how the package looked when it arrived in the mail:

And here's how excited Lily Grace was when she discovered a present wrapped up inside with her name on it:

It's so much fun to receive packages in the mail, isn't it?  Sure beats a gift card any day!

Lily Grace was thrilled to find a picture of her identical cousin Tracie in the box...

And Tracie had sent her a note on the picture that says:

"Dear Lily Grace, When I picked out my Christmas dress, I asked Mommy if I could send you one just like it and she said YES! So we can be twins!"

It's really too bad that Tracie lives in South Carolina, which is kind of far away, but maybe someday they will get to be together again and then they can wear their identical dresses and be twins!

Isn't it beautiful?

Also there were some other special gifts in the box...a little laptop computer, and goldfish bowl, (with a little goldfish in it!)

And  some pretty beads and best of all a CAMERA!

Lily said: "And can you imagine my excitement when I discovered that the camera really works? Well, it flashes when you press the button! See?"

"I can't wait to take lots of pictures!"

Meanwhile, as this was all going on, some "one" was watching it all with much interest:

Yes, that's Spice, one of our grandpuppies, and she was SO curious about who that was in "Grandma's lap" getting so many new toys!  She was just about to leap out of Rose's lap and come and check this thing out:

And then she did, and she got her sister Sugar to come and see what was going on too:

They were both SO curious about Lily Grace and her new toys:

Thankfully they just sniffed and watched, but didn't try to take her new toys away! LOL.

They were more interested in the train going round and round the village:

And yes, that was ME on the floor, running the train controls. Getting down there was difficult enough, but thankfully there are no pictures of me getting back  up! That was NOT a pretty sight, and I would not permit it to be shown publicly! LOL.

(This video was actually taken the night before, when the kids were over for supper, which Rose and I made together, Pasta, Ground beef and fresh mushrooms in a homemade alfredo sauce, a tossed salad and garlic toast. It was YUMMY!, but I digress)

Anyway, the doggies  finally got more interested in watching the train again and Lily Grace was able to go show her friends her new outfit and gifts that she received from Aunt Debbi.

 It was a lovely day and "one little girl" was sure surprised and happy!  

Meanwhile, you may have noticed the arrangement on the dining room table from the picture of the dinner from last night:

I cut some fresh holly from the trees and also some sprigs from a small cedar tree that is growing wild, and added them to these cedar candle holders that Benton had made for me a few years ago. It made a lovely little fresh winter arrangement.  

After supper I decided I needed to put the greenery in some water so they wouldn't die:

So I made a little arrangement in a glass pitcher of water to hopefully prolong their life so we can enjoy them for a few more days.  (If you look real carefully, you will see hubby in the background sitting in his recliner and watching football while I am doing this.  He's probably oblivious to all this activity going on over on the table and also the following added interesting item:

Somehow, unbeknownst to me, I was making a video of myself carrying the pitcher of water with the greenery back to the table and setting it on the table. I had no idea the camera was recording this, and if you listen carefully at the very beginning of the video you can hear me whispering something to myself...something unintelligible! LOL. I have no clue what I was saying, but it looks like I am walking through a jungle until I get to the table. I just thought I might as well add this video to this post to go along with all the other fun and crazy stuff of the past couple of days! Maybe it will give you a good laugh or two.

Well, if you've made it this far in this post today, I thank you for hanging in there with me. I realize it's been a bit long and filled with a mish mash of things, but I hope you enjoyed coming along with me for the past couple of days of fun activities.  If you listened to the video at the beginning of this post of our Cantata, you will have already heard our choir sing this song. It would be difficult to go back and find this one song out of the whole program, so I am posting this one for you, not our choir singing of course.  This was one of the songs that had a beautiful message that I wanted to leave with you for tonight:  Rose of Bethlehem...

"There's a Rose in Bethlehem

With a beauty quite divine

Perfect in this world of sin

On this silent, holy night

There's a fragrance much like hope

That it sends upon the wind

Reaching out to every soul

From a lowly manger's crib

Oh, Rose of Bethlehem

How lovely, pure and sweet

Born to glorify the Father

Born to wear the thorns for me

There's a Rose in Bethlehem

Colored red like mercy's blood

It's the flower of our faith

It's the blossom of God's love

Though its bloom is fresh with youth

Surely what will be He knows

For a tear of morning dew

Is rolling down the Rose

Oh, Rose of Bethlehem

How lovely, pure and sweet

Born to glorify the Father

Born to wear the thorns for me

There's a Rose in Bethlehem

With a beauty quite divine

Perfect in this world of sin

On this silent, holy night

Oh, Rose of Bethlehem

How lovely, pure and sweet

Born to glorify the Father

Born to wear the thorns for me"

