Advent 2008
We are finishing an amazing fall semester here at Belmont University. All the world came to visit us during the presidential debate that was held on our campus in early October. Before and after the debate, we welcomed a wide variety of experts and leaders in all fields to speak and help us think about our place in the world.
We hope this guide now prepares us for Christmas. Advent is that season of waiting that carefully and purposefully helps us to realign our priorities and to glimpse, anew, our place before God. May these devotionals help prepare our hearts for the coming of Jesus.
While the world visited us this fall, Advent reminds us of the once and future visit of our Lord Jesus Christ. May the Christ come to all of us this Christmas!
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, faculty, and trustee 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 Debbie Jacobs, Assistant to the Dean for the School of Religion. Her careful attention to detail brought this project to its successful completion. We could not have done it without her.
May each day reflecting upon God’s Word and upon the words of these writers lead each of us through Advent and to the coming of Christ!
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 God. 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 cover 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 O Come, O Come, Emmanuel appointed for the week.
Week One
O come, O come, Emmanuel, And ransom captive Israel, That mourns in lonely exile here, Until the Son of God appear.
Sunday, November 30
Psalms 111, 112, 113, 146, 147
Isaiah 1.1-9
Matthew 25.1-13
2 Peter 3.1-10
As a mother, one of the things that provokes my anger is my children teasing each other. I can deal with their wrestling or even pushing each other on occasion. However, it pushes my buttons when I hear them poking fun and teasing one another. This taunting is a form of personal humiliation with one sibling often bringing the other to tears. Such intentional degradation is not healthy for either of them. It is not healthy for you or me. We must not make any time for teasing.
In 2 Peter 3.1-4, the author writes that in the interim between the ascension of Jesus and His return, “scoffers will come, scoffing and indulging in their own lusts” (v. 3). These opponents of the gospel will mock believers and chide them saying, “Where is the promise of the coming?” (v. 4). In other words, those who deny the parousia, or second coming, will tease or make fun of those who await it. Those who have no hope will taunt persons who look for the Hope that is to come.
We must not make time for such teasing because we must busy ourselves doing those things which are constructive and edify the kingdom of God. Giving credence to or pausing to pay attention to this pejorative behavior only distracts the children of God from the work of God. We must not make time for teasing because the work God is calling us to do is far more serious. There are too many among us in prison, too many who are homeless, too many with HIV/ AIDS, too many without food. They deserve our focus. This is not the time for teasing.
We must not make time for teasing because time is short. The text in 2 Peter also states, “that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like one day” (v. 8). God’s time, kairos, is not like our time, chronos. We measure life in hours, days, weeks and years. Whereas God’s time is just that; God’s way of doing what God will do when God wants to do it. Because we do not know when the Lord will return, then we must do all that we can while we can. Who has time for teasing when Jesus is coming and coming soon?
During this season of anticipation, when we will spend time shopping, wrapping gifts, eating, and drinking, let us make sure that we take the time to be good to each other. Let us take the time to be courteous and gracious to each other. Let us take the time to pray for and intercede for one another. Let us not make time for teasing, but let us wait patiently for the One who is to come.
Stephanie Buckhanon Crowder Assistant Professor, School of Religion
Monday, December 1
Psalms 1, 2, 3, 4, 7
Isaiah 1.10-20
Luke 20.1-8
1 Thessalonians 1.1-10
In this season we are celebrating the arrival of a God who delights in our faith and action. The prophet Isaiah tells the Jews to wash themselves and cease to do evil (v. 16). He imperatively states that they need to learn to do good and bring justice to the land (v. 17). The prophet admonishes the Israelites earlier for their gifts, festivals, and offerings that were given to the Lord in vanity (vs. 11-15). We can clearly see that the Lord’s heart was not for things given purely out of tradition or obligation but for His people to do things that were just and compassionate for others.
Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy commend the Thessalonians on their faith, labor, and steadfast hope in Jesus (v. 3). They also mention how the faith, ministry, and hospitality of the Thessalonians have gone forth everywhere, even to lands beyond Thessalonica (vs. 7-8). These were people worthy of praise and encouragement, according to the authors. The Thessalonians were an example to believers everywhere because they were faithful with what the Lord was asking them to do.
I, ashamedly, have often worked without faith leading my desire to act and to do. I have more than once found myself giving to God with a heart that is not focused on His glory or Kingdom, but on the obligation I have impressed upon myself. I have sung songs, done works, and used my talents to further my own self instead of the name of Jesus. I have walked past the widows, the orphans, and the homeless men and women of our city. I have done much that is not just.
We enter the Christmas season of giving, most aptly shown in our Lord God, who, because of love, gave our world God’s only begotten Son Jesus. This Jesus came to show us how to live justly and righteously and in communion with God, as well as to die for us to defeat sin, and to be resurrected to defeat death. May we be grateful for this gift of Jesus, and in this gratefulness may we find faith. May we be like those from Thessalonica whose faith led them to live justly, live compassionately, and share hospitality with their neighbor.
Anthony Mangin Senior, Religion and
the Arts Major
Tuesday, December 2
Psalms 5, 6, 10, 11
Isaiah 1.21-31
Luke 20.9-18
1 Thessalonians 2.1-12
The beginning of December usually finds us recalling many memories and traditions—mostly good ones! A season of Thanksgiving and harvest has just passed. The peak of giving to our community and other fall campaigns has ended. Many of us are focused on the end of a semester, hustling to complete our responsibilities, and helping students prepare for final examinations.
In the midst of these busy “endings” is a beginning season of hope, joy, expectation, preparation, and rejoicing.
In Luke 20.9-18, we read “the parable of the vineyard.” As you read it, you realize that the story is a parallel of God’s experience with Israel. The owner of the vineyard is much like God. The tenants of the vineyard sinned and cast away the owner’s messengers with wrath and violence. And, when the vineyard owner sends his son, the tenants threatened and killed him, thinking that if they killed the son, they would inherit the vineyard. In this parable is a representation of God sending prophets prior to Jesus that were not recognized and were cast down. And when Jesus was sent to the people on earth, he too was cast down and even killed. What an absolute tragedy. Among our transitions this week, remember that we are hoping for the arrival of God’s greatest gift—the gift of Jesus.
As we experience Advent, let us remember not to see Christmas as self serving. Spend time finding new love to share, reconciling with a family member, giving of yourself, or spending time with someone who needs to see Jesus’ love in action. Ignoring the opportunity to renew yourself during Advent is much like casting away God’s message. Be alert—search out ways you may be an example of Jesus’ love. Make the most of God’s message.
