 Advent Meditations The First Sunday in Advent We're usually of two minds about the future. We'd love to know what's going to happen, yet at the same time, we dread knowing what's ahead. It would be so frightening to be able to see the suffering that we surely will endure and to also know exactly when it would be coming. Still, we are curious. What really does lie ahead for us? What will tomorrow be like? Toward the end of his life Jesus talked to his disciples about this very thing. He told them that there would be endings for them…but he didn't give any details. And that's his word for us too. What he said to them he says to us. "Be alert! Guard against weak living! Be strong!" We don't know what's coming. Doubtless there will be times of pleasure and times of pain. Nor do we know when our endings will be. But we do know this: God's words of love and forgiveness will never pass away…no matter what surprises tomorrow may have for us. And really, when it comes right down to it, that basic knowledge is enough to provide peace for today…and that's what we need the most. 1st Monday in Advent "But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears?" v. 2A of Malachi 3:1-2a 1st Tuesday in Advent “They will not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain; for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea." v. 9 Isaiah 11:6-10 1st Wednesday in Advent 2 Peter 3:9: "The Lord is not slow to carry out his promises…but he is being patient with you" -from a meditation by Julie Clarkson, 1997 1st Thursday in Advent Then Jesus said to them, "Have you never read in the scriptures: ‘The stone which the builders rejected has become the main cornerstone. This is the Lord’s doing and it is wonderful in our eyes.’ Therefore, I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you, and given to a nation that yields proper fruit." Matthew 21:42-43 1st Friday in Advent "For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, so that by steadfastness and by the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope." Romans 15:4 While the Bible is not clear about all things and some sections are difficult to understand, there is no doubt that it holds Jesus at its center. As Martin Luther wrote, "The Bible is the cradle wherein the Christ Child is laid." As we get ready for our Christmas celebration, it would be well for us to remember the central message of our faith. Scripture is meant to unite…and not to divide. In the parable of the ruler who gave a wedding banquet and no one came, the servants were instructed to go into the streets and gather guests to fill the banquet. The ruler entered and discovered a man ill prepared to be there and told the servants to "bind him hand and foot and throw him into the outer darkness". 1st Saturday in Advent "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." Romans 15:13 2nd Sunday in Advent "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near." v. 2 According to Matthew this verse sums up the message of both Jesus and John the Baptist. Each saw that God was up to something in the world and that repentance was the key to readiness. Repentance, of course, is more than contrition, feeling sorry for your deeds or words. Feeling bad about sin is important, but it's insufficient if it's all that happens. Repentance is all about transformation, actually taking steps to change the things we do and the way we are. If we've been walking in one direction, repentance means going the other way… and it's even appropriate for those of us who live by grace. In fact, it's probably especially appropriate for us since it seems so easy to get off the Jesus track in our changing times. Prayer time during Advent gives us a grand opportunity to make an inventory of our lives. Take some time today to consider your focus and direction. Where do you need repentance? The kingdom promised by Jesus is just around the corner…some days it's even within our grasp. Now is our chance to make the changes that will enable us to daily glimpse its joy and taste its peace. The kingdom of God is indeed around the corner, but we stand at the same corner as John the Baptist's father, Zachariah who doubted that he would become a father in old age. Zachariah joined a host of doubters from Abraham and Sarah, Moses, Gideon, to the Apostle Thomas. Doubt often assails our faith. Why ought we to repent and face the difficult process of change. Zechariah’s doubt almost imprisoned him, but he was freed only when he made a bold act that demonstrated his belief. Faced with a growing number of choices in today’s busy, information-glutted world, it is increasingly difficult to know what to do. The Scriptures hold out the promises. Our choice stands at the threshold of decision: to remain lost in the materialism of the season? or to surrender into the loving embracing arms of our God? 2nd Monday in Advent "Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another? " Matthew 11:5 Advent is a season of preparation. We are getting ready for the coming of our Lord and Savior, the long-awaited