Julia Melatis – Author

Sunday Word & Worship
2nd Sunday of Advent

“Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!”
Psalm 46:10 ESV

“Be still” – Strong’s Hebrew 7503: הַרְפּ֣וּ (har·pū) Sink, relax
I love that definition! That’s what our being still is supposed to feel like, surrendered trust and resting in the Lord our God!

This is not a typical Advent verse, but I’m throwing it in the mix because it’s perfect for the message God’s been giving me this year about preparing for and celebrating Christmas.

How many of you are all about the “doing” of Christmas — decorating everything, baking like there’s no tomorrow, shopping, wrapping, hosting and/or going to parties, arts & crafts fairs, festivals, Christmas light displays to see…? I’m exhausted just thinking about them. How many of these activities really help you remember the true meaning of Christmas? Do you make time to just “be” and experience the anticipation of the “waiting time.” God gives us times of waiting and resting and we tend to fill them up with activity. Why do you suppose that is? When it happens to me, it’s usually a sign I’m avoiding thinking about something. If I slow down I’ll have time to think and I will have to confront whatever is bothering me. This last week this behavior landed me in the hospital with chest pains and palpitations and undergoing 2 days of not eating or drinking, so they could run a battery of cardiac tests on me, including a cardiac catheterization. Praise God it was not my heart, it is in good shape. I need to stop pushing down my stressors and deal with them and let my body really rest instead of being in a perpetual state of anxiety. What reasons might you have for being busy, busy all the time? Do you use our Sunday Sabbaths as days of worship, rest, and family bonding time as God intended? Or are you just as busy and stressed out as on any other day? Let us try using this season of Advent (the beginning of the Christian calendar) as a way to build new habits of Sabbath rest and refreshment as God’s commands so blessed us (Exodus 20:8-11).

I Surrender – Hillsong

This year I saw one tree lot selling trees 3 or 4 days before Thanksgiving. I couldn’t believe it! And many people on Facebook were saying they had their Christmas decorations up a week or more before Thanksgiving. I still haven’t decorated my tree or put out my menagerie of Nativity scenes. I often don’t decorate until closer to Christmas Day. That’s okay, because Christmas Day is the beginning of the Christmas season, not the end. Did you know that the 12 days of Christmas begin on Christmas and end January 5th, which is the day before Epiphany, when we celebrate the arrival of the wisemen to visit Jesus?

Make Room – Casting Crowns feat. Matt Maher

I hope you will take time this Advent to enjoy the anticipation, and rest in the hope, peace, and joy Jesus came to bring us!

19And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. 20But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”
Matthew 1:19-21 ESV

Breath of Heaven – Amy Grant

Father God, we thank You for the gift of having Jesus, “Immanuel-God with us,”* in our lives. During this season of Advent help us to make time to “be still and know You are God.”* To take advantage of this season of anticipation, not just of celebrating Jesus’ birthday, but of the hope we have in the eternal pleasures* You have prepared for us. May our lives shine the light of Your glory for all the world to see and know Jesus is the “good news of great joy for all the people”.* We rejoice in the plan of salvation that was born that first Christmas. Help us to be bold in sharing this gift everywhere we go to see lives changed and people saved! May this joy and boldness overflow into 2020 to bring revival and change to our cities, and our country. In Jesus’ name, amen.

*[Matthew 1:23, Psalm 46:10, Psalm 16:11, Luke 2:10]

Blessings of Hope & Joy,

Julia

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