'Tis the Irrational Season....

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi.

It was Madeleine L'Engle who educated me on Advent...what she called 'The Irrational Season'.  That was also the title of book three of what is termed her 'Crosswicks Journals' (Books one and two being A Circle of Quiet and The Summer of the Great-Grandmother, respectively).  Reading The Irrational Season, I learned that Advent is not really just about anticipating Christmas, but is eschatological, looking for the coming of Christ, in all aspects.  Irrational to think about Christ coming to us, or returning, especially in our current scientific-facts-based thinking.  But irrational is not fake...is not imaginary...just contrary to what we consider logic.  Irrational numbers are factually existent...as is irrational faith.

It feels highly irrational to me that Christmas is a mere 3 days away.  My inner clock wants the calendar to be somewhere in early November.   I hurt my back; I caught a nasty respiratory virus; I was Elizabeth, mother of John, in our church Christmas production.  All of which contributed to the missing time.  

A lot of words to say that I decided to put the Heart study on hold until after the holidays.  It's a convenient place to take a break, having just finished Lamentations, so we will dive into Ezekiel in the new year.

But I am still finding myself reflecting on things...and reading seasonally appropriate thoughts.

I have a slew of Christmas/ Advent related books...and they occupy the space under the tree, giving the feeling of 'something there' before and after the gifts show up.  The cat comes and goes, lol.

I wish I had time to sit down and read through all the books there...so much Good Stuff.  But tonight I picked up Miracle on 10th Street, which is a collection of seasonally appropriate writings from none other than Madeleine L'Engle.   Tonight I landed on an essay titled 'The Other Side of Reason'...I am not sure where it was first published.  I could look through my collection of Madeleine's writings but...time...I'm just going to quote it from the anthology in front of me.

To paint a picture or to write a story or to compose a song is an incarnational activity.  The artist is a servant who is willing to be a birthgiver.  In a very real sense the artist (male or female) should be like Mary, who, when the angel told her that she was to bear the Messiah, was obedient to the command....Mary did not always understand.  But one does not have to understand to be obedient.  Instead of understanding -- that intellectual understanding which we are so fond of -- there is a feeling of rightness, of knowing, knowing things which we are not yet able to understand.

Irrational.  But somehow solidly right.

Merry Christmas.

It's been 45 years...

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

On August 16, 1980, My Sweet Babboo and I said our vows,  exchanged the rings,  cut the cake, and then took off on the first adventure as Mr and Mrs.

After the trip, we settled in The Rocket City, about an hour and a half out of Chattanooga.  

And for the next 45 years, we kept saying we should go to Chattanooga and do the stuff.  So, last weekend being the anniversary of that trip down the aisle, we booked a hotel near downtown and did...a lot of the stuff, lol. 

We had three days;  Day 1 was the Aquarium

Two pavilions and a 3-D Imax theater.  And lots of walking, especially since we walked over to it.  Definitely worth it.

Saturday, we had tickets for an excursion train.  

Three hours at an average of about 13 MPH, lol, but gorgeous views along the Hiwassee and  Ocoee rivers, with a stop for lunch at  a split town...Copper Hill, TN/ McCaysville GA. Ate some fantastic brisket, did a bit of shopping,  then hopped back on the train for the return trip.  My Sweet Babboo is already looking for tickets to do it again in the fall...

Saturday was our anniversary, and I woke up with 'The Top of the World' by Karen Carpenter stuck in my head.  But it was appropriate; we took the incline railway up Lookout Mountain.  

On the top of the world, indeed....

We  walked down to the historical sites and watched the multi-media presentation about the battle of  Chattanooga; lots of interesting things to learn.  The railway is a great way to get up the mountain...but it's a bit awkward to walk to and from seats in the car, due to the slant of the floor.

We didn't manage to see Ruby Falls or Rock City; maybe another time, lol.  

It was a great weekend away...but I still don't know how 45 years have gone by so fast...

Hodge Podge for Valentine's Day

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi.

It happens, from time to time, when I read the questions for the weekly Hodge-podge meme...one jumps out and grabs me and insists on being answered.

Can you guess which one it was this week? LOL

Click the box to find all the folks participating in this week's exploration of Love...we're all answering the same questions...

