Sing to the LORD a new song; sing to the LORD, all the earth. (Psalm 96:1)
Fourteen Days of Thanks-7
“Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory did not clothe himself like one of these.” (Matthew 6:28-29)
Fourteen Days of Thanks-6
And they sang a new song: “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. ” (Revelation 5:9 )
Fourteen Days of Thanks-5
However, as it is written: “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him.” (1 Corinthians 2:9)
Fourteen Days of Thanks-4
On the first day you are to take choice fruit from the trees, and palm fronds, leafy branches and poplars, and rejoice before the LORD your God for seven days. (Leviticus 23:40 )
Fourteen Days of Thanks-3
God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. (Genesis 1:25 )
Fourteen Days of Thanks-2
Joel 2:23 Be glad, O people of Zion, rejoice in the LORD your God, for he has given you the autumn rains in righteousness. He sends you abundant showers, both autumn and spring rains, as before.
Announcing the 2018 Advent Devotional Series: Storyteller
Every year I pray for enlightenment, that God will give me a vision of a devotional series for Advent. Please don’t misunderstand: I’m not complaining when I say that it’s difficult to find topics that are suitable. Even when God makes a theme plain and it’s beautiful, it’s not always easy to package something perfectly, and put a nice ribbon on the top.
I know I’m not the only person in ministry who feels this way. If you were to ask your pastor which message series are the hardest ones to preach, they’d probably say Advent and Passion Week. The passages of Scripture are familiar, and the storyline known by many, even outside the church.
How do you make it fresh for those who have been coming to church for 30 years?
The pressure builds on pastors because if there are two weeks that C&E Christians go to church, it’s Christmas and Easter, although perhaps a tradition that’s disappearing. Pastors want to make the sermons seem less like sermons and more like invitations to receive the Gospel, after all they probably will have their biggest audience all year! Some desperately want to do an altar call but it’s just not the style of their denomination so they miss opportunities and feel guilty about it. Some put the Gospel front-and-center thinking, “This is one of two shots a year and I’m gonna make them count!” And then they wonder if they reached enough or pushed anyone away.
Yet the challenge exists on how to take a story that has grown too familiar, a little worn, maybe pushed to the back of the spiritual closet as so much yada-yada-yada…oh, it’s nice but doesn’t really speak to me anymore. Like a favorite stuffed animal that has lost its functional squeaker.
When I was in seminary, one of my favorite professors told me, “There are no Academy Awards in heaven, Barb, for the most creative presentation of God’s Word, only REWARD in heaven for the most faithful presentation of it.”
For that reason, this year I’m a bit nervous.
Announcing the 2018 Advent Devotional Series: Storyteller.
As I was praying over the list of various themes, God said, “This one. Tell My Story. To the person for whom the characters have become little more than cardboard cutouts, familiar nativity statues, or names on a page, I’m going to give them flesh, beating hearts, and all the joys and troubles of this world, thoughts and emotions common to mankind. I’m going to remind My people of their reality in a real place in a real time. My Son was born to be Savior of the world! His Story should never grow old in the heart of My people. Tell My Story.”
Join me beginning December 2, 2018 by signing up on the sidebar of my Home Page to receive these daily devotionals. Pull up a chair and prepare to be captivated once again by the miracle of Jesus’ birth. I know I have been as He has given me words to be His Storyteller for Luke 1-2.
Acknowledging inquiries about the entire season’s devotionals for your study group’s planning purposes, Seminary Gal’s prior seasons’ Advent devotionals can be accessed via the archives to the right and are as follows:
- Last year’s Advent Devotional Series (2017), Still Christmas, began December 3, 2017 and was the Advent complement to the Lenten series, Be Still and Know that I AM God.
- The 2016 season devotionals were called “Timeless: The Message of Christmas for All Ages” and explored how the message of Christmas is timeless truth, for all ages of people, and for all ages at all times. Timeless hope, encouragement, grace, peace, and love as we looked into the Word, saw the face of our Lord Jesus, and experienced restoration in His presence. His goodness and His Gospel are truly Timeless. The 2016 devotionals began November 27, 2016.
- The 2015 season devotionals were titled Incarnation and involved digging deep–and yes, I mean deep– in this important mystery of Christian theology. They began November 29, 2015.
- Carol Me, Christmas! remains one of my most popular offerings and tells the Christmas story through our most beloved Christmas hymns and carols. You can access all of the numbered devotionals from 2014 via the archives. They began November 30, 2014.
- The 2013 series was Emmanuel: When LOVE Showed Up in Person and examined the Prologue to the Gospel of John. It began December 1, 2013.
