Advent 2006

2006

Belmont University Advent Devotional Guide

Advent 2006 The students, staff, and faculty of Belmont University are an amazing community of people seeking to be faithful to God. We come from all over the United States and from various parts of the world. Every year, advent helps prepare us for the final weeks of the semester, for exams, and for graduation. It is very appropriate that this guide brings the calendar year to a close.

In the midst of our demanding schedules, we long for the peace of Jesus.

A quick check of the evening news, a glance at the newspaper, or even a brief look at any internet news site reminds us that we live in a broken world. Advent is an ancient celebration of the Church that focuses on the way God once came in Christ and continues to come to us through the Holy Spirit. Advent also anticipates the day when Jesus Christ returns in glory. The once and future coming of Jesus is God’s way of responding to the world’s brokenness and helping us rediscover a time of peace for everyone.

This guide has instructions for daily devotions during this season. You are encouraged to read scripture, the brief devotion, and pray each day as you prepare your heart for Christmas.

I am grateful to the students, staff, and faculty who have contributed to the guide. I offer my gratitude to Dan McAlexander, the Provost of Belmont University, for his support of this project. I also especially thank Vernona Elliott, Office Manager for the School of Religion. Her faithful service has made this guide a reality.

Read and enjoy! May the presence of the risen Christ come into your life this Advent season and bring you comfort beyond measure. May all you do in the coming days prepare you for the greatest Christmas of your life!

Blessings, Dr. Darrell Gwaltney Dean, School of Religion

Guide to Daily Prayer Opening Prayer Comfort, comfort your people, O God! Speak peace to your people.

Comfort those who sit in darkness and mourn, Forgive us our sins and end the conflict in our lives.

Confession of Sin

Reflect quietly before God asking for forgiveness for all those things done and left undone that are unpleasing to Him. Remember, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

1 John 1:9

Scripture Lessons Read the Psalms for the day.

Read the Old Testament passage for the day.

Read the Gospel passage for the day.

Read the Epistle passage for the day.

Prayers The following is a suggested guide for prayer during Advent.

Pray for all Christians around the world and especially for those who endure persecution for their faith.

Pray for our nation and all those in authority.

Pray that Christ’s peace may rule over all the world. Pray for the end of conflict and war and the triumph of truth and justice.

Pray for all those who engage in the educational ministry of the Church and especially for Belmont University.

Pray for those who suffer and grieve.

As a closing prayer, read the words to Comfort, Comfort Ye My People appointed for the week.

Week One Comfort, comfort ye my people, Speak ye peace, thus saith our God; Comfort those who sit in darkness, Mourning ‘neath their sorrows’ load.

Speak ye to Jerusalem Of the peace that waits for them; Tell her that her sins I cover, And her warfare now is over.

Sunday, December 3  Psalms 111, 112, 113, 146, 147   Isaiah 1.1-9   Matthew 25.1-13   2 Peter 3.1-10  These days, preparations for Christmas begin before December.

There are so many things to do. This past year in the spring I heard a friend say, “May has gotten to be as bad as December, there’s no time for anything.” When did we hand December over to this chaotic pace? I think it happened gradually and in part because the Christmas season is a time of goodwill and expansive feeling. So we go along to get along, sometimes even gladly stretching our resources to show someone our care for them or at least our willingness to make an effort for them.

The parable in Matthew 25.1-13 is about preparedness and sharing, right? It’s about stretching our resources, a good modern Christmas parable. The young women are waiting for the bridegroom and it isn’t completely clear what their specific role was. Some believe this story is the counterpart to the earlier story of male servants. Some see this parable which appears only in Matthew as a demonstration that there is a place for everyone in the kingdom—all ages and gender.

We remember that the maidens called wise have oil enough.

They were the ones some of us aspire to be—the ones who thought ahead, who prepared for the possibility that their usefulness would be needed by someone they deemed more important. And, we remember the others, the foolish ones who weren’t prepared. We know them, some of us are they, the ones who move along and don’t think of what might be needed until the moment it becomes obvious it is needed. So this parable is about being prepared right?

And, of course it’s about sharing. If only the wise women had shared with the foolish women it would have worked out. But the parable takes a turn. It shows that falling asleep was the first problem, and not having enough light to last through the night was the next. Fewer lamps with more oil provide light longer than many lamps with little oil. So the answer in this parable seems to be that if the prepared maidens had shared with the unprepared maidens, there wouldn’t have been enough oil to last the waiting time. And, as a final twist, the “teaching” of the parable is “stay alert because you don’t know when the bridegroom is coming.” So I’m confused. Do I keep my lamps full or myself awake?

Judy Skeen Associate Professor, School of Religion

Monday, December 4  Psalm 1, 2, 3, 4, 7   Isaiah 1.10-20   Luke 20.1-8   1 Thessalonians 1.1-10  I have had the privilege this fall of teaching an Introduction to the Old Testament class. I use the word privilege with much intention. I have been reminded of God’s power, truth, love, grace and mercy while walking with 23 college students through the Old Testament. God has been revealed to us all in many ways which we had not expected through this survey course.

A few things that have caused much conversation and internal challenge for us have been: • God’s desire to be in relationship with God’s people— Why would God want this? Why us? We’re so unworthy!

• Our innate ability to wander from God—This has been, by far, the most mind-boggling for us all as we’ve read story after story about the Israelites!

• How much the issues of life have not changed throughout the course of time.

We wrestle with the reality of just how similar the issues of life were back in the days of Abraham, Moses, David, Esther, etc., to what we face today, as well as our collective inability to be faithful and obedient to a God who desires nothing but the best for God’s people. We are repeatedly blown away by how quickly the Israelites forgot God’s faithfulness and provision for them in so many different circumstances. We are just as profoundly struck by our own shortcomings and downfalls and need for God’s grace, forgiveness, love, mercy and continual pursuit.

