Tracy's Blog

“Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord." (Luke 2:10b-11) This is the message proclaimed to shepherd the night Jesus was born. Did you notice that you were included in that message? The angel said that the good news "will cause great joy for all people". The coming of our Saviour is the source of our joy this season. As Christmas Day approached, I found myself wondering what kind of Christmas it would be as I wasn't really feeling the "Christmas spirit". I was content but there didn't seem to be anything special about the days. It got me wondering.... is that okay? As a follower of Jesus, shouldn't I be overjoyed celebrating His birth? Doesn't Christmas need to be extraordinary time? Or am I buying into a commercialized vision of Christmas with its' "Christmas Magic" and sentimentality? The questi...

Last week I set myself the task of reading Matthew 21-25 as a way to reflect on the important Advent theme of preparation for the return of Christ. What did I come up with? Well, I found this portion of Scripture is sobering, unsettling, and encouraging. Let me give one example of each. Sobering : The Parable of the Ten Virgins ( Matthew 25:1-13 ) tells of five wise virgins who bring extra oil along for their lamps and five foolish virgins who bring their lamps but no extra oil jars as they await the coming of the bridegroom. The foolish virgins end up missing the arrival of the bridegroom because they are off buying more oil. Jesus ends this parable with the words: " Therefore keep watch, becasue you do not know the day or the hour ." (verse 13). This parable is sobering because it calls us to personal responsiblity regarding our own preparedness for meeting the Bridegroom - Christ. We need to be wise in our life of faith. Unsettling : The Parable of the Wedding Banquet ( Ma...

I thought I'd take a break from the "Words We Speak" series to do some Advent and Christmas ponderings. This year, I did something that was remarkable for me. I made ginger cookies two days before the event I needed them for! For a person who has often been primarily motivated by deadlines and usually would be pulling the last tray out of the oven after midnight the night before the event, this was a little new. I wondered... what had changed? Well, a few things - I thank God that my life is not as busy as it used to be, I now actually like to bake, and I'm more realistic about the time that things take me. But underneath it all, I think there is something more. It's a bigger change in my perspective on life. I now see that waiting involves preparing. When I was a child, I couldn't wait for Christmas. I would fill my time looking at the Sear's Christmas Wishbook and planning my own Christmas list but it still seemed so far away and I wondered how it woul...

The other day I was visiting a friend. While we were chatting, an incident occurred amongst the children playing that needed some words spoken. First, "I'm sorry" was said. The reponse? A very matter of fact: "That's okay. We forgive you. Blah, blah, blah." I started laughing as it caught me so off guard. But as I started to think about it more, the child's response alarmed me. Yes, I was glad she had said "we forgive you" but the other two statements were concerning. Why? #1 It is not okay. When we're saying "I forgive you", we are not saying what the other person did was okay or fine. It wasn't. If it was, then forgiveness wouldn't be warranted. Forgiveness is for sin, for things done (intentionally or unintentionally) that go against God's ways, for things that are not okay. #2 "Blah, blah, blah..." When we extend forgiveness to someone, we are not engaging in some sort of psychobabble that doesn't rea...

The blog's current theme is “the words we speak” but today I want to deviate from that a bit and focus on something we may need to hear. In Matthew 9:1-8 , there is an amazing story of a paralytic who is healed by Jesus. He gets up,takes up his mat, and goes home. Wow! But that's not all..... Jesus also speaks to him the words we all need to hear, “ Take heart, son, your sins are forgiven .” (Matt 9:2) It's a very dramatic story with tensions rising between the teachers of the law and Jesus. The miracle of the healing is a validation of Jesus' authority to forgive sins (see verse 6) and the result is a crowd filled with awe (verse8). But what does all of this have to do with you? Well, two weeks ago (see November 14) I talked about confession of our sins. Now, here we are able to hear through Scripture, the proclamation of forgiveness of our sins. I don't know where you are at with God but I want to suggest an exercise. Read through the story of Matthew 9:1-8 ...

I'm involved in a Mom's group in Selkirk and last week I was trying to teach the group of preschool children about saying, “I'm sorry”. I really wanted to emphasize that saying sorry is not enough and that we need to make restitution as well. I defined it as doing the opposite action of the sin. As I wondered how to get this idea across, I decided to roll play. Another mom and I pretended that we were kids and I then proceeded to steal a toy from her. The kids were suppose to tell me what I needed to do - say sorry and give the toy back - but what did they do? Laugh. They wanted us to act it out again. Especially the children of the other mom. They didn't seem to take us seriously. Why would I (a grown-up) be stealing a toy? In the second scenario, I said something mean to my fellow actor: “I don't like you and I don'tlike your clothes.” The response of the kids? Silence and shock. They saw this as serious. Maybe it was because it was more feasible th...

The words we speak when we confess our sin to God (this week's topic) and others (next week's topic) are words that can be very hard to speak but they lead to life. Acknowledging our sin can be difficult but as Scripture says: "If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us." (1 John 1:8) Have you ever done that - been in a state of denial about your sin? I have and it is a terrible place to be (although I didn't comprehend it at the time). In retrospect, I realize that I was protecting my pride and nurturing my fear by denying the extent of my sin. What good did that do me? None. It left me stuck in repetetive patterns of sin, unable to access God's grace and redemption for that area of my life. So what does the Bible encourage us to do? "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." (1 John 1:9) Confession - the act of admitting and owning our s...