- The 2012 series focused on Expecting the Unexpected…the unexpected, unlikely, and uniquely divine qualities of God’s perfect plan outlined in Luke’s account of the Christmas story. It began December 1, 2012.
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By way of reminder, if you haven’t signed up yet, you can receive these devotional studies in your email throughout Advent 2018 by entering your email address on the SeminaryGal.com home page in the space provided in the sidebar. Or “Like” the SeminaryGal Facebook page to access them there. If you like these devotionals, I’d really appreciate your letting others know so I can continue to spread the Good News far and wide. Blessings to you, in Christ always, Barbara <><
Fourteen Days of Thanks-1
Psalm 136:3 Give thanks to the Lord of lords: His love endures forever. 4 to him who alone does great wonders, His love endures forever. 5 who by his understanding made the heavens, His love endures forever. 6 who spread out the earth upon the waters, His love endures forever. 7 who made the great lights– His love endures forever. 8 the sun to govern the day, His love endures forever. 9 the moon and stars to govern the night; His love endures forever.
As Go the Seminaries (Sign #5): You’d Rather Blame God Than Man
I began thinking about all this “Political Christianity” stuff with the scandal in the Catholic Church regarding sexual abuse and how it’s been handled, or rather mishandled. Then there’s the whole politicization of refugees, climate, shootings, etc. Add on top of that Supreme Court machinations and midterm elections and one thing is crystal clear: We’re drifting. We need Reformation.
The battle for the soul of the Christian Church is being waged full-throttle in the spiritual realm, and casualties are the churches. Those with a cross on the outside and white hair on the inside may still have sound doctrine, but they’re dying off… as people do. Many younger congregations—in an effort to be relevant—hire pastors with energy and enthusiasm and the ability to speak the language of designer coffees and sports. I’ve seen plenty–both young and old–hang gay pride flags on their church front signs and a few brazen enough to display them beside or even on the Cross. Their world experiences have been formed in the public schools and codified in today’s seminaries which have, for decades, been in the cross-hairs. If only we’d paid attention…
I know I’m making a few of you very uncomfortable but closing our eyes to the spiritual battle doesn’t make it go away. We need to confront it if we’re going to have a new Reformation bringing the Church back to her high calling.
It’s devastating whether it’s the Catholic seminaries with an undercurrent of homosexuality or so many Protestant seminaries teaching an outright rejection of patriarchy. (Oh, you mean like the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? Yeah, that patriarchy, the one Jesus acknowledged.) So, I’ll say it again: As go the seminaries…so goes the Church and so goes the culture.
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Chances are good that your Christianity is too political if you refuse to go to church because you’d rather blame God than men.
Think about it:
- The scandals in the Catholic Church happened because people, the Pope included, looked the other way while priests under their authority sexually abused children, mainly boys. Politically, the Pope and other clergy don’t want to rock the boat because they don’t want the gay community beating up on the Catholic Church. No one calls it what it is. There is “The Elephant in the Sacristy” we’ve known about for decades as the seminaries became a refuge for homosexuality. Before you think I jump the shark from homosexuality to abuse, please…please, if you get a chance, I’d highly recommend reading, at least skimming this article linked above from 2002 with an editor’s note from 2018. It’s not from some weirdo publication but the Weekly Standard and is a profound piece of writing–important if we’re going to experience Reformation.
- Instead of the seminaries teaching what the Bible says about this controversial topic, many normalize it and an increasing number ordain it. They celebrate it with its own day, week, colors, and Facebook themes, complete with “pride/like” buttons. Churches hire them to teach the congregation what the culture long ago embraced but the Bible does not teach. Romans 1:32 “Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.” What had to go by the wayside in order to do that?
- What is it going to do to the Catholic Church and other churches if we continue on this path?
- Should it take a sex abuse scandal involving children to move us to action?
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Lord God, through the power of Your Holy Spirit, please reveal our guilt. Bring us to confession and repentance. Heal our shame. Convict us of the need to reclaim and reform the Church so she is a suitable Bride for the Bridegroom. Help us to elevate purity and to protect our children, the most vulnerable among us. Help us to see that You cannot be blamed for the sin of man and we can admit that You call it sin. Help us to see that Church is the best place to be because we’re near to You, not a place to be avoided (or punished) by withholding our presence from the community of saints. Nor is the Church a place to be accused and punished for our sins, but a place to humbly admit them so that we might find forgiveness. May we come to the foot of the Cross, grieving for the state of Your Church, and have confidence to draw near to You because of Christ’s sacrifice, and to know there is grace enough to approach You without fear. Help us to boldly, yet lovingly, address our culture and to comfort those who have lost their way from here to eternity. Help us to love one another, knowing how deeply You first loved us. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.