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Brumous in the Morning -a photo play
>Brumous at Night -a Photo Play-
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Author Archives: Becky Pliego
>"Brumous" -a Photo Play-
>I have missed the last two photo plays over at my friends’ place; but I did not want to miss play along this time.
The theme is “Brumous“ and it was fun to play along mostly because my husband was behind me teaching me how to do this. I love him so much!
I took these pictures this morning just to play along.
Tonight I will come back with “Brumous at Night” (just can’t resist it!)
Journeying under His sun and by His grace,
>Under His Beautiful Sun
>As I enjoy the sun, the sound of mighty waves crashing against huge rocks, and my beautiful family; I invite you to visit some of my friends today.
Petra is hosting a series entitled 12 Days of Christmas with Spurgeon; you can still catch on it.
Diane has a great post, A Lonely Birth, in which she quotes John MacArthur.
My dear friend, Julie, shares some ideas on how to celebrate with joy (and little ones) this Advent season (Maybe next week I will jump in!)
If you want to try a new dish this Christmas why not trying this Puerto Rican recipe that Christina shared with us.
Scotty Smith at The Gospel Coalition has shared two prayers for the Advent season: A Prayer About Advent Hope for Our Kids and A Prayer About Advent Loving from the Heart.
Rebecca wrote this beautiful piece on the Mystery of the Incarnation, b.e.a.u.t.i.f.u.l. (I am grateful to her because she gave me permission to translate it into in Spanish)
Have a joyous Friday, my friends!
I leave you with some beautiful pictures of our trip.
My daughter has more great pictures at her place.
Under His beautiful sun and by His grace,
>Celebrating the Incarnation of our Lord – Quotes that Nourish-
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| Adoration of the Shepherds; Honthorst, Gerard van, 1622. |
These are excerpts from a Sermon on the Nativity of Jesus Christ preached by John Calvin.
“…in the history which St. Luke here recites, on the one hand we learn how the Son of God emptied Himself of everything for our salvation, nevertheless, on the other hand He did not fail to leave certain and infallible testimony that He was the Redeemer of the world promised from all time. Even though He took our condition, He was able to maintain His heavenly majesty. Both sides are here shown to us. For our Lord Jesus Christ is here in a manger and He is, as it were, rejected by the world. He is in extreme poverty without any honor, without any reputation, as it were, subject to servitude. Yet He is magnified by Angels from Paradise, who do Him homage.”
“Now we see the summary of this history. That is, in the first place, we know that the Son of God, even our Mediator, has united Himself to us in such a way that we must never doubt that we are sharers both of His life and of all His riches. Let us know also that He brought with Himself to us everything that was required for our salvation. For (as I have already said) He was not thus emptied without always retaining His Divine majesty. Although before men He was made of no reputation, yet He always remained not only heir of this world (since He is the Head of the Church), but also always true God. “
“Let us bethink ourselves to profit from this history, so that we may be able to be in tune with the song of the Angels in glorifying God, and to so receive what He here gives us for the rejoicing of our souls. In the first place the Angel says (that is the one who bears the message of the shepherds), “Fear not. I announce to you a great joy.” Then there is this testimony in common from all the army that God sends, “Peace on earth to men.” This, then, is what we have to remember first of all: that we seek our joy in Jesus Christ. For, in fact, even though we had all kinds of delights and luxuries, it would only be a matter of drowning ourselves in our pleasures. Yet even if we are too sleepy, even entirely stupid, our conscience will never have rest. We shall be tormented without end and without ceasing. This worm (of which the Scripture speaks) will eat us away, we shall be condemned by our sins, and we shall feel that with perfect right God is opposed to us and is our enemy. So, there will be a curse upon all the enjoyments of the world, since they will be changed into gnashing of teeth, until men are right with God.”
“But as we cannot praise God until He has declared to us His goodness, let us also learn not to have a faith dead or idle, but may we be incited to bless the Name of God, when we see that He has so displayed the great treasures of His loving-kindness toward us. May our mouth, on the one hand, perform its function, and then may all our life correspond to it. For this is the true song, that each one dedicates himself to the service of God, knowing that, since He has bought us at such a price, it is reasonable enough that all our thoughts and our works be applied to this use, that His Name be blessed.”
