Coming of our Lord Advent Devotions, WEEK FIVE

Week Five: Ready for the Lord to Come; December 21 through Dec 27. Written by: Rev. Kazimiera I.H. Fraley and Rev. Christy Gunter-Leppert. Since these devotions are for the week of Christmas, we planned only two devotions.

Meditation One: Isaiah 9:2-7

Read Isaiah 9:2-7

As we read through these verses the strong chords of Handel’s masterpiece ring through our heads proclaiming the eternal reign of the Messiah. Isaiah gives a litany of adjectives explaining what kind of ruler the Christ is expected to be. As we look at this list we must always remember we are called to be reflections of Christ to this world.

In this passage we have a description of who Christ is in all his glory. When we encounter the holiness of the Christ who has come, we find ourselves unable to do anything but join Handel’s angelic throngs, fall on our faces and sing, “And He shall reign forever and ever. . .”

Reflection for the Day:
Take time today to meditate on the glory and holiness of God.

Daily Prayer:
Lord God, you are the wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
And we come before you this Christmas week proclaiming your authority.
You are the child born us.
Change us as we encounter you in all your glory.

Weekly Action:
Find a copy of Handel’s Messiah and listen to it sometime this week.


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Meditation Two: Titus 2:11-14

Read Titus 2:11-14

Our Hearts are full of anticipation as we know Christmas is all but here. We know the presents will soon be in our laps and our children will be listening for reindeer hoofs on the roof top. We hold our breath in excitement. We sang all the carols and wrapped all the gifts. The tree is glittering in all its glory; all things are ready. The time has come for us to celebrate the coming Messiah.

As we are preparing hearts and our homes for this occasion, we also must be ready for God to make all things complete in us. Our anticipation for the coming Christ should transform us and shape us to be the people we are created to be; reflections of God’s love revealed in Christ.

Reflection for the Day:
How does Christmas renew in us an idea of who God has called us to be?

Daily Prayer:
We anticipate your coming with great excitement.
As we look forward to you, change our lives now, here, in the present.
Make us who you want us to be.

Weekly Action:
Find a copy of Handel’s Messiah and listen to it sometime this week.

Coming of Our Lord Advent Devotions, WEEK FOUR

Week Four: Being Ready for the Lord to Come, December 14th - December 20th.

Written by: Rev. Kazimiera I.H. Fraley and Rev. Christy Gunter-Leppert.

Meditation One: 2 Samuel 7:1-11, 16

Read 2 Samuel 7:1-11, 16

Did you ever know someone who had to do everything? For whatever reason, they seem to think if anything is going to get done with any amount of accuracy, they have to do it all; and they have to do it all by themselves. They want to be in control so badly, they convinced themselves no one else can do what needs to be done acceptably. And although everything gets done and everything turns out perfectly, the other people in their lives miss our on the blessings one gets when a person gives of themselves to make something happen. Sometimes we, like David, are called to step back and allow others to work alongside of us as we all work together to accomplish the task at hand.

Reflection for the Day:
Is there anything you feel you absolutely must have control of, in order for it to turn out right? In what ways would it be a blessing to someone else to allow them to work with you to get that one thing done?

Daily Prayer:
Lord God, teach us how to give up control this Christmas so we might allow others to be blessed by working towards the task at hand. Show us how to give up our desire to be the doer and instead let someone else take over that role.

Weekly Action:
Create one new tradition for your family that will help you get ready for the coming of Christ.

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Meditation Two: Psalm 89:1-4, 18-26

Read Psalm 89:1-4, 18-26

The people of Israel, even in their unfaithfulness, looked to God expecting faithfulness in the promise of a Davidic King. We know this promise was fulfilled in the coming of the Christ child. Think how those who waited and looked forward to the promised Messiah must have felt as they seemed God’s promise was taking too long. They knew God was faithful and yet so much time passed. It must have been hard for them to truly believe and hope in such a promise.

We too wait for the Messiah to come, and as we look at the world in chaos all around us, it is hard to believe God’s promised Messiah will ever come again. In this Advent season, we must allow our faith and hope to be renewed so we can trust, as the people of Israel did, that God is faithful in all things and God will do what was promised.

Reflection for the Day:
What things in this world cause us to doubt God’s promises? How can you allow God to renew your faith this season?

Daily Prayer:
Lord God, our promised Messiah. Help us to believe in your faithfulness even when horrible things happen around us. We want to trust in your faithfulness, but we often lose heart.
As we get ready for you to come, renew our faith. Give us hope.
Transform our hearts.

Weekly Action:
Create one new tradition for your family that will help you get ready for the coming of Christ.

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Meditation Three: Romans 16:25-27

Read Romans 16:25-27

During the weeks leading up to Christmas, we proclaim the good news of the coming Christ and the impact this event brings. At first this event seems small and insignificant, a baby in a humble barn, but in reality this story changes everything.