Messiah. How does one prepare for such an event? We are used to preparing – for dinner parties, vacations, and houseguests. We know how to clean house, plan menus, make reservations, pack our luggage, and send out invitations. But how do we prepare for the arrival of the one who will show us the way and save us from all our sins? There is no food to prepare, no invitations to send, and no luggage to pack. We are not going anywhere – someone very special is coming. He will not be a houseguest but a "heartguest". How do I go about preparing for the Christ Child to enter my heart? In some ways, he is not at all what I expected in a Messiah. He is small and innocent, pure and peaceful, loving and trusting. At his birth, he does not come in clouds of glory or with shouts of trumpets. His birth is announced only to a few shepherds abiding in a field. How can I prepare to let this little one into my heart? 2nd Tuesday in Advent "Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees." Isaiah 35: 3 Isaiah here wants to offer encouragement to those who are weak and discouraged in spirit. Given the challenges of every day living, these are words that all of us can take to heart. So often we get harsh and discouraging messages from our self-absorbed friends and co-workers. Some days all it takes is a frown or a glance to dispirit us and bring us down. Perversely, some people even take pride at their skill with put-downs and verbal jabs. Thank God for those who are called to a ministry of encouragement. It's so good to know that someone actually cares enough about us to send a card or offer a word that lifts us and brings hope. Just think what our world would be like if more of us adopted this style of relating. Too many people live on the edge of despair… and words have such power. If only we could learn to use words to give life instead of to kill. 2nd Wednesday in Advent He said to them, " ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment." The grass withers, the flower fades, heaven and earth will pass away; each of them tells us that it is only when we stop believing in all of these, stop looking to everything that is not God to save us – it is only when we are able to empty our hearts and wait without idols that there is room for God almighty to bring us himself. What is surprising is how deceptive some of our idols are. I mean, anyone can turn and walk away from a golden calf, and I expect that most of us could toss our savings out the window if we believed our souls depended on it. Those are obvious idols, but what about, say, the idol of independence – the belief that everything will be all right if we can just take care of ourselves and not have to ask anyone else to look after us? Or the idol of romance – the belief that we can face anything in life if we just have one other person to love us the way we are, and to love in return? Or a variation on that one, the idol of family – the belief that if we can just gather around us a close, committed family, our happiness will be unassailable. Then there is the most deceptive idol of all, the idol of religion – the belief that if we go to church and struggle, really struggle to live a life of faith, that our souls will be safe. Name your own idols – the list is long – the idols of health, of friendship, of patriotism- what? You say that these are all good and noble things? Of course they are! How else could they become idols? That is the first criterion of an idol, that it gladden our hearts and nourish our souls, because that is how we learn to believe in it, and depend on it, and finally to cling to it as the only possible source of life for us. The only problem is that as long as our hearts and souls are full of what we know will sustain us, we have lost our ability to receive the as-yet unknown things that God has in store for us. We are full up; there is no room at the inn. God is looking for a nursery, but we are inside our study with the door closed. During Advent we are invited to come out, to let go, to open up – not to forsake the things we love and want for our lives but to forsake them as idols – to learn to hold them lightly, without clinging, and to be willing to give them up when it becomes clear that they are taking up too much room. Because during Advent we are invited to prepare the way for something new and unknown in our lives, brought to us in person by the living God. So what will it be for you? What might new life mean for you? But what has to go first? What is taking up too much room? -written by Sally Johnston in December 1997 2nd Thursday in Advent "A highway shall be there, and it shall be called the Holy Way; the unclean shall not travel on it, but it shall be for God's people; no traveler, not even fools shall go astray." Isaiah 35:8 The followers of Jesus were called the "people of the Way," so it's especially appropriate for us to use path and road metaphors to describe the journey of life. There really is a Way, a style of life that sets God's people apart. It's a Way that is easily discernible as plans