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First Sunday of Advent
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uddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” Luke 2:13-14 (NIV)
“I just want Christmas to be different this year.” How many times have we said that either to ourselves or to our families? How often have we considered the approaching holidays with dread? We want to live differently into the Christmas season…more reflective, less hurried, with more margin in our lives to give more of our time and our finances to our family and those in need. But all around we are rushed into some kind of celebration that equates love with spending. This year, we vow, things will be different. This year we will slow down. We will spend less. We will be attentive to all the places and moments where God is present in the midst of the hubbub. So how does that happen? What can you do differently that could possibly make this kind of space in your life to attend to the things that matter most to you? For centuries, Christians prepared their hearts for Christmas through participating in a daily devotion called Advent. The word “Advent” means “coming.” The season of Advent refers to a four-week period leading up to Christmas. It is seen as a time of preparing our hearts to recognize the coming of Jesus, God incarnate, not just as a child, but his coming into our everyday lives all year long. Advent always begins on the fourth Sunday before Christmas and ends Christmas Eve. 2
Traditionally, an Advent wreath is used with some kind of candlelighting ceremony, reading of scriptures, and prayer. You can easily make your own Advent wreath (check out Pinterest!). There are four tall taper candles, each representing the four Sundays before Christmas. The center white pillar candle -- traditionally the Jesus candle -- is lit on Christmas day. Although there is much symbolism for each candle, you may or may not adhere to it. At the beginning of your daily or family devotions, light the first candle on the first Sunday of Advent and then each day that week during your Advent devotional time. The second Sunday of Advent light two candles, and also during each day of the week, and so on. As well, there are plenty of resources on the internet to learn how to make an Advent wreath as well as resources for a daily family Advent service with young children. Although most of us might not have grown up observing Advent, it “reminds us that in a culture full of clutter and distraction, we seek to make room for what is essential. In a season frantic with consumerism and superficial sentiments, we are committed to creating space for what is real. In hearts driven to distraction by a multitude of cares and concerns, we do whatever it takes to “prepare the way” for some sort of meaningful connection with Christ.” -Ruth Haley Barton That’s what the season of Advent is all about: an intentional slowing and creating space in our frenzied lives to pay attention to the places where God is near that we might, like the wise men and shepherds, worship him. Thanks for joining us on this Advent journey!
Questions for Reflection
What do you dread most about the Christmas season? What are you most hopeful about as you consider Advent?
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First Monday of Advent A Place of Waiting
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hat is why waiting does not diminish us; any more than waiting diminishes a pregnant mother.” Romans 8:24 TM
“The season of Advent gives us the opportunity to practice something that is hard for most of us to do: wait. Advent, which literally means “arrival,” teaches us to wait for the coming of Christ, not just way back in Biblical times, but now—in the places where we long for his presence and need his intervention. Advent ushers us into a special kind of waiting that is alert and watchful, patient and yet full of anticipation.” Excerpt from Advent Reflection by Ruth Haley Barton During Advent we practice the spiritual discipline of waiting on three levels: we wait for the coming of Christ and the celebration of his literal birth. We become aware of those places where we long to experience Christ’s presence more fully in our lives right now… and we wait. And we wait for his expectant coming again someday in glory. But let’s face it, sometimes we get tired of waiting. Sometimes life is hard. Sometimes it hurts. Sometimes we cry with the Psalmist, “How long, O Lord?” Yet Scripture give us an amazing promise when we embrace the waiting: “That is why waiting does not diminish us, any more than waiting diminishes a pregnant mother. We are enlarged in the waiting. We, of course, don’t see what is enlarging us. But the longer we wait, the larger we become, and the more joyful our expectancy.” Romans 8:24 TM
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Waiting enlarges our souls. Mary understood this kind of waiting as each day the baby in her womb grew larger and larger. She waited, trusting that something would happen to her far beyond her own imagination, giving up control over her future and letting God define her life. This is not mere passivity; it is an active waiting that is alert and watchful, full of anticipation and yet willing to be patient. Henri Nouwen calls Advent waiting “active waiting.” He writes, “Active waiting means to be present fully to the moment, in the conviction that something is happening where you are and that you want to be present to it. A waiting person is someone who is present to the moment, who believes that this moment is the moment.” To wait, like Mary, open-endedly is an enormously radical attitude toward life. Advent honors this place of waiting knowing that what is happening in us is worth waiting for. Advent reminds us that God is present and active even when it feels like nothing is happening. Psalm 130:6 – “My soul waits for the Lord.”
Questions for Reflection
What have you been waiting for? How can you wait more actively?
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First Tuesday of Advent The Attentive Life, Part 1
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lthough we don’t read about Simeon until after the birth of Christ, he is often included in the Christmas story. His is an amazing example of the spiritual life: a life lived in attentive responsiveness to God. “Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying: “Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you now dismiss your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all people, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.” Luke 2:25-32 Upon reading the account, something immediately jumps out. Three times in three verses is a reference to the Holy Spirit’s activity in Simeon’s life. We first read that he was righteous and devout and “…the Holy Spirit was upon him” (v. 25). Perhaps we are not always sure what that means or what that looks like. We assume it might have something to do with going to the Temple and spending hours in fervent prayer there. We get a clue, however, of a different means from the passage itself . I don’t think those were the things that made him righteous, but rather those were the things that had trained his heart to live in faithful responsiveness to the Spirit’s work and leading in his life. The outward evidence of his devout, Spiritfilled life is seen in his responsive posture of expectant waiting. For Simeon, life in the Spirit was lived in an ever-increasing responsiveness to the movement and sway of the Spirit in his life. 6
We see this same evidence in the next verse, “It had been revealed to him by the Spirit…” (v.26). Simeon had developed the ability to live with an awareness and attentiveness of the presence and activity of God. It seems keeping in step with the Spirit requires not so much doing for God but paying attention to what God is already doing. This kind of sustained watchfulness is difficult in a culture of sound bites. We are easily distracted by so many things. Simeon was waiting for God to show up. Yet his waiting on the was not a lazy, sort of settling in but an increased alertness…a heightened awareness and sustained focus kind-of-waiting. Was it this practice in a deep, interior place of his heart that sustained him for so long in the midst of an unfulfilled promise? One thing for sure, if we don’t keep our eyes open we can miss God’s presence all together. C.S. Lewis, in writing on prayer, recommended wakefulness as the way to see God in our ordinary days: “We may ignore, but we can nowhere evade, the presence of God. The world is crowded with him. He walks everywhere incognito. And the incognito is not always hard to penetrate. The real labor is to remember, to attend. In fact, to come awake. Still more to remain awake.” Is it no wonder we feel so often disconnected from God? We rarely give him our full attention. When we begin to see God, like Simeon, in the ins and outs of our lives and live in faithful responsiveness to the Spirit’s activity, we begin to truly live “righteous and devout” lives that are alive and awake to God’s presence in our lives.