The truth of a God found in a manger is at the heart of the gospel message Paul speaks about in this passage. We see glimpses of Christ in the Old Testament passages we studied the past few weeks. And because we know Christ has come, we see how Christ was revealed in these Old Testament prophesies and we see how God fulfills these promises to inspire our faith; as we are making ourselves ready for the coming of our Lord.

Reflection for the Day:
In what ways does the Old Testament point forward towards the Messiah who will soon come? How does the fulfilling of these promises strengthen your faith that Christ will come again?

Daily Prayer:
Lord, impact our lives with the shocking encounter of who you are. We see you about to be born into the filth of this earth. We see you coming in the most common way. But you are anything but common- you are the one prophesied in ages past, the one who fulfills the promise, and the one for whom we still hope.

Weekly Action:
Create one new tradition for your family that will help you get ready for the coming of Christ.

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Meditation Four: Luke 1:25-38

Read Luke 1:25-38

Just as Mary was pregnant with the coming of our Lord, we too are pregnant with the callings which God has placed on our lives. As we ponder the words God spoke to us throughout this Advent season, let us not be afraid. Although, it may seem what God is calling us to do is too great of a task to carry, let us respond to God in faith, as Mary did, “I am the servant of the Lord, let it be with me according to your word.”

Reflection for the Day:
What seeming great thing is God asking you to do?

Daily Prayer:
Lord God, here I am. Let whatever you want for me,
be according to your word
I am your servant, ready to answer your great call.

Weekly Action:
Create one new tradition for your family that will help you get ready for the coming of Christ.

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"Comfort as we Prepare for the Coming of the Lord," Isaiah 40:1-11

This picture is from "scripturepics.org" again, and has two candles for the Second Sunday of Advent. On this Second Sunday of Advent, we light the candle of Peace.

When I was about 7 or 8 years old, it was snowing in Maryland. If you don’t know this about me, I grew up in Maryland. That state FAR, far east of Wichita Kansas; near DC.

And in Maryland, it snows A LOT. When the weather person says, “looks like there will be snow,” what they mean is, “looks like you won’t be able to see buildings, trees, the street, your house, or anything else for WEEKS because FEET of snow will pile up.”
Maryland gets feet and feet of snow to the point where everything shuts down.

It has to, or else you would lose small children and short dogs!

And on this particular snow day, my family decided it would be a perfect day for chicken casserole. Doesn’t that sound fantastic? Hot, steamy chicken casserole on a freezing day where you can’t even open your windows because the snow reaches your ground floor.

It sounded great!

Only one problem.

We did not have any stuffing for our chicken casserole.

And so… we began… drum roll please, “THE JOURNEY.”

My Dad, my 4 year old sister, and I bundled up and started walking in about a foot and a half to two feet of snow, to the grocery store a couple of miles down the road.

Now in Kansas, this trip might be slightly easier.

First, because we never get THAT much snow.

And second, because there are NO MOUNTAINS in the state of Kansas.

In Maryland, not only were we walking in 2 feet of snow, but we were walking UP MOUNTAINS.

But I promise, the story won’t say we were barefoot and had to walk up hill both ways.

This is a true story.

So we trudged through the snow up the mountains.

We were frozen.

Most of the time we did not talk.

My Dad held two little girl’s bundled up gloved hands in his own glove covered hands.
We had a goal, a destination, a hope.

We were going to get stuffing at the store, a couple of miles down the road, and then bring it home and eat it.

At one point, during this journey, a neighbor with a HUGE truck that could drive in such conditions, offered us a ride. We said….

“No thank you.”

Why was that?

Why would we turn down a ride in the freezing cold, with snow that came up past a 4 year old’s thigh and a seven year old’s knee?

Why would we turn down a nice, warm ride when we had our eyes frozen shut from ice?

WHY?

Because our journey that day was not entirely about the stuffing.

It was about the thrill of seeking the stuffing.
When we look back and laugh about that snow day we do not call it “the stuffing.”

We don’t call that day, “the snow.”

We call it, drum roll… “THE JOURNEY.”

The journey from my childhood, reminds me of a common passage of scripture we read around Advent.

In fact, the words make up the second song of Handel’s Messiah.

It is called “Comfort Ye My People.”

I’ve been listening to Handel’s Messiah this last week and I’ve been awestruck by the divine inspiration of it.

That second song in the series of several songs… and the passage from Isaiah 40:1-8 say much the same thing.

The Handel’s Messiah song “Comfort Ye My People” says, “Make strait in the desert a highway,” IN A DEEP TENOR, of course. Of which, I could never do justice.

Both the song and this passage of scripture hint at preparing a highway in our hearts for Christ this Advent season.