Source: Musixmatch

Songwriters: Lowell Alexander

Jesus was that "Rose of Bethlehem", lovely, pure and sweet.  He was born to glorify the Father, and born to wear those thorns for me...and you, and everyone who will believe in Him and accept Him as Savior and Lord. That's the real message of Christmas. Jesus came as a baby, but He grew to be a perfect, sinless Man, God in the flesh. He wore that crown of thorns on His brow when He went to the cross to die for you and me.  He was sinless, we were sinful, but He wore those thorns for us, so that we might be made pure and sinless and be able to enter heaven to live with Him forever. Such a powerful, beautiful message.  Makes you really think about a rose and those thorns on it a little differently as well. Something to consider when we come to the manger to see the Baby Jesus on Christmas, isn't it?  He wore those thorns for you and me.  

Good night my friends. It's going to be a busy week for all of us, so we may be kind of hit and miss in our reading and posting, but we'll all get back to "normal" once all the excitement of the holidays simmers back down.  God bless you each and everyone.

2022 The 4th Sunday of Advent

Today was the 4th Sunday of Advent.  

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. 

No one comes to the Father except through Me." 

John 14:6

We lit the 4th candle on the Advent wreath in church. I've been wanting to get a picture of this unique advent wreath, and finally did today. I love that it is set in a beautiful crown, symbolizing the royalty of Christ, the Son of God, Prince of Peace, and Lord of lords!

I snapped this picture at the close of our service today, which was a full house, praise the Lord!  We had just had the benediction and were singing "Go Tell it on the mountain...that Jesus Christ is born!" I love that we sing that at the close of the service as a fitting reminder to go out and tell everyone about Jesus!

Today was our choir's presentation of "Light of the World".  This recording was done during our dress rehearsal this past week. If you want to sit back and enjoy some happy music, please click on this and enjoy. Please excuse my coughing toward the end (and possibly somewhere in the middle). Other than that, I made it through!  This morning for the real performance I don't think I coughed until the very end, so that was an improvement. LOL. The words and music were a beautiful way to tell the Christmas story, so I hope you will enjoy it. As I've said before, we are a small country church, and our choir is very down to earth with no professional singers or musicians. We just sing for the glory of the Lord, and that is what I hope shines through.

After church we went out to eat at one of our local eateries, (Hog Wild Country Cafe'), and Mr. and Mrs. Santa Claus were there! What a surprise! He was listening to children's requests, and I told him I'd been a good girl and I hoped he'd bring everything on my list.  He said he'd try really hard. LOL. As it turns out this couple used to attend our church but they have moved to another church in the past year or so, so it was a surprise to see them.  And yes, it was cold enough for that fire in the fireplace today! And I understand by next Sunday it will be in the low 20's here, so who knows what might happen? Santa just might get to ride in his sleigh after all! He may have to revive that reindeer on the wall first. LOL.

I was looking back in my blogpost history and found these posts from previous years' 4th Sunday of Advent, so if you have some extra time and want to go back and re-read these old posts, you are very welcome to.  I mainly have them here for my own reference so that I can keep track of the different things that were written for this Sunday in Advent.  It seems like we do something a little different each year, which is good. There is no absolute format for each Sunday in Advent. You can do it any way you want. The important thing is to think about the wonderful story of the Birth of Christ, and His purpose for coming here to earth in the first place. Each Sunday in Advent we share a little more of the story that helps put the whole big picture into focus.  Christmas is all about Jesus...not just as that baby in the manger, but looking ahead into God's plan for our redemption through His Son. He came to redeem us from our sins and give us hope for eternity. And that's what Christmas is all about.  

With that I will say good night for today.  

 2016 4th Sunday of Advent

2018 4th Sunday of Advent

2019 4th Sunday of Advent

2020 4th Sunday of Advent

2021 4th Sunday of Advent

Sunday Evening 4th Sunday of Advent: PEACE

 Today is the 4th Sunday of Advent...

Today in our church service we lit the candle of PEACE. Here is what was said in responsive readings as the candles were lit:

Micah 5:2-5 

2.  “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,

Though you are little among the thousands of Judah,

Yet out of you shall come forth to Me

The One to be Ruler in Israel,

Whose goings forth are from of old,

From everlasting.”

