There are some great contemporary songs out there about all that Joseph must have dealt with during that very first Advent season. The Killers with Elton John and Pet Shop Boy’s Neil Tennant do a great job with this one.
Day 30
A Christmas without Snow was a made-for-tv movie back in 1980, and it remains one of my favorite Christmas movies. Michael Learned (of Waltons fame) plays a divorced mom (remember this was 1980) who finds a place to belong in a church choir directed by John Houseman (Paper Chase). They are working on Handel’s Messiah for a Christmas Eve service. I have always remembered what Houseman says in this movie about amateurs. I have quoted it often, but you’ll have to watch to find out what it is.
The whole movie is available on YouTube or you can stream it on Netflix. I highly recommend it as part of your Christmas viewing.
Day 31—Don’t Forget Our Soldiers
I am in agreement with comedian Mike Birbiglia when he says, “I hate it when people think I don’t support the troops just because I don’t support the war. Of course I support the troops. I LOVE the troops. Because if they weren’t the troops, I would have to the troops. And I would be really lousy troops.”
So this year, if you are sending out Christmas Cards, take at least one and send it to: Holiday for Heroes, PO Box 5456, Capitol Heights, MD 20791-5456
There are various addresses out there to send cards to troops (some are incorrect), but this is the one Snopes.com says is legit.
Day 32—Baby, It’s Cold Outside
While I have espoused gifts of time, buying locally and making gifts from the heart, today, I encourage you all to hit a big box store that is having a sale on outerwear. Buy a coat or a hat and gloves and scarf for a kid. If you’re here in Central Arkansas, you know it has turned cold and too many kids will be showing up at school without proper clothing.
You can drop warm gear at First Pres and we’ll get them to the kids at Seventh Street Elementary, or take it to any Salvation Army location in your area. Nobody (especially kids) should have to be cold this winter.
The Journey Advent Calendar is a great app available for Android and I-phones for families that want to make a daily countdown toward Christmas. It’s not free, but for $2.99 it’s in most of our price ranges.
This year, as you gather for Thanksgiving, consider going a bit further than going around the table and having everyone say what they are thankful for. Click through to the link above to a brief worship service that is easy to use with friends and family and whoever else is gathered around the table this year.
May we all be like Linus on Thanksgiving Day. Click through the title to remember a Peanuts Thanksgiving
Day 37—Bountiful Harvest
It felt odd on Sunday to sing “Come ye thankful people come! Raise the song of harvest home.” The images in the song are agricultural. It struck me as humorous to be singing about blades and ears and threshing in the middle of downtown North Little Rock. I looked around the congregation and didn’t spot one farmer. I didn’t even know of anyone in attendance who raised on a farm.
I’ll take city over country life any day, but I think we have really lost something about the ebb and flow of life by not being part of a farming community. Farmers know that there are good years and bad years. Years when the crop will be plentiful and years when it will be lacking. The can fully celebrate and embrace the good years because they know that every year won’t be good. And they can weather the bad years knowing that every year won’t be bad.
We may have lost our agricultural roots, but we can still gather round the table, mindful of the gift of a bountiful table. We can appreciate the hands which cultivated the land and marvel at all that the earth brings forth .
