Advent Devotional 2022

prepare a place

Did you know that it is possible to walk right through a mystery and not even know it is there? During advent, the four weeks leading to Christmas, people busy themselves with shopping, baking, festive events and family time. We can busy ourselves so much that we miss the mystery that God is redeeming the world through a tiny little baby. We can miss how this baby enters the world in a lowly way and is raised and loved in the humblest circumstances. We can easily miss the peace, love, joy and hope that God is offering us in the way of following and learning from the life of this precious child.

So, in this compilation of written word and beautiful images let us pause for a moment each day. And in that moment let us reflect on how we are being called to prepare a place to welcome this mystery of the incarnate God come to earth as a helpless child. He who is the wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting father, prince of peace. And as we prepare to walk through this mystery, may we ask ourselves; are we preparing space so that we may invite others to journey with us?

“My morning ritual. It takes a lot to get me off these hills.”

I Wonder

As you make your way through this Advent devotional, you will come across beautiful pictures that are snapshots of moments experienced by others where God has broken in and grabbed their attention. As you study these pictures, some with explanation some without, I invite you to wonder…

I wonder what I like most about his picture?

I wonderful what God is saying through this picture?

I wonder what part of this picture is about me?

Week 1

preparing a place of peace

William Reilly

I have told you these things, so you may have peace in me

“

I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” John 16:33

I gathered up my devotion books, Bible, and hot peppermint tea. I couldn’t wait to get out on our front porch for peace, reflection, and time with God. Lately I hadn’t made time to get out on the porch. I had missed it!

After sitting in a rocker, I glanced up at the sky. WOW! A gorgeous sunrise was just beginning. I stopped, mesmerized by the beauty. God was certainly in this place. A definite peace spread over me. I realized in all the upcoming cancer appointments ahead that God was with me taking care of me and my family.

“You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.” Isaiah 26 3

I certainly wanted that perfect peace. As I read my devotions and reflected on the written words, I was sure God was with me in everything I was about to do. Sunday morning came and I just had to get out and do a short run by the Highlander farm. No one was out yet except the cows and me. Another beautiful sky appeared with the sun peeking through the pink, orange, and even purple clouds. A calming peace engulfed me. As I spoke “Good morning!” to the cows, even they seemed to have a peace, too.

“

The Lord gives strength to his people; the Lord blesses his people with peace.” Psalm 29:11

As I faced the week of appointments and later a small surgery, I knew without a doubt that God had revealed His presence to me and had given me that peace that passes all understanding.

Dear God, You are so good to let us know your presence and perfect peace through nature, people, and your written word. Help us to show your peace to others by our words, actions, and thoughts. In Jesus name we pray. Amen

Jawanna Herd

A Place of Peace

The Labyrinth and Retreat House at Cedar Hill Retreat Center, Nicholas County, KY March 2008

I found this place of peace and stayed there several times a year starting in 2008 until November 2021 (with the exception of 2020.) The whisper of the woods, the carols of the creek (right next to the labyrinth,) the fragrance of the fireplace, and the welcome, words, wit and wisdom of director Sandy Stone, brought an oasis of peace in the noise and busyness of daily life. Sandy died suddenly in January 2022. I miss her and Cedar Hill so much, but I can still close my eyes and go back to that feeling of peace, presence, and love.

Jimmy Shaffer

“See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.” Matthew 6:28

Bryan Langlands

Peace, Disruption

Four years ago this month Amanda and I learned that she was pregnant. The following months involved both moments of excitement and moments of anxiety as the realities of bringing a new child into this world materialized. Later during the pregnancy, we found ourselves experiencing the phenomena known as nesting. Dictionary.com defines nesting as “the tendency to arrange one's immediate surroundings, such as a work station, to create a place where one feels secure, comfortable, or in control.” In other words, preparing a place of peace. So we bought the new rocking chair, added some new wallpaper, and received gifts of a used changing table and a crib from some Faith Baptist Church friends. Although we arranged the space to be as peaceful as possible, we were reminded with Emiline’s arrival that welcoming an infant into your home and life is not peaceful. Wonderful in so many ways, yes, but not peaceful. Emiline was not an especially fussy baby, but she reminded us regularly that infants, like the rest of us, are generally more interested in food than we are in peace.

Our nursery did become a place where we as parents and hopefully Emiline felt more secure and comfortable, but I’m not sure that it ever helped me to feel more in control. Having older children now, I’m learning that a crucial aspect of parenting, as in life, involves learning how to let go. Part of that letting go includes releasing our illusions of being in control. Parenting both continually reminds me that I am not in control and provides me with opportunities to learn to trust that God is.

