Skip to main content

Tied to Advent, the Second Part (John 3:16, Matthew 1:18-25)


The 2008 tie has a picture drawn by one or both of my daughters: it has a picture of Mary and Baby Jesus in a manger as well as the Star. It says “I love you” reminding us of the Christmas story and how Jesus was lain in a manger because their way no room for him in the inn – it recalls the Father’s great love for us as recorded in John 3:16 and 17: “For God so love the world that He sent His Only Begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life for God did not send His Son to condemn the world but that the world through Him might be saved.”

The 2009 tie from Rebecca and Sarah-Grace has the creativity of my young children on full display with Mary and Joseph and the baby Jesus under the Christmas star and a Christmas tree. This reminds us, as well as everything else, of the faithfulness of Joseph as told in the Gospel of Luke, how he loved Jesus as his own and served God with all his heart. Matthew 1:18-25:

18 This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. 19 Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.

20 But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”

22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23 “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).

24 When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. 25 But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.

Next, we have two undated ties. The hand is the handprint of a baby Heather, so we know that this tie was made in 2010 or later. And the next one is really neat. Take a look: under the Christmas Star that led the magi and shepherds to Bethlehem are three figures: one in blue representing Mary, and one in red representing Joseph and the baby Jesus is in white. If you look at the three figures you will notice that each one is the fingerprint of one of my daughters: reminding us all the God came to earth as a small child, as a baby born to His mother and adoptive father and laid in swaddling cloths in a manger.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Beware: Christian Junk Food

THIS IS AN INTERESTING ARTICLE WE STUMBLED ACROSS BY ANNE GRAHAM LOTZ Why the average believer is starving for something more. By Anne Graham Lotz I love junk food—McDonald's french fries, Auntie Anne's pretzels, and almost any kind of pizza! If I'm not careful, though, I will gain unwanted pounds while getting zero nutrition. Many Christians seem to eat spiritually the way I am tempted to eat physically. They fill up on "junk food"—Christian books, CDs, TV programs, seminars, and all sorts of church activities—none of these are bad, really, but they lead to a sickly spiritual state if consumed apart from the true Bread of Life. We need the real nutritional "food" that will be served one day at the Wedding Supper referred to in Revelation 19:9, food that we can partake of right now as we dig into God's Living Word. For the past 17 years, as I have crisscrossed America, speaking at various conferences and churches, I have become convinced of
Post a Comment
Read more

The Lourdes' Lessons (John 7, 4 & 5)

John 7:37-38: On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” We went to  Sanctuaire de Notre-Dame de Lourdes . They have healing water in a spring there under the church that you can walk right up to. The story of the healing spring and the cathedral goes a little like this: Bernadette Soubirous, a 14-year-old peasant girl, on 11 February 1858 saw a vision of Mary, the mother of Jesus and was told to go and drink water from a spring which was to appear inside the grotto and wash herself with it. She did and she kept going there and by mid-July had seen Mary 18 times. She was also told to tell the priests to build a chapel at the grotto site. They did. The Cathedral was built over the spring and people – like us - still visit today.  God is a God of miracles even today. There is a whole community built up
Post a Comment
Read more

Ephesians 5:8-20: Jet Lag

The other day the whole family flew from Toronto to Victoria. Flying can be an adventure – especially when you are travelling with young children. This most recent trip was probably the first one from which we all experienced Jet Lag. Jet Lag is an awful feeling. It wastes your whole day. We have only one week’s holiday and during that time I have some work to do as well and the whole first day or even two are wasted. Jet Lag is when you feel so tired you can’t really enjoy your day or be productive. It is only when you get over this that you can do what you need to do and experience life. Are there times we suffer from Spiritual Jet Lag? We want to pray and read our Scriptures and associate with other Christians in a Christian context, we want to even sing praises to the Lord and thank Him for everything but we just seem to be lethargic instead. God really will get us where we are going a lot faster than any jet but sometimes our strength will lag behind us. This is why t
Post a Comment
Read more