And if we are going to prepare a highway in our hearts for the Lord THIS season, there are a few things we should think about on this JOURNEY.

This journey to prepare our hearts for the Lord’s coming.

My journey as a 7 year old child might have involved snow and eyelids frozen shut… but this journey is about preparing, in the desert, a way for the Lord, and making strait roads for God.
And if we are on this journey, to prepare our hearts for the Coming Messiah… We must remember:

A. The journey is not a formula.

Scientists may design formulas to make products or medicines.

Mathematicians may create formulas for statistics.

Chefs and cooks might develop formulas for a world famous soufflé.

But our journey to prepare our hearts for the coming Messiah, is not about a formula.

My 7 year old journey was not about a formula.

I did not walk 2 steps per minute and add that to keeping my head up… divided by speaking only one sentence every two minutes to thus equaling me getting to the stuffing correctly.

No. The journey is not about a formula.

And on our journey to prepare our hearts for the coming Messiah, there is no formula.

You do not do A plus B and hope C is full, correct preparation for Jesus.

There is no guaranteed way that if you do THIS… then THAT will happen.
There is no way to guarantee if you “make a strait road” or “level ground” or “raise up valleys” in a specific way, then you have successfully prepared your heart right for God.

Famous scholars, teachers, pastors, speakers, and even theologians might come up with a great formula for heart preparation.

But like grass even that fades like a flower in the field.

These things all pass away. But the Word of the Lord stands forever.

The transformational Word of the Lord stands forever!


Because the journey is not about a formula.

It’s not about a long list of things to DO.

It’s about a transformation of who you ARE on the journey- focusing your eyes on the Holy One who’s Word never changes.

B. The journey is also not a prescription.

When I was 7 years old on this journey, I did not swallow the stuffing in order to forever find eternal happiness.

You do not take a pill and thus find salvation and a perfectly prepared heart for the coming of our Lord.

You do not listen to the preacher in order to figure out how to shake the mountain in the “right” way for God. There is no pill to take in order to prepare your heart in the right way for God.

There is no prescription you follow on this journey, to prepare your heart for the coming Messiah.

Because the journey is not about a formula or a prescription.

It’s not about a long list of things to DO.

For so long as a young person, I searched for the RIGHT THING TO DO, to have a right relationship with God.

But I learned, it is not about what you do.
There’s a big difference between doing and being.

Who you are becoming is so much more important, holds so much more weight than doing a long list of the “right” things.

It’s not about a long list of things to DO.

It’s about a transformation of who you ARE and who you are becoming on the journey- focusing your eyes on the Holy One who’s Word never changes.


C. The journey is also not about fake comfort.

When I was a 7 year old, in the snow, freezing to death, with my eyelids frozen shut, my Dad did not say, “It’s not that cold.”

He didn’t say, “it’s no big deal.”

It was FREEZING. He could not have spoken such crazy words without his teeth chattering anyway.

He told me, “yes, it’s cold. But I’m going to hold you and your sister’s hand on this journey. Yes, it’s freezing. Yes your nose looks like it’s going to fall off. Yes, this is horrible. But I’m here, holding your hand on this journey.”

That’s comfort. That’s a Godly comfort.

Godly comfort acknowledges pain and suffering- not denying sometimes life really hurts but offers hope anyway.

Godly comfort holds your hand; in the midst of pain.

Listen to the first verse of our Isaiah passage in the original Hebrew. It’s beautiful.
“Nachmu, nachmu ammi, yomar elohekehm” meaning, “Comfort, comfort my people says God.”
That’s beautiful.

“Nachmu, nachmu ammi, yomar elohekehm.”

Fake comfort says, “it’s no big deal someone you loved died. They went on to a better place.”
Fake comfort swallows back the normal tears of grief.
Fake comfort puts on a stern face and imagines towards heaven while forgetting this life.

We are not REALLY comforted when we simply wipe away our own tears, hold back the flood, swallow our pain, and put on a smiling face because we’re such “good and right” Christians.

Godly comfort does not ignore the fact that death is still God’s final enemy.
It does not overlook the pain death causes.
Godly comfort does not pretend death and suffering is tearless.

Godly comfort cries alongside of the ones grieving from death and loss.
It mourns together from the pain death causes.
Godly comfort feels the pain together, in community, and then… and then… offers hope.

Godly comfort offers hope.

Godly comfort reminds us that death has already been conquered once.
It reminds us that God raised Jesus from the dead- and our Christian hope- is that one day ALL the dead in Christ will rise again.

The journey is not about a formula. The journey is not a prescription. The journey is not fake comfort.

It’s not about a long list of things to DO or things good Christians ignore because they don’t feel pain. It’s about a transformation of who you ARE on the journey- focusing your eyes on the Holy One who’s Word never changes.

The journey…. Is a journey. It’s a voyage, an expedition.