I wonder if Mary and Joseph had a similar thought as they walked away from their conversations with the angel after learning about Mary’s pregnancy? Or as they searched frantically through the streets of Jerusalem for the twelve year old Jesus whom they couldn’t find? Or as they watched Jesus begin his public ministry and almost get thrown off of a cliff in his hometown because of the message he preached? Or as he hung from the cross?

Thursday, December 1

Donna Russell

Like a spring of clear water, God’s peace brings cleansing refreshment to our minds and bodies.

SharonFelton

I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have over come the world.

John 16:33

My favorite Christmas Eve tradition, that I think I’ve done since grade school, is singing Silent night with candles raised during a service. Growing up we would sing that song in a round with the chorus Peace, Peace and it was perfect! Voices raised, light flickering in the darkness, the warmth of the candles and family all around always give me a sense of peace. It’s a moment in time where everything from the outside world is quieted. A moment of stillness and reflection on why I do life the way I do. That moment is a reminder of the sacrificial love, the unmerited grace and the sustaining hope we have in Christ. I used to sing Silent Night to my children during the holidays, as their bedtime song. It was a moment of peace at the close of a usually busy, chaotic day. I am certain the actual birth of Christ was anything but peaceful for the family gathered in the stable. However, babies do bring a special sense of peace when we stop long enough in the chaos to take a breath. Christmas Eve in a sanctuary, holding a candle, singing one of my favorite carols, is a breath in the midst of chaos for me. I hope this season you find a moment to take a breath, experience the peace of Christ and rest in the comfort of God’s grace.

Dwight Lewis

When I think of peace, I think of quiet places in nature.

2

preparing a place of love Jawanna Herd in our homes

No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and God's love is made complete in us.

Greg Earwood

I have always been intrigued by the opening of the Farewell Address of Jesus to his disciples as recorded in the Gospel of John. “Let not your hearts be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?” (John 14:1-2 RSV).

“Rooms” has been translated mansions (KJV), dwelling places (NRSV), abiding places (Greg). The basic idea is that in God’s house there are many places to be at home with God.

This same concept is developed differently in 1 John 4:12 which reads: “No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us” (RSV). This verse expresses the beautiful thought that when we love one another, God takes up residence in us. God is at home in us.

While the Gospel of John focuses on abiding places where we can be at home with God, the First Letter of John stresses that our love for one another opens the door for God to be at home in us.

How can we create the atmosphere for loving one another during Week Two of Advent?

Light (or relight) the Advent candle of Love as a reminder to love one another. Write a note today expressing love for a family member or a dear friend. Read aloud or sing the words to a Christmas carol or the first verse of “Love Divine, All Loves Excelling.”

Love divine, all loves excelling, joy of heaven to earth come down, Fix in us Thy humble dwelling,; all Thy faithful mercies crown.

Jesus, Thou art all compassion, pure, unbounded love Thou art; Visit us with Thy salvation; enter every trembling heart.

Donna Russell

Home is where the heart is!

Rose Lewis

I was driving from Lawrenceburg through Frankfort and Midway and home to Georgetown. The rainbow was so bright that I had to stop several times and take more pictures. Rainbows are usually transient, but I was amazed at how long this one lasted. It's just another reminder of God's love.

Dwight Lewis

Timeless symbols

"A greater love hath no man..."

William Reilly

If we can learn anything from Hallmark movies it’s that all big-city lawyers find the love of their lives in their hometown, all small-town lumberjacks also take care of an orphaned relative, and Christmas is all about love! We gather as families, give each other gifts, send cards, make treats, sing carols, all in the name of love. But often, these acts of love end up creating more stress than anything else!

When I worked in Abilene, my mom and sister would always drive an hour and a half to my church for our Christmas Eve service and spend Christmas day with me. I knew it was important to spend the day with my family, but sometimes their coming felt more like a burden than a loving family gathering. My already long to do list got longer as I needed to clean and shop and accommodate others. I’d be in work mode, and they’d show up to the service and want to hug me and sit with me and talk to everyone about how proud they were of me. Writing that last sentence makes it harder to admit that as I was rushing around to make sure I did my parts of the service, I often found their presence to be a hassle. I found myself asking why they couldn’t just come the next day. So much for a season of love.