Dear God in heaven, we thank you for our lives. We thank you for all the wonderful opportunities and experiences we have had this semester. As we prepare for Advent, help us to be hopeful. Help us to remember we are waiting for the highlight of the Christian year— the coming of Jesus. Keep us ever mindful of his magnificence and that Jesus was a gift from God. Help us find hope in a time of need and that we will provide an experience for someone to see Jesus in our lives. Amen.
Philip E. Johnston Dean, School of Pharmacy
Wednesday, December 3
Psalms 12, 13, 14, 119.1-24
Isaiah 2.1-11
Luke 20.19-26
1 Thessalonians 2.13-20
In some significant ways, Luke 20.19 directs the thoughts of the reader back and forward. The mention of the parable told by Jesus in the preceding episode links what is about to occur with that earlier narrative. It focused on a vineyard owner who, after letting out his vineyard, sent for “his share of the produce of the vineyard” (20.10). However the tenants refused to give him his due. Knowing the story is directed at them, the hearers of Jesus want to take action, but are frozen in fear.
Then those religious leaders sought a more subtle approach in hopes of putting Jesus in an untenable position. They framed a question that would open him to danger regardless of his answer. Perhaps they thought he would encourage people to refuse to pay what Roman authority required, at least, to appear weak in his support of Jewish tradition. They chose to take matters into their own hands and go on the offensive against Jesus.
Verse nineteen prepares the reader to move forward by introducing the idea that serves as the primary motivation of those opposing Jesus. It says they sought “to lay hands on him” to turn him over to the authorities who would keep him under control. The same idea appears in verse twenty expressing the hope of the spies “that they might take hold of his speech” (ASV). The destructive purpose of this is their desire to make Jesus a harmless and powerless force by taking his voice and turning his own words on him.
This season is all about what it means to wait. On my office door there is a motto that was given to me by a friend. It says, “WAITING AND SEEKING ARE TWO SIDES OF THE SAME COIN.” On the larger scale this season is about waiting and seeking during the “in between time”—the time between Jesus’ first advent and his coming advent. More immediately, it is about waiting and seeking for more clarity about the Divine that is already present and the new ways God will break into our world. Like those hearers of Jesus, we have a choice to make. Each of us can take hold of this season and shape it however it suits us. Or, we can use this as a time to give ourselves to God more fully than ever as an expression of our highest commitment—of giving God what is truly God’s.
Bob Byrd Professor, School of Religion
Thursday, December 4
Psalms 18.1-20, 18.21-50
Isaiah 2.12-22
Luke 20.27-40
1 Thessalonians 3.1-13
The haughtiness of people shall be humbled, and the pride of everyone shall be brought low; and the LORD alone will be exalted on that day.
Isaiah 2.17
The state of Israel in the time the prophet Isaiah conducted his ministry was one of disarray. There were ethical issues of worship that came head to head with Jewish law leaving the people of Jerusalem tired and lost. Idolatry was a common practice. God had moved from a place of singular power and glory to just another item of worship in the dust of earthly gods.
In many ways this is where the Christmas season finds us: full of earthly gods. The season kicks up its own dust of decorations and activities. Our schedules are probably full, and it could be that our hearts are also. In this time of Advent, we must prepare our hearts and our lives for the glorious arrival of change. Christ is coming. Do we have room for Him?
In Donald Miller’s book Through Painted Deserts, he explores the importance of “leaving.” Having come to the end of a period in his life, Miller realizes the necessity of leaving in order to arrive. Miller writes, “My prayer is that your story will have involved some leaving and some coming home.” We must leave, let go of some of our earthly gods so that we can come home to the only life that can leave us truly full: a life in Christ. Like Israel, we often find ourselves struggling in the vain attempt to fill our lives with worldly things. Advent season calls us to leave. Leave the activity, leave the commotion, leave the stress, and leave the noise. Let the dust of the lives we create settle at our feet. Let us be silent in the clearing of our hearts and minds. Let us be present and aware of the deep anticipation of the Christ Child. It is my hope that we can turn our focus from the manic movement of our Decembers to preparing a place for the Coming One: a place where we wait empty, desiring nothing but the love of Christ.
Let our prayer be similar to that of Thomas Merton’s: “Let me withdraw all my love from scattered, vain things, and let me place everything in Thee, where it will take root and live, instead of being spent in barrenness.”
Peace in Him, Caroline Adams Junior, Religion and the Arts Major
Fiday, December 5
Psalms 16, 17, 22
Isaiah 3.8-15
Luke 20.41-21.4
1 Thessalonians 4.1-12
David’s Psalms lamenting the sorrows of life seem an ill-fit for the Christmas season. They come from a time when the hope for a Messiah stretched on for centuries, and men and women who carried that hope for a lifetime tasted death before seeing it realized. Christmas in our time is a season of celebration, and even when we turn our minds toward advent, as you are doing right now reading this devotional, we know that our wait for Christ’s coming will be as short as we want it to be. We sing “O come, O come, Emmanuel and ransom captive Israel, that mourns in lonely exile,” with no thought that we might be talking about ourselves. That is a mistake.
Tonight you may have been to the mall, or you may be going tomorrow. You already know what you will find there. It is as much a part of the season as lighting the Advent wreath, but going to the mall is no advent experience. Every store screams “Christmas,” but no one there waits expectantly for the coming of Christ. No one waits for anything! The crowds push you from one store to the next, where a whole new selection of clothes and toys and televisions surround you for as far as the eye can see, seducing you to spend every dime in your pocket to feed the frenzy of the season. Everyone you see wants your money, and no one in the sea of faces sees you at all. You grow tired, and at some point before the day ends, you begin to feel as overwhelmed as David, who called out to God:
Hide me…from the wicked who assail me… They close their callous hearts and their mouths speak with arrogance. They…surround me…like a lion hungry for prey, like a great lion crouching in cover.
Psalms 17.8-12
Yours is the dark night of the soul about which David wrote, coming even as it does in the midst of the Christmas season. It is your glimpse of the despair that birthed a hope for a Messiah who would come and bring peace to a crazy world. This is not a hope only for those of ancient times. The peace Christ brings comes only at the end of the long dark night, not in place of it. So cherish the wait this Christmas. Hope passionately and get a good night’s sleep before heading out to the mall tomorrow.
