ps from ps… It is that time of the year – Children’s Christmas Pageant time!!
The picture with this email is not last year’s pageant. This is from two years ago. There was none last year due to Covid. And I missed it!! I love everything about it – the costumes, the music, the chaos, the stuff-that-goes-wrong-that-you-didn’t-see-coming, and of course the tears/laughter.
But most importantly, the story. The Story!
It’s the same story though right? Everyone gets ready – Jesus arrives – people tell the news – the world is changed. And I DON’T get tired of it. In fact, I crave it. I need it.
I need to be reminded of it day in and day out. The simple story of a complex love, grace, forgiveness and presence for us. Us?! Yes, Us!
As the days get darker, we’ll hear it again Sunday. We’ll sing again Sunday. We’ll laugh again Sunday. We’ll be reminded of the gift again Sunday.
But I also hope you’ll remember today – Emmanuel – God with you – today – now. This Light shines in the darkness and NOOOOOOO darkness will overcome it!
Welcome back to the greatest story ever told – for today. If you want to see a preview of the pageant CLICK HERE. This year’s full pageant has been recorded for the kid’s safety and will be shown as part of worship on Sunday. You’ll also be able to view the whole thing on our YouTube and Facebook pages.
Lord, thanks for the profound story being broken open by the kids. Amen,
But more importantly than that, Happy Chivetta’s Chicken Dinner Day. Well, that’s not actually a “real day” like the start of Biegner Winter, but they are set up on our front lawn cooking chicken. (Side note: this isn’t a fundraiser St. Paul’s is running, they just needed a site because the church across the street cancelled on them. HOWEVER, they are still kicking $.75 from every meal they sell to the Discretionary Fund to help out families around the holidays. So spread the word and grab some grub!)
I love Chivettas mainly because of the smell. You can be driving down the road anywhere in WNY with your windows down and if you smell that particular smell, you know Chivettas is cooking somewhere nearby. The smell points you right to the savory meal!
What smell do you give off? And what does it point to?
Well, maybe there’s a better way to phrase that.
John the Baptist was a pointer. To Jesus! And he probably did actually smell because he moved his road show out into the wilderness to yell, scream, preach and proclaim that God was about to do something awesome that God had been talking about for a long time. And if you were driving by with your windows down, you knew what he was pointing to right away! Jesus.
When people drive by you and me with their windows down, what will they smell? What will it point to?
In this season of Advent, we await the coming of Christ again. We celebrate the first time he arrived and now we “await.” While we’re waiting, who are we pointing to with our words, deeds and actions? When we preach to the world around us, to our friends and family in relationship, what do people hear/see us saying/doing? Are the ways that we live out the grace-filled compassion and redemption that we have received pointing toward God’s love for the world?
When I smell Chivettas, I know it right away. When people smell me, will it be that clear?
John’s a great reminder to us to make the path a little straighter, the voice a little louder and the actions a little clearer. So that as loved children of God, we can clearly point to Jesus.
Lord, help me to prepare your way and point clearly to you. Amen,
ps from ps…Have you counted them? Have you named them? Have you looked around to see what God has done, is doing and will continue to do.
Blessings. Left. Right. And Center.
“Every time I think of you, I thank my God,” the apostle Paul wrote to one of his churches. Every time.
Now Paul’s life wasn’t easy, wasn’t drama-free, wasn’t void of tough times. Heck, he wrote some of his letters from prison!
And our lives aren’t either. They are filled with challenges, with pot holes, with grief, with transitions, with health concerns and more. But it DOES NOT mean that the blessings go away. It only means that it MORE important to search for them, find them, name them, celebrate them and share them.
Tomorrow will be an easy day to do that. Hopefully you will be around a table with friends or family. Notice the food. Notice the warmth. Notice the quiet if you need that. Notice, even in the chairs that are now empty, the stories that you created together. Notice it all….and hopefully notice a Bills win too!
But that’s tomorrow. What about today? “No day like today” they sing out in the musical Rent. How can you channel Paul’s vision and see more of the blessings around you? How can you name them and count them and let them help you overpower the challenges…even for a moment? How can you share them with those that are struggling to see theirs?
No day like today friends! May God’s blessings pour over you, and may they be super easy to see!
ps from ps… How’s your “To-Do” list going today? Did you nail it? Still tons to do? Were you “perfect” in tackling it? Or maybe it’s time for a much needed break. Check out “Devo’s on the Go” by clicking HERE.
Lord, help me to give myself a break today and realize you’ve already done it all. Amen
ps from ps… Remember when you were a kid and you played with blocks? Or maybe you do now with your kids or grandkids? (Or maybe you do now on your own when no one is looking?) I was always a big fan of plain wooden blocks. Made forts with them. Made roads. Houses. And sometimes towers, just to see how high I could get them. (This was all pre-Jenga’s existence).
But I think my favorite part was knocking them down. It was so easy. A gentle swipe. A quick pope. A block pulled from the bottom. And down they went, sprayed all over the floor.
But then the harder part began….building them back up. Knocking them down was easy. Rebuilding and building up a new tower took much more work. But when I did it, there was a deeper satisfaction with the tower back in place.
We’re not too much different than towers of blocks. A lot easier to knock down than to build up. In all phases of our lives: physical, mental, emotional and spiritual. Everyday life and people and stuff and junk can more easily knock us down than build us up.
I went for a run yesterday morning. 2.8 miles. It was my first run in almost a month. (Which is why my legs felt like I ran a marathon yesterday when I walked downstairs this morning). Between illness, surgery and loss of a family member, I got knocked down. And it was very easy to get out of any physical (and for me running is also spiritual) routine. I did a guided run with my coach called the: “I don’t wanna run Run.” The run helped me name some frustrations, realize how out of routine I was and give space for the frustrations of how slow I was going. But at the halfway point of this 25 minute run, he helped me realize that I was already halfway through. That I already battled through the toughest part and that I was back on the “road” to being successful, whether I realized it or not. No matter how much slower my pace, how ugly my form, my success came from just starting.
He said: “Congratulations. You could have not run at all today. But you did! It’s way easier to knock yourself down than it is to build yourself up. But when you make that effort, you will have already succeeded.”
Jesus was telling his disciples that time after time in Scripture. He doesn’t ask them to be perfect. He invites them to start the journey, and then restart after they messed up. After the tower of blocks got knocked down. Their success came from beginning that journey each and every day with Jesus by their side. One time they came back from being sent out to the towns and villages around them and when they returned they told Jesus that they saw “Satan fall before their eyes.”
The success comes every time we restart. Every time we begin to rebuild the tower.
Take time this week to assess where you are on the road. In your routine or needing to create a new one? Thriving and tall or feeling knocked over?
There is no right place to be. There only is where you are right now. And that place is just right. But when you find the blocks knocked over (and don’t worry…they will be at some point), we are invited by God to begin the run again. To replace block by block and create a new tower.
It may not be as easy, but it’s in that beginning where we fill find success.
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