December. Reading Luke?

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December 16

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December 22

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December 24

Luke 24:32-53
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?s ... ersion=NLT

Luke 24:32-53 New Living Translation (NLT)

32 They said to each other, “Didn’t our hearts burn within us as he talked with us on the road and explained the Scriptures to us?”
33 And within the hour they were on their way back to Jerusalem. There they found the eleven disciples and the others who had gathered with them,
34 who said, “The Lord has really risen! He appeared to Peter.[a]”

Jesus Appears to the Disciples
35 Then the two from Emmaus told their story of how Jesus had appeared to them as they were walking along the road, and how they had recognized him as he was breaking the bread.
36 And just as they were telling about it, Jesus himself was suddenly standing there among them. “Peace be with you,” he said.
37 But the whole group was startled and frightened, thinking they were seeing a ghost!

38 “Why are you frightened?” he asked. “Why are your hearts filled with doubt?
39 Look at my hands. Look at my feet. You can see that it’s really me. Touch me and make sure that I am not a ghost, because ghosts don’t have bodies, as you see that I do.”
40 As he spoke, he showed them his hands and his feet.

41 Still they stood there in disbelief, filled with joy and wonder. Then he asked them, “Do you have anything here to eat?”
42 They gave him a piece of broiled fish,
43 and he ate it as they watched.

44 Then he said, “When I was with you before, I told you that everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and in the Psalms must be fulfilled.”
45 Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.
46 And he said, “Yes, it was written long ago that the Messiah would suffer and die and rise from the dead on the third day. 47 It was also written that this message would be proclaimed in the authority of his name to all the nations, beginning in Jerusalem: ‘There is forgiveness of sins for all who repent.’
48 You are witnesses of all these things.

49 “And now I will send the Holy Spirit, just as my Father promised.
But stay here in the city until the Holy Spirit comes and fills you with power from heaven.”

The Ascension
50 Then Jesus led them to Bethany, and lifting his hands to heaven, he blessed them.
51 While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up to heaven.
52 So they worshiped him and then returned to Jerusalem filled with great joy.

53 And they spent all of their time in the Temple, praising God.

Amen.

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I'd be interested in hearing some of the things you are learning, questions you have, or ways you are being built up as you read Luke. Or just hearing about your experience reading a chapter a day for a month.

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i believe this watercolor is named, “Destined for the Cross,” i’m not sure of the artist.
Karen Duke, her signature! her FB page: https://www.facebook.com/splatteringpaint/
she said the watercolor is on her FB page, i did not find it there.
she wrote that it’s ok to share, but not print.

To me, this watercolor exemplifies the Book of Luke.

i have been interested in seeing the Book of Luke reviewed, chapter by chapter, by so many different groups this year. i’m happy to see this non-commercial, apolitical interest in Christmas.
24 chapters in 24 days of Advent.

There were years when i wondered if Christmas would become only commercial?
It seems, over years, more+more people noticed, and increasingly have decided to correct that.

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December 2020:
i remembered last year’s December.
i decided to return.

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Friday, December 25, 2020

Gospel Lk 2:15-20

“When the angels went away from them to heaven,
the shepherds said to one another,
“Let us go, then, to Bethlehem
to see this thing that has taken place,
which the Lord has made known to us.”

So they went in haste and found Mary and Joseph,
and the infant lying in the manger.

When they saw this,
they made known the message
that had been told them about this child.
All who heard it were amazed
by what had been told them by the shepherds.

And Mary kept all these things,
reflecting on them in her heart.

Then the shepherds returned,
glorifying and praising God
for all they had heard and seen,
just as it had been told to them.”

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Remembering Christmas 2020.


Mrs. appleman’s 2016 “Joy”
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=169

Here are some thoughts my wife put together on Joy. I found them to be inspiring. I hope you do as well.

My thoughts on joy this Christmas...
Joy.
We hear about it a lot this time of year. What is it?
Is it an effervescent feeling available only to those whose lives are perfectly happy, even-keeled and in order?
Is there anyone like that, actually?
Can it exist for those who are grieving; for those who are lonely, abandoned or abused? Is it a feeling or a choice? Or both?

A memory is deeply etched in my mind: a few years ago as part of our Christmas program at church, I asked a few ladies in my Sunday School class to share significant memories from their past with the congregation. I knew it would be a hard task for one dear friend that I asked to share, because she had just lost a brother to a degenerative disease that spring, and her remaining brother who shared the same disease was very low in spirits as he foresaw his own end, while grieving the loss of his older brother who was his moral support and staunch encourager.

My friend shared that one Christmas a number of years ago, their father called the family together into the room, and they discussed the physical situation of their sons, what to expect in the years to come, and how to deal with it.

This brave father told his children that he would like for them as a family unit to "Choose Joy"
as a response to their situation, and thanked God for giving them the boys for whatever length of time He saw fit and entrusting their care to them.

As an observer, I have seen that joy exhibited in this family's life in myriad ways.
I saw it in the loving care given by the family of these two men as the disease increasingly took its toll on their bodies.
I saw it in the brothers themselves; in their tremendous determination to be kind and effectual as long as they were able to be.
I heard it in the testimonies shared by those whose lives they had touched.
I will never forget the thoughtful wedding gift they gave their sister from their wheelchairs; a set of admission tickets to Butchard Gardens on their honeymoon. I see it through the family's interactions; their planning of events of celebration in the midst of their own pain; their deeds of kindness for others who suffer; their identification with other's misfortunes.

Recently the second son passed away as well.
The night of his viewing, we were several spots behind a blind man who we know affectionately as Bear, as he met the parents at the side of the casket. My eyes misted as I witnessed this meeting between three people who had never met before, but who fell on each other's shoulders and cried in common suffering. These same people, hitherto unknown to each other, had dinner together less than a week later. We went out for coffee the next morning with Bear, and he told us that he felt a deep soul connection with that couple even though they had never seen each other prior to that week. I personally believe it is because Bear himself has chosen the path of joy for himself despite his handicap of blindness, caused by ignorance and carelessness at his birth, and has spread that joy to people and cubs of all ages the world over.

Is this a blind, unthinking, passive joy? Not in the least.

I have heard the heart-cry of suffering, the questions, and yes, sometimes the anger of these people.
It is a strong, active joy, born out of the will in gratitude to God for His goodness.

This joy that shines through eyes of sadness is powerful and contagious.
It is a deep-seated joy that is connected to the heart of the Giver of Joy;
God Himself Who willingly gave up His only Son to a brutal death for us, that we might know that joy ourselves.

Thanks be to God for His unspeakable Gift; thanks be to Jesus, the Man of Sorrows and of Joy.

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Remembering Christmas 2021.

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