To Wait in Hope – Advent Devotional

"Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD.

Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications!

I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I hope;

my soul waits for the Lord

more than those who watch for the morning,

more than those who watch for the morning.” (Ps. 130:1-2, 5-6)

Daily Scripture Reading – Psalm 130

   This week with the death of South African Nelson Mandela, there are a host of topics that come to mind when I think about Mandela's life and the good news of the gospel. The topic of waiting and forgiveness was important in Mandela's life and to the meaning of Advent. I find the story of Mandela's life inspiring in regard to what he would not let happen to him. With all the years he spent imprisoned, it would have been easy to understand how he would have only wanted to get even and seek revenge upon his captors, but no, he chose to seek peace and forgiveness. His choice helped to lead a nation to reconciliation rather than hate and warfare.

  In Mandela's story he was forced to wait, until that time when he might someday be released, though that was never guaranteed. The years of waiting could have turned him bitter and hateful, but he used the time to seek another path. He said once to former President Bill Clinton that his captors took many things away from him and could have taken his life, but he realized they could never take away his heart and mind. He would have to voluntarily give these away and he was not going to give them up, but develop both his heart and mind so they would help him through this time of imprisonment and the years ahead.

  To endure the struggles and the periods of waiting, similar to Mandela's would be unimaginable to us. Most of the time, we have great difficulty in waiting. And we certainly don’t wait in silence. Most of the time, we hurry and we push. We split time into tenths of seconds. We complain when a traffic light turns red and holds us up longer than we would like. The press of hurrying creates harried and hassled souls, disconnected from life and from kindness itself. There is a way of being and knowing that dimly remembers that waiting in hope is an attitude of faith.

  Waiting in silence, creating space for steadfast love to grow within, may be the most essential practice of all. It is in many ways the spirit of Advent, that time of the Christian liturgical year when we practice the waiting for hope, faith and love and trusting in new life not yet fully known.

  Trappist monk Thomas Merton remarked that life is a perpetual Advent. He sensed that in that waiting, trust began to grow. Trust in God, trust in the Holy One who is beyond all that is created and is the source of all things, seen and unseen. Trusting and waiting allow the loving-kindness that is the essence of God’s own Life to grow in us, and to bear fruit that we never expected.

... one of the essential paradoxes of Advent: that while we wait for God, we are with God all along, that while we need to be reassured of God's arrival, or the arrival of our homecoming, we are already at home. While we wait, we have to trust, to have faith, but it is God's grace that gives us that faith. As with all spiritual knowledge, two things are true, and equally true, at once. The mind can't grasp paradox; it is the knowledge of the soul. - Michelle Blake, "The Tentmaker," 1999, p. 153

 “I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I hope;” (Ps. 130:2)

  Grant me O God the capacity to wait in hope, to allow your own loving-kindness to grow in me, for the life of your world. Amen.

We Are the Light in the Darkness – Advent Devotional

“You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.” (Matt. 5:14-16)

Daily Scripture Reading:  Matthew 5:1-16

  While growing up in the church, singing the childhood song, "This little light of mine ... I'm going to let it shine ...." was a common experience. Jesus clearly tells us we are the light in the world that shines forth his love and grace. Not hiding our light and letting this light shine before our community is an important task as a disciple of Christ. Though it is important to us to do this as individual disciples, it is not a singular individual task, but a task of the whole body of Christ. The song tends to focus exclusively on a single beam of light emitted by our small candle.

  Jesus' words in the Sermon of the Mount speaks not just of the individual but the whole community. Jesus wants us to think corporately about the illuminating power he generates in each of us and all of us collectively. Jesus speaks about the "city built on a hill cannot be hid" not just the one lone light flickering in a single window. The combined light emitted from an array of homes, each burning in its own place, all for a common purpose is what that sets the city ablaze in the midst of a dark and dreary night. Former President George Bush may have said more than he realized when he touted the "thousand points of light" theme. When you have hundreds and thousands of individual lights burning to break through the darkness does it impact the world and brings forth the hope found in Christ.