3 Therefore He shall give them up,

Until the time that she who is in labor has given birth;

Then the remnant of His brethren

Shall return to the children of Israel.

4 And He shall stand and feed His flock

In the strength of the Lord,

In the majesty of the name of the Lord His God;

And they shall abide,

For now He shall be great

To the ends of the earth;

5 And this One shall be peace."

Responsive Readings:

"In Christ, the Lord came forth out of the Lord's place to tread upon the earth.  Emmanuel, God with us, the Christ Child, came in tender, young, and dependent flesh.  This humility, this nearness of divinity to humanity is our peace on earth.  So often we understand peace in terms of what is absent.  Peace is the absence of war, of violence, of oppression, of murder, of violation, of exploitation.  But peace is not simply a reality devoid of all of these injustices.  Peace is not passive.  It is creative, it is embodied, it is lived into, and it exists between us.  In the Christ Child by sharing in our embodied life together.  Peace is an extension of one's life together. Peace is an extension of one's life that creates room for the other.  The Christ Child is our peace, our shared need, our shared vulnerability, and our shared lives.  Let us extend and receive peace in one another as we remember the delight in God's presence with us, our peace on earth.

Leader:   We await the one whose origin is of old, from ancient days.

All:         Come, Christ Child, our peace on earth.

Leader:   We await the babe, God incarnate, God with us.

All:         Come Christ Child, God's peace extended for all.

Leader:   We await the one who will share in our birth, in our life, and in our death.

All:         Come, Christ Child, we are in need of You.

Leader:   Come, Lord Jesus.

All:         Come to brighten the darkest corners of the world."

After the lighting of the Advent Candles we had our Christmas Cantata, "Come Thou Long Expected Jesus":

I hope you will enjoy listening to this Cantata.  Every song was very special, but the last one brought the people in the congregation to their feet, with clapping and rejoicing!  This is a pre-recorded version, not the live service from this morning, but still it was a great message in song.  Our choir had a great time practicing and performing this music for the Glory of the Lord.

Some of you may have already seen this. I emailed this Christmas card to a number of people, mostly family, because I was just not able to sit down and write out a Christmas card for everyone this year. So this is the card that I am sending to each of you now, with love.

I also wanted to share a picture of this beautiful Christmas cactus, because there's a story here.

A couple of weeks ago while in our local grocery store, I picked up a beautiful Christmas Cactus plant that they had for sale.  The price was right and I was thrilled to find it there and couldn't wait to bring it home to enjoy.  When we got up to the checkout counter, the clerk remarked how lovely it was and she was hoping she could get one before they all disappeared.  I said, "well you'd better go get one now and put it aside for yourself".  She replied that she'd have to wait until she got paid and then they'd probably be gone by then.  She then went on to tell us that money was a bit tight since her husband had just died rather suddenly a couple of weeks before, and she was trying to save up enough money to take care of his funeral expenses.  We've had this clerk many times before, and although I didn't know her personally, I didn't need to know her well to feel great sorrow about the sudden loss of her husband.  I had already paid for the cactus plant and it was in my buggy ready to go, but I told my husband to take it back out of the buggy and give it to her. He was already thinking about doing the same thing. So we gave it to her and told her it was hers, and that we'd be praying for her. She almost broke down crying right there and thanked us so kindly and apologized for even saying anything, which of course we told her not to feel that way at all. God wanted her to have that cactus plant and He wanted us to know about her husband.  

Now, I am not telling you this story to receive any praise for myself, so don't think that, please. But this is what I wanted to tell you.  When I came home I went out on our back porch and looked at the old Christmas cactus plant that I've had since last year. It was looking pretty dry and weak and not too healthy.  I am not a great gardener. I depend on God to take care of my plants pretty much, if they are going to survive. Well, to make a long story short, I watered it and left it out on the back porch since the nights are cooler and it ought to be okay.  At that time, it did not have any sign of any buds on it at all. I mean, it looked pretty close to dying...

But here it is today. 

I do believe God resurrected this cactus plant so I could tell you this story.

No tiny little thing we do for others goes unnoticed by God. And you can't out-give God either.

When you give out of the abundance of your heart, even when you may have to give sacrificially yourself, God blesses you in one way or another.

This was a good lesson for me.

Maybe it was for you too.

Christmas is about giving.

 "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him 

should not perish but have everlasting life."

John 3:16

"For unto us a Child is born,

Unto us a Son is given;

And the government will be upon His shoulder.

And His name will be called

Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God,

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

7 Of the increase of His government and peace

There will be no end,

Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom,

To order it and establish it with judgment and justice

From that time forward, even forever.