Questions for Reflection
How would you define “righteous and devout”? What are some ways you can live more attentively to God’s presence in your life? 7
First Wednesday of Advent The Attentive Life, Part 2
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imeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying: “Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you may now dismiss your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all nations: a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel.” Luke 2:28-32 (NIV) Yesterday we discovered the amazing story of Simeon, an obscure figure in the Christmas story. It would be easy to skim right over it. Once you look more carefully, however, you find a most incredible account of a man whose life was oriented to recognizing and responding to even the smallest movements of God. Living with a promise from the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he saw the Lord’s Christ, Simeon embraced a longtime rhythm of active waiting, seeking and responding. Even when its fulfillment was “delayed,” he never wavered. That’s the hard part about waiting. We typically can wait for a while, but when it extends beyond what we think is reasonable, there is huge push back. It feels like wasted space. Life is passing us by and we want to move on to “real” life and more important things. Hope gets pounced on. What if what we are waiting for never happens? Or what if what we are waiting for isn’t worth the wait? Too often in the wait we get distracted or discouraged or mad and just simply give up. Not Simeon. Like Mary, his waiting enlarged him. Active waiting does the same for us. Instead of just bidding our time, active waiting forces us to relinquish our cherished expectations of when and how we think life ought to go. It forges in us a space to receive God on his terms, not ours. It allows hope a secure place to grow. So when the moment he had been waiting for so long, unbeknownst to him, had come, he didn’t miss it. “Moved by the Spirit he went into the temple courts” (v. 27). He went. On 8
an ordinary day in an ordinary way, he responded to the Spirit’s lead and because he did, he didn’t miss that sacred moment. Most interesting is it wasn’t what Simeon expected. He wasn’t looking for a Christ child. He was looking for the consolation of Israel. A Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace, deliverer. He wasn’t looking for the showing forth of God’s glory wrapped in a blanket. But because Simeon lived with eyes wide open to the Spirit’s movement (trained in the waiting period), he recognized God, not how he was expected, but in the way he wanted to be seen. No one told Simeon that day that God was in his midst. He recognized the presence of God in the most unlikely way and most unlikely place because he had developed a reliable pattern of looking. Christmas proclaims unequivocally that our waiting is not in vain because we wait for a God who comes. Christmas teaches us that those who get up and move to the Spirit’s steps will find God, but almost always where we least expect it. In this season of waiting, I want to be open to hope in unexpected places. I don’t want to get stuck in patterns of hurry and impatience that I miss the subtle nuances of the Spirit’s movement. I want to be open to the ways God is coming to me and release any expectations of what that looks like. In sickness. In desperation. In the face of the poor. In the sighs of my children. In the push and shove of obligations and unwelcomed interruptions. I want to be open to slivers of joy in places I am not used to seeing them…and drop to my knees in worship.
Questions for Reflection
Are you waiting for something from God? What words would you use to describe this waiting period? What might a more active waiting/seeking look like for you? What expectations have you subtly placed on God’s coming to you? 9
First Thursday of Advent Peace on Earth
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lory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.” Luke 2:14 (NIV)
At Christmas time we sing about peace on earth and send Christmas cards (or e-cards) with the same sentiment. The reality of our world reminds us how desperately we need peace. Daily we read about acts of aggression and killings, locally as well as internationally, and something inside of us longs for such a day when all men can live peaceably with one another. We wonder if such a thing is possible. But the reality is…peace on earth begins at home. The reality is Christmas can be a difficult season accentuated by broken relationships and tension within our families. Too often there is no goodwill to those closest to us. The cute family movie, “We Bought a Zoo,” is a true story about a single dad who decides his family needs a fresh start, so he and his two children move to the most unlikely of places: a zoo. In one scene the dad offers these words to his son who is afraid to do something good in a relationship, “Sometimes all you need is 20 seconds of insane courage. Really, just 20 seconds of embarrassing bravery. And I promise you, something great will come of it.” I think that is probably a good philosophy on life. It only takes 20 seconds to say, “I am sorry.” Twenty seconds to say, “I forgive you.” Or “I was wrong.” It only takes 20 seconds to take the steps to walk away from something destructive in your life. Twenty seconds. That’s all. 10
That’s all the courage you need to take the first step in restoring a broken relationship this Christmas season. The only thing stopping you is your pride. But then that’s what will keep you from so many other good things in your life. That’s why the Christian life is always about dying to self. It’s a supernatural work, for sure, but in taking that first step of courage toward reconciliation we find it is we who are healed. “Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” Matt. 10:39 And when you do…something great will come of it.
Questions for Reflection
Peace on earth begins at home. With whom in your family do you need to restore a right relationship? What step(s) will you take today to make that happen?
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First Friday of Advent The Measure of Our Lives
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he will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins. …The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” —which means, “God with us.” Matthew 1:21, 23 (NIV) Did you realize when God sent His son, Jesus to come to this earth, he gave his Son TWO names? Do you remember what they are? “Jesus,” which means “Savior” and “Immanuel,” which means “God with us.” The pairing of these names tips us off to a reversal in our typical understanding of salvation. We usually think of salvation as Jesus “saves” us from grief, heartache, or whatever we need saving from. What we really want is for Jesus to change our circumstance and make all things better. But God revealed Jesus as the Savior-Immanuel which means that salvation is not our ascent out of the hard, pain-filled conditions of this world. The real miracle…our real salvation is that God is WITH us. The Christian life is not about getting life fixed; because the reality is, some things can’t be fixed. It is about experiencing God’s presence in the mess of our unfixedness. “Spirituality is not about competency; it is about intimacy. Spirituality is not about perfection; it is about connection. The way of the spiritual life begins where we are now -- in the mess of our lives. Accepting the reality of our broken, flawed lives is the beginning of spirituality, not because the spiritual life will remove our flaws, but because we let go of seeking perfection and instead seek God, the one who is present in the tangledness of our lives.” -Mike Yaconelli 12
Salvation is certainly the release from the penalty of our sins but it is more than that. It is a matter of having our eyes opened to see that God is with us in this life. We are not alone in our brokenness. Christ now enters every confusing, fearful, restless place in our lives and offers himself as a place of refuge and peace. Rather than be defined by our circumstances, we discover “the saving love of Christ is the measure of our lives.” When we really see that, we can start to embrace life’s ambiguity and all of sudden it is okay that life is a bit muddled. It’s okay that things don’t make sense and don’t come to tidy conclusions because we can know God is with us in the midst of it. This means we can spend less time worrying about how to get life fixed and a lot more time praying to experience Christ’s presence in every circumstance. Once we understand this, we begin to cultivate a life with God, a life that was not lived on the surface of things. We begin to let go of the “death grip” on our cherished image of life of our own making. Eventually we begin to realize it is not about how we can make life “work” better, but how we can, on a continual basis, stay attentive and available to the transforming presence of Christ in us. In the words of the angel Gabriel, “The Lord is with you….Do not be afraid.”
Questions for Reflection
What circumstances have you been so focused on that you have missed God’s presence in the midst of it? What can you do to cultivate a life that is “not lived on the surface of things”? 13
First Saturday of Advent A Life of Worship
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n coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshipped him.” Matthew 2:11 “The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.” Luke 2:20 Surrounding the birth of Christ was a symphony of worship. The characteristic response to encountering the Christ child was worship. The same is true today. When you heart hear the word “worship” what comes to mind? Standing in church on Sunday morning with your arms raised? Perhaps. To say we “enter into a time of worship” when the band strikes up the first song, suggests that when we sit down our worship ceases. There is no doubt that worship in song has a key role in a life of faith. It is a biblical response seen throughout Scripture and can certainly touch our deepest feelings. But that is not the litmus test for worship. To say that worship happens in church is a dangerous tendency to compartmentalize aspects of our faith. For it is even possible that while we are in a “place” of worship we might not be “all there.” While mouthing the words to a song our minds could be focused on the unfinished task at work or our hearts could be anxious over that unresolved conflict at home. Jesus lamented this reality, “These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me” (Matt. 15:8). How many times have we been guilty of this? James Dwyer wrote, “The act of raising hands in church on Sunday does not, on its own, translate to a life of worship. A life of worship involves seeing and searching for God in the day-to-day, responding to him when we don’t feel like it and putting our entire life into the posture of bowing before him—in our daily decisions, habits and occupations. Merely saying the words isn’t enough; the truths we speak of and read in Scripture must be lived out.” 14
In reality, true worship should pervade all of our life. It happens when we daily place ourselves before God in an act of surrender to receive from him what only he can give; when we stay attentive to his movement and activity and live in faithful responsiveness to it; when we live gratefully for all we have received…all this, and more. I came across this simple prayer that expresses so well a heart of worship, taking the ordinary moments of our lives and offering them back to God in gratitude and surrender: “What joy this brings me, Lord. Thank you for guiding me into the kitchen for some time of silence with you. The room fills with wonderful smells and I share tastes and samples with my family as they make extra trips through the kitchen on days like this. Thank you for each of these special people in my family. They are like the ingredients of my own life, adding spice and heat and wonderful flavor and melding together into a unique dish designed to glorify you. You know, God, cooking is quite a bit like my life. It's messy, I get careless and sometimes things don't turn out as I had planned. But in the mess of my life, that's where I can turn to you. Help me when I have to deal with being so imperfect. Bless me with humility when I grapple with my own poverty. Let me feel how deeply you love me, even when all I have to offer is scorched and humble. Be with me Lord, in this kitchen today. Help me to take the time in this intimate silence with you, to pray for each person who will eat this food. Allow me to remember all of those around the world who have so little food, and bless those who share what little they have.” James Dwyer concludes, “Worship that honors God is not necessarily marked by the most expressive Sunday morning singing. Rather, a life of worship is one that speaks of God, that listens to God, that sees God in the world and that responds to God.”