With the coming of Jesus, we see a new attempt on God’s part of extending that grace, forgiveness, love, mercy and continual pursuit which we so desperately need. Though we may stumble, though we may fail, though we may get it wrong more often then we get it right, we have a God who chooses us—chooses to love us—because that’s who God is and that’s what God does.

This Christmas season may we be mindful of how great our God is, how much we need God, and how precious the gift of Jesus truly is! though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be like snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.

Guy Chmieleski University Minister

Isaiah 1.18b

Tuesday, December 5  Psalms 5, 6, 10, 11   Isaiah 1.21-31   Luke 20.9-18   1 Thessalonians 2.1-12  A man planted a vineyard and leased it to tenants, and went abroad for a long while . . . . Then the owner of the vineyard thought, “What am I to do? I will send them my own beloved son . . . . Now what will the owner of the vineyard do to them?

Luke 20.9-16 Dearest Dealer, I with my royal straight flush, love you so for your wild card, that untamable, eternal, gut-driven h-125ha and lucky love.

Anne Sexton Traditionally, this story is known as the Parable of the Wicked Tenants. It could also be called the parable of the TwiceGiven Vineyard. An owner rents land to tenants who decide by violence to grab the vineyard for themselves by abusing messengers and killing the son. The parable seems to turn on two items: 1. The inner dialogue of the tenants, “This is the heir, let us kill him so that the inheritance will be ours,” 2. The inner dialogue of the owner, “What am I to do?”

C. S. Lewis tells about some dwarves in a grassy field under a blue sky who think they are huddled in darkness in a locked stable; their misperception ruins enjoying what they have. This is the essence of sin. We want more—more of whatever we already have, more salary or more title or more recognition.

Meanwhile, against the backdrop of greed and violence shines the intent of the Owner. The Owner intends to provide a form of abundance. Assumed to be absent, the Owner is actually continually in touch. The Owner becomes vulnerable enough to risk a son.

Anne Sexton’s poem is about playing a game of poker with God. God transforms a losing hand by introducing a “wild card,” a fifth that trumps the other hand. The wild card is the absurdity of God’s unconditional love.

So, we hold our breath with the question, “What will the owner of the vineyard do to them?”That is an Advent stance as we wait in anticipation. And when the Christ-child arrives, the answer becomes clear. The owner will work with them in awful situations until reconciliation occurs. The Christ-child is the Wild Card.

Ben Curtis Professor, School of Religion

Wednesday, December 6  Psalms 12, 13, 14, 119.1-24   Isaiah 2.1-11   Luke 20.19-26   1 Thessalonians 2.13-20  Come, Lord Jesus, Come . . . Do you sense the yearning this season brings for newness, salvation of our souls, a desire for a blessing from our Lord?

Come, Lord Jesus, Come . . . A break from our weariness, our work, our obligations, our busyness? To lay our head in our Father’s lap and rest secure?

Come, Lord Jesus, Come . . . The pregnancy of something building in us, a groaning towards a new year, a pause from life that pushes us forward?

Come, Lord Jesus, Come and save us from ourselves, save us from restlessness, save us from what blinds us to your truth.

The Psalms today remind us of struggle. David’s loneliness in seeing the weak oppressed, neighbors that lie, wrestling with himself in sorrow, wondering if God had abandoned him to his enemies, foes, the corrupt, rulers slandering his name . . . who wouldn’t be depressed?

Who wouldn’t want newness, hopefulness? Come, Lord Jesus, Come!

Isaiah 2 promises the calm, the humbling, the Lord exalted. Here’s the hope of peace from chaos. Rest is coming, an ability to relax in the midst of where we are, because we hope for the restoration of our spirit—God’s great promise to us. Come, Lord Jesus, Come!

There is movement, a desire for all to be right, a pushing forth, a hope in the future, a rest. Come, Lord Jesus, Come!

Make ye straight what long was crooked, Make the rougher places plain; Let your hearts be true and humble, As befits his holy reign.

For the glory of the Lord Now o’er earth is shed abroad; And all flesh shall see the token That his word is never broken.

Come, Lord Jesus, Come and make our life new—today, tomorrow.

Soften our hearts to your humbling. Let us not struggle against you for what we need. Let us lay down our agendas, our busyness, our ability to forget that you restore and give rest. Your Word is life and you are our hope amidst the struggle, our yearning that will be fulfilled. We are Your joy. Fulfill our need of You, regardless of us, regardless of our circumstances. Break through for Your Name’s sake and because of Your deep compassion for your children. And, let us rejoice in Your fulfillment of our hope . . . .

Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is there anything too hard for Me? Jeremiah 32:27 Jill Robinson Senior Events Coordinator, Office of the President

Thursday, December 7  Psalm 18:1-20   Isaiah 2:12-22   Luke 20:27-40   1 Thessalonians 3:1-13  I have an annoying tendency to make things more complicated than they need to be. I went to buy a shotgun recently and spent an afternoon comparing my four final choices—measuring the cast of the stock, the length-of-pull, length of the barrel, the materials, the weights, even the grain in the wood. After I had argued myself into absolute confusion, I asked the longsuffering clerk how he’d choose. Without hesitation he pointed and said, “this one.” I asked why, expecting some deep, complicated analysis, but he responded, “It shoots good.”

I’ve discovered this penchant for complicating things permeates my spiritual life as well as my physical. I try to make my spiritual life, my faith, about managing complicated expectations for outward performance and inward disposition. I assume it depends upon my grasp of intricate systems of theology, and insightful interpretation of social justice and biblical exegesis, and in the midst of all these perfectly impressive intellectual and spiritual acrobatics, I seem to miss the point.

Maybe with all our knowledge, our fantastic rationalization and deep appreciation for the infinite nuance of life—what Isaiah might just have called the “arrogance of man”—we are the ones who make things so confusing. Maybe God is actually telling us that joining his kingdom is as difficult and yet as un-complicated as knowing him through his son Jesus, something as familiar and uncomplicated as a relationship.

