Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!!!

Thanks for joining us on this Advent journey!!!

May God bless you with peace, joy, love and the grace of his presence this Christmas now and always!!!

Advent Day 24: The Good News of Christmas Eve (Isaiah 61:1-7)

Isaiah 61:1-7
The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me,
  because the Lord has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor;
  he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
  and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
2 to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor,
  and the day of vengeance of our God;
  to comfort all who mourn;
3 to grant to those who mourn in Zion—
  to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness instead of mourning,
  the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit;
that they may be called oaks of righteousness,
  the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified.
4 They shall build up the ancient ruins;
  they shall raise up the former devastations;
they shall repair the ruined cities,
  the devastations of many generations.
5 Strangers shall stand and tend your flocks;
  foreigners shall be your plowmen and vinedressers;
6 but you shall be called the priests of the Lord;
  they shall speak of you as the ministers of our God;
you shall eat the wealth of the nations,
  and in their glory you shall boast.
7 Instead of your shame there shall be a double portion;
  instead of dishonor they shall rejoice in their lot;
therefore in their land they shall possess a double portion;
  they shall have everlasting joy.

It's Christmas Eve!  We hope you are able to be with loved ones this Christmas and that God's love, peace and joy abound in your life this Christmas and always!

This passage highlights something interesting: good news.

When you watch the news the broadcasters on NBC, ABC, CBS, or whatever cable news channel you watch are not the ones actually doing the noteworthy things that make up the "news."  They are simply delivering the news.  They are the medium through which the news about what is happening in the community or the world is communicated to you.

In this passage the prophet Isaiah is declaring good news.  He is not the one that is doing the noteworthy things of God.  Instead, he is much like a broadcaster who is declaring the good and amazing things that God is doing!

When Jesus shows up and begins his ministry it is this passage that he says, "Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing" (Luke 4:16-21).

Jesus is the good news.  Jesus is what God is doing.  He lifts up the poor, heals the broken, and sets prisoners free.  He is the presence and fullness of God's favor upon the earth to all people.

Why is that good news?  Because it means that fixing this world does not depend on us!  It is something that God is doing.  God is doing noteworthy and amazing things.  We can have faith that he loves us and is working out his plan in this world and in us.

While we humans do have the capacity to do good deeds and treat others with love and kindness.  We still continue to hurt those we love dearly and do things on this earth that destroy life and make the world a worse place to live in.  We need a savior and we need God to do what only he can.

That first Christmas was just the beginning!

Heavenly Father, we praise you as the shepherds did that first Christmas Eve for sending your Son to be our Savior and Lord.  Give us faith to trust that you are working in us and in our world and help us to share your good news with all those around us.  In Jesus' holy name.  Amen.

Advent Day 23: The Free Feast (Isaiah 55:1-13

Isaiah 55:1-13 (ESV)
“Come, everyone who thirsts,
    come to the waters;
and he who has no money,
    come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
    without money and without price.
² Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,
    and your labor for that which does not satisfy?
Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good,
    and delight yourselves in rich food.
³ Incline your ear, and come to me;
    hear, that your soul may live;
and I will make with you an everlasting covenant,
    my steadfast, sure love for David.
⁴ Behold, I made him a witness to the peoples,
    a leader and commander for the peoples.
⁵ Behold, you shall call a nation that you do not know,
    and a nation that did not know you shall run to you,
because of the Lord your God, and of the Holy One of Israel,
    for he has glorified you.

⁶ “Seek the Lord while he may be found;
    call upon him while he is near;
⁷ let the wicked forsake his way,
    and the unrighteous man his thoughts;
let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him,
    and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
⁸ For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
    neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.
⁹ For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
    so are my ways higher than your ways
    and my thoughts than your thoughts.

¹⁰ “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven
    and do not return there but water the earth,
making it bring forth and sprout,
    giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
¹¹ so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;
    it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
    and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.

¹² “For you shall go out in joy
    and be led forth in peace;
the mountains and the hills before you
    shall break forth into singing,
    and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
¹³ Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress;
    instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle;
and it shall make a name for the Lord,
    an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.”

 

I posted the whole chapter because it contains such amazing promises.  But I want to focus closely on the first verse.

Our entire world economy is built on capital.  Very few countries in the world do not have some sort of currency that is exchanged for goods and services.  Nothing is free.  Everything costs someone something. 