Questions for Reflection
If someone were to ask you, “What is worship?” What would you say? What might worship look like for you today…in your home…on your way to work…preparing dinner…doing chores? 15
Second Sunday of Advent What Joy!
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his is the second Sunday of Advent. If you are using an Advent wreath, you light the second candle (along with the first), appropriately called the “Joy” candle.
“My soul glorifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.” Luke 1:46 (NIV) I wrote earlier of Mary’s incredible response to the angel Gabriel’s proclamation that God has chosen her to give birth to the world’s savior. Not only did she willingly abandon her dreams, and surrender her expectation of how life should go, she actually broke out in song of God’s goodness! It’s funny how most of my prayers seem to center around asking God to change my circumstances. I want God to conform to my cherished plans for my life, but Mary would have none of that. Mary understood, as Eugene Peterson writes, “Joy always involved delight in what God is doing.” She embraced a deeper reality of God’s purposes and ways which were creatively higher than her own and responded with abandon to the activity of God in her life. Joy happens, not when all is well, but when we experience ourselves drawn into the whirlwind of God’s creative activity in the world. Mary’s life is swept up in the great movement of God’s love in the world and ecstatic joy pours from her: “My soul glorifies the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my savior, for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of her servant.” Luke 1:46-47
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Once when we realize God is constantly at work orchestrating our lives that we might find meaning, value, purpose and identity (Acts 17:26-28) do we quit obsessing for control and come to God with open hands and are able to receive the life Jesus came to give us. Once when we view the spiritual life, as Mary did, as a pilgrimage of deepening responsiveness to God’s control of our life do we let go of our white-knuckled grip on our carefully constructed plans and allow him to define our lives. Only then, will we learn what it means to embrace a God whose ways are higher than our ways; who loves us deeply and invites us to work and walk with him. We will then learn to trust him and that he knows what he is doing and join him on an adventure filled with mystery, and messiness, joy and hardship, beauty and disappointments. This faithful pilgrimage of deepening responsiveness to God’s ways in our lives invites us to abandon what we thought the journey should look like and trust that something will happen in us that is far beyond our wildest imaginations. Once we learn to keep in step with a dance in which we are not leading, a deep-rooted joy is available that is not dependent on circumstances. And who knows? You may even break forth in song.
Questions for Reflection
What “treasured” ideal are you holding on to with “white knuckles”? What keeps you from releasing it to God?
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Second Monday of Advent The God Who Stoops
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ut when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law.” Gal. 4:4 (NIV)
"Many people visualize a god who sits comfortably on a distant throne, remote, aloof, uninterested and indifferent to the needs of mortals, until they can badger him into taking action on their behalf. The Bible reveals a God who, long before it even occurs to man to turn to him, while man is still lost in darkness and sunk in sin, rises from His throne, lays aside his glory, and stoops to seek until He finds him." -John Stott, Basic Christianity That's what Christmas is to me; the graciousness of a God who stoops. The God who puts aside his own glory and meets us where we are. He takes the first step towards us. And the next. And the next. Like a long set of stairs, before we take our first step toward God we see God coming to us. Descending. Until he is so close all we have to do is open our arms to embrace him. Stephen Verney wrote, “This is the nature of the encounter, not that I am stumbling towards the Abba Father, but that the Abba Father is running towards me.” In the Christian life, it’s important we understand that the spiritual life does not originate with us. The Biblical narrative is the story of the God who pursues us and draws us into relationship with himself. Think of all the characters of the Bible. Abraham, Moses, David, Paul. Think of their story. It’s the story of God coming to them and initiating his redemptive purposes. Again and again. Eugene Peterson wrote, “The assumption of spirituality is that always God is doing something before I know it. So the task is not to get God to do something I think needs to be done, but to become aware of what God 18
is doing so that I can respond to it and participate and take delight in it.” The goal it seems is that we might respond as Mary did to God’s initiative in her life, “May it be as you have said” (Luke 1:38). Like one who walks in late to a meeting, we simply get to accept, enter into, and submit to what God already doing in our heart by the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:28-29). It is this ongoing rhythm of God’s initiative and our response that is the constant movement of the spiritual life. In the Christmas story, we see it yet again. “But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law” (Gal. 4:4). (Emphasis mine.) God’s intention of redeeming mankind was initiated in Christ’s coming, demonstrated in the cross, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8), and yet is still on-going, “What we've learned is this: God does not respond to what we do; we respond to what God does. We've finally figured it out. Our lives get in step with God and all others by letting him set the pace, not by proudly or anxiously trying to run the parade. God sets right all who welcome his action and enter into it, both those who follow our religious system and those who have never heard of our religion” (Romans 3:27, 30). (Emphasis mine) The incredible thing is this: once we realize it is God’s nature to seek us out and draw us to himself, instead of struggling to “make the Christian life work,” we cultivate hearts that are focused and alive to what God is doing to keep us in relationship with him. And there’s a kind of exhilaration because God is doing something….even in a little way, we have hope.
Questions for Reflection
Take some time today to pay attention to what God is doing. What do you sense God initiating? How might you respond in a way, like Mary, that embraces what he is up to? 19
Second Tuesday of Advent The Discovered Life
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virgin conceiving. An arch angel appearing. God taking on flesh. Parenting the Savior of the world. What do you do with things too hard to comprehend? What do you do when the ways and purposes of God dismantle your carefully planned life? How do you take it all in without having a panic attack? We probably feel a lot like the little boy in his first day of first grade as he put his coat on after lunch. The teacher asked what he was doing. “I’m going home now,” he replied matter-of-factly. “Oh, no. You are here all day now.” In which the little boy stomps his foot and demands, “Who signed me up for this?” Who of us have not felt that same frustration? Who signed me up for this? we want to scream. I have done a lot of foot-stomping in my lifetime, sometimes demanding God give an account of himself. We don’t see any of this in Mary. Not even a hint. She wasn’t sideswiped by a God who doesn’t stay in his box. She had an incredible capacity to absorb a weighty reality and not get freaked out. As Ruth Haley Barton writes, that residing in Mary was “a profound readiness to set aside her own personal concerns in order to participate in the will of God as it unfolded in human history.” How could she respond with such abandon? Scripture gives us a clue: “Mary kept all these things to herself, holding them dear, deep within herself.” Luke 2:19 (TM) “His mother held these things dearly, deep within herself.” Luke 2:51 (TM) Other translations use the terms, “treasured” and “pondered,” which means “to consider something deeply, thoroughly and thoughtfully.” Long before the angel appeared that day, Mary had developed a reliable pattern of living: there was space in her life to be alone with God, to speak to him, 20
to listen to him, to ponder his words deep in her heart. It was a welcomed and intentional space that gave calm to her chattering and anxious mind. It was a place to hear her own soul speak and to connect with God more deeply. It was a place of renewed perspective; where she could remember who God was and settle into who she was in such a way that she could respond to the angel’s proclamation, instantly and unwaveringly, “I am the Lord’s servant. May it be to me as you have said.” We need to be alone with God in silence to be renewed and transformed, which honors those things in us that rarely have a chance to surface. Gunilla Norris, in Inviting Silence, wrote, “By making room for silence, we resist the forces of the world which tell us to live an advertised life of surface appearances, instead of a discovered life – a life lived in contact with our senses, our feelings, our deepest thoughts and values.” Yet almost everything within our world inhibits our ability to embrace such spaciousness in our lives. For the most part, stopping and quieting ourselves, and limiting distractions in the midst of our busy lives is sheer discipline. It’s totally counter-intuitive, but one of the premier disciplines of the soul. In silence we release our own agendas and we open ourselves to what God wants to give. “In it (silence) we are filled with the energy of God himself that makes us do all things with joy” -Mother Teresa. The Advent season is the perfect time to create space in your life to meet with God because it is all about staying attentive to God’s presence in the hubbub of our busy lives. Don’t miss his coming today to you. Why not create a quiet place to meet with God and give him your undivided attention?
