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Written by Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968), a Baptist minister, activist, and prominent civil rights leader. This is an excerpt from his work “Stride Toward Freedom.”

I got out of bed and began to walk the floor.  Finally, I went to the kitchen and heated a pot of coffee.  I was ready to give up. With my cup of coffee sitting untouched before me I tried to think of a way to move out of the picture without appearing a coward. In this state of exhaustion, when my courage had all but gone, I decided to take my problem to God. With my head in my hands, I bowed over the kitchen table and prayed aloud. The words I spoke to God that midnight are still vivid in my memory. “I am here taking a stand for what I believe is right. But now I am afraid. The people are looking to me for leadership, and if I stand before them without strength and courage, they too will falter. I am at the end of my powers. I have nothing left, I’ve come to the point where I can’t face it alone.” At that moment I experienced the presence of the Divine as I never experienced Him before. It seemed as though I could hear the quiet inner assurance of an inner voice saying, “Stand up for righteousness, stand up for truth; and God will be at your side forever.” Almost at once my fears began to go. My uncertainty disappeared. I was ready to face anything.

To this end I strenuously contend with all the energy Christ so powerfully works in me. [Colossians 1:29]

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Written by Vickie Stone from the Village Church

My friend Sue and I like to find treasures at thrift stores, yet we are keenly aware “we don’t need more stuff!”  So often we walk away, but if the next time we go to the store and the treasure is still there, we say, “It’s a sign!” The Christian faith likes signs.  Signs can help us in following Jesus.  Advent candles are symbolic and their signs help us prepare for the coming Christ child. Numerous, beautiful decorations of this Christmas season are excellent for reminding us how to encounter Jesus. If we see Christmas candles or twinkling lights we can think of them as signs of Jesus, the Light overcoming darkness.   When we see evergreen Christmas trees we can think of Jesus living through every season with vibrant life and the eternal life assured to us, if we follow Him. Gift giving to one another represents the ultimate gift that Jesus provided all of mankind, in laying down His life for our salvation. Circular wreaths remind us of Christ’s everlasting love for us and when hung on doors, wreaths are a sign to welcome the Christmas spirit into our homes.  May this Advent season have you looking in wonder at all the beautiful signs. And may these signs encourage you to encounter Jesus on a daily basis and share His love with others.

Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign.[Isaiah 7:14]     

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Written by Steve Long, a contemporary writer.

The first time that I encountered God through the Holy Spirit, I was at a Billy Graham crusade in Toronto. I was sitting at the top of the bleachers at Exhibition Stadium where the Blue Jay baseball team play. Billy Graham, he’s giving the altar call for people to give their lives to Jesus. I’m already a follower of Jesus, I’m there to watch and to see what he is doing and how is he doing it. At some point in his invitation of calling people to the front… he said, “Holy Spirit, will you convict people of their sin.” From near the top of the bleachers, I saw a wave of emotion hit people and go up the bleacher stands and come towards me. Row after row, they just begin to weep. People would get out of their seats and head to the front, run to the front, and I remember watching this phenomenon come towards me, and hit my row, and go behind me. It was like, ‘Woah!’

Therefore, whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven [Matthew 10:32]

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Written by Walter Walker, a contemporary author

On Saturday, August 22, 1741, George Frederic Handel, the German-born composer, sat down at his desk in the front room of his house in London. After bowing his head to ask the Lord’s blessing, he wrote at the top of a blank piece of paper, “Messiah.” His quill pen could hardly keep up with the musical notes and harmonies that soon began to flow through his mind. Hour by hour and day by day he wrote. He continued morning, noon, and night. All food placed at his door by servants remained untouched. He finished the first part in seven days, the second part in nine days, and the final part in six days. On September 15, twenty-four days after he began, Handel put the final touches on the closing lines of the Hallelujah chorus. Emerging from his study with tears streaming down his face, he cried out to the startled servant who met him, “I did think I did see all heaven before me and the great God Himself!”

And he shall reign forever and ever. [Revelation 11:15]

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Written by Ruth Grendell from the Village Church

Several years ago, I met a pastor from the church on the Navajo Indian Reservation in Northern Arizona.  We discussed the possibility of taking student nurses to partner with nurses at the hospital, there.  He said there was a sufficient place to stay, a restaurant, and even a multipurpose store nearby!  That summer 15 students and I drove there.  We stayed in a barn that had been converted with small rooms, a bathroom, and a shower.   (Sometimes, a horse would peak through the window.)  We discovered delicious home-made brown bread.  Of course we took several short walks to the store! 

Each day a student went with the home-health care nurse while the others accompanied nurses in the hospital.  Communication was difficult due to the indigenous language, but we managed.  One day we were amazed when the native male fighters “danced “with their arrows.  (We stepped back!)  On our final day, I walked through the hospital and thanked the nurses for sharing their skills with the students.  When I thanked the Charge nurse, she said: “I am a Christian, too.”  I suddenly realized that I had encountered Christ every day.

If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed (John:8:31)

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Written by Carol Arnott, a contemporary Canadian pastor.