“This is also why the holy table is made ready for us, so that we may know that our Lord Jesus, having descended here below and having emptied Himself of everything, was not, however, separated from us when He ascended into His glory in heaven. But rather it is on this condition that we are sharers of His body and His blood. And why so? For we know that His righteousness and His obedience is the satisfaction for our sins and that He appeased the wrath of God by the sacrifice of His body and of His blood which He offered in this humanity which He took from us. “
May His grace abound in us as we meditate on these words today.
Read the whole sermon here.
>The Holiness of God – Chapter Nine-
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“Almost every natural man that hears of hell,
flatters himself
that he shall escape it”
Jonathan Edwards
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| Michelangelo Buonarroti ; The Last Judgment (detail 1) |
“Transgression speaks to the wicked
deep in his heart;
there is no fear of God
before His eyes.
For he flatters himself in his own eyes
that his iniquity cannot be found out
and hated.
The words of his mouth are trouble
and deceit;
he has ceased to act wisely and do g
good.
He plots trouble while on his bed;
he sets himself in a way that is not good.
He does not reject evil.”
Psalm 36: 1- 4 (ESV)
The same day I read this chapter in Sproul’s book entitled God in the Hand of Angry Sinners, I read Psalm 36; it is clear that Jonathan Edwards knew these verses, he knew how the wicked is not afraid to try to destroy God, the wicked plots in his his bed how to end with a Holy God.
This is an excellent chapter in which Dr. Sproul leads us through the words of Jonathan Edwards, to see clearly that God is Holy and the wicked wants to destroy Him. He doesn’t want a Holy God.
I see this around me all the time in the country where I live in which more and more people are leaving the Catholic Church to join the Evangelical Church; preachers on TV and on stages with lights and live music are promising miracles, happiness, joy, health, and wealth; they preach love and acceptance in Christ, “come as you are and He will receive you openly” they say; no one hears of a Holy God; and maybe it is because the god they had made for themselves is all love but lacks holiness.
Sproul says it well:
“A loving God who has no wrath is no God. He is an idol of our own making as much as if we carved Him out of stone”
The question that rises is this:
“How can we love a holy God? The simplest answer I can give to this vital question is that we can’t. Loving a Holy God is beyond our moral power. The only kind of God we can love by our sinful nature is an unholy god, an idol made by our own hands. Unless we are born of the Spirit of God, unless God sheds His holy love in our hearts, unless He stoops in His grace to change our hearts, we will not love Him. He is the One who takes the initiative to restore our souls. Without Him we can do nothing of righteousness. Without Him we would be doomed to everlasting alienation from His holiness. We can love Him only because He first loved us. To love a Holy God requires grace, grace strong enough to pierce hardened hearts and awaken our morbid souls”
I have heard terrible statements like the one from a woman’s heart when she was confronted with her sin, “If that is your God, a God who does not understand me, and my situation, then I do not want Him” This woman still calls herself Christian, she still goes to her church, where a god who understands every one is worshiped.
Another woman who calls herself Christian, said to me once, “I cannot imagine a God who is trapped in a box of rules; “my god” is not like that; my god is a personal god; his love is greater than lots precepts and statutes”
God, the triune God is Holy; and He is bound to His word, because He is the Word and His Word is Holy.
The more I am transformed by His Word, the more I see my need of Him. I am utterly lost without Him.
The best way to end this entry is the same way Dr. Sproul ends this chapter:
“Yet as we grow in our knowledge of Him, we gain a deeper love for His purity and a sense of deeper dependence on His grace. We learn that He is altogether worthy of our adoration. The fruit of our growing love for Him is the increase of reverence for His name. We love Him now because we see his loveliness. we adore Him because we see His majesty. We obey Him now because His Holy Spirit dwells within us.”
Under His shadow,
You can read what others are saying about this chapter at Challies.