But in God's economy money is no good.  Money cannot buy God's favor or blessing because... God already owns everything!  This is one of the reasons why Jesus said, "only with difficulty will a rich person enter the kingdom of heaven" (Matt. 19:23).

 

 

It shocks us when we get nice, valuable things, for free.  We wonder: "what's the catch" or "this must be worthless if they are just giving it away."

But consider the 1987 film adaption of the story "Babette's Feast." It gives a wonderful glimpse of what God's economy is all about. 

One day a woman by the name of Babette appears at the door of two elderly women in rural Denmark.  She offers to be their housekeeper for free and lives with them for 14 years.  One day Babette finds out that she has won the lottery in her native France.  Without telling anyone she begins preparing a feast for the two women and the members of the Protestant pietist sect that their father had started many years ago.  The feast would be in commemoration of their father's 100th birthday.  

At the end of the story the sisters and their guests find out that Babette had once been the head chef of a great restaurant in Paris and had spent all 10,000 francs she had won to pay for the meal they had just eaten.  It was an extravagant act of love.  The people sitting their paid nothing for it.  (This very brief synopsis does not do the film justice.  Please go watch it!)

Jesus has prepared an incredible feast for us.  He offers pure water that quenches our thirst for free.  He prepares the best wine we will ever taste at no cost to us.  Our money is no good in God's economy. 

But there has to be a catch, right?

Heavenly Father, help us to understand and live in your new economy.  Give us faith to trust that Jesus has given us everything we will ever need and is preparing a life for us that we cannot even begin to imagine.  Thank you for the first Christmas when you showed us how much you love us and prepare us for the day when Jesus will come again.  In Jesus' holy name.  Amen.

Advent Day 22: Mission:Forgiveness (Isaiah 53:1-12)

Isaiah 53:1-12 (NIV)
Who has believed our message
    and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
    and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
    nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
3 He was despised and rejected by mankind,
    a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.
Like one from whom people hide their faces
    he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.
4 Surely he took up our pain
    and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
    stricken by him, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,
    he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
    and by his wounds we are healed.
6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
    each of us has turned to our own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
    the iniquity of us all.
7 He was oppressed and afflicted,
    yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
    and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
    so he did not open his mouth.
8 By oppression[a] and judgment he was taken away.
    Yet who of his generation protested?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;
    for the transgression of my people he was punished.[b]
9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked,
    and with the rich in his death,
though he had done no violence,
    nor was any deceit in his mouth.
10 Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
    and though the Lord makes[c] his life an offering for sin,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
    and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.
11 After he has suffered,
    he will see the light of life[d] and be satisfied[e];
by his knowledge[f] my righteous servant will justify many,
    and he will bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,[g]
    and he will divide the spoils with the strong,[h]
because he poured out his life unto death,
    and was numbered with the transgressors.
For he bore the sin of many,

    and made intercession for the transgressors.

This (long) passage that is most often associated with Good Friday (the day we celebrate the death of Jesus) is still important for us during Advent because Jesus did not come the way most people would have expected.  

Just think of all the time, effort, money and planning it takes for the President of the United States to visit another nation.  The costs of some of those trips are gargantuan!  Just the bill for the secret service detail to go ahead of the President and prepare for his arrival is huge.  That is what we expect from presidents, royalty and other very important people!

But according to the Bible, the God that created everything, the sun, moon, planets, and all living things, came in a way that no one expected.  As Isaiah said, "He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him."  Why?  His mission was not to impress with power, majesty and awe, but to suffer and die in order to bring forgiveness and adoption into a new family.

So God became weak to show us that He loves us in a way that is not manipulative or oppressive.  God became weak so that we would understand that power is meant for service and authority is meant for justice.  It was God's will for Jesus to be an "offering for sin" and give forgiveness to all those who desire to be reconciled to God through faith.

Ever since the first sin in the Garden of Eden, humanity has tried to find meaning, purpose, and glory through our own efforts.  We reject that God loves us, cares for us, and knows what is best for us.  We reject that God has authority over our lives.

But faith says, "I don't have everything figured out.  I need help.  I believe that God loves and forgives me and wants me to be a part of his family."

