You are invited to join in a journey through the season of Lent. We travel from the ashes and dust of living as sinners even as we are beloved to God, and move to a place of blooming in fullness through that love.
To guide us on this journey we will visit significant places in the Holy Land. Please join this exploration. Blog posts will begin here on Thursday, March 6, and continue once a week. You can scroll to the bottom of this page to “subscribe” and receive the devotions in your email once a week. (subscribers can opt out at any time)
Inshallah events are spirited affairs. Thanks Bradley Moggach for your work on the keys! The traditional African-American spiritual was arranged by Jeffrey Radford.
And listen to this for fun moving music: Christmas in Capetown – new apostolic Church S Africa. https://youtu.be/YL9nACK7_U4?si=sC3Rj8ONqbe5pAZn (if the link does not open, copy and paste the purple link into your search browser.
Prayer: Matthew 1: 20 But just when he had resolved to do 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 as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.’
i’m dreaming of …
communities where building houses for families living on the streets is important
neighbourhoods filled with children from every place on earth, playing together in peace
streets which do not have room or time for drug dealers and gun wielders
homes whose residents live out justice peace and hope
December 15 – Luke 2 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
I’m blown away with surprise! I wanted to talk about the beautiful nativity or manger scenes I’ve seen, and when I started to research traditions, I found a list of “rules for setting up a manger scene” – who knew i was doing it wrong all these years!!? And more important – i dont think it matters at all. (is that a shepherd in this picture, or is it Gandalf?)
Large or tiny, the tradition of setting up a nativity scene is special. Letting children play with the figures is special. Sitting together and sipping eggnog or something else beside the manger scene is special. Slipping a child’s action figure into the scene is really special. We put ours under the Christmas tree since our pile of gifts (2) is very small. Putting Jesus there is kind of symbolic – or are the wrapped gifts the symbol?
Where do you set up your manger scene – or where do you go to view that special group of figures? Many of the long term care homes have beautiful scenes – pop in for a look and maybe drop off some treats for the hard working staff while you are there.
prayer: Jesus our Lord. You came as a small helpless baby. Renew our hearts to be child-like, humble and needing no power. Fill us with trust and love. Make us your manger, and stir us to hold your love for all the world. Amen
(please share your thoughts and stories in the comment area at the bottom)
finding Grace in Surprising Ways 