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Pat Hannon @phannon December 22, 2012 Leave a Comment

What Do You Want For Christmas?

“Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy?” – Isaiah 55:2

What do you want for Christmas? Ask for more!Christmas Tree

I don’t usually encourage people to lengthen their Christmas lists. “Christmas has become so consumeristic,” I have often said. “Do we really need to ask for so much stuff?”
I’ve often encouraged people to be satisfied with less.
This year I’m telling people to ask for more.

I have come to believe that the problem is not that we are never satisfied, but that we are far too easily satisfied. We have allowed ourselves to seek satisfaction from that which can never satisfy. Instead of learning to be satisfied with stuff, become dissatisfied with all stuff, and seek satisfaction in the life of God.

I once read a newspaper article about a woman in a white Jaguar who ran over a man standing in the mall parking space she wanted. Discovering his leg was broken, she told him to get over it as she hurried into the mall to do her Christmas shopping. This story reminds me of the danger of seeking satisfaction from stuff at the mall. We can do some crazy things when we expect satisfaction from that which cannot satisfy.

“Why spend your labor on what does not satisfy?” asks Isaiah. Don’t seek satisfaction from that which can never ultimately give it. Rather, we are invited to join in the cry of Isaiah 64:1, “Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down!” Isaiah calls us to be satisfied with nothing less than the real and active presence of God.

What do you want for Christmas?
Let’s not be satisfied with trinkets and tokens.
Ask for nothing less than God breaking into our world, doing what only God can do.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: advent, christmas, spiritual formation

Pat Hannon @phannon December 24, 2011 Leave a Comment

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The Christmas Wish List 
Written by Rev. Dr. Pat Hannon 
Read by Rev. Dr. Pat Hannon

Click play button to the left to listen.

http://embracethegodlife.com/the-christmas-wish-list-written-by-rev-dr-pat/

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: advent, christmas

Pat Hannon @phannon December 24, 2011 Leave a Comment

The Christmas Wish List

“Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains would tremble before you! As when fire sets twigs ablaze and causes water to boil, come down to make your name known to your enemies and cause the nations to quake before you! For when you did awesome things that we did not expect, you came down, and the mountains trembled before you. Since ancient times no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who acts on behalf of those who wait for him.” Isaiah 64:1-4

When I was a child, the season of Advent was dominated by pondering the answer to one question: What do I want for Christmas? Every year I diligently sought to craft the perfect Christmas wish list.

Making a Christmas list was an activity filled with hope—hope that I could receive whatever I truly wanted. Yes, I knew I would not receive everything I asked for, but there remained the glimmer of possibility that wrapped under the tree on Christmas morning could be the item I most desired in the world—with my name on it.

Isaiah 64 opens with Isaiah’s wish list. He cries out for that one thing that he longs for more than any other: for God to step out of heaven and come down to make the reality of His presence seen on earth. Isaiah has written about all of the tragedy and injustice he has seen in the world. He calls out for the one thing that could set everything right: for God to come and be among us.

Advent calls us to wait in hope that God is breaking into the world. In light of this hope, what will be on your Christmas list this year?

-Rev. Dr. Pat Hannon, from The Indiana Wesleyan University Advent Devotional Guide 2011

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: advent, christmas

Pat Hannon @phannon November 23, 2011 Leave a Comment

Give Presence

This week North Americans celebrate Thanksgiving, a day to rest and carb-load so we have the energy reserves necessary for Black Friday shopping. Thursday we’ll try real hard to be thankful for what we have so that Friday we can get on with the important business of being thankful for what we are about to buy. Of course, all the stuff we buy on Friday will become the stuff we pretend to be thankful for next year.

Here’s an idea before you head out to do all your Christmas shopping on Friday: Stop. Don’t.

And a confession: I may head out Friday morning out to buy a few small and well priced items. Perhaps I’ll pick up one item I’ve been saving for that is an extra good deal. You’ll probably find me in line at the used bookstore, waiting for my free gift card to use on used books.

But my kids don’t need more stuff and I won’t be buying them a lot of presents.

What they’ll get from me this year:

  • A book. They don’t actually need more books either. They have regular access to great libraries. But I want them to value reading, so I try and leverage the joy of receiving something new with a developing joy of reading.
  • An experience. A few years ago we decided to give presence instead of presents. So instead of buying lots of stuff they don’t need, we do something as a family, being fully present and making memories. The kids love it! So do the parents. This year we’ll make a trip to Chicago, visit some museums, and eat some great pizza.

So, before you head out to wait in line Friday morning, maybe scrap the whole idea and give presence this year.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: christmas, consumerism, parenting, thanksgiving

Pat Hannon @phannon December 24, 2010 Leave a Comment

Scripture Readings for the 12 Days of Christmas

Looking for suggested Bible readings for the 12 Days of Christmas (Dec 25-Jan 5)?
Here you go!

Luke 2:1-20
John 1:1-5
John 1:9-14
Luke 2:21-35
Luke 2:36-40
Matthew 2:1-12
Matthew 2:13-18
Matthew 2:19-23
Luke 2:41-52
John 3:16-21
1 John 4:7-10
1 John 4:11-16

Also see: Family Prayer for the 12 Days of Christmas

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Bible, christmas, spiritual formation

Pat Hannon @phannon December 24, 2010 Leave a Comment

Family Prayer for the 12 Days of Christmas

Today (Christmas Eve) is the final day of Advent. Tomorrow (Christmas Day) begins the celebration of Christmas, which lasts for 12 days: Dec 25-Jan 5. Here is the prayer guide my family will be using for prayer before meals as we celebrate the birth of Christ for 12 days. We’d love it if you used the prayer guide to pray along with us!

Family Prayer for the 12 Days of Christmas
Note: Sections with italicized text are read as call and response, with one person reading the normal text and everyone reading the italicized text. Other sections are read in unison.

Greeting
I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people:
to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. (Luke 2:10-11)

Candle Lighting
We light this candle as a reminder that the light of Christ has come into the world.
Christ’s light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it. (John 1:15)

Scripture Reading
See: Suggested Bible Readings for the 12 Days of Christmas

Response
The Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory. (John 1:14)

Prayer Before the Meal
Note: A prayer for needs in the family and giving thanks for the meal may be offered.
God our Father,
whose Word has come among us
in the Holy Child of Bethlehem:
may the light of faith illumine our hearts
and shine in our words and deeds;
through him who is Christ the Lord. Amen.

Sharing the Meal

Prayer After the Meal
Joy to the world! the Lord is come;
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare him room,
And heaven and nature sing. Amen.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Christian Year, christmas, family, prayer, spiritual formation

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