http://m.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11563280
The first candle lit is the light of hope. Hope is a word we often use. “I hope that the weather is fine on Christmas Day”, “I hope that I win the lottery” or a common sentence in many homes this week “I hope that Santa brings … “!
Christian hope is more than wishful thinking. It is the confident faith that God is in control, that God is merciful.
In Christian faith the expression of hope is a belief that in Jesus Christ we know the gift of life and a way of living that is hope-giving for each of us and for the world.
There will be thousands of people this Christmas who will be hope-bringers to people and communities all over the world, offering food, shelter, companionship and a helping hand.
Jesus empowered the poor and the most marginalised. He treated women and men with equal respect. He challenged unjust leaders and cared for children. Jesus demonstrated a better way of life and wants to impart that way of life into our hearts and to our world.
Hope is not, therefore, a punt or a risk but rather, as Jesus showed us, it is our choice to be hope-bringers and agents of change for those in our families and communities, our workplaces and city, and those we may never meet who need our help.
The second candle is the light of peace. As this year draws to a close, we are conscious of so many people who need peace in the nations of the world, in our communities, among our colleagues and friends, and perhaps even in our own hearts and minds.
This light of peace is not a pipe dream, nor a feigned peace which pretends that everything is okay when really it is not.
The final Advent candle lit before Christmas is the light of love. Christians believe that in Jesus Christ the world is given the offer of salvation, and the chance to see what divine love really means; divine love found in the experiences of caring for friend and stranger, seeking justice, feeding the hungry, healing the broken-hearted, caring for the earth and working for peace. That is the kind of love that this light calls us to share this Christmas.
As the clock strikes midnight on Christmas morning, the central candle of the Advent wreath is lit, celebrating that the light of Christ has come into the world and will come again. As it shines into the darkness it invites all those who see it to let the gifts of which the wreath speaks inform how they live their lives, for when we each bring hope, make peace, gift joy and live love, then the world is transformed.
Our world needs that transformation, a transformation we are all invited to be part of bringing.
from
http://m.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11563280
PPS
“When (or if ever) you arrive in heaven, let faith, hope and love be the wings that carried you there.”
– as adapted from the inspiring words of Jonathan Edwards, former minister in New England, Massachusetts
“The Greatest Race: Living by (with) faith, hope and love is the highest podium any person can reach, God’s podium that anyone stand on.”
– c
from
http://www.racetothechequeredflag.wordpress.com
and
http://www.craigsquotes.wordpress.com
TOGETHER, one mind, one heart, one soul, one small step at a time, we can make some difference towards a better world, a brighter tomorrow
“SHARE, ENCOURAGE and SPREAD, HOPE, LOVE and LIGHT”
“A writer’s dreams“
Picture (great) by my good friends, Jenny (and John), whose photographic talents I definitely do NOT possess!
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Author: craig lock
About the Author
Craig has a 'passion' for writing books that tell stories about people doing positive things in this often so hard, sometimes unkind world, occasionally cruel, yet always amazing world - true stories that leave the reader feeling uplifted, empowered and hopefully even inspired.
Craig Lock loves to encourage and empower people to be the best they can possibly be, and to create what they want in life. Craig has learnt plenty from the "school of life" (still "battered and bruised") and also from a few "hard knocks on the head". He is an extensive world traveller (on a "shoestring budget") and failed professional emigrater who has spent most of his life’s savings on airfares. He is still sliding down the razor blade of life on the beautiful undiscovered island that is New Zealand, somewhere near the bottom (rude!) of the world near Antarctica. There he talks to the 60 million sheep! Craig has been involved in the corporate world (life assurance) for "many moons". However, through a rather strange (and unique) set of circumstances and finding himself in a small town near the bottom of the world ...and with nothing else to do, he started writing. That was five years ago. Five published books later and having written another twenty manuscripts (now 300 + on widely differing subjects - well what else is there to do here?)... this is where Craig is in the "journey/adventure" that is life. Craig has run a run a successful creative writing course (not teaching sheep!) at the local Polytechnic. He was the author of (as far as we know) the first creative writing course on the internet. He has many varied interests and passions and is particularly interested in the field of psychology – studying the human mind and what makes different people "tick-tock grandfather clock". He is fascinated by the "overlap between psychology and the dimension of spirituality".
One of his missions in life is helping people make the most of their hidden potential and so finding their niche in life... so that they are happy.
Craig’s various books probably tell more about his rather "eventful" life best (no one could believe it!). He writes books with serious messages and themes, then as a contrast "rather crazy, wacky stuff"…to keep him sane here. As an ‘anonymouse’ person wrote: "All of us are born mad; some of us remain so."
Well nothing else much happens in quiet provincial New Zealand, other than headlines like "Golf Ball Thrown at Policeman" and "Beach Toilet Closed for Season.". True!
from
http://www.selfgrowth.com/experts/craig_lock.html
For Craig’s books see AMAZON at http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005GGMAW4
... but rather GO to www.creativekiwis.com ??
When the writer is no more, the value of your purchase will soar."
www.johnsphotopics.wordpress.com
www.craigsquotes.wordpress.com
All proceeds go to the needy and underprivileged… and a charity (most worthy-Bill and I)
“When the writer is no more , the value of your purchase will soar! “
“Together, one mind, one life (one small step at a time), let’s see how many people (and lives) we can encourage, impact, empower, enrich, uplift and perhaps even inspire to reach their fullest potentials…and strive for and perhaps one sunny day even achieve their wildest dreams.”
PPS
Don’t worry about the world ending today…
as it’s already tomorrow in scenic and tranquil ‘little’ New Zealand
View all posts by craig lock
WHO IS "THE REAL, THE TRUE, THE LIVING" JESUS? 
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