Work and Worship

Christmas Memories Part 3: Advent Candles

Advent is a word that means “coming” or “visit”.  In the Christian season of Advent we prepare for the “advent” of Christ at Christmas.  Our preparation includes many things:
• We remember Israel’s hope for the coming of God’s Messiah to save, to forgive, and to restore them.
• We remember our hope for the second coming of Jesus.
• We remember our need for a Savior to save us from our sins.
• We prepare to welcome Christ at Christmas into our world . . . and into our hearts.
By lighting one candle each week of Advent, we help ourselves to get ready for the birth of Jesus.  The candles have different meanings, each based upon the Bible.  These meanings help us to understand how special the birth of Jesus is for us.
Today we focus on the coming of Christ as our Shepherd.
Prayer for God’s Help
[This prayer can be read, or simply used as a model.]
Dear God, thank you for this season of Advent that helps us to prepare for the coming of Christ at Christmas.  As we read the Bible and light a candle, may excitement for Christ’s coming burn in our hearts.  Amen.
Scripture Readings
[Parents, you may wish to abbreviate or eliminate certain readings depending on the age(s) of your child(ren).  You may also want to read these selections out of a Children's Bible.]
Psalm 80:1-7
In this Psalm we join the people of Israel as they invite God their Shepherd to save and to restore them.

Isaiah 40:1-11
This passage looks ahead to the coming of the Lord, who will care for his people like a shepherd.
Revelation 7:9-17
Like God’s people before the coming of Christ, we also look ahead to the time when Christ, who is both the Lamb and our Shepherd, will finish his work and “God will wipe away every tear” from our eyes.
Lighting of the Candle
[As someone lights the first purple candle, the following should be read or paraphrased. If you're doing this online, in order to "light" the next Advent candle, click on the wick of the purple candles until you "light" the right one.]
We light this candle because, like God’s people centuries ago, we also look forward with hope to the coming of the Shepherd.  The purple color of the candle reminds us of the seriousness of our hope.
Prayer of Hope
[To be read or paraphrased.]
Dear God, as we light this candle, we hope for your coming as our Good Shepherd.  Please gather us in your arms, feed us with spiritual food, wipe away every tear from our eyes, and “let your face shine, that we may be saved”.  Come, our Shepherd!  Amen.
Closing Song

Christmas Memories Part 2: Christmas Book List for Kids

One tradition we have at Christmastime is to read a Christmas story at Family Dinner. I have bought our kids a new Christmas book every year and have quite a few now! They squealed with glee today when I brought this stack of books out today:

This is our collection of Christmas books for our children:

• One Wintry Night by Ruth Bell Graham
• The Legend of Candy Cane by Lori Walburg
• Snowmen at Christmas by Caralyn Buehner
• Where’s the Baby King by Karen King
• Gingerbread Friends by Jan Brett
• Pine Tree Parable by Liz Curtis Higgs
• The Little Shepherd and the First Christmas by Arch Books
• The Newborn King by Dalmation Press
• If You Take a Mouse to the Movies by Laura Numeroff
• Gigi- The Perfect Christmas Gift by Sheila Walsh
• The Legend of St. Nicholas, A Story of Christmas Giving by Dandi Daley Mackall
• The Crippled Lamb by Max Lucado
• Bear Stays Up for Christmas by Karma Wilson
• Mooseltoe by Margie Palatini
• Room for a Little One by Martin Waddell

Christmas Memories Part 1: Advent Calendar Planning

We love Christmas at the Wilkerson Home. It is our favorite. All the excitement and anticipation for Christmas morning is experienced every day of December. The last couple years, we have done an Advent Box Calendar. EACH day has a different activity or craft or special treat to make together. The kids take turns opening the doors and reading the day’s activity.

Here is our list for this year. I will print out each day and put the paper in the calendar and surprise! Each day, we will anticipate something fun to do together. Note- these are not in order of how we will do them.

Decorate and sing Christmas songs
Color Christmas pictures and paint toenails red and green
Color Christmas Cross Ornaments
S’mores from the fireplace with Christmas Music
Read 1 Christmas Storybook by Candlelight
Make Sticker Nativity Scenes
Write letters to Jesus and Make Happy Birthday Jesus Cake
Read “Follow the Star” story and Make star shape big cookie
Family Karaoke Christmas songs
Candy Cane Sugar Cookies: Read the Legend of the Candy Cane
Good News Sing and Rhyme and Christmas Tree Candy Cones
Watch a Christmas movie with Christmas treats
Go out to see the Christmas lights & get hot cocoa from Starbucks
Read 1 Christmas Storybook and wrap Christmas gifts
Make Happy Birthday Jesus Cake and put on new Christmas P.J.’s!!!
Worship Jesus, Give Him Gifts at the Cross, & receive presents from Him!
Assemble Gingerbread House and read a Christmas book
Deliver Meal to Neighbor and Christmas gift
Watch Christmas movie and eat Christmas Tree Shaped Pizzas
Make Star Ornaments with jewels and beads
Color Christmas Mural (whole family coloring) with Christmas Music
Christmas Nativity Sticker Scenes and Christmas book
Write letters to Grandparents about Christmas
Make Edible Manger Scenes and read Christmas Story
Make a Snowman and have snowball fight

Book Review: Radical Gratitude

I love this book. This book is now and most likely will forever be in my top ten Christian reading list. Ellen Vaughn convinced me with true Biblical form why gratitude matters. She took me to places I have never learned about; stories of suffering that I never wanted to read about but was glad that I did.

