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The Shepherd’s Story: 1st Meditation
Verse 8 from Luke 2:8-20 8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. They were not well thought of, these shepherds. Sheep were the basis of the national economy. Milk, cheese, mutton, wool – a man and his family could live off of a few sheep and the Temple’s sacrifices depended on a never-ending supply. The smaller flocks were looked after the owner and his sons, but the larger flocks were looked after by hired shepherds. And these hired shepherds weren’t like the Christmas cards. It was the hired shepherds people couldn’t stand. Dirty and smelly from spending months in…
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The Battle Cry of Christmas
The first day of Advent… and a battle cry. Seek the LORD, all you humble of the land, you who do what he commands. (Zeph. 2:3a) This verse comes in the middle of Zephaniah’s terrible prophecies against early kingdoms: Cush, Moab, Ashkelon, Nineveh — and Jerusalem (Zeph. 1-2). The only people who will survive were the holy remnant, the humble people who served the Lord and no other gods. The ones who did what God commanded. Not sweet enough for you this Christmas season? Christmas wasn’t sweet! Christmas was a revolution, a battle cry, the turning tide in the war. It still is. How will you respond this Advent season?
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Pre-Advent
This Saturday isn’t precisely the beginning of Advent — tomorrow, the first Sunday is — but December 1 is close enough as far as I’m concerned. In Protestant churches that don’t pay much attention to the liturgical calendar (which is lot of them), Advent can get lost. Christmas is a big deal of courses but Advent is just the 3 weeks of shopping, cooking and cleaning for the Christmas season. Maybe the lighting of the Advent wreaths on Sunday morning, but that is as good as it gets. And it’s not the church’s fault, not at all. Advent and Lent are primarily about our individual responses to Christ in the world,…