For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son…
Here at AUMC over the last couple of months we have been especially focused on the Five Practices of a Fruitful Congregation. These practices include; Passionate Worship, Radical Hospitality, Intentional Faith Development, Risk-taking Mission and Service, and Extravagant Generosity.
The renewed emphasis on these practices has been life giving to me. I think God is using these practices to help us all get on the same page with Himself and each other.
I have also spent some time recently thinking about Advent and the Christmas story. I think we can see each of the Five Practices demonstrated in the Christmas story and at this time of year. However, two of the practices really stand out to me in relationship to the Advent and Christmas- Radical Hospitality and Extravagant Generosity. Let me explain…
Radical Hospitality is demonstrated in a variety of ways in the Christmas story. The most important is that God sent Jesus to be God with us and in doing so issued an invitation to all of us , an invitation to a relationship with God.
What are some practical ways you and I can prepare the Lord room this Advent season? Here are some suggestions. We can prepare the Lord room by….
· …spending time in prayer and reading the Bible every day of Advent. If this isn’t your usual practice and you faithfully spend personal time with God all of Advent you’ll wind up establishing a new habit in your life.
· …coming to worship each Sunday. This will allow the Lord to speak to you and help you center on Jesus, who after all is the reason for the season..
· …committing acts of kindness and blessing throughout all of Advent. The Lord wants to use us as His hands, feet, and lips to bless others. Ask the Lord to give you eyes to see how you can be a blessing to others this season.
· …give a gift to someone in need or to an organization helping those in need in addition to giving family and friends gifts this season. (Deb is encouraging our family to tithe our Christmas this year. We will get a tithe of what we usually spend on each other for Christmas to give in a way that will be a blessing to others. Then each of us will share how we used the tithe on Christmas day.)
You are creative enough to come up with all sorts of ways of your own to make room for the Lord this Advent season. I want to hear what you come up with. E-mail me, phone me, or see me at church and tell me your story. May we all be preparing the Lord room this Advent!
All for Jesus,
Pastor Tim