During this Advent, we are going to follow our usual rhythm and take Sunday as a day to sit, reflect, pray, and just “be quiet” before the Lord.
Page back through the week and reflect on how God has shown Himself to you this week?
Advent is a time of waiting for the arrival of Jesus as a baby.
Pray for your heart to be soft and waiting for the Lord to speak this morning as we gather for communal worship.
Read Revelation 21-22
Everything Sad is Coming Untrue
When the boys were little (Adam writing), we used to watch This Old House all the time together. They loved dressing up like construction workers and pretending to restore our house just like the hosts of the show were doing.
One house project sticks with me to this day. The crew of the show ventured into inner city Boston to a neighborhood that could use some love (this was quite unusual). They worked on a very old house, in a neighborhood that had history back to Paul Revere days! Throughout the season the house was totally transformed. They said that the house had 90%+ new materials. If you watched the time lapse video, you watched the house transform before your very eyes.
So, is that the same house that was always there, or is it a new house?
Yes.
It is the same house for sure, it never moved, it was never torn down to start over. And yet, it was renewed in a way that somehow both restored its former glory and made it such that it could stand the test of time in the future.
Revelation 21-22 is that same story. It is the end of the story of God’s redemptive work in the world, its where the story ends. The world, and everything in it, has fallen into disrepair and God has commenced a grand renovation work in Jesus. And when God is done with that work all of creation will both revel in its original and eternal glory.
God is renewing everything to rid us of all the things that break us down (death, mourning, crying, pain) and in its place is a renewed creation.
Will it be the same creation, or a fully new creation?
Yes. The new creation picture we get is one where Jesus says I am making everything new (not I am making all new things). When he does that; everything sad will be untrue; renewed for our eternal enjoyment in a city with Jesus at the center.
Read Revelation 21-22. This is a passage about God restoring brokenness and darkness through Jesus. It’s a picture of healing, wholeness, light and life. That may be a future reality, but God is doing that in each of our lives right now, if we pay attention.
Where do you feel the sadness of the world most deeply?
What would it look like to invite God to begin to work out a divine renovation project in your life today?
Advent gives us reason to hope for that restoration, and gives us eyes to see it happening in small ways all around us.
Read Romans 11:13-24
I’m (Cathy Parker) taken with references in the Bible that have to do with gardening and pruning. I’ve joked that I’ve “worked out my salvation with a wheelbarrow”. So much of my experience of waiting on God has happened over decades while tending a perennial garden. It was slow formational heavy work for my heart, soul, mind and body.
Today we will look at a passage that uses gardening terminology, namely tree grafting.
Grafting is basically when two cut surfaces of different plants are intentionally bound together so that they will unite and become a new plant. The rooted plant which will receive the graft is called the “stock”. The cutting which will be applied to the stock and get nourished by the stock is called the “scion”. If the graft takes, both the stock and the scion will be transformed into a new plant with the characteristics of both.
Read through Romans 11: 17-36.
In these verses:
Take some time to ponder about what it has meant in your life to be grafted. How to you see transformation or growth in your life that points to taking on characteristics of being secured to the root stock of God’s family?
Spend some time thanking God for grafting you into His family and for the mercy of new life. If you have questions about that, ask God to help you see.
I Peter 2: 10 “Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
Read Acts 8:26-40
I’m Andrew, and one of my favorite things to do is walking around my neighborhood, whether alone or accompanied by friends, family, and/or our little Shih Tzu named Chino.
There are so many wonderful and unexpected things at play in Acts 8:26-40, things I don’t experience every day:
Just because I don’t experience these exact things often (or ever), I can still take important lessons from this story.
Who might the Lord be sending you to? You don’t need an angel to appear to follow the nudges of the Holy Spirit.
What questions do you have about Scripture? Don’t be afraid to ask them.
Are you put off by some people based on their appearance? Be curious instead.
Today, Christmas Day, enjoy celebrating that Jesus has come to dwell among us and make a relationship with God possible.
Reflect on ways that you are thankful….
Read Luke 19:1-10
Marcie one more time!
When we first moved to South Bend we started a tradition of ‘Pastry Friday’. Each Friday, Andrew and I pick a local spot and get a few pastries to share with our morning coffee. It was a bit of an accidental tradition, but one that has stuck and gives us something to look forward to each week. So, I encourage you, next time a Friday rolls around, grab a pastry, find a friend and share a conversation about your week.
Read Luke 19: 1-10.
I don’t remember a time in my life when my height helped me see what was going on around me. It’s quite the opposite actually! I have a collapsible step stool I keep in the kitchen and use daily.
I’m always in the front row of group pictures. On a recent trip to see a live theater show with my daughter, the usher brought me over a booster seat so I could see the stage better from our seats!
As a person of short stature, I appreciate Zaccheus in this passage, “A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. He wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short he could not see over the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way.”
He knew he wanted to see Jesus and was eager to do whatever it took to see him. Imagine what Zaccheus thought when Jesus stops, calls him out and ends up joining him at his house.
Even with onlookers muttering at his choice to stay with a sinner, Jesus enters Zaccheus space and Zaccheus repents and finds salvation.
I love that Zaccheus was eager to experience what
Jesus has to offer and found a way to see Jesus, then Jesus saw that eagerness and responds.
When you think about your own life, are you eager to experience life with Jesus?
What are you doing that shows that eagerness?
Do you see others around you who are eager to experience Jesus? What can you do to help them to experience Jesus?
Spend a few minutes quietly reflecting on how God has responded to you in moments of eagerness to experience him in your own life. As you sit quietly try repeating this simple breathing prayer a few times:
Inhale: God of restoration and salvation
Exhale: Give me an eagerness to walk with you daily
Read Luke 15:11-32
Cathy and I (Dave Parker) have both had siblings die as young adults. We’ve watched our parents grieve lost children, while going through our own grief. Today we will read about a father who thought he lost a child and then rejoices at his return.
Read through Luke 15: 11-32.
List out some of the strengths and weaknesses you observe in the two sons:
What characteristics of the sons do you see in yourself?
What stands out about the Father’s responses?
Spend some time thanking God for His forgiveness in your own life. Are there things you need to confess?