Something wild and supernatural to be sure, something undeniably difficult because of the genuine commitment it requires, but something not all that complicated. This paradox—to deliver huge cosmic packages in simple wrapping—is apparently God’s style whether he’s telling us that worshipping him is as simple as feeding a hungry man, or he’s changing the course of creation by entering it as a fragile child in a feed trough.

When the Sadducees grilled Jesus on the matter of marriage after death, they asked him a riddle that sounds a lot like the daily wrestlings of my own spiritual life constructed carefully of complex contingencies and contradictions. But Jesus doesn’t even seem to find the question tricky.

All the Sadducees’ careful complexity gets swallowed in the simple assertion that God is God, above them, us, and petty distinctions like marriage and mortality. Apparently, knowing that is more important than mastering the infinite permutations of a “good” life. Knowing that and holding on to that in the whirlwind of our own brilliance and responsibility—permitting the advent of Christ in our lives—is the totality of our faith as well as the most difficult and un-complicated thing we must do.

Andrew Johnston Dean of Students

Friday, December 8  Psalms 16, 17, 22   Isaiah 3.8-15   Luke 20.41-21.4   1 Thessalonians 4.1-12  This Advent season I am reminded of the blessings I have in Christ. The Scripture for today reminds us how we are to pour our hearts out to the God who has given us everything. In the same way we have been given everything, we should give our everything back to God. Sometimes our “everything” is our overflowing joy for what God has given and we can praise God as the Psalmist does in Psalm 16.

Often, I think we forget that sometimes all we have to give is our heart’s earnest cry for help. God wants to hear this cry from us, as we see David did: My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

Why are you so far from saving me, so far from the words of my groaning?

O my God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer, by night, and I am not silent.

Ps 22.1-2 Whether we are crying out to God in our suffering or praising God for our blessings, God wants us fully.

As he looked up, Jesus saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. He also saw a poor widow put in two very small coins. “I tell you the truth,” he said, “this poor widow has put in more than all the others. All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.”

Luke 21.1-4 God doesn’t just want us to give out of our monetary or emotional wealth; God wants all of us even if all that we have is a cry for help. God has given us the help we so often seek in Jesus Christ. As we look forward to the celebration of Christ’s birth, let us give our hearts completely over to God and allow God to take our pain and transform it into overflowing joy.

Lyndsey Collins Senior, Religion/English Major

Saturday, December 9  Psalms 20, 21.1-7, 110.1-5, 116, 117   Isaiah 4.2-6   Luke 21.5-19   I Thessalonians 4.13-18  The first five chapters of the book of Isaiah are dominated by a series of horrifying visions. In 3.25-26, this portrait of Jerusalem is presented: Your men shall fall by the sword and your warriors in battle.

And her gates shall lament and mourn;

ravaged she shall sit upon the ground.

The well-know Song of the Vineyard in Isaiah 5 ends with this picture in v. 30: They will roar over it on that day, like the roaring of the sea.

And if one looks to the land,

only darkness and distress; And the light grows dark with clouds.

So it is difficult to know what to do with the images of beauty in 4.2-6, which sit in the midst of all of all this horror: On that day the branch of the LORD shall be beautiful and glorious. v. 2a Much depends upon the order of things which we assume. Verses 4-5 may lead us to believe that the “canopy of glory” will come at the end of the brutal, cleansing judgment of God’s coming. On the other hand, the placement of these verses before chapter 5 may make us wonder whether such visions of beauty and glory might be self-deceptive, masking an approaching onslaught of suffering and defeat.

Advent comes at the end of our calendar year, but it is the beginning of the church year, so it is not easy to know how to read the season, and whether to expect the coming of Jesus as a beginning or an end. Perhaps this ambiguity offers an opportunity for us to ask a careful question. Is this a period of my life in which I need to bring some things to an end or is it the right time for a new beginning? It is difficult not to look at life as a chronological sequence, a series of events marching steadily forward, and, thus, to evaluate our “progress.”

The tangled beginnings and endings of the book of Isaiah and of the season of advent invite us to locate a vision of life that fits the moment, no matter which direction it moves us.

Mark McEntire Associate Professor, School of Religion

Week Two Hark, the voice of one that crieth In the desert far and near, Bidding all men to repentance Since the kingdom now is here.

O that warning cry obey!

Now prepare for God away; Let the valleys rise to meet him, And the hills bow down to greet him.

Sunday, December 10  Psalms 114, 115, 148, 149, 150   Isaiah 5.1-7   Luke 7.28-35   2 Peter 3.11-18  Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord from the heavens, praise him in the heights.

Psalm 148:1 The Psalm continues by calling on every living creature, the moon and stars, the heavens, and all his creation to praise the Lord. Verse 10 says “beasts and all cattle” are to praise the Lord.

Pictures of animals around the manger appear on many Christmas cards. It’s easy to think, “how disrespectful of our Lord.” I thought that until one day as I was singing praises to God while sitting on my front porch. Believe me, only the One hearing the praises would hear that as praise. I thought.

As I sang, I saw movement to my left and turned to see a deer standing a few feet from the corner of my house watching me, tilting her head from time to time as she listened. When I finished singing Holy, Holy, Holy, she dropped her head while continuing to look at me, raised her head again, and then turned and walked back into the trees. My singing, though not praiseworthy to my ears, I believe was praiseworthy to the ears of God, and I also believe, to the deer that stood so attentively and listened.

May we all meditate on the birth of Jesus Christ our Savior and Lord during this Christmas season and join all of His creation in praising Him.

Vernona Elliott Office Manager, School of Religion

Monday, December 11  Psalms 9, 15, 25   Isaiah 5.8-12   Luke 21.20-28   1 Thessalonians 5.1-11  When I think about the Incarnation of Christ, and the people that He came to save, I wonder if He ever got frustrated. The irony comes when you examine the nature of Christ, and wonder if in his perfect love He ever got irritated with the ignorant fishermen who would eventually establish His church. But who could blame them? They were in darkness. The “true light, which gives light to every man coming into the world” (John 1.9) had not yet come. But He’s here now.