So at Christmas, because Jesus came with the mission to forgive our sins and give us a new relationship with the Father we can sing loud and strong as members of his royal family:

Hark the herald angels sing , "Glory to the newborn King! Peace on earth and mercy mild .  God and sinners reconciled"

Lord of grace and mercy, we praise you for showing us your great love for us through the suffering that you endured on the cross.  Help us at Christmas to be remember that you came not in power, but in weakness in order to serve us by offering us forgiveness and adoption into the family of God.  In Jesus' name we pray.  Amen.

Advent Day 21: Jesus Wants You! (Isaiah 44:1-5)

Isaiah 44:1-5
“But now listen, Jacob, my servant,
    Israel, whom I have chosen.
2 This is what the Lord says—
    he who made you, who formed you in the womb,
    and who will help you:
Do not be afraid, Jacob, my servant,
    Jeshurun,[a] whom I have chosen.
3 For I will pour water on the thirsty land,
    and streams on the dry ground;
I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring,
    and my blessing on your descendants.
4 They will spring up like grass in a meadow,
    like poplar trees by flowing streams.
5 Some will say, ‘I belong to the Lord’;
    others will call themselves by the name of Jacob;
still others will write on their hand, ‘The Lord’s,’
    and will take the name Israel.

In this passage God is referred to with female imagery.  God is a mother who creates life in the womb and gives birth to the people of Israel.  Specifically this is talking about how God chose Abraham to be the father of a great nation (Gen. 12:1-3) and "gave birth" to the nation of Israel, the descendants of Abraham, by taking them out of slavery and through the Red Sea.

This is also part of the Christian idea of baptism.  In baptism our old self, the person that is born naturally is killed with Jesus on the cross and a new person is born and given a new life (Romans 6:1-4).  This new life is something only God can give.  Just like Abraham, we cannot earn new life or achieve new life.  It is something that is given to us.  We are made new by someone else.  And because of Jesus (Abraham's offspring sent to bless all people was promised in Gen. 12:3) all people, not just the biological descendants of Abraham, are given the invitation to be born again into the new life of faith (Galatians 3:1-6).

Also, in Christian baptism we believe that the Holy Spirit is given to us to help us live this new life (Ephesians 1:13-14).  God's Spirit is living in us and working through us to bring about God's kingdom.  It does not mean that we are perfect, but that through faith we allow God to make us into what he desires us to be.

As a parent this passage is fascinating.  The invitation that Isaiah is giving to us is to trust in God in the same way that we would trust in a loving mother (and father!).  We are invited to believe that God really does care about us and really does have our best interests at heart.  God is not a harsh taskmaster expecting perfection, but is expecting us to play nice with the other kids!

Do we trust Jesus with our lives enough to say, "I belong to the Lord"?  Do we believe that God really does love us and want the best for us?

Lord God, we give you praise for the great works you have done in creation.  We see how you chose Abraham and his family as to bring about the blessings of new life and faith through Jesus.  Give us faith that through the life, death, and resurrection of Your Son that we, too, are loved by You and are given the gift of being born again as a new creation in Your Kingdom.  In Jesus' holy name we pray.  Amen.

Advent Day 20: Breath of God (Isaiah 40:6-11)

Isaiah 40:6-11 (NIV)
A voice says, “Cry out.”
  And I said, “What shall I cry?”
“All people are like grass,
  and all their faithfulness is like the flowers of the field.
7 The grass withers and the flowers fall,
  because the breath of the Lord blows on them.
  Surely the people are grass.
8 The grass withers and the flowers fall,
  but the word of our God endures forever.”
9 You who bring good news to Zion,
  go up on a high mountain.
You who bring good news to Jerusalem,[c]
  lift up your voice with a shout,
lift it up, do not be afraid;
  say to the towns of Judah,
  “Here is your God!”
10 See, the Sovereign Lord comes with power,
  and he rules with a mighty arm.
See, his reward is with him,
  and his recompense accompanies him.
11 He tends his flock like a shepherd:
  He gathers the lambs in his arms
and carries them close to his heart;
  he gently leads those that have young.

Sometimes when I wake up in the morning my breath could destroy flowers because it smells so bad!  That is NOT what Isaiah is talking about here when he says that the "grass withers and the flowers fall because the breath of the Lord falls on them."

The same word in Hebrew that is translated "breath" is also translated "spirit."  So another way of saying this might be: "the Spirit of the Lord blows on them."