Other Posts in this Series:
The Holiness of God -Chapter Eight- Be Holy because I am Holy-
The Holiness of God -Chapter Seven- War and Peace with a Holy God
The Holiness of God -Chapter Six- Holy Justice
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>Celebrating the Incarnation of our Lord II -Guest Post by Elizabeth DeBarros-
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Christmas time is a season in which you invite friends into your home to celebrate with you the greatest miracles of all, the Incarnation of our Lord! This blog is not my home, but it is, in a sense, a cozy room with a coffee table where I share with you, my friend, my journey. Today a special friend of mine, Elizabeth DeBarros, is sitting at this coffee table, would you like to grab a cup of coffee and join us?
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Gifts We Bring
I stall. I look out of the window. Sometimes, wandering around the house affords me a glimpse beyond the horizon. I wait.
To distill into words the Incarnation of Christ does two things: Brings me to my knees and causes me to question whether I have what it takes to approach such mystery. Is this something of what it means to tremble? It’s no light matter to discuss the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Who is worthy of such a task? To pontificate over Deity come down is to tread upon holy ground, a place where even angels fear to go.
Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness:
He was manifested in the flesh,
vindicated by the Spirit,
seen by angels,
proclaimed among nations,
believed on in the world,
taken up in glory.
I Timothy 3:16 (ESV)
Indeed, He has come. The Promised One, in the form of a helpless baby, appeared before men, kings and angels under a Sovereign sky. Heaven and Earth rejoiced. Immanuel, God with us. The One who, for our sakes, descended among the ranks of flesh and blood and by whose account we may now approach.
But how? How do we approach?
We’re all little drummers boy at heart, eager to bring our finest gifts to lay before Him something worth. Even if it’s just a rum pum pum pum on our lowly drum, we long to give something that will please Him.
But if we examine ourselves aright, we have nothing to bring, in and of ourselves. We are all weak, vile creatures before this Holy One, this God who need. As it says,
“Who has ever given a gift to Him that he might be repaid?”
Romans 11: 35 (ESV)
He bids us to come, nonetheless. So we offer Him our yearnings and flailings of heart, reveailing our frail estate. We acquiesce to the fact that we are but dust. Our souls heave a sigh. Do we dare allow God to be God?- the One who renders a righteous judgment by convicting us of our need of Him, but here is where we must break: under the fragile yet unbending beauty that he doesn’t condemn us for our humanity, for He made us in His image.
“What is man that you are mindful of him,
and the son of man that you care for him?”
Psalm 8:4 (ESV)
This is where God brings us face to face with our plight, our utter need for Him. And He spreads a table before us in the midnight fields of our desiring and feeds us with Himself.
This Advent season, there is something far more glorious to consider than how we might approach Him. Let us acknowledge that it is He Who first approached us. Then we may come, humble in spirit, bowing before Him in truth with gifts to bring.
O Holy Night! The stars are brightly shining,
It is the night of the dear Savior’s birth.
Long lay the world in sin and error pining.
Till He appeared and the Spirit felt its worth.
A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices,
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.
Fall on your knees! Oh, hear the angel voices!
O might divine, the night when Christ was born;
O night, O holy Night, O night divine!
O night, O Holy Night, O night divine!
By Elizabeth DeBarros
December 2010 Historical background on O Holy Night: The words and lyrics of the carol ‘O Holy Night’ were written by Placide Cappeau de Roquemaure in 1847. Cappeau was a wine seller by trade but was asked by the parish priest to write a poem for Christmas. He obliged and wrote the beautiful words of the hymn. He then realized that it should have music to accompany the words and he approached his friend Adolphe Charles Adams (1803-1856). He agreed and the music for the poem was therefore composed by Adolphe Charles Adams. Adolphe had attended the Paris conservatoire and forged a brilliant career as a composer. It was translated into English by John Sullivan Dwight (1812-1893).  Text and image of a Glorious Sky are property of © Elizabeth DeBarros. If you know of another post worth visiting to Celebrate the Incarnation of the Lord, please, feel free to add the link into the comment box.
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