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Reflections for Advent and the Christmas Season

Reflections


Reflections for Advent and the Christmas Season

As we make ourselves ready for Christmas, do we find times to make ourselves ready for the coming of Jesus? Every Christmas, we, as Christians, are called to remember the roots of our faith.

While finding meaning and joy in the midst of Christmas commercialism is sometimes difficult, there are things we can do. By setting aside time to reflect and worship together, we can prepare our hearts for the coming of Jesus.

 

Using These Reflections & Celebrations

The resources provided here are meant to offer individuals, families and other small groups a way to remember the reason we celebrate this holy season. The reflections begin the first week of Advent and follow through the Feast of Epiphany.

Before Advent begins, you will need to make an Advent wreath. Find a book with instructions for making an Advent wreath. Or follow these simple directions. Take a large, flat shallow bowl (at least 9 inches in diameter) and fill it with sand or coarse salt. Place four purple candles around the edge of the bowl. Place a large white candle in the center. Stick the candles down into the sand or salt so that they stand securely in place. Make a circle of evergreens and place them around the bowl.

You will also need a manger scene, a Bible and matches. Light one purple candle the week of Advent I; two the week of Advent II, etc. Light all five beginning on Christmas Eve.

Set aside time each week to worship, perhaps before or after a meal on Sundays or another day of the week. Invite those who may be alone to join in your worship.

Look ahead at the family calendar. Choose the dates to use the two celebrations.

Depending on the ages of those in your group, adults may want to read the biblical reflections beforehand. The hymn could be read or sung several times.

Incorporate parts or all of the Advent-Christmas calendar into worship time, especially as a discussion starter.

Gather around the Advent wreath. Take turns reading, lighting the candles, praying, singing and sharing feelings and ideas.

 

About the Reflections' Authors

About the authors - Ronald J. "Ron" Sider , Ph.D., Yale, is professor of theology at Eastern Seminary, corresponding editor of Christianity Today, President of Evangelicals for Social Action (which includes Prism and Creation Care Magazines and the Generous Christians Campaign) and has published more than 20 books, including the classic Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger. Ron's colleague and co-author Diane Vescovi, B.A., University of Maryland, studies at Eastern Seminary in the Masters of Theology program.

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Reflections

by "Ron" Sider and Diane Vescovi

Advent I

Isaiah 64:1-9
Psalm 80:1-7, 17-19
I Cor 1:3-9
Mark 13:24-37

"Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name."

Whether spoken in the assembly, whispered in the dark of night, or shared with a small group of brothers and sisters, this prayer brings to mind both our closeness to God and our great distance from God - in heaven, holy, Almighty, magnificent beyond comparison. God is also our Father.

The Scripture readings this week also express that near and far experience. At Christmas, we celebrate the birth of a babe and look forward to his return in power and glory at the end of the age. On the surface, the first entrance of eternal Yahweh into time might not strike us as dramatic and earth shaking. But we know that Christ's birth was the beginning of a series of momentous acts which set in motion the transformation of this present world order. It was the intersection of time and eternity.

Is it really any wonder that we struggle to celebrate Christmas in a way that bears witness to the greatness of the event? As Isaiah 64:6 says, "All our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment." How can we possibly celebrate in a way that matches the worthiness of the celebrated one? "For he's a jolly good fellow" is about the size of our best efforts - what superficiality in comparison to the reality of the glory of the Only-begotten One. Yet God's mercy is all-encompassing and makes up for our lack: "...Yahweh, you are our Father... and all of us are the work of your hands." (Is. 64:8)

Once while riding the subway in London, I came to the end of the line without having reached my stop. There I was. And there I sat, dazed. The man sitting across from me spoke up in an amiably, ironically English way and said, "You look puzzled, love." My feeling was that of one whose best intentions went awry. I had somehow gotten on the wrong train. It's a disorienting feeling and a bit frightening. The farthest thing from God's heart for us to experience at Christmas is fear because our best attempts to honor Jesus have hardly approached their goal.

As we enter this