Skip to main content

Tied to Advent, the Third Part (Luke 2:1-2)


In 2013 I received 2 ties: one from all three girls and one just from Sarah-Grace. 11-year-old Sarah-Grace made me a cow because cows were her favourite animal and because she loved me, she gave me her favourite just as God gave us His favourite, His One and Only Son, on Christmas.

The other tie I received in 2013 which was made by my daughters is of a shepherd and a sheep. The sheep’s body is the print of my bottom on my three-year-old Heather’s palm. This tie references John 10:14-15, where it is recorded: “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep.”

Next in 2015 we have a picture of a lamb outside of Jerusalem reminding us that Jesus is the Lamb of God and that as, as Revelation records, He is coming back with the new Jerusalem. This is ultimately what we are all waiting for even today – in Advent and always – Christ’s triumphant return.

Next, we have a reindeer and a Christmas tree. The words Feliz Navidad are written here. These words remind us of Iris, a friend of ours from when we served in Toronto. She was our corps administrator and more. She was from Latin America and was a faithful servant of God. She received her Promotion to Glory during Advent, one Christmas, while we were in Toronto.

2017’s tie says ‘Joy’. Joy is one of the candles that we often light during Advent. You will most likely see me wear this tie on that day. Beside the word ‘Joy’ is an Angel and beneath it is the earth harkening us to remember the good tidings of great joy that the Angels brought to the whole world. Joy to the World.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Hosanna! The Triumphal Entry into Holy Week (Matthew 21:1-11)

Today  is Palm Sunday. Palm Sunday is when we commemorate the Sunday before Jesus’ death. Jerusalem was occupied then, like it is now; now it is occupied by the Israelis, then it was occupied by the Romans. The Judeans in the first century didn’t like being occupied then any more than the Palestinians like it today. The Romans were harsh, not nearly as brutal as modern Israel, but harsh enough that the first century had their version of … (Remember the suicide bombers of the ‘70s and ‘80s?) …suicide bombers: the Sicarii (zealots), Judean terrorists / revolutionaries would walk into crowds with daggers looking for Romans to kill –. One of Jesus’ followers, Simon, was arguably a Sicarii or zealot.   Passover is the commemoration of ancient Israel’s birth as a nation. The Angel of Death passed over Egypt and the nations of Isreal and Judah were created through the Exodus. Passover, in the Roman period, was a time when many people of Judean descent descended upon Jerusalem. I ...

Lanterns (Matthew 25:1-13, Psalm 146)

  The topics I chose from our Lenten list for today are “God has rescued us from the Dominion of Darkness”; “He has Freed Us from the Power of Sin”; the Kingdom of God is at hand. Do we believe that? Do we live that?   In theology we use the term ‘prolepsis’ to refer to the time when the Kingdom of God begins, which is now, the time between the resurrection of Christ and His return at the eschaton. This is the time in which we are living and as Christians it is our responsibility to be willing instruments of God to display what it means that He has rescued us from the Dominion of Darkness; He has Freed Us from the Power of Sin, that the Kingdom of God is at hand. But do we even actually believe that He has already done this? And if He has why does it not seem that the Sin and Darkness still reign?   We know the parable of the bridesmaids (holy ones) in the Bible who needed to keep their lanterns lit – because lit lanterns were to be there when the Bridegroom Jesus returns...

Bah Ram You Shaggy Goat (Daniel 8)

This book is written in a couple of different languages as we  have it  tod ay. Ch apter 7  that Susan looked at with us  is the last Aramaic chapter - if that is on purpose then chapter 7  probably concludes  the first  section  of Daniel  rather than  beginning  the  next  section   but Ch apter 8  that we are looking at today  (and everything flowing from it)  is obviously connected to  Chapter 7  as Da n iel  refers to the first dream when relaying the second one.   Chronologically speaking,  Chapter 8 and  Chapter 7 take place before  C hapters 5 and 6.  In Chapter 5, Babylon falls, Belshazzar is killed and  the Persians take over. None of that has happened in Chapter 8 which we are about to read .   Verses 1-4   8 In the third year of King Belshazzar’s reign, I, Daniel, had a vision, after the one that had already appeared to me. 2 In my ...