Dotsy Details: Advent candle lighting

Showing posts with label Advent candle lighting. Show all posts

Sunday, December 24, 2017

CHOOSE: TO LIGHT THE CANDLE OF LOVE FOR THE 4th SUNDAY OF ADVENT

FIRST EVANGELICAL CANDLELIGHT SERVICE 2017!

Children sharing the Greatest Love Story ever told with word and song! (John 3:16, KJV)

FOR GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD THAT HE GAVE HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON THAT WHOSOEVER BELIEVETH IN HIM SHALL NOT PERISH BUT HAVE EVERLASTING LIFE.

A perfect way to "light" the flame of love in one's own heart....

And to pass it on---candle by candle,
into the hands of other believers.

Believers rejoicing in the One
who is the light, celebrating
His birth together!

Love and light
filling the sanctuary.

A sanctuary of God's Presence
In every heart!

Merry Christmas Eve!

Wednesday, December 6, 2017

CHOOSE: TO REMEMBER ADVENT TRADITIONS

On this "Wordsmith Wednesday" a son's words recall "Advent, Liles style" for Allen Bible Church.

HOW ARE YOU “DOING ADVENT” THIS YEAR?

If “the Ghost of Christmas Past” could take you back to the Christmas of my childhood, you would end up at 1152 Longreen Drive in Memphis. Approaching the house, you would already hear an “awfully off-key, yet strangely uninhibited” rendition of “We Three Kings” being belted out.

Peek through the dining room window, and you would see a homely Advent wreath with candles lit at the center of the table. Around the table, you would glimpse a mom and a dad trying their best to lead 3 squirmy kids in a few minutes of reflection that we called “doing advent.”

“Advent” simply means “coming.” And we did Advent as a family to remember that Christmas is about Jesus “coming” to our world. God had promised this “advent” of a Savior long before Jesus was born in an animal feed trough. That’s why we would read from normally untouched parts of the Bible—like Micah and Isaiah!

That’s why we did Advent at 1152 Longreen.

How we did Advent was more fidget than focus…more unraveled than seamless…mostly wiggly with a smidge of worship-y!

I couldn’t sit still then, yet now I can’t shake off lessons that somehow stuck with me. Somehow by doing Advent God did something in me.

Doing Advent
Liles-style circa 1986!

How will you do advent this year? How will you prepare yourself or your family to worship Christ the newborn King?

Sunday, December 3, 2017

CHOOSE: TO CELEBRATE THE FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT 2017

For Christians, Advent is a time of waiting. Waiting for the Lord. Celebrating His birth at Christmas.
After seeing the movie "Star" with two of my grands we walked through the neighborhood to see decorations.
After seeing lots of Snoopy and Grinch Christmas decorations we came upon a large Nativity tableau.

Peering into the manger, Lucy, somewhat stunned, asked, "Where is the baby?" My response was that maybe since it wasn't Christmas yet, they would put the baby in the manger on Christmas Day.
Recently, I mailed Lucy info to explain the way we, her daddy's family, celebrate the 4 Sundays of "Advent," even including some carols we sing and a small gift to open----as a way of focusing on the One who is the "reason for the season." It's a way pf making the "waiting" for Christmas a little easier.

Tonight we had our first Advent with grandson, Owen. Hubby read the Isaiah 9:6 scripture, "For unto us a child is born..." I shared the story of advent and then he, as his mother had always done on the first Sunday, lit the "candle of faith." We sang , "O Come all Ye Faithful" and then he "Scrooged" the candle out and opened his gift.

What a blessing to choose to celebrate "Advent" with grandchildren.

Sunday, November 27, 2016

ADVENT SUNDAY---a Liles tradition

For Christians thorough out the world, Advent is a time of "waiting"----waiting for the coming and acknowledging the birth of the Lord. It's a time of expectancy. A time to remember those who walked in darkness and then saw a great light. A life changing "Nativity" for us all.

At the Liles house, for as far back as I can remember, the 4 Sundays before Christmas have been a time of celebration and remembrance with an Advent wreath of candles, special devotions (mostly the same ones each year) and off-key singing of appropriate carols. Every one participates and younger ones get a small gift.

This year Owen was with us and he read Isaiah 9:6 and "lit" the "candle of faith". (Called by some the "candle of promise" as Jesus came as the Messiah promised by the prophet Isaiah.)

After we sang "O Come all Ye Faithful" Owen practiced "Scrooge-ing" out the candle---a Liles tradition since watching Barry Fuller as "Scrooge" in Theater Memphis' Christmas Carol, snuffing out his candle with his wet fingers!