Soul Sister Time

            Advent rolls around again. It’s not the first time I think about Christmas.   In fact I have been seeing Christmas decorations in all the stores since before Halloween.   It is the first time I accept Christmas.   It is the week I begin turning my heart to what the season is meant to be all about.   As I begin to experience Christmas again this year, I need to hold my heart open to the holiness of the season or I have no chance of making it a holy season.             It starts with fighting off the world and all its trappings at Christmas.   There is nothing holy about frantically buying gifts I can’t afford, packing my schedule with events and parties that drain my energy, and eating every delight that is set before me.               The season begins with high hopes that ...

            It’s Christmas Eve.   The last week of Advent this year will last only two days.   All four candles of the Advent Wreath burn brightly as the days before Christmas draw near.   The Feast of the Nativity is celebrated on December 25 when the Christ candle (white center candle) is lit for just one day.             Peace is definitely what this earth needs most this Christmas.   Americans have been crushed by the horrific tragedy that occurred in an elementary school this 2012 Advent season.   On everyone’s hearts and minds we wonder, How will the loved ones of innocent children and teachers cope this Christmas?   At the Newton, Connecticut, memorial , President Obama spoke these words of truth: We know that much of our time will be spent groping through the darkness so often unable to discern God’s heavenly plans.   There is...

            It is heartwarming to see the overwhelming demonstration of love that brews during the Christmas season.   News reporters focus on stories of the kindness of strangers and communities pulling together to make sure that no one goes without a Christmas gift in between the never ending accounts of crimes and catastrophes.             It’s deemed newsworthy that soldiers are reunited with their families on Christmas Eve.   Food banks and homeless shelters are flooded with volunteers.   Otherwise unconcerned citizens make efforts to smile and greet one another.   Love fills the atmosphere at Christmas and brings joy to the season.             The radical love that produced Christmas is bittersweet.   Christmas began because of the separation of Jesus Christ from His Father as He came...

                The Season of Christmas is not over for the church.   We still have much to think about and much to celebrate.   The Twelve Days of Christmas, also known as Christmastide, is celebrated in the church from December 25 through January 5.   Christmas isn’t officially over until January 6 when the Feast of the Epiphany is celebrated.   I heard a new Christmas Anthem that opened my heart to the reality of Christmas.   It is entitled Christmas Grace , and the songwriter wrote it for her granddaughter.   In it she tells of the wonder of Christ.   One line in the song states: Grace to share our frailty, understand our fragile lot; Jesus laid aside His power to be helped, trained, and taught.   To know the sting of hunger, feel the pain of grief and loss, God’s Son allowed Himself to be born for us!   He traded heaven’s majesty, He left His glorious throne for ...