Pastor's Devotions by Tim Harris

Christians all over the world know and love the Christmas hymn, “O Holy Night.” The lyrics, originally written in French by Placide Cappeau in 1843, have been translated into languages from around the globe. The music was written by Adolphe Adam in 1847 and is as powerful as are the lyrics.  It seems to me that this hymn in particular catches the essence of what the Christmas is all about: “our dear Savior’s birth,” the King of kings in a “lowly manger”, a teacher teaching us to “love one another,” a “Gospel (of) peace.”  And, they speak so well to the human condition throughout the ages: a world in “sin and error pining,” weariness, need, weakness, chains, oppression.  Most of all, however, the lyrics to this hymn resound with worship and praise to the One who came bringing hope to a world that was trapped in sin, error, and weariness. It draws for us a picture of light breaking into darkness and those who experience that light bursting into “sweet hymns of praise” and “...

I love listening to Christmas music from Thanksgiving Day all the way to New Year’s. But this year I noticed something about quite a number of our standard Christmas songs, many of which come out of movies. Many of those songs are quite wistful and melancholy; some are outright sad. The lyrics speak of longing for Christmases gone by, wishing to be with friends and family, dreaming of a romantic Christmas surrounded by snow. One song is all about a blue Christmas. Another speaks about being home for Christmas, even it is just in one’s dream.   The famous song, “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” comes from the movie “Meet Me in Saint Louis.” Judy Garland sings the song looking out over a snow-covered backyard, sad that this is supposed to be her family’s last Christmas in St. Louis. She sings,            “Have yourself a merry little Christmas  Let your heart be light  From now on your troubles will be out of sight Have yoursel...

As many of you know, because of my Jewish heritage (on my mother’s side), we light the Chanukah candles as many nights as we can during the eight days of Chanukah. As we do, we pray not only one of the traditional prayers, but also our own prayers thanking God that the candles of the menorah remind us that we serve a God who intervenes in our lives, who works miracles on behalf of his people, and who shines light into the darkness of our world. And then, probably to the chagrin of most Jewish people, we thank God for sending Jesus, the light of the world! It’s our way of bringing together our Jewish heritage and our faith in Jesus.  Last week, after I had lighted the Chanukah candles, I sat looking at the flames burning and then at the lights of our Christmas tree. I then looked outside at our house and others on our block that were decorated with all kinds of lights.  As I did, it crossed my mind how interesting it is  that we celebrate these holidays that are ...

Whenever any of our kids are coming to visit for a few days, Kim and I find ourselves filled with anticipation. For days, Kim and I are thinking about the beds that need to be prepared, what meals we will cook, and what we will do in our time together. As the hour of their arrival draws closer, I find myself looking out the window to see whether or not I can see their car coming down the street or pulling into the driveway. It is a time that for us, is filled with anticipation. As you well know, the Christmas season is filled with all kinds of anticipation as we look forward to the day of our Christmas celebrations. Especially for the children, the anticipation of what will take place on Christmas morning gets their hearts pumping, their minds spinning, and their bodies tossing in bed as the anticipation of it all gets the best of them! Even as adults, we look forward with anticipation to the dinners, gatherings with friends and family, special church services, and even the gifts to be...

For the past couple of weeks, on most nights the evening sky has been quite clear and thus great for stargazing (at least here in NJ!).  Last week the moon was in a crescent phase and this week is now almost full.  To the “right” of the moon, Jupiter has been bright as can be, with Saturn near to it and as well able to be seen with the naked eye. And just a bit further “right” has been Venus shining like the noonday sun! In fact, at one point last week, all three planets and the moon were in one constellation, Capricorn. It was amazing to see them all so close together. It has truly been an incredible sky!  Although many people might take a quick glance upwards and possibly take note of the moon and the stars in a general sense, they often miss what’s actually taking place.  They fail to see the moon changing its shape or the planets moving around them. After all, most people—most of us—rush from the house to the car, getting out and rushing into wherever we are goin...

I have learned through the years that one needs not have lots and lots of friends, just a few good friends upon whom they can depend. Now, it’s ok to have a bunch of people in your life with whom you might share an activity here and there or some people that you get together with around a common theme—e.g., a sport, a club, a meal, church. In the end, however, one needs just a few people with whom they can share the intimate parts of their heart, mind, and soul; a few friends with whom you feel connected, even when you are unable to be together physically; a few good friends to whom you can turn when your find yourself in a place of need.  Of course, it’s not always easy to figure out who those few friends are. Sometimes we might think of someone as a close friend, but when push comes to shove we find out that they are not really there for us in our time of need—or maybe they’re not as interested in the friendship as we are. There are those people who come in and out of our lives b...

This past summer, Kim and I needed to purchase a new electric dryer. Thus, I did my research regarding brands, features, and prices. And, I picked out what I thought would be the best dryer for us within our price range. When I went into the store and spoke to the salesman, however, it quickly became obvious that much of my research was useless since the dryer I had picked out was not available and would not be available for a very long time. In fact, my options were quickly limited, all due to problems with the supply chain.  As I am sure you already know, here in the US, as well as around the world, there have been significant supply chain problems that have affected the goods and services we are able to obtain. From construction projects to the automobile industry to the food that makes it to our supermarket shelves, glitches  and bottlenecks in the supply chain have slowed down the flow of parts needed for manufacturing, the delivery of goods and services to our homes, and...