Advent meditations
With all the noise of the festive season, particulary with what seems to pass as 'Christmas music' in the shops, we cling to the true meaning of Christmas. Each day through Advent we will list a reading and two pieces of real Christmas music; one tradional and one contemporary. Hopefully at least a chink in the darkness!
1st December
Reading -The Word Made Flesh – John 1:1-18
2nd December
Reading - The One Who Will Crush the Serpent Genesis 2;7-9, 15-17, 3;1-15
3rd December
Reading - The Serpent defeated - Revelation 12:7-11; 20:1-10
Come, Thou long expected Jesus
4th December
Reading - All nations shall be blessed Genesis 12:1-3; 18:17-18; 22:17-18
5th December
Reading - Blessing to Gentiles – Galatians 3:7-14; Matthew 2:1-12
6th December
Reading - The Passover - Exodus 12; 1-28
7th December
Reading - Jesus the Passover Lamb – 1 Corinthians 5:6-8; John 1:19-34
Carol of the bells (less traditional!)
8th December
Reading - The Day of Atonement – Leviticus 16:1-22
9th December
Reading - The Once-for-All Sacrifice for Sins – Hebrews 9:1-28
10th December
Reading - The Once-for-All Sacrifice for Sins – Hebrews 10:1-18
11th December
Reading - David’s Forever Kingdom – 2 Samuel 7:1-17
Away in a manger (Muller)
12th December
Reading - David’s Son Announced – Luke 1:26-56
13th December
Reading - The Reign of God’s Anointed – Psalm 2:1-12
Somewhere in your silent night
14th December
Reading - The Victorious King – Revelation 19:1-16
15th December
Reading - David’s Suffering – Psalm 22:1-18
16th December
Reading - Jesus’ Suffering – Matthew 27:24-54
17th December
Reading - The Child Promised – Isaiah 7:14; 9:2-7; 11:1-5
If I sang the song the angels sang
18th December
Reading - The Child’s Coming – Matthew 1:1, 6, 16-25
Joy has dawned / Angels we have heard on high
19th December
Reading - The Suffering Servant – Isaiah 53:1-12
20th December
Reading - It Is Finished – John 19:30-42
21st December
Reading - The New Covenant – Jeremiah 31:31-40; Ezekiel 36:22-32
22nd December
Reading - The Mediator of the New Covenant – Matthew 26:26-29; 1 Corinthians 11:23-26; Hebrews 8:6-12
23rd December
Reading - Resurrection and Incarnation – Matthew 28:1-10; Philippians 2:1-11
24th December
Reading - The Fullness of God in Him – Colossians 1:15-20; Hebrews 1:1-3; 1 John 1:1-4
25th December
Reading - He’s Here! – Luke 2:1-20
And a happy Christmas to all.
Daily readings
There have been some requests for daily readings. It is not possible at the moment to host a daily reading on our site, but the following link will take you to Bible Gateway. Their home page offers a daily verse, and the whole bible is available to search by verse or topic in a huge variety of languages and versions.
A UK based alternative is the Bible Society daily readings, found here.
Looking for music? One of the best sties for looking at modern worship songs is Praisecharts. This site lets you sample some of the best new chroistian music. The 'bare' version of the site only lets you listen to 90 second clips, but you can hear full clips if you create a (free) account.
Supporting prayer
The Church of Scotland website has a page which is designed to support individuals in prayer. The page gives you a range of topical prayer ideas and serves as a brilliant point of focus if you are looking for a quiet time. The page can be found here.
Singing The Blessing
As covid-19 disrupted normal daily life, worship was one of the areas to suffer. Some pioneers, though used the fact that worshipers could not meet physically to explore the use of video collaborations. Unnoticed by me, a huge international head of steam built up behind a project to sing a blessing for the nation. This has been based around a song, ‘The Blessing’ written by Kari Jobe.
The passage in Romans uses the picture of the people of God as one body, with many parts; sometimes in unison, sometimes in harmony, but the effect is more than the sum of the parts. These videos are a perfect illustration.
Several different versions of The Blessing are listed below (though Ireland don’t seem to have got the e-mail!). There are more available on the web if you are interested. There are enough for you to pick one a day as a reminder through the week of the picture of God’s people as one body, parts who are unique, but in unity.
The version from Ukraine has been added as we pray for peace and do whatever we can to support the humanitarian crisis unfolding.
British sign language blessing
Celtic blessing (Gaelic)
Ukraine Blessing - pray for Ukraine
Avandale and Drumclog (Strathaven)