And if we are going to prepare a highway in our hearts this Advent season for our Lord, we must prepare our hearts WITHOUT a formula, prescription, or by using fake comfort.

And no, I’m not giving you another formula to follow by telling you NOT to follow one.

There is no “magic wand to drive all our problems away” (sermon, “Miracle of Comfort,” Sermons from Seattle by Edward F. Markquat).

I’m urging you to see the journey is not so much about what we DO… as formulas, prescriptions, and fakeness implies—that’s a whole lot of DOING.

But this divine journey, preparing a highway for the Lord is more about who we are BECOMMING, as the people of God who TOGETHER, preparing our hearts for the coming Messiah.

It’s about together BEING the kinds of people who take that “divine tissue” (as my friend Pastor Kaza Fraley calls it) and wiping away each other’s eyes when we suffer the pain of death and loss.

It’s about BEING the kinds of people who are not afraid of suffering WITH people, taking God’s divine tissue, and wiping each other’s eyes.

It’s about BEING a community who comforts each other.

“Comfort, comfort my people, says the Lord.”
“Nachmu, nachmu ammi, yomar elohekehm.”

... For soon, God’s cosmic highway is going to be seen by all in the person of Jesus Christ.

...For we know as Handel’s Messiah’s most famous song says: “Unto us a child is born. Unto us a son is given. And the government shall be upon his shoulders. And his name shall be called wonderful, counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

This Jesus, changes everything on this journey. This Jesus, became one of us… a human baby, still completely divine- and holds our hand, like my Father did for my sister and I… showing us God’s cosmic highway that goes right through our hearts to the world.

Coming of our Lord Advent Devotions, WEEK THREE

Week Three: The Word of the Lord to ComeDecember 7th - December 13th, written by Rev. Kazimiera I.H. Fraley and Rev. Christy Gunter-Leppert.

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Meditation One: Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11

Read Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11

We talk frequently about being filled with the spirit of the season and relate this to the generous gifts we give those whom we care about and love. However, when we allow ourselves to be filled with the Spirit of the Lord, our generosity becomes obvious in how we treat the people whom we usually ignore and overlook.

Allowing the Spirit of the Lord to be upon you is about giving your change to the person with the bell, wrapping a present for an anonymous angel on a tree, giving a toy to an unknown tot, and so much more. It means reaching out and giving yourself to those who you feel are beneath your love, generosity, and charity. It is about making the unseen seen… making noticeable those who walk in and out of your life daily... and creating visibility for those who are almost invisible to all walking by them.

Reflection for the Day:
Who are the people you overlook in your life? How can you show the true spirit of the season, the Spirit of the Lord, to them?

Daily Prayer:
God, show us the people who have been invisible to us. May your good news radiate our hearts to open our eyes. And with newly opened eyes, teach us to proclaim your good news to the overlooked and ignored. Give us your eyes to see the work of the coming God to the oppressed, those who mourn, the brokenhearted, and those trapped in hopelessness.

Weekly Action:Can you think of a person who is often overlooked? Find a way to reach out to them and bring the light of Christ to their life.

* * * * *

Meditation Two: Psalm 126

Read Psalm 126

God gives us a dream as Christians to be restored as the people we were created to be, through the work of the One who is coming. God envisions for us to become the kinds of people who love God and neighbor above all. This dream, like that of the children with sugar plums dancing in their head, often times seems as fictional and fake as the sugary dreams mentioned in that famous poem. However, this dream is the reality of the work of the Christ to come.

Reflection for the Day:
What ideas or themes that we embrace as Christians seem to be a fanciful dream beyond our reach? How do you allow God to make them a reality in your life?

Daily Prayer:
Lore God, take our sugar plum dreams of your work and make them a reality for us.
Show us who you intended us to be before the Fall – before we choose ourselves over you.

Weekly Action:
Can you think of a person who is often overlooked? Find a way to reach out to them and bring the light of Christ to their life.

* * * * *

Meditation Three: 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24


Read 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24

Joy is a word heard often this time of year. We tend to think joy is a feeling we must maintain if not just for this season, but on a continual basis as Christians. When Paul wrote these words, calling for Christians to rejoice always, he was not asking us to maintain cheerleader peppiness at all times. Joy is a way of life, a thought process that results from trusting and relying on a God who is faithful in all things. Because we know our God loved us enough to come into this world and live as we live, we are able to rejoice in a world full of pain, heartache, and turmoil. It also gives us the hope we need to look forward to the day when God will set all things as creation was intended.

Reflection for the Day:
How many Christmas Hymns talk about rejoicing? What are the reasons these songs call for there to be joy in our lives? In what ways is there joy in your life because of Jesus Christ?

Daily Prayer:
Lord God, give us joyful hearts. Remind us joy is not fake happiness but your peace radiating through our trust in you. Use this week to show us the joy Jesus brings and teach us how to respond joyfully in each moment.