This year my sister is continuing the decade long tradition by flying to Kentucky to celebrate Christmas with us. Her flights are such that she won’t make it until Christmas Day. My dream from years ago and yet I found myself googling flights to see if I could convince her to come earlier. I want her here, in church with us on Christmas Eve. Who cares if it adds to the to do list?

So often it’s not about what we do, but our attitude as we do it. Love isn’t something we can force, but it is something we can decide to have. It’ s probably because my mom won’t be here this year, but that choice just seems simpler. As we do all the things that this season entails, let’s decide to recognize the love they represent. Our Christmas will never be Hallmark, but it can be a season of love.

“

Our eyes perceive so dimly, and our brains are so easily confused. Far better, I believe, to be like children and open ourselves to every beautiful possibility, for there is nothing our hearts can imagine that is not so.”

This Tender Land William Kent Kruger

William Reilly

Carrie Rashleigh

“

She had always thought of love as the rarest and most delicate of things, and that there must be a limit to the amount of love that a human or a Faeran could give or feel, a limit to how much love there could be in the world.”

Willa of the Wood by Robert Beatty

“I want to show you something” he said. So, we hop in the car and go to one of our favorite places. Trails by our house we visit so often we’ve gotten to know others who do the same. A brief hello, nod of the head, “how muddy are the trails?” to the passersby we know are here as often as us. But this day, he wanted to show me something. Although we hike this area a few times a week, each time we see something new and different. The water in the creek ebbs and flows, the leaves change colors, berries appear and disappear, sometimes you come home muddy, somedays just sweaty.

This day we walked to the highest point and came upon this amazing view as seen in the photograph. The colors were amazing. This day, this is what we saw and enjoyed from God’ s wonderful world. God’s Love is like that, always changing, yet never leaving. Sometimes it’ s hard to find but if we take a breath we can find it, see it, and feel it. And then there are somedays we need someone else to show it to us. I pray that you can see, feel, and know God’ s love which surrounds you.

“But love wasn’t the stone. It was the river. Love was like the glistening stars in the midnight sky, like the sun that always rises, and the water that always flows.”

Willa of the Wood by Robert Beatty

Elizabeth Sands Wise

No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and God's love is made complete in us.

1 John 4:12

The year behind us was a difficult one, friends. It would be an understatement to say it wasn't what I expected my fortieth revolution around the sun to look like.

Still, in the midst of a very difficult, trying year, I have known my family is loved because of the everyday work of the people of God in our community.

That work has looked like meals dropped off, Dairy Queen runs on our behalf, and potted plants. It was a birthday cake on the porch and activity kits for the car. It looked like myriad texts after medical appointments, court dates, and newspaper headlines. It was a prayer quilt, a voicemail, offers of babysitting. Amazon gift packages showed up when we least expected it.

The truth is, I don't know what it means for God's love to be made complete in us, per se.

But I do know that it matters when we show up for one another. I know that it matters when we live everyday life alongside one another. I know that it matters when we remember, simply remember, what is going on in one another's lives.

It matters when we love one another.

Because that's where God lives.

The Bible doesn't just tell me so--I know it because I've lived it.

Thanks be to God.

preparing a place of joy

You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy...

...in our community

Dwight Lewis

Jawanna Herd

Joy Comes in the Morning

Hot tea and me at sunrise over the Atlantic on a chilly March morning (taken by my sister.)

The wideness of the ocean, the joy of the dawn, and the majesty of God’ s creation, put life in perspective.

Jonathan Sands Wise

Have you thought about the meaning of this remarkable promise? In your presence, the psalmist says to God, “is fullness of joy;” as other passages say in both Deuteronomy and the Johannine gospel and letters, our joy “will be complete.”

Most joy is expected, by definition, because joy is properly defined as the fulfillment of a good expectation or desire. This is the joy we feel when we are married, or have a child, or go on vacation – the long looked for event arrives, and we feel all the natural pleasure and fulfillment of that moment. But not all joys can be foreseen. When our deepest desires are fulfilled in defiance of all reasonable expectation: when the loved one sees another morning and is out of danger, when the friend we thought was lost to us suddenly reaches out, when a refugee welfare baby turns out to be incarnate God come to save our very souls and give meaning to all of our pain and suffering such joy has a wild fierceness, an untamable surge of life, almost too strong for us to bear. And then there is the joy that is less an experience than a way of being. We already practice the presence of God through faith, hope, and love, and so begin even now to have an occasional, through-aglass darkly, sense that all of our deepest desires are being and will be fulfilled and so dwell in joy. As C.S. Lewis writes in Surprised by Joy, “All joy reminds. It is never a possession, always a desire for something longer ago or further away or still ‘about to be.

