"2006" NazNet Advent

[Belinda Y. Edwards]

For the First Sunday of Advent
7529

JESUS THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD

When I was unpacking my things after arrival in the Territory of New Guinea I found a box in a desk drawer that contained Christmas tree ornaments. Mom had slipped the box into the drawer without telling me. Those ornaments were a special reminder of home whenever I decorated my tree for Christmas thousands of miles away from Michigan.

Christmas was a new concept for the people of Papua New Guinea. We began a custom of inviting nationals into our homes at Christmas time and tried to explain to them the things we did to celebrate the birth of Christ. But we also wanted to find ways to celebrate that would be more understandable to the nationals.

When there is a name giving ceremony for a baby boy in our area of PNG, the people would build a replica of a bird nest on a pole and place in the nest things that would indicate the life they wanted this boy to have. So we adopted the bird nest as a Christmas symbol and placed in the nest things that would show who Christ is. There would always be a Bible indicating that Jesus was The Word of God. And there would be a lantern. The lantern said to everyone that Jesus is the Light of the world. Let’s make our Christmas decorating something that will tell the world that Jesus is the Light of our lives and of our world not just at Christmas, but all year long..



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Virginia Stimer
Michigan

[Belinda Y. Edwards]

7669
Second Sunday of Advent




Chapter One

It happened on a cold December day
Too cold for children to go out and play

They were in the room looking at the snow
Mrs. Cecil said, "I have somewhere to go."

"I'll be back in a moment you be good."
They stayed good as long as they could

But the room quickly looked like a circus
On the mat Lucas began to wrestle Marcus

Tori and Selena walked a tightrope on the floor
Cordell and Dustin barricaded the door

Becky and Charity were climbing the wall
Robert and Tyler were kicking a ball

Zack and Jordan were swinging bats
Lauren and Kristen were acrobats

Tiffany and Heather were playing with a bird
Sean and Nick played music like you never heard

Tammy and Kelsey were spinning around
Until they fell down to the ground

Kaycee was running around the Christmas tree
What happened next you will not believe


Chapter Two

Suddenly the Christmas tree began to grow
Higher and higher it did go

It reached to the ceiling but it did not stop
It crashed right thru with a very loud pop

The children stood there with mouths open wide
They began to look for a place to hide

Lucas told Marcus and Marcus told Zack
Let's hide in the tree in the very back

Kaycee and Lauren and Selena too
Wait for us were going to hide with you

Tori and Tammy followed Tiffany
As they climbed in the Christmas tree

Robert and Sean they followed Tyler
As they climbed higher and higher

Kristen and Charity hid with Becky
Near the center of the Christmas tree

Nick and Cordell climbed with Jordan
Dustin climbed with Heather and Lauren

The children were scattered throughout the tree
What happened next you will not believe


Chapter Three

Mrs. Cecil opened the door with a start
It looked like her room had fallen apart

As she climbed over the barricade
She couldn't believe the mess that was made

The children were gone and she did not know where
The Christmas tree thru the roof made her stare

Each child was precious and near to her heart
She would look for them but where would she start

Mrs. Cecil sat down and was about to cry
So many questions, who, what, where and why

When from the tree stars began to glow
Each star was unique it was quite a show

Yellow and blue red and green
Prettiest stars she had ever seen

And then the stars began to giggle
Each little star just had to wiggle

Hearing the stars laughter she understood
Little children often find it hard to be good

Mrs. Cecil climbed the tree she did not stop
The brightest star stood at the very top

With Mrs. Cecil at the top of the tree
What happened next you will not believe


Chapter Four

Suddenly the stars all flew to the sky
They were up in the sky so very high

And then they looked down to see such a sight
A child in a manger on a cold winter's night

Mary and Joseph had fallen asleep
Amid the cows, donkeys and sheep

Baby Jesus looked up at the stars in the sky
It looked for a moment He was about to cry

The stars did not want the baby to cry
So they began to sing a lullaby

"Away in a manger no crib for a bed
The little Lord Jesus laid down His sweet head

The stars in the sky looked down where He lay
The little Lord Jesus asleep in the hay"

Baby Jesus smiled and closed His eyes
On this special night would be no baby's cries

The stars were thrilled to see such a sight
To be there on the first Christmas night

The stars felt peace in this special place
As each one felt the heavenly Father's embrace


Chapter Five

In the twinkle of an eye everything was changed
As stars and the Christmas tree were un-rearranged

The children looked out at the snow
What will they become as they grow

Children learn from those who love
Not from those who push and shove

Who care and share what they know
Unopened seed packets do not grow

Christmas is a magical time of year
A time for truth to come near

To those who are willing to believe
To those who are able to receive


Chapter Six

The true gift of Christmas is not wrapped under a tree
It is that we can see and know Jesus personally

Philippians 2:15 (NIV)
15. so that you may become blameless and pure, children
of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation,
in which you shine like stars in the universe


7670

.....peace.....


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Gordon Green
Kansas

[Belinda Y. Edwards]

7779
The Light of the World

Bill, an elderly gentleman from our church, conducts services at the local
jail every month. It's his way of spreading the Light. Bill and I shared the same pew one Sunday evening. Afterwards I asked him how he was getting home, for I noted his wife was not with him and knew she does all the driving.

He said she wasn't feeling well, and he indeed needed a ride.

All of that's no big deal, you think? My friends, I have, intentionally,
omitted some of the key information about Bill.

He is blind. He has a beautiful golden retriever seeing-eye dog, and Rhett
was not with him that Sunday because the "rules and regulations" do not
allow dogs inside the jail. So Bill goes anyway, every month - swinging his
white cane side-to-side and taps it on the ground, to make sure he doesn't
run into anything.

Regardless of what others may think, I guess Bill has seen The Light.

And he's doing his best to spread Jesus to a sin-darkened world.

Am I?

Are you?

"While I am in the world, I am the light of the world." -- John 9:5

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Nelson Bradford
Bourbonnais, IL

[Belinda Y. Edwards]

7854

Advent: Preparing for the Arrival



Thirty two years ago I experienced two “Advent” seasons. John was preaching an Advent series preparing to celebrate the arrival of the Christ Child and we were also awaiting the arrival of our first child, Stephen.

We had a bedroom ready to become a nursery. We had newborn clothes and diapers ready to use. We had a name picked out. And we were attending parenting classes to learn all we could learn on how to be a parent.

The week before Stephen was born I bought a kit to paint a set of Christmas ornaments for on our small tree. The day before labor began I painted one side of 24 wooden ornaments and set them aside to dry overnight.

Labor began during the night and Stephen was born at 6:36 the next evening.

Those ornaments were never finished. That first year I hung them on the tree so the painted side would show and just never got around to finishing them. I hung them that way as long as we used them.

I wonder if Mary was totally prepared for the arrival of her first Son? She was probably not prepared to deliver her baby in the hay among the cattle. She had no nursery ready and no new stack of diapers awaiting their first use. Yet she had been preparing to hold that child in her arms for nine months.

As I held my newborn son that Christmas of 1974, I related to Mary as never before. The miracle of birth and the awe of holding your child in your arms is something to be cherished and treasured in the heart.

And now, 32 years later, I am preparing for the arrival of my soldier boy son coming home for Christmas. Once again we are preparing to celebrate the arrival of the Christ Child. Both my son and my Savior are already in my heart. But I am preparing anew to celebrate their arrival.

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Barbara Bouldrey
Sikeston, MO