We are not in darkness. We have seen the True Light, and “we do not belong to the night or to the darkness” (I Thess. 5.5b). Paul tells us in 1 Thessalonians 5 that because we are in the Light, we must be self-controlled and alert. Anything short of that is darkness. So, where are we? Have we “put on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet” (I Thess. 5.8), or have we put on blindfolds? My fear is that we are in darkness.

My fear is that we walk around in the blinding sunlight with our hands over our eyes, complaining that it’s not our fault when we trip over the park benches.

If we are in darkness, then the day of the Lord will come “like a thief in the night” (1 Thess. 5.2). But His day will not surprise those who are in the light. They will see Him from afar off, and they will be ready when He calls them.

But how do we take off the blindfolds? What tools do we have to help us on our journey? It is undeniable that in scripture there is something special (and spiritual) about the forty-day cycle.

Moses went up onto the mountain for forty days to receive the law, and Jesus went into the wilderness for forty days to prepare for his earthy ministry. It is for this reason that the church has given us the gift of advent.

We have come to a time of preparation. As we approach the close of this season, let us not neglect to prepare our hearts for the coming of our Lord. Let us examine ourselves, and pray that God would make us men and women who walk upright, work righteousness, and do not do evil to our neighbors. If we do these things, we will step into the Light, and we “shall never be moved” (Ps. 15.2-3, 5).

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. Both now and ever and unto ages of ages, Amen.

Joel Finley Junior, Religious Studies major

Tuesday, December 12  Psalms 26, 28, 36, 39   Isaiah 5.13-17, 24-25   Luke 21.29-38   1 Thessalonians 5.12-28  I enjoy listening to the news as I drive to work. About six months ago, however, I decided that—at least a couple of times a week— I would need to fill my commute time in some other way. The daily litany of war, murder and scandal becomes oppressive. I would pull into Belmont’s parking lot feeling exhausted by the sheer ubiquity of evil. The first four verses of Psalm 36 seem to speak of this sort of pervasive menace. The Psalmist observes a wickedness that is both inside (“deep in their hearts”) and outside (“before their eyes”). It bombards the senses—it speaks to the wicked, occupies their field of vision and fills their mouths. It fills their leisure (“they plot mischief while on their beds”) and fixes their activity (“they are set on a way that is not good”). Truly there is “no rest for the wicked”; evil is 24/7.

What counter-measures are adequate to such an enveloping corruption?

The dilemma of verses 1–4 is met by the startlingly simple declaration of verse 5: Your steadfast love, O Lord, extends to the heavens. Here is a God whose faithfulness to covenant (not just “love” as a static, abstract quality, but “love” as God’s active faithfulness over time) outstrips and reaches beyond a seemingly all-encompassing wickedness.

What is even more striking is that God’s response is of a completely different character than the problem. God’s response isn’t just “bigger and stronger” than evil. God doesn’t merely vanquish wickedness; God inverts it. We learn that the one who cannot be contained by the heavens nor circumscribed by the clouds is also the one who protects “all people” beneath sheltering wings. The one whose righteousness towers over the landscape is also the one who saves “humans and animals alike.”

Here is a loving faithfulness that will go any distance—beyond the heavens; through the clouds; even to a manger. This is the great inversion of Christ’s coming: a love that drowns evil beneath a “river of delights” and a God who demonstrates his majesty in laying it aside.

Steve Guthrie Assistant Professor, School of Religion

Wednesday, December 13  Psalms 38, 119.25-48   Isaiah 6.1-13   John 7.53-8.11   2 Thessalonians 1.1-12  “I am like a deaf man, who cannot hear, like a mute, who cannot open his mouth; I have become like a man who does not hear, whose mouth can offer no reply. I wait for you, O Lord; you will answer, O Lord my God.” Psalm 38:13-15 “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.” Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar.

With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”

Isaiah 6:5-7 When Isaiah sees the Lord, he confesses that, because of his unclean lips, he expects to die. Without the live coal from the altar, the prophet Isaiah’s mouth would remain firmly shut, unable to hear and reply to the Lord’s call. After the seraph touches Isaiah’s mouth with the coal, he tells Isaiah that the burden of his mouth, his sin and his guilt, has been removed so that he can hear the call of the Lord.

During Advent, we anticipate the renewed power and mercy of Jesus to be reborn in our world again each year. However, there are broken people who feel deaf and mute to that joyous expectation. Perhaps their brokenness is a product of their unbelief, their tragedy or their loneliness. Nevertheless, these broken people wait on God to provide answers and to call them out of their brokenness and into the peace and strength of God. In some way, each of us waits on God to mend our hearts, broken from the weight of the world. And until we confess our brokenness to God, our ears and our mouths remain firmly shut, unable to hear His call.

As we anticipate the second coming of the Lord, we must accept the call given to us by the first coming of the Lord: to forgive ourselves and to forgive others by the grace given through Jesus, the live coal taken from the altar. If we fail to acknowledge our brokenness and our need, we will never see God or others without fear. Listen to your broken life and accept His call.

Allie Peden Sophomore, Religious Studies Major

Thursday, December 14  Psalms 37.1-18, 37.19-42   Isaiah 7.1-9   Luke 22.1-13   2 Thessalonians 2.1-12  The word Advent means “coming,” and the Bible sheds light from many angles for its importance in our Christian faith as a diamond casting many rays of prophetic knowledge for the wayfaring Christian pilgrim. The message said He was coming, and He did come. The message also is that He will come again. He will not be late according to God’s time piece. An anonymous 15th century poet captured the personal significance of His coming in these lines: Thou shalt know Him when He comes, Not by any din of drums, Not by anything He wears, Nor the vantage of His airs;

Neither by His gown, Nor His crown.

But His coming shall be known By the holy harmony Which His presence makes in thee.

Galatians 4.4 reads, “But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law.” The Advent person looked forward longingly with great expectation. Christ, person of Advent, was beautifully wrapped and tied with both humanity and divinity. The fullness of time genuinely echoed through corridors of the centuries the hope kept alive in the promise of “He is coming again.”