  Theologian Robert Alden writes that "There is not enough darkness in all the world to put out the light of even one small candle."

  There are no lamps that cannot throw some light on some darkened portion of a fellow-traveler's pathway. Take confidence in the potential power of your lamp, for its light source is truly unquenchable. The psalmist reminds us that the Word of God is always available to us, "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path" (Psalm 119:105). Don't make the mistake of thinking that you are somehow not "mentor-material." In Luke 6:40, Jesus reminds his disciples that while "A disciple is not above the teacher, ... everyone who is fully qualified will be like the teacher."

  As disciples of Christ, "lights of the world," we have been "fully qualified." Instead, we need only let our lamps shine, that others may see and find the way, the truth and the life.

  Jesus comes to give light and he wants us to be the light of the world as well. As we think about Advent, let's pray that our lights will shine so brilliantly that it will be as Isaiah said, "all flesh, all humanity, all people throughout the world and all of creation shall see the salvation of God."

  I often used the following words of the St. Francis of Assisi when I need to remind myself of the significance of the light I shine upon the world.

You are the Light of the world
Where there's hatred, shine love
Where there's injury, shine healing
Where there's darkness, shine light
Everyday

You are the Light of the world
Where there's doubt, shine faith
Where there's despair, shine hope
Where there's sadness, shine joy
Everyday

You are the Light of the world
Prepare ye the way of the Lord.

It is my prayer that we will have the presence of the Lord to help us, prepare a way for the Lord this Advent, into our hearts.

Waiting, All Day Long - Advent Devotional

“Do not let those who wait for you be put to shame; let them be ashamed who are wantonly treacherous.... Lead me in your truth, and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all day long.” (Ps. 25:3, 5)

Daily Scripture Reading: Psalm 25:1-10

  The Psalmist in today's passage speaks of himself as one who waits for God in Psalm 25:3, and later in verse 5 says, "you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all day long." What does this mean, to wait for God? What is it that the psalmist expects? By waiting for God, the psalmist is acknowledging that he cannot continue on without the Presence of God. He cannot win against those who would put him to shame; he cannot save himself; there is nothing for him to do except lay aside his struggles and wait.

  When a situation gets out of control, we need to determine what can we realistically control in our life and determine what other things, we must give over control to God and say, "God, in this one you need to intervene."

  But to wait is not passive, nor is it simply hanging around waiting for God do it all. It is the time to call on the Presence of God. It is coming to God in the moment to receive God's wisdom and direction.

  When we come with open, empty hands, no longer under the illusion that we can do anything worthwhile outside of communion with God, we become open channels for God's wisdom. In this sense "waiting" is actually a sustained act of listening, of letting God continually flow in and through us. In the very act of deciding to wait for God, we find God immediately there. When we bring our attentiveness, our openness, and our release of control, then all that is necessary will be accomplished in union with God, "all day long."

  If our "face time" with family, friends and neighbors is dwindling, our time spent one on one with God is on the endangered list. Our busy world with endless to-do lists challenges the notion of the importance of quiet time with our Creator. Waiting is not big on our to-do-lists, we don't like to wait. We don't like to wait in lines, wait for spouses, wait for responses, etc.

  Advent invites us to turn that life-draining pattern upside down. Advent celebrates the incarnational, the Word-becomes-flesh, God moves into our neighborhoods, our family and our lives. Advent announces that God was not willing to have a distant, arms-length relationship with us. Advent is all about God's willingness or even God's insistence to be vulnerable, accessible, reachable, and attainable. Advent breaks down the barriers between the created and the Creator.

  God's desire was to deliver the Good News of mercy, love and hope in person. God chose face time in a way that would change the world. God spoke to the hearts of the people through Jesus, God's son.

  Not only does God yearn to communicate deeply and intimately with God's people, God chose the perfect way to slide into our lives by showing up in person. Sometimes, we need to wait to receive the gifts, because it might be the only way we will appreciate the gift and be instructed in the way that leads to truth and life.