Weekly Action:
Can you think of a person who is often overlooked? Find a way to reach out to them and bring the light of Christ to their life.


* * * * *

Meditation Four: John 1:6-8, 19-28

Read John 1:6-8, 19-28

We see many different Christmas stories, both secular and Christian, all around us. We can see the truth of the light of Christ, even in the most unreligious of these stories. They tell us we should show love and kindness by giving of ourselves to each other. They tell us we should not make fun of or shun those different from ourselves, and encourage us to share the things we hold most dear with those who have less than we do. If we look hard enough, many times even the most secular stories testify to the light of Christ.


Reflection for the Day:
Think of one secular Christmas story. How does even a story like this reflect the light of Christ? In what ways can you reflect the light of Christ just as this story does?

Daily Prayer:
May our lives be a story of your light in this secular world.
And may our testimonies this week make the work of the coming God evident to those around us.

Weekly Action:
Can you think of a person who is often overlooked? Find a way to reach out to them and bring the light of Christ to their life.

Pastoral Prayer, Nov 30 2008

If you ever prayed to God out loud where others could hear, you probably know how hard it is to let others hear your words to God. And if you ever wrote a prayer to God and let someone see it, you probably also know how hard it is to share it.

Stanely Hauerwas published a book of his prayers and lamented in the preface about how difficult it was to make these prayers so public. I understand his plight. I write out my prayers quite often but I rarely share them except on Sunday morning during Pastoral Prayer time or on the occasion when I pray out loud with my dear and close friends.

But this particular prayer, the one I have written here, is a pastoral prayer for Nov 30, I believe others may want (or perhaps even need) to read. Although it is hard for me to hit "publish post" on a prayer, I am doing it because I care more about you and God's plan to draw all of creation towards redemption than I do how I feel about making it public.

So disclaimer, lament, and whatever else aside... Here is the pastoral prayer I wrote to God, to be prayed out loud during the pastoral prayer time, for the First Sunday in Advent, 2008.

Lord of all hope- hope that shines like light in darkness. We come before you, thankful for the hope you bring us- in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

If you are powerful enough to overcome death, to raise Jesus from the dead, certainly we can have hope in any situation we face. Certainly we can hope you have the power to breathe life into our painful moments, into our trauma, and into our suffering.

It is you, Lord, who gives hope in suffering.

And we pray for those in our community who may be suffering- who need your breath of hope this First Sunday of Advent.

* Prayers for my people and their loved ones *

Lord God, give us hope, even in suffering. Help us to see your tears, your love for us- in the midst of our suffering.

Help us to feel your arms around us when we cry, and when we hurt.

Change our misconceptions of a God who wills our suffering.

Change our misunderstandings that see you as a strict and angry God who might care about others-- but certainly not me.

Transform our false beliefs of you... that we might see you for who you really are- a God of love- a God who is fond of us, a God who sheds tears alongside of us, a God who suffers WITH us.

Make this change in us, dear Lord, that we might become people with your eyes of love. People who see our neighbor and love them as you love them.

Help us to see and love our neighbors physically next door to us.

Our neighbors in the buildings closest to us.

Our neighbor farmer in Kansas.

Our neighbor who grew the wheat overseas that made our bread (that touches our lips and makes us strong).

Our neighbor overseas who grew our coffee beans (that keeps us awake and alert even now).

Our neighbors we see and the neighbors who's life work feeds and sustains us... and we do not even know personally.

God help us to love all our neighbors. The visable ones and the invisable ones.

And help our lives to reflect your love to all of them, even the ones we cannot see; especially the ones we cannot see, who are easy to ignore and forget about in daily life.

God, we love you- with a love that is returned to you, a love that came from you- gracious, mercy-filled love, that you've penetrated our very being with even today.

Thank you for loving us.

Amen.

Coming of Our Lord Advent Devotions, WEEK TWO

Week Two: Preparing for the Lord to Come, November 30th - December 6. Written by: Rev. Kazimiera I.H. Fraley and Rev. Christy Gunter-Leppert

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Meditation One: Isaiah 40:1-11

Read Isaiah 40:1-11

Throughout the Old Testament, God's people are compared to a wayward bride who turned away from her husband to find fulfillment in other places. Far too often, it is easy to get caught up in the culture of this world and allow it to lure us away from the things of God. But even in our unfaithfulness, God is still a loving, faithful, and committed husband who speaks kindly to us and calls for us to return. In this season of preparation for the Lord's coming, we need to hear God's voice as we are called to return to God.

Reflection for the Day:
In what ways have you wandered away from the habits of God? Take time to allow God to gather you back into God’s loving arms, so you will be His, and only his; whole and complete once again.