Sad—not all have heard that good news.

H.L. Turner writes in the hymn “It May Be at Morn” It may be at morn, when the day is awaking, When sunlight thro’ darkness and shadow is breaking, That Jesus will come in the fullness of glory, To receive from the world His own.

It may be at midday, it may be at twilight, It may be, perchance, that the blackness of midnight Will burst into light in the blaze of His glory, When Jesus receives His own.

While hosts cry hosanna, from heaven descending, With glorified saints and the angels attending, With grace on His brow, like a halo of glory, Will Jesus receive His own.

Oh, joy! oh, delight! should we go without dying, No sickness, no sadness, no dread and no crying, Caught up thro’ the clouds with our Lord into glory, When Jesus receives His own.

Herbert Gabhart Chancellor

Friday, December 15  Psalms 31, 35   Isaiah 7.10-25   Luke 22.14-30   2 Thessalonians 2.13-3.5  In you, O LORD, I seek refuge; Do not let me ever be put to shame; In your righteousness deliver me.

Incline your ear to me; Rescue me speedily.

Be a rock of refuge for me, a strong fortress to save me.

Psalm 31:1-2

The ancient custom of observing Advent as a quiet and reverential period for spiritual reflection leading up to the celebration of Christmas is countercultural these days. Even those of us who try to be mindful during this season often capitulate to the multitasking extravaganza that seems to take over as we near Christmas. Something about the frantic pace and never-ending round of activity unsettles me in December.

I long for quiet; I long for long winter evenings by a fire with a good book in my hand; I long for peace to cover my being like an antique quilt that covers my body.

At the deepest level, I want refuge from the harshness and glare of an overexposed life. That’s why Psalm 31 means so much to me. An authentic spirituality counters the shame that so many persons experience in our culture. And, from where does that shame arise? It arises from a perfectionism that demands we do all things just right, including the perfect Christmas spirit.

Everywhere I turn these days, I encounter folks who feel way too stressed—stressed about their job, stressed about their family, stressed about politics. Primarily, they’re stressed about having to do more than they feel their souls can bear.

As we reflect on the coming of Christ into the world during this Advent season, we remember that he came to restore dignity to those who had been shamed, to proclaim refuge to the downtrodden, and to model a life fully committed to God. Perhaps an appropriate Advent prayer would be to ask God for refuge and for rescue from frenetic pacing and unrealistic expectations during the holidays. We could pray that God would be our rock of refuge and save us from thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that come from a haggard soul. We could be good to our souls and bodies by taking time to be mindful of the goodness of our life as we relax our way into the beauty of the season. In you, O LORD, I seek refuge.

Marty Bell Professor, School of Religion

Saturday, December 16  Psalms 32, 42, 43   Isaiah 7.10-25   Luke 22.14-30   2 Thessalonians 2.13-3.5  Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me?

Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God. My soul is downcast within me; therefore I will remember you from the land of the Jordan, the heights of Hermon—from Mount Mizar.

Psalm 42:5 As we read David’s words, our hearts go out to him in his inward struggle; the struggle of knowing God intimately and yet fully experiencing the pain of the world. The sorrow and hardships that come with humanity are not avoided by the fellowship of the Almighty. We are not called out of the reality of everyday life; instead He is called into it. David, in his weary state, knew that suffering caused a renewed remembrance. In the midst of our limited understanding of situations and circumstances, we are reminded of our need for a Savior.

As I read David’s words, I hear frustration . . . not with God, but with himself. In knowing God, in seeing and walking with God, how can his soul still become downcast? We understand don’t we? We struggle in the same way. The overwhelming emotion that comes with things like the end of a marriage, losing a parent, or sitting in a doctor’s office listening to a diagnosis can blind us temporarily to the knowledge of who we know God to be. We struggle, just as David did, to know where our hope lies.

We must remind ourselves continually to “put our hope in God, for I will yet praise him.” We try to embrace the sorrow of our lives and enter into the wilderness, not because we understand it, but because it serves as a call to remember in Whom we hope.

So as you are preparing for the Christmas season, know that the coming of the Christ child provides a renewed hope that our God chose to enter into the wilderness of this world to walk beside us. He enters into every facet of our lives. He rejoices with us. He mourns with us. He offers us hope in the midst of pain and sorrow. I pray David’s words serve to remind us of His hope in our lives.

In this season may you remember the need for a Savior and experience the hope of His arrival.

Christy Ridings Associate University Minister

Week Three Make ye straight what long was crooked, Make the rougher places plain; Let your hearts be true and humble, As befits his holy reign.

For the glory of the Lord Now o’er earth is shed abroad; And all flesh shall see the token That his word is never broken. Amen.

Sunday, December 17  Psalms 63.1-8, 98, 103   Isaiah 13.6-13   John 3.22-30   Hebrews 12.18-29  We tend to think of Lent as a time of self-denial and attentiveness to our sins, while Advent is a time of bounty and joy. Psalm 63 reminds us that even during Advent, we are dying, and wherever we look there is only the dust of death.

You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water.

There is nowhere in our world to slake our desperate thirst. We look for grace, love, and hope, and what we get is judgment, conditional love, and a dream deferred. We long for God, but a god far away in heaven is more a concept than a comfort. Advent changes all this.

I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory.

God is present in the sanctuary, first invisibly in the Shekinah glory, but then palpably as the One for whom Simeon and Anna waited. Their hope was in the advent of the Word made flesh who would be a “light for the gentiles and a hope for God’s people, Israel.”

Because your love is better than life,

my lips will glorify you.

I will praise you as long as I live,

and in your name I will lift up my hands.

I will be fully satisfied as with the richest of foods;

with singing lips my mouth will praise you.

During Advent, we move from famine to feast, from darkness to Light, and from being tested and tried to being loved by the One whose love is better than life itself. How can we not sing?

On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night.

Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings.

I cling to you;

your right hand upholds me.