  “Make me to know your ways, O LORD; teach me your paths. Lead me in your truth, and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all day long.” (Ps. 25:4-5)

So Your Love May Overflow - Advent Devotional

"And this is my prayer, that your love may overflow more and more with knowledge and full insight to help you to determine what is best, so that in the day of Christ you may be pure and blameless, having produced the harvest of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ for the glory and praise of God.” (Phil. 1:9-11)

Daily Scripture Reading:   Philippians 1:3-11

  There is a story told about St. Francis of Assisi. One day as he was digging in the garden, Francis was asked, "If Jesus were to return to earth today, what would you do?" Without hesitating, Francis answered, "I would continue gardening."

  Would we be so calm if we heard Jesus was coming back today? Or would we be desperately scrambling to get our lives in order? Confident enough that he was ready to meet the King, Francis would peacefully keep on about his business until Jesus' arrival.

  In today's text, the apostle Paul expresses a similar confidence in the people in Philippi. Seeing all the good that God had begun in them, he was certain that God would continue bringing it to completion until "the day of Christ Jesus." (1:6) or also called in other scripture passages, “the day of the Lord.”

  As we take this journey again toward Christmas and we recall the events surrounding the first coming of Emmanuel, we need to remember: "God is with us!" We must prepare our hearts and minds to humbly welcome Jesus into our lives today and each and everyday.

  No place is this understanding more important than in the matter of our faith. Many of us may have grown up in the church. During this time we might have one or many defining moments of faith or as some might say a mountaintop spiritual experience. A high point of faith where God's presence was made more clear and real to us, perhaps it was at summer church camp, a youth retreat, a mission trip, Bible study, etc. Whenever it was, it stood out as a spiritual mountaintop experience. We were excited about our faith and may have made our most important commitments to follow Jesus Christ as a disciple.

  But later, we were likely disappointed when we discovered that the peak of spiritual emotion we felt doesn’t last. We went from a mountaintop spiritual experience and then had to return to the valley to live out our lives and we found the excitement of conversion or commitment dissipates. What followed may have been the exact opposite, a spiritual low point when our faith seemed as dry as dust and our commitments seemed a little foolish.

  In time, if we persevere in following Jesus, we come to understand that neither the highs nor the lows describe what the ongoing life of faith is. Some of us may see only despair in the cyclical nature of our emotions and faith, but to paraphrase the psalmist, they saw hope in it: “Okay, I’m down today, but God constantly renews life. I will be up again.”

  Advent can help to renew and refresh our faith and show us that God is always present in our lives during the highs and the lows. I find my faith renewed each and everyday by simple acts of worship, singing hymns, taking time in prayer, reading scripture, and being in fellowship with others in the life of the church. Even if your faith has reached a low and we have distanced ourselves from others in the church, we can make the decision to get re-involved because God is compassionately, tenderly and lovingly waiting for us to return. I share with Paul this same sentiment during these day of Advent:

"And this is my prayer, that your love may overflow more and more with knowledge and full insight to help you to determine what is best, so that in the day of Christ you may be pure and blameless, having produced the harvest of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ for the glory and praise of God.” (Phil. 1:9-1)

Life Under-Construction - Advent Devotional

"Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” This is the one of whom the prophet Isaiah spoke when he said,
“The voice of one crying out in the wilderness:

‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.’” (Matt. 3:2-3, NRSV)

Daily Scripture Reading: Matthew 3:1-10

  Live long enough in Pennsylvania and eventually you need to drive on the Pennsylvania Turnpike. I have personally spent more hours on the turnpike than I would like, but sometimes it is the only practical way to travel by car to some points in Pennsylvania or neighboring states. One of the major frustrations with traveling the PA Turnpike are the frequent relays related to road construction. The turnpike always seemed like a sea of orange construction cones and consistent building and rebuilding the roadway.