I was in a horrible spot; I thought I was having a nervous breakdown. I thought everything in my life was falling apart. I was in the bathroom; I had put the boys to bed because I was feeling depressed. I’m not a depressed type of person, but this night I was feeling really down. I heard an audible voice, and I thought ‘Oh my gosh, it’s my ex-husband, he’s breaking into the house again! … It started and stopped five times. I checked the house thoroughly; there was nothing. Finally, I thought, ‘I must be having a nervous breakdown, I’m hearing voices.’ I threw my toothbrush in the sink and said, ‘Alright, I’ll listen.’ This voice, this audible voice, began to speak the 23rd Psalm from the beginning to the end, ‘The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want…’ and it kept on going. About three-quarters of the way through, suddenly I knew it was Jesus. I knew that He loved me. All of the sin that I was in, and all of the pain, and all the anger, and all the problems, I knew without a shadow of a doubt that He loved me just like I was, in that moment in time. I ran to my dresser where I had my confirmation Bible in the drawer in its box. I got it out and I read that 23rd Psalm over and over and over. The more I read it, the more love poured into my heart, the more assurance poured into my heart. Did my circumstances change? Not for a while, but God’s transforming love, that encounter with His presence and His love, changed me forever.

Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. [Psalm 23:6]

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Written by Juan Carlos Acosta, Director of Worship at the Village Church.

I sometimes wonder if the author of this Psalm (below) was a choir director who was tired of the same old songs sung year after year. Christmas Eve worship, in particular, is filled with the well-loved traditions and carols, but as a church musician who has been involved in the making of this music since the age of nine, there are times I too grow tired of the same old songs. Don’t get me wrong, I also get emotional on Christmas Eve as we get to certain verses of songs that are sung every year. I look up at my friends and family in the choir who are also choking back tears as we sing and I know that now it is Christmas. I wonder though, if sometimes the familiarity of the scriptures, the songs, the traditions makes us somehow blind to the beauty and wonder of this story. Can we listen with fresh ears and open hearts to this new song that is Jesus, sung into the world? Can we take up this song like it is both new and familiar so that others may hear? When the opening fanfare on the opening hymn is played on Christmas Eve, will we be ready to meet Jesus?

O sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth. Sing to the Lord; bless His name; tell of His salvation from day to day. Declare His glory among the nations, His marvelous works among all the peoples. For great is the Lord and greatly to be praised; He is to be revered above all gods. For all the gods of the peoples are idols, but the Lord made the heavens. Honor and majesty are before Him; strength and beauty are in His sanctuary. [Psalm 96:1-6]

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Written by Duncan Smith, a contemporary pastor.

The first time that I encountered God was in Colorado at Estes Park. When I heard the gospel preached, when the altar call came, instead of running up to the front, I ran outside the building. As I went stumbling up this mountainside, I literally walked smack into the presence of God. Although He was invisible, I knew I was standing face to face with Jesus and I was in His presence. I hit the deck right there. I just collapsed into the pathway and wept before God as I felt this incredible weight of all of my sin, and yet His incredible love, washing over me. Instead of killing me, He lavished His love on me, and called me His son and called me into His kingdom. I have never ever been the same since.

Every word of God is pure; He is a shield to those who put their trust in Him.    [Proverbs 30:5]

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Written by Teresa of Avila (1515-1582, a Carmelite nun, prominent Spanish mystic, and religious reformer.  This is an excerpt from E. Allison Peer’s book “The Complete Works of Saint Teresa of Jesus.

My soul was growing weary, and, though it desired to rest, the miserable habits which now enslaved it would not allow it to do so. It happened that, entering the oratory one day, I saw an image which had been procured for a certain festival that was observed in the house and had been taken there to be kept for that purpose. It represented Christ sorely wounded; and so conducive was it to devotion that when I looked at it, I was deeply moved to see Him thus, so well did it picture what He suffered for us. So great was my distress when I thought how ill I had repaid Him for those wounds that I felt as if my heart were breaking, and I threw myself down beside Him, shedding floods of tears and begging Him to give me strength once for all so that I might not offend Him…Knowing that the Lord was certainly within me, I would place myself at His feet, thinking that my tears would not be rejected. I did not know what I was saying, but in allowing me to shed those tears He was very gracious to me, since I soon forgot my grief.

Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. [Galatians 5:24]

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Written by John Calvin (1509-1564), a French theologian, pastor, and reformer in Geneva during the Protestant Reformation. This is an excerpt from the preface to his book “Commentary on the Psalms.”

My father intended me as a young boy for theology. But when he saw that the science of law made those who cultivate it wealthy, he was led to change his mind by the hope of material gain for me. So it happened that I was called back from the study of philosophy to learn law. I followed my father’s wish and attempted to do faithful work in this field; but God, by the secret leading of His providence, turned my course another way…When I was too firmly addicted to the papal superstitions to be drawn easily of such a deep mire, by a sudden conversion He brought my mind (already more rigid than suited my age) to submission [to Him]. I was so inspired by a taste of true religion, and I burned with such a desire to carry my study further, that although I did not drop other subjects, I had no zeal for them. In less than a year, all who were looking for a purer doctrine began to come to learn from me, although I was a novice and a beginner.

For you know that we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children, encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory. [1 Thessalonians 2:11-13].

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