Questions for Reflection
In what ways has God “not stayed in his box” in your life? How might you respond like Mary? Take some time today to practice silence and solitude to be with God. 21
Second Wednesday of Advent Dangerous Wonder
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ow will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?” Luke 1:34 (NIV)
“How can this be?” Mary asked the angel who foretold the birth of Christ who would be born through her. God taking on flesh. Such a thought! Wonder of all wonders. Inconceivable. Incomprehensible. Two thousand years later, we continue to ask, “How can this be?” Immanuel-God with us. God’s presence is no longer mediated by bricks and mortar, but now resides in us. God is no longer out there; he dwells in us by faith (Gal. 2:20; Col. 1:27; 2 Cor. 13:5; 1 Cor. 3:16; James 4:5; Rom. 8:9; 2 Tim. 1:14). Such marvelous mystery! Christ came not only to save us from our sins, but to live in us and make available to us an abundant, interactive life with God who is marvelously creative and actively present in our lives. “Take surprise out of faith and all that is left is dry and dead religion. Take away, mystery from the gospel and all that is left is a frozen and petrified dogma. Lose your awe of God and you are left with an impotent deity. Abandon astonishment and you are left with meaningless piety. When religion is characterized by sameness, when faith is franchised, when the genuineness of our experience with God is evaluated by its similarities to others’ faith, then the uniqueness of God’s people is dead and the church is lost.” -Michael Yaconelli, Dangerous Wonder, p. 29 The reality is that we follow a Savior we do not understand. We live with a God whose ways we do not fully comprehend. We worship a God who is often mysterious—too mysterious to fit our formulas for better living. He cannot be contained by our theological boxes or subtle unbelief. He is sovereign. He is God. I am not. I, for one, am glad. My goal is not to 22
live by a set of precisely defined and defendable beliefs. My goal is to recover the wonder of my God. Dan Taylor writes, “The goal of faith is not to create a set of immutable, rationalized, precisely defined and defendable beliefs to preserve forever. It is to recover a relationship with God. It is not about mastering principles or trying to harness tips and techniques of the spiritual life. Nor is it about performance or hoops for us to jump through; there are no steps to ascend; no moral pattern of right living in hopes to achieve some measure of acceptability. That is the difference between belief system and living faith.” And wonder is the only adequate launching pad to keep our eyes wide open and alive to the life God is bringing to us. To throw our lives open to the transforming grace of God will require being comfortable with a process we cannot fully understand. It will be messy, at times maddening, and will take some measure of surrender to what we thought this life would look like and where it will take us. The challenge of this with-God life is that it involves not a finite set of facts to know, but rather a mysterious and unknowable life to enter by faith…filled with wonder. The alternative, however, is that we can have all the right answers and miss God’s transforming presence altogether. I love what a friend of mine wrote, “I understand that this journey is about a life with God, sitting with him, reflecting him to others, receiving and giving grace, being changed by him alone. It is a mystery that I cannot grasp that He does that in me, quietly and gently, when I steal away with him.”
Questions for Reflection
What are some words that could best describe your life with God? Do they describe a belief system or a grace-filled life with God? How might you begin to live more grace-fully and wondrously alive? 23
Second Thursday of Advent The Most Wonderful, Awful Time of the Year
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o them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” Colossians 1:27 (NIV)
Christmas is the most wonderful, awful time of the year. Yesterday I wrote about the wonder of Christmas. For the casual reader, you may have thought it another piece about candlelight, a starlit night, neatly (or extravagantly) wrapped presents, or an intact family gathered around the uncarved turkey on an elaborately coordinated table setting, and skimmed right over it. If that’s what you did, I understand. For too long we have created this image that Christmas centers around a picture-perfectly decorated home dictated by the latest women’s magazine and families cozied by the fire reading Christmas stories and eating cookies. Not that this is bad. It’s just not reality for most of us. By now we have come to understand that for many, Christmas is about anything but “merry and bright.” I get that. As a society, we get that. We’ve read the ponderous articles on the increased suicide rate during the holidays and the flood of how-to articles of “getting through” the season with your emotional well-being intact. We just read in our newspaper or watched on television a shooting in a crowded mall. Today we read of a school shooting. By now we have come to realize Christmas is a season that seems to only make sense for happy people. The harsh reality of the empty chair or the empty heart that so many face makes it almost impossible to enjoy the season because of the freshness of their pain. For those dealing with the harshness of cancer, or the bitterness of relationship gone awry, or the 24
bleakness of a job loss, they can scarcely imagine joy. Even in the best of circumstances, navigating the ins and outs of Christmas can be overwhelming and messy. The wonder of Christmas is not a sentimental feeling or a magazine photo op. You don’t have to opt out of Christmas, hoping to just get through it, because the wonder of Christmas is none of these things. The wonder of Christmas (in case you missed it) is that Christ came to not only share in our pain but to carry our pain. The wonder of Christ means we do not have a God who is afar off and indifferent to our suffering but has gone through the same suffering and “gets it.” The wonder of Christmas is that we are not alone in this world but we have a Savior who lives in us so that we might experience true peace and comfort and joy that is not based on the discord of our days. Christmas is for the wounded. The beaten down. The lonely. The desperate. The fearful. Christ’s coming is the most hopeful thing we have in this world. Don’t miss it because it comes wrapped in something else. The funny thing is, Christmas is for those who find it hardest to enjoy.
Questions for Reflection
As Christmas time approaches, what would you say is most true about how you feel about it? What false expectations have you held on to? What would it look like to you today to know that God is with you? 25
Second Friday of Advent Re-gifting
“A
new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” John 13:34 (NIV)
Everyone’s done it. Few are willing to admit it. Yet, we might as well come clean. At some point or another we’ve all…re-gifted. For whatever reason, it became more expedient to “pass on” a gift given to us. There’s no shame in that. In fact, it’s biblical! The fact is, all of life is a gift…the breath we breathe, the health we enjoy, the job we have, the healing and wholeness we have received, the love of Christ shone in our hearts, the abundant life that bubbles in us. It is out of this abundance that we’ve freely received that we are to re-gift, or offer, to others. Our formation in Christ is, by its very nature, missional. For all of our talk of our formation in Christ, much that happens in us (the transformation of our inner life-thoughts, attitudes, desires, reactions) ends up being for others. If all of this is not lived out expressed in love, compassion and mercy to others…the poor, the marginalized, the person in need…then our hearts have not been formed as we think we have. Many wrongly think our spiritual formation is about feeding our souls for the sake of our well-being. On the contrary, it is intensely practical. The fuller life in Christ comes not only as we give attention to our own growth but largely as we give ourselves away. As we align ourselves with the person and work of Christ in becoming his disciples, our actions naturally flow out of heart like his, demonstrating the love that has shaped us. In fact, Christ is not fully formed in us until it finds its greatest expression in 26
love and sacrificial service for others. Compassionate acts come out of hearts of compassion. Acts of compassion cannot just be programs that come and go…they must become the stuff of our everyday lives as God’s people on mission. Knowing Christ HAS to make a difference in the way we live. Our faith must become an embodied faith, where our witness to the world is based more on the weight of our actions than the strength of our arguments. We are not elected for privilege but for service; to live not as exclusive beneficiaries of God’s saving work, but as bearers of this grace to the rest of the world. The more we become like Jesus the more we should instinctively give our lives away to a hurting world. More than anything, we need to understand that our love for others must be sincere and must flow from the love we have received from God. It is not to be a contrived love, but genuine -- as a result of the work of the Holy Spirit in our own lives. Lord, by your grace, make this our desire and our experience and as it becomes true of us, may we live well before and on behalf of others.
