Advent

I love advent.  It is an interruption of our lives as we prepare for the season of Christmas. For the next 4 weeks we dwell on Hope, Joy, Peace, and Love.  These are the 4 things that make our relationship with God and our lives complete. These are the things that we all desperately need in our lives.

After reminding the Christ followers of Jesus’ great sacrifice for us, we are reminded in Heb 10:22-25 to get back to the things that will help us live this God-Life.  I have preached on this before, but as I looked at it this time, I noticed an obvious connection to advent.

Hope, Joy, Peace, Love.

Heb 10:22 let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.

This is our Joy.  We can draw near to God!  Jesus takes away our guilt!  Our bodies are cleansed!  Our faith should bring us Joy!  When you think of how God has restored our relationship with Him through Jesus, it should bring joy to your heart and life.  It should bring a smile to your face!

Heb 10:23 Let us hold unnervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.

This is our Hope.  Hope is not just a wish.  “I hope you have a good day.”  “I hope my car keeps running.”  Hope actually means anticipation or expecting good.  It is a divine guarantee. If we say we believe God will save us, that God will forgive us, that God will use us, we should also expect God to be faithful.  Our hope is more than a wish. We have to believe with everything we have.  That is hope.

Heb 10:24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds,

This is our Love.  The great command is to love God and then love others.  The best way to love God is to love others and the best way to love others is to show them God.  We need to be creative and inventive in looking for ways to help each other be better, helping each other grow, helping each other see God working in our lives.

Heb 10:25 not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

Here is our Peace.  There is safety in numbers.  When we are together in Jesus name, He is with us.  Too often, this verse is used to somehow guilt us into coming to church more.  I believe when we get together for any reason, we can have church!  Sure, we are encouraged when we worship and study together.  We need to look to ways to encourage each other when we work together, when we play together, when we struggle together, when we eat together, and on and on.

May we draw near to God so much that it brings Joy.

May we believe God’s Word and promises that it brings us Hope.

May we love each other and our neighbors that we experience real Love.

May we live together each day to bring about real Peace in our lives and in our world.

How to Facebook

Social Media is definitely a thing. It is not going away anytime soon. It’s a great way to communicate.  It’s a great way to keep up with friends and family. You can connect with lost friends.  You can join causes. But you know that.

It seems that lately, things are getting a little out of hand.  Social Media has become ugly, combative and polarizing. This is scary when you realize we are just ramping up to next year’s election.

Top ten rules to keep “social” in Social Media:

1.    Pictures are always good.  I love seeing where you have been, what you have seen, and how cute your kids and grandkids are.  I can tolerate your cat and dog pictures.  I don’t particularly care about your cat but since it makes you happy, I’m ok with it.  It’s only fair; you have to put up with my car pics. 1a. Speaking of pictures; slow down with the selfies.  Yes, you are attractive, but you don’t have to rub it our faces.  Oh, BTW, backgrounds of bathrooms tend to make you less appealing.

2.    Root, root, root for the Home Team.  Air it out, support your favorite team, your favorite music, your favorite microbrew.  The key here is for me not to not comment that your team sucks. I’ll make own post; it’s free and more satisfying.  If everyone liked the same thing, there would be less competition and the lines would be longer.

3.    Just the Facts, Ma’am. This is very important. I am ok with you supporting a different political party, church, and different color Power Ranger as long as your posts and shared news stories are factual.  I get it that everyone has their opinion and slant but if you are smart enough to use Facebook, you are smart enough to check your sources.

4.    Satire. Please acknowledge the literary genius of satire.  If it reads outrageous, it was meant to be.  You don’t need to point out that something on The Onion may or may not have happened.

5.    Not my thing. We all choose our battles.  Your cause may not be my cause. My passions may not be your thing.  Get it?

6.    Stay on subject.  Don’t argue for abortion on a post about freedom of speech.  Don’t comment about free speech on a post about wages.  Don’t be the girl you wish you hadn't started a conversation with at a party. Just don’t.

7.    DON’T EVER YELL! Sorry. Settle down and come back when we talk about this like adults.

8.    Don’t get so easily offended.  Sheesh.  We all have our right to our own opinion.  If mine is wrong, help me learn what is right. I won’t listen if you attack me. Opinions should be expressed as personal attacks.  Well, maybe if you are prone to doing and saying dumb shit.

9.    Stay Friends. Friendships are more important and run deeper than ideology, religion, and voting records. Threatening to un-friend me proves the level of our friendship. Don’t threaten me, just do it. I’ll understand.

10. Have real friends.  It may be good to put the phone down, close the laptop and engage is conversations with real people. It may work out to offer better life experiences for all of us.