Light last purple candle - The Love Candle
How can it be that we have so quickly come to the fourth and final Sunday of Advent? With Christmas only four days away, I imagine that you, like me, might be rushing to secure those last gifts for friends and family, and grocery shopping to prepare as much of the holiday meal as you can beforehand. School is out for a couple of weeks, so the kids are home all day; and while you absolutely adore them, they leave a trail behind them regardless of their age. Why do we smile as we walk into a bedroom that was picture perfect last week, but now that your college kid is home looks like a bomb went off? Because we love them! We are so glad to have them home, even for a brief time.
As much as I love my children and grandsons, nothing can compare to the love that our Father God has for His children. There is a tender affection for His children that is rooted in His perfect love, causing God to constantly look at us with tenderhearted compassion. As Paul David Tripp writes in Everyday Gospel Bible, “Think about what it means that you have been chosen out of the mass of humanity to be the object of the affection of the One who sits on the throne of the universe in power and glory. This is who you are, this is your identity–not your job, marriage, university, friendships or ministry. You are a child of the Father and the object of His perfect and eternal affection.”
Of course, our Father God’s affection for His children is most clearly seen in the offering of His Son, Jesus Christ, as the complete and final payment for our sin. One dark evening in a private courtyard in Jerusalem, Jesus met with the respected Pharisee, Nicodemus, who was full of questions for the controversial rabbi. Nicodemus could fully acknowledge that Jesus’ miracles and signs confirmed that He was from God, but there were so many proclamations, like needing to be “born again” to enter the kingdom of God, that he just couldn’t wrap his mind around. Jesus assured Nicodemus that understanding fully was not the most important thing, but rather believing and trusting in God’s great love. God had been giving clues and symbols in regards to His redemptive plan since the very beginning, if only His people had eyes to see. For example,
“Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” John 3:14-17
It was the Father’s great love for us that sent Jesus into the world as a tiny, helpless baby. His love for us drove Jesus to the cross, then three days later out of the tomb. The Father’s love placed the resurrected and ascended Jesus at His right hand in heaven as our high priest and intercessor. Our hope, our peace and our joy experienced throughout the past three weeks of Advent and every day are inextricably rooted in our Father’s love for us.
During these last few days of Advent we will highlight characters in the Nativity story who personify “what great love the Father has given us that we should be called God’s children—and we are!” (1 John 1:3) And what a beautiful love story it is!
Cranberry Apple Casserole
Sunday Suppers
Week 4
This has been a family favorite for as long as I can remember! My mother would make it weekly during the holidays, as a side dish with ham or a pork loin, part of her famous brunch buffets or as a dessert a’ la mode.
* 3 cups Granny Smith apples, peeled and chopped
* 2 cups fresh cranberries
* 1/2 cup plus 2 Tbsp all-purpose flour, divided
* 1 cup granulated sugar
* 3 pkgs cinnamon and spice instant oatmeal
* 3/4 cup chopped pecans
* 1/2 cup light brown sugar
* 1/2 cup melted butter
Preheat oven to 350°F. Mix apples and cranberries with 2 Tbsp flour until coated. (For best results, do this in a gallon-size zip-top bag.) Add in sugar, and continue to mix until evenly coated. Pour the flour- and sugar-coated fruit into an 11- x 7-inch casserole dish. In a separate bowl, mix oatmeal, remaining flour, pecans, brown sugar, and melted butter until it resembles a crumble. Spoon the crumble over the fruit. Bake uncovered for 45 minutes, or until bubbly around the edges.
Behold (with O Holy Night) [A Christmas Moment]
Behold (with O Holy Night), arranged by Travis Cottrell, is a powerful medley that combines the traditional O Holy Night with a new narrative and verses by Phil Wickham, Dallas Jenkins and Steven Furtick. The story behind this arrangement involves a vision to create a worship moment connecting Jesus’s birth to his sacrificial death on the cross. The addition of a spoken introduction and new lyrics reinforces the message that salvation came through the simple birth of Christ. It is a narrative of the gospel, describing a world in sin that could not save itself, but God demonstrated His great love for our sin-soaked world through His divine plan, climaxed in the birth of His Son, Jesus.
The song highlights that Jesus arrived not in splendor but in simplicity as a baby, yet he was the light that the darkness could not contain. The story culminates with the adoration of Jesus, the King of Heaven, who, through his sacrifice, conquered death and made salvation possible for humanity. Listen to the depths of God’s intentional love in these lyrics:
Behold the Father’s love, beyond all comprehensionHe gave His only Son to die in our placeThrough Jesus, all is accomplishedThe words of the law and the prophetsFulfilled. Salvation has come to theLost. Sight for the blind, healing forThe sick, death reversed and sin defeatedFor good
Behold (with O Holy Night) A Christmas Moment (Arr. Travis Cottrell) Lyric Video
Behold (with O Holy Night) [A Christmas Moment]Arrangement by Travis Cottrell, 2023
(O Holy Night was composed by Adolph Adam in 1847, additional lyrics by Dallas Jenkins, Phil Wickham and Steven Furtick)
The sin-sick world needed savingAnd though we tried and triedWe could not save ourselvesBut God, in His infinite wisdom, providedA way. A way not mapped out byHuman hands but divinely directed to changeThe course of history. Through His son JesusSalvation made its way from theThrones of heaven to the throes of humanityArriving not in splendor, but in simplicityAs a baby. This was not entirely whatWas expected, but it’s exactly what was neededBehold the King has come, divinity incarnateCreator of the world, breathing our airBehold what light has come, and the dark cannot contain itThe Savior of the world is finally hereBehold the Father’s love, beyond all comprehensionHe gave His only Son to die in our place
Through Jesus, all is accomplishedThe words of the law and the prophetsFulfilled. Salvation has come to theLost. Sight for the blind, healing forThe sick, death reversed and sin defeatedFor good. So hereAnd now, at Christmas, we stand in aweAnd worship. Not to simply sing happySongs or exchange humble gifts but toRemember why Jesus was bornFor in His birth, He set course to the crossAnd that cross casts an eternal light on theShadows of this world. Light that makesThe darkness flee, the enemy retreatAnd death itself reverse. We worship today becauseSalvation is ours. Through Christ JesusThe baby. Born to die, born to saveThe world and overcome the grave
Go and see that empty tombHe’s not there for He is risenEv’ry heart prepare Him roomJesus Christ the King of Heaven!Fall on your knees, O hear the angel voicesO night divine, O night when Christ was bornO night, divine, O night, O night divineCome let us adore Him, come let us adore HimFor He alone is worthy, Christ the LordCome let us adore Him, come let us adore Him
