let every heart prepare him room

Opening Prayer: Come, Lord Jesus.  Come into our hearts and lives and world.  Come live within and among us.  May we always make room for your coming.  Amen.

Scripture: Luke 2:7

Journal: How are you preparing him room in your heart?

Reflection: “Let every heart prepare him room.”  The preparing of our hearts to receive our King is no easy matter; it is something that will take both thought and effort on our part.  It will not just happen on its own; we will need both intention and discretion.  There are things we will need to let go of and things we will need to hold on to.  It will mean having to say “no” to some people and things, in order to say “yes” to the One who comes and makes his dwelling among us.  It will take some decluttering and some rearranging.  It will take some sitting still and some being silent.  It will take the making of space and the taking of time.  It will take open hands and longing hearts.  After all, what good is the bringing of joy into our world, if the world is not paying attention?

Prayer

Closing Prayer: Help us, Lord Jesus, to make room in our hearts and lives for your coming.  Amen.

out with the old

Opening Prayer: Thank you, Lord Jesus, that you want to do a new work in me.  Help me to make room for that work by letting go of the old.  Please give me the strength and the grace and courage to do so.  Amen.

Scripture: Ezekiel 36:26

Journal: What old do you need to let go of, in order to make room for the new God wants to do in you?

Reflection:

My Dear Child,

Why do you hold on so tightly to those old and familiar ways of being that stifle and limit and hinder my life within you?  Why do you refuse to let go of those old patterns and habits, in order that you might finally experience the newness and the life and the freedom I so desperately want for you?  You can’t have your cake and eat it too.  You can’t keep holding on to the old and expect to be able to receive the new.  Receiving requires open hands.  Thus, letting go is a prerequisite.

I know the old is warm and comfortable, but it has such a low ceiling.  Every attempt at life and growth and freedom will lead to you hitting your head on that which you are unwilling to part with.  I want so much more for you than that.  What are you so afraid of?  Just trust me.

Love,

Abba

Prayer

Closing Prayer: Lord Jesus, help me to let go of the old, in order to be able to receive the new you want to do in me.  Amen.

a new thing

Opening Prayer: Father, help us to see the new thing you are doing within and among us this day.  Amen.

Scripture: Isaiah 43:18-19

Journal: What new thing is God doing in you these days?  What new thing is he doing around you?  Will you make time and space to perceive it?

Reflection: “See, I am doing a new thing!  Now it springs up, do you not perceive it?” (Isaiah 42:19) We live in a day and age when we are between the first and the second advents.  Meaning, we live at a time when God has come, God is continually coming, and God will come again.  The reason that’s significant is because we do not just sit idly by and wait for some distant day when God will finally arrive and make all things right and whole once again, we keep our eyes peeled and our hearts attentive to what God is doing here and now, both within us and among us.  Jesus told us himself that, “My Father is always at his work.” (John 5:17)  Thus, God is always coming into our lives and our world in new and beautiful ways, if only we have eyes to see it.  There is already a new thing that he is doing, our job is to perceive it, embrace it, and enter in to it.  This very day, God is saying, “I am here.  I am at work.  I am doing something new and beautiful within and among you.  Join me!”  God has come, God is coming, God will come—it’s the beauty of Advent.  

Prayer

Closing Prayer: Come, Lord Jesus!  Amen.

making all things new

Opening Prayer: Thank you, O God, that you are making all things new; not just new in time, but new in quality.  That is what I most deeply long for.  Come, Lord Jesus!  Amne.

Scripture: Revelation 21:5

Journal: What does it mean that God is making all things new?  What does it mean that God is making you new?  Where and how do you sense that happening?

Reflection: When God talks about “making all things new,” he is not necessarily talking about new in time (neos), although that may very well be true, but he is talking about making them new in quality (kainos).  That’s why he says, “I am making all things new,” rather than, “I am making all new things.”  It is a subtle, but significant difference.  And one that we would do well to pay attention to. 

For if we take “the old is gone and the new (kainos) has come” (2 Cor. 5:17) in the quantitative (neos) sense, we will have the wrong idea about what is really happening.  But if we take it in the qualitative (kainos) sense, we are much more likely to be able to see what God is really up to.  God is making us qualitatively different; not from the outside in, but from the inside out.  And I, for one, am so grateful.

Prayer

Closing Prayer:  Make me new, O God.  Make me all that you dreamt me to be.  Amen.

child of God

Opening Prayer: Thank you, Lord Jesus, that you came into our world to show us how deeply we are loved.  Help us to recognize that love, to receive it, to believe that it’s true, and to become all that you dreamt us to be.  Amen.

