prepare

Opening Prayer: Thank you, Lord Jesus, that the how and where and when of your coming is not up to us, all we are called to do is to prepare the way.  Help us to know what that is supposed to look like during this season of Advent.  Amen.

Scripture: Isaiah 40:1-5

Journal: How are you preparing the way for his coming these days?  What might that look like?

Reflection: There is a preparing that must be done in Advent, but it is not the type of preparing that one might expect.  This preparation has more to do with stopping and slowing down and coming to stillness.  It has more to do with sitting and pondering and reflecting.  This preparation has more to do with being than it does with doing.

     For we cannot manipulate God into coming; we cannot demand or manufacture the how and when and where of that coming.  All we can really do is prepare the way; it is up to God to do the rest.  Fortunately, if we are faithful to do our part—whatever that may be—he is faithful to do more than his.  “And the glory of the Lord will be revealed," say the words of the ancient text.  That is the promise of Advent.

     So let us make space, make time, be still, be quiet, watch, wait, listen, and pay attention—for these are the “activities” of Advent.

Prayer

Closing Prayer: Thank you, Lord God, that you have promised us that your glory will be revealed.  Help us to pay careful attention, lest we miss it.  Amen.

God will come

Opening Prayer: Thank you, O God, that you are, and have always been, the God who comes.  It is just who you are.  Fill our hearts and souls and minds with the joy and the hope of that coming, so that we might live our lives in this world in a way that anticipates, and even participates in, the life to come.  Amen.

Scripture: Isaiah 35:1-10

Journal: Where and how are you longing for God to come into your life and world?  Do you really believe that he will?  How does that hope sustain you in your time of waiting?

Reflection: The promise of Advent is that God will come, not just once, but always again.  It’s just who he is.  He cannot stay away from his beloved.  And when he comes, he will bring life. 

     But in the meantime we wait.  We do not, however, wait as people without hope.  We wait in the full assurance that he will, indeed, come.  It is not a question of if, but a question of when.  Therefore, we can strengthen our feeble hands and our knees that give way.  We can thrive in our waiting and hoping and groaning, rather than merely trying to survive.  We can live in hope instead of fear.  

     We can live in the assurance that one day this wilderness in which we live will be turned into a place of pools; dry sand will become bubbling springs.  That is simply how the life of God within and among us is—it gushes forth.  It is not a trickle, as it sometimes feels like in this life, but a torrent.  It is a wellspring of life and love.  Jesus called it living water, David described it as a cup that continually overflows, and Paul described it as being filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

     We get but a tiny taste of that on this side of eternity, but one day we will get it in full.  One day we will be filled with a fullness we never imagined possible.  I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait.

Prayer

Closing Prayer: Lord Jesus, help me not to get swept up in the pain and sorrow and brokenness of this life, for one day it will all be gone.  One day everything will be made right and we will get to live with you in joy and peace and wholeness and fullness forever.  More fullness that we could ever ask for or imagine.  O heavenly day!

ready

Opening Prayer: Lord Jesus, help me, during this season of Advent to be awake and alert, to be ready for your coming.  Come, Lord Jesus!  Amen.

Scripture: Luke 12:35-40

Journal: What is the difference between getting ready and being ready?  What does it look like to be ready for Christ’s return?  How is God inviting you to live in readiness during this season?  What does that look like?

Reflection: Ready [red-ee]: completely prepared or in fit condition for immediate action or use; in such a condition as to be imminent, likely at any moment.  

     In Luke 12:35-40, Jesus urges his followers to be ready for his coming, like men waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet.  This readiness involves watching and waiting and keeping our lamps burning.  It involves staying dressed and ready for action.  The time for action has not yet arrived, but once it does we must be prepared for it.  

     And notice, he does say get ready, but be ready—there’s a big difference.  Getting ready involves a lot of activity, but being ready involves a state of mind and heart and soul that is always prepared for Jesus to come.  Being ready means we have already done the hard work of getting ready and now we must simply stay on our toes, awake and alert and attentive.  Being ready is a continual state of preparedness for immediate action. 

     When the children of Israel were being led by the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night, they had to live their lives in a certain way.  They had to always be awake and attentive and alert and prepare for the movement of God, lest they get left behind whenever he decided it was time to go.  They had to eat and sleep and watch and wait, all the while being dressed and ready.

     Thus, as we begin Advent, it is the same for each of us.  Advent is not the season for getting ready, it is a season for being ready.  All of the getting ready must be complete, because once our master returns there will be no time to grab extra oil for our lamps, or change our clothes, or make one last check of all of our supplies.  It is time for immediate action—opening the door and letting the master in.  Thus, Advent is a season of watching and waiting.  It is a season of being awake and alert.  It is a season of being dressed and ready and keeping our lamps burning.  For the master will return from the wedding banquet, and when he does, will he find us ready?

