sprout

Opening Prayer:  O God, thank you that you are ever and always the God who comes.  And it’s not just that you came, but it’s also how you came that captures and compels us.  Help us, Lord Jesus, to be like you.  Help us to show up the way you showed up: in humility and meekness and hiddenness and vulnerability and love.  Only then will the world know that we belong to you.

Scripture: Jeremiah 33:14-16

Journal: What amazes you about how God showed up in his creation?  How does this encourage you to do the same?  What will that look like?

Reflection: “In those days and at that time I will make a righteous Branch sprout from David’s line.” (Jeremiah 33:15)

Sometimes how you show up can be nearly as important as if you show up.  That’s definitely the case with the Nativity.  The fact that God chose to come into the world he created is mind-blowing enough, but when you couple that with how he chose to come into that world, it’s even more amazing.  He came into his world as a sprout.

It was not a big, splashy, showy entrance, but one that was meek and humble and subtle and hidden.  A sprout is kind of that way.  It is small and intimate and hardly noticeable.  You probably would not even see it if you weren’t looking carefully for it, particularly at the beginning.  A sprout is also weak and vulnerable and dependent.  It is connected to and rooted in something deep and life-sustaining.  A sprout is not something that happens fast, but something that takes time and space to grow into all it is to become.  Thus, sprouting into a Branch is a long, slow process. 

That is how the Almighty God chose to enter his creation: through the womb of a poor teenage girl, in an out-of-the-way stable, in the tiny town of Bethlehem, with the only onlookers being a few shepherds and some weary travelers.  On top of that, he spent the next thirty years in virtual anonymity before he ever stepped into the limelight.  He took time to deeply know the place and the people he was coming to.  Knowing and being known must have been very important to him.  Therefore, it should be important to us as well.

If that’s how God chose to come into our world, maybe we should do the same.  Maybe we should be more like him.  Maybe we too should show up in humility and meekness and hiddenness.  Maybe we too should show up in weakness and dependence and vulnerability.  Maybe we should plant our feet in a place and walk around for a while.  Maybe we should get to know people deeply and well.  Maybe we should walk and work side-by-side with them and get our hands dirty.  Maybe we should be so intimately connected with our God that we would begin to care about the things he cares about and love the things he loves.  Maybe we should be just a sprout, like him.

Pray

Closing Prayer: Lord Jesus, help me to be a sprout, just like you.  Help me to come like you came, to live like you lived, and to love like you loved.

prepare the way

Opening Prayer: Lord Jesus, show me what preparing the way for you is supposed to look like in this season of my life.  And then give me the wisdom and the strength and the grace to do it.

Scripture: Isaiah 40:3-5, Matthew 3:1-6

Journal: What does it look like in your life right now to “Prepare the way for the Lord” and “make straight paths for him”?  Will you?

Reflection: “Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.” (Mt. 3:3) That’s what this season is all about.  Thus, each of us must do some soul-searching, some praying, and some seeking if we ever want to figure out what this needs to look like in our lives.

The truth that both Isaiah and John the Baptist proclaimed was that “the Messiah is coming, so you’d better get ready.”  Therefore, each one of us must invest some time and space figuring out just how to make the paths straight for his entrance, both within us and among us.  Otherwise, when he comes there will be no room for him in our souls, the same way there was no room for him in the inn. 

Pray

Closing Prayer: Prepare the way, O Lord, both within us and among us, for your entry into our hearts and our world.

jesus waits

Opening Prayer: “I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope.” (Psalm 130:5)

Scripture: Hebrews 10:11-14

Journal: Where and how are you waiting for the Lord these days?  How do you feel about that?  What consolation does it give you that Jesus knows all about waiting and can meet you in the midst of it?

Reflection: Jesus waits.  That’s right, Jesus waits.  Jesus waits for his enemies to be made his footstool.  In other words, although the redemption of Jesus is full and complete, he still waits for that redemption to be revealed, just like we do.  He has redeemed us (and all things) in full, which is why he was able to sit down—his work was done.  We, however, will not be able to see and experience the fullness of that redemption until the end.  Therefore, if we are weary and frustrated and losing heart in our waiting, Jesus is wonderfully able to meet us and to help us in the midst of it.

Pray

Closing Prayer: “My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning.” (Psalm 130:6)

from nazareth to bethlehem

Opening Prayer: There is a journey ahead, O Lord, a journey of life and love and new birth that you are inviting me to.  It will be a difficult journey, but it will also be a beautiful one.  Help me to say yes to it today and every day.

Scripture: Luke 2:1-7; Isaiah 43:18-19

Journal: What journey of new birth does God have you on these days?  What is it like?  What is hard about it?  What is beautiful? 

Reflection: There’s nothing easy about the journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem, especially if you are nine months pregnant at the time.  It is a dangerous and grueling four-day (minimum) journey, and that’s if you choose to take the most direct route through Samaria, which a good Jew never would.  Avoiding Samaria altogether turns it into a weeklong journey instead.  So, either way it is going to involve seventy to ninety miles, thirty-five hours of walking or riding spread out over four to seven days.