In the presence of God, we shall have the fullness of joy, which I imagine means that we will experience joy, be joyful, in every genuine way! Christmas is the promise, the reminder of what is not yet, the echo from a future horn blast, the heartrending, mind bending, joy sending guarantee that in God will be the fullness of joy! Watch the children open their gifts, dig into dinner, and delight in games and play, and be reminded again of the wonder of it: that we are made for JOY.

Rose Lewis

There is nothing more joyous than a child splashing in a mud puddle. And flowers spread Joy!

Mike and Becky Collins

Psalm 16:11 A miktam of David

Make me know the path of life. Joy overflows in your presence, delights in your right hand forever. - The Hebrew Bible

Not a song, not a prayer, but a miktam of David. We can’t be sure, but many translators believe that miktam had some reference to engraving or chiseling into stone. If so, then miktam would have set these verses from Psalm 16 apart given them a little more weight, made them a little more important and worthy of remembrance. We remember the importance of Joy today as we continue to celebrate Advent.

Eleven o’clock on a Sunday morning finds most of us seated in our regular seats at Faith. We have all come for different reasons and with different needs, but one of the most important reasons for Becky and me is Joy. This sanctuary, this sacred place, holds for us some of the most joyful memories of our life. Our children accepted Christ here and were baptized by their grandfather in front of a congregation of believers who vowed to support and hold them up in prayer. They were married here, in front of, and witnessed by that same congregation of believers. Our grandchildren were dedicated here and baptised here. If that’s not joyful, I don’t know the meaning of the word. But we have also lived the other side of life here. We have buried friends and the children of friends. We have prayed here on some of the darkest days of our lives and of our nation. We have seen this sanctuary starkly empty of worshipers during a pandemic. All has not been rosy, but the Joy has come from having that place, that special place to celebrate, to worship, to pray, and sometimes even to mourn. “Joy overflows in your presence. ”

As we prepare our own places of Joy to celebrate the birth of Christ, let’s not forget this welcoming place where Joy can be found by all in our community. Let’s make this sanctuary a place of balm for the hurting. A place of acceptance for the outcast. A place of hope for the recovering, and a place where the candles we light on Christmas Eve illuminate a “path of life” to a place of Joy. It’s Christmas! Joy to the World!

William Reilly

Cynthia Insko

A specific time and place that I recently experienced joy among our Faith Baptist community is in a circle of 3rd -5th graders during Sunday School. Each week, we meet in our Godly Play room which has been carefully, lovingly, and intentionally prepared by the teachers to be a space where children and adults alike expect to come close to God in the stories of our faith.

On this particular week, rather than tell a story, I asked the children to look around the room at the 3D stories of Scripture that belong to them. I reminded them of how many of these stories they had already heard and worked with this year. Then each child had a chance to choose one of those stories they liked best and to get it off the shelf and play with it for the next 15 minutes.

As I watched the children interfacing with their chosen story, I witnessed what Psalm 16:11 describes so beautifully. Through Jonah, The Ark and the Tent, The Exile and Return, The Ark and the Flood, The Parable of the Mustard seed, and Ezekiel, the children were connecting to the path of life, the stories of our faith. Eagerly, they looked up the books of the Bible where their stories are found, and we saw in the open Bibles the joy of this narrative that connects us with those who have come before us.

In our Sunday School class, we are challenged to come again and again to these beloved stories and wait for them to open to us in new ways. We wonder together: What is the best part of this story?

What is the most important part? What part is especially for you today? Where are you in this story?

And in this open hearted approach to the stories, we always find connection. Connection to one another, to the people of the stories, and to God. Our circle is a place where we share this big narrative of being a part of the People of God and in this story, we discover week after week, deep joy.

KathyFraley

I think these pictures show her sheer joy for them and them for her.

God’s grace comes to us in a special way through children. As we love them, we find hope and simplicity. I am so grateful for our grandchildren and our church family children who help me remember the priorities of life.

Kathryn (Anna’s youngest) loves her brothers.

preparing a place of hope

I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you...

