Christmas IQ?

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Last Sunday at Redefine we started our ‘Advent’ series. Studying about the coming of the King of kings.

We are going to be looking at the ‘Incarnation’. God becoming man.

This really is the crux or centre of the Christmas message. God stepping down into history to take on human flesh and live amongst us.

In preparing for this series over advent, I came accross a really interesting ‘Christmas IQ’ quiz that I thought was really great at challenging the misconceptions that we can have about the ‘Nativity’ due to traditions we’ve grow up with; from school Christmas plays and the lyrics in Christmas Carols and from other sources outside the Bible.

I’ve added the quiz and the answers as a PDF to this blog post.

Take the quiz, and see for yourself how your Christmas IQ fares (no peeking at the answers beforehand).

Then afterwards, as part of your preparation for the celebration of Jesus’ arrival on Christmas Day; why don’t you revisit the nativity in the early pages of the gospels of Matthew & Luke.

Have a great advent.

Christmas-IQ-quiz

 

Paint it Black

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This Friday ‘Black Friday’ was unleashed!

Traditionally Black Friday is the day following Thanksgiving Day in the United States (the fourth Thursday of November). It has been regarded as the start of the Christmas shopping period in the USA since 1932. many shops open up early and offer promotional discounts.

This shopping trend is now not limited to the USA & Canada, but has crossed the pond and is now becoming part of our culture in the UK with deals not only in shops, but also online; after-all, who doesn’t love a good bargain?

However, the downside to this crazy shopping day is that it focusses us on getting, buying and having more stuff. As if our lives revolved around the accumulation of wealth. It’s quite ironic that this day marks the start of the ‘Christmas’ shopping period.

Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Jesus. The celebration of God becoming man to live amongst us and die upon a cross to pay the price for all our sins. All our mess.

The King of Heaven came and humbled himself. He wasn’t born in a palace as the son of a King; but was born to a carpenter and his young wife and placed in an animal’s  feeding trough.

Black Friday gets us focussing on the wrong things; that’s why I chose the title ‘Paint it black’, like the Rolling Stones song which is about suffering from depression and seeing everything as black and somber despite it being jolly or happy.

Also, if our focus in life is to just get more stuff, that can lead to depression.

God has made us for relationship with Him, and everything in life is meant to flow out of that place.

“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money. ‘Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? ‘And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labour or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendour was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you – you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, “What shall we eat?” or “What shall we drink?” or “What shall we wear?” For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” – Matthew 6:24-34.

The God who made everything; loves us more than we can imagine and wants us to cultivate and grow in a relationship with Him.

Let’s not get depressed by Black Friday, rather, let us look forward to Christmas and remember God coming to earth. Born as a baby. Born to save.

“..bread of heaven feed me till I want no more..”

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“Guide me, O thou great Redeemer,
Pilgrim through this barren land;
I am weak, but thou art mighty;
Hold me with thy powerful hand:
Bread of heaven, bread of heaven
Feed me till I want no more.
Feed me till I want no more.” – Peter Williams

Today, the 17th of November 2016; marks the start of Llandudno’s Christmas Fayre, The fantastic feast for the senses will be held over the next several days; ending on Sunday 20th.

This year is special, because it marks the inauguration of the ‘World Bara Brith Championships’.  This is being held by the organisers of the Llandudno Christmas Fayre in conjunction with Jones Crisps. The judging of the Bara Brith’s will take place today, with the winners being announced tomorrow (Friday 18th November).  The prize giving is being held at Holy Trinity Church on Mostyn Street.

One of the organisers of this event had this to say; “Not only will the winner get the coveted title of the Best Bara Brith maker in the world, which by the way is far more prestigious than winning the Great British Bake Off, he or she will also get the opportunity to see their very own Bara Brith being produced by artisan bakers to be sold to the public.”

There will also be a “Cake Trail” around Llandudno’s array of retail businesses for people to follow.

