itsawonderfilledlife

Week 2
The Promise of the Prophets

Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign:
The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel

Isaiah 7:14

The prophet, Isaiah, gave the world a hint about the arrival of the new King … he would arrive as all other monarchs before and after him … born, from a woman. In this amazingly common manner of being born :

the physical has brought the eternal
miraculous in the mundane

This king would have an earthly mother. One who would care for him, change his diaper, nurse him, raise and nurture him. She would also be part of the typical, nine month period of waiting for his arrival. That long and aching waiting for her babe to be born … to be delivered …

and her own delivery would come through the one she delivered.

God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”

Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus.

He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”
“How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”
The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month.
For no word from God will ever fail.”
Luke 1:26-37

God chose Mary … she was part of his plan to deliver all of humankind, in love and compassion.

“In Advent, we put all our hope in the sacred blackness of a womb. As we wait, we remind ourselves that darkness (which is far too often reduced to a trite symbol for sin and death), actually has the unique capacity to bear the divine. In Advent, we reclaim the holy dark.”

Cole Arthur Riley

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Week 2
The Promise of the Prophet

Micah 5:2
“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
though you are small among the clans of Judah,
out of you will come for me
one who will be ruler over Israel,
whose origins are from of old,
from ancient times.”

Bethlehem … meaning house of bread.

The prophet Micah told of the setting of the birth of the highly anticipated ruler of Israel. How interesting that, of all the prophesies regarding the birth of the Messiah, the town is mentioned.

From this small town of Bethlehem (once called Ephrathah) came the Redeemer. But, it is also interesting that this was not the first redeemer from Bethlehem, for years before (but still in the line of Jesus) was Boaz, that kin or relative of Naomi, who married her widowed daughter-in-law, Ruth … becoming their kinsman redeemer, providing them a safe and secure future.

Then, generations later, in that same sleepy town, God allowed his Son to be born. A babe, like that first born of Ruth and Boaz, named Obed. Obed was born to a wealthy and prosperous dad, whose roots were deep in this town. Jesus was born to a poor man (Joseph), a carpenter who was just travelling through … no wealth, no roots.

Yet, in this house of bread rose the one from the stump of Jesse … one with deep roots, the one who came to be known as the very bread of life.

When he had called together
all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law,
he asked them where the Messiah was to be born.

“In Bethlehem in Judea,”

they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written:

“‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for out of you will come a ruler
who will shepherd my people Israel.”

Matthew 2:4-6

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Week 2
The Promise of the Prophets

“Where is the One having been born King of the Jews?
For we saw His star in the east and have come to worship Him.”

Matthew 2:2

A star in the sky, in the night, in the dark.

The ones who we know as the wise men were scientists, astronomers. They had seen evidence of an amazing light event in the skies. So amazing was it that they went to the king (Herod) to inquire as to where this King of the Jews would be found. I find myself wondering if they were laying wagers as to his location … and, of course, a King so powerful would know where a new king was born.

In the Old Testament, Numbers 24:17 speaks of the star that would come …

I see him, but not now;
I behold him, but not near.
A star will come forth from Jacob,
and a scepter will arise from Israel.

Of course this passage is not necessarily referring to a star in the skies, but the rising of a great man, from the line of Jacob, the Jews. Yet, because stars were such a daily-relied on phenomena, those who studied them would know that a unique light in the skies was significant to their very lives. Plus, the arrival of other leaders (Caesar being one) was commonly announced in the skies.

This astral birth announcement alerted these wise ones. But their interest went beyond the norm, for they needed to know more about this King of Jews, whose star shone so bright.

A star will come ….

and He did,

and is brilliance still shines,

and the wise still seek Him.

God gave the Magi a star, not a road map.
Follow the direction God is pulling your heart
and worry less about needing to know every detail beforehand.

Ian Simkins

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Week 2
The Promise of the Prophets

A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse;
    from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.
The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him—
    the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,
    the Spirit of counsel and of might,
    the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord—
and he will delight in the fear of the Lord.

Isaiah 11:1-3

A shoot will come up form the stump of Jesse …

A stump … that is where my mind lingered. A stump is the remnant of a tree that had been cut down. It is visually not small, otherwise it would not be visible, nothing more than a twig. No, a stump tells us that it was sizeable, it contained many rings. It lived for years.

That stump, that stump of Jesse … what does it mean?

Most of us who have weathered the advent season would know this passage from Isaiah as part of the Christmas story, for it is commonly read every year at this point in the church calendar. Most of us would also understand that the shoot is a reference to the Messiah, who was to come from the line of King David (for Jesse refers to the father of David).

The stump … this refers to the the place from where the Israelites (including Jesse and King David). At one time they grew and were strong, and stood tall. But the Jewish people (culture and religion) had been cut down, the kingdom of David a faint memory, their trust in their God holding on by a thread.

But … God ….

God had a plan for dead stumps. From this dead and lifeless stump of the Israelite people came a living shoot, in the person of Jesus. But part of God’s plan was not just that he would come to save his own people, but the entire forest. For he came for all … Jews and Gentiles (everyone else).

In this we all have become the Chosen of God … for he chose to redeem all through his Son.

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Week 2
The Promise of the Prophets

So God has given both his promise and his oath.
These two things are unchangeable
because it is impossible for God to lie.
Therefore,
we who have fled to him for refuge can have
great confidence as we hold to the hope that lies before us.
This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls.

– Hebrews 6:18-19

As we open the doors of advent we cannot omit the promises of God to us all … promises made hundreds of years before his promises were fulfilled in the person of Jesus. And the greatest of his promises was that he would send a Savior.

Before we get into the promises, we need to be assured of our confidence in the one who is making the promises.

I love the passage (above) from Hebrews 6, because it is not definitive about how God’s promises are trustworthy, that he cannot lie, cannot change what he says.

In this world we live, so obviously infested with sin and it’s effects, it is hard to find anyone who is unswerving in their promises. Marriages, friendships, workplaces and even in the church, promises get broken … to people who are broken … by people who are equally broken.

But God …

He does not break his promises. He can be trusted.

In verse 19 of the passage is this line:

This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls.

Man … the symbolism of an anchor … I can visualize being on rough water and throwing it into the raging seas to hold the boat steady. And that is what God can be in our lives …

but,

an anchor can also be dropped into calm waters, when we want to stay in one place, so as to ensure that we are not deceived by the calm (and we can be so easily deceived by the calm).

God’s promises are our hope, for he is trustworthy!

What a hope is He!

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Week 1
The People’s Need

reclaim the dark … for light shines in the dark

Christmas came amid it all … amid all of the dark and twisties …

• tears, sorrow, dismay
• loneliness
• longing for the past
• dying, grief
• sin
• enemies, death

These are the realities today, as we open the daily advent doors to the celebration of arrival of the Christ Child … as we await his coming again. These were the realities then … roughly 400 years ago.

Christmas, then and now, is all about dark places …

• the womb
• a valley
• the grave

But, it is also about contrast, about that upside-down experience of Christ within us.

And without such a contrast …

would there be a reason for a Savior?

No …

That is why we wait with anticipation, otherwise we know not why he came, we know not our own value … for if we follow this Savior (who not only was born, but died and rose), we can be part of bringing the upside-down world to those around us.

Luke 6 says:

Blessed are you who:
are poor (now)
hunger (now)
weep (now)
who are hated (now)
who are rejected (now)

This was the state of life for the Jews … this is the state of life for us … NOW!

Our reality of being the blessed is not due to our circumstances or situations, but because of HIM, of He who came to deliver us from our darkness

and bring the light.

This ends week 1, the People’s Need.

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Week 1
The People’s Need

It is a black spot on the Christmas story. One that is often not told, alongside that of the Magi … their voyage in search of what the stars have told, the gifts for the babe. Maybe because it occurred a couple years after the birth of the Messiah, or maybe, just maybe … we cannot handle the truth?

The order of King Herod (a leader known to have killed any who threatened his rule) to have all male babes up to two years old, killed. In history this act is known as the Massacre of the Innocents. It is horrific to imagine what it must have been like to live through such a horror.

This sacrifice of innocent life … it too is part of the waiting that is advent. It shows us the dichotomy of the brutality of human life compared with the life-giving that this babe brings. This babe, who later grows up to be killed … yet another killing of an innocent.

Our sin-filled world is one of enemies, brutality. Persecution and torture and death (and war) are part of the package that sin has wrapped up for us all.

As we open a door each day this advent season, may we each remember that our joy in celebrating the birth of our Redeemer came at a cost, that innocence was slaughtered for salvation. May we also remember those who are suffering under persecution … may we lift them up each day in prayer. May we humble ourselves and give our time, our resources, our efforts to bring peace to Earth as we prepare to celebrate the Prince of Peace.

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Week 1
The People’s Need

A few bad chapters does not mean your story is over …

Since the Garden of Eden, humans have been born into sin. Our most common human legacy is sin. Because of sin, we fall short, miss the mark. Our bodies experience the effects of sin in our fragility, our inescapable end of life, through death. We fail each other, resulting in broken relationships, broken commitments and traumas that get passed from generation to generation.

Sin is real …

and it is really why we are counting down the days, in hopeful anticipation of the coming (and the coming again) of Jesus.

For God made Christ, who never sinned,
to be the offering for our sin,
so that we could be made right with God through Christ.

2 Corinthians 5:21

We are not just counting down to Christmas, we are counting the days to the anniversary of the end of our life in sin. This is personal, this is life saving … we just need to be willing to open that final door to Him, the one to our heart.

“Jesus told the story of the Prodigal son to make a simple point:
never mind what you’ve done, just come home.”

Unka Glen

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Week 1
The People’s Need

Dying ≠ Christmas

Death ≠ Christmas

Grief ≠ Christmas

Wanna pour cold water on the Christmas season? Add dying, death and grief. For this triad can steal the joy of this festive season. Wanna take our eyes off the prize, the culmination of the advent season? Walk through the valley of the shadow of death.

Some of us are lonely this season, grieving a loved one whose absence fills us with longing. We are struggling to long for the finale of the advent season, because we are longing for them … the one(s) we miss and love.

Some of us are planning a funeral … while the rest of the world are hanging boughs of holly.

And for some, there is the shadow of death seems to shadowing this season, each advent door opening to one more day of life and breath … but so aware that there might not be an open door tomorrow.

How do we celebrate, anticipate the birth of our Savior as we walk through this valley?

“… the tension between believing in the goodness that is to come

and naming the grief and heartache of our present moment”

Cole Arthur Riley

Ah … that tension.

It is the tension of being fully human while looking ahead to redemption. Looking ahead to (as Revelation 21:4 tells us),

death shall be no more, 
neither shall there be mourning, 
nor crying, 
nor pain anymore, 
for the former things have passed away

This is what we are counting down to, what we are anticipating. While we wait (in the hospital room, the funeral home, the graveside) he will wipe away every tear from their eyes (Revelation 21:4a), for he is near to the broken-hearted (Psalm 34:18). We are not left alone in this dark valley, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me (Psalm 23:4).

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Week 1
The People’s Need

"I'm dreaming of a white Christmas
Just like the ones I used to know"

White Christmas … that is my personal ideal of the season. The snow bring light to an otherwise dark night, dark season. I expect that my ideal was formed in my childhood, growing up on Canada’s East Coast, where snow and Christmas were synonymous.

Ah … the ideals we carry in our minds! The past can be so easily idealized in our minds.

“Back in my day …”

“In the good ol’ days …”

“When I was a kid …”

Remembering the past, the events of the past, can be good for our hearts and souls, for the past has brought us to where we are currently. Yet, we cannot return to a previous time. And, if we look at the past clearly, it wasn’t all delight. At Christmas especially, we can allow our minds to visit Christmas’ past and choose to stay there indefinitely.

Christmas includes the past, present and future. It is the fulfillment of past promises, we get to walk through today with the God who loves us and, in this advent season, we get to anticipate the celebration of the birth of Jesus, who will come again in time to come.

“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”

Hebrews 13:8

God,

I need to honest with you … I want my old world back. I want to live in my memories of snow, and family all together, and carols by the tree, and littles snuggling in close, and the warmth of holding a loved one’s hand, and … simpler times.

Yet, I live in the now, the present … remind me to unwrap it. Remind me to cherish it, the present, the now. For today is the gift you have given … yesterday is gone and tomorrow is not promised.

Prepare me, prepare my heart for whatever world is coming. Prepare me, my heart and soul, for the coming of your Son … the best gift.

For you do not change … you remain.

Rest is the defiant act
of creating space
In my own life
for my own soul.
While I cannot stop
the passage of time,
I can pause
my passage through time
so that I can see
yesterday more clearly
and choose tomorrow
more willingly.
-Justin McRoberts

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