{"id":1182,"date":"2012-12-07T04:46:31","date_gmt":"2012-12-07T09:46:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.brethren.org\/?p=1182"},"modified":"2012-12-07T04:46:31","modified_gmt":"2012-12-07T09:46:31","slug":"neighbors-and-relatives-community","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/2012\/12\/07\/neighbors-and-relatives-community\/","title":{"rendered":"Neighbors and relatives: Community"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-920\" title=\"Advent 2012\" src=\"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/39\/2012\/11\/Advent-2012.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"105\" height=\"150\" \/><strong><span style=\"color: #8457a8\">Luke 1:57-66<\/span><br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #8457a8\"><strong>Question for Reflection:<\/strong><\/span><br \/>\n<em>The Message<\/em> uses the phrase \u201csurprise followed surprise\u201d (v. 63) to describe the astonishment of Elizabeth and Zechariah\u2019s neighbors when words of praise began flowing from the lips of Zechariah. Throughout Advent, as we anticipate the celebration of the birth of another baby \u2013 the Messiah \u2013 be alert and mindful of ways God is providing moments of surprise in your life. Like the neighbors in this passage from Luke, share God\u2019s blessings and God\u2019s Good News with your family, friends, and neighbors.<\/p>\n<p><strong><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #8457a8\">Prayer for the day:<\/span><\/strong><br \/>\nKind-hearted God, you have shown us the importance of relationships and community by reaching out to us through the birth of Jesus Christ. During this season of anticipation, help us to reach out to those among us who are most in need of a kind word, a warm coat, a hot meal. Stir us to be your healing touch to a hurting world. Help us to share your Good News of Jesus Immanuel \u2013 God with us. In Jesus\u2019 name, Amen<\/p>\n<p>~ Kim Ebersole, Director of Family Life and Older Adult Ministries<\/p>\n<address style=\"padding-left: 30px\"><em>Congregational Life Ministries of the Church of the Brethren is offering these simple prayers and questions in connection to this year&#8217;s <span style=\"color: #8a68ad\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.brethrenpress.com\/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=8488\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"color: #8a68ad\">Advent Devotional<\/span><\/a><\/span>\u00a0written by Walt Wiltschek, campus pastor of Manchester University. (Available from\u00a0<span style=\"color: #8a68ad\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.brethrenpress.com\/\"><span style=\"color: #8a68ad\">Brethren Press<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span>in print and E-Book formats) Join us as we look and listen for the coming of the Word through the reading of scripture, Walt&#8217;s reflections, times of prayer, and conversations on t<\/em><em>his\u00a0<\/em><em>blog.<\/em><\/address>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Luke 1:57-66 Question for Reflection: The Message uses the phrase \u201csurprise followed surprise\u201d (v. 63) to describe the astonishment of Elizabeth and Zechariah\u2019s neighbors when words of praise began flowing from the lips of Zechariah. Throughout Advent, as we anticipate the celebration of the birth of another baby \u2013 the Messiah \u2013 be alert and<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[54,83,137,515,740,1125],"class_list":["post-1182","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-devotional","tag-advent","tag-anticipation","tag-blessings","tag-good-news","tag-messiah","tag-surprise"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1182","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1182"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1182\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1182"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1182"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}