The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this."

Isaiah 9:6-7

Merry Christmas Everyone!

4th Sunday of Advent = Love

Today is the 4th Sunday of Advent...the Sunday of Love.

"Jesus shows us God's perfect love.  He is God's perfect love in human form.  Those who believe in Him and live in Him, live in love.  Love transforms and perfects all things.  It never ends.

We light this candle today to remind us that God is love.  We thank God for HOPE He gives us, for the PEACE He bestows, for the JOY He pours into our hearts, and for the LOVE that redeems us and shows us the way."

Let us pray:  "O God of Love, Emmanuel, send your light into our hearts at this time.  Help us to be ready for the time of Christ's appearing.  grant that we may so dwell in Him that His perfect love fills our entire being.  Make our worship a time in which we celebrate Your love and are made ready to show that love to the whole world--both today--and forevermore.  Amen."

We sing this verse to the tune of "Away in the Manger":
 

"A candle is burning, a candle of love, a candle to point us to heaven above.

A baby for Christmas, a wonderful birth, for Jesus is bringing God's love to our earth."

Following our advent candle lighting service, we had our Christmas Cantata: "Joy Has Dawned"

If you would like to sing along, click on this link:

For another  previous perspective on the 4th Sunday of Advent, click HERE

I pray that as you continue in your preparations for Christmas, you will remember that Jesus came to earth as a little baby, God in human flesh, because of love. 

John 3:16  (KJV)

 "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

Fourth Sunday of Advent: Let's Go! (Updated)

Update: Today is the 4th Sunday of Advent.  I will not be posting any "Sermon Notes" for today as we are having our Christmas Cantata in place of the sermon. I've already shared about that with you HERE.  So for today, let's light the candle, and prepare our hearts for the coming of Emmanuel, God With Us...

(In this picture above from our home Advent service, we have already lit all five candles. But if you have a Christmas Eve service, that is when the tall white candle in the middle should be lit. I have kind of combined all of that in this post today).

Today  is the fourth Sunday of Advent...the Sunday prior to Christmas Day. As we light the fourth candle, the question is asked:  "Why do we light this candle?"

And the response is:

"Today we add the Shepherd's Candle.  It reminds us of our responsibility to share what we have seen and heard.  The Galilean Shepherds, who received the first announcement of the Savior's Birth, left their task and went with haste to see the Christ child, and then returned to tell others about the earthshaking event.  Sharing the Good News required no special talent, simply telling others what they had seen and heard with the conviction of personal experience."

Then we read Luke 2:17-20

"Now when they (the Shepherds) had seen Him (the baby Jesus),

they made widely known the saying which was told them 

concerning this Child.

And all those who heard it marveled at those things which

were told them by the shepherds.

But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart.

Then the shepherds returned,

glorifying and praising God

for all the things that they 

had heard and seen, as it was told them."

Luke 2:17-20

We are reminded that, like the Shepherds, we too should go out from this Holy place and spread the good news.  What IS the good news?  That little Baby that was born in the manger came to save us all from our sins.  He came to change the world....Click Here for "Mary Did You Know?" by Pentatonix

May the Good News of this little Baby fill your heart with joy and peace and the strength to carry on in the New Year, no matter what may come your way.  I am so thankful that I know this little Baby, Who grew up to save us ALL.  I hope that you know Him too.  No better time than now. And if you DO know Him, let us join with the Shepherds and spread the Good News throughout the world. This Little Baby Jesus, Who grew up to die and save us from our sins, didn't stay in the tomb.  After three days He arose from the grave, and conquered death once and for all. As He ascended into heaven, we were promised that He would return for us someday...

"And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up,

behold, two men stood by them in white apparel,

who also said,

'Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven?

This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven,

will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.'"

Acts 1:10-11

Jesus told His disciples in John 14:18-19 ~ 

"I will not leave you orphans;

I will come to you.

A little while longer and the world will see Me no more,

but you will Me. 

Because I live,

you will live also."

Just before Christ ascended into heaven, He gave His disciples (and us) this "Great Commission"...

"Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations,

baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you,

and lo, 

I AM with you always,

even to the end of the age.

Amen."

Matthew 28:19-20

And that, my friend, is truly GOOD NEWS!   EMMANUEL, "God WITH Us", will be with us until the end of the age...and then He will come again and take us home to heaven to be with Him forever.  What better message could we share with the world than this?

Let us go and do as the Shepherds did.

Let's Go!