Questions for Reflection
How does this square with your understanding of being a Christ follower? What difference does Christ make in your life?
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Second Saturday of Advent A Matter of Heart
“I
will give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord. They will be my people, and I will be their God, for they will return to me with all their heart.” Jeremiah 24:7 (NIV)
When you think about it, the first Christmas was not much different than today. Busy schedules, crowded places, tense emotions, no room. And the tragedy is, as it is today, that most of humanity missed the greatest event in history -- except for those who were looking; those whose hearts were open to what God was doing. Like the shepherds…“When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, ‘Let us go to Bethlehem and see this thing that as happened.’” Luke 2:15 And the Magi, aliens from another country…they saw the star and said, “Something must be happening here!” Did you ever stop to think that the star could be seen by everyone? But the Magi were the only ones in the hustle and bustle of the day that saw it. They didn’t need stained glass windows, Christmas music playing in the background, or snow softly falling. They worshipped in a smelly place with smelly animals. I wonder at all the times you and I have missed what God was up to simply because our hearts were distracted. Jesus still comes today in the midst of the push and shove of our lives. He is truly God with us. If only we have eyes to see and ears to hear and a heart to receive. Do you think worship might be a matter of the heart? “What more can be said, what greater case could be made than this: to find God, you must look with all your heart. To remain present to God, 28
you must remain present to your heart. To hear his voice, you must listen with your heart. To love him, you must love with all your heart. You cannot be the person God meant you to be, and you cannot live the life he meant you to live, unless you live from the heart.” -John Eldridge, Waking the Dead. This was why Jesus was always bumping up against the Pharisees, the religious leaders of the day. They thought they had the spiritual life all figured out. The outer life of activity and duty, conforming your behavior to a set of carefully defined beliefs is what goes into a life pleasing to God, they contended. "You're dead wrong," Jesus said. "In fact, you're just plain dead [whitewashed tombs]. What God cares about is the inner life, the life of the heart" (Matt. 23:25-28 TM). Bethlehem -- it’s probably not what you think. On the supposed spot where Jesus was born stands a large stone church. It is said to be the oldest church in the world. Behind a high lavish altar in the church, you walk through some thick musty curtains, descend down well-worn stairs quarried out of a rock into a small cave. In this cave is yet another smaller cavern where a star is embedded in the floor that marks the spot of Jesus’ birth. There’s one stipulation, however. You have to stoop. The opening is so low you can’t gaze at it standing up. You have to bow. To see the Christ you not only have to get on your knees…you have to bow your heart.
Questions for Reflection
In what ways have you seen yourself caught up in a life of duty and obligation? What does it mean to you to live from the heart? 29
Third Sunday of Advent Sacredness of the Ordinary
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his is the third Sunday of Advent. If you are using an Advent wreath, you light the third candle (along with the first & second). “Pray without ceasing.” 1 Thessalonians 5:17 (NIV)
“Majesty in the midst of the mundane. Holiness in the filth of sheep manure and sweat. Divinity entering the world on the floor of a stable, through the womb of a teenager and in the presence of a carpenter…the merchants are unaware that God has visited the planet. The innkeeper would never believe that he had just sent God into the cold. And the people would scoff at anyone who told them the Messiah lay in the arms of a teenager on the outskirts of their village. They were all too busy to consider the possibility. Those who missed His Majesty’s arrival that night missed it not because of evil acts or malice; no, they missed it because they simply weren’t looking. Little has changed in the last two thousand years, has it?” -God Came Near by Max Lucado The coming of Jesus marked a dramatic turn in the way we relate to God. No more do we journey to a grand building dictated by pomp and circumstance. While we will always love experiencing God in the extraordinary or the extravagant, Jesus reveals an important counterpart in Matt. 25, a healthy balance to solely focusing on the extraordinary. Jesus invites us to see God in the ordinary: in a cup of cold water, in a welcome to a stranger, in food or clothing given to someone in need, in a visit to the sick or imprisoned. “Whatever you did for them you did for me.” The invitation is to experience God in the common things of life, like a manger on a starry night. If we limit God to the dramatic and the extraordinary, not only will we devalue the ordinary, we will miss the many times he comes to us throughout our day. Someone has said, “When our everyday activities aren’t sacramental, they soon become flat and we unconsciously compensate by increasing the dosage.” 30
So how do we value the ordinary? How do we encounter God in all the days, hours and minutes when we are not experiencing the overtly spiritual or the spiritually dramatic? There is no method or technique to be mastered, but there is an attitude to be cultivated. It is possible for us to develop a constant, habitual awareness that God is present, and to learn to be attentive and responsive to that presence. We need to trust, of course, that God truly is with us, always, (Immanuel) even though we are not always aware of his presence. Practicing this kind of awareness is a way of living into a deeper recognition of God’s activity in our lives and staying connected throughout our day. In a very real sense, this is how these verses on prayer come to make sense: “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thess. 5:17); “Be constant in prayer” (Rom. 12:12); “Pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests” (Eph. 6:18). Our lives, then, become a ceaseless prayer. All lines between secular and holy vanish and we realize life itself is holy and begin to truly live it unto God. We are no longer bound by the dissatisfaction of our consumer culture that tells us to keep striving for more stuff, more success, more of everything. But we are invited to live in the joy and contentment of seeing every moment as a gift from God, which causes all things to be celebratory. “There is no event so common place but that God is present within it, always hidden, always leaving you room to recognize him. If I were called upon to state in a few words that essence of everything I was trying to say both as a novelist and as a preacher, it would be something like this: Listen to your life. See it for the fathomless mystery it is. In the boredom and pain of it no less than in the excitement and gladness: touch, taste, smell your way to the holy and hidden heart of it because in the last analysis all moments are key moments, and life itself is grace.” -Now and Then by Frederick Buechner
Questions for Reflection
How have you typically expected to encounter God? What circumstance you do find yourself in that you need to see God in it? How can this happen? 31
Third Monday of Advent The Now-But-Not-Yet Kingdom
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or to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this.” Isaiah 9:6-8 (NIV) This is a prophetic statement by Isaiah concerning the establishment of Christ’s kingdom reign. Advent places us squarely in the middle of this reality…for the birth of Christ marked the beginning of the coming of the kingdom of God. Most scholars seem to agree that more than any other theme, Jesus taught the present availability of the reign or kingdom of God. (Matt. 3:2; 4:7) Over and over throughout the gospels we read of Jesus saying, ”The kingdom of God is like…” He dared to say that you can live this full reality right now. We often think of the kingdom of God in a strictly future tense or only as a destination or place: heaven. But this isn’t just what Jesus meant when He spoke about the kingdom of God. For sure Jesus was talking about eternal life with God, but it was not just about some place we will go after we die. He was also talking about abundant life right here and right now! In Jesus’ birth, the kingdom has broken into human history in a new and significant way. Yet the kingdom has not yet arrived in all its fullness, and won’t be fully realized until Jesus returns. As theologians sometimes put it, the kingdom is both already and not yet. Or to paraphrase N.T. Wright, it’s as if God has taken a page from the end of history and put it in the middle of the story. The glorious future that awaits us has begun 32
now, and Jesus invites us to participate in the present reality of his kingdom and redemptive purposes. So Advent reminds us that we live between these two events, the first and second Advent of Christ. We live between the times, in the already and not yet of God’s kingdom. The word for living in this way -- living in the in-between with trust and surrender -- is called faith. And the question we must answer is, “Is the kingdom of God a present reality in our lives?” Is our understanding of living under God’s kingly rule reflected in the way we live? One of the best descriptions of the essence of this kingdom is contained in one of our most familiar prayers: “Your kingdom come...Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matt. 6:10). It seems that where God’s will is done with perfect submission is his kingdom revealed. This is how God invites us to participate with him in bringing about his healing and redemptive purposes here on earth. How does that happen in our lives? Jesus gave us a clue in Matt. 18:2-4: “He called a little child and had him stand among them. And he said: ‘I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.’” Humility, forgiveness, simplicity and trust...qualities of children are the necessary qualities that allow us to live lives in perfect submission to God’s ways and purposes in our lives.
