Happy New Year!

I'll be back after the New Year arrives.  I'm just going to take a bit of a break for now.

Blessings to you all,

Tamara

Merry Christmas

O Come, O Come Immanuel!

May we each experience the joy that is wrapped in love and sealed with grace brought by the Christ child.  

Immanuel - "God with us."

Remembering the Less Fortunate

In the Old Testament, the poor, and service to the poor is the second most frequently mentioned topic.  Idolatry is first. 

In the New Testament, the results are even more dramatic.  One of every sixteen verses refers to “the poor”.  Among the four Gospels, the ratio is one of every ten.  In the Gospel of Luke, it is one of every seven.  In the epistle of James, it is one of every five…  

I’m sure that by now, you are beginning to see the direction I’m taking.  The Messiah celebrated in the Old Testament book of Isaiah and in Handel’s great oratorio is a God with special preference for the poor.  

And isn't that what we are celebrating?  God With Us - because of our great poverty (spiritual) God came to us in the form of the Christ Child.  The Messiah however, did not remain a child but fulfilled His mission to reconcile us to God.

As Christ’s followers — those who are committed to sharing in the work of the Messiah —we must constantly remind ourselves of that preference.  In our consumeristic world, during such a blessed season when commercial temptations often reach their highest level, such reminders become even more critical.

George Fridric Handel’s work, Messiah is generally reckoned to have been composed in three weeks; with the Hallelujah Chorus having been written in three days. Handel is reputed to have said, “that Heaven opened” while he was composing it.

Messiah remains Handel's best known work, although this was not a status that it enjoyed until the last few years of his life, brought about by annual performances in Handel's oratorio seasons and charitable benefit concerts at the Foundling Hospital, an organization for underprivileged children.

Last Sunday evening we were privileged to see the 75^th  performance of the Messiah by our local community college, due to the generosity of our Sunday School teacher and his wife. (Thank you again, Ed & Peggy!)

Persons from the community perform with the college choir and the college orchestra.  Most of the soloist parts are performed by students, but not all.

It was wonderful to behold!

My husband is not specifically drawn to the arts, especially oratorios, operas, classical music and works performed by orchestras!   Bless his heart, he attended nonetheless!  He did believe the performance was finished when the Hallelujah Chorus was complete. 

I diligently and gently tried to explain the Messiah is a performance that covers the Old Testament references from the book of Isaiah, all the way through the birth, the life, the death, and the resurrection of the Christ.

My Prayer

Almighty God, remind me how often scripture mentions the poor, and help me to remember that I also should give them priority.  Help me to speak and act on behalf of those whose voices our society often ignores.  ~Even so, come, Lord Jesus!

Quotes on Poverty and the Poor

If you can't feed a hundred people, then feed just one. ~Mother Teresa

Let us touch the dying, the poor, the lonely and the unwanted according to the graces we have received and let us not be ashamed or slow to do the humble work. ~Mother Teresa

The hunger for love is much more difficult to remove than the hunger for bread. ~Mother Teresa

We cannot seek achievement for ourselves and forget about progress and prosperity for our community... Our ambitions must be broad enough to include the aspirations and needs of others, for their sakes and for our own. ~Cesar Chavez

We can tell our values by looking at our checkbook stubs. ~Gloria Steinem

How will you be responding to those in need this season?  Take the opportunity to read Isaiah 53 ~ this prophetic word always amazes me.

Proverbs 14:31

The Message

³¹ You insult your Maker when you exploit the powerless;
when you're kind to the poor, you honor God.

Proverbs 29:7

The Message

⁷ The good-hearted understand what it's like to be poor;
the hardhearted haven't the faintest idea.

Tamara

Reflecting on Christmas

My email devotional from the Upper Room today spoke on how we may need to have ‘spiritual glasses, or vision remedies’ that are specifically designed to help us see the star and the angels… in the hills over Bethlehem this Advent season.  Instead, we often see fuzzy images of sugarplums and reindeer and Santa and snowmen and gifts—and maybe, just maybe we might catch a glimpse of the child in the manger. It’s difficult to see any details outside the limited realm of our personal comfort levels. (From In My Heart I Carry a Star: Stories for Advent by Derek Maul.)

Do we see the advent of Christ in this world as a means to bring God’s message of reconciliation and love to our brothers and sisters?  Or do we see it as just another way to pad our comfort and reward ourselves with layer upon layer of material blessing?  And worse, perhaps we spend the next year paying off those material blessings…

We live in a great big world full of desperation, people, war, plenty, hunger,  joy, pain, and even hope sometimes — if only we have the eyes to see… And then, only when those eyes have been spiritually opened by the transforming power of the Christ, the lowly child in the manger.

When our eyes are opened and we have clear vision we run the risk of grasping something of the pain, the tragedy, the truth, and the crying needs of those with whom we come into contact with on a daily basis. These realities ultimately define all people who have not witnessed — or allowed themselves to respond to the sign that has been given by the star and the angels.

My Prayer
This Advent, God, I ask that You shine through my life.  Light my often pale and drab spirit with Your love.  Help me to give without reservation and remove my fear.  Thank You for the confidence that You bring. ~Amen.

Can you identify one activity that, upon reflection, you might consider a distraction from the true meaning of this season?

Psalm 126:6, NRSV


Those who go out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing shall come home with shouts of joy, carrying their sheaves.

Tamara