At first, the graphic on the front cover scared me away.  A woman jumping in the air with pastel blue sky behind her says to me (judgmental–I know.) “Christian fluffy thoughts and extra biblical insights that aren’t gospel based.” Suspicious thoughts went through my ultra-cool raised eyebrow. I dear woman of God recommended it to me- so I overlooked the jumping lady. ;0

Thankfully, my first impression with the cover was completely wrong.

First, Ellen is a gifted, award winning writer. Part of the reason that I wanted to read this book, was just for Ellen. To learn from her. She is writing to the same audience I hope to write my book to someday. She is sharing truth with women who want to know Jesus in every aspect of their hearts and lives. Secondly, Ellen has a Biblical worldview and framework for her teaching and writing. She weaves ideas together from scripture, which stirs my passion and makes me lower that eyebrow.

The story of the ten lepers that Jesus healed was especially gripping and heart changing for me. OF the ten, only 1 went to find Jesus to thank Him. Ellen tells stories so well, tears streamed down my face many times while reading this book (which rarely happens for me).

“Some believers seem to be looking for life principles that are just a little more spiritually sexy. Be thankful? Oh, of course. But give me something more exciting, more dramatic, something remarkable that I can do to change my life. ”

“Cultivating a grateful heart is not just an add-on nicety, a civil tip of the hat to God as we steamroll through OUR day. A posture of purposeful, perpetual thanks to God is absolutely central to Christian character. It gives glory to Him. It is the key defense against Satan’s temptations to despair, distrust, and dysfunction.”

The Gospel is the foundation for all gratitude! She taught me many things, but probably the biggest “ah ha” for me was to use gratitude not as an “add-on” but a relational intimate practice in my prayer life daily with God. How thanking Him for specific ways that He is good, holy, and precious to me humbles my heart and puts worry aside and is replaced with more joy and trust in God.

I am grateful for Ellen Vaughn and her willingness to walk the brutal and joyful road of writing for my benefit and blessing. I took notes for my own journey with Jesus but also for my writing development.  Thank you God for her and using her to minister grace to me and many others.

Worship in Weakness

I despise weakness…
I get overwhelmed. Relational debt, housework debt and procrastinated project dread sneak up, drain the life out of me, and leave me feeling discouraged and flat out weak.  Those overwhelming moments reveal my true weakness. Yet too often, I deny it. Blind with ambition, I reach for my bootstraps, pull myself up, and get back to work.

2 Corinthians 12:9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

My heart naturally resists depending on God when I’m weak. The noise in my heart, amplified by tough self-sufficiency, can drown out the Holy Spirit’s reminder: “my power is made perfect in your weakness.”

…yet weakness is a gift.
There are the times when his voice breaks through the noise and exposes my heart. It is a struggle to swallow my pride and obey, but it is in that turn of repentance—right in the midst of the mess—that I begin to hope again.

The truth is that I am weak every second, not just when I feel overwhelmed. Jesus wants me to see that when I am overwhelmed, he is giving me a gracious gift: the ability to see more clearly my constant need for him. So rather than denying weakness, I can boast in it because it draws me closer to Jesus in worship.

For example, the other day I was scurrying around the house getting stuff done, feeling very behind on my seemingly urgent tasks. Our third child invited me to play dolls. Pause. Graciously say no, or accept this opportunity to connect with my daughter? In the moment, my heart was faint, overwhelmed with my work. I thought, “I can’t play right now!” Yet, the Holy Spirit changed my thoughts to dependence and flexibility in my weakness. We had a great time playing. When I went back to work, my heart was more tender than it had been previously.

Feeling overwhelmed is a signal to check my heart’s dependence on God. Am I softened to the Holy Spirit? Digging in to depend on God? Do I find my soul’s refreshment in God’s sufficiency? In these times, I’m learning to cling to my Savior, who accomplished perfect work on the cross and continues to save me from my sin. God meets me at the point of my prideful self-sufficiency and lovingly brings me to my knees in worshipful dependence.

Worship through work is not just working hard for God’s glory; it is also in the attitude of humility, realizing how weak and unable we are. We can all grow in dependence on Christ and boast in our weakness. We must humble ourselves before the face of God and thank him for the gift of weakness.