We have gone from grasping for God to letting God lay hold of us. We no longer live as angst-ridden individuals but feel as the little chicks do when the mother hen protects them with her wings and holds them close. Even when darkness surrounds us, we lean into God and are safe and warm like a child at home.

Todd Lake Vice President, Spiritual Development

Monday, December 18  Psalms 41, 44, 52   Isaiah 8.16-9.1   Luke 22.39-53   2 Peter 1.1-11  As we continue to travel through Advent, my prayer for today is that we can wrap our thoughts around the unfathomable promises of God. His divine power has given us everything needed for life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.

Thus he has given us, through these things, his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may escape from the corruption that is in the world because of lust, and may become participants of the divine nature.

2 Peter 1.3-4 There is no mistaking the sin that is wrapped in our lives. There is no avoiding the truth that as humans we have failed. We have evaded the truth of God, walked away from God’s presence, and indulged in sinful desires. However, there is still hope. How great a thought it is to know that through God’s grace and peace God gives us the promise and ability to escape from whatever sin binds us so we may rest in God’s righteousness. There is nothing in our lives that is too great for God to handle. No sin is too bad for God to forgive. It is the world that has corrupted us, and it is God who has saved us. God saved us through Jesus Christ!

For this very reason, you must make every effort to support your faith with goodness, and goodness with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with endurance, and endurance with godliness, and godliness with mutual affection, and mutual affection with love.

2 Peter 1.5-7 How amazing would it be to live a life in this way: Godly! Let us make this effort through goodness, knowledge, self-control, endurance, godliness, mutual affection, and love so that we can enjoy and be a part of the promise of God. For in this way, entry into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be richly provided for you.

2 Peter 1.11 Let us rejoice in the fact Jesus Christ came to forgive. Let us be thankful that we are called out by God to be His children. Let us use today to pursue a life with meaning by accepting our Christian responsibility in striving to become Godly!

God wants and desires the best for us; God’s promises available to us are God’s son Jesus and eternal life. These are two gifts that I am thankful to receive!

Barrett Owen Senior, Christian Leadership Major

Tuesday, December 19  Psalms 45, 47, 48   Isaiah 9.1-7   Luke 22.54-69   2 Peter 1.12-21  Then they seized him and led him away, bringing him into the high priest’s house. But Peter was following him at a distance.

It is a curious picture of the Apostle Peter in today’s New Testament reading. He was following Jesus but at a distance. You don’t have to look too far to find commentators who criticize Peter’s action in this story. Jesus had been arrested and carried away to the house where the High Priest would interrogate him. According to some, Peter was already in the process of denying Jesus. He was not standing shoulder to shoulder with Jesus as a disciple who gladly gave witness to his belief that this One was the Messiah. Instead, Peter walked along watching what happened and remained in the shadows as an observer. If anything, his faith appears elusive to some interpreters.

We need to give Peter a break. Perhaps there is something in Peter’s response to the situation that speaks to us as we reflect on Advent this year. Maybe Peter recognized that the situation ultimately was out of his control. Could it be that this frequently impetuous disciple understood the wisdom of simply letting events unfold as he watched from a distance? In the other stories about Peter we see him trying to control every situation. You could always count on Peter to be the take-charge person in a group.

Our culture rewards take-charge people like Peter who have the ability to get things done. Successful people know how to control what life gives them and to act with self confidence. Maybe it is here that the wisdom of Peter in this story can speak to us. One of the gifts of Advent is the recognition that what God does is ultimately beyond our control. It is God alone who initiates the redemptive purpose of Advent. God calls on us to do something that seems counterintuitive. We wait. From a reverent distance we simply watch as the Word becomes flesh and dwells among us.

Steven H. Simpler Professor, School of Religion

Wednesday, December 20  Psalms 49, 119.49-72   Isaiah 9.8-17   Mark 1.1-8   2 Peter 2.1-10a  Two songs play in my mind when I read the good news through that wild man of a messenger, John the Baptist. First, I think of Emmylou Harris’ 1992 Ryman performance of Bill Monroe’s “Get Up John.”

John! You’ve been chosen.

John! Go unafraid.

John! I’ll go with you.

John the Baptist, this is the day.

Wild and woolly though he was, John must have had some fear, but he also must have awakened one morning and felt a confidence that comes from a call like this telling him this is the day. I wonder what John was doing in the wilderness before he came out to proclaim his message of repentance. I imagine him footsore from walking.

We know from the text that John’s mind was on feet for he proclaims that “the one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals.” Kris Kristofferson’s “Jesus Was a Capricorn,” comes to mind.

Jesus was a Capricorn He ate organic food He believed in love and peace And never wore no shoes.

Kristofferson’s song is not a traditional Christmas tune—though if you ask me, it should beæand thinking of it speeds me through Advent to the person that is Jesus, something many of us are tempted to do during this season. Just as we misread the meaning of Advent by fretting about Christmas trees in October, wasn’t John the Baptist mistaken in proclaiming he wouldn’t be worthy enough to tie Jesus’ sandals? John the Baptist is worthy to touch Jesus’ feet, because God invites us into physical communion through Jesus.

Behind the word “repentance” is the Greek metanoia, which indicates reversal, change of heart. At Bethany, Jesus let Mary anoint his feet with expensive perfume and wipe them with her hair; at the Passover, he insisted the disciples let him wash their dusty and dirty feet. These actions reverse John the Baptist’s sandal anxiety. We learn from Jesus’ actions that this is a God who wants us to walk through the wilderness, carrying blisters and the earth’s dust on our feet. But this is also a God who asks us to wash one another’s feet in useful, radical love! In this season of Advent, I believe we are not so much waiting for the love of God as “God is waiting on us” to take love for ourselves and give freely to one another without judgment or fear.

Bonnie Smith Assistant Professor, English Department

Thursday, December 21  Psalms 33, 50   Isaiah 9.18-10.4   Matthew 3.1-12   2 Peter 2.10b-16  Bear fruit worthy of repentance, says the wild man in the wilderness. In this passage in Matthew, it’s not too much of a stretch to see that John the Baptist is describing Advent. Moreover, preparing for Christ, in his words, consists of bearing fruit worthy of repentance.

