He came! The Promise of the Ages was fulfilled in Jesus! If we believe that He fulfilled the promise of His first coming how shall we not also believe that He shall fulfill the promises of His second coming?
Tag Archives: Christmas
The Christmas Season Pt 6: the 2012th Noel
Every year we sing “The First Noel”. We are so far beyond that now. We are tonight celebrating the 2012th Noel (give or take). It amazes me that being so far separated from the event we yet celebrate it. That fact alone speaks to the importance of the act, God coming to dwell among us! How blessed are we that the Creator chose to take on the form of man…to become one of us…to bear our sin and so liberate the entire creation from the bondage to decay!
Merry Christmas friends! Never forget what God did for us!
Christmas Pt 5: Christmas Carolling
Photo Courtesy of Tamie Charbonneau
One night a year during the Christmas season our church family gathers to send Christmas carollers out into the community. This is an opportunity for the two areas of ministry I work in ( creative arts and pastoral care) to meld together to bless our townships. I love the chances God’s children get at Christmas to spread the Light of Jesus.
Photo courtesy of Tamie Charbonneau
Fail not to call to mind, in the course of the twenty-fifth of this month, that
the Divinest Heart that ever walked the earth was born on that day; and then
smile and enjoy yourselves for the rest of it; for mirth is also of Heaven’s
making. ~Leigh Hunt
photo courtesy of Tamie Charbonneau
Isaiah 9:2 tells us that people walking in darkness will see a great light. That light God has chosen to shine through us! What an awesome privilege we have to be chosen to be His ministers to the world!
A Partridge In a Pear Tree.:hoto courtesy of Tamie Charbonneau
Great little One! whose all-embracing birth
Lifts Earth to Heaven, stoops
Heaven to Earth.
~Richard Crashaw
Cousin Charlie Photo courtesy of Tamie Charbonneau
Who is God calling you to share the light with this Christmas? Nothing else about this season is as important!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=ugV6QGcafEE#t=5s
Pastor Wrinkles: Hey Jude Pt. 27
Now all glory to God, who is able to keep you from falling away and will bring you with great joy into his glorious presence without a single fault. Jude 1:27
In these last verses of Jude the subject is turned away from “the secret-slipper-inner” and is put back on to the Savior who keeps our feet from slipping. I sometimes forget how secure I am in Christ. I forget that my salvation does not rely on me but on Him who called me. From first to last I am saved by His work. No one and nothing in this world can stop His hand which has begun to work in me.
And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns. Phil. 1:6 NLT
For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Rom. 8:38,39
My responsibility is to keep my life soaked in prayer and Bible. His job is to flow through that soaking. His job is to save and keep me from all sin and shame.
I stand amazed as God works in my life. I have His forgiveness. I am justified from all past wrongs. I have His constant perfecting conviction at work in my life; That is, I am sanctified and I am being sanctified. Finally I have His assurance that some day I shall be called into His presence. In the twinkling of an eye all my heartaches will be turned to glorious joy. I will stand glorified in His presence. All of my remaining weakness will be burned away by the fire of His loving gaze!
The most amazing thing about this is that I did nothing to earn it. If the truth be told, my works have earned me the polar opposite. Yet all these rewards are mine because of what Jesus did on the cross and through His resurrection. All I did was believe in His love. All I did was to allow that belief to propel me to ask for these mercies. He answered. He undertook. He saved!
As my friend Angela would say! What an amazing God!
How about you? Have you believed? Have you asked for His mercies? Don’t waste another moment ask Him today!
The Christmas Season Pt. 4: The Christmas Tag
I love the high holy days of the church! The world can try to turn Christmas into Winter Holiday, Kwanzaa, or End of the Mayan World Day for that matter, but as long as the church inhabits the earth, this time of year will remain Christmas the season in which we celebrate the birth of Christ. You can’t stop the church…or its Christmas because its backers ( that would be Father, Son and Holy Ghost in case you were wondering) are too powerful.
I am really thankful to Lizzie from http://kickingtheleaves.wordpress.com/ for tagging me in “The Christmas Tag”. If you have not stopped by her blog give her a read this season!
Here are the questions I have been asked about Christmas:
What’s your favourite thing about Christmas? When I was little my mom was an ER nurse. It seemed she always pulled the Christmas Eve shift. Dad ran the town restaurant. He closed two days a year, Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Christmas morning mom would get home about 7 A.M. and head off to bed for a few hours of shut-eye and my sister and I would open our stockings by ourselves while mom and dad took advantage of a ” day of rest”. I say all this just to point out there wasn’t a whole lot of Jesus in our Christmas. My folks worked through his birth!
As I have aged I have discovered that the whole gift giving end of Christmas has waned in importance. My favorite part of the season is the church celebration. Christmas Eve is one of the most important services of my year and when Christmas falls on a Sunday…I feel like I am living in a Dickens novel!
What is your favourite make-up look for the festive season?
Make-up? Ummm….
Real or fake tree?
Most definitely fake. I like to put the tree up on Thanksgiving so a real tree would be brown by Christmas.
Giving presents or receiving them?
I think I could actually go without presents. I love the idea of giving to a missions project for the season. I probably would do this for everybody if I knew that I wouldn’t offend certain people on my list by giving their gift to someone else.