Prayer

Closing Prayer: Show me, Lord Jesus, how to live at attention.  Help me, by your grace and your strength, to live in a continual state of preparedness.  Come, Lord Jesus!

Just Released

Hello friends.  Thought you would want to know that my new book Teach Us to Pray was just released on Amazon.  Tell your friends!

trying versus trusting

Opening Prayer: Thank you, Lord Jesus, that you sat down.  Thank you that your sacrifice on the cross is sufficient for us—we do not need to add a thing.  Help us to live in gratitude and thanksgiving for your sacrifice.  Amen.

Scripture: Hebrews 10:11-14

Journal: How are you trying rather than trusting these days?  What does it mean that Jesus sat down?  How does that impact what you do on a daily basis?  How can you move from trying to trusting?

Reflection: “Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties: again and again offering the same sacrifices” because his work is never done.  But when Jesus “had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God” because his work was complete.  When he said “It is finished!” he really meant it.  His one sacrifice was sufficient for all, “because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.”  That’s you and me.

     But unfortunately, we do not live like that is true.  We tend to live like the priests, rather than living in the completed work of Jesus.  We just can’t seem to sit still, because we are so busy trying to justify ourselves and make amends for our sinful ways, trying to earn the affection and approval from God that has already been given to us freely—so busy trying, when we should be trusting.  Jesus sat down, and because of his finished work, so can we.  It really is finished.  We just need to live like it is.

Prayer

Closing Prayer: Forgive us, Lord Jesus, when we fail to trust in your finished work.  Forgive us when we get so busy trying that we are no longer trusting.  Thank you that you sat down.  Help me to do the same.  Amen.

a litany of gratitude

we are grateful, O God,
for who you are
and for how you love us

we are grateful that
your heart is good
and will never change

we are grateful
that you are both
strong and loving
so that we can fully
trust in you and
rest in you

we are grateful
that even though we get so
involved and distracted
with our everyday lives
and continually forget you
you never forget us
even when we feel forgotten
you are always with us
in ways we cannot
perceive or imagine

we are grateful
that you alone
are the giver of all good gifts
the greatest of which are
your love and your grace
which you shower upon us
every minute of every day
though we don't deserve it

may we be captured this day
by the depths of
your great affection
and may we live in such a way
that others may be
captured by it as well

stop AND rest

Opening Prayer: My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from him.  He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will never be shaken.  (Psalm 62:1-2, NIV)

Scripture: Exodus 20:8

Journal: How do you practice Sabbath these days?  Why?  Is it restoring and life-giving or oppressive and legalistic?  How do you stop each week?  Do you?  How do you rest?  How are you stopping, but not yet resting?  What does it mean to truly rest in God alone?  Will you?  What do you think God’s intention was behind this commandment?

Reflection: It is easy, at times, to abide by the letter of the law and completely miss its intent.  Nowhere is this more evident than in the practice of Sabbath.  I don’t know about you, but for years and years I was bombarded with don’ts and shoulds that took all of the life and joy right out of the practice.  And, quite honestly, still can to this day if I let it.  I do not think that was God’s intent.

     The Hebrew word for Sabbath is shabath, which literally means “to stop.”  In six days God created the heavens and the earth, we are told in Genesis 2, and then he stopped.  On the seventh day he stopped from his work of creating.  Thus, he set aside the seventh day and made it holy—a holy day—that we should stop from our work as well.  

     But he doesn’t tell us to stop just for the sake of stopping, it is meant to be something much more than that.  It is meant to be a practice that is renewing and restoring and life-giving.  That is why Exodus 20 is so helpful.  In Exodus 20, God tells us that the intent of stopping (shabath) is so that we might rest (nuwach).  God is letting us know that stopping, in and of itself, is not enough.  We stop in order to rest.  

     The word nuwach (which is used in Exodus 20:8, but not in Genesis 2:2) means to settle in, or to take up residence within.  The whole point of stopping is so that we might rest.  We must stop and rest.  We stop, and then we settle into that stopping.  We take up residence in the space and time—and life—it offers.  It is a warm, rich, inviting, recreating space that we are invited into.  But in order to receive the benefit, we must enter into it.  It is possible to shabath and still miss the point, unless we also nuwach.  I guess God knew we would get legalistic and petty about the stopping part and miss the point of it altogether—the resting.  And he would never want us to miss that, it’s the best part.  

Prayer

Closing Prayer: Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from him.  He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will not be shaken.  My salvation and my honor depend on God; he is my mighty rock, my refuge.  Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge. (Psalm 62:5-8)