1. What does love mean to you? 

Love is one of those weird ambiguous words.  The Greeks have at least four different words for love...eros, phileo, storge, agape...  each one with a different nuanced meaning.  But English has one word - love - for the whole spectrum.  We English speaking Americans love pizza, love chocolate, love our sports team, love our college, love the beach, love our cat (or dog), love our spouse, love our kids, love our parents, love our friends...the list goes on and on.  But, since we're talking about the day honoring St. Valentine...who, according to one tradition, was put to death for breaking the law and performing marriage ceremonies in defiance of the ban intended to keep young men eligible for military service...I believe love is the binding that keeps people connected and working towards one another's good.  It's not a feeling...it's an emotion beyond feeling that borders on compulsion.  One must care for the beloved or break something in one's heart.

2. Is love blind?  

No.  Infatuation is blind.  Obsession is blind.  Love sees all the flaws...and commits the heart anyway.  Love recognizes the differences and finds ways to work with and around them. 

3. How do you remember Valentine's Day as a kid? Do you have any special plans for the day this year? 

I wrote a blog post years ago about my experiences with Valentine's day as a kid...but Valentine's day falls on a Wednesday this year, and Wednesdays are Very Busy Days.  Maybe a card and a bit of chocolate?  Maybe? LOL

4 Are you a fan of the movie genre known as 'rom-com'? What's your favorite (or one of your favorites)?

Generally speaking, I love a movie that makes me laugh.  Some Rom Coms do...and some just seem kinda dumb.  But you can't go wrong with a classic like What's Up, Doc?   I think that counts as a Rom-Com, lol, although I've seen it referred to as  a 'Screwball Comedy'...

5. What's something you recently put your heart into? 

The 30- Day Shred.  Which isn't what you think it is, lol. 

6. Insert your own random thought here.  

In general, I think Valentine's Day is WAYYYY over hyped. As a day to remind your beloved just how important s/he is to you...great.  As a day to spend $$$$ on big-ticket gifts (a car?  A big screen TV?  Seriously???)...or as a rationalization for extorting diamonds or pearls or whatever from your sweetie...good grief no....

Christmas time is here....

Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

 It's Christmastime, y'all, and things are...rather disorganized.  Long story, but I ended up with covid a couple of weeks ago and it has put everything out of sorts, because I just didn't have the spoons to keep up with the schedule.  All is better now, but I am woefully behind on my holiday preparations.  I know, I know, what's new...but I thought since I wasn't really participating in the Christmas production at church this year due to the craziness that was the 'two weddings and three out of town trips' fall, my post-Thanksgiving time would be dedicated to making sure All Things Christmas happened in an ORDERLY fashion this year.

Um.  The best laid plans done gone all aglee....

So, I'm not going to try to keep up with the current word study schedule.  It will be there when the holidays are over.

Meantime, I have been posting 'Advent from the Archives' on Sundays on Facebook...from the 2008 'Expectant Season' advent series.  It's linked on the sidebar if you'd like to revisit that series with us!  It was the first Advent series I posted; it's been interesting to look at it again.

So...to all of you who, like me, are trying to maintain a little bit of order in chaos, take a deep breath.  The important stuff will get done, and some of the nonessential stuff might fall by the wayside, but at the end of the year it will all be memories so enjoy the people and don't worry about the stuff. (Advice I am giving myself...)

Taking a deep breath...lol...

Life Gets Crazy Sometimes...

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

Another random pic from the month's photos...coming into town from the south a couple of weeks ago, heading down Brindley Mountain towards the Tennessee River bridge.  Haze courtesy of Canadian wildfires.  Yup, all the way in Alabama...  a great parallel thought for the craziness.

Not going into details (includes 2 weddings, at least a couple of trips out of state, two conferences), but the next three months are going to be nutso.  So posting will be erratic.

As you may already have noted, lol.

Anyway, I am going to post the weekly study when I get to it.  Might be Friday, might be Tuesday, might happen twice in a week to make up for skipping the previous week.  I dunno from here.  They will show up when they show up, lol.  I don't want to put it hiatus until November, so I'll just hit it when I can.

It's all good.  It's just...crazy.

Deep breaths.

He Is Risen!