SharonFelton

Cecelia Reilly

When I worked in Texas, one of my students was crushed by a truck as she crossed the road before school one dark December morning. There were not many answers yet about recovery or what her life healed would be, and the stats the doctors gave were humbling. The visitors’ fear and uncertainty met only with the beeping machines of loved ones made the TBI floor one of the most hopeless places I’d been. So, as I arrived after church on Christmas Eve, I was shocked to find every member of my student’s family crammed into the hospital waiting room. In full defiance of hospital procedure, they had prepared a spectacular party. When asked what was going on, her aunt replied, “Well, we weren’t going to celebrate at home knowing she is here, so we brought the party to her.” Oh, and did we celebrate! Throughout the night we sang carols, told stories, and shared food with the hospital staff. Interspersed were expressions of heartache, but they were always met with “Tonight’s not about that. Tonight, is about celebrating Christmas.”

That evening in the hospital, celebration felt rebellious. In a place of despair, we were clinging to expectant Hope. The same hope we received in Christ’s birth. Allowing ourselves to feel hope is often an act of defiance in a weary world.

The hope filled tidings of the first Christmas morning were meant to bring comfort because the news bearers knew the people were pain and joy because they knew their hearts were burdened.

As has been true for all Christmases

Christmas spent in the trenches of war; Christmas spent with empty chairs or plates; Christmas spent on plantations in the South; Christmas spent under blankets on a park bench, Christmas spent un welcomed at home; Christmas spent without reconciliation, Christmas spent longing for a Savior to return.

Our world is weary. We are weary. And yet…

Matt Makaveli

This is a place of love, a place where many different people come together and share their talents.

Dwight Lewis

A beacon of hope for a safe harbor at the end of a stormy day.

Spring comes against the odds –Hope for rebirth and renewal

Jeff Stone

I was driving back to Georgetown on I64 during the spring. As I drove the open, clear sky caught my attention with its gorgeous shades of blue speckled with wisps of white clouds. It was breathing taking, as if I were gazing at a masterful work of art in the Louvre. As I exited the highway, I noticed a weathered light pole. It was rusted and corroded and while it had it had its own artistic appeal when I viewed it in the background of the sky and clouds it drew a stark contrast. I was so taken by the beauty of the contrast I grabbed my camera and snapped several photos. As I took those shots and later when I reviewed the photos, it became quite clear that the works of man will fade away, rust and corrode, but the works of God are continuously beautiful and without end.

Flash Williams

Peace like a river flows.

A Place of Hope

Surreal images of a star nursery in giving hope and redemption to the Carina Nebula captured by humans on this tiny speck, while the new Webb space telescope fills still counting the hairs on each the 42 inch screen of my TV. head and calling each one of us by name.

Gases appear as cosmic cliffs that NASA says are

The Creator counted one seven light years high, carved star, bright enough to show by stellar winds. Above them that God’s own Word had infant stars emerge into space. become incarnate. We named it the “Star of Bethlehem.” I wonder

For the Creator, still at what God named it? work in our expanding universe, there is no

The image of that star shining such thing as time over a baby in a stable has been instead of taking eons for place of hope gaseous stars to cool into for over two thousand years and matter, stars erupt and scatter remains so even today. like popcorn over a campfire.

J. Herd

In Psalm 147:4 The Creator counts the stars and gives names to all of them. It seems to us this immense job would require all of the Creator’s focus and yet God is still present here and now, moving in hearts and minds on a puny planet in the vast cosmos

Christmas Eve

Amanda Langlands

Somewhere in Italy there is a very small cave hidden below the hillside coast of a little town called Conca dei Marini. It is a very dark, cold and uninviting cave in the hillside, except for the smallest imperfection in the rock somewhere under the Tyrrhenian Sea where there is a crack where and the light gets in and turns the dark water inside the cave a vibrant and glorious turquoise blue.

That ever so little bit of light that has found it’s way into the darkness has transformed the space into a magical wonderland. Thousands of people flock to this wonder every year to be a witness to this otherwise ordinary cave’s exceptional beauty. And there just below the surface you will see a representation of the nativity and the Christ child; the light of lights that changed the world.

Christmas Day

Glen Taul

Rose Lewis

This evening, when I glanced up from my desk, I noticed an unusual glow reflecting off the leaves of the trees on Banbury Road. I got up and looked to the northwest. The sun was just below the tree line. The sky was extraordinarily golden in hue, probably created from rain droplets suspended in cool temperatures. I grabbed my camera and took several pictures. Framing the view were the silhouettes of the tree lines and the steeple of the Oxford Centre for Mission Studies.

The promise of a new day brings hope.

Donna Russell