This idea goes all the way back to creation where the Spirit (breath) of God "hovers" over the waters of creation (Gen. 1:2) and God speaks a word and creates from nothing (Gen. 1:3).  God's breath of life, His life-giving Spirit, is far more powerful and enduring than anything that we can imagine and the words that God "breathes" out have incredible power that we do not fully comprehend.

Words also have tremendous power to endure in good ways and bad.  Marriage vows and promises are words that endure and give a firm foundation for years and years.  Or nasty insults spoken in the heat of an emotional moment can cause the end to relationships and bitter animosity for decades.

When God's Spirit is "breathed" out and His Words are spoken they are powerful to give life.  In the gospel of John, chapter 1, Jesus is called the "Word" because He is the manifestation of God's words of judgment and grace.  In Jesus free grace is given.  By trusting in Jesus we are believing that God has already and will fulfill His promises.  Like Peter we are saying to Jesus, "you have the words of eternal life" (John 6:68).

But Jesus, the Word of God, is also judgment because we cannot get to God on our own.  We need Jesus to save us speak the words of forgiveness that bring us into a new relationship with the Father.  Those words of forgiveness condemn our brokenness, sin, wickedness, and self-centered lives while setting us free and giving us new life.  We love hearing words of good news, but we do definitely do not like to hear the bad news.

Christmas is both.  You are in need of a savior.  You cannot fix yourself.  You're breath stinks.  But... good news for you!  You have a savior, you are loved... and get some floss!

Heavenly Father, breathe Your Spirit upon us this Christmas and fill us with the words of good news that Jesus has indeed come and given us forgiveness and new life.  Strengthen us to share your words with others and share the good news that we are saved and loved by You.  In Jesus' name.  Amen.

Advent Day 19: Benefits of Suffering (Isaiah 38:16-20)

 Isaiah 38 - Nathan Shields

(lyrics below) 

Isaiah 38:16-20

Lord, by such things people live;

  and my spirit finds life in them too.

You restored me to health

  and let me live.

17 Surely it was for my benefit

  that I suffered such anguish.

In your love you kept me

  from the pit of destruction;

you have put all my sins

  behind your back.

18 For the grave cannot praise you,

  death cannot sing your praise;

those who go down to the pit

  cannot hope for your faithfulness.

19 The living, the living—they praise you,

  as I am doing today;

parents tell their children

  about your faithfulness.

20 The Lord will save me,

  and we will sing with stringed instruments

all the days of our lives

  in the temple of the Lord.

This passage is from an episode in the life of King Hezekiah, one of the greatest kings of Israel.  But the Biblical authors did not consider him great due to his building projects or military campaigns.  His greatness was due to his faith in God in the midst of great uncertainty, anxiety and fear.  While most of the account about him focuses on how he stood up to the foreign armies seeking to destroy Jerusalem, there was also a time in his life where he was faced with a life-threatening illness.  It was after God cured him of that disease that he prays the words found in Isaiah 38:17 - "Surely it was for my benefit that I suffered such anguish."

These are not words that compute well in our world where we pop narcotic pain-killers like candy and follow "think positive" self-help gurus like they are Jesus.  How can pain, suffering, and hardship actually be beneficial to us?  How can they can actually be good? 

This idea brought back something I had heard about the great Saint of Calcutta, or as she is more commonly know, Mother Theresa.  I love the way Leonard J. DeLorenzo of the Church Life Journal (University of Notre Dame) puts it: "Mother Teresa left happiness to find joy. The difference between happiness and joy is that happiness avoids suffering and joy endures suffering in hope."  She left the happiness of her family and life in Europe to serve the poorest of the poor in India, the people often referred to as the "untouchables."

To be clear, I do not want to glorify suffering or to say that everyone should drop what they are doing and move to India.  I am not trying to guilt anyone into thinking that the only way to glorify God is to seek out suffering or become a missionary (though we could use more of them!).  

My hope this Advent season is for us to reflect on what it means that we have a God that came and suffered with us and for us.  Jesus did not come to "lord" his power over us, but to serve, heal, comfort, encourage, empathize, and most of all... forgive.  

Forgive us for the ways that we have caused pain.  Forgive us for the ways that we have rejected God's will and commands.  Forgive us for the ways that we have rejected God and cut ourselves off from Him!

