Adventure Series

Adventure Series: Epiphany ~ Illumination

Matthew 2: 1-12

Matthew 2: 13-18

Unlike the other postings, this written piece is not from the recording. It is just a little background to challenge how you ‘observe’ the holy-days.

This final posting of the Adventure Series strays from the sermon style we have been exploring and presents a lecture on the history of Christmas, this is a portion of the recording replay from the Little King’s Night - Foundations of Faith Talk 2018 at Clair-i-Tea in Edmonton.

For tonight, I just wanted to share these observations to give you something to meditate on as we close the season heading into the second Christmas Eve of the Season ...and to help you reconnect with 'recognizing' the real meaning of the holiday season so that you can take that Spirit of Christmas with you throughout the year.

Illuminating the Spirit of Christmas

So, what are the twelve days of Christmas? More than a third of Christians worldwide celebrate Christmas on Jan 6-7 instead of Dec 24/25. Although commercial Christmas remains unchallenged on December 25th worldwide, January 6th is a little-remembered holy-day. In the Catholic West it is Epiphany, but in the Orthodox East it is Little Kings Night, the day we celebrate when the wise men/kings came to give the tiny messiah and his mother the gifts. So why the two competing dates? The calendar change!

The calendar as we count it now is Gregorian, made up by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582, up until then the world used the Julian Calendar made by Julius Ceasar in 65BC. Between them is a 13-day difference. So technically they both celebrate Dec 25th, but Dec 25th is on a different day…. confusing right? But as the world was counting in Yeshua’s time, they were using the Julian Calendar. Thus the orthodox tradition still marks holidays by that count. If you think about it… it makes shopping much easier for those of us who celebrate Christmas after boxing day sales ;)

The 40 days of Advent count from the four weeks before the holidays, leading up to commercial Christmas, and continue the count through to the Julian December 25th. The twelve days of Christmas are the days between the West and East Christmas’.

If you celebrate Christmas like me, instead of one compromisingly expensive day of the year, in my home we celebrate 12 fully nostalgic days of tradition, comfort, romance, and magick. It’s less about presents and more about presence. Each day spending time contemplating the three gifts, four really, and how they are showing up in our lives and our embodiment. This challenge was shared in the Christmas sermon.

Each day we focus on one pairing, so the family gets to spend one day each together over the days to show one another how important, impactful, and precious they are by doing something together. The next day you pair up again with someone else. It is all about recognizing each other as a gift and honouring that. Each day has a theme, traditions, and comforts - rather than packing it all into one day and moving on with life as though it never happened…

Adventure Series: Week 6 ~ Integrity

Deuteronomy 23:21-23

Psalm 25

Isaiah 26:2-12

Matthew 5: 33-37

Titus 2:1b-15

from Resolution to Resolve

Staying in Integrity No Matter the Cause

So many make New Year’s resolutions only to have them fall away as life plots on. But, the Bible is very clear about being ‘a man of your word’ and lies, intentional or otherwise, are not tolerated. There is a difference between being mis-taken and absolving yourself of being true to what you’ve said.

The most confusing thing anyone ever has to do is declare who they are, who they are becoming, and who they are going to be. All that is ever asked of you is to be your Self, in God’s perfect design.

So how do we, in our pesky humanity, stay on the right trajectory and stay in integrity when someone seems to just keep changing the game on us? How do you stay purposefully on-point to keep from absolving yourself of your dissolving resolve? …

Adventure Series: Week 5 ~ Trust

Deuteronomy 4:27-31

Psalm 56

Jeremiah 29:10b-13

Matthew 5: 21-30

1 Peter 5:2-11

Trusting in the 3 R’s:

Recovery, Restoration, Reconciliation

In a traditional holiday setting, there are opportunities to commit so many of these subtle sins. We covet as we consider what we wish we will get, we are jealous of what someone else gets, gluttony through overindulgence, our fuses get shorter with family the longer the exposure, and in coronavirus times we have all sorts of feelings about not being able to travel or gather how we normally would have. Now, talk about a thorny crown (which is literally what a corona virus is). 

So how are we meant to navigate this confusing, intricate world that seems to be setting us up for failure? Well, not only is the world full of tempting morsels, and the holidays particularly so, God also set out several pathways to reconciliation. There are three stages to this journey of recovery, but four steps to be taken to make your way ‘right with God’…

Adventure Series: Christmas Day ~ Love

Looking at the Gifts of Christmas

Looking at the Gifts of Christmas we dig deep to see what we give and give credit for how we give of ourselves. We don't need to be martyrs or sacrificed in order to help those who need of us. We can shine our light so bright it overpowers the darkness of the deep of winter and shines that little light towards the breaking of the dawn. You are a gift to the people in your life in the ways that you support and challenge them. Own it…

Adventure Series: Christmas Eve ~ Grace

Genesis 22 

Isaiah 9:1-7

Isaiah 11

Luke 1:1-2:40

Matthew 2

John 1:1-34

Christmas Eve Carol & Scripture Perscription:

A bit of Intimacy with the Almighty.