Daily Prayer:
Lord God, all too often we are like the wayward spouse, finding pleasure in the things of this world instead of being faithful to you. Forgive us for our unfaithfulness. Forgive us for turning our backs on your glory, beauty, and light. Thank you for loving us. Thank you for being committed to us, no matter what we've done or who we've allowed ourselves to become.

Weekly Action:
Find one person in your life who needs forgiveness, reconciliation, or restored hope. Go to that person and allow God to work his actions and speak his Word, through you, to them.

* * * * *

Meditation Two: Psalm 85:1-2, 8-13

Read Psalm 85:1-2, 8-13

As we prepare ourselves for the Lord to come, cry out with the Psalmist. Hear what God says. Too many times we try to speak for the Lord and act on God’s behalf in our own whole-hearted and misguided attempt to change God towards what we think is best.

Mary allowed her son, Jesus Christ, to be born in her and change her. In this same way, allow God's actions to shape and move us instead of attempting to shape and move God towards us. Being prepared for God to come means we are ready to allow God to change us and be born in us.

Reflection for the Day:
How do you attempt to force God's hand instead of allowing God to be the mover and changer? Do you ever pray simply to move and change God to your will? What can you do about these misguided attempts?

Daily Prayer:
Lord God, change us. Forgive us for the times we passionately thought we were acting as you would act but were so wrong. We are simply putty – play dough - the clay. Mold us, so that we would be shaped by you.

Weekly Action:
Find one person in your life who needs forgiveness, reconciliation, or restored hope. Go to that person and allow God to work his actions and speak his Word, through you, to them.

* * * * *

Meditation Three: 2 Peter 3:8-15a

Read 2 Peter 3:8-15a

How many Christmas cards do you see with the phrase "Peace on Earth and Goodwill to Men?" As humans we often feel peace and goodwill are beyond our reach and control. Knowing God is coming at a time God alone is preparing; and God is the Alpha, Omega, beginning and the end, allows God to create two things within us. First, it unleashes God to change us in ways that prepare us to receive Christ in all his fullness, which brings goodwill to all of creation. And second, it also allows us to be agents of God's peace in a chaotic and backwards world.

Reflection for the Day:
Where do you see God's peace and goodwill changing your life and those who pass through your life? How does seeing the peace of God allow you to prepare for the Lord's coming?

Daily Prayer:
Lord God, as you prepare us for your coming- show us how your plan for peace and goodwill on earth involves us. Show us how your peace and goodwill are within our reach and control because it is you who is in us.

Weekly Action:
Find one person in your life who needs forgiveness, reconciliation, or restored hope. Go to that person and allow God to work his actions and speak his Word, through you, to them.

* * * * *

Meditation Four: Mark 1:1-8

Read Mark 1:1-8

In the same way Santa Claus calls for children to prepare themselves for his coming by asking them to live exemplary and perfect lives, John the Baptist hollers from the desert for us to prepare for the coming Christ. We need to be like children heeding Santa's call and turn, as John calls for us to do, away from living to please ourselves alone and live as ones given over to the goodness of God.

Reflection for the Day:
Look at the way the children around you are changing the way they live to be prepared for the fictional coming of Santa. Think of ways you can allow God to change you as you prepare for Christ's coming.

Daily Prayer:
Lord, we want you to change the way we live and act so we might be prepared for you. We want to be the kind of people who are formed by you to change the world with you coming light and life.

Weekly Action:
Find one person in your life who needs forgiveness, reconciliation, or restored hope. Go to that person and allow God to work his actions and speak his Word, through you, to them.

Expectations for God, Isaiah 64:1-9

Notice the picture for this week's sermon is taken from "The Shack," by WM Paul Young (see the previous blog for a book review). Notice in this picture that it is snowing, the shack is covered with winter, except on little leaf patch; still green, still living. This is quite symbolic. In the midst of horrible tragedy, hope peaks it's head out in the love of God.

This is the sermon for the first Sunday in Advent, November 30, 2008 at Trinity Church of the Nazarene.

Horrible things happen.

In today’s world, horrible things happen. Not many people will be in line to dispute this claim.

War creates havoc for countries. Violence is committed in the name of justice, innocent people are slaughtered, the unjust die. Families are torn apart as their sons and daughters go off to war.

Genocide is even worse. People die because of the color of their skin. Or like in Rwanda in 1994, people die based on the name of their ethnic group. Bodies are left strewn in the streets. Blood is shed.

Horrible things happen.

Families are torn apart by divorce. One spouse cheats on the other. Families crumble, children are lost.

People go hungry. They find themselves on the street, wishing someone could help them, desiring to eat anything; dirt even. They get worms. They get sick. They die.

Horrible things happen.

People we love die. We watch people we love suffer. We watch our loved ones become depressed. We watch them wish for things they cannot have. We stand at our loved ones caskets and cry out in horror and pain.