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

Christ is risen indeed!

The Garden Tomb, Jerusalem.

I hope you have had an opportunity to celebrate Resurrection Sunday!  

I think we celebrate Easter and kinda forget that, you know, Jesus actually did come out of the grave.  We have so much mythology in our culture...Greek, Roman, Norse...that I think it gets easy for us to, well, not exactly put the narrative of Jesus on that level, but yeah, put the miraculous of the narrative on that level.  2000 years later, it's easy to let the story of the Resurrection become a story instead of history.

If Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith....And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins...If only for this life we have hope in Christ, then we are to be pitied more than all men. -- 1 Cor. 15:14, 16, 19, NIV 84

If it didn't happen, Christianity is a farce at the best and a tragic hoax at the worst.

But.  It really happened. We have eyewitness accounts. 

Two seasons of the year always leave me in awe...Christmas and Easter.  Because it overwhelms me to think he would actually leave his existence in glory to take on the existence of a human...but beyond that, being born as a human, growing up subject to humans, and walking amongst humans who refused to see Truth when it was standing in front of them.  And then to go beyond that and submitting to the arrest, trial, abuse, and crucifixion by those same blind stupid humans.  He didn't have to, you know.

But he did it.  Because that was the only way to reconcile mankind back to himself.  

Because he truly loves us.

The January Fast

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

Fasting wasn't something we practiced when I was growing up; it just wasn't on the radar of our little independent Baptist Church, which was primarily focused on evangelism. Plus, they were definitely dispensational and considered a lot of...um, stuff...to have been for the first century church and I rather think fasting was one of those things.

But we are in a different church, with a different tradition.  And although I miss the Christmas carols that started the Sunday after Thanksgiving I am glad to have an annual 'selah' after the holidays.  I never thought I'd say I was looking forward to fasting, but, surprise, surprise, I actually was looking forward to it this year.

And it starts today...for 21 days.  We have been challenged to read through all four gospels during the three weeks, which is about 4 chapters a day.  I decided I'd do it a little differently and dug up our Narrated Bible, which is a Bible in which the text has been edited to be in chronological order. 

 

 The gospels are all mixed up together into what, as best as can be determined, is chronological.

But since it's all mixed up I can't pace myself by chapters.  It runs from pages 1349 - page 1484; a total of 136 pages...roughly six and a half pages a day.  It does include some commentary, which I quickly found broke up the continuous feel of the narrative so I decided I *could* skip the commentary and just read the listed scripture.  Not that the commentary wasn't worth reading...it's just that my desire was to read the continuous scripture narrative.

Which, surprisingly, the editor began with Mark 1:1 and not John 1:1.  But after the initial surprise...I agree with him.  It does flow better that way.

The first day's reading is the combined accounts through the presentation of the newborn Jesus at the Temple, with the accompanying testimony of Simeon and Anna.  

I've always found that reading Scripture in a way that's different from how I've read it before puts a little different light on it and I notice things I'd not seen before, so I think this could be interesting.

Happy 2022!

Friday Faithfuls Two: 1 Chronicles

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

My little skim through the Bible, looking for a verse that resonates for the moment, has brought us to First Chronicles...the test of someone who is 'reading through the Bible', because it is a retelling of previous stuff plus a bunch of lists, lol.  But there is gold there, too.

Today, I landed on the psalm of praise David wrote to commemorate the installation of the ark of the covenant in the tabernacle he'd constructed for it...

Ascribe to the LORD, O families of nations, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength, ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name.

Bring an offering and come before him; worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness.

Tremble before him, all the earth!

The world is firmly established; it cannot be moved.

Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad; let them say among the nations, "The LORD reigns!"

-- 1 Chron. 16: 29-31, NIV 84

That just struck me as I read it as a good instruction for the New Year...

Ascribe to the Lord the glory of which he is worthy

Bring an offering to him

Be humble and recognize his authority

Rejoice before him

Proclaim 'The Lord reigns!'

But this ain't about looking around and telling everyone else what they should do...this is what I need to do.

Today, tomorrow, and every day after.

Here's to fresh starts and renewed vision!

Dec 24th....

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

And there were in the same country, shepherds abiding in the fields, keeping watch over their flocks by night.