Breaking with tradition, but sharing my own, Christmas eve was always the busiest night for me with four back-to-back church services followed with family traditions when we got home after midnight. One of my favourite parts of the holidays was when I would sneak off to the little upstairs chapel between singing performances in the main cathedral, sit with the stained glass windows and sing my favourite hymns acapella as lullabies to the baby Jesus – a bit of intimacy with the almighty.

Maybe it’s because I am a romantic, but I love to slip into the nostalgia of the season on Christmas Eve. Christmas Day may be all about presents, family, sharing and gifts, but this night is about presence – an intimacy that melts your heart and lulls you into a vulnerable surrender.

In fact, the midnight candle service was where our minister would sit on a stool and read a heart-warming Christmas-themed bedtime story. He invited me to sing Christmas lullabies in that service, and after a few seasons, he gave me that service as my first preaching engagement when he handed me the reigns to take over story-time and lullaby the congregation into the greatest night of the year.

If you plug into YouTube ‘Nativity Bedtime Story’ & ‘Christmas Lullabies’ you will get a host of options for any palate. Creative and traditional presentations of the story of Christmas, and songs like Away in the Manger; Hark, the Herald Angels Sing; O Holy Night; and my personal favourite: O Come, O Come Emmanuel.

So, for this evening, I want you to have a moment of vigil with the newborn Light of the World. Light yourself some vigil motive candles*, read him a bedtime story, lift your voice in lullaby, and let your heart melt and pool around the baby Jesus. I won’t be posting a sermon, because I want you to birth one of your own in that intimate prayer. Draw in His presence, and be still enough to receive the experience of that descent of the Spirit of Christmas, Jesus.

*with the lighting of each candle you send out a prayer of blessing for someone you want to connect with over those heart waves. Someone you want to feel that love and melt their heart a little too to make some more room for that Love in their life.

Adventure Series: Winter Solstice ~ Soul

When Your Light Withdraws

Join Rev.Rynn for a very real talk on the dark of the season, Dark Night of the Soul, depression and enlightenment, & the deeper meaning of Christmas.

This sermon is a short excerpt from a full SatDharma Class Lecture that was delivered before Covid. In it Rynn prophesized Covid in detail, so when Covid hit the published broadcast was taken offline.

The content from the rest of the session does show up in a few of our programs, but if you would like to watch the archived SatDharma Talk in its entirety, or the rest of the prophetic content contact us for more information on our streaming memberships for access to the archive of 100+ hrs of lectures, classes, and workshops to access prophetic content like the Dark Night of the Soulstice and the Precipice Talks.

Adventure Series: Week 4 ~ Peace

Judges 6:24 

Daniel 10:15-19

Matthew 13:1-23

Mark 4:35-41

Luke 2: 8-20

Philippians 4:5-9

Subconscious Ammo for Anxiety

If you have ever experienced that restlessness that comes from trying to be still when you are used to chasing your tail a mile a minute trying to keep up, then you know exactly what I am talking about. 

We as humans are so used to being tasked or entertained. We want to rest so much. We obsess over getting it, relieving ourselves of responsibilities, and just having nothing to do. But then if we achieve that opportunity, most of us are vibrating much too fast to actually rest into that rest… 

Adventure Series: Week 3 ~ Joy

1 Chronicles 16:32-34 

Nehemiah 8:10

Psalm 16:11, (96: 8-12, 98:1-9)

Matthew 18:1-5

Luke 2:8-20

1 Peter 1:3-9

Ticket to Heaven: Taking Joy as you Play with your Reality

I know it’s hard for grown-ups to remember, but there is a purity and innocence to the eyes of a child. They see reality as clearly as themselves. They are not at war within themselves. The Bible tells us to rejoice, but most of us have forgotten how to even approach that, much less enter in. How can you enter the Kingdom of God when you can’t even receive to enjoy the gifts in your life?…

Adventure Series: Week 2 ~ Faith

Psalm 32 

Esther 4: 1-8

James 3: 13-18

Luke 12: 22-32

Faith in the Midst of Chaos & Monotony

I love that passage in Luke: "How much more precious are we?"24b. We see so clearly how God cares for His critters, but for some reason, it escapes us to notice His hands working so busily in our own lives. I think it is because we run around trying everything we can to fix the situation and to better our lives that we seem to overlook the fact that none of our efforts were the ones that worked. It was His doing....

Adventure Series: Week 1 ~ Hope

Genesis 9: 8-17 

Joshua 3: 1-17

Isaiah 54: 9-10

Matthew 14: 22-33

God’s Word is as Good as a Pot of Gold

Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. What do these things do when put together? When actually put together they make pure white. When fanned out either through a crystal, or a drop of water, they make one of the most awesome things you will ever see: the rainbow. In my neck of the woods, I see a rainbow at least a few times a week, almost daily this year. The local kids are convinced that it never leaves – but it never gets old. My farmhand still thinks he's going to find that pot of gold. But I know what the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow really is…