Devon Boan Director, Honors Program
Saturday, December 6
Psalms 20, 21.1-7, 110.1-7, 116, 117
Isaiah 4.2-6
Luke 21.5-19
1 Thessalonians 4.13-18
Paper Chains. Do you remember them? Strips of red and green construction paper carefully pasted together with a specially selected Christmas card on top! We made these every year in Sunday school, took them home, and proudly displayed them for all to see. Each night we would remove one link, thus marking the number of days until Christmas.
Perhaps this is why I am still drawn to Advent calendars and to the other activities that surface during this season: carols, cutout-cookies, and the Nativity. Through their regular appearance, my personal involvement, and community engagement, past and present, they represent hope. No matter the struggle and sorrows of the moment (Psalm 116), I could count on these outward actions to lift my spirits. Could it be as David said in Psalm 116.6, “The Lord preserveth the simple?“
If we believe, “the one who makes himself as little as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18.4), perhaps we would profit from seeing Advent through a child’s eyes. According to Sofia Cavalletti, in The Religious Potential of the Child:
• The child is satisfied only with the great and essential things.
• The child’s interior life is deeply serious and without trappings.
• Listening is the leaning toward others, the opening of ourselves in a receptive attitude toward the reality around us…there is no age when the person is more capable of listening than in early childhood.
Therefore, during this time of Advent and global strife, how do we remind ourselves to consider all of our ordinary acts as holy, to align ourselves with what is most essential, and to lean toward others with a gesture of merciful kindness (Psalm 117) and comfort (I Thessalonians 4)?
We are given clues from two sources; the first is biblical. Psalms 20 and 21 remind us to trust in the Lord. The second source is The Tennessean headline the day after Debate08 at Belmont. In large, bold letters, it read: SEEKING TRUST. Underneath was a large picture of the presidential candidates. Journalists may have implied that Obama and McCain were seeking trust from the voters or vice versa. Both are important and may be correct. However, I suggest a third, essential meaning: seeking trust, finding hope, and experiencing peace in God.
May you find your own version of Paper Chains in this Advent season.
Merrie B. King
Associate Professor, College of Arts and Sciences
Week Two
O come, thou Dayspring, come and cheer Our spirits by thine advent here; Disperse the gloomy clouds of night, And death’s dark shadows put to flight.
Sunday,
December 7
Psalms 114, 115, 148, 149, 150
Isaiah 5.1-7
Luke 7.28-35
2 Peter 3.11-18
As I write today, there is a lot of fear in the world. The United States is facing the greatest financial crisis since the Great Depression. Most gas stations in Nashville have run out of gasoline. North Korea and Iran appear to be working toward developing nuclear weapons that many people believe could destabilize political order in our world. On and on I could go in describing bad news. By the time you read this, some of these issues may seem less or more intense, and new fears will have emerged to claim our attention. Fear of possible scenarios of the future at times can overwhelm us.
And speaking of fear, our epistle lesson for the day from 2 Peter has often engendered fear because of its fiery scenario concerning the “day of God.” In one of the rare references to the destruction of the world through fire, the epistle writer anticipates a cosmic dissolution that ends life as we know it. As a child who grew up practicing nuclear war drills in school because of the paranoia of the Cold War, I remember preachers opining that this reference in 2 Peter might mean nuclear holocaust. I was exposed to enough “hellfire and brimstone” revival preaching as a child that this passage always scared me.
Now, however, I see this passage from 2 Peter as a consolation rather than as a dire warning of doom. The context of the phrase “the heavens will be set ablaze and dissolved, and the elements will melt with fire” is the ancient Christian hope in the parousia and the fullness of the reign of God. Advent comes from the Latin adventus and is a translation of the Greek parousia. Traditionally a major theme of Advent has been the anticipation of the Second Coming of Christ and God’s judgment. The fiery end is in the context of the anticipation of “new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness is at home.”
In the world that we know, righteousness or justice (they mean the same thing biblically) is not fully realized. That’s why we pray, “Thy kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.” However, the day is coming when “righteousness is at home.” Our fears must be destroyed that love might recreate new heavens and a new earth. That is real hope.
Marty Bell Professor, School of Religion
Monday, December 8
Psalms 9, 15, 25
Isaiah 5.8-12
Luke 21.20-28
1 Thessalonians 5.1-11
Hope is a strange thing. I do not know that I really understand it. It seems to be one of those words that has been overused, and misused, to the point that it has lost its power and significance.
As I have given more consideration to this word, this idea, I find that hope in its truest—purest—form is tied to need. Need—there is another word that I think has lost its intended power and meaning… (and if you need proof of this just stop by my home and spend a little time with my 3 year old—he seems to need a whole lot!). The kind of need that is tied to hope is a need that cannot be met by human striving. This kind of need is something that we ultimately have no control over meeting—and therefore must depend on something— someone—beyond ourselves. But this is incredibly difficult for Western Christians because we have bought into the cultural notion that we can, and should, do everything on our own, for ourselves—without outside assistance. But this is not God’s desire (cf. Ps. 9.17-18).
Recognizing our true need, as well as the need of others, is not our strong point. It often takes a significant event, sadly tragic in nature, to jar us from our misguided perception that we can do it, do life, on our own. Praise God for God’s patience and willingness to send Jesus, despite our inability to recognize true need.
Then they will see ‘the Son of Man coming in a cloud’ with power and great glory. Now when these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.
Lk. 21.27-28
Jesus has come, and will one day come again… Our hope should be put in nothing but Him!
For God has destined us not for wrath but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep we may live with him. Therefore encourage one another and build up each other, as indeed you are doing.
1 Thess. 5. 9-11
Guy Chmieleski University Minister
Tuesday, December 9
Psalms 26, 28, 36, 39
Isaiah 5.13-17, 24-25
Luke 21.29-38
1 Thessalonians 5.12-28
Recently I sat in one of Nashville’s many venues to hear live music straight from the songwriter’s mouth. The talented voice of the evening made some joke about needing to love everyone, even those of the opposite political party in this election year, and then he sang a song which tells the listener we’ve got to love everybody. My mind wandered to the conversations had by those of us who read the gospels and hang around religious circles. We are quick to say that Jesus was the one who pulled this off, and the rest of us are destined to struggle with it. As I listened further, and as the song suggested that if we were to love everyone, someday everyone might also love us, I thought about what loving everybody brought to Jesus. And I thought about the moments when Jesus was harsh and even threatening.