That’s the journey before each of us as the season of Advent begins.  That is the process we must go through in order for the “new thing” to be born in each of us.  There’s no way around it.  New birth always comes about as the result of a great journey.  A journey that will not be easy.  In fact, it might be more challenging and demanding than you ever imagined.  So, climb aboard your donkey and let’s get started.  Watch and wait and struggle and pray and imagine and hope.  The new thing that is to be born in you will make it all worth it.  It is a birth that is more beautiful and more glorious and more amazing than you could ever imagine, but it won’t be easy to get there.  It will be long and hard but will end in a glorious result—new life!

I am expecting my first granddaughter in June and couldn’t be more excited!  I spend a lot of time praying and imagining and celebrating but really won’t know the full depths of her beauty and her life and her presence until the day she comes forth and is born into this world.  I cannot wait until that day!  I cannot wait to get my hands on this little miracle and pour out my love on her, the same way I have with my two amazing grandsons before her.  That’s what the season of Advent is all about, it’s about that joyful, expectant, hopeful, excited waiting.  Thus, we can endure the hard and the painful and the uncomfortable and the exhausting, because God is doing a new thing, and we can’t wait to see it and hold it and know it and love it.  Thanks be to Him!    

Pray

Closing Prayer: O Lord, give me the courage and the strength and the grace to embark on this journey of new life and new birth you are inviting me to.  Don’t let the hard keep me from pressing on to the good and beautiful.

and it begins

Opening Prayer: Thank you, O Lord, for your promise.  Thank you that you will never leave us all alone but will come to redeem us, just as you said you would.  Help us to keep a lookout for that coming, for the sprouting of that righteous Branch, in the days and weeks ahead.

Scripture: Jeremiah 33:17-19

Journal: What is your deepest hope for the season ahead?  Why?

Reflection: “The days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will fulfill the gracious promise I made to the house of Israel and to the house of Judah.  In those days and at the right time I will make a righteous Branch sprout from David’s line; he will do what is just and right in the land.  In those days Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will live in safety.  This is the name by which he will be called: The Lord Our Righteousness.” (Jeremiah 33:17)

The days are coming.  Indeed, they are coming, just as they did for the ones who first received these words of Jeremiah’s prophecy.  Just as they did for those who were waiting and watching for the Holy One, The Lord Our Righteousness, to come to earth.

Once again, that season of hope and expectation is upon us.  The season when we receive the gracious promise once again and look forward to how it will be fulfilled in the days and weeks ahead.  The season when we look forward to God’s arrival, both among us and within us, and make time and space for that arrival to happen.

What is your deepest hope for the season ahead?  How are you longing for the Righteous Branch to sprout in your life and in our world?  How are you longing for the day of hope and life and love and peace and rest to come?

Pray

Closing Prayer: Come, Lord Jesus!

listen

Opening Prayer: “But I have stilled and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child is my soul within me.” (Psalm 131:2)

Scripture: Zephaniah 3:17

Journal: Is your life still enough and quiet enough to hear the song of love God is singing over you?  Why or why not?  Will you listen to his voice of delight and affection today?    

Reflection:

if you are not

still and quiet

you cannot hear

the song of love

he sings over you

Pray

Closing Prayer: “Is that a joyous choir I hear?  No, it is the Lord exulting over you in happy song.” (Zephaniah 3:17, TLB)

thanksgiving 2024

Opening Prayer: Always, continually, and in all circumstances, that is your will for me.  Forgive me, O Lord, when I offer you so much less than that.  Thank you that your desire for me is so much bigger than that.  Give me the strength and the grace and the courage to accomplish your will.

Scripture: 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

Journal: What do these verses stir up in you?  What is your current level of joy, prayer, and gratitude?  How will you live a life that is pursuing all three?

Reflection: “Rejoice always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” 

Most of us are content to be joyful when things are good, prayerful when they are not, and thankful only when we are happy and healthy.  But the Scriptures tell us a much different story.  God’s will for us is much bigger than that.

God’s will for us is to rejoice always.  That’s right, always!  Even when things aren’t going so well.  Even when we are sad or sorrowful or depressed.  The beautiful thing about joy is that it’s a choice.  It is not contingent on everything being rosy in our lives and our world.  Joy can coexist with sorrow and sadness and pain.  It is much deeper than an emotion; it is an attitude, a state of mind.  It is a determination to hold fast to God’s goodness and his love, even when our hearts are breaking.  Because joy is about trust, a deep-seated trust that God is always working for our ultimate and eternal good, and that he will take care of us just the way he promised.

Secondly, it is God’s will that we pray continually.  Not just every now and then.  Not just when we think we should.  Not just when we’re feeling guilty or dutiful.  Not just when we want something.  He wants to hear from us always, and he wants to be with us in continual, intimate union.  He is not just the one we turn to when we are in a jam or need a favor, but the one we are in constant communication with.  That’s what a genuine relationship is all about.  It’s ongoing, it’s give and take, it’s back and forth, it's speaking and listening, it’s being with.  In other words, it’s continual.   

And finally, God’s will is that we live a life of gratitude, constantly giving thanks.  Not just when things are going our way, but in all circumstances, knowing that he is always at work in ways we can’t see or understand.  Knowing that he is doing things in us and through us that can only be accomplished through struggle and strife and dependence.  The hard times are the ones that accomplish his deeper purposes in and through us, and that’s something to be thankful about.

Pray

Closing Prayer: Be cheerful no matter what; pray all the time; thank God no matter what happens.  This is the way God wants you who belong to Christ Jesus to live. (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, MSG)