 And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them, and they were sore afraid.

And the angel said unto them, Fear not; for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.  For unto you is born this day, in the city of David, a savior, which is Christ the Lord.  And this shall be a sign unto you:  Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace, good will toward men.

- Luke 2: 8 - 14, KJV

Not a Friday Faithfuls post...but the passage that is the theme of the day.  Most of us can quote this, thanks to Linus....and Charles Shultz, who stood up to the network executives who were reluctant to include scripture in their Christmas special.  Shultz was adamant, the powers that be reluctantly agreed, and now a whole generation...or even two, at this point...recognizes that passage as 'That's what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.' 

Even though we know that Jesus likely wasn't actually born on Dec 25...but probably in the spring.  And the Wise Men from the east (Persia?)  didn't show up at the manger at all but came to town about two years later.  The important thing...Jesus was born.  Wise men from the east saw the signs...but I think the Holy Spirit gave them the conviction that what they saw was worth investigating so that they did show up, giving another validation to the story later on...maybe when Mary and Joseph were caught up in parenting and...surviving...and the night of Jesus' birth and the wonder of the shepherds felt rather unreal.  Because their lives were upended again with the sudden flight into Egypt.  The wise men were both the reason Herod was a threat and, I believe,  the warning that protected the toddler from his murderous actions. They no doubt told the little family of Herod's interest in them, and their plans to avoid him on the return trip...so Joseph took the warning in the dream seriously and they left before the soldiers came with their swords.

All of that came later.  But on that night...angels sang and shepherds marveled.

God had come to us.

And that's what Christmas is all about.

Wishing all my friends a blessed Christmas full of His Presence.

A Wee bit of a Break

 Posted to Beer Lahai Roi by Lisa Laree

Back in the day...like, before I returned to the Work Force, when I somehow was managing to post most every day...or at least a couple of times a week...I used to take a Blogging Break for a week and stay off the internet.  But, work messed with my schedule and when the posting dropped it didn't seam to be so helpful.

But when I've tried to figure out what to do next...what I hear is 'Take a break'.  Not just a blogging break, but a break from social media altogether...or at least as much as is possible, given the fact that social media is also a prime communication channel for several groups/ people.  

I drug my feet because, well, my birthday was last weekend and I didn't want to be off of the 'net and miss all the good wishes that always come through.  But I think I've put it off as long as I can, so I'm going to go dark for the rest of the month..which is, incredibly, just a fuzz over 2 weeks. 

The first part of August is really busy; maybe by the last half of the month or so I'll have a plan for the next study. I do have a tentative list of things to do if I'm off of social media...including, but not limited to, sewing, reading, and reorganizing the house, lol.  And probably petting the kitty.

Meantime, if you haven't already, download the Chosen app and watch the two seasons that are out.  Seriously.  So I don't drop spoilers when I come back. :-D

A Different Sort of Easter

Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

As so many  have pointed out, this Resurrection Sunday has many similarities to the first...everyone holed up at home.  But we did have the ability to watch our church services online, so we did.  Then, we finished something we have been watching all week, one episode a night.

Earlier this year, I began to see social media posts about something new...a series of videos about Jesus.  The pictures and initial clips I saw didn't grab me; won't go into the reasons why but it was mostly just that I didn't have time to explore it.  Then someone mentioned that it was done by the same folks who did a short Christmas video about a shepherd threeish years ago.  I'd seen that video and thought it was very well done, and began to be curious about the series.  I watched some of the short 'about the series' videos, but when I saw this one, I suddenly realized that this was something that had a focus on God that made it different than I originally thought.  Episodes 1-4 are available free on the Chosen app, but it was crowd-funded, and sales of DVD's were funding the next series (episodes 9-16).  I didn't want to watch the productions without contributing, so I ordered the DVD series, with the intention to watch it during Holy Week.

We watched Episode 1 on Palm Sunday, and one episode a night, then watched the final episode after this morning's church broadcast.

Then we went to the Chosen You tube channel and binge-watched the behind-the-scenes videos.

I cannot begin to tell you how impressed we all were with the whole production. Not just the finished product, but the whole heart behind the product.

