The Christmas Dance E-Book

Kay Horner

• Herausgeber: BroadStreet Publishing Group, LLC
• Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2015

Beschreibung

God has a divine invitation just for you. The Christmas Dance beautifully retells the stories of beloved Bible characters—revealing how they danced with God to usher in the birth of Christ, how they moved with Him on earth, and how God invites each of us to follow His lead into the full purpose of our lives. As God draws you into His story, you may find your heart longing for a deeper relationship with the One who knows you better than you know yourself. God is the divine author who has the ability to create and recreate, to write and rewrite, to sweep you off your feet, and place you into a heavenly dance that goes on throughout eternity.

Leseprobe

Published by BroadStreet Publishing Group, LLC

Racine, Wisconsin, USA

www.broadstreetpublishing.com

The CHRISTMAS DANCE

CELEBRATE GOD’S GIFT FOR YOU

© 2015 by Kay Horner

ISBN: 978-1-4245-5024-1 (hard cover)

ISBN: 978-1-4245-5083-8 (e-book)

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture is from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. All Scripture marked MSG is from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. Scripture marked KJV is from the King James Version of the Bible, which is in the public domain.

Cover design by Chris Garborg at www.garborgdesign.com

Typesetting by Katherine Lloyd at www.theDESKonline.com

Stock or custom editions of BroadStreet Publishing titles may be purchased in bulk for educational, business, ministry, fundraising, or sales promotional use. For information, please e-mail [e-mail].

Printed in China

15  16  17  18  19  20  5  4  3  2  1

Contents

Introduction

Your Personal Dance Journal

Day 1 The Cool of the Day

Day 2 A Path, a Promise, and a Walk of Faith

Day 3 The Cadence of Forgiveness

Day 4 What’s Your Name?

Day 5 Stepping Free of the C hains

Day 6 Pursuing His Presence

Day 7 Misplaced Keys

Notes

Dedicated to Jesus Christ, who invited me into the dance when I was eight years old, and He continues to patiently teach me new steps every day!

INTRODUCTION

Created as narrative beings, we love a story. I witnessed this anew when I became “Gaga” for the first time. Even before she was two years old, our granddaughter Lillian could sit literally for hours if someone would read her “bookts,” as she called them. She had already learned to say, “Once upon a time …” Those familiar words make our ears perk up and our hearts begin to race. Just give us a hot cup of coffee or a delicious latte, a cozy chair in a quiet room, a good book, and we are happy.

We are also relational beings, longing to be loved and to love others in return. Because we were created in the image of God, who has always been and will always be in a Trinitarian relationship with His Son and Holy Spirit, our ultimate fulfillment is found in joining their ongoing love community.

Perichoresis is the theological term used by the early church fathers to describe this oneness or interpersonal communion. A combination of two Greek words simply meaning “to give way” or “to make room,” it could also be translated “rotation” or “a going around.” Consequently, some have compared this divine interplay to a dance. Jesus’ high priestly prayer was that we would be one as He and the Father are one—not one person but one in essence (John 17:21).

The Christmas Dance is about God’s story and His invitation for us to join Him not only in the narrative of salvation history, but also in this divine relationship and ongoing communion. The story began before the foundation of the world, but through creation, He invited us to become characters whose lives are intricately woven into the storyline. The Bible is full of accounts about people whose lives demonstrate the differences of being willing or unwilling participants in the story and the dance.

Adam and Eve decided to rewrite their chapter, impacting everyone’s storyline throughout time. Yet a merciful heavenly Father provides opportunity to alter our narrative by accepting the invitation reissued through the life, death, and resurrection of His Son—Jesus Christ, the Savior and Redeemer of our dance cards.

Regardless of your age or the choices you have made in life, you are always welcome to accept His invitation. As He draws you into His story, you may find your heart longing for a deeper relationship and intimate conversation with the One who knows you better than you know yourself. He is the divine Author, who has the ability to create and recreate, to write and rewrite, to sweep you off your feet, and to place you into a heavenly dance that goes on throughout eternity.

Will you accept His invitation?

Today I’d like to invite you to join me on an imaginary journey. We’ll see sights you may have never seen. We’ll hear music you’ve never heard. We’ll feel emotions you never thought existed.

Come take a journey of the mind, a journey of the soul—an adventure that emerges slowly but soon becomes an incredible experience not to be missed!

Our ultimate destination is far … and yet, it’s just around the next bend of the heart. We can be there in the blink of an eye, but it takes us back thousands of years. It’s a journey to what I call “The Christmas Dance.”

A complementary dramatic monologue with soundtrack can be downloaded free at www.thechristmasdancebook.com.

Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”

The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’ ”

“You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. But the LORD God called to the man, “Where are you?”

GENESIS 3:1–9

The dance began before the foundation of the world, but we were invited into the movement “in the beginning.” Some might call it ecstasy, a source of pure abundance, a walk in the garden in the cool of the day, like the call to Adam and Eve—”Where are you? Come back! Dance with me!”

Little did they realize that by earlier accepting the serpent’s deceptive invitation, they were not only sampling forbidden fruit, they were changing the course of history for all humanity. Their shame drew them away from the dance floor and pushed them from the paradise they had enjoyed.

Still His call keeps echoing throughout history … “Come, dance with me!”

The LORD had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” So Abram went, as the LORD had told him.

GENESIS 12:1–4

Abraham fell facedown; he laughed and said to himself, “Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?”