are made for the holidays. What is Christmas for you? Is it a mostly secular celebration with a primary emphasis on parties and gifts? Or is it a time to remember with joy the breaking in of God to our troubled world? How is it that you get ready? Do you focus on decorations and the frenzied busyness of gift buying? Or are you making time each day for careful meditation and prayer? Which highway are you traveling this Advent, the Holy Way of Jesus or the well-traveled rut of our consumer culture? We do have a choice about the routes we take through our days and weeks. God gives us that freedom. But clearly one way leads to true joy and the other to futility and disappointment. If there's no joy in your journey perhaps it's time to give the other road a try. Thought for the Day: Which way am I on? 2nd Friday in Advent Readings: Amos 8:1-14; Revelation 1:17-2:7; Matthew 23:1-12; Psalm 38; Psalm 119:25-48 It is, perhaps, not unexpected that, in reaction to those sects and traditions that overemphasize God’s wrath towards evil, we should, at times overemphasize His love and forgiveness. Yet even as they forget that God is loving, merciful, and compassionate, that He "desireth not the death of a sinner, but rather that he turn from his wickedness and live", so we forget that God is also just, that He "cometh to judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with His truth." Amos shows us that even God’s patience has limits, and that He has given Israel plenty of chances to repent, but they have not. You will note that he is particularly hard on sharp business and financial practices, but also has some harsh things to say about those who run about after alternative spiritualities. Do these sound like anybody you know? St. John, also, shows us that God’s patience has limits. Although the Church of Ephesus has done good work, they have "lost their first love," and declined from their previous state. Does this describe us? What have we lost, turned away from, that we perhaps ought to get back? It is fashionable to talk of Old Testament harshness and judgment, contrasted with the love and compassion of the New, or even considering the New to contrast the Epistles’ rule-making with the Gospel’s acceptance. But here Jesus tells off the Scribes and Pharisees. He starts off rather wittily – do, as they say, not as they do. Then he ‘goes for them with the rusty scissors’ – their religion is a sham, a matter of doing and saying and wearing the right things, but not of thinking or feeling the right things; furthermore, they make the rules of what to do or say so elaborate that it is almost impossible for anyone to keep all of them. Now, are we like that at all? Liturgical Christians –Anglicans, the Roman Catholics, the Orthodox, and to a lesser extent the Lutherans and even some Methodists – can get caught up in the exact mechanisms of worship; other traditions get caught up in avoiding tobacco, alcohol, dancing, card-playing, etc.; both liturgical and non-liturgical Christians can get so caught up in saying and doing the right things, using the correct phrases and words – often peculiar to their particular tradition – that the greater issues of the Faith get obscured. The Pharisees were not bad people, but they got so caught up in their particular concerns that they could not see the larger picture; do we, perhaps, sometimes build our religion around particular social, political, or even theological causes, rather than around God, as it should be? Advent is not primarily a penitential season like Lent; it is primarily preparatory. Nevertheless, it does call us to a certain amount of self-examination. Christina Rosetti’s famous Christmas carol speaks of offering our hearts to the Christ child; if, in looking into these Scriptures as in a mirror we see ourselves reflected in a rather unflattering light, what does that say about the gift we are offering to the Infant King? -written by Bruce Wilson in December 1997 2nd Saturday in Advent
3rd Sunday in Advent "…These very works which I am doing bear witness that the Father has sent me." John 3:36 Compared to the frequently pedestrian dusty-road gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, the Gospel of John presents us with a story that flies and soars beyond the mountain tops to the farthest reaches of the cosmos. Jesus is eternal with God and participates in God’s ultimate purpose for the world. (John 1:1) This is rarefied air. We would be left gasping for breath were it not for another side to John’s gospel which quickly brings us back to earth. The quintessential Christmas story of John is revealed everywhere in his work. "And He became flesh and dwelt among us full of grace and truth" John 1:14 "For God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son…" John 3:16 "…the Father has sent me." John 5:36 What John is suggesting is that God has a human face, the winsome face of a baby, the bright countenance of a boy and the compassionate and conflicted visage of a man of sorrows. The Christmas story is not a theological test concerning