See, even if they may not get a few specific minor cultural details exactly right,  the overall take on it is solidly scriptural.  But, where I got excited is that they took pains to show all the folks as real human beings; folks with back stories.  These characters come across as genuine, real, believable. 

Now, I don't have a problem with speculation on what characters said and did that was outside of  biblical canon, so long as it is consistent with what IS biblical canon.  If you've been around BLR very long, you know that I have a tendency to do such things myself (see In Which My Imagination Runs Away with Me), because, well, I think we are so used to the stories that are told in rather abbreviated, compressed, just-get-the-main-details-out narratives that we forget that the people in those stories were real, three-dimensional, breathing, hurting, human beings just trying to stay alive and do the best they could.  And I LOVED some of the little details, such as Andrew and John eavesdropping on the conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus...and John had a tablet out, making notes.

So...if you haven't taken time to check it out....check it out.

It's amazing.

Holiday Hiatus

Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

It's that time of year....

And this year we are doing a fairly large scale production for the holiday at church.

And, well, that means costumes.  Lots of costumes.

So, in the interest of keeping my sanity...and maybe actually getting everything done that has to be done, I'm going to suspend the Desert Digging study until January.

Just don't think I've got the time to put in on it right now...and I want to put time on it, not just check it off the box.

I will drop in as I can!

Holy Week 2019: Hallelujah! - Ps.113

Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

Just out of curiosity, I googled 'The Hallel' and came across this recording:

ETA: HM.  The Youtube video icon was there when I hit post...dunno why it went away.  Here's the LINK

Very interesting! Listen and follow along in your favorite translation. This is the full text of the song sang at the opening of the Passover meal. There are several renditions recorded here, read by different readers.


I thought I'd take one Psalm each day of Holy Week and have a little look at it.  Just, you know, for focus.

So the first one up is Ps. 113.


It's just pure praise. 'Praise the LORD!' (in the recording, it's 'Hallelu Jah!')

Vs 1 - Who is to praise him...servants of the Lord

Vs 2 - 3  - When he is to be praised... from this moment throughout eternity...from sunrise to sunset

Vs 4 - 6  - Why he is to be praised ...He's above all nations, his glory is above the heavens; he is 
                 seated on high and looks down on the heavens and the earth; who else does that?

Vs. 7 - 9    What he has done that is praiseworthy...He raises the poor, lifts the needy, gives the barren
                woman her home and the joy of motherhood

Praise the Lord!

A Pause in the Busy

Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

When you work in a church office, the holidays have a different impact on your life than the average church goer.

Logistics.  Plans.  How can we best facilitate folks who make a decision for Christ receiving encouragement and discipleship in their new journey?  How can we keep straight the dozens and dozens of folks who chose to be baptized in the massive baptism service two weeks later?

Nobody really cares about the numbers - and that is the truth - but we can't do any kind of meaningful follow up without some kind of tracking process.

Enter the data base admin.

That would be me.

As the church has grown and changed locations, what we used to do won't work.  So we need to tweak and adjust to accommodate growth.  It's a good problem to have, but it does need consideration and work.

And it's really, really easy to get consumed by the logistics and processes that are meant to help people...and lose sight of why we're doing it at all.

So this week, I got a bit of a blessing.  My friend Suzanne, who was my teaching leader years ago when I was going through Bible Study Fellowship,  has started doing monthly Bible studies.  She limits the size to fifteen...the number of ladies who can squeeze around the very large table at the venue she has found...and it's first come, first served on the sign ups.  This month's study was on the 4 cups of Passover...specifically, the four cups of the final Passover meal Jesus ate with his disciples, and I happened to see the sign up link shortly after she posted it.  It was during lunch and I hesitated, but then I decided I could just take a bit of a long lunch (the benefits of being a part-timer; my hours are somewhat flexible) and go, and I signed up.

I did not know how badly I needed to break away and take some time to focus on the whole point of the season. It was a wonderful, refreshing reminder of that last night and how it all played out.  Suzanne brings all the tools she learned in the years of leading the BSF class to her presentation and it's deep, provoking, and satisfying.