Hezekiah gave praise and glory to God for healing, but was glad that he suffered because it brought Him closer to God by forcing him to place even greater faith in God's sovereignty and power to save him.  Similarly, Mother Theresa found joy in serving God and believed that suffering in order to do God's will was far more important than avoiding pain.  Jesus decided that it was far better to endure suffering so that we could be brought back into a relationship with the Father.  Sometimes there are things worth suffering for!

This Advent, instead of seeking to cover up our pain and acting as if we have everything figured out, let us draw near to God in the midst of our suffering, rejecting our self-salvation projects and seeking the joy of His presence with us, the gift of Immanuel, that He promised to us that first Christmas. 

Heavenly Father, we draw close to you and ask that in your mercy you might bring healing where there is pain and suffering, health where there is illness, and comfort where there is mourning.  Be our God in the midst of suffering and lead us to the resting place that you have prepared.  Grant us faith to know your will and rest in your love.  In Jesus' name we pray.  Amen.

Isaiah 38 by Nathan Shields

I walk slowly all of my years 
Tears are only evidence of
My love for you shield me not
Scars are but a necessary
Step towards you, I will see
this through
Restore my soul to health and make me new

My love do not be surprised
Sing for you are suffering with Christ
Fear not death, hell is undone
Pain is but a victory, so be happy
Open your eyes and see the

Glory of our God eternally

Advent Day 17: The Way of Holiness (Isaiah 35:8-10)

Isaiah 35:8-10And a highway will be there;  it will be called the Way of Holiness;  it will be for those who walk on that Way.The unclean will not journey on it;  wicked fools will not go about on it.9 No lion will be there,  nor any ravenous beast;  they will not be found there.But only the redeemed will walk there,10 and those the Lord has rescued will return.They will enter Zion with singing;  everlasting joy will crown their heads.Gladness and joy will overtake them,  and sorrow and sighing will flee away.

This passage follows immediately from the one we  looked at yesterday that talked about an amazing and unbelievable promise that God is going to radically change the world and bring an end to suffering.  

And the main reason that the promises of God are so unbelievable is because they are not up to us.  God's promises are completely dependent on His love for us and His ability to do what He says He is going to do.  God's promises are not dependent on us and how successful, or hardworking, or religious, or talented, or good we are.  In other words, we do not have to go up to God.  He has come down to us.  

In this passage Isaiah does speak of the "Way of Holiness," but this is not a "way" to get to God.  Instead, he is speaking about a "way" of living.  Proverbs 4:11 says, "I instruct you in the way of wisdom and lead you along straight paths."  The metaphor of walking in the way of wisdom is about how we live our lives.  We can live lives of foolishness that can bring unnecessary pain or we can live wisely and have better, more fulfilling lives.  

In the same way, Isaiah uses the metaphor of "the Way of Holiness" to talk about how we can live.  

In the book of Acts the followers of Jesus were called followers of "the Way" (see Acts 22:4 as Paul describes how he was persecuting followers of Jesus).  What the first followers of Jesus understood was that following "the Way" meant living by faith in the Christ.  In Jesus, God had come down to fulfill His promises and begin to set things right again.  

"The Way of Holiness" is faith in Jesus.

This is not simplistic idea of rejecting science and just trusting God.  The way of holy faith in Jesus is about believing that sacrifice is better than seeking power, that helping the poor is worth our time, that caring for the weak and powerless is absolutely necessary, and that all humanity is valued.  Why?  Because the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross says so.  

Faith in the cross of Christ is the "way" to seeing the world in a totally different way.  It is the "way" to understand what love really is.  The cross of Jesus shows that love is actually painful and costly.  We see that love is more than just emotions and feeling nice.  We see that true love is totally committed no matter the cost.  

When we place our faith in Jesus, that is the "Way of Holiness" that we are following and how we are seeking to live out our lives.

Heavenly Father, give us faith that understands how deeply you love us and how committed to us you are.  As we live each day by faith, following the way of Jesus, help us to give true, committed, costly love to all those we meet.  In Jesus' name.  Amen.