As we walk toward Christmas celebrations, we nurture a warm, cozy feeling about those we care for and the ways we can express our gratitude and affection for them. The season of Advent and the practice of reading through the scriptures during this season reminds us that God is glimpsed in sweetness and light and God is also heard in warning and threat.
Our reading from Luke for today beckons us to see the coming of Christ as a much bigger picture than the babe in the manger. The coming of Christ into the world will leave its mark, everything changed, every sense heightened. As surely as the signs of the changing of season, the leafing of the fig tree, God is at work in the world. The kingdom has been announced and as we sing “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” are we ready for the changes that come, as small as the perking up of the grass after a good rain and as large as the presence of God in a human, making all things new, loving everybody?
Judy Skeen Professor, School of Religion
Wednesday, December 10
Psalms 38, 119.25-48
Isaiah 6.1-13
John 7.53-8.11
2 Thessalonians 1.1-12
The Word of God and harlots do not mix. So said Moses (not really), so say the Pharisees, one of them hastily stuffing stones in his robe on the way to justice. John 7.53-8.11 tells the story of every human ever born of man and woman; we are the harlot, guilty, our sheets streaked with iniquity, the one dragged before guilt-ridden humanity that, in spite of its own depravity, seems committed to strangling the life from us. Maybe it is the lex talonis, the “law of the claw,” to which fallen man adjusted in a desperate bid for the justice we secretly despair will ever come to us. Or perhaps, as one bystander avoiding the eyes of the woman of disrepute, we condemn our fellow humans for fear our sins would be found out, and no one wants to live amongst the rock-throwing Pharisees.
Jesus does, actually. From the miracle birth in Bethlehem comes the One who convicts, but does not condemn, who responds to the call for justice while not neglecting the repentant heart. The Pharisees, after all, were not in the wrong to call this woman to account. One need remember the last words of the text, “Go and sin no more.” Yet perhaps it slipped the minds of certain ones that they, too, had a doctor to see. What is spoken to the woman is likewise a corrective to the self-righteous; for all concerned, God remembers our frame and knows we are dust.
The Lamb of God, in accordance with the will of God, is born into a world that is self-destructive, self-condemning and self-justifying in the same polluted breath, and writes in the dirt. The words are unknown, and yet the Word clearly speaks. “Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more.”
Somehow, all are left dumbfounded, including the one rescued.
This is a God who surprises, this the advent message. Through Jesus, God confronts us in the very act of our sin. The infant Divine is cradled in the swarthy underpinnings of a system gone wrong from hearts gone awry. Yet He stays, and grows, and lives among us, a Holy Word written in the dirt. The Word of God made flesh abides with us in our sin, but not in complacency. We celebrate the God merciful enough to stoop to write in the dirt and faithful to lift us beyond it.
Calen Gayle Senior, Christian Leadership and Music Performance Major
Thursday, December 11
Psalms 37.1-18, 37.19-42
Isaiah 7.1-9
Luke 22.1-13
2 Thessalonians 2.1-12
Which is it, young feller? In the 1987 film Raising Arizona, written and directed by the Coen brothers and starring Holly Hunter and Nicolas Cage, one hilarious scene provides several memorable lines pertinent to our passage from 2 Thessalonians. In the scene, two misfit brothers— Gale and Evelle Snoats—good ole’ boys with nary an idea of what they are doing, rob a small town bank with pantyhose over their heads.
As they enter the lobby, Gale yells, “All right, ya hayseeds, it’s a stick-up. Everybody freeze. Everybody down on the ground.” Feisty Hayseed, an octogenarian unstirred by the brothers’ actions, asks, “Well, which is it, young feller? You want I should freeze or get down on the ground? Mean to say, if’n I freeze, I can’t rightly drop. And if’n I drop, I’m a-gonna be in motion.”
Gale, after a moment’s perplexity, demands silence and repeats the order. Confusion. Contradiction. Competition. The days leading up to Advent this season are filled with tensions vying for our hearts and minds. Partisan answers to political, economic and social issues assault our curiosities and passions, and even stir up hateful feelings on our hearts. Simple and incredulous religious answers to deep moral and theological questions assail us, giving us a deceitful sense of righteousness. Most of us do not know if we should freeze our lives, or go on with them.
Unfortunately, 2 Thessalonians 2.1-12 continues the barrage. Paul, the traditional but disputed author of this second letter to the church in Thessalonica, tells Christians not to be “quickly alarmed” as to the coming of Lord Jesus Christ. He tells them they will know when the time has come when the “lawless one” appears and declares himself or herself to be God.
To the contrary, the Paul of I Thessalonians does not make such odd apocalyptic claims! Instead, there Paul proclaims that the time of Jesus’ return is not known (much less indicated by signs), but when it does occur, the dead and the living will be caught up into heaven.
“So, which is it, young feller?” we urgently ask of Paul. Should we look for signs or not? Consequently, looking at the good and the bad in this time in history, I find myself asking of God, “Well, are you coming or going?” Jesus never gave a direct answer to the question. Everything was always draped in apocalyptic language, similar to Paul’s warnings in II Thessalonians. We should remember, however, as Barry Harvey reminds us to do, that apocalyptic language is meant to reorder the rhythms of our lives towards God’s time. Advent, then is an apocalyptic time. Let us become new people as we wait for Jesus.
Andy Watts Assistant Professor, School of Religion
Friday, December 12
Psalms 31, 35
Isaiah 7.10-25
Luke 22.14-30
2 Thessalonians 2.13-3.5
For years it was prophesied that a savior would come. Isaiah prophesied that the savior would be born of a young woman and be called Immanuel “God with us.”
Luke 22 gives the account of the last supper. Jesus sits down with the disciples and tells them of the new covenant that will be established by his death and resurrection. He gives them bread to eat saying it is his body broken for them (and all humankind). He also gives them the cup to drink saying it is his blood poured out for them (and all humankind). This is the new covenant. The old is reversed. We are no longer bound by the law.
As the day on which Christ came draws near, we are reminded of why he came. In John, we find that he came to bring us abundant life. He also brings us peace. Not peace as the world gives us, but peace that passes all understanding. The psalmist in Psalm 31 declares that God is his refuge.