I did learn some things.  For one thing, the history of the  afikomen (I have referenced that before) wasn't quite how I had learned .... it appears that it was a much later addition to the meal, commemorating the Passover Lamb after the ritual sacrifices were no longer able to be done due to the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD.  But...Jesus did the same thing with his bread that now happens with the afikomen; he broke it and everyone had a bit, and it was likely at the same place in the ritual of the evening...after the completion of the meal.    'Remember me when you eat this bread,' he said....and it is now eaten to remember the Passover Lamb.

Also, I learned that the meal began with singing psalms...specifically, Psalms 113-118, collectively known as 'The Hallel'...as a preparation of mind and spirit for the night.

Suzanne challenged us to spend some time in those Psalms during Holy Week, and I thought that was a great idea.

I am even going to try to blog it as I go.  We'll see if I can keep the Busy at bay enough to do coherent posts.

The Least Favorite Task

Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

Not gonna lie...my least favorite, most dreaded task that must be performed on an annual basis is boxing up Christmas.

Denuding the tree, wrapping lights, boxing up the ornaments, squishing the tree back into the storage bins, sweeping up shed needles (even with an almost 30 year old fake tree...there are still shed needles...), cocooning the porcelain nativity...all the necessary stuff to transform the house back to its ordinary self.

Some years, I don't even want to get it out, set it up, hang it, drape it...because I don't want to have to take it all down in just a few weeks. Which always go by at the speed of light, usually without anyone outside of the family even seeing the festoonery.

But something occurred to me about the un-decorating task that I haven't really thought of before.

It's the UNdecorating, the reboxing and re-storing of all the Christmas trimmings that makes them special.  If they were up all year, why, we would soon get to a place where we didn't even see them anymore.  Getting them out is always a treat, preparing for the holiday.  It's something of a celebration of Christmases past to pull out the ornaments and decorations that we've accumulated over the years, or those that we've had since our first Christmas together...even some that are older, like my half-dozen faded and cracking small Shiney Brites that once hung on my grandma's tree.

But that celebration isn't what MAKES them special.  It's the fact that we do put them away when the holiday is over..the careful wrapping, boxing, packing and storing that keeps it all nice for the next season.  That is the honor that makes all of it set apart for something special.

It's...like the rest in a line of music, or the white space on a painting.  The contrast space that keeps everything from just running together into a dingy hodge podge. 

And, you know, that is the definition of Holy.  Set apart. Special.  Not ordinary.

Kind of an interesting line of thought that the thing I like doing the least is the very thing that imparts holiness to the decor of the season.

What if those tasks I dislike in general are also about imparting holiness?  Elevating something above the ordinary?

What if I set about them as if they were acts that impart honor instead of just drudgery that needs to be done?

What if I changed  my whole paradigm?

Could I really do it?  I mean, am I capable of that much shifting?

I don't know.  But maybe I should give it a try.

Ruminations on Advent

Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

Contrary to my intentions, I'm not doing an Advent series this year ....there are several reasons why I just couldn't get it done this trip around the sun.  I've done what I consider to be some pretty good ones in years past...they're linked up on the sidebar if you're feeling in need of some Advent tradition.  I'm kinda reading through them again myself, because, well, I need to read them again.

But I did have a thought hit me this morning as I pondered on how we, as a society, have pretty much given up Advent as a distinct season.  Oh, I know, there are still some liturgical leaning churches who do the Advent liturgy and such, but ask any passing Joe on the street what holiday season we're in and they're most likely to say 'Christmas'.  Unless, of course, they're Jewish and say 'Hannukah'.

I think it's kind of interesting that both Advent and Hannukah use candles to mark the time.  Not that that actually has anything to do with what I've been pondering, but it is a nice little side note.

No, what hit me this morning has to do with the eschatological  nature of Advent...that we are not just looking for the birth of the baby but the return of the King.  We use the approaching celebration of His birth to also prepare for the day when he comes again.

And suddenly, I wondered...have we as a culture given up the observation of Advent precisely because we can't tolerate the idea of that return?  That it's ok to focus on Christmas and the sweet baby but...thinking about the King returning is...well, too much?   That the season of preparation is much easier to handle if it's not so much for the returning King but the return of Santa Claus?

Because we would, like, have to live as though what we did matters.   Not just the kids, who are hoping to be on the nice list, but the adults. The Scripture has a repeating theme about servants called in to give an account of how they conducted the king's business in his absence.