Horrible things happen.

There is deep suffering in the world. And it’s horrible. It’s awful. It’s horrendous.
Let’s call it what it is; it’s horrible.

I have a very dear pastor friend who was all excited about the birth of his baby girl… until she didn’t have a heartbeat one day.

People’s responses to this horrible event in my friend’s life were quite stupid. Many people said… “God needed another angel in heaven.” Or, “it must have been what God wanted.” As if God wanted or willed the death of his baby girl.

But this was not my response to him.

I called it what it was. Horribly tragic.

I called it “a tear in the very heart of God.” It’s horrible. God did not like or want this either. I responded to this tragedy by calling it what it was; horribly tragic for them, horribly heartbreaking for me as their friend to suffer alongside of them, and it was horribly sad for God.

Horrible things happen.

I read a book this week (yeah, I know. This week I read a book, go ahead and make fun of me, I’m used to it, and I actually read more than one book this week). Anyway, after you finish poking fun…

This book was called “The Shack” by WM Paul Young.

Young tells us the life story of Mack. He is raised by a father who abuses him, runs away as a teenager, and eventually goes on vacation with three of his youngest children without his wife Nan. Through a series of events out of Mack’s control, his youngest 6 year old daughter, Missy, is kidnapped and presumed brutally murdered. It is very real, it is descriptive, and may be worse to read than watching an episode of CSI.

Mack cries out to God in anger, not understanding why God allowed such a horrible thing to happen to his baby girl. He does not trust God. He is frustrated in the midst of trauma.
And sometimes we cry out to God in our own horrible situations just like Mack or when we see horrible things going on in the world saying, “God, where are you?” And we say things like, “Weren’t you the God who did something so great before… for others? Where are you now that I want something?” We cry out to God, “Why don’t you just crack open the heavens and show us yourself? Why don’t you prove yourself to us, show us who you really are?”

And sometimes what we really mean is, “Do what WE want and save this suffering. Who are you anyway, God, all powerful or non-existent?”

When we feel like God is silent or absent even, we box up God. We get angry God is not acting in miraculous and extraordinary ways. We stop trusting a God who does not act in extraordinary ways, exactly the way we want God to act.

We get mad, just like Mack, for not stepping in and saving our Missys.

Mack cries out to God, “If you couldn’t take care of Missy, how can I trust you to take care of me?” (92).

How true does that ring? How often do we utter the same exact words?

Much like our passage in Isaiah today. The people cry out to God to reveal, like God did in the Exodus event. They cry out for a symbol, like fire, to see God revealed in the world in the midst of their extreme pain and suffering.

If this is not a request for proof of God’s power, I’m not sure what is. “Tear open the skies,” “let your enemies know who you are.” These are all requests to see God’s power—crying out to God to show a great revelation in the world.

They even blame God for hiding. Verse 5 in the NCV translation did not quite hit the depth of the actual language. It is better translated in the NRSV (which is the version I used to check my Greek homework; make sure I translated it right). J It is better translated, “because you hid yourself, we transgressed.” In other words, because you were absent, God, we sinned. They are blaming God for being absent, for not being there, for leaving them alone. They are blaming God for their sins.

But a few verses later… we see the real problem, and apparently Isaiah, speaking on behalf of the people, knows the real problem.

Verse 7 says, “no one worships you or even asks you to help us.”

Ah, see. This makes sense, here. This is the real problem. “No one worships you or even asks you to help us.” Well, duh. Maybe it’s not God who’s absent. Maybe it’s the people who are not worshiping God or asking God for help. Maybe this is the real problem for the people of Israel.

Hmmm, how often are we just like the people of Israel? How quick are we to blame God when the real problem is we turned away from God?

When we look at Mack, he had dropped away from God too. He was blaming God for his 6 year old, Missy’s death.

And the cool thing about this book is that God does tear open the heavens in a revelation.
Once you make it through watching the horrible tragedy unfold (or “The Great Sadness” as the book calls it), you walk with Mack to the shack where Missy was killed.

You watch the blood stained floor transform into the stage where God shows Mack how valuable he is and you watch Mack shed his previous view of God for a relational, loving God he can trust.
When Mack asks God how could he expect God to take care of him when God obviously did not take care of his Missy who was brutally murdered, God says, “Mack, I’m so sorry” and tears stream down God’s face.

Because God was hurt by what happened to Missy too.

Mack sees God's pain. God is hurt and broken because of Missy's death too. No child should suffer like that. And Mack watches as God redeems the horror of his daughter’s murder to draw him closer to God. Not that Missy died in order to bring Mack closer… but that God is so good, God can redeem the most horrendous things, the most horrible things, to bring glory.