As His name states, Christ is “God with us.” Through Christ coming to earth, we are able to see a picture of God and some of God’s characteristics. Jesus was compassionate, loving, joyful, humble, sinless, self-sacrificing, and many other things. We can know and trust that God has these same characteristics. God is compassionate and loving towards his children. God is absolutely sinless and holy and takes joy in children. God is self-sacrificing because God gave God’s only son, Jesus, so that we may be saved and reconciled to God (John 3.16).
As we know, Christ will one day come again. Except when he comes this time things will be different. He will come to get his own and he will come as reigning king and Lord. He will come to bring justice and truth. No more will there be persecution and death. He will bring life for those who are in him.
As Christmas is less than two weeks away, we must remember why Christ came and be thankful that he came. We are to be ever thankful for what his coming means for us and our future. We do not have to go through life on our own. Christ is there to walk with us through everything from exams, to careers, to celebrations, and even through struggles.
Lindsay Sechser Junior, Christian Leadership Major
Saturday, December 13
Psalms 32, 42, 43
Isaiah 8.1-15
Luke 22.331-38
2 Thessalonians 3.6-18
Consider a moment when you felt overwhelming shame because of something you said or did. When first reading these passages, shame and sorrow are the feelings that come to mind. The joyful thoughts and worshipful attitude often associated with the Christmas season are not readily evident. Themes of sin, longing, judgment, and even impending doom begin to emerge as one reads through the texts.
In the Isaiah passage, the name of the prophet’s son literally means “making speed to the spoil,” “hasten to the prey.” These are words of doom for the people of Damascus and for the people of Samaria who are part of the Northern kingdom. The Assyrians will conquer them, and their end will come quickly. Words of warning are also given to those in Judah, the Southern kingdom, because they refuse the waters of Shiloah; they refuse the will of God. Later in Isaiah though, we know that the righteous king of Judah, Hezekiah, will help deliver his nation. The focus shifts from judgment to God’s persistence and continued willingness to offer redemption. Within the Isaiah passages we hear of God’s “being with God’s people,” and there is a looking forward to the rise of an ideal king, with hints that all creation will share in God’s redeeming work. The message, while containing judgment and loss, is overall one of overwhelming hope.
The same ideas are preserved for us in the Gospel of Luke. Jesus calls Peter by his earlier name, “Simon,” suggesting the tragic moment that is at hand, a moment when Peter has lost his true identity. He is not now the rock but rather is weakened and overcome by fear and lack of faith. Peter, we know, denies Christ in a damning and disastrous scene. In this passage though, before the moment of denial even occurs, redemption is present. Jesus has prayed for Peter and for his faith and declares that when Peter has turned again toward God he will once more serve as the rock. There is no question that Peter will turn again toward God; it is only a matter of time.
In these two passages, we see the results of failure that are far reaching and paralyzing. A nation hears doom as does the disciple Jesus has chosen as the foundation for the church. Yet on a national and communal level, and on the level that focuses on the failure of one human being, redemption is the final word. Forgiveness and hope are what we have to look forward to, even when all seems lost. God’s ultimate goal is to redeem and reconcile all of God’s creation. This reconciliation is made possible because of the gift of Jesus the Christ, the baby we remember during the Christmas season and take hope in throughout the year.
Sally Holt Associate Professor, School of Religion
Week Three
O come, thou Wisdom from on high, And order all things, far and nigh; To us the path of knowledge show, And cause us in her ways to go.
Sunday, December 14
Psalms 63.1-8, 98, 103
Isaiah 13.6-13
John 3.22-30
Hebrews 12.18-29
The seeming complexity of this passage in Hebrews is actually very straightforward with the text breaking into two natural sections. The first section, verses 18-24, provides the reader with a stark contrast between the old and the new approaches to God and to being in God’s presence. The second section, verses 25-29, provides another contrast between the world which was shaken once, and will be shaken again, but now with the knowledge that an unshakable kingdom will be inherited by those of faith.
The first image is of the Israelites coming to the Sinai and experiencing trepidation in the presence of God. The author uses words such as darkness, gloom, terrifying, and trembling to paint a picture of a powerful Lord, who was inaccessible and distant, who evoked fear even in one of God’s most faithful servants—Moses, the one who received the law. In contrast the writer now moves from an image of an earthly mountain setting of fear in the presence of the Lord to a spiritual vision of Zion, the heavenly Jerusalem. God is not distant or removed but God is a “living” God. The image is positive with a “festal gathering” and our spirits “made perfect” in the presence of Jesus, who mediates the new covenant.
The last section of the text is another contrast that carries a warning. The writer of Hebrews tells the readers that although they are in a new situation with a new covenant in Jesus Christ, they must be diligent to hear the heavenly voice of the Lord and not to “refuse him who is speaking.” The Advent season is a reminder that we have a wonderful blessing with an approachable God through Jesus, who came to earth and will return again. Yet, the writer reminds us that just as before in that holy presence and coming, the world will again be shaken. However, what will be different in that time to come is that the Christian who has heard the heavenly voice and “offered to God acceptable worship” will be able to claim a spiritual kingdom that cannot be shaken and be in the presence of the Lord.
Steven Reed Registrar
Monday, December 15
Psalms 41, 44, 52
Isaiah 8.16-9.1
Luke 22.39-53
2 Peter 1.1-11
Why are you asleep? Get up and pray not to be put to the test.
Be gentle with this life, and use the light of life to live fully in your time. (Always We Begin Again)
Luke 22.39-53
Jesus talks about a cup, “take this cup away from me.” The cup is the cup of suffering or more importantly the way events are beginning to play out. We call that reality. In the Gospels, in the first part of his ministry, Jesus is active: teaching, healing, and moving about with decisiveness as if to emphasize the role of human initiative. Jesus has a say in his own life. As John McQuiston paraphrases the Rule of St. Benedict, “Every day has the potential to bring the experience of heaven; have the courage to expect good from it” (Always We Begin Again).
In the second part of his ministry, Jesus is passive: receiving the flow of events in his Passion beyond his control. He prays for his disciples “not to be put to the test.” What is the test? The disciples “saw what was coming” (v. 49). Their response? To go to sleep. The test was to refuse to drink the cup of what life brings us. Tilden Edwards says the spiritual orientation “is a simple, open presence to what is, a presence that can accommodate all that is, a presence that is dedicated to the ultimate loving Source that pervades what is” (Spiritual Director, Spiritual Companion).