Advent Day 16: Too Good to be True (Isaiah 35:1-7)

Isaiah 35:1-7The desert and the parched land will be glad;  the wilderness will rejoice and blossom.Like the crocus, 2 it will burst into bloom;  it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy.The glory of Lebanon will be given to it,  the splendor of Carmel and Sharon;they will see the glory of the Lord,  the splendor of our God.3 Strengthen the feeble hands,  steady the knees that give way;4 say to those with fearful hearts,  “Be strong, do not fear;your God will come,  he will come with vengeance;with divine retribution  he will come to save you.”5 Then will the eyes of the blind be opened  and the ears of the deaf unstopped.6 Then will the lame leap like a deer,  and the mute tongue shout for joy.Water will gush forth in the wilderness  and streams in the desert.7 The burning sand will become a pool,  the thirsty ground bubbling springs.In the haunts where jackals once lay,  grass and reeds and papyrus will grow.

Ever thought: "This is too good to be true?"  Maybe you have an incredible friend that loves to hang out with you and listen to everything you have to say.  Maybe you got some incredible news that was shocking (in a good way), like getting into the college of your dreams or getting a new car for your 16th birthday.  

In these verse we are given a glimpse of a world that seems way too good to be true.  It's amazing.  It's unbelievable!  The desert wilderness (which for Israel was a constant reminder of the Exodus) is going to be filled with water and produce new, joyous life.  The weak will be made strong.  The anxious hearts will be calmed.  The blind will be given sight.  The deaf will hear. The lame will be able to walk and the mute will be able to talk.

But daily life eats away at this vision.  We see suffering on the news.  We hear of another person being diagnosed with cancer.  We see another car accident from someone sliding of the snowy road.  Someone we know loses their job.  

Why bother with such "pie in the sky" dreams and visions?  

But focusing on the negative and rejecting the hope of God's promised future is actually a dream and a vision, too.  It's just negative.  Dreams and visions are not just positive.  Fear and anxiety are driven by thinking about what might happen, but that possible outcome is negative instead of positive.

If the owners of the Chicago Cubs chose to buy into the negative vision that the team was "cursed" then they would never have believed in the vision that they could actually win the World Series.  

This is not a simplistic idea of the power of positive thinking.  This is also NOT a belief in the power of humanity to come together and solve the world's problems if we could all just "get along."  It is a belief that God can and will bring about a new future and that we do not have to live in fear or anxiety.  

It is about hope and rest in God's love.  

Our current circumstances, both good and bad, are only temporary.  Our pains are merely fleeting and our joys are only a foretaste of the eternal joys ahead.  If God can create the world from nothing and raise the dead then He can make water spring forth from the desert and heal the brokenness of this world.

This Advent give your anxieties to God.  Choose to focus on His beautiful future and let Jesus raise your eyes to see the glory of the promised resurrected life.  

Heavenly Father, thank you for the prophecies of Isaiah that give us a glimpse of the future that you are preparing.  Take upon your shoulders our fears and anxieties so that we might be freed to live with hope and joy in this life.  Use us to share this vision with others and work to carry one another's burdens.  In Jesus' name we pray.  Amen. 

You can watch Pastor Jay Thorson's sermon on this text from this past Sunday at Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church here: http://www.shepherd-hills.com/sermons/part-3-the-end-of-brokenness/

Advent Day 15: What's a Plumb Line? (Isaiah 28:14-18)

Isaiah 28:14-18Therefore hear the word of the Lord, you scoffers  who rule this people in Jerusalem.15 You boast, “We have entered into a covenant with death,  with the realm of the dead we have made an agreement.When an overwhelming scourge sweeps by,  it cannot touch us,for we have made a lie our refuge  and falsehood our hiding place.”
16 So this is what the Sovereign Lord says:“See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone,  a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation;the one who relies on it  will never be stricken with panic.17 I will make justice the measuring line  and righteousness the plumb line;hail will sweep away your refuge, the lie,  and water will overflow your hiding place.18 Your covenant with death will be annulled;  your agreement with the realm of the dead will not stand.When the overwhelming scourge sweeps by,  you will be beaten down by it.

In the gospels the religious leaders saw Jesus as a threat and eventually killed him.  But it is hard for many of us to really understand why they would go to that extreme!

One reason is that Israel had been under attack for hundreds of years.  They were in the crossroads of a major trade route that empire after empire sought to control.  Through those ups and downs Israel clung to its religion and rituals.