Oh, I know, I'm probably overthinking the whole thing, but...maybe...we each do need to consider what account  he or she will present on that day.  With no self-deception to hide behind, none of us will be able to claim we didn't know the truth we were shown.

O Come, Thou Wisdom from on high
And order all things far and nigh
To us the path of knowledge show
And cause us in her ways to go.   ("Oh Come, Oh, Come Emmanuel, verse 3)

And he that testifies to these things  says, "Surely, I am coming soon."  Amen.  Come, Lord Jesus! - Rev. 22:20, ESV.

Ten Years at Beer Lahai Roi

Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

For some oddball reason I was reading old blog posts over the weekend and I had a bit of a revelation...ten years ago TODAY was the first Beer Lahai Roi post.

So I thought I needed to do some kind of commemorative post.

Some of those old posts are really lame.  I mean, really lame.

But some of them are good.  Like, I don't actually remember writing them so it's like reading someone else's  work.  And I get smacked upside the head, figuratively speaking, all over again with a revelation that I still haven't implemented.

Ten years...lotsa room to grow yet.

Just for grins...here's the first image I posted:

Which was from the first Bible study-ish post, on using a four color pen marking system.

Hard to believe it's been ten years.

Tell you what, if I get 10 comments on this post, I'll do a giveaway.  Cause, you know, I have to have enough to make drawing worthwhile. 

Dunno what that will be...maybe a book, maybe something else.  We'll see what strikes my fancy.

If you've been around with me from the beginning...or if you just found the blog recently...thanks so much for stopping by!

Ten years.  Wow.

The Epiphany Challenge

Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, "Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews?  We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him."

When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him.  (Matt. 2:1-3; all scripture today from NIV 84)


While we have many traditional ideas of the Christmas story that don't really line up with scripture; the Magi's part is probably the most distorted.  My little china nativity set underscores the errors...first, that there were exactly 3 (they have even been given names somewhere along the way...Melchior, Balthazar and Gaspar.  According to this CNN Story,  Bede the Venerable listed their names and descriptions in the 8th century, but no one knows the exact origin of the tradition); secondly, that they came to the manger with the shepherds.  Nowhere in scripture is the number of Magi stated; given the stir they caused when they arrived in Jerusalem, disturbing the whole city with their quest, I rather think it was somewhat more than three.  And as to them coming to the manger, that's pretty much disproven later in the second chapter of Matthew.  It was somewhere in the neighborhood of two years later when they came to the house in Bethlehem where Joseph and Mary and Jesus were living.

But, be that as it may, it still is an astonishing bit in the story that wealthy learned men (again, not kings...nowhere in the narrative are they referred to as kings) understood the signs in the heavens and undertook the journey to worship the one they called the King of the Jews.  They had to also have understood the significance of that King...that His coming was for the nations, not just for the Jews.  Why else would they undertake such a journey? 

All Jerusalem was disturbed.

Herod called in the chief priests and the teachers of the law and asked them where the Messiah was to be born.

"In Bethlehem in Judea," they replied, "For this is what the prophet has written:  But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means the least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will be the shepherd of my people Israel."  (Matt. 2:5-6)

Now, if you were a Jew, living in Jerusalem,  hearing the news that a troupe of foreigners, well-dressed and well-mounted, had arrived looking for the long-prophesied king...who was to have be born only about 5 miles away...what would you have done?

The Jews of that day did...nothing. Not one of them is recorded as going to see for himself if the story the Magi told was true.

Of course, perhaps they reasoned that it had been two years and there was certainly no guarantee that the family hadn't left the area, but still.  They had been looking for the coming of the Messiah for CENTURIES.  Would you not have been a little curious?  Would you not have taken a day to check the story out?

But Herod instructed the Magi to go and find the child and then come back and tell him...and everyone else, I suppose...where to find him.

After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was.  When they saw the star, they were overjoyed.  On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him.  Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and myrrh.  And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.

I have heard critics of the gospel state that the sum given to Mary and Joseph should have set them up to be wealthy; I think it just financed the urgent flight they undertook probably less than 24 hours later.  Joseph had a dream warning him to go to Egypt; he got up and took his family and left in the middle of the night.   Herod, in his fury that the Magi did not return and tell him where to find anyone, sent his soldiers to kill all boys two and under in the entire area around Bethlehem.