the incarnation, but the glorious and happy realization and celebration that God has a human face, that the universe is personal and the earth is peopled. In the words of that lyrical and mystical English poet, William Blake: For Mercy, Pity, Peace and Love 3rd Monday in Advent "Truly I tell you, among those born of women no one has arisen greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he." Matthew 11:11 In Jesus a new kingdom was revealed, not one marked by politics or armies or geographic boundaries, but one in which God's will prevailed. John, as great as he was, wasn't included. Law was the defining force in John's world…and obedience was the mark of the faithful. With Jesus, grace abounded, and righteousness was a gift, and not something that could be earned. John came revealing sins! Jesus came forgiving them! And we who live as Jesus' subjects have something that John never dreamed of: salvation by grace through faith. The difference is huge, and one that we followers of Jesus never tire of celebrating. It's something to think about now in these days when gift-giving and gift-buying is so much on our minds. Jesus brought to our world the most spectacular gift any of us will ever receive…and we don't even have to wait to make it our own. It's here for us now. It's in our grasp. Thanks be to our good God who so generously distributes the gifts of heaven here on earth. 3rd Tuesday in Advent "Keep awake therefore, for you do not know on what day We like to think that life is predictable. If we work hard, we will prosper. If we see clouds, it will rain. In today’s Gospel, Jesus tells us that this concept couldn’t be further from the truth. After telling us all the signs that might presage the day of the Lord, Jesus tells us that even with this knowledge we still have no way to know exactly when the day will come. Advent is a series of contradictions. We know and yet we don’t. As we approach the darkest day of the year, we prepare to welcome the light of the world. We shop, wrap, and decorate to create an appearance of joy we frequently don’t feel. The years in which I have made the most elaborate holiday preparations were the ones in which my feelings of loss, doubt, and fear were the greatest. In nine days we will encounter the most significant (seeming) contradiction of all. God comes to us as not a mighty king, but as an infant born in very humble circumstances. Of what we use were gold, frankincense, and myrrh to such a little one? His needs were simple: food, warmth, and love. Isn’t that what you and I really need, too? After all, he came to live and die as one of us. -written by Maggie Silton in December 1997 3rd Wednesday in Advent "Restore us, O Lord God of hosts; let your face shine, that we may be saved." Psalm 80:19 There's nothing like a smile to lift spirits and bring peace to troubled hearts. Even if it's on the face of a stranger, a smile can work wonders with our morale. Conversely sour faces and frowns do nothing to cheer us and can leave us wondering what we did wrong. Small wonder then that the Psalmist pleads for a smile from God, "Let your face shine," he writes, "that we may be saved." As humans we want some sign of affirmation, a signal that we are significant and that God does care. The Psalmist's prayer was answered in a big way on that first Christmas. God smiled on us… better yet God grinned! And ever since people have been smiling back at that smiling baby. Isn't it strange then that some experience Christians as dour and dull in their weekend worship encounters? How is it that we on whom God has smiled so brightly can't muster up a welcoming smile for the strangers in our midst? Even if we don't say a word, our faces can give warm greetings and hurting lonely souls can be comforted. It's the most effective means we have to pass on to others the spectacular good news of God's love. 3rd Thursday in Advent "Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God," Romans 1: 1 It's interesting to see here how Paul describes himself to the Romans. He's a servant, or more accurately in the Greek, a slave of Jesus Christ. And as a slave he has been called…called for a specific task, the proclamation of the good news of God. And that's how it is for us too. We, no less than Paul, are servants of the Lord Jesus, and we too have been set apart for the gospel. Called in our baptisms to let our lights shine, we are sent with good news into a broken world. And it's not just a Sunday calling! We are apostles in our everyday environments, in our homes, schools, and workplaces, in chance encounters and in long term relationships. Of course some of the baptized are faithless servants…they don't acknowledge their calling and they don't even know the good news they are called to pass on. But others of us, like Paul, are convinced of our apostolic mission to bring joy and grace to hurting people. Some days we might wish we didn't carry the cross of Christ etched on our foreheads. It can bring ridicule and abuse. But so was Jesus abused! And if carrying the cross means scars for us, so be it… because ultimately our faithfulness will mean the transformation of the world. 