Category Archives: Christianity

Christmas Traditions ~ Luke 2:1-20 and Swedish Pancakes!

There are so many Christmas traditions that we have enjoyed over the years. Today I’ll share a couple that have stayed with us since Dear and I were married. His Mother started the rich tradition of reading Luke 2: 1-20 at the Christmas Eve celebrations before everyone tore into their gifts. Over the years we tried different ways to incorporate this rich tradition. We started including it on my side of the families gatherings, too. One year while all the cousins were still young I made a very elementary coloring book with all these verses for each child in each family to color and help them to memorize this passage. At our Christmas Eve celebration I brought  several rolls of quarters and each child that could recite any of the passage got a quarter for every verse they remembered! It was loads of fun. Recently my brother dared his nieces and nephews to recite these in Russian and to whoever could he’d give big bucks. Ha! One of my nephews met the challenge and my brother gave him $100 and my father was so pleased he kicked in an extra $50.

 

This is the booklet I made with a picture and one to two verses on each page. I’m sure anyone out there can make a more artistic coloring book with the help of a computer. I made this by hand before I had a computer. This is the cover of one of the stapled booklets that I think was my son Josh’s.

The other tradition that my immediate family enjoys is on Christmas morning after we see what’s inside our Christmas Stockings, Dear cooks up Swedish Pancakes for us all to enjoy. Here’s Dear on Christmas 2005 cooking them up!

Do you have a tradition to share with us? You still have time to post it and join in the fun. To read about other traditions or join in the fun head over to My Quiet Corner.

Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus ~ Hymn

 

 Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus

(words by Charles Wesley)

Come, Thou long expected Jesus
Born to set Thy people free;
From our fears and sins release us,
Let us find our rest in Thee.
Israel’s Strength and Consolation,
Hope of all the earth Thou art;
Dear Desire of every nation,
Joy of every longing heart.

Born Thy people to deliver,
Born a child and yet a King,
Born to reign in us forever,
Now Thy gracious kingdom bring.
By Thine own eternal Spirit
Rule in all our hearts alone;
By Thine all sufficient merit,
Raise us to Thy glorious throne.

 

GIVE THANKS ~ WORSHIP

 

Give Thanks

GIVE THANKS
WITH A GRATEFUL HEART
GIVE THANKS
TO THE HOLY ONE
GIVE THANKS
FOR HE’S GIVEN
JESUS CHRIST, HIS SON (X2)

 

AND NOW LET THE WEAK SAY
I AM STRONG
LET THE POOR SAY

I AM RICH

BECAUSE OF WHAT THE LORD HAS DONE
FOR US
(X2)

GIVE THANKS…

 I thought this was perfect for the Sunday hymn/worship song post this week. My sister Kathy was singing it with her grandson Jack (who knew all the words) and I remember singing this simple wonderful song. Have a wonderful Sunday worshipping together.

 

Tuesday In Other Words ~

“Love is beautiful, but it is also terrible–terrible in its determination to allow nothing blemished or unworthy to remain in the beloved.”~ Hannah Hurnard ~

Here’s where I went with this quote.

God is love ~

I John 4: 7-10 ~ “Beloved, let us love one another for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

God disciplines those He loves ~

Hebrews 12: 5-14 ~ “And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons?

My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.

It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Besides this, we have had eartly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed. Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.”

Because God is Love in the purest form and His son resides in us we are disciplined so that we can reflect His image to the world and to glorify Him. God’s plan to save us because of His love for us involved the terrible pain of His son on the cross. When we receive this sacrifice for us we become children of God.  As children of God we need to accept the fact that we will suffer in order to be conformed to the image of God. His Firstborn suffered we will suffer, too.

For more In Other Words visit Bonnie at Ink it Blog.

Wave Upon Wave ~ Grace

“Out of His fullness we receive, and grace for grace, — like wave upon wave.”

 

Ephesians 1: 22, 23 ~ “And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.”

2:7-9 ~ “…so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

3:17-19 ~…”so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith – that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowlege, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”

4:7 ~ “But grace was given to each of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift.”

Colossians 1:19,20 ~ For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.”

2:9,10 ~ “For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority.”

Hebrews 4:16 ~ “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

Today I am very thankful for His fullness, that He is in me, and for the grace I receive from Him like wave upon wave…

If you’d like to read some Thankful Thursday posts around bloggy world click here.

Quote from – Horatius Bonar, Light and Truth in The Life and Works of Horatius Bonar on CD-Rom (LUX publications: 2004), pp. 744-745.

ht: Of First Importance , for the Bonar quote.

How Good It Is to Thank the Lord ~ Hymn

 

 How Good It Is to Thank The Lord

How good it is to thank the Lord,
And praise to Thee, Most High, accord,
To show Thy love with morning light,
And tell Thy faithfulness each night;
Yea, good it is Thy praise to sing,
And all our sweetest music bring.

O Lord, with joy my heart expands,
Before the wonders of Thy hands;
Great works, Jehovah, Thou hast wrought,
Exceeding deep Thine every thought;
A foolish man knows not their worth,
Nor he whose mind is of the earth.