Which brings me to ask:

How often do we, right alongside the people of Israel, cry out to God for miracles? How often do we cry out and say, “Do what we want, save this person, stop the suffering, do what we expect in huge, dynamic ways.” How often do we scream out to God for the extraordinary, for the miraculous, just like the people of Israel in this passage in Isaiah?

How often are we like Mack, painful things happen to us and we cry out to God… “How can I trust you?”

We are desperate for hope, desperate to trust our Creator, desperate for answers on how a good God could allow such horrible things to happen in the world.


Today is the first Sunday in Advent, the Sunday where we focus on Hope. We lit the first candle in the advent wreath to remind us of the hope we have in Christ.

And in Isaiah 64, verse 8, is where we see the real hope begin. After verse 7, where they figure out what the problem is—(that THEY are the problem, not God)…. Verse 8 offers hope.

They say, “Lord, you’re our Father.” And they cry out, “we’re clay- you are the potter.”
Basically, the people are finally getting the right perspective. Instead of screaming out blame on God in the midst of horrible, horrendous things and instead of crying out for huge miraculous signs and wonders that involve fire and mountains shaking… they declare God as their Father and make themselves moldable to God.

This is a huge shift.

This is a huge reallocation in thought process.

This is a huge change in perspective... To go from trying to mold God to saying they can be molded by God.

Mack makes this shift in the book too. Mack goes from not trusting God to blaming God for his pain… to learning how to return love to God.

Mack makes that huge shift. Mack has a huge reallocation in thought process. Mack has a huge change in perspective.

Mack begins to be molded like clay in the hands of the potter.

See, the great hope we have, is embedded deep in the perspective that we are to be molded by God.

We are to be molded by our potter, the one we can trust. The one who loves us even when we blame God for not intervening on behalf of our Missys in extraordinary ways.

Our hope this Advent season is found in the God who is present and active in EVERY moment. Whether it is huge and we call it miraculous, extraordinary even. Or even if it’s small, and ordinary…. And we call it common.

Whether it is EXRAORDINARY AND the heavens are torn apart, whether the mountains quake, whether our enemies are proven wrong, whether fires comes… Whether God comes in three persons who sit down to dinner with us, like God does for Mack.

Whether it is COMMON and we gather for worship like we do every week, whether we put a bandage on our finger, whether we breathe, whether we eat… and any other common thing we do.

Whether its an extraordinary moment or a common moment, God is present and active. God is not absent.

This is amazingly hopeful, even in the midst of horrible things we see around us. God is still present and active… in the common times, in the horrible times, and in the extraordinary times.


And the exciting thing about Advent… is that the heavens WERE torn open. The mountains DID shake. God DID come in an extraordinary way.

God became human, became a little, poor baby who gave up power, strength, and control… to show us a better way. To show us how we might BECOME the kinds of people who move mountains and BECOME God’s agents of redemption for all of creation.

The people of Israel asked God to come shake things up and God DID shake things up.
Here we are, today, all shook up… even in the midst of tragedy.

This is the meaning of “Emmanuel,” God with us. God tore open the heavens, gave us a huge, miraculous, extraordinary gift of Jesus Christ.

And the hope, this Jesus Christ brings, is what we celebrate today- on the first Sunday of Advent.


No matter what you are facing today. No matter what horrible things you are going through. No matter what you see around you that makes you cry out.

No matter if you, like Mack, scream… you didn’t break through and act in this moment… how can I trust you? No matter if you blame God, like Mack did.

Remember… God is a God who is present and active in EVERY moment. God is a God who is present and active in the ordinary and in the extraordinary. God is present even tragedy, loving humans, crying alongside of us when babies die (like for my pastor friend) or we lose people we love.

God is just as present in your common moments as God is present in the extraordinary gift of Jesus Christ.

God desires to cradle us in God's arms, as a mother does her child, and heal our wounds.

And God is holding your hand, with tears streaming down God’s face… as you suffer and are in pain… crying out for God to tear open the heavens.

God never left you.

Just open your eyes and look.

God is speaking to us in the same way God speaks to Mack in this book:

God says: “I’m very fond of you.”
God says, “You are special.”
God says, “My love can go beyond even your stupidity.”

Close your eyes as we pray… and let God’s loving arms envelop you.


Prayer:
God of all hope, even in the midst of tragedy, we come before you and confess how we really feel. Sometimes we blame you for our pain. Sometimes we think you don’t care. Sometimes we fear you’re not even there. Forgive us.
Help us to see the tears streaming down your face as you hate the tragedy and pain too. Help us to feel your love for us, even in the midst of trauma and horror. Help us to see you for who you really are, a God of love who’s open arms extend to us.

Help us to feel your arms, cradling around us- loving us for who we are, and help us to feel your love in the midst of thepain we face.

And help us to see you're present in every moment, extraordinary and miraculous like Jesus' birth or even in our common and pain-filled moments.
We love you, Lord.
Amen.