Since I see similarities between my religious status (a religion professor associated with a tradition with a lot of social and political power) and that of the Pharisees whom John addressed, I ask myself: What is this fruit, and what has it do with my Advent waiting? In seeking an answer, Johnny Cash’s Sunday Morning Coming Down comes to mind: Well, I woke up Sunday morning, With no way to hold my head that didn’t hurt.

And the beer I had for breakfast wasn’t bad, So I had one more for dessert...

Then I walked across the street and caught the Sunday smell of someone frying chicken.

Lord, it took me back to something that I’d lost, Somewhere, somehow along the way...

On a Sunday morning sidewalk, I’m wishing, Lord, that I was stoned.

‘Cause there’s something in a Sunday, That makes a body feel alone.

Cash reminds me that Advent disturbs our solitude like a Sunday morning sidewalk. We hunger to be freed from our isolation. We anticipate the “something” that is other to our pain, as Cash does.

Yet, Cash reminds me that Advent satisfies a different appetite than a hunger for something “lost.” It is more than personal healing. Advent issues a call to repentance. It satisfies a deep hunger for Christ’s gift of new life for a creation that groaned with labor pains until Jesus’ birth.

It calls us to live by a different appetite than the one which has caused creation’s sick hangover.

Fruits worthy of repentance do not make sin—returning to the bottle— the best option. Instead, when we prepare for Christ, we refuse to be captured by tragedy. These fruits take concrete form in practices of peace, forgiveness, justice, hospitality, mercy, and love. We refuse to believe that the way we are is the only way to be. We refuse to believe that violence produces peace. We refuse to believe that self-interest is the best way to love the neighbor. Ultimately, we refuse to accept that ‘being stoned’ is, figuratively, our best choice.

Andy Watts Assistant Professor, School of Religion

Friday, December 22  Psalms 40, 51, 54   Isaiah 10.5-19   Matthew 11.2-15   2 Peter 2.17-22  Today’s scriptures restore our faith and give us hope for salvation through our Lord and Savior. How many of us are able to restrain our pens or tongues from an incredulous response when someone shows the slightest uncertainty about the quality of the work that we do, the way that we look, or our good intentions? When John’s disciples asked Jesus if they should expect another messiah, rather than condemn the men, Jesus responded in a kind and calm tone as he told them to go back and tell “John what you hear and see” (Matthew. 11.4).

The blind have sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor.

Matthew. 11.5 Jesus’ words give us hope that no matter how far down the scale we have fallen we can be forgiven and begin again to live usefully and walk humbly on this earth. The message that Jesus sends to John in prison is to have faith and courage in his time of doubt and disillusionment. “Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me” (Matthew. 11.6).

Even though John had sent his disciples to question Jesus, Christ did not criticize the disciples to the crowd. Rather, he lifted up John by telling the people he was a prophet and the one who had been sent to prepare the world for Jesus’ arrival.

What a good and gracious God it is that would send our Savior into the world to give us hope in our times of hopelessness, to give us courage when we are weak, and to show us evidence, like the miracles he described to John, to give us the faith that we need to persevere in today’s troubled and trying world.

The world is filled with a lack of faith. Many of us drift through life without much of it. Jesus says “He who has ears let him hear” (Matthew 11.15). A victorious life is God’s gift to those that choose the spiritual life and life in faith.

Pat Raines Dean, College of Business Administration

Saturday, December 23  Psalms 55, 138, 139.1-17   Isaiah 10.20-27   Luke 3.1-9   Jude 17-25  Advent is a time for trustingly awaiting and preparing for God to act among his people. The heart of today’s reading is a quotation from the prophet Isaiah that calls for just that sort of active anticipation. The words borrowed from the prophet of old clearly were not a plea for a passive approach. Instead, they indicate that waiting and preparing are like two sides of the same coin.

The image assumed in the passage is of citizens repairing the road over which they expected their king to travel.

Two emphases stand out in the reading of the text from Luke chapter three. The first is the historical context in which the waiting is urged. All the personalities named in the first two verses represented the authority and power that dominated the world of John and later Jesus. They included the emperor who expected allegiance and lesser officials who supported the government as well as the major religious leaders of the Jewish faith. It is something of a reminder that as they waited for God to act, they did so in a world in which raw power was the order of the day. This setting included individuals representing the spectrum of the political and religious power grid of the day.

Neither the power structures of the ancient world nor those of modern times are likely to encourage or embrace the spiritual preparation for which John calls. Those of us who are committed to Advent and awaiting what new things God will do among us must do so in a world in which power constellations continue to operate.

The other emphasis is the announcement of the goal of the waiting and preparation so intensely urged by John. Luke’s conviction that the good news was for all is asserted by the concluding words, “All flesh shall see the salvation of God.” All the other gospels, in some way, identify John with the voice crying in the wilderness mentioned in the first line of the quotation from Isaiah. It is only Luke who quotes this larger portion of the passage that proclaims a universal mission for the church with the words, “All flesh shall see the salvation of God.” The challenge of waiting is a call for us to prepare to make God’s salvation known in our world.

Bob Byrd Professor, School of Religion

Sunday, December 24  Psalms 8, 24, 29, 84   Genesis 3.8-15   John 3.16-21   Ephesians 6.10-20  In Psalm 8, David celebrates God’s majestic presence in creation, particularly in human creatures. Echoing Genesis 1, David sings that we mortals, though fragile and limited, receive God’s “glory and honor” and “dominion” over all of God’s works. Such a psalm of exaltation can be said to glorify the status quo and to encourage complacency with life just as it is. However, such a psalm can also recognize that God’s creation makes a claim on those who have a secure place in its order. Perhaps Psalm 8 is an invitation to both celebrate and accept our responsibilities as humans who have been made in the image of God. Advent is a time to recall this invitation to both enjoy and care for God’s good world. We will never plumb the mysteries of why God became incarnate, but we can discern some of its important consequences, consequences that we can see in David’s song.