When I read about this, I couldn’t help but think of the above Hymn; originally penned in Welsh by William Williams Pantycelyn (1717 – 1791); and translated into English by Peter Williams (1722 – 1796).

With the whole Christmas feel of the event too, it made me think of Jesus, of course. “Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” – John 6:32 & “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” – John 6:36.

Jesus is our bread of heaven.

He is the only one who truly satisfies. It is He who will feed us till we want no-more; in the sense of not lacking anything.

When we have Jesus, we have all that we need.

“Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died. But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which anyone may eat and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.” – Jesus (John 6:49-51)

So as you walk around the Christmas Fayre and sample the tasty treats and the Bara Brith; think of the bread that came down from heaven.

Think of Jesus; God in the flesh; God with us; Emmanuel.

Born in Bethlehem; the ‘House of Bread‘ and wrapped in cloths, lying in an animals feeding trough.

Think of Jesus; God’s greatest gift to us.

Let it Shine!

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“Light has dawned that ever shall blaze
Darkness flees away
Christ the light has shone in our hearts
Turning night to day
We proclaim Him King of kings
We lift high His name
Heaven and earth shall bow at His feet
When He comes to reign” – Graham Kendrick

Today is October 31st; and like in our previous blog post; I am well aware of the fact that tonight lots of children will be dressing up as ghouls & goblins etc.

Whilst doing some research for last week’s blog post, I came across the video that I have posted below.  It was created by Glen Scrivener and can be found via the Christian resource website: https://www.10ofthose.com

I really loved the message that it brought; one that really declares the truth of how great and powerful our God and Saviour Jesus is; and how darkness is no match at all for the Light. That is why I put the lyrics of Graham Kendrick’s song ‘Light has dawned that ever shall blaze’ from 1988 at the top of the post. As it says; ‘Darkness flees away’.

So tonight is not a time to hid our light under a bushel, or be fearful of this ‘spector-full spectacle’ that ‘All Hallows Eve’ (Halloweeen) has become. ‘Christ the Light has shone in our hearts, turning night to day’. So there is no-room for darkness and fear, where love and light have taken up residence.

Be a light in the darkness around you; not with the voice of judgment or the finger of condemnation; but with words of truth and love (See Isaiah 58:9-12).

Shine!

Love!

Be Fearless!

Enjoy the video.

Here is the transcript of the words used in the video:

“Vast armies undead do tread through the night and
In hordes march towards hapless victims to frighten.
They stumble in step with glass-eyes on the prizes;
Bunched hither, hunched over in monstrous disguises;
In sizes not lofty but numb’ring a throng;
To unleash on their prey the dreaded DING DONG.
Small faces with traces of mother’s eye-liner,
Peer up to the resident candy provider.

And there to intone ancient threats learnt verbatim;
They lisp “TRICK OR TREAT!” Tis their stark ultimatum.
Thus: region by region such legions take plunder.
Does this spector-full spectacle cause you to wonder?
Just how did our fair festive forebears conceive,
Of this primeval practice called All Hallows Eve?
The answer, if anyone cares to research,
Surprises, it rises from old mother church.

On the cusp of the customary All Saints Day
The Christ-i-an kinsfolk made mocking display.
These children of light both to tease and deride;
Don darkness, doll down as the sinister side.
In pre-post-er-ous pageants and dress diabolic,
They hand to the damned just one final frolick.
You see with the light of the dawn on the morrow,
The sunrise will swallow such darkness and sorrow.

The future is futile for forces of evil;
And so they did scorn them in times Medieval.
For this is the nature of shadow and gloom;
In the gleaming of glory there can be no room.
What force is resourced by the echoing black?
When the brightness ignites can the shadow push back?
These ‘powers’ of darkness, if such can be called,
Are banished by brilliance, by blazing enthralled.

So the bible begins with this fore-resolved fight;
For a moment the darkness…. then “Let there be Light!”
First grief in the gloom, then joy from the East.
First valley of shadow, then mountaintop feast.
First wait for Messiah, then long-promised Dawn.
First desolate Friday and then Easter Morn.
The armies of darkness when doing their worst,
Can never extinguish this Dazzling Sunburst.