  On one trip several years ago, I noticed a sign that alerted travelers that "the next five miles are the first completely rebuilt section" of the road. It seemed obvious, but you can't build better roads without some time spent in construction and you can not grow emotional, spiritually and mentally without periods of personal crisis, struggle, renewal and growth.

  Of course, no one likes the inconveniences of construction projects, particularly when we are traveling the road. Construction is what leads to smooth, unencumbered roadways that make for future convenient and safe travel. The hundreds of miles of the Pennsylvania Turnpike goes around, and even through, a series of valleys, ravines and mountains, which makes road construction challenging. Many of the major construction projects on the turnpike have been to shorten sections and widen the highway.

  In Luke's gospel, John the Baptist's ministry around the region of the Jordan, was in fulfilling the words of the prophet Isaiah:

"Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, And every mountain and hill shall be make low, And the crooked shall be made straight, And the rough ways smooth; And all flesh shall see the salvation of God.”

  John urged those who listened to prepare themselves for the coming of Jesus, the Messiah. John called the people to repentance and to come and get baptized with water and prepare themselves for Jesus who would baptize them with the Holy Spirit. You might say John is beginning a new construction project that God was bringing upon the world in the life and ministry of Jesus Christ.

  John tells us this construction project begins with our repentance and baptism with water and is the sign of our forgiveness. He does not stop there, he goes on to tell us to “bear fruit befitting of our repentance.” (v. 8) For me, Advent and Lent has always been about a new journey toward building a better life for myself as a disciple of Christ. Advent often is a construction project for me to better embrace the spiritual significance of the incarnation of Christ into the world. To make the paths straighter toward my heart and mind so Christ can deepen and strengthen my faith, hope and love.

  What areas of your life need rebuilt and made straighter? God wants us to travel the straight paths in life, but we often complicate them, making them more difficult to travel. During Advent allow Jesus to rebuilt your faith, hope and love during this journey toward the incarnation. May our lives be under constant construction, as we make smooth the way of the Lord.

Stand Up and Raise your Heads - Advent Devotional

"People will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken..... Now when these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” (Luke 21:26, 28, NRSV)

Daily Scripture Reading – Luke 21:25-36

  If you are one of the many baby boomers, you might remember going to school, particularly, elementary school participating in periodic safety drills known as “duck and cover.”

  During the early years of the Cold War, when Americans feared a missile attack from the Soviet Union, it was common for teachers to instruct students on what to do in the event of a nuclear war. If the air-raid sirens ever went off, the teachers advised the students, they were to immediately duck down under their desks, pull their knees up to their chins and cover their heads with their hands.

  We look back on those days and view them as silly. A school desk would provide little protection, if a nuclear war burst forth upon the earth. Schools eventually stopped these “duck and cover” drills because they were pointless and only served to increase everyone’s fear and anxiety level.

  In the today's scripture, Jesus speaks in response to comments of the disciples on the beauty of the temple. Jesus describes a coming time of disruption and turbulence. Things which have the appearance of durability, like the temple, will begin to disintegrate. For many people this description of chaos, defines a fearful time, a time to duck and cover. But note what Jesus says, "When these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your heads,” otherwise don't duck and cover! Something good is about to happen!

  When something good is about to happen we watch eagerly. If we are expecting the arrival of a friend we haven't seen for a long time, we check frequently to see if they have arrived. We watch down the street. We don't leave home or go where we can't hear the doorbell or the phone. When our friend arrives we know immediately, because we are watching, we are prepared to receive them.

  Jesus is recommending we need to stay alert. Don't become distracted. "Weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness, and the anxieties of life," is how Jesus phrased it. The world is filled with chaotic activities and events that can make us anxious and fearful. But in all this there are signs of God's presence. God continues to come into our lives. If we are "on our feet looking up," we will see and be encouraged.

  In this season of Advent, of “coming,” of expectation and anticipation, we remember how a birth began to brighten a dark world. We prepare to recognize the start of a revolution that does not involve fighting or fear as we recognize our continued longing for the dazzling peace of Christ.

