-
A New Security plugin added to site
I just added a new security plugin to the site as I noted several of our authors were having login attempts from foreign countries. I suggest you change your password to a complicated one. To authors — the lockout is set to 6 attempts of your password and the lockout period is set to 30 mins.. let me know if you are having problems. 1+
-
Waiting for Normal
My husband and I put up our Christmas tree on October 25. Call us eager. And bored. But despite all the glitter and music, the gifts and velvet bows, almost half of Americans wrestle through the holidays—even without a pandemic. Mental health workers say that some people get the holiday blues because there’s this perception and comparison of others having more and doing more. Enter 2020. Humpty Dumpty has fallen. It’s not just COVID cases that have surged. Loneliness, anxiety, and depression have also spiked this year. Weeks of waiting have turned into long months. Although Advent is the season of waiting, many could do without it by now—the…
-
Do You Box Up Your Thanksgiving?
This week I boxed up all our Thanksgiving decorations to sit in the closet for a year. The handwritten thanksgiving banner, the small jars with prompts to thank God, the cup with past subjects to be thankful for, and the abundantly full cornucopia. The Thanksgiving season is over for another year. Out of sight and out of mind. Or should it be? Various research has been conducted on the benefits of thankfulness (gratitude). Gratitude is associated with an increase in well-being, self-esteem, self-support; improvement in relationships, sleep, overall health; enhancement in positive emotions and optimism.[1] One study revealed gratitude led to less depression, more happiness, release from toxic emotions,…
-
5 Simple Ways to Observe Advent
Advent practices sometimes get replaced with distracting activities. We hurry to bake the shortbread, build the gingerbread house, drive through the light display. But inwardly our souls are screaming, “Rest! Don’t rush!” But, how can we observe Advent without adding to our hurry?
-
Maintaining unity in Christ
First Corinthians 1:3–9 forms part of the lectionary readings for the first Sunday of Advent, which is November 29th. Whereas most letter writers today sign their name at the end of their correspondence, it was customary in the Greco-Roman world of the first century A.D for a writer to identify himself or herself at the beginning of a letter. Paul followed the above literary convention. He also established his authority to instruct the church about spiritual matters by describing himself as one “called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God” (v. 1). A number of people in the church at Corinth were at odds with…
-
Trust God’s Choice in Addressing Your Pain
This year has been painful for many of us. Because of Covid-19, we haven’t seen loved ones for months because they live far away. Travel is risky for older folks because of their vulnerability to the disease. We keep praying for it to go away, and it just won’t! The flu at least ends after a few months. This thing is persistent and wicked. This pain is affecting our lives in new and challenging ways. I was in a Bible study recently talking about how pain affects our lives and our perspective of God’s goodness to us. We were studying the Mark 5:21-43 accounts of the woman who had been…
-
Approaching Advent
This Sunday, November 29 marks the beginning of the 2020 Advent season. Advent is a four-week period of praying, perhaps fasting, reading scripture and anticipating our Lord’s birth on Christmas Day. Similar to Lent, it allows time and a sacred space in a busy season to contemplate the coming of Christ and the miracle of the incarnation. The church has always seen Advent as a period of waiting – an intentional observance that helps us avoid what Stanley Grenz calls our culture’s “drive through Christmas” attitude. We throw ourselves into the frenzy of preparations for Christmas, but often fail miserably in taking time to prepare our hearts for the Lord’s…
-
10 Steps to a Calmer, More Christ-Focused Advent
The word “advent” comes from “ad” meaning “to” as well as from “vent,” a form of a Latin word meaning “coming.” Think of the first word in: veni vidi vici—I came, I saw, I conquered. So: to come. For many Christians, the first Sunday in Advent—November 29 in 2020—marks the beginning of the Christian new year. Advent is the season when Christians look back and look forward; we look back on the first advent, or coming, of Messiah, and we look forward to the second advent—his return. During the four weeks leading up to Christmas, many believers observe Advent as a season of expectant waiting, during which we prepare our hearts. Two…
-
Truly Thankful
Thanksgiving is an American Holiday that was set aside to give thanks for all that God has provided. As Christians we are commanded to give thanks. Sincere thanksgiving implies an understanding that God has provided and a heart attitude of being satisfied. . . pleased. . . amazed at His generous provision. Are we? Those pilgrims who gathered to give thanks were NOT thanking God for giving them what they deserved. They had travelled to a foreign country in search of spiritual freedom. They had suffered months of sickness and death on an ocean of uncertainty. Worn and weary they stepped off the boat into a harsh wilderness. In spite…
-
Toasters, Faith and Remembering
This post was originally posted in June of 2019 as Thanksgiving nears in 2020 I thought it may do us all well to reflect and remember. It has been quite the year since this post first circulated. Yet even with all of the upheaval and strangeness that 2020 has brought our way-when we pause to remember we see that God is still good! A toaster was all it took to throw me into a crisis of faith yesterday. I love toast as much as the next person, but it wasn’t the actual toaster that triggered my downward spiral, but what the toaster represented. About a year ago, my family took…
-
Performing deeds of kindness
Matthew 25:31–46 forms part of the lectionary readings for the twenty–fifth Sunday after Pentecost, which is November 22nd. Chapters 24 and 25 comprise the last of the five discourses in the first Synoptic Gospel. Because Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives when He taught this material to His disciples, it has been called the Olivet Discourse. It contains some of the most noteworthy prophetic passages in all of Scripture. In 24:1–14, Jesus revealed the signs of His return. He then talked about perilous times (vv. 15–28) and the glory associated with His Second Coming (vv. 29–31). In the parable of the fig tree (vv. 32–35), Jesus said that…
