~First Sunday of Advent~

~First Sunday of Advent~






This is the first Sunday of Advent! Light your first candle! Call me for the tune for MY Lord What a Morning I will sing it for you!



Advent Wreath Meditations
~First Sunday of Advent (November 30, 2008)





But in those days, after that suffering, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.

Then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. But about that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.

Keep alert, for you do not know when the time will come . . . in the evening, or at midnight, or at dawn. Keep awake. (Mark 13:24-26, 32, 33, 35, 37, NRSV)

Such amazing things happen in the sky to herald the return of the Son of Man:
. . . Jesus, coming in the clouds
. . . the sun grows dark
. . . the moon doesn't shine
. . . and stars fall from the heavens


So different from that first coming more than 2000 years ago:
. . . with angels singing of God's glory and peace on earth
. . . with the single star guiding the way to the manger
. . . with shepherds and wisemen -- rich and poor -- coming to worship.

And so we watch, and wait, and stay alert, waiting again for the coming of Jesus.
And we light a single candle in preparation for that glorious day.

[Light the first candle on the Advent wreath.]

. . . And even if the sun should grow dark
. . . even if the moon refuses to shine
. . . even if the stars should fall from the
sky…


. . . we will have Jesus, the Light of the World, to shine brightly in our hearts, lighting our way.

All: Come, Lord Jesus, come. Amen.

"My Lord, What a Morning," 719, The United Methodist Hymnal


My Lord, what a morning; my Lord, what a morning;
Oh, my Lord, what a morning, when the stars begin to fall.
You'll hear the trumpet sound, to wake the nations underground,
Looking to my God's right hand, when the stars begin to fall.
My Lord, what a morning; my Lord, what a morning;
Oh, my Lord, what a morning, when the stars begin to fall.

(Traditional African-American spiritual)

OR "Shine, Jesus, Shine," stanza 1, 2173, The Faith We Sing

I got this from Planning Helps~Advent Wreath Meditations

Welcome to the Christmas Season 2008!

How the Pilgrims Got their Name

by Dr. Ralph F. Wilson


It wasn't until 1840 that the term "Pilgrim" came to refer to the early Mayflower settlers.

The Pilgrims (though they weren't called that at the time) originated with the members of a Separatist congregation from Scrooby, Nottinghamshire, England, whose pastors were Richard Clifton and John Robinson.1 This congregation suffered difficult persecution in England because they dissented from the state Church of England. William Bradford, one of the original Mayflower emigrants, wrote that

"[The church members] were hunted and persecuted on every side, so as their former afflictions were as flea-bitings in comparison of these which now came upon them. For some were taken and clapt up in prison, others had their houses besett and watcht night and day, and hardly escaped their hands; and the most were faine to flie and leave their howses and habitations, and the means of their livelihood... Yet, seeing themselves thus molested, and that there was no hope of their continuance there, but a joynt consent, they resolved to goe into the Low Countries, where they heard was freedom of religion for all men...."2

The congregation moved to Holland in 1607 where religious freedom was greater. Some
They settled in Amsterdam for a year, but then moved to Leiden, Holland, where they lived for a dozen years. But life was difficult for these expatriates. As foreigners they were deprived of a chance at the best jobs, and struggled to maintain even a low standard of living. Times were tough. But what caused them to move were their teenagers. They had religious freedom, but

"Many of their children … by the great licentiousness of youth in that countrie, and the manifold temptations of the place, were drawne away by evill examples into extravagante and dangerous courses."3

They were losing their young people and struggling at the bottom of the economic scale. If they returned to England they faced severe persecution and imprisonment. So in 1620 many from the congregation decided to emigrate to America, to the New World. Three groups came on the Mayflower:

1. Saints -- members of the Separatist Leiden congregation,
2. Strangers -- members of the Church of England who were emigrating for economic reasons, and
3. Crew Members -- seamen aboard the Mayflower, some of whom were contracted to work in the Plymouth Colony for a year or longer.

The "strangers" weren't non-Christians. They were probably members of the Church of England and would count themselves as Christians. But they didn't share the Separatists' refusal to be a part of what they considered to be the corrupt state church.

