Day 20 Advent Candle: Light the first two candles and then the Shepherds' Candle. Bible Verses 1 Chronicles 16:8-36 Oh give thanks to the LORD, call upon His name; Make known His deeds among the peoples. Sing to Him, sing praises to Him; Speak of all His wonders. Glory in His holy name; Let the heart of those who seek the LORD be glad. Seek the LORD and His strength; Seek His face continually. Remember His wonderful deeds which He has done, His marvels and the judgments from His mouth, O seed of Israel His servant, Sons of Jacob, His chosen ones! He is the LORD our God; His judgments are in all the earth. Remember His covenant forever, The word which He commanded to a thousand generations, The covenant which He made with Abraham, And His oath to Isaac. He also confirmed it to Jacob for a statute, To Israel as an everlasting covenant, Saying, " To you I will give the land of Canaan, As the portion of your inheritance." When they were only a few in number, Very few, and strangers in it, And they wandered about from nation to nation, And from one kingdom to another people, He permitted no man to oppress them, And He reproved kings for their sakes, saying, "Do not touch My anointed ones, And do My prophets no harm." Sing to the LORD, all the earth; Proclaim good tidings of His salvation from day to day. Tell of His glory among the nations, His wonderful deeds among all the peoples. For great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; He also is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the peoples are idols, But the LORD made the heavens. Splendor and majesty are before Him, Strength and joy are in His place. Ascribe to the LORD, O families of the peoples, Ascribe to the LORD glory and strength. Ascribe to the LORD the glory due His name; Bring an offering, and come before Him; Worship the LORD in holy array. Tremble before Him, all the earth; Indeed, the world is firmly established, it will not be moved. Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; And let them say among the nations, " The LORD reigns." Let the sea roar, and all it contains; Let the field exult, and all that is in it. Then the trees of the forest will sing for joy before the LORD; For He is coming to judge the earth. O give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; For His lovingkindness is everlasting. Then say, "Save us, O God of our salvation, And gather us and deliver us from the nations, To give thanks to Your holy name, And glory in Your praise." Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, From everlasting even to everlasting. Then all the people said, "Amen," and praised the LORD. Article/Devotion Verses of Joy Here is a nice listing of JOY verses from the Bible that I found. Read through some of these as a family and share your favorites. Dinnertime (or anytime!) Discussion A phrase that you probably saw many times if you read the verses on joy at the link above is "rejoice in the Lord". Think about that and discuss with each other what you think it means. Where does our joy come from? How can we "get" joy if we don't have it? Word to Know Joy: "Happiness over an unanticipated or present good. In the Old Testament joy (Heb. sama) covers a wide range of human experiences—from sexual love, to marriage, the birth of children, the gathering of the harvest, military victory, and drinking wine. On the spiritual level it refers to the extreme happiness with which the believer contemplates salvation and the bliss of the afterlife. Unexpected benefits from God are expressed in terms of common experiences. The psalms express the joyous mood of believers as they encounter God. Believers rejoice because God has surrounded them with his steadfast love and brought them to salvation. David rejoices that God has delivered him from the hand of his enemies. Joy is a response to God's word and his reward to believers and their strength." Read more on this Baker's Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology definition of joy. Book Suggestion The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey by Susan Wojciechowski. Mr. Jonathan Toomey, the best wood-carver in the valley, is solitary and unsmiling. No one knows of the mementos of his lost wife and child he keeps in an unopened drawer. One early winter day the widow McDowell asks Mr. Toomey to carve her a creche and to let her young son watch. A quiet request leads to a joyful miracle, as the mother and son gently warm the wood-carver's sad heart. Advent Extras Art Today's painting is "Adoration of the Shepherds" by Gerrit van Honthorst, a Dutch artist from the 1600's. (Above on this page is his "Adoration of the Child", a similar scene.) Van Honthorst was influential to future Dutch painters as a leader of the Utrecht school, which followed the style of an artist we learned about earlier this month, Caravaggio. Van Honthorst painted many portraits and had mostly noblemen as his patrons, but many of his religious paintings clearly show more of his Baroque style. As in the painting here, he employed the typical dramatic use of shadow and light to express an important moment for the subjects of his work. In "Adoration of the Shepherds", the baby Jesus himself is illuminated as those around him, perhaps even his own earthly parents, realize just how special this child is! You can view more of Gerrit van Honthorst's work here. Because the use of illumination was so important in his work, many of van Honthorst's paintings are set in the darkness of night. If you view his painting of Samson and Delilah, you can see that he uses candlelight to show just enough of the "action", the important and somewhat tense moment when Delilah is about to cut Samson's hair. The richly detailed clothing is also another Caravaggio trademark. After about 10 years spent in Italy, van Honthorst returned to his home in the Netherlands where he continued to introduce Caravaggio technique and style to the artists of the Utrecht school. Many Dutch painters, most notably Rembrandt, were later influenced by van Honthorst's dramatic realism. He was commissioned many times to paint the interiors of palaces or the homes of noblemen. In 1628, he was invited by Charles I of England to decorate Whitehall and painted many portraits which can now be found at the National Gallery in London. Christmas Carol or Hymn Joy to the World Isaac Watts grew up in Southampton, England in the late 1600's. He was the son of a radical free-thinker--also named Isaac--who was shunned by the Church of England and spent many a night in jail for his nonconformist ideas! Isaac, the son, grew up challenging authority in the same way his father did. Because he was not a member of the Church of England, Isaac Watts was not allowed to enter Oxford or Cambridge even though he was a brilliant thinker. He studied at the Independent Academy at Stoke, Newington until the age of 20 when he left on his own to go back to live with his father. While living at home, the younger Watts complained to his father about the dull and uninspired hymns of their church. Watts senior challenged him to come up with something better! And so he did. At first, the hymns he wrote were not accepted by most and Isaac was even labeled a heretic for his "new" ways of thinking about faith. But, after years of earning his living as a tutor, Isaac Watts became the assistant of Dr. Isaac Chauncey (a third Isaac in our story!) at Mark Lane Independent Chapel in London. In three short years, Watts became the minister at age 26! His church grew rapidly and his position enabled him to finally publish some of his work. While studying Psalm 98, Isaac was inspired to write a song based on the emotional experience of King David. He was touched by the words, "Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth; break forth and sing for joy and sing praises" and soon put his paraphrase into the song which would become "Joy to the World". Isaac Watts' hymn was not readily accepted, however, because most British Christians did not like the idea of rewriting Scripture! Isaac persisted and continued to translate more of the Psalms into song with such titles as "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross" and "This is the Day the Lord Has Made". These and many more were published in 1719 in The Psalms of David Imitated in the Language of the New Testament and Applied to the Christian State and Worship. Whew! After many years and an iron will, his work began to gain acceptance. However, the song we sing today has a different tune than Watts used with his version of "Joy to the World". He intended for the lyrics to be sung to the tune of "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing". In 1836, Lowell Mason of New Jersey, an ardent student of classical German composers like Handel, wrote an upbeat melody he called "Antioch". He searched and searched for lyrics that would fit perfectly with his song and eventually came upon "Joy to the World" by Isaac Watts. The combination of Watts' words and Mason's music is the Christmas carol we love today. No one is sure how it became such a popular Christmas carol because the only lines linking it to the New Testament story of Christ's birth is "the Lord is come" and "let Earth receive her King". But in the early half of the 1900's, it became a regular on radio during the holidays and "Joy to the World" was soon a classic. Holiday Tradition & History Reindeer Visit this interesting page for facts on reindeer and, of course, the most famous reindeer of all: Rudolph! Fun read. The Reindeer of Christmas 'Round the World at Christmas Today we're going to read a little bit about what Christmas was like in bygone years in America! An American Christmas Decade by Decade From the Herbert Hoover Library & Museum. Christmas in Colonial Williamsburg Christmas traditions from Colonial times at the official Colonial Williamsburg site. Coloring Pages, Cooking and Crafts Printable Nativity Beautiful black and white nativity set to print out, color and assemble from author Jan Karon! Christmas Coloring Pages Big collection of coloring sheets. Christmas Fun! It's a Wonderful Life in 30 Seconds Reenacted by animated bunnies! Christmas Space Invaders Christmas version of a classic arcade game. 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