However, Jesus came pointing out that though the rituals were important God cared more about truth, justice, righteousness, mercy, and love (see Isaiah 1:10-17, Matthew 9:13 and Hosea 6:6).  In fact, the Jewish leaders often missed that all the laws were rooted in love for God and for each other (Matt. 22:37-40).  Jesus also said that the temple would be obsolete because God's Spirit would live in the "temple" of a person's heart, not in a particular building (Jer. 31:31-34; John 2:19-22).

To many of the Jewish leaders Jesus posed a threat to their very existence.  Without the temple and their laws the Jewish people might be completely assimilated into the Roman and Greek culture.  They would start worshiping the Roman gods and forget about the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  So how do you stop someone who you see as a threat to your very existence?  Kill them.

That is what our modern politicians do!  Especially in campaign season.  While they do not outright kill their opponent, instead of engaging the ideas and platform they attack and destroy the other person's character, personal life, family, etc.    

How do we know who whether we are allied to death or life?  We use the "plumb line" of Jesus.

A plumb line is a string with a weight at the end.  Before our modern bubble levels a plumb line would be used to determine if something was truly vertical or not.  Jesus said, " The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full."

So... Are we promoting life or death?  Are we seeking to help people be healthier physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually?  Or are we putting people down, condemning, treating them as a means to an end or seeing them as a threat?  Are we telling people that they have to be perfect, make a huge impact in the world, become powerful or make lots of money in order to matter?  Or are we telling people that they are loved by God, that they are God's children that He cares for, and that they have life and freedom in a relationship with Him?  

During Advent we prepare our hearts for the coming of Jesus.  Is He a threat to your status quo?  Or the plumb line that helps us determine what is right, good, true, and life-giving?

Heavenly Father, we praise you for sending Jesus to be the cornerstone of truth, righteousness, goodness, justice and love.  Help us build our faith upon the foundation of His salvation and forgiveness and raise us up to give life to others as He does.  In Jesus' name we pray.  Amen.

Advent Day 14: A Righteous Path (Isaiah 26:7-9)

Isaiah 26:7-9
The path of the righteous is level;
    you make level the way of the righteous.
8 In the path of your judgments,
    O Lord, we wait for you;
your name and remembrance
    are the desire of our soul.
9 My soul yearns for you in the night;
    my spirit within me earnestly seeks you.
For when your judgments are in the earth,

    the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.

A few years ago Jacinda and I were living in California.  When we moved back to Illinois we packed up all our stuff into a small Uhaul trailer and my dad and I drove across the country.  We left Lodi, CA went through Sacramento and soon began winding our way up into the Sierra Nevada mountains.  

As we climbed the road was steep at times and had some relatively sharp curves, but was always smooth and marked with signs to guide us when those curves were coming and warn when the grade of a hill would be steep.  While you had to slow at times, especially towing a trailer behind a small SUV, the travel was easy.  Someone had made a very nice, easy path for us to drive upon.  

God does something similar with his "judgments" and laws.  While we Americans don't like people telling us what to do, we also know that rules are important and even good for life!  Just like a sign on a road that tells us to slow down or watch for a sharp curve ahead, God's laws help guide and direct us so that we have better, safer, and more fulfilling lives.  

But those laws are not the reason we are traveling.  My dad and I were not driving just to drive (though the scenery was beautiful!).  We had a destination.  We were heading somewhere.  Jacinda and I, with the recent addition of our daughter Stella, were starting a new chapter in our lives that meant we would have to leave California.  We weren't out driving for the sake of driving.  

In our journey of life the rules that God gives us are not the main thing.  They direct and instruct, but the main thing is the destination: God!

Verse 9 of this passage says, "My soul yearns for you in the night; my spirit within me earnestly seeks you."  The path that was made level, the path of the judgments of God are put in place to help us in our journey to God!

But we cannot forget that Christmas points out that we cannot get their on our own.  We need someone to make a way for us.  That is why Jesus came (John 14:6).

Jesus is the path.  Jesus coming down into our world, becoming a vulnerable child, growing into a man who died on a cross and rose from the grave is shocking because it proclaims that we are unable to travel the path on our own.  Someone had to make the way passable for us.  Jesus paved the way to the Father.  The cross is the path that we travel in faith.  The cross is God's judgment against sin.  It is where we receive forgiveness and a new life as a child of a loving Father.  