  As disciples of Jesus Christ we are called to view history and our future in the long view of eternity. Harry Emerson Fosdick, tells of having a conversation with the theologian Reinhold Niebuhr. Niebuhr was convinced of the universal tendency for humans to abuse power that he was pessimistic about the possibility of society becoming moral. Though, he took a long view of the ultimate hope in God and believed that individual acts could be conducted on a higher moral level than that of the society in which the individual lived. Fosdick, however, had more confidence in humankind’s ability to progress, and thus, he urged Niebuhr to be more optimistic.

  Niebuhr responded, “If you will be pessimistic with me decade by decade, I will be optimistic with you aeon by aeon.”

  Niebuhr believed it was possible for us to “stand up and raise our heads” even in the midst of conflict, troubles and threat, for it calls for us to see the good news behind the bad news. Niebuhr believed, Good News is the gospel of Jesus proclaimed and this is where our hope lies. As Niebuhr put it elsewhere:

“Nothing that is worth doing can be achieved in our lifetime; therefore we must be saved by hope. Nothing which is true or beautiful or good makes complete sense in any immediate context of history; therefore we must be saved by faith. Nothing we do, however virtuous, can be accomplished alone; therefore we must be saved by love.”

  Thus, if we believe Jesus, then we should not view Advent as merely a preparation season for Christmas. It is a time to remind ourselves not to misread the calamitous signs in our world as reasons to despair. Rather they are signals to stand up and raise your heads, because our redemption is drawing near.

Showing Up, Being Prepared - Advent Devotional

“Then the kingdom of heaven will be like this. Ten bridesmaids took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were wise.... Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.” (Matt. 25:1-2, 13)

 

Daily Scripture Reading: Matthew 25:1-13 – Parable of the Five Wise and Five Foolish Bridesmaids

 

  I grew up in the age when most kids would get Cowboy focused items for Christmas. Cowboy outfits, Cowboy hats and boots, etc. Playing games made you think you lived in the wild west were common as well as watching Cowboy movies. Our lives as kids were dominated by the larger-than-life images portrayed by the biggest movie cowboy-actor, John Wayne. The rough-and-tumble, heart-of-gold, good-guy character John Wayne projected the characteristics and qualities of honor, loyalty, bravery and commitment.

  John Wayne's cowboys didn't just look good. They were good. In the classic movie, "Rio Bravo," Wayne's character summed up the essence of his cowboy philosophy by declaring to a less-than-perfect sidekick "Just showing up doesn't get the job done!"

  Matthew's parable of the five wise and five foolish bridesmaids seems to emphasize this same kind of message. Good intentions are not enough for a faithful members of the Christian community, we must not just show up, but must be prepared and ready to make ourselves present before God.

  Advent calls us as Jesus tells us in the parable, the ability to wait patiently for his arrival, now and at his second coming. Though waiting alone is not enough, we need to Show Up. Getting there, no matter fast we travel, is not everything. We need to prepare ourselves and be present with God's spirit now, in order, for us to be present to Christ now and into the future, less we miss Jesus during Advent.

  For the faithful, committed disciple of Jesus, "showing up" has a God-centered meaning and is a necessary first step, but it does not end there. The worst thing a Christian can do is fail to show up to the moment God has given us and not be prepared to receive Jesus. Jesus calls us to show up to the event God has placed us and to show up to the problem life is presenting to us. Then do the work God has called to do.

  Jesus doesn't mean we have to like it. Jesus doesn't mean we have to accept it. But Jesus does mean we must show up for the moment God has given – regardless of how crazy or hard the task before us might be. You can not respond to God's call, if you don't first show up.

  God has called us to "show up" and "be present" because God has a need of the unique gifts and strengths each one of us has to offer to this place and time. Capture the wonder and miracle of Advent and the coming light entering the world through the incarnation of God in Jesus Christ, Emmanuel, God with us. Show up, be prepared and discover the mysteries God is about to reveal. “Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.” (Matt. 25:13)