Scripture: John 1:10-13

Journal: How do you try to earn your sonship/daughterhood rather than simply receiving it as a gift from God?  What difference would it make if you lived as though you already were a son or daughter, rather than constantly trying to become a son or daughter?  

Reflection: “He was in the world, and thought the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him.  He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.  Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.—children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.” (John 1:10-13)      

The hardest part about becoming a child of God is that it cannot be achieved, it can only be received.  My children did not become my children by trying hard; they became my children simply because they were born out of the love between my wife and I.  And our deepest joy was to invite them into that relationship of love and delight that already existed between us.  All they had to do was say yes.  All they had to do was receive it.  

Of course, first they had to recognize that they were our children, in order to receive the gift and the place that it offered them.  And then they had to actually believe that it was true; the rest would take care of itself.  Their becoming was a byproduct of the recognizing, receiving, and believing.  In other words, they did not have to try to become what they already were.  And neither do we.

We become God’s children because we are born of God, not because of anything we do.  We just need to recognize that truth, receive it, and believe it.  Which is easier said than done.  But when we are finally able to receive his love and believe that we are, indeed, his children, our becoming is merely a result of living our lives in light of that reality.

Prayer

Closing Prayer:  Lord Jesus, thank you that you give us the right to become sons and daughters of God.  Help us to live like it.  Amen.

joseph

Opening Prayer: Lord Jesus, help us to pay attention to the story of your coming, so that we might be able to recognize you in the comings and goings of this day and this season.  Amen.

Scripture: Matthew 1:18-25

Journal: What do you think it would have been like to be Joseph?  What do you see in him?  What do you admire about him?  How might God be calling you to do the same?

Reflection: As we enter into the Christmas narrative, we discover an assortment of people, each with their own particular role to play.  First, we see Zechariah, the priest and prophet, who is the one on hand when God finally decides to end his 400 years of silence.  And there is his wife, Elizabeth, who, in her own pregnancy, offers Mary the space and the time, the conversation and the encouragement and the companionship necessary to thrive and flourish in a difficult and uncertain, yet incredibly exciting, season.  Then there is John the Baptist, still in utero, who is so excited to be the one preparing the way for the coming Savior that he leaps in the womb of his mother.  And, of course, there is Mary, the one through whom the Christ will come—the theotokos, the God-bearer.

Finally, there is Joseph.  Sweet, strong, silent Joseph.  The most striking thing about him is that he’s not a major character in the story, yet he is, nonetheless, an important one.  If it weren’t for Joseph, who knows what would have happened to Mary.  In fact, he could’ve washed his hands of the whole thing early on, but he chose not to.  He obviously loved Mary (and God) very deeply, and it showed.  Joseph stepped up, when he very easily could’ve opted out. He cared for Mary, he guarded her reputation, he got her to Bethlehem, and he found a place for the Savior to be born.  He was there for the delivery, the entry of God into his creation.  And, most likely, he was one of the very first to hold the newborn king.  Then Joseph did a really amazing thing.  After he had done all of the dirty work, he gently faded into the background.  In fact, he faded so gracefully that we hardly even noticed he was gone.  Joseph ceded center stage to the One the story is really all about.  He was heroic in his humility.

I admire Joseph for that.  Most of us are unwilling to stay in the background.  Most of us are trying so hard to be somebody that we are resistant to the idea of being only a minor character in the story, yet Joseph embraced it.  Maybe during this season of Advent, we should do the same.  Maybe we should practice giving center stage to those around us.  Maybe we should listen more and talk less.  Maybe we should look for the dirty work and do it, without any desire to be seen or acknowledged, except by the One who sees all—Jesus.  After all, it is his birthday.

Prayer

Closing Prayer: Lord Jesus, remind us daily that this season, as well as this life, is about you and not about us.  Help us to learn the lessons we can learn from Joseph, and put them into practice.  Amen.

 

 

what's it going to take

Opening Prayer: Lord, I believe.  Help my unbelief.  Amen.

Scripture: Luke 1:5-25

Journal: In what ways are you like Zechariah and Elizabeth?  What will it take for you to really believe what God says to you?

Reflection:

what’s it going to take

for you to fully believe

that what I say about you

is really true

i sent angels

i performed miracles

i spoke through prophets

i even sent my son

what more can i do

Prayer

Closing Prayer: O Lord, forgive me when I allow life’s circumstances to make me doubt the goodness of your heart.  Forgive me when I let the voices around me and within me determine my value and my worth, rather than your unfailing love.  O Lord, what’s it going to take for me to really believe that what you say is really true?  Lord, have mercy.  Amen.