Today’s Gordon-Conwell Advent devotional:
John the Baptist challenged his hearers to the most essential aspect of preparation for the coming of the Christ: that of repentance. The Christmas story begins with an announcement of the birth of this forerunner of the Messiah, the one who was to make ready the path before him.
When Jesus of Nazareth had come to him for baptism, he had identified him as the Christ; but since that time, Jesus had established no political system, raised no army, shown no interest in cultivating the rich and powerful. Within the dungeon, John began to wonder and sent his disciples to inquire whether the identification had indeed been correct [Matthew 11:2-14]. Implicit in his question is also John’s uncertainty about his own identity. If he had failed to identify the true Messiah, was he himself an authentic prophet?
Jesus answered the inquirers by a concrete demonstration of precisely those works which the Scriptures had promised would accompany the coming of the Christ. The blind saw; the lame walked; the marginalized rejoiced in the good news of God’s love. After the disciples’ departure, Jesus took on the more delicate task of vindicating John’s own identity. He had come “in the spirit and power” of the promised Elijah, as the last and greatest of God’s prophets.
During Advent, we ask again “who is Jesus”; and in his identity as Son of God and redeemer and Lord, we find ourselves. It is his coming that brings meaning to our lives and enables us to find our own true identity.
This story of John the Baptist asking Jesus to confirm His identity as Messiah has been popping up in a lot of my reading lately. Sheila Walsh discusses it in her fantastic book Get Off Your Knees and Pray, using it to illustrate that Jesus doesn’t shrink from our hard questions. He wasn’t offended that John, His most ardent supporter, suddenly doubted Him. He didn’t condemn John for asking. He just pointed him to proof of who He is. I like that.
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I live on a fairly busy street in a small, incorporated suburb. My street was recently under construction. I don’t know what the purpose of the construction was, but about two weeks ago workers dug up part of the sidewalk in front of my house, right over the water main, and jackhammered something so hard that the motion sensors in my house went off. Then they replaced everything and went on their merry way, and I thought no more about it.
Early this week, I noticed some water and ice at the end of my driveway and along the sidewalk. It wasn’t coming from the house itself. By Tuesday night, there was enough water to confirm a problem (my nice neighbor also left me a note suggesting I might have a leak). Based on the location of the water, I assumed it had to do with the recent construction and the water department would take care of it. But yesterday morning, after multiple calls to the water department and even the mayor’s office, I was told that the leak was on the homeowner side of the main and the responsibility was all mine. This was even more infuriating when I got home and saw (by then the source was visible) that the leak in the yard was directly “north” of the water main and the place that had been jackhammered. Clearly not a coincidence, but there was nothing else I could do about it.
So I called AMC Plumbing. A plumber came out almost immediately and fixed the leak for $600 flat, even though the job turned out to be more complicated than it appeared. If you’re in a similar situation, I highly recommend them. Also, the water department told me to call back when the leak was fixed and they’d “regulate” my bill. I don’t know what that means exactly, but I won’t have to pay the full amount. Overall, it could have been much worse.
So thanks to the reasonable plumber, and my dad, I have now weathered my first solo homeowner crisis. (Seriously, after this year I definitely have the World’s Best Dad, so the rest of you dads can just put away your coffee mugs. :)) I felt so out of my element and afraid that no one would help me, or someone would rip me off, and my house would flood. But now all is well and hopefully I’ll cope better next time. :\
I’m not ashamed to admit that my favorite Christmas album of all time is Mariah Carey’s Merry Christmas. So I was thrilled when she released a sequel this year! It’s not bad, but for me it doesn’t measure up to the original.
I attempted to make an Ultimate Holiday Mix last Friday for my weekend trip to Nashville with my parents. Thanks to iTunes’ apparent inability to burn a CD that doesn’t skip, we only got to hear about five songs. But here are some of my favorite Christmas selections:
Merry Christmas Baby – Hanson
He Is Born, The Holy Child – from A VeggieTales Christmas
Jesus, What A Wonderful Child – Mariah Carey
Feliz Navidad – Jose Feliciano*
Breath of Heaven – Amy Grant
Mary, Did You Know – Clay Aiken
Winter Song – Sara Bareilles and Ingrid Michaelson
God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen/We Three Kings – Barenaked Ladies with Sarah McLachlan
For Unto Us A Child Is Born – from Handel’s Messiah
Carol of the Bells – Trans-Siberian Orchestra
Christmastime Is Here – Vince Guaraldi and the Peanuts gang :)
How Many Kings – Downhere
The 12 Days of Christmas – Straight No Chaser
Someday At Christmas – Jack Johnson
Jesus, Born On This Day – Mariah Carey**
The Christmas Song – Hootie & The Blowfish
I must also give a shoutout to Adam Sandler’s original Hanukkah Song (I have all three versions). I’m a quarter Jewish, which is, according to the song, “not too shabby.”
What are some of your favorites? These are mostly contemporary songs. I’ll talk about hymns and carols another time. :)
* = This is a family favorite because of the time my uncle almost beat up Jose Feliciano at a Delta Airlines ticket counter in the ’60s. I am not making this up.
** = I realize that Jesus was not actually born on December 25. So what? :)
Baby steps for celebrating Advent from Conversion Diary.
Waiting from Boundless Line.
Custom holiday napkin rings from The Lettered Cottage.
Coffee filter wreaths and trees from Nesting Place.
Next week, I hope to have a craft link of my own to share with you! :)
Finally, I hate to post two videos in two days, but this is priceless:
I finished decorating for Christmas last weekend. My goal was a clean, non-cluttery, but still festive look, and I’m very happy with the result! I set aside about half of my previous decorations to give away or swap.
I didn’t do much to the mantel – just added some pinecones and fake holly in addition to stockings. My new stocking looks as great as I hoped it would! :) I’m going to have it monogrammed after Christmas. The cats’ stockings don’t really coordinate with it, but I’m not going to knock myself out trying to find green velvet cat-themed stockings right now. Or maybe ever.
I’m thrilled with this flower arrangement – it’s very close to my inspiration picture from last week! I found the amaryllis at Pier 1 for $6 each (they have white ones, too). The pinecones were $5 for a huge bag at Hobby Lobby, and I already had the green glass vase. It’s a little narrow for the pinecones, but it works.
Here’s my tree! :) I’ve always had fake Christmas trees, except for the years when I lived with my friend Kathy, who grew up with real ones. For pollen-, expense-, and pet-related reasons, I far prefer a fake tree. Mine isn’t pre-lit, but I’d like to get one of those eventually.
I also bought a few new ornaments! This one is great, but the title of my favorite new ornament goes to…
:D (I can’t hang it yet because the “straw” is broken.)
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