As we wait for the Word to become flesh, we remember that the world is good: the earth is imbued with God’s majestic name.

It is resounding “Yes!” to life. Like the world, the birth of Jesus Christ is a self-expression of God. As we anticipate the birth of the baby Jesus in this Advent season, we also remember that the Incarnation, God’s becoming a servant to us, is about sacrifice.

Jesus Christ becomes incarnate to transform humanity through servanthood. Facing God’s demand on us to care for God’s works means that we, as God’s exalted creatures, are charged with the responsibility of re-presenting Christ’s sacrifices over and over in our own actions.

Isn’t it terrific how David, this important and busy leader, takes the time to look at and feel the awe of God’s heavenly handiwork? Esther de Waal wrote: What a waste it is to be surrounded by heaven, by a sky “made white by angels’ wings” and to be unaware of it. Perhaps the first step is that we should really want to unearth God in our midst [to] let the mundane becomes the edge of glory, and find the extraordinary in the ordinary.

Advent can be a time for “unearthing” the divine incarnate in the hidden moments of our own daily lives. Let our “unearthing” of the divine this Advent season bless us with renewed joy at the wonders of the world and move us to serve God’s creation.

Cynthia Ann Curtis Adjunct Instructor, School of Religion

Monday, December 25  Psalms 2, 85, 110.1-5, 132   Zecharariah 2.10-13   John 3.31-36   1 John 4.7-16  When the exiles began to return home and repopulate Jerusalem, they entered a place that was only a shadow of its former self. Where thousands once lived in a thriving city, now hundreds struggled to survive among the ruins. The scriptures tell us that when the foundations for the new temple were laid among the ruins, the old men cried out because they had seen the original temple (Ezra 3.12).

In Zechariah 2, God calls for the exiles to return to Jerusalem.

God promised to join them there. God says, “I will come and dwell in your midst” (v. 10). Moreover, God promises that this will be a time when other nations will join the exiles and they will all be God’s people as God dwells in the midst of all of them (v. 11). Everyone receives encouragement because God moved from God’s holy dwelling to be among the people (v. 13).

This wonderful image of God rising up to come among God’s people, to be among them, is a foretaste of the greatest, most intimate visit God ever made to all of humanity. On Christmas Day we celebrate God’s coming into the world in the person of Jesus Christ. Truly, in this coming, God creates a way for all the world to come near to God. We may hear the ancient words of the prophet Zechariah and remember that we are all exiles of a sort. While we are going to classes, raising families, or building a career, we are on a restless journey to somewhere. The grades we seek, the perfect family we envision, the dynamic career we imagine all are always over the next hill.

In Christmas, God rises up and calls us home to Jerusalem. It is God’s way of saying, “Whatever you are searching for you will find in me.”Truly, in Jesus, God has come to dwell in our midst.

When we find him this Christmas Day, we will know that we have finally found what we have been searching for all along.

Darrell Gwaltney Dean, School of Religion

BELMONT at a glance Belmont is a student-centered Christian community providing an academically challenging education that enables men and women of diverse backgrounds to engage and transform the world with disciplined intelligence, compassion, courage and faith.

Academic Programs  More than 50 undergraduate programs of study  Seven Colleges and Schools include College of Arts and Sciences, College of Business Administration, The Inman College of Health Sciences, College of Visual and Performing Arts, The Mike Curb College of Entertainment and Music Business, University College, and School of Religion  Adult degree programs through University College include Liberal Studies Program, PBBA Program, Ministry, Continuing Education, and RN/BSN Program  Adult degree programs through University College include Liberal Studies Program, PBBA Program, Continuing Education and RN/BSN Program  Master’s degree programs in Accounting, Business Administration, Education, Music Education, Education in Sport Administration, English, Music, Nursing, Occupational Therapy  Doctoral programs in Physical Therapy and Occupational Therapy  Named among the top 10 universities in the south in its category in the U.S. News & World Report magazine’s annual ranking of America’s Best Colleges and Universities  Member of Cooperative Center for Study in Britain which allows students to study in England, Ireland, Scotland, and Australia. Exchange programs also exist with Mexico, Italy, Costa Rica, China, Spain, Germany, Russia, and in France at the University of Angers Accreditation Belmont University is accredited by the Commission on colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (1866 Southern Lane, Decatur, Georgia 30033-4097; 404-679-4501) to award bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees. Persons wishing to review documents relation to Belmont’s accreditation may contact the Office of the Provost (615-460-6400).

School of Religion Vision: The School of Religion seeks to be a premier academic community that nurtures a living faith in God, reflects critically on its discipline, develops skills for Christian ministry, and distinguishes itself through its emphases on contemplative spirituality and social justice.

Purpose: The purpose of the School of Religion is to provide studentcentered, academically challenging religion classes to the diverse student body of Belmont University and to provide a foundation of religious studies for students preparing for congregational ministry and advanced theological studies.

Goals: 1. To provide all Belmont students with a solid foundation in biblical and theological studies.

2. To teach courses for religion majors and minors in the following areas: biblical languages, biblical studies, religion and society, theological and historical studies, practical studies, seminars and special studies. To offer professional education courses in practical ministry.

3. To offer continuing education opportunities to ministers and laity.

4. To integrate contemplative spirituality and social justice into the curricular and co-curricular program.

School of Religion Faculty and Staff Dr. Marty Bell, Church History Dr. Robert Byrd, Greek & New Testament Dr. Ben Curtis, Pastoral Care & Spiritual Formation Ms. Cynthia Ann Curtis, Biblical Studies Mrs. Vernona Elliott, Office Manager Dr. Darrell Gwaltney, Dean Dr. Steve Guthrie, Theology Dr. Mark McEntire, Hebrew & Old Testament Dr. Steven Simpler, Theology Dr. Judy Skeen, Biblical Studies & Spiritual Formation Dr. Andy Watts, Christian Ethics

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