How do we do this? The response of Jesus to things now beyond his control was “not my will but Yours be done.” A naked trust, a surrender that held back nothing. In the season of Advent, within the community of faith, that is our model and our hope for waiting.
Ben Curtis Professor, School of Religion
Tuesday, December 16
Psalms 45, 47, 48
Isaiah 9.1-7
Luke 22.54-69
2 Peter 1.12-21
The Prophet Isaiah foretold of a light coming into the darkness of the world, which would illuminate the shadow of death and bring relief to those in distress (v. 2). This light would come from a son of Galilee who would be called the “Prince of Peace” and “Wonderful Counselor” (v. 6). His reign would be established for all time through God’s zeal (v. 7).
Israel had been waiting for Isaiah’s promise for hundreds of years. They were expecting a king to come save them from their struggles and rescue them from their gloom, and the life of Jesus did not fit their model. Luke 22 does not describe their long-awaited king. Instead, one of his own disciples denies him (v. 61). He is beaten, mocked, and insulted (vs. 63-65). Finally, the teachers of the law and chief priests denounce that he is the predicted king (v. 67).
This dismal scene does not sound like Isaiah’s prophecy. However, Jesus makes a promise, even a prophecy, to the council of elders. “But from now on the Son of Man shall be seated at the right hand of the power of God” (v. 69). Jesus truly came into the world to fulfill the words of Isaiah.
Isaiah prophesied that a king would come into the land to rescue the people, and for hundreds of years, the nation of Israel waited for the arrival of their redeemer. They expected him to come in power and authority, but he came in humility. They expected a great leader, but Jesus’ disciples denied his name.
Much like the Israelites, when we expect God to act a certain way, we are often disappointed. We want to force God’s hand to mold to our own desires and do not patiently wait for him. In this Christmas season, we should take comfort in the fact that Jesus moves in ways beyond our understanding, and he will accomplish more than we could ever expect.
Blake Swafford Junior, Religious Studies Major
Wednesday, December 17
Psalms 49, 119.49-72
Isaiah 9.8-17
Mark. 1.1-8
2 Peter 2.1-10a
A recent report of trapped miners caused us to hold our breath in dreadful anticipation of news we did not want to hear. Our imaginations tried to fill in the details—what must it be like to be trapped, to hear the low rumble of the cave-in, the numbing ache of knowing you cannot get back out, of sinking into the darkness and hoping your air does not run out.
Our imaginations do not have to go far. We feel that way most of the time—trapped, measuring our breaths, not knowing if help will come. Something has gone wrong in our plan to dig out a living. There has been a cave-in of expectations, a growing darkness of reality, and we measure each gasp of hope, praying we do not run out—though in some ways, we already have.
It is not for lack of effort. We try hard. We work more than any other industrialized nation. We take fewer vacations and work longer hours. We connect and multi-task; but in those quiet moments we feel like we are just killing time until time finally kills us. Life is not working.
So we tap on the sides of the wall, like trapped miners, hoping that someone will hear that we are down here. Tapping out messages, trying to let someone know where we are and how much trouble we are in. Maybe rescue is coming.
And that is one of the things that makes Advent so hard—the waiting. To be human is to have limits. We have learned to live with some of these. We can only run so fast. We will only grow so tall and only earn so much money. The sky may be the limit, but sometimes the sky is closer than it seems. Despite all of our efforts, we come to the unsettling conclusion that, this time, we cannot undo what has been done. We cannot turn around what is going wrong. Someone else will have to save us.
The good news of Christianity is not that we can get to God, but that in Christ Jesus, God has come to us. Advent is the dark silence that reminds us we cannot save ourselves. We can tap on the walls, but all we can really do is wait. Only God can rescue us. Only God can save us. If we believe His promise, we wait in hope.
Mike Glenn Trustee
Thursday, December 18
Psalms 33, 50
Isaiah 9.18-10.4
Matthew. 3.1-12
2 Peter 2.10b-16
Christmas lights have shrunk in size. I remember the thumb-sized bulbs on trees when I was a child—and then when we moved to a new house, we got the new trend—small, fingernail-sized lights that seemed to twinkle. Now the larger bulbs have returned, and it is possible to light a tree with any size and shape of lights one could want.
These lights are the bits of fire that kept our ancestors warm through the winter, gradually domesticated, tamed, and made into a decorating style. Though it is a long way from a twinkling, miniature light on an elegant tree to a voice crying in the wilderness about one who is coming who will baptize us with fire, maybe that long way is not insurmountable at Advent. How do we hear the words of the herald of Christ, John the Baptist, in a modern world where an Advent fire is delicate electric light? And how do we hear the message that that baptism by fire is also a fire of judgment? How do we hear, as the Psalmist says, that God comes not in silence but “before him is a devouring fire?”
It is reassuring to read the passages in the Bible promising the fire of justice, like those in Isaiah, for righting the world so that the hungry are fed, the naked clothed, and the outcast restored. That is a fire most of us would gladly gather around. But the other word used with fire in these advent passages is “judgment,” and not only judgment of Pharisees and Sadducees and other individuals who have abused power. The Psalmist’s words and John the Baptist’s cries are also about those who speak against their brothers, who tell lies, who hate discipline. That hits closer to home, to the daily evasions we all make of the expectations for behavior and actions as followers of Christ. A twinkling light will do just fine, thank you.
Can we quickly get past these passages about the fires of judgment and get on to the promise of the Christ child and the quiet of Christmas Eve? Only at our peril, perhaps. John the Baptist demands repentance to prepare for the coming of Christ; the Psalmist describes God as judge. We may prefer our Advent fire to be in the form of twinkling lights and scented candles. John the Baptist would find that fire all too tame for the kingdom of heaven that is at hand.
Marcia A. McDonald Associate Provost
Friday, December 19
Psalms 40, 51, 54
Isaiah 10.5-19
Matthew. 11.2-15
2 Peter 2.17-22
If you are at all like me, you like the days leading up to Christmas to be nearly like a picture print by Courier and Ives. It is so tempting for me to imagine Christmas—and thus the incarnation—as if it were just one giant L.L. Bean catalogue, full of glowing fires and soft quiet snow and good camaraderie (not to mention cozy flannel shirts and snow boots). Invite old friends and new, pass around the coffee and the pumpkin pie, and you will make me a happy man indeed.