Questions for Reflection
How has this changed your view of the kingdom of God? To repeat two previous questions: Is the kingdom of God a present reality in your life? How might living under God’s kingly rule be reflected in the way you live? 33
Third Tuesday of Advent Marks of the Kingdom
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esterday I wrote about how the kingdom of God is a kingdom that is both already and not yet. Advent marked the beginning to the rule and reign of God in our hearts and lives with the coming of Christ incarnate. So Jesus was not only talking about a place or an afterlife or future return, but a way of seeing, thinking and living now (Matthew 3:2; 4:17). It is a present reality waiting to be grasped. So what does such a kingdom look like in our midst? Most of Jesus’ contemporaries didn’t get it. The idea of “kingdom” conjures up ideas far from the reality of what Jesus so carefully taught. Sometimes we don’t get it either. Jesus described his role or mission in this kingdom in Luke 4:16-19: “He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written: ‘The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.’” Jesus described his kingdom as being marked by justice, peace and righteousness and love. God sent Jesus not to establish a kingdom founded on violence, coercion and control. It was not the establishment of an army or a religion. It was the rule of love in the hearts of people. Note what is recorded in Luke 17:20-21, “Once, on being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, ‘The coming of the kingdom of God is not something that can be observed, nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is within you.’” 34
Once we understand this the New Testament makes more sense. For example when Jesus, at the discourse during the Last Supper said, “A new commandment I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another”…Jesus places this new commandment as only second in loving God with all your heart. This would be the distinguishing mark of those citizens in the kingdom. During that same discussion is when Jesus said, “I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his mater’s business. Instead I have called you friends…” (John 15:15) “I now call you friends”…living in the kingdom encompasses holding a deeply help friendship with Jesus. It would be so much easier for all of us today if Jesus then gave a ten point sermon “This is the kingdom and this is what you do about it.” It would have been so much easier to have a set of rules to live by. But Jesus doesn't give us that. Jesus didn’t leave us with a list of do and don’ts. He called us into relationship with him in this new kingdom whereby our lives would be marked by love and compassion. I was surprised during my devotions one time to realize that although the gospels talk constantly about Jesus announcing the kingdom, even in Acts 1, I read that during the 40 days between his resurrection and ascension he again, “spoke about the kingdom of God.” What does the kingdom look like? Jesus seemed to link the kingdom with the life of the Spirit in us as “go about our day living as representatives of a loving God, sharing generously our time, our homes, our resources, our lives with those around us.”
Questions for Reflection
How is this description of the kingdom of God different than the one you imagined? How might you participate with God in bringing about his kingdom on earth? 35
Third Wednesday of Advent Beyond the Rhetoric
“I
tell you, love your enemies. Help and give without expecting a return. You’ll never—I promise—regret it. Live out this God-created identity the way our Father lives toward us, generously and graciously, even when we’re at our worst. Our Father is kind; you be kind.” Luke 6:35-36 (NIV) I wrote yesterday about what it looks like to live as citizens of God’s kingdom and how our lives are to be marked by love, compassion and justice. This seems to be contrasted by the story I read this week of a Christian man in our community who put up at large wooden sign in his front yard. It read, “Jesus is the reason for the season.” Now I agree wholeheartedly with his sentiment but unfortunately the large sign was against his neighborhood covenants. We understand covenants. They help maintain a set of neighborhood standards. Covenants for his development say signs can’t be more than 2’ X 2’. This one was 6’ X 3½’. The association says the Jesus message would be welcome on a sign the right size. But he refused to take it down; even after repeated requests from the homeowners association. The story made the front page of our local newspaper with the headlines: “Jesus sign raises ire in Pasco neighborhood.” Ire, indeed. While I don't question this man’s sincerity or the accuracy of his sign, I wonder how a living faith has been reduced to a belief system defended at all costs and seemingly antithetic to the way of Jesus and his kingdom purposes. In a world skeptic of empty platitudes, they have grown weary of arguing about who is in and who is out. Richard Rohr wrote, “We must move from a belief-based religion to a practice-based religion, or little will change. We will merely continue to argue about what we are supposed to believe and who the unbelievers are.” This kind of belief-based religion will always put more emphasis on fortifying our own position rather than on how we treat others. Soon our 36
actions, or inaction, are disconnected from the reality of the kingdom Jesus instituted at his coming we celebrate at Christmas. The question we must ask ourselves is, “What is most loving to my neighbor?” I don’t know what his neighbor’s thought of his refusal to remove his sign, but I wonder if the kingdom God is better served in a different way. I wonder if the message of Christmas would have a greater impact in their lives if he invited them into his home for a meal or helped them shovel their snow-covered driveway. I wonder how the love of Christ might have been revealed and made real simply through a cup of hot cocoa or hanging some Christmas lights for someone else. Our faith, rather than based on the strength of our argument, is more about how we move in the world and reflect Jesus. More than a deeplyheld belief system, it is a way of living; expressed in love, compassion and mercy to others…the poor, the marginalized, the lonely. Jesus said these are the things that should characterize kingdom people and if we do not respond to people in this way, our hearts have not been formed as we think we have. We move from the former to the latter through humility, compassion and love; which is a lot harder to come by than espousing sentimental rhetoric. (It may be not be sentimental rhetoric to us, but it is to a world bored with hallow words.) Loving our neighbor is second only to loving God, yet Jesus inextricably linked them together. Our love for Christ is best expressed in the hard work of loving our neighbor. We live as beneficiaries of God’s saving work and are called to be bearers of that same grace to the rest of the world.
Questions for Reflection
Can you think of a time when you relied more on the strength of your argument than on how you treated someone to share the gospel? Why is loving your neighbor such hard work? How might you reach out to your neighbor this week, not to “win” them to Christ, but to simply be their friend? 37
Third Thursday of Advent The Fruit of Distraction
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ixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.” Hebrews 12:2 (NIV)
My husband is the smartest man in the world. He always gets the perfect gift. He learned a valuable secret early on in our marriage…he just buys petite and saves the receipt. If you’re like me the greatest challenge of Christmas is not finding coordinating wrapping paper and bows, it’s not preparing the perfect Christmas dinner, it’s not even staying within budget. It’s keeping perspective. It’s as they say, keeping Christ in Christmas…keeping focused on the real reason we celebrate. It’s even harder to train our children. For I believe all of us have been shaped by our consumer culture more than we think. The reality of missing it hit home when my first born was 2 years old. He was the first grandchild and the gifts were stacked taller than he was. Waiting for the nod, he began ripping off the wrapping paper faster than I could keep up with him. I tried frantically to help him appreciate each gift…”Oh, it’s a truck! Tell Aunt Cheri, ‘thank you.’” “Oh, it’s a baseball hat, tell Uncle Glen, ‘thank you.’” On and on it went. It was chaotic. Catching on to my cue, but so caught up in the process, he grabbed the next present, ripped off the wrapping, he held it up and exclaimed, “Oh, it’s a box!” and threw it aside. And in the same movement he grabbed the next available present. I knew we’d created a monster. Mesmerized by the wrapping, he missed the gift hidden inside. The tragedy was, for the moment the wrappings satisfied him. And from that time on it has been an uphill battle to keep perspective in our home. 38
Richard Foster began his classic book, Celebration of Discipline, with this appraisal on the condition of the American culture: “Superficiality is the curse of our age.” Now 25 years later when asked in an interview, “If superficiality is the curse of the modern age, what's the curse of the postmodern age?” His answer: Distraction. Dallas Willard echoes this sentiment: “The condition of our hearts and our churches today…is distraction. And the fruit of distraction: we don’t go in any direction that’s worth going in.” Keeping our spiritual focus in the midst of so much is a premier discipline of the soul. Otherwise, we will discover one day how lost we’ve become. “The word ‘amusement’ literally means ‘to not think.’ In other words… to be distracted. Like my young son, we become so caught up in the trivialities of our consumer culture with iPods, iPads, satellite TV, electronic games, we often miss from the real gift. Staying attentive in the spiritual life is one of the most difficult disciplines and requires a consistent training of our hearts. It’s a very real temptation in our consumerist society: Rather than seek God himself, we are satisfied with lesser things. Like my young son, we throw aside the One who alone brings abundant life for temporary trivialities only to find disillusionment and disappointment as soon as there are no more gifts to open. Am I against gifts at Christmas? Certainly not! The giving and receiving of gifts is part of the love we share as families. Let’s just keep them in their proper place knowing our possessions do not satisfy the longings of our soul and often distract us from what really matters.