3rd Friday in Advent Readings: Zechariah 4:1-14 Revelation 4:9-5:5 Matthew 25:1-13 Psalm 50 Psalms [59,60] or 33 The prophecies laid out in the readings for today deal with God’s might and our preparedness. On the one hand, Zechariah and The Revelation both speak of God’s power to bring about His purposes. "Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit says the Lord of Hosts," writes Zechariah. In The Revelation no created thing is able to gain the knowledge of God, only the Lion of the tribe of Judah (Christ) is worthy to open the scroll in the right hand of the one seated on the throne who lives forever and ever. On the other hand, Jesus teaches in Matthew that it is the wise, those who have prepared themselves at the time of the bridegroom’s coming, who will join him at the wedding feast. Is the foolishness of the five foolish maidens that they had not brought enough oil? Or might it be that they left when they knew that the bridegroom had arrived, expecting that he might wait for them? How often do we expect God to wait for us while we get prepared for the work He calls us to? "God, I’ll have plenty of time to volunteer after I finish this big project at work." Or "I’ll tithe as soon as I pay off a few more bills," or "God couldn’t possibly use me until I take those classes," or even "I am slow of speech." As we prepare to celebrate the miracle of the incarnation of God may we remember His promises that His grace is sufficient for us. He who feeds the birds of the air who neither sow nor reap, and He who clothes the grass of the field which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will He care and provide for us? In this season, may we not work so hard at preparing ourselves that we miss the One for whom we are preparing. 3rd Saturday in Advent "Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly." Matthew 1:19 4th Sunday in Advent "She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins." Matthew 1:21 Names are important in the scriptures. Our ancestors took them seriously and chose them with care. So it's not strange for Matthew to mention the significance of Jesus' name in introducing his gospel. "Jesus" is the Greek form of the name. In Hebrew it was Joshua and in Aramaic, Yeshua, meaning, "Yahweh is salvation." How could there be a better name for God's anointed one? And Matthew adds one more detail… he connects our salvation with forgiveness. So often there's confusion about the nature of salvation. Too many Christians connect it with an after-death experience. For them being saved means going to heaven when you die… and that hope seems to dominate their faith. Now while resurrection is certainly a part of salvation, it is by no means the whole picture. Scripture lets us know clearly that salvation is forgiveness… and it's meant to bring about transformation in our earthly journeys. Over and over Jesus says to hurting people, "Your sins are forgiven! Go and sin no more!" There is no way for us to avoid sin on our way through life. Burdens pile up and render us powerless… and we can't fix ourselves. Through Jesus forgiveness comes and we have salvation… and our lives change now… and forever! 4th Monday in Advent Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing a the right side of the altar of incense. When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear. But the angel said to him, "Do not be afraid, Zechariah, your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to give him the name John. He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord." Zechariah asked the angel, "How can I be sure of this?" The angel answered, "I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news. And now you will be silent and not able to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their proper time." Luke 1:11-15, 18-20 Silence as a Way to Look Within In the Gospel of Luke, the promise of John the Baptist comes before the Annunciation of Jesus’ birth to Mary. John the Baptist is very important to the life of Christ and to the world, he baptized Jesus in the Jordan River. The angel Gabriel even said to John’s father, Zechariah "John will be great in the sight of the Lord…he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from birth" (Luke 1:15). For John’s parents, Elizabeth and Zechariah, they were not sure why they were never able to have children. The Gospel says, "They were both upright in the sight of God, observing all the Lord’s commandments and regulations blamelessly. But they had no children because Elizabeth was barren" (Luke 1:6-7). Children are a blessing, especially in those days. Elizabeth and Zechariah must have believed God was punishing them for some reason. They had given up on having children, especially since they had aged. This is why Zechariah must not have believed the angel Gabriel when he was praying in the temple. Zechariah was startled and gripped with fear. I probably would have been frightened also. Zechariah