Experience Advent...& Christmas!: Friday, December 14, 2012

Friday, December 14, 2012

Shout It Out

“Go up on a high mountain, messenger Zion!
Raise your voice and shout, messenger Jerusalem!
Raise it; don’t be afraid; say to the cities of Judah,
Here is your God!” –Isaiah 40:9

Good news is almost impossible to keep quiet. The prophet Isaiah could not keep quiet about the good news that God had for God’s people. “Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God.” Isaiah speaks words of comfort to the people suffering in exile. Their hometown of Jerusalem was sacked, their Temple was destroyed, and they were forced to scatter to the ends of the earth. God sends Isaiah to these people with good news. Isaiah has a message of hope and restoration, a promise that God will come to “feed his flock like a shepherd” and “gather the lambs in his arms, and carry them in his bosom, and gently lead the mother sheep.” This is good news, and Isaiah cannot keep quiet.

During the Advent and Christmas seasons, we Christians celebrate that Isaiah’s good news became a reality in the birth of Jesus. God became human on Christmas day to bring us out of spiritual exile, to call the lost sheep home, and lead us into eternal life. This is good news, how can we keep quiet? Isaiah longed for the good news to be shouted from a high mountain. Isaiah longed for everyone in exile to hear that God is good, that God is mighty to save.

May we be inspired by Isaiah’s passion and zeal. May we rejoice in the good news of Christ’s birth so much that we cannot keep silent. May we sing from the rooftops, shout it out from the mountains. May we share the news to all who are searching and aching and dissatisfied and longing for more: Here is your God!

Laura Johnson

God of Advent, walk ahead of me, helping me keep sight of your vision of peace. May I hold peace in my heart and pray for peace in our broken world. Amen.

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Christmas is Born!

Fourth Week of Advent: Joy

The fourth candle on our Advent wreath is the candle of joy. As we enter this last week of Advent, we allow ourselves a little celebration--the Savior is coming, alleluia! We've been waiting, and we must wait a bit longer, but God is coming--soon!

The invitation to rejoice during the season of Advent reminds us to consider the joy that awaits the end of Mary's pregnancy. Mary must have felt joy in carrying a child, in anticipating the birth of her son, the birth of the Savior. Her hymn of praise, the Magnificat, praises God for the great deeds that God has done. The God who proclaims righteousness and justice, who has fed the hungry and sent the rich away, this same God looked on Mary with favor and blessed her with the gift of service to the world.

Our joy calls up visions--what gifts can we expect from the Mighty One who has blessed us and looked upon us with favor?

Beth Richardson, The Uncluttered Heart (edited)

God of joy, may we dream dreams and share tales of hope as we enter these final days before Christmas. I praise your mighty name. Amen.

Third Week of Advent: Love

The fourth candle on our Advent Wreath is the candle of Love. That seems so appropriate as we begin the last week of Advent, the final days before we receive God's greatest gift to us--divine Love wrapped in swaddling clothes,lying in a manger.

Joseph's place in this drama is one of love. Engaged to Mary, he discovers that she is pregnant. Even the visit of an angel probably does not answer all of his questions or calm all of his fears. But Joseph, I like to think, acts out of love. Love and trust make up for any doubts he might have about his role in this matter. Joseph takes Mary as his wife and makes room in his heart for her son, whom he names Jesus.

We certainly don't play such a dramatic role as Joseph in God's story, but we are, nevertheless, important to the whole. Every action we take, every small or large task we perform, is woven in love into God's cosmic story.

God of love, may everything I do become an expression of your love. Amen.

Beth Richardson, The Uncluttered Heart

Second Week of Advent: Peace

The second candle on the Advcent wreath is the candle of peace. When we light the candle of peace, we affirm Isaiah's vision that peace will come on earth. As we move closer to the birth of the Prince of Peace, we are acutely aware of all the places in the world, in our families and relationships, and in our hearts that have not achieved peace. Peace is a vision, a hope, a promise made by the Holy One--that there will be a time when peace will prevail.

Peace, in the global sense, is the cessation of violence between peoples and nations...in Israel and Palestine, in Darfur, in Iraq and Afghanistan. We people of peace hold the vision that God's spirit will rest on the leaders of the world and will whisper wisdom in their hearts, wisdom that will guide their actions toward paths of forgiveness, compassion, and peace.

In our own hearts and lives, peace is the calm in the midst of chaos. Each day, may we hold the vision of peace, seeking times of rest and prayer when we open our minds and spirits to God's powerful, gentle peace.

Let peace be our vision.

Beth Richardson, The Uncluttered Heart

First Week of Advent: Hope

The first candle on the Advent wreath is the candle of Hope. When we light the candle of hope--in the Advent wreath or in our hearts--we kindle a flame of expectant anticipation that something rich, something special, is on the way.

As we enter into this Advent journey, we already know that the something special at the end of Advent is the birth of Christ, God's great gift to the world. But much of the richness of this season comes with the anticipation, the waiting, the deferral of the celebration until the appropriate time.

During Advent, the first season of the church year, we relive the story of Jesus, the wonder of how he came to be, the story of his birth. We don't yet know what God has in store, but we trust God's promises of righteousness, justice, and peace for the hurting world and our discouraged spirits. We live in the hope, that despite our current struggles, God has something good in store for us.

Jesus, the hope of the world, is coming to an unsuspecting world.

Beth Richardson, The Uncluttered Heart