The Jews had missed their opportunity to see their Messiah.  Of course, He would appear to all of them later, but that blessing for that time was gone.

So, here's the challenge to me from the story of Epiphany...Jesus is near to us today.  We can encounter Him just by taking the time to seek Him.   Every day is a new opportunity...but when that opportunity is gone, it's gone.  How many days do I let go by without spending some time with Him?  Why do I let the busy of life stop me from the very little effort it takes to hear a word or two for that day?  How can I shake my head over the Jews who wouldn't interrupt their routine for a 5 mile journey if I won't interrupt my activity for 30 minutes?

The Burning Bush: An Advent Study...the Imperative and the Promise

Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

When I decided to do the study based on Exodus 3, I had in mind four little posts...perfect for Advent.  But, as I was actually writing it, I realized there is a fifth post that I couldn't ignore.

God told Moses...I have seen, I have heard, I am concerned, I have come.   Those were the phrases that echoed in my spirit as I considered what I would post this year.  Then a couple of weeks ago, another phrase crept in that was just as insistent.

See, He also told him something else...

"So now, go.  I am sending you...." ...And God said, "I will be with you...I will help you." Ex. 3:10a, 12a, 4:12a.

That sounds a little bit familiar, too.  Kind of like

"Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teach them to obey everything I have commanded you.  And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."  - Matt 28:19 - 20

Here's what struck me...God's presence isn't just to make us feel better or get us out of trouble.

His presence is to empower us to do things beyond our natural abilities, for the purpose of freeing others.

We can't celebrate the coming of the Christ Child without accepting that responsibility.

That's a point that I will probably be pondering well into 2018.

Maybe I should move that bit of artwork to a more prominent place, to remind me that I am not just saved and delivered, I am also sent.

A Merry and Blessed Christmas to my fellow Sent Ones!

The Christmas Soundtrack...

Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi


Mardel asked about Christmas Music on her blog; I started to answer in the comments and then realized it was WAY too long for a comment; better to just do a post...lol...

We have accumulated quite a collection of Christmas CD's over the years; and we have a 5-CD changer, so the music goes in and stays for a bit, then slowly gets rotated out.  That's been the SOP since, oh, forever ago....as long as we've had a 5 CD table (and this is the second one...).

And of course, there are Rules.   Christmas music goes into the CD the day after Thanksgiving, but it's obscure Christmas music.  Not-very-Christmassy Christmas music.  Stuff that is new and unfamiliar, or rather untraditional, or annoying to certain members of the family.  The mix changes frequently with less popular stuff in the changer.

That is the mix until Dec. 1.  On December 1st, some Mannheim Steamroller will enter the mix.  Some Narada.  Straight No Chaser.    I try to keep one instrumental group, one solo/acoustic instrumental, one a capella  group in the mix as we start in with the music that we love.

But the SERIOUS Christmas music...the stuff that was on the cassette tapes that we listened to when making the drive to and from Indiana for Christmas all those years we drove up with the kids...that doesn't go into the changer until the last week of Advent.

The Christmas Day list (or New Year's Day, depending on when we were actually in our house) hasn't changed since we got the 1st 5-disc changer, I don't think.

The inaugural Mannheim Steamroller Christmas CD, Andy Williams, Charlie Brown, a delightful (pun intended) CD I picked up from a bin at the Christian bookstore sometime in the early 90's from the Oklahoma Woodwind quintet (and I've looked for other recordings by that group with no luck).  I managed to find a couple of more copies the following year and gave them as gifts; it's a favorite from everyone in the family who has it.  And, finally, John Denver and the Muppets.

This was the playlist the kids liked growing up; it's what's in the CD player when we celebrate.

After Christmas, I still leave in seasonal music through Epiphany....or when I have to take the trees down, if I have to before Jan 6.  But it's all instrumental and sometimes just winter-related.  Windham Hill has a series called 'Winter Solstice' that is particularly nice.

Funny how traditions get hung up on even small details.  But maybe that's the point of traditions...

Enjoy your Christmas soundtrack...whatever it is!