With one hand full, I TOIL for more…

Ecclesiastes 6:7-9
All the toil of man is for his mouth, yet his appetite is not satisfied. For what advantage has the wise man over the fool? And what does the poor manhave who knows how to conduct himself before the living? Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the appetite: this also is vanity and a striving after wind.

in the Net Bible:
All of man’s labor is for nothing more than to fill his stomach yet his appetite is never satisfied! So what advantage does a wise man have over a fool? And what does a pauper gain by knowing how to survive? It is better to be content with what the eyes can see than for one’s heart always to crave more. This continual longing is futile – like chasing the wind.

I chase the wind of a thinner body, cleaner house, healthier choices, finished projects, peaceful relationships, etc. I long to treasure the feeling of everything in my life in order. I seek tasks more frequently than the ongoing peacefulness of being in communion with my Savior Jesus. My Vanity streak in my heart is thick. God is loving me as I repent of the preoccupation of my self and my “toiling.”

God has enabled me to enjoy Him. Treasures in HIS kingdom last, not things on earth. IT is so easy for me to replace contentment in that knowledge with worry and toil. My Father knows my needs and is graciously providing His Grace each day- so that I can continue to work.

Contentment is not wrapped up in being “ok” with the material possessions we have or the season we are in. Contentment is a peaceful heart in light of seeing the meaninglessness of earthly strife, and putting hope in the Savior in and through it all.

My husband wrote this song from Ecclesiastes on this topic 5 years ago: IT is really great!
http://www.marshillchurch.org/Audio/meaningless_parsons_062203.mp3

1 Timothy 6:6-8
Now there is great gain in godliness with contentment, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world.

“If I aspire to anything, it should be serve my God and King. I must to learn to seek his kingdom first.”

Redemption through Jesus Christ

I thought I would take one post to talk about what my hubby is up to at Mars Hill Church.  The book is Redemption: Freed by Jesus From the Idols We Worship and the Wounds We Carry. It will be out next year, published by Crossway.

Mars Hill Church has been doing Redemption Groups for two years and has seen Jesus change hearts, mend lives, and heal many wounds. It is miraculous and a gift to see transformation by the Gospel of Jesus. I have led groups and really enjoy the weight and honor of the opportunity to see God’s grace at work.

If you have habitual sin and or lingering wounds- there is hope and forgiveness at the Cross of Christ. Jesus cleans our hearts and gives us His righteousness. It is amazing!

1Peter 2:24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.

If you are interested in going through a redemption group at Mars Hill Church, connect with the campus counseling pastor. IF your church would like more information about Redemption Groups, please see the above website– packed with information.

Religion Idolatry

Ever deny your struggle? So that you won’t look bad or feel needy? I have been the religious person and am by God’s grace, have had eyes to see and a heart to repent of this sin. The Sin is Religious Idolatry. Or as David Powlison calls it- Religiosity.

“the driving forces in religion are self-exaltation, love of status, reputation, visibility, pursuing religious behavior for gain, essentially becomes a puppet of self-righteousness. Ultimately using God as a superstition because of fear and control, getting the goodies and avoiding the bad things.” -David Powlison

Trapped by appearances and morality; the religious idolater adds to the Gospel of Christ. Religious people are compelled to do things of God, but may not actually know Jesus. There may be the motions and will that sets up a life to look great; but is disconnected from God in the heart.

Addictive Religiosity is the hardest addiction to break,  because it is the hardest one to see:

1. Seemingly from God
2. Authority of Scripture
3. Influencial people
4. authority of personal experience

As I was growing up in Christ, I was surrounded by Jesus–loving people, but many (not all) who didn’t humble themselves and expose their struggles/sin and their sanctification journey. Part of it was doctrine, but more often it was the church culture that turned off the need for this raw transparency. I learned how to turn off the honesty and replace it with religiosity.

I am not blaming the christian sub-culture. But, what a dis-service to set people up with gospel knowledge/information but not a humble transformation that is seen by others at a heart level? Religious idolatry is all about protecting yourself from being seen for the– truly dependent and sinful person we all are. It is about steeling glory with morality instead of walking in the light with struggles.

Repentance for the Religious Idolater, including myself, doesn’t mean talking about sin all the time and being dark, and swinging to the opposite of the the fake joy spectrum. Repentance for me has been: letting go of my reputation, depending on the Holy Spirit, mourning for my own pain and others, being humbled by suffering, seeing the Gospel of Jesus in the mundane tasks of my life, not giving packaged answers or advice to people, seeing my sin of prideful performance with God, continual repentance, etc. That is just a few of the changes that the Lord has done.

Religious talk was usually about me performing Christianity. As God continues to save me from this, HE is way bigger and I am shrinking. And, the Gospel of Jesus is so beyond my comprehension.

Religious idolatry clings to things of God and not God himself. Blessings are the product, instead of the Gospel. God himself is the prize of my belief in Him. Treasuring Jesus is my only true hope.