But today’s texts do not let us off so easily. A trio of psalms that remind us of our brokenness, a prophetic voice so dated as to almost be obscure, the type of cryptic-ness I simply have come to expect from Jesus, and dire warnings about false teachers and apostates from an apostle. None of the warm fuzzies—the shepherds on the hill, the baby in the manger, the Jesus-is-the-Reason-for-the-Season snow globes—that we are used to in this season.
And yet, these texts offer something that our piles of holiday catalogues never can: a true glimpse of what we might “wait patiently for.” The psalms each remind us that we need deliverance, from ourselves and our enemies. Isaiah reminds us that it is God who controls the final end of the world, and Jesus assures us that we know this through the radical things we see happening through the ministry of the Incarnation. Peter instructs that once we see these things—the blind receiving sight, the lame walking, good news being preached to the poor—we best not forget what it means: Jesus is coming.
And so, let us wait. Let us examine ourselves and our sins, and have created in us a clean heart. Let us know our enemies, and pray for their vindication and ours. Let us, in the midst of a world that seems to be falling apart, be reminded that the light of Israel will be our fire, and let us heed Jesus’ own instructions that we know this light through what we see: the lame walking, the lepers cleansed, the blind seeing. Let us heed St. Peter’s message: to know Jesus, that is, to know his kingdom is coming, and to ignore this is worse than anything we can imagine. And so, let us wait.
Micah Weedman Director of Outreach, University Ministries
Saturday, December 20
Psalms 55, 138, 139.1-17
Isaiah 10.20-27
Luke 3.1-9
Jude 17-25
The philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche titled one of his works Human, all too Human. The Christian tradition however offers a very different assessment of our condition. The great dilemma facing men and women is not that we are merely human, nor that we are all too human. Rather, our problem is that we are not nearly human enough. In Genesis chapter one God delights aloud over all of creation, pronouncing all of it “good,” but God takes special pleasure in humanity. Human beings alone are said to be made in the “image and likeness” of God. Irenaeus of Lyon, the great third century theologian, echoes the biblical witness when he declares that “The glory of God is the human person fully alive” (Against Heresies, 4.20.7).
Sadly, however, we rarely live out the full humanity God intends for us. Even more tragically, we often fail to recognize the full humanity of others, treating others as mere accessories to our own ambitions, rather than as brothers and sisters, created in the image of God. We were created to be the crowning glory of God’s good creation, and yet, we find ourselves ingloriously lacking in true humanity.
In the midst of our self-centeredness and shortcomings, Psalm 138 holds out the wonderful promise: The LORD will fulfill his purpose for me; your steadfast love O LORD endures forever. Do not forsake the work of your hands (v. 8). This is part of what we anticipate during advent and celebrate at Christmas. God has not forsaken the work of his hands, but in Jesus Christ, has fulfilled his purpose for humanity. Jesus, Christians have declared down the ages, is True God and the True human. In Jesus Christ, we see not only God’s self-revelation, but the revelation of perfected and completed humanity.
“The Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory,” John’s gospel says. In Jesus, we see not only the glory of God, but the glory of a human being, and a human being—finally— completely, fully alive. And so as we bow before the Christ child, and as the magi from the East present their gifts, the words of the Psalm are fulfilled: “the kings of the earth…shall sing of the ways of the LORD for great is the glory of the LORD” (Psalm 138.4, 5).
Steve Guthrie
Assistant Professor, School of Religion
Week Four
O come, Desire of nations, bind All peoples in one heart and mind; Bid envy, strife, and quarrels cease; Fill the whole world with heaven’s peace.
Sunday, December 21
Psalms 8, 24, 29, 84
Isaiah 42.1-12
John 3.16-21
Ephesians 6.10-20
It is on the Sunday just before Christmas that most of us turn our hearts and minds to the coming of Jesus Christ. In my church, it is always this Sunday that a minister stands to chasten us all for forgetting the true meaning of Christmas: “How dare we lend ourselves to the giving and getting that our society has placed on this most sacred of holidays,” he says. But what if that’s wrong? What if it is all about the giving and getting?
It is during this time that we are reminded that God loves us. In John 3, Jesus tells Nicodemus, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son…” (v. 16). What a beautiful image—being filled with love, God gave. But God did not give just anything; God gave of his very person.
Jesus goes on to tell Nicodemus, “So that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” What greater gift is there to be given than the life of God’s own son? And that is the very gift that we are reminded to receive during Christmas.
But are we who call ourselves the children of God only asked to receive the gift, or is there something greater? God did not send Christ into the world to condemn the world, nor only to save it. God sent Christ to show us how to live. We, God’s people, must now walk in the light; doing what is good and true, giving God’s love to others (John 3.21).
When Jesus began speaking the mysteries of the faith to Nicodemus, it is clear that Nicodemus did not really understand what Christ was saying. In the same way, it is difficult for us to understand that the mystery of Christmas is that we are asked to receive the gift of Christ and then to pass on (give) God’s love.
As we near the times of gift-exchanging, let us view those moments as a clear reminder of the gift that God has given to us all—love. May we receive it, and pass it on with gladness.
Through Christ our Lord, Amen.
Brandon Maxwell Senior, Christian Leadership Major
Monday, December 22
Psalms 61, 62, 112, 115
Isaiah 11.1-9
Revelation 20.1-10
John 5.30-47
If Jesus is Lord, then the President of the United States is not our ultimate authority, the Pentagon is not where we find security, and what the free market pays has nothing to do with our value in God’s eyes.
Jesus can seem downright un-American because he was not in fact an American. Indeed, he came into the world to call us to a loyalty to Himself that transcends our loyalty to any political party or nation or economic system. He is no more interested in the latest spin from Washington or Wall Street than he was in the musings of Caesar Augustus or Pontius Pilate.
For Jesus did not come to take part in our lives, He came to take over.
If we want “wisdom…understanding…might…and knowledge,” we must seek them through Him, in Him and with Him. In a world entranced by the glistening sheen of power and violence and money and self-promotion, Jesus “will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears; but with righteousness he will judge the needy, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth” (Is. 11.3-4). There is nothing here about the middle class, let alone about wealthy business tycoons. Instead, Jesus comes to hold our faces between his hands and turn our attention to “the poor of the earth.”
God longs for us to use our skills in business and art and music and science to serve the poor in Jesus’ name, so that “the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.” That is what our God-given “wisdom…understanding…might… and knowledge” are for. As the hymn “Joy to the World” puts it, “He comes to make his blessings flow far as the curse is found.” Wherever there is injustice and illness, wherever there is despair and depression, wherever there is poverty and pain, that is where “a little Child shall lead them.”