When as the grass the wicked grow,
When sinners flourish here below,
Then is there endless ruin nigh,
But Thou, O Lord, art throned on high;
Thy foes shall fall before Thy might,
The wicked shall be put to flight.

Thou, Lord, hast high exalted me
With royal strength and dignity;
With Thine anointing I am blest,
Thy grace and favor on me rest;
I thus exult o’er all my foes,
O’er all that would my cause oppose.

The righteous man shall flourish well,
And in the house of God shall dwell;
He shall be like a goodly tree,
And all his life shall fruitful be;
For righteous is the Lord and just,
He is my Rock, in Him I trust.

Words: The Psalter 1912, Music: St. Petersburg ~ Dimitri S. Bortniansky

Holiness ~ J.C. Ryle ~ 1877

Well I’m behind others who are reading Holiness by J.C. Ryle in the blog world but that way I can glean from the book and their reviews and hopefully comprehend the book better. The full text of Ryle’s original work on Holiness is included in J. I. Packer’s book Faithfulness and Holiness. Here’s a quote from the book that I wanted to share from chapter 2 on Sin…

“In the next place, a right view of sin is one of the best antidotes to the overstrained theories of Perfection, of which we hear so much in these times. I shall say but little about this, and in saying it I trust I shall not give offence. If those who press on us perfection mean nothing more than an all-round consistency, and a careful attention to all the graces which make up the Christian character, reason would that we should not only bear with them, but agree with them entirely. By all means let us aim high. But if men really mean to tell us that here in this world a believer can attain to entire freedom from sin, live for years in unbroken and uninterrupted communion with God, and feel for months together not so much as one evil thought, I must honestly say that such an opinion appears to me very unscriptural. – I go even further. I say that the opinion is very dangerous to him that holds it, and very likely to depress, discourage, and keep back inquirers after salvation. I cannot find the slightest warrant in God’s Word for expecting such perfection as this while we are in the body. …Christ alone is without sin; and that all we, the rest, though baptized and born again in Christ, offend in many things;

…we do not love God so much as we are bound to do, with all our hearts, mind, and power; we do not fear God so much as we ought to do; we do not pray to God but with many and great imperfections. We give, forgive, believe, live, and hope imperfectly; we speak, think, and do imperfectly; we fight against the devil, the world, and the flesh imperfectly. Let us, therefore, not be ashamed to confess plainly our state of imperfections.”

James 5:16 ~ “Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed.”

I John 1:8-10 ~ “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.”

I am imperfect and I prove it many times a day but thanks be to God that He keeps leading me forward and He continues His work of sanctification on me.

Never Give Up ~ Fanny Crosby ~ Hymn

 Never Give Up

Never be sad or desponding,
If thou hast faith to believe.
Grace, for the duties before thee,
Ask of thy God and receive.

Refrain

Never give up, never give up,
Never give up to thy sorrows,
Jesus will bid them depart.
Trust in the Lord, trust in the Lord,
Sing when your trials are greatest,
Trust in the Lord and take heart.

What if thy burdens oppress thee;
What though thy life may be drear;
Look on the side that is brightest,
Pray, and thy path will be clear.

Refrain

Never be sad or desponding,
There is a morrow for thee;
Soon thou shalt dwell in its brightness,
There with the Lord thou shalt be.

Refrain

Never be sad or desponding,
Lean on the arm of thy Lord;
Dwell in the depths of His mercy,
Thou shalt receive thy reward.

Refrain

James 1: 2-4 ~ “Consider it all joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”

ht: Cyberhymnal

Thankful Thursday ~ Romans 12:15

 

Romans 12:15 (ESV)

 “Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.”

My family has been taught by the example of our parents to always be ready to go where you are needed. My mother and father are the first ones at the hospital when someone takes ill. They are the ones that go to the house to grieve with the family members after a loved one dies. They care for the elderly (and they are elderly themselves) when they have to go into a care facility. Over the last several weeks my father and mother have visited a dying member of their church in a care facility one to two times a day. This is a sole surviving spinster with no family at all to care for her. My father will make all her funeral arrangements and make sure there’s a nice service for her. *We just got the news that this dear believer died last night and my father and mother are on their way right now to the funeral home to make the arrangements for her burial. Please pray for strength and stamina for my parents. I can’t tell you the number of funeral arrangements they have walked friends and family through. Today I am so thankful for them, their example and my youngest brother and his wife who seem to be stepping into my parents shoes with this wonderful service to people. This extends to the hurting and the rejoicing. My brother will fly to weddings, funerals, and special celebrations way more than the average Joe. I am so thankful today for the example in the flesh of those who rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep!

For more Thankful Thursday Posts head over to Sting My Heart…

Thankful Thursday ~ Various Gifts

 

Romans 12: 3-13 (ESV)

For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think but to think with sober judgement, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy in proportion to our faith; if service in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.

Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.

 

I am thankful for these and others whom God has put in my life that have used their gifts at various times and in various ways that have taught me, encouraged me, corrected me, served me, forgiven me, and blessed me. Thank you Lord for the model you have given us on how the Body of Christ can function with each one helping the other serving you to the measure of their faith. Thank you for your great mercy and love toward us…

To read more Thankful posts head on over to Sting My Heart….