If we long to be in relationship with God, the only way to get there is through Jesus and His cross.  

Heavenly Father, help us to follow the path of faith that you have paved through the cross and resurrection of your Son, Jesus.  Give us a yearning and desire to trust Him and wait for His work in our lives.  Prepare the way of righteousness in our hearts this Advent.  In Jesus' holy name we pray.  Amen.

Advent Day 13: Victory Feast (Isaiah 25:6-9)

Isaiah 25 - Nathan Shields (lyrics at the bottom of the post)

Isaiah 25:6-9
On this mountain the Lord Almighty will prepare
  a feast of rich food for all peoples,
a banquet of aged wine—
  the best of meats and the finest of wines.
7 On this mountain he will destroy
  the shroud that enfolds all peoples,
the sheet that covers all nations;
8 he will swallow up death forever.
The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears
  from all faces;
he will remove his people’s disgrace
  from all the earth.
The Lord has spoken.
9 In that day they will say,
“Surely this is our God;
  we trusted in him, and he saved us.
This is the Lord, we trusted in him;
  let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation.”

God is going to prepare an incredible banquet.  It is a victory celebration.  The time of fear is gone.  Rejoice!  The great king has defeated the last enemy.

Who is this enemy?  Who causes all people to live in fear?  None other than death, himself.

While living in Port Elizabeth, South Africa my wife and I were riding in a taxi (a VW minibus) that was filled with 14 other passengers.  The taxis would stop a many different points along a fixed route picking people up and dropping people off.

This particular day we were crammed into the back of the taxi and they made a stop at a familiar street corner.  But that day there was a big commotion.  A man was yelling at a woman on the other side of the street.  Everyone was watching them and all the drivers stopped their cars to watch as the man began to hit and kick the woman.  We finally realized that he was trying to rip a baby out of her arms.

Why didn't anyone stop him?  Why didn't anyone step in and end the physical and verbal abuse?  Why didn't anyone protect that woman?

Fear.  Fear of being hurt.  Possibly even dying.

Of course many of us were in shock at what we were watching, but we were also afraid that what was happening to her was going to happen to us.  That not only might we get hurt, but what if he had a gun or a knife?!  That was a legitimate fear in that neighborhood.

I share that with fear now, too, because the temptation is to trivialize that moment as something that happened far away in a place that so many of us in the U.S.A. know very little about.  My fear is that often miss the physical, verbal and emotional abuse that is happening in our own homes, our own neighborhoods, and in our own cities?  Are we standing against it?  Why not?  Are we afraid?

Christmas is the promise that God is battling the forces of sin, death and the devil.  That God is fighting for us.  As the great hymn by Martin Luther says, "Did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be losing.  Were not the right man on our side, the man of God's own choosing."

God lays the victory feast because God wins the war against death.  God wipes away those bitter tears of mourning and suffering.

This passages finishes by saying, "Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us."

In Advent we wait for that day of feasting.  We wait with expectation for the day with no more violence and no more fear.  We wait with expectation for the day of the great victory when death is swallowed up.  And we know our king is powerful to win the war because he has already defeated death in his own body.  Jesus has done that no one else could do: rise again.  Death has no power over him.  That not only gives us hope, but it helps us to begin to stand up and fight back because we know that our destiny is that feast and that not even death can keep us from sharing in the glory of that day.

Lord of all life, we rejoice in your victory over death and praise you for the salvation that you offer to us.  Give us faith to trust that you will continue to conquer death in us and help us to stand against the suffering and evil of this world.  We pray this in the name of Jesus, our victorious king.  Amen.


Isaiah 25 - Nathan Shields

Oh my God

I will praise your perfect name

You forethought

of the world with perfect aim

Shelter me from the heat

you provide what I need

you’re my comfort in the storm

I hear the song of the ruthless

finally losing form

on this mountain top

we will be made new

he’ll lift the veil of

shadow that’s over you

death is only a curse

it’s a gift from the earth

He will take it from your hands

He will swallow it up

with his terrible love

I’ve no claim

to the cleansing of my own hands

I’ve been saved

by a God who became a man

and he has set out a feast

from the West to the East

made for any who would eat

He will wipe every tear
Our Salvation is here

(You can also listen via soundcloud by following this link: https://soundcloud.com/user-277881011/isaiah-25)