Questions for Reflection
Can you think of ways you have been formed by our consumerist culture? What can you do this Christmas season to lessen this? 39
Third Friday of Advent The Christ of Christmas
“N
ow to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever! Amen.” Ephesians 3:20-21 (NIV) At the foot of the Italian Alps there is a little chapel which has an unusual arrangement of statues. On the inside of the little chapel building there are statues of the Old Testament prophets. All of them are pointing toward the altar and a central statute of Jesus. Although the Christmas season is a time of wonder and is filled with brilliant lights and beautiful decorations, if that is all you see in Christmas, you miss the whole point. The whole point is Jesus. What in this season can compare to the supreme, surpassing overwhelming greatness of Christ? In fact, everything in Christianity hangs on the person of Jesus. The entirety and testimony of Scripture points to Christ (John 5:39; Luke 24:27, 31, 44-45). The Holy Spirit’s role is to reveal Christ to our hearts (John 15:26; John 16:13-15). The apostles’ message (Acts 5:42) echoed Paul’s message when he wrote, “We proclaim him…” (Col. 1:28 NASB). Indeed, Paul’s message, passion, and unction of his life jumps off every page of his writings and is echoed throughout Church history, ”For me to live is Christ…” (Phil. 1:21) and “I want to know Christ…” (Phil. 3:10). Yet, we have made Christianity about so many things: right methods, right doctrine, right behavior, right belief, principles for living, getting life fixed, rules, laws, and on and on it goes. But Jesus did not come to give us a religion or a set of beliefs, or even a better way of living, he came to give us himself.
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What are the implications for us? We get a dramatic picture of it in one of Paul’s great prayers: “I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever! Amen.” Eph. 3:16-21 Paul’s great prayer in Eph. 3 was for the Spirit to reveal the unfathomable, glorious, limitless, radiant, loving Christ to our hearts. It is not a doctrine of Christ but a spiritual seeing that we need. Paul reasoned, if we could experience Christ…having an inward revelation in our hearts by the Holy Spirit and allow this inward knowing to occupy our hearts… Christ would be enough. In other words, everything in the Christian life stems from such a revelation to our hearts. Being a Christian has never been a matter of becoming a religious person but rather living with the awareness of Christ as an ever-present reality in our lives. There is so much more to being a disciple than believing and trusting Jesus from the onset; it is a life-long, interactive, an engaging way of living with Jesus himself that allows us to live with a very real sense of his nearness, availability and fathomless love. This is the confidence that grounds our lives and allows us to experience fullness of life as God intended and the abundant life Jesus died to give us.
Questions for Reflection
In what ways have you been distracted from Christ this Christmas season? What can you do today to adjust your view? 41
Third Saturday of Advent A Christmas Prayer
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nd I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” Ephesians 3:17-19 Thank you, Lord, for these quiet unnoticed-by-the-world moments. For this time before the sun has come up and the darkness in only pierced by the three candles I have lit on the advent wreath. Before the kids begin arriving today (and little Tessa who just learned to pull herself up to a standing position) I bask in the quiet and sit in your presence. It’s like the world stands still for just a moment. The pressures of obligations and expectations (outwardly and inwardly imposed) are non-existent. I pray for my family. I pray for things like stable jobs, healthy relationships, faithful friends, good health and a myriad of other things. I pray for a sort-ofgeneral “blessing” on them. Then I realize is what really I want…is for them to be okay. I want things to go well for them so they will be okay. I don’t want them to have to experience broken relationships or debilitating health issues or suffocating financial pressures so they don’t live from a place of brokenness or woundedness. It could be asking too much in this world. And that scares me. It is then I come to see Paul’s gracious prayer in Eph. 3:16-20 (TM) in a new light: “I ask him to strengthen you by his Spirit—not a brute strength but a glorious inner strength—that Christ will live in you as you open the door and invite him in. And I ask him that with both feet planted firmly on love, you’ll be able to take in with all followers of Jesus the extravagant dimensions of Christ’s love. Reach out and experience the breadth! Test its length! Plumb the depths! Rise to the heights! Live full lives, full in the fullness of God.” God can do anything, you 42
know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us.” The only secure place for us to live from is our own belovedness in Christ. This is not just a good saying. It must become the reality of our lives. If we are standing on anything else (job, relationship, health, etc.) for our sense of identity or security we are only well if those things are going well. There has to be a deeper place from which we live that is not dependent on the sway of life. So this is what I pray for them. That they… and you and me…would live with both feet firmly planted on God’s love; that we would take in all the extravagant dimensions of Christ’s love for us; that we could actually experience…in the deepest part of our being… its breadth and depth. And come to live full lives (beyond our wildest imagination!) no matter what our days may bring. May it be this Christmas season. May it be in these coming moments of blissful chaos and harried celebration that we open our hearts and invite him, Immanuel, to work and live fully in us, knowing our hearts are being formed not by the wounds we receive in this life but by the presence of Christ who dwells in us.
Questions for Reflection
What scares you most as you think about your days? How might you come to understand and experience the love of God so deep that it becomes a reality in your life? 43
Fourth Sunday of Advent A Good Enough Christmas
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his is the fourth Sunday of Advent. If you are using an Advent wreath, you light the fourth candle (along with the first, second, & third). “For the Mighty One has done great things for me—holy is his name.” Luke 1:49
Christians are divided in their thinking about Christmas. Some want to give up on it and hand it over to the department stores. Others want to salvage it and use it to say something important about the birth of Jesus to a weary secular world. I, for one, would like to take my place with the second group. As Christian we are not called to shrink back from our culture, we are called to participate with God in his redemptive plans. If we are going to redeem Christmas we are going to have to offer our world something more life-giving than packed schedules, frenzied shopping and late-night wrappings . Yet it is equally important we recognize that it was in the middle of the hubbub, the lights and tinsel, the wrapping and trappings, that Christ is found. If we wait until the right moment when “all is calm and all is bright” we may miss is coming to us altogether. If we are not careful we can get caught up in trying so hard to create the “perfect” Christmas (carefully designed by our consumer culture) that we drive ourselves and our families crazy. For years I tried to create the perfect Christmas scenario…candles, twinkling lights, cookies baking, hot cider on the stove, coordinated presents under the tree. Yet no matter how I tried it was never like the magazines. The candles catch the doilies on fire; the kids fight over who got the least sprinkles on their cookies, and the 44
lights don’t twinkle…they just go on and off…mostly off. I would vow every year that next year would be “better.” I’d shop earlier, bake more, entertain more often, buy the Nutcracker tickets before they are sold out. The fact is our kids won’t remember the matching napkins or the coordinated Christmas balls. It’s been many years now since I quit trying to achieve the perfect Christmas. My expectations now for Christmas is… good enough. Sometimes I make Christmas cut-out cookie with my granddaughter; sometimes we decorate store-bought ones (complete with sprinkles); sometimes we don’t decorate cookies at all. Sometimes we gather as a family and watch White Christmas; sometimes we scatter around the house involved in other things. Sometimes we play games late into the night; sometimes I am exhausted from the day and fall asleep on the couch. The fact that we can be together makes it good. Even when someone’s feeling get hurt, or someone has to arrive late (or leave early) or the gift you ordered didn’t make in time for Christmas. What they will remember is the time you spent as a family celebrating the things that make your family unique. For us it’s gathering around the Advent wreath, someone playing “Jingle Bells” (or “Oh, Come All Ye Faithful”) on the piano; reading the cards we received that day in the mail and praying for the ones who sent it…and saying a silent prayer for the blessings I’ve been given. In this way, good enough is more than enough.
