For us, Christmas always starts on December 1^st, so even though it’s not a big event here in Macedonia, our preparations are now in full swing. As part of ‘school-time’ with the kids I asked them what they think of when we talk about Christmas. Their replies were quite revealing: Christmas tree, tinsel, star, presents, Father Christmas (or Farmer Christmas as they call him), Christmas stockings and snow (snow, at Christmas?). No sign of Jesus. So we asked them “does it make you think about anyone special?”…No! Probing further… “are there any stories in the Bible it reminds you of?”…No! Ok… “anything to do with a baby??” Of course, baby Jesus!!! Oh Bambi (as my lovely Macedonian friend says) – we have a lot of work to do.

This year we wanted to make more of Advent -  a time of preparation for Christmas, a time to prepare not only presents and cards for people, but to prepare ourselves. In the book of Celtic Daily prayer it says that ‘the door to the stable where the Christ-child has been born is very low – and only those who kneel find access’. I love that. It reminds me of the humility that the King of Kings showed by not only coming to earth as a man, but as a baby. Wow! So it seems only fitting that we spend this time of Advent looking at our lives, focusing on ‘repentance, humbling ourselves and interior housecleaning’.

As part of this, as a family, each evening before dinner we light our advent candles and say this beautiful prayer (the children joining in with the last line):

“May God, our Father, grant us the light of Christ, that we may shine with his love, be prompt to serve, and ever eager to follow in his steps. You are the true light and source of life.

Let us shine in the light of your love.

Amen”

While in church yesterday morning it occurred to me that I was part of a small foretaste of what it will be like to worship in heaven…

The church we go to here on a Sunday morning regularly has people from all over the world in one room – Macedonia, America, Croatia, England, Sweden, Ukraine and probably more. Not only that, but today we were meeting together as a localised group of churches, which includes the youth church (Glasnost) and the church from the Roma town of Shutka. The words for the songs are displayed in Macedonian and English (mostly) and we can hear people singing in both these languages, as well as in Tongues.

Potentially, I suppose,  this could create an really unpleasant sound to the ears, but actually as I listened to the singing around me what I heard was a beautiful harmony of voices, languages and cultures. A reflection of God’s own diversity, giving the glory back to Him.

Christmas in the Bower house - see Mimi and Evan's page for more...

Philippi is an impressive mass of Roman ruins with Amphitheatre, Citadels, Libraries etc. we saw the prison cell where Paul was chained and the earthquake released him. I love wandering through the streets trying to figure out what it would have been like to live there when Paul visited.
So amid the grandeur of this Roman city a small group of Jews chose to meet by the river to worship. They deliberately left the city and met with God in the peace of the countryside. Now I know there may have been other reasons why they chose not to worship in their houses or in a tavern as our generation would prefer! But I love the idea of this small group meeting beside the river to talk about God and Worship him. I think there are a few churches I know that could take a leaf from their book and quit their cold school hall if only for the summer months to meet outside. I know they would struggle with finding somewhere to plug in the Video Projector and someone would be bound to moan about the lack of parking but I’m convinced that they would be enriched by the experience and would probably find they got more non believing friends along. And how many of us havent sat in a church building on a lovely summers day gazing out of the window wishing we were on the beach/ in the garden/ in the pubs beer garden/by the river/ in the park?

“Church has come to mean a building  where formal ceremonies occur under the leadership of an elite clergy; where people hear about getting saved, going to heaven and being taken out of this world. Yet three whole centuries of the early church passed before a building was ever built for the purpose of Christian worship. Once however there were walls to hide behind, the concept of church changed. Instead of being in the world but not of the world, the church increasingly became of the world but not in the world.
So when we place the church central instead of seeking the kingdom first, we are guilty of doing what Israel did: we forget we are chosen to bless others, not simply to be blessed” - Jeff Fountain

I love reading, whether it’s on a bus or train or sat in a café or best of all burrowed into my couch with some Nick Cave/Johnny Cash/Bob Dylan on the (borrowed hifi) with a glass or 2 of red wine, I love it.

And my fantastic parents in law gave me ‘How a Friendship Changed History – David Lloyd George and Winston Churchill’ which I am itching to get started on. Misty is just finishing Martin Luther Kings Bio and I cant wait to start that too. Oh and a nice glossy book about Pauls travels across Europe we got in Philippi...
TOO MANY BOOKS!!
The CT Studd book has given me an idea to help me out. CT became, due to either a dedication to the work of Christ and a love of God or a lack of Waterstones in deepest China, India and the Congo, a ‘man of one book’ i.e. he read nothing but the bible. So for at least the month of January Misty and I will read nothing but the Bible, we may go on longer and we may decide that this should be a regular occurrence who knows.
So I’ve got 2 weeks to finish all the books on my list... and too avoid starting anything else!!