So… ridicule rogues if you must play a role;
But beware getting lost in that bottomless hole.
The triumph is not with the forces of night.
It dawned with the One who said “I am the Light!” – Glen Scrivener.

“Fear-Less, Love-More”

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“There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.” – 1 John 4:18

As we are coming up to the annual celebration of Halloween; a time where we now traditionally dress-up in costume as scary monsters such as vampires, zombies, ghosts, witches & werewolves. People decorate their houses with cobwebs, spiders, bats and other things to give it that ‘haunted house’ look, and hold ‘Halloween’ parties with food and drink to match the occasion.

On the TV and in the Cinemas there are a plethora of films and programmes all designed with one thing in mind, to give us a fright. To shock & to scare.

To make us afraid.

Fear.

Fear is the watchword of October 31st.

Fear; that feeling of dread that comes upon us when we perceive a danger of threat and gets us ready to fight or flight. However, unwarranted fear or irrational fear, which is called a phobia, can negatively impact our lives, and today, so many people are crippled by so many different phobias ranging from Ablutophobia- Fear of washing or bathing, through Logizomechanophobia- Fear of computers, to Zoophobia- Fear of animals.  There is even Phobophobia- Fear of phobias.

Thanks be to God who has given us the solution to our modern world with all of its fears and phobias.

In the Bible, God says to us ‘Fear Not’ on several occasions; although not the 365 as is sometimes erroneously quoted to state that there is a ‘fear not’ for every day of the year; but it is still a command God encourages us with, knowing that fear will come into our lives and that He has not called us to live in fear, but to be brave and courageous.

Listen to God’s encouragement to Joshua before he took the children of Israel into the promised land; “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.“

God calls His people to NOT fear, but be strong and courageous.

How do we do this?

The scripture at the top of this post is the key.

‘All you need is love.” or more accurately “All you need’s His love.”

God’s perfect love casts out ALL fear. There is not a single phobia that God’s love cannot overcome and cast out of our lives.

The more we allow the truth that God loves us to permeate our thinking, the more we are freed from Fear.

This Halloween, let’s not let Fear have the rule of the roost, but let’s boot Fear out with God’s anti-dote; ‘Love‘.

“This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” – 1 John 4:10

“And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.” – 1 John 4:16

“For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.” – Psalm 100:5

Redefine Easter Feast

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Taste and see that the Lord is good;
blessed is the one who takes refuge in him. Psalm 34:8

At the end of the Easter Break we had a special night at Redefine, where we laid out a feast for all the young people to enjoy. It truly was epic, and like Jesus feeding the 5,000, we had baskets of food left over… At least until the following week when all the remaining crisps and snacks were gleefully gobbled up as we watched the ‘Minions’ movie at a Reverb night.

I can definitely say that here at LLYFC we don’t know how to do minuscule and small scale when it comes to celebration.  We always enjoy celebrations on a grand scale with generous amounts of food, fun & fellowship.

This night was no different.

To accompany the actual feasting on food, we looked at the metaphor of ‘feasting’ on God’s Word: the Bible.

This imagery of God’s Word being like food is found in the Bible; with the idea of it being life giving, nourishing, tasty and even sometimes a bit difficult to digest, but worth it in the end (makes me think of prunes & celery for some reason). “…man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.” Deut 8:3. “How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!” Psalm 119:103.  “Then the voice that I had heard from heaven spoke to me once more: ‘Go, take the scroll that lies open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land.’ So I went to the angel and asked him to give me the little scroll. He said to me, ‘Take it and eat it. It will turn your stomach sour, but “in your mouth it will be as sweet as honey.” I took the little scroll from the angel’s hand and ate it. It tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it, my stomach turned sour.” Rev 1o:8-10.

It was an evening to remember, and really reflected God’s generosity and the extravagance of His love for us.

It left us with a lot of food for thought and we are definitely looking forward to the next Smorgasbord!