Devotion for the Tuesday of the First Week in Advent

THEME FOR THE WEEK: HOPE

Devotion for the Tuesday of the First Week in Advent

READING: Romans 12:1–2, 9-12 (NRSV)

¹ I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. ² Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect. ⁹ Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; ¹⁰ love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor. ¹¹ Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord. ¹² Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer.

REFLECTION:

The world sets many expectations for us—many of which may not match our own priorities and some of which simply may not be good for us. Our families set expectations, our friends have expectations, and yes, even the church sets expectations for us.

In this Advent season, which is also culturally the “Christmas Season”, we are tempted to try to live up to the expectations of others. We may have more invitations than we know what to do with. We may be expected to be happy and festive, when perhaps we have reasons for not feeling particularly festive. We may be tempted to BUY, BUY, BUY because billions of dollars are being spent to encourage us to consume endlessly, but also because we might feel that we have to meet the expectations of family and friends.

Some of expectations thrust upon us may actually be good for us. If we are feeling lonely, the encouragement to socialize may benefit us. Others of these expectations can be damaging to our fiscal and family well-being and may place inordinate pressure on us. The pressure to consume can cause us to be discontented and can distract our attention from the Advent Journey of prayer, reflection and focus on Christ’s coming.

Paul, in this letter to the Romans encourages us not to be conformed to this world, but transformed in ways that make our lives in sync with what God would want for us. Time spent in prayer and reflection is a good way to give God space to transform our lives and give us resistance to the expectations of others. Time spent is prayer opens us to the hope in Christ and enables us to rejoice in that hope.

PRAYER:

May your Advent time spent with God strengthen you, transform you and enable you to rejoice in hope. Amen

Devotion for the Monday of the First Week in Advent

THEME FOR THE WEEK: HOPE

Devotion for the MONDAY of the First Week in Advent

READING: Romans 15:1-6

¹ We who are strong ought to put up with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves. ² Each of us must please our neighbor for the good purpose of building up the neighbor. ³ For Christ did not please himself; but, as it is written, “The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.” ⁴ For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, so that by steadfastness and by the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope. ⁵ May the God of steadfastness and encouragement grant you to live in harmony with one another, in accordance with Christ Jesus, ⁶ so that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

REFLECTION

There are days when we could easily believe that we are the only ones who have ever faced trials and tribulations. We look around and from what we can tell, everyone else has it so easy. Everyone else’s life just seems to go along smoothly…But not us, we have that huge rock that has been placed in our path. And we feel so alone. No one else shares this tribulation, and if truth be told, we don’t really want anyone else to know about it.

Yet this passage from Romans offers two points of hope for us. One of these points of hope rests with our neighbor, the other rests with the Word of God in Scripture. When we are suffering, God commands our neighbor to help us—it is God’s purpose for our neighbor to help us—both for the sake of our neighbor and for our sake. God does not want us to suffer alone, and God knows that our neighbor’s life is enriched when he or she is able to help us.

In this letter to the Romans, Paul points out that our other point of hope rests in the experience of others as recorded in Scripture. By the encouragement of God’s Word in Scripture we are given hope. God shows us through the interactions with the people of the Bible that God is a faithful God who does not abandon us when we face trials and tribulations.

Each of us will have a day when we are discouraged or filled with despair because of some burden we are carrying or some trial we are facing. Through our relationships with our neighbor and with God we are granted hope and the strength to overcome.

PRAYER:

May the God of hope strengthen you through the hearing of God’s Word and through the love and care of your neighbor. Amen

Devotion for the Sunday of the First Week in Advent

THEME FOR THE WEEK: HOPE

Devotion for the Sunday of the First Week in Advent

READING: 2 Corinthians 3:4–18 (NRSV)

⁴ Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. ⁵ Not that we are competent of ourselves to claim anything as coming from us; our competence is from God, ⁶ who has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not of letter but of spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. ⁷ Now if the ministry of death, chiseled in letters on stone tablets, came in glory so that the people of Israel could not gaze at Moses’ face because of the glory of his face, a glory now set aside, ⁸ how much more will the ministry of the Spirit come in glory? ⁹ For if there was glory in the ministry of condemnation, much more does the ministry of justification abound in glory! ¹⁰ Indeed, what once had glory has lost its glory because of the greater glory; ¹¹ for if what was set aside came through glory, much more has the permanent come in glory! ¹² Since, then, we have such a hope, we act with great boldness, ¹³ not like Moses, who put a veil over his face to keep the people of Israel from gazing at the end of the glory that was being set aside. ¹⁴ But their minds were hardened. Indeed, to this very day, when they hear the reading of the old covenant, that same veil is still there, since only in Christ is it set aside. ¹⁵ Indeed, to this very day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their minds; ¹⁶ but when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. ¹⁷ Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. ¹⁸ And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit.

REFLECTION:

Some days we wake up wondering if we can even get out of bed, much less do what needs to be done that day. Maybe it is just bone weary tiredness—exhaustion from just doing too much the previous day. Or maybe it is soul weariness that makes us want to pull the covers up over our heads and ignore the morning light. On those mornings, of body or soul weariness, we wake, feeling that we just can’t depend on ourselves.

Questions linger in our minds such as: “What HOPE is there?” “Why should I keep going on?” This complex passage from 2 Corinthians gives us three points of hope to deal with those times of questioning uncertainty. First in verse 5 we hear the words, “not that we are competent of ourselves,…but our competence is from God.” Two, Paul tells us that “because we have such a hope (from God), we act with great boldness.” Lastly, in verse 18, we are told how we are being transformed by the Spirit.

From this passage, I draw the hope that I am not in this life alone; I not depending only on my competence. It is God’s competence, far beyond my understanding, that keeps me going. When I feel weary or just down in the dumps, I have the hope that is grounded in Christ Jesus—the hope that anything I need to do to live out life in God’s covenant will be supported by the power of God. God will transform me to do what God expects me to do.

PRAYER:

On this first day of Advent, may the light of the single candle burn brightly in your heart as you look toward the hope of Christ’s coming and feel the transforming power of the Spirit. Amen

Keep Awake: It's a New Year

Blessed Advent to All Readers

On this First Sunday in Advent, as we light the first Advent candle, we remember how these candles illuminate our way for next four weeks. During this time, we will be anticipating Christ's coming--coming as an infant at Christmas, coming again to save us and coming daily into our hearts. Even though Advent is sometimes thought of as a prelude to Christmas, it is its own special time in the Church Year. For me, celebrating Advent with its time for prayer and devotion is a peaceful counter to the cultural demands of the secular Christmas season. Advent says Stop, Wait, and Pray, while the culture calls us to Hurry, Celebrate and Buy.

Although I enjoy celebrating Christmas with all of my family traditions of worship, decorating, special foods, exchanging gifts and cards, and visiting with friends, I find that I need the quiet time of Advent devotion to fully appreciate the Christmas festivities. In these first weeks of Advent, the Advent wreath with its blue candles, signifying hope, is our primary home decoration. The simple wreath with its growing light help keep us focused on the light that Christ brings into the world.

As a way of communicating with you, I will be sharing daily devotions on this blog. These devotions will be my reflections on the Biblical texts highlighted in the new Augsburg Fortress Advent devotional book: "I wonder as I wander". You can find out more about this book at http://www.augsburgfortress.org/

Blessed Advent to all of you.