was reacting the way most of us would. He said, "How can I be sure of this?" (Luke 1:18). We all want to know how we can be certain of something unbelievable. It takes too muh of a risk to trust sometimes…even to trust an angel of the Lord. Because Zechariah did not believe Gabriel’s words at first, Zechariah was made to be unable to speak until Elizabeth was to deliver John. This idea that Zechariah had to be silent for a period of time intrigues me. Silence is a very powerful way to have to turn inward on oneself. The season of Advent is a time of preparation and soul searching. In order to do this we must be silent and listen to our voice within. Zechariah had to "be silent" and ponder what the Lord had done for him and his wife and for the whole world. In order to believe we must question. In questioning, the truth will be told to us but we have to listen to it. In the time of Advent, have some silent time to look within and ask some important questions. 4th Tuesday in Advent "The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness.-on them light has shined." Isaiah 9:2 4th Wednesday in Advent As we approach the celebration of the birth of Jesus, we focus on the birth of the divine Child. When all the theologizing is completed, all the sophisticated interpretations are silenced, what remains is quite simple: God comes to us as a baby, a child. And so this time belongs to children. And we adults, distracted by the complications of life in which we manage to immerse ourselves, are to turn to children to receive the message God gives to us through them. It is children who regard all of life as mystery; it is children whose universe is play and whose play is their work; it is children who recognize that the commonplace remains ever miraculous while accepting the occurrence of miracles as ordinary acts of the God who loves us. It is children who recall to us our imagination and exuberance and creativity; it is children who excel us in natural wisdom; it is children who understand the spirit of the law, refusing to become obsessed with its letter. It is children who most openly express their need for love, their unquestioning acceptance of love, their spontaneous giving of love. To children we say, “Welcome, little ones! Thank you for all you teach us!” Consider:
4th Thursday in Advent A Time of Expectation We are waiting. During this time before Christmas, we pause in our managing of life and wait. Our waiting is not idleness and boredom but joyful expectation and excited anticipation of what is to come. This pre-Christmas time is creative in the deepest, most wonderful and profound sense. During Advent we are all like Mary! We are all pregnant with the Christ Child. And Christ, too, waits. Christ is waiting to be born within us, to have a deeper relationship with us, to be with us always. We wait. And we surround ourselves with the color of waiting, dark blue-violet. Blue has long been considered Mary’s color and we are waiting as did Mary. Dark blue-violet is also the color of the predawn sky. It was into the darkness of the Jewish world of defeat and occupation that the light of the Messiah came so long ago. It is against that dark blue-violet backdrop that we await the dawn when the Christ-light shall shine so that all can see. We wait. We shall be able to participate actively in our celebration of the Incarnation only if we now allow ourselves to participate passively and meditatively. This is a time of self-empting, of waiting on Christ’s grace, of attending carefully to what Christ is asking of us. Consider:
4th Friday in Advent A Time of Faith Joseph is the strong, silent male in the Incarnation narrative. Mary's words are recorded for us in a number of places in Scripture. John the Baptist has his say. So do his parents, Elizabeth and Zechariah. The angels speak and sing. We hear from the Magi, King Herod, Simeon - but not Joseph. Scripture does not record Joseph's reply at his angelic annunciation, but we are told that Joseph took Mary for his wife. Scripture does not record Joseph's response to the angelic warning of danger to the family, but we know that Joseph took Mary and the Babe to the safety of Egypt. In the Jewish tradition it is the male who has the obligation to pray. Yet for centuries, artists have presented to us Mary at prayer, but not Joseph. Joseph always seems to be busy - leading the Mary-carrying donkey to Bethlehem, seeking shelter there, working in his carpentry shop. From that extremely patriarchal society, no words of Joseph's are recorded, just deeds. No prayers or statements of faith are given, just deeds of faith. And, though Joseph evidently lived long enough that during Christ's preaching days, Christ was referred to as "the carpenter's son," still we find no recorded words of Joseph's, only his trade, his deeds. Joseph may be a shadowy figure in salvation history, but one thing is certain: He was a man of faith. Consider:
Please Email Us With Any Comments or Feedback At ©2004 CopperCountry.com,Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. |