Do you open your presents on Christmas morning or evening?
The last couple of years we have actually not opened our gifts until the kids came home at the New Year. I have really pared down, too, so the holiday is more about being together than about the gifts.
Handmade Christmas cards or bought?
Usually I buy my cards.
What’s your favourite Christmas film?
The Nativity…And Little Women the old version with June Allison playing Jo.
What’s your favourite Christmas food?
Lasagna and cole slaw, eggnog and pumpkin roll! 🙂
Here are the three folks I am choosing to tag for this challenge.
http://plantingpotatoes.wordpress.com/
The Christmas Season Pt. 2
His first coming was gentle to usher in the age of grace. He came as a helpless baby, as my pastor says “God in diapers”. But as we remember that first coming this year let’s remember He is coming again and next time it won’t be as a helpless child but as the One who will judge the quick and the dead. Ultimately Christmas like every other celebration in Christendom is meant to help us remember both what He did and what He has yet to do!
Christmas Joy!
Our head elfette (lead pastor’s wife) sent this to our staff for Christmas.
http://sendables.jibjab.com/view/4OqcSdw725ZWDVve?cmpid=jj_fb_friend_holidays
Starring in order of appearance and from left to right:
Lead Pastor: Rev. Barry Risto
Church Administrator: Charlotte Dorais
Asst. Pastor: Rev. J. Lillie
Youth Pastor: Rev. Brad Hackett
Church Secretary: Wendy Brouillet
Merry Christmas All!
Pastor Wrinkles: The Perfect Christmas
Christmas 2011 is now upon us, dear reader. Therefore, I thought it appropriate to take a few moments to share some pastoral points about how to have the perfect Christmas tomorrow.
1. Give yourself grace: As a culture we put too much pressure on ourselves to get it right. We expect that we are going to be able to produce the Norman Rockwell Christmas that even Norman Rockwell couldn’t create. It’s time to realize, the “perfect” Christmas doesn’t exist. You can not create it; So relax and receive Christmas as it comes. It can be wonderful without being “perfect”.
2. Give others grace: If you can’t create the perfect Christmas neither can your spouse or your kids. Release them from impossible expectations and let them be themselves.
3. Thank God Tomorrow: By releasing unrealistic expectations you will be able to stop looking at what Christmas is not and praise God for what it is. So many of us are in less than perfect situations this year. That doesn’t mean there aren’t blessings to be found in the day. Take some time to thank God for every good thing in your life.
4. Make the day about Christ: We talk a lot about how commercialized Christmas has become. Let’s stop talking about it and do something about it. Take some time to make Christ the focus.
5. Take a Break: For God’s sake (and I really mean that) sit down sometime during the day. Take a load off. Shut up and rest!
6. Take Heart: In the end it is only one day…twenty four hours. Even if the sucker totally tanks anyone can make it through twenty-four hours! So rejoice the twenty-sixth is boxing day. You can bag up any bad memories and just return them to the store. Next year will be better.
7. Remember Pastor Wrinkles loves you. That alone should make for a perfect holiday 🙂
Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!
What To Give the Person Who Has Everything
If you are like me, then you have at least one person in your life whom you have been totally unable to figure out a “wow” gift for this year.
Well my friend Deb from http://twominutesofgrace.wordpress.com is really onto something with her post “Soup for the Soul.” Check it out:
http://twominutesofgrace.wordpress.com/2011/12/21/soup-for-the-soul/
I know it’s last-minute; But it is never too late to jump on the computer and make a donation in that special someone’s name. Consider giving the gift of giving this year. After all, the person you are thinking about probably already has everything he/she needs… right? That’s why you’re having such a hard time finding a gift.
Here are some giving suggestions if you are at a loss:
1. Donate Bibles from the Gideons in your loved one’s name.
http://www.gideons.org/HowYouCanHelp/Give.aspx
2. Donate to voice of the martyrs, a missions agency dedicated to easing the suffering of persecuted Christians across the globe.
3. Make a one time donation to your favorite missionary. These folks give their all year-round. Many of them are short or underfunded as churches in the U.S. cut budgets.
4. Speed-The-Light is one of my favorite missions outreach. This agency provides tools for missionaries to get their jobs done effectively. They provide cars, vans, buses, sound equipment,and anything else a missionary might need to “get’er done”.
https://secure1.ag.org/contributions/detail.cfm?LedgerID=dd67e63e-fd27-4b77-a50f-21f2684471eb
5. I know you probably gave in the little bucket outside your Wal-Mart but why not do a little bit more in the name of your loved one. Give to the Salvation Army.
https://donate.salvationarmyusa.org/
6. Convoy of Hope is an agency dedicated to disaster relief in partnership with the local church.
https://donate.convoyofhope.org/sslpage.aspx
7. Health Care Ministries is a ministry dedicated to bringing health care to communities in need across the globe.
http://healthcareministries.org/donate
I could go on all night; But seven is the number of completion; So I will end here hoping you were inspired to give the gift of giving to at least one of your hard- to- buy- for loved ones.
What are some of your favorite charities?
Christmas Joy Mondays Pt. 4
The “elf of light” recently posted this on his Facebook. I thought it would be worth a gander for our Christmas Joy Monday!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbBgyt9D2ow&sns=fb
Enjoy!
Reinventing the We'll 