Advent Devotional: Love

“The hardest spiritual work in the world is to love the neighbor as the self – to encounter another human being not as someone you can use, change, fix, help, save, enroll, convince or control, but simply as someone who can spring you from the prison of yourself, if you will allow it.”

– Barbara Brown Taylor

The wait for Christmas is almost over. “Love”- what better word to have this last Sunday of Advent? The English Standard Version of the Bible uses the word “love” 684 times. To complicate our relationship with love, it is said that the English language has only one word for love. In reality, we actually have many different words, they all just seem to end up meaning “love”. There is familial love, God’s love, romantic love, there is even the brotherly love between brothers and sisters in the church.

“Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.”

1 Corinthians 13:4-8a, ESV

Most of us have heard this beautiful passage. If you haven’t, you should take in a wedding; they can be fun. Hearing 1 Corinthians at a wedding is setting the bar pretty high for the participants as well as those in attendance. Hearing it also gives us the perfect groundwork to help us achieve what Jesus called the most important commandment. 

Jesus said,

“Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.”

Matthew 22:37-29, KJV

As we look toward Christmas and the coming new year, let’s try to realize that what Paul said to the Corinthians so many years ago is as viable now as it was then. It seems as though loving our neighbor as ourselves starts with being patient and kind, then all we have to do is try not to be rude or arrogant. There is of course more, but at this time of year I also think a smile is a great start. I am going to try.

Merry Christmas,
Ken

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If you are looking for a simple daily practice this season, you can download Kate Bowler's Bless This Advent devotional here.

Advent Devotional: Joy

“For it is good to be children sometimes, and never better than at Christmas, when its mighty Founder was a child himself.”

– Charles Dickens

We are now halfway through Advent; as a child, my anticipation was just beginning to reach a fever pitch. Christmas is right around the corner and we have now lit two of the candles on our Advent wreath. This week our candle is pink in color and “joy” is how we should be centered. Biblically, joy has us, again, looking to the future.

We often mistake “joy” for simple excitement and happiness. The Joy of Advent is much deeper than the often fleeting nature of happiness. This Joy is based on the solid foundation of God’s promises and gifts. The early disciples must have been full of God’s joy. They had witnessed so much. No matter how Paul was treated by those he was converting, he continued on. Paul realized that his earthly discomforts were temporary and would ultimately be replaced by the promises that Jesus has given us.

Paul’s epistle to the Philippians encapsulates the joy that marks our faith in God’s eternal love and mercy. Philippians 4:4 says, “Rejoice in the Lord always. I shall say it again: rejoice.” Our belief in Jesus and the knowledge that that means eternal life for us should make it easy to have joy knowing that this life is but part of the journey that leads us to paradise.

"Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.

In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.

And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.

And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know."

John 14:1-4 KJV

Be joyful in this Holiday season. Christ is with us!

Ken

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If you are looking for a simple daily practice this season, you can download Kate Bowler's Bless This Advent devotional here.

Advent Devotional: Peace

"Guide us gently and firmly toward each other,
Toward peace."

– Rabbi Sheila Weinberg

By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things. And those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit.

Galatians 5:22-25 NRSV

We are now in the second week of Advent waiting for the coming of our savior, Jesus Christ. The second Sunday is associated with peace. Depending on your age, peace can mean many things, but “the absence of war” is what often comes to mind. The word peace is used around 450 times in the King James Bible. It is used many different ways, for many purposes. Galatians 5:22 states that “peace” is the fruit of the Holy Spirit. In addition to being a part of the fruits of the Holy Spirit, peace in the Bible is not only the absence of war, but is also used to mean completeness. In Hebrew, peace is often translated as Shalom, which, in fact, means completeness. Shalom comes from the word Shalam, which stands for making something whole or righting the wrongs that we have committed. So, it seems as though the Bible wants us to first pursue wholeness and remember, Christians cannot truly be “whole” without Jesus.

Matthew 5:9 has Jesus praising the “peacemakers”, for they will be the children of God. Our military is often thought of as “peace keepers”; Jesus wants us to be “peace makers”. They are close, but very different. Peacekeepers make boundaries to push others away. Peacemakers go out in an attempt at minimizing conflict. Peacemakers go out to cultivate respectful and loving interactions that make a safe space for restoration and health.

When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain, and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. And he began to speak and taught them, saying: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you."

Matthew 5:1-11 NRSV

How often do we, in our daily life, go out during a personal conflict and attempt to understand the needs of the individual with whom we are in conflict? That’s not what most of us normally do. It is usually easier to overwhelm and subdue our enemy, rather than open our hearts. I hope that we can all attempt to be the “children of God” we should be. Let our “peace”, be a peace of wholeness and love. If we all make an attempt to break down the walls that we have built for our personal protection and actively attempt to be the peacemakers that Jesus wants us to be, it could be a beautiful start during this wonderful season.

May peace be with you,
Ken

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If you are looking for a simple daily practice this season, you can download Kate Bowler's Bless This Advent devotional here.

Advent Devotional: Hope

"God, these are darkening days, with little hope in sight. Help us in our fear and exhaustion. Anchor us in hope."

– Kate Bowler

'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.'

Jeremiah 29:11

During children’s time in church I once asked what they thought “hope” was. His answer was “faith”. Well, that sounds pretty accurate, but, perhaps biblically, “hope” is more accurately the part of faith that deals with the future.

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Hebrews 11:1

Our world is a difficult place. It is almost impossible to turn on any media source and not be fearful of our future.  How is that some people are able have joy in these arduous times? I would say, “hope”.  How can some seem to grow stronger through personal adversity? Again, “hope.”  We all need hope to get through these trying times. To know what God has for us is our salvation.

So I finish up this Devotion on hope by asking that we all, "be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.”

Romans 12:12

In hope,
Ken

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You can sign up here to join our mailing list to have these devotionals arrive to your inbox each Monday morning during Advent.

If you are looking for a simple daily practice this season, you can download Kate Bowler's Bless This Advent devotional here.