We ought to make a couple of distinctions here. Strictly speaking, Separatists were pious Christians who had given up on the Church of England and formed their own congregations. Puritans, on the other hand, were members of the Church of England who wanted to purify the Church from its worldliness and corruption. Instead of separating (in the early days), they formed religious societies within Anglican congregations. A number of these groups, like the Mayflower group, fled to Holland. They were the beginnings of the Congregationalist and Baptist churches that put down early roots in America.

Though the Plymouth Colony was the first Separatist colony in New England, the Puritan Massachusetts Bay Colony was established by royal charter in 1629. But apparently the Massachusetts Puritans had something in common with the Plymouth Separatists even before they sailed for America -- the autonomy of the local congregation and a restriction of membership to "those predestined to be God's elect."4 As time went on the churches in Plymouth and the Massachusetts Bay Colony came to resemble each other.
But the Plymouth colonists still weren't called Pilgrims, not for many years, not until 1840. At that point someone resurrected William Bradford's original phrase describing the Saints that had left Leiden to travel aboard the Mayflower to the New World. They left Leiden, he said, "that goodly & pleasante citie which had been their resting place for near 12 years; but they knew they were pilgrimes, & looked not much on those things, but lift up their eyes to ye heavens, their dearest cuntrie, and quieted their spirits."5

Since the 1840s the Mayflower settlers have been referred to as the Pilgrims, echoing the verse from the Bible that Bradford had in mind:

"These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city" (Hebrews 11:13-16, KJV).

HAPPY THANKSGIVING WEEK!

Give thanks to the Lord, ca;; on His name; make known among nations what He has done,
Psalm 105 :1
This has been an interesting year for us. So many tribulations; I will not share them all with you, and also so many blessings, many of which I will share.
We have had many babies this year. It is hard for us to praise God for the loss of our grandson, Iain, but we know that God is sovereign, and He knows what is best. So we will praise God for what ever He is doing in the loss, and we thank God for a blessing where we have yet to see one. Caedmon and Iain will have a brother, or sister in April of 2009, and we thank God for that blessing. I had a bad attack with my cellulossis in January and February, I spent almost an entire month in the hospitals, and that was difficult, and the bills were unbelievable. We are almost done paying off the bills, and we are praising God for that. We have had four little people entertaining us since January, Addie, Nehemiah, Nicolae, and Jude have been great blessings and additions to our family. Praising God for them all. And the rest of our already here grandkids have been such a blessing to both Terry and me. Relationships that looked like something for the future, did not happen, and we are sorry, but we know once again, God is in control, and knows best, so we thank Him even when we think things should have gone a different direction. We know God knows best when we do not. And then It broke my heart when Micah and Nicole, Micaiah and Nicolae got in that moving van and little gold car and drove out of the property with almost all their earthly goods. It was so hard on us (especially me) but we know God has great things in store for them, and that He is going to bless them abundantly in Nebraska. I know He is already using their gifts in His ministry in Broken Bow. Then there were some educational changes happening. We don't know why sometimes God turns us around like He does, but sometimes we just need to step back and regroup. That is what some of our children had to do this year. Jobs have changed, educational opportunities have opened and closed, and we had a huge disappointment when the man we did not support was elected to the highest office in the land. But we know God is in control, and God will bless us if we serve Him. So we must just keep on keeping on.

And finally my Dear Ones:
as in Ephesians 1:16; I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers.

Stand firm in your faith today!

...lead a life worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.
Colossians 1:10-12 RSV

In this week before Thanksgiving, let us not forget that Our Heavenly Father has given us the greatest gift of all: salvation though His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. All we need to do is repent of our sins and ask Him to come into our hearts and rule our lives. So simple, yet so few of us have done this simple thing. Pray today asking God to help you to lead another to Christ. We must all share the gift He has given us so freely. Ask His will to be done in your life so you can know His perfect peace, which transends all understanding! Stand firm in your faith today!

Slide shows of my "little kids"

I made the slide shows (below the blog posts) last year, and just now came across them again! How fun....

Men to the rescue!

Matthew and Joshua, Mr. N and Mr. I were out today. I had the privilege of helping the younger young men with their school work, while the older young men worked on setting some posts in the rocks for my backyard to be. IT was so nice to have them all after having to say goodbye to Nicole and her two early this morning. And tomorrow I get two more of my fine young gentle men for the day. I guess my call for a need for me on my LT Livestock page worked! LOL Unfortunately, we are now down to Three chickens, a Rhode Island Red hen, An Americana hen, and one of the little roosters, (his breed I am uncertain.)