May God lead all of us away from other “lords” and “gods” clamoring for our loyalty, and toward the only One on whom “the Spirit of the Lord rests.”
Todd Lake Vice President, Spiritual Development
Tuesday, December 23
Psalms 66, 67, 116, 117
Isaiah 11.10-16
Revelation 20.11-21.8
Luke 1.5-25
Years of prayer preceded the coming of Christ—years of begging for salvation, for the appearance of God among the exiled people who had been dispersed among the nations. They waited, and He came, but He did not come as they expected. He did not come as a warrior king or a soldier ready to physically subdue the nations and free His people. He came as a gentle, quiet truth into a humble stable, and He lived as a homeless man, helping those who asked.
Even in such a humble form and even with such a humble birth, that little baby in Mary’s womb was the almighty God—and He was powerful. He was the same to whom David offered up pleas for rescue, to whom David offered sacrifices and words of praise, and He was the One who listened to the prayers of His people and answered them with His “steadfast love!” (Ps. 66.20). That baby, sitting in the comforting darkness and warmth—He was the One who created that darkness and warmth, who possessed the “saving power among all nations” and to whom all nations owed praise (Ps. 67).
In that womb was the God whom Isaiah prophesied would plunder the enemies of God’s people and re-gather those who had scattered (Is. 11-16). It was the God who will build the New Jerusalem, who will fill God’s great white throne, and who will “make all things new” (Rev. 21.5). That little baby possessed the power of salvation, the key to save the world that God created.
What was it like two days before the birth of Jesus? Emmanuel was coming to chase away the shadows—did the earth feel and respond to the impending birth? The change was centuries in coming, and people’s anxious waiting and praying slowly approached fruitfulness. The child who is so often seen as the gentle, quiet, humble carpenter’s Son was not born merely as that. The child was and is the Son of God—the centerpiece of Christian history, the point to which all prior followers of God looked forward and to which all present Christians look back. He was and is the One to whom the nations owe praise, who condemned Himself to human life all because He had the power to save it.
Jessica Tidwell Junior, Biblical Studies Major
Wednesday, December 24
Psalms 45, 46, 89.1-29
Isaiah 35.1-10
Revelation 22.12-17
Luke 1.67-80
The book of Isaiah has a very long and complex plot. It opens in the glory days of the nation of Judah in the middle of the eighth-century B.C.E. The story will reach its low point at the end of chapter 39 with a veiled reference to the destruction of Judah by Babylon in the sixth century. The restoration of God’s people after this destruction begins in Isaiah 40, in the passage made so familiar by its inclusion in Handel’s oratorio, The Messiah. Images of running water, the recovery of parched land, and the resulting abundance dance through this long sequence of poems of deliverance. The magnitude and power of this collection in Isaiah 40-55 make the isolated little poem back in Isaiah 35.1-10 difficult to see in its glare.
As the nation of Judah begins its decline with the appearance of the first in a series of international crises brought on by the rise in power of the great Mesopotamian empires of Assyria and Babylon, the message of the first half of the book of Isaiah is primarily one of pending disaster and judgment. Hints of an act of deliverance which will follow this judgment appear in the chapters leading up to 35, but it is this poem, which uses so much of the imagery of Isaiah 40, that provides the clearest preview of deliverance. The refreshing of the desert (vs. 1-2), strengthening of the weak (v.3), healing of the blind, deaf, and lame (vs. 5-6), and the establishing of a highway for God’s people to return (v. 8) all figure prominently in this preview.
For many, Advent may come in the midst of decline and hardship. Messages of joy, peace, and good will to all may be a poor match for the daily realities of experience for some of us. Isaiah 35 provides two important resources for us to address this dissonance. First, it tells that the coming of God at this moment is a preview of a greater coming, even if that greater advent is too far off to see directly. Second, its relentlessly plural language, often obscured by English translations, reminds us that we are part of a community. Just as the overriding message of decline and destruction in the first half of the book of Isaiah contains fragments of hope, and the overriding message of deliverance in the second half of the book contains fragments of suffering, the experience of the Christian community surrounds our own, offering the interplay of joy and suffering which is the way of Jesus and his followers.
Tomorrow will be Christmas day. We need not pretend our own experience is anything other than how we really find it. Whether it is happiness or pain, or any odd mixture of both, the community of God’s people and the promise of God’s coming offer us a place to be.
Mark McEntire Associate Professor, School of Religion
Christmas Day
Thursday, December 25
Psalms 2, 85, 110.1-5, 132
Zechariah 2.10-13
John 3.31-36
1 John 4.7-16
We have waited for this day. The younger we are the more our anticipation turns to hoped for gifts and dreams fulfilled. As we grow older, we wait to see our children come home or for our parents to walk through the door. Perhaps we have waited for this break between semesters or from our work. Maybe, even, we have waited with breathless anticipation for the celebration of Christ’s birth.
Most of the world we live in does not wait for this day. It thrusts Christmas upon us back in August or September when all the decorations start showing up in the stores to signal the coming of the holiday season. Not long after, we hear Christmas carols or holiday music played in malls or other public places. Old holiday classics start showing up on the television, and at the cinema the trailers begin to advertise this year’s holiday movies. With increasing frequency, we encounter more and more urgings to get into the holiday spirit. The crowds of shoppers thicken. The piles of purchases grow. The weather chills.
Even at an early age, though, we learn that there is nothing we can do to hasten this day. It comes in its own time, and after all our holiday preparations, Christmas finally arrives.
If we can filter out all the things thrust upon us to rush Christmas into our presence, we may just discover what we have been waiting for all along. Children understand that those marvelous gifts received on Christmas morning come from someone who truly loves them. When older children come home for Christmas and other members of the family gather around, it is the warmth of love that creates the truly cozy atmosphere. What we wait for at Christmas is love.
The scripture reminds us that love comes from God and that “we have known and believe the love that God has for us” (1 John 4.16). We are drawn to this Christmas Day each year, after a season of waiting, because it is the day when love entered the world. God loved us so much that God sent God’s Son to all of us to bring God’s very love into our lives. Hug your family today. Hug your children. Call someone and tell them you love them. All the ways you love someone today are the best ways to celebrate the love that God brought into the world on this day in Jesus.
Merry Christmas!
Darrell Gwaltney Dean, School of Religion