Questions for Reflection
What are some expectations, either self-imposed or imposed from others, that you can put aside this year and allow yourself to embrace a “good enough” Christmas? What are some Christmas traditions that make your family unique? 45
Fourth Monday of Advent Living with Hope
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am the Lord’s servant. May it be to me as you have said.” Luke 1:38 Mary hears an incredible story about what is about to unfold in her life. Like each of us, Mary had dreams and plans for her life treasured deep with her heart. Unexpectedly and unpredictably, however, God shows up and alters the entire course of her life and it has nothing to do with the storyline she’d intended to write for herself. The sudden arrival of the Holy Spirit in our lives seldom looks how we imagined. Mary’s response? She could have approached God’s intervention in many different ways: anger, bargaining, disbelief, denial…but she didn’t. Amazingly, she didn’t try to get out of it. She didn’t try to bargain with God. “If you do this, I promise I will…” She didn’t say, “Are you sure? Can we talk about this?” I don’t know about you, but when God interrupts my well-laid plans and my carefully constructed life, I can’t say I would react in a similar manner. I mean, what does he think he is doing? Who does he think he is? (think tongue in cheek) Yet, there was no hesitation. Her response to this staggering revelation: “I am the Lord’s servant. May it be to me as you have said.” How could she respond in such a way? I believe she had a faith that understood a God working beneath the surface of things and allowed her to believe there was more going on than what she could see. Max Lucado tells of an experience he had on an airplane. “I kept hearing outbursts of laughter. The flight was turbulent and bumpy, hardy a reason for humor. But some fellow behind me was cracking up. No one else, just him. Finally I turned to see what was so funny. He was wearing 46
headphones and apparently listening to a comedian. Because he could hear what I couldn’t, he acted differently than I did.” I think Mary heard things that I haven’t, because my response would not have been hers! I marvel how Mary must have known that God is rich with creativity in spite of the fear that gripped her heart. She understood the spiritual life has more to do with what God is doing than what she is doing. She had a faith that did not require final answers or miraculous deliverance, but was able to open wide to the Holy Spirit in her life. Craig Barnes wrote, “God has interrupted our ordinary expectations, as cherished as they were, to conceive something. We cannot manage it. We can’t even understand it. All we can do is receive it. Because if God has conceived this thing, then it is holy, and it will save our lives.” -When God Interrupts, p.41 Mary’s story welcomes us to do the same. There is something in me that wants to respond with the same faith-filled proclamation, “May it be to me as you have said.” I want to respond with a passionate, “YES!” to God’s interruptions. We have the same promise Mary received: Don’t be afraid. God is with you. You are not alone. He walks with us through every difficult place; his strength can be our strength; he knows your name; he can bring beauty and order to that which is chaotic and fearful. The mystery of the life of Christ birthed in our hearts, reminds us that we are indeed favored, the Lord is with us, and this indeed is an occasion of great hope.
Questions for Reflection
What has so gripped you that you are unable to hope that God can bring good out of it? How can you, like Mary, come to allow faith in God’s creativity and goodness take root in your own soul? 47
Fourth Tuesday of Advent Come to Me
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y heart has heard you say, ‘Come and talk with me.’ And my heart responds, ‘Lord, I am coming.’” Psalm 27:8 (NLT)
For the last four weeks we have waited for Christmas to come. Waiting for the arrival of Jesus…not just as the Christ-child, but as the One who invites us to himself and makes a life with God possible. The offer is life in him and the invitation to us is to come. This is the same invitation Jesus gave to those who are weary and burned out on trying to make life work on their own terms: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28-30) In one of the greatest invitations ever offered to man, Christ stood up amid the crowds in Jerusalem and said, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him." (John 7:37-38) If we aren't aware of our soul's deep thirst, his offer means nothing. Don’t miss this invitation. Don’t misread thirst for something else. The world suggests that the solution to your thirst lies outside of yourself, in building a bigger and more exciting life. If you are lonely, find a friend; if you are restless, do something; if you have a desire, fulfill it. It trivializes our thirst, inviting us in a thousand ways to ignore our deep thirst that can only be quenched by God himself. The invitation has always been the same throughout history. Come to me. We have made Christianity about so many things: right methods, right 48
doctrine, right behavior, right belief, principles for living, getting life fixed, rules, laws, and on and on it goes. But Jesus did not come to give us a religion or a set of beliefs, or even a better way of living, he came to give us himself. “God is nothing if not personal and can only be known by personal response. We cannot know God through impersonal abstractions or in solitary isolation. The only way God reveals God’s self is personally. Never impersonally as a force or an influence, never abstractly as an idea or truth or principle.” -Eugene Peterson The incredible thing is this: once we know this invitation we begin to see it on every page of Scripture. ”Everything that goes into a life of pleasing God has been miraculously given to us by getting to know, personally and intimately, the One who invited us to God. The best invitation we ever received! We were also given absolutely terrific promises to pass on to you—your tickets to participation in the life of God after you turned your back on a world corrupted by lust.” 2 Peter 1:3-4 (TM) “By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence.” 2 Peter 1:3 (NLT) Can you say with the Psalmist, “Lord, I am coming”? O come, all ye faithful…
Questions for Reflection
In what ways have you been aware of a deeper thirst for God? How might you respond to such a wonderful invitation?
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Fourth Wednesday of Advent God With Us
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f you are using an Advent wreath, today you light all four taper candles around the wreath and the white middle “Jesus” candle.
“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” Isaiah 9:6 This is one of my favorite Christmas passages. I love the descriptions of Christ. Read them again. They speak not of a God who is distant or reluctant or disinterested. These descriptions of Christ are defined by relationship. God is a relational God who is intent on keeping us in loving relationship with himself. Consider these powerful words by Brennan Manning in his book, Abba’s Child, “Being the beloved is our identity, the core of our existence. It is not merely a lofty thought, an inspiring idea, or a name among many names. It is the name by which God knows us and the way He relates to us.” (emphasis mine) I find great comfort in knowing that God chooses to relate to me, based not on the bad, good, even holy, things I do but on my being his Beloved. He knew we would need a Counselor, someone to come alongside of us when we’ve come to the end of ourselves to help us. He knew we would need a strong God on which we could depend to save us. He knew we would need a Father to provide and protect us. He knew we would need a Healer to bring wholeness and healing to our broken lives.
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We are lost, fearful, weak, vulnerable, poor, and live fractured lives. In times of crisis, we often prefer a God who works on our behalf to make things better. Instead, God gives us himself. Immanuel. God with us. Notice God’s relational intent from the beginning, “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us.” (emphasis mine) Acts 17:24-27 (NIV) At Christmas and always, God initiates relationship with us that we might find him and come to know him personally, intimately as Emmanuel, God with us.
Questions for Reflection
Have you thought about the ways God relates to you? How might you respond to God’s invitation to a life with him?
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Keeping Company with Jesus www.keepingcompanywithjesus.com
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