Saturday, December 3

Luke 2:25-32

Katie Elmore

“Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was on him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying:

“Sovereign Lord, as You have promised,
You may now dismiss your servant in peace.
For my eyes have seen Your salvation,
which you have prepared in the sight of all nations:
a light for revelation to the Gentiles,
and the glory of Your people Israel.”

As I pondered these verses about Simeon waiting patiently for the promised Messiah, I keep hearing the lyrics of an old Tom Petty song…“The waiting is the hardest part…”  I, personally, am terrible at waiting!  I get frustrated when I inevitably pick the slowest line at the grocery check-out.  I can’t fall asleep if I am waiting for the familiar sounds of Sarah coming in the back door after being out with friends.  I wait impatiently for return phone calls, a check in the mail, or for Friday to finally arrive at the end of an exhausting week!  Waiting is hard work!  Simeon holds tight to God’s promise of a savior in his lifetime; and God fulfills this promise as Simeon holds the Christ child in the temple.  What are God’s promises for us today?  I am reminded of God’s assurance in Matthew 28: 20 – “I am with you always, even to the end of the world.”  Now that’s a promise I can wrap around myself like a blanket!  God is with me….in the ordinary tasks of life, in single-motherhood, and all my moments on this earth.

Thank you God for keeping your promises!  Amen.

Friday, December 2

Mark 13:-35-37

Pat Lester

Mark 13:35-37

Therefore, keep awake-for you do not know when the Master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or at dawn, or else He may find you asleep, when He comes suddenly. And what I say to you I say to all: Keep awake.

As these last three verses of Mark 13 remind us to be ready for the return of the Son of Man, we must remember that the thirteenth chapter is written to tell us how to live until that time. The preparation here is unlike the planning of some special earthly event such as a dinner party or birthday celebration-for which we know what, when, where, and how many to expect. Not knowing the year, day, or hour of His return, our daily lives must reflect our ongoing preparation of this most special event. We must live so that we are not misled. We must stand firm in our faith and be willing to share that faith with others. We must be moral in our behaviors and obedient to the commands of God’s Word.

Prayer: Dear God, help us to live in a way that will always honor You. Amen.

Thursday, December 1

Malachi 4:5, Mark 1:1-8

George Lester

Malachi 4:5  

But also look ahead: I'm sending Elijah the prophet to clear the way for the Big Day of God—the decisive Judgment Day! (The Message)

Mark 1:1-8 

Watch closely: I'm sending My preacher ahead of you; John the Baptizer appeared in the wild, preaching a baptism of life-change that leads to forgiveness of sins. People thronged to him from Judea and Jerusalem and, as they confessed their sins, were baptized by him in the Jordan River into a changed life….

As he preached he said, "The real action comes next: The star in this drama, to whom I'm a mere stagehand, will change your life. I'm baptizing you here in the river, turning your old life in for a kingdom life. His baptism—a holy baptism by the Holy Spirit—will change you from the inside out." (The Message)

Around 450 BCE, when the religious and spiritual condition of post-exile Jews was at all-time low ebb, God tells the prophet Malachi that He is sending a messenger in the spirit of Elijah to prepare the people the appearance of God on the Judgment Day. Elijah’s mission will be to ‘clean house’ in Israel, and turn around a people (and their priests) that had lost much of their respect for God. If he succeeds, God, when He comes, will not ‘strike the land with a curse’ (See Mal. 4:6, the final verse in the Jewish Bible.)

It’s easy to see the parallels between the penultimate verse of the Old Testament and the first few verses of Mark’s Good News. John was also sent in the Spirit of Elijah to clear the way for Jesus, son of God. Jesus tells us in Matthew 25:31-46 how, on the Judgment Day, our change ‘from the inside out’ will be evaluated.

Wednesday, November 30

Zechariah 9:9

Paul Nordt

Zechariah 9:9

Rejoice greatly, O daughter Zion!

   Shout aloud, O daughter Jerusalem!

Lo, your king comes to you;

   triumphant and victorious is he,

humble and riding on a donkey,

   on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

Zechariah writes these words to the people of Israel as they seek to recover and rebuild after the long exile in Babylon.  They have been long separated from the glories of their past, and from the teachings of the earlier prophets.  There is a pressing need for the prophets Zechariah, and his near-contemporary Haggai, to remind the people of their connection to God and to the laws of Moses.  The temple lies in ruins and must be rebuilt.  The people need inspiration, leadership and hope.

The promise of a King to lead and protect the people is a strong motivator.  Zechariah tells the people to “rejoice” and “shout aloud” because the King is coming.  He is promised to be a good King, triumphant and victorious, but using his power wisely and for good.  In spite of his power and might, the King is humble and unpretentious; coming to them in the most humble circumstances, riding on a lowly donkey, a juvenile donkey, at that!

It can be frustrating, however, that God operates on His own time schedule, not ours!  God will surely act in the fullness of His time, and we must be ready, for we know not when He will come.  Many years after Zechariah’s teaching, Matthew identifies the King as Jesus of Nazareth, a humble King, yet with power to transcend all earthly power and might.  We are heirs to that power and the inner peace it can bring!

Prayer:  Heavenly father, help us rejoice as we welcome the “humble King” as our Lord and Savior.  Let His teachings both calm and strengthen our lives; using our powers for good, and sharing the “good news” with others.

Tuesday, November 29

Isaiah 9:6-7

Sydney Nordt

Isaiah 9: 6-7

With sounds of Handel’s Messiah ringing in our ears, we read familiar phrases here:

“…for a child has been born to us,
a son given to us,…
and he is named:
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. …” (1)

Peake’s Commentary says that “this passage of Isaiah is of the greatest importance for understanding the Messianic hope for Israel” (2) and it still is for us.

The child that is born is described in royal terms; He is given great names to emphasize His power.  This is reminiscent of an Egyptian custom of giving their Pharaohs “five great names” upon accession (3).  Here is this child upon whose shoulder rests authority and four titles.  Note that all of them could be considered both earthly or heavenly powers.  With the coming of Christ, we know the promise of Peace on Earth.  He is the counselor we can turn to for understanding.  He is of one substance with God, the Almighty Father.  He is Everlasting through all time, and He is the Prince of Peace.  In the One we know to be Jesus Christ our faith can be anchored and we can sing joyfully and gratefully of His birth.

Prayer:

Dear Lord, we praise You and worship You for all Your power and might.  We find hope in You as we meditate upon the miraculous child You have sent to us to help us know Your love for us.  Let us strive to live as Your people showing love and forgiveness in Jesus’ name.  Amen.

1. Revised Standard Version of the Bible

2. Peakes Commentary on the Bible, p.497

3. Ibid. p.497

Monday, November 28

Hebrews 11:1

Sandy Peters

Hebrews 11:1

The fundamental fact of existence is that this trust in God, this faith, is the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living.  It’s our handle on what we can’t see.

Eugene Peterson had titled this 11th Chapter of Hebrews “Faith in What We Don’t See”.   This letter was written to folks who were” too religious” and who had let religiosity get in the way of their faith.   As Christians we have been asked to believe in all sorts of things we cannot see.  We are asked to believe in stories that have been handed down for more than 2000 years: the story of Noah and his ark, the story of a very elderly man and woman having a baby, the story of a man climbing a mountain and receiving the commandments of the God he believed in, the story of a baby born to a virgin in a manger who would later be crucified for our sins and then resurrected so that we might have  everlasting life.    What this particular verse is reminding us is that it is the faith of all of these folks and others that helps us to see what we can’t see.  It is the faith of Moses and Noah and Sarah, Mary and the shepherds, angels, Wise Men and Disciples that lets us wrap ourselves around what we cannot see.  It is through their faith and the faith of others down through the generations that has built the foundation for our faith.  It is now our faith that will be passed on to future generations.  A faith that allows us to affirm and reaffirm that through God the Father and Christ the Son all things are possible.

Let our prayers reflect those beliefs and that faith as we anticipate and prepare ourselves for the birth of the Son of God.

Sunday, November 27

Isaiah 11:1-5

Loren Walker

Isaiah 11: 1-2

A stump shall come out from the root of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots.

The spirit of the Lord shall rest on Him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding,

the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.

The verses from Isaiah above do not show the entire selection, you should read it from the Bible. Jesse was the father of King David. It had been prophesied that the family of David would rule Israel forever. But 250 years after David’s glorious reign, at the time of Isaiah’s writing, this looked pretty hopeless. Israel was divided into the Northern and Southern Kingdoms. Both kingdoms were weak and facing conquest and exile. In those circumstances, Isaiah prophesied a new king of Israel, a king of the line of David. This would not be a warrior king, but a king of righteousness and peace. And we know that this promise was still about 750 years from becoming reality. So it took a lot of faith to have hope in that situation.

But the Children of Israel did keep that hope. At the time of the birth of Jesus, the wise men on their way to Bethlehem stopped by to visit  King Herod. Herod asked the chief priests and scribes where the Messiah was to be born. They quoted verses (Micah 5:2) from the prophet Micah,  who lived at the time of Isaiah. They had not forgotten the prophesy, nor given up hope of its fulfillment.

Prayer: Lord, may we follow this example of hope and faith. For these four weeks of Advent we will hope not only for the coming of Jesus but for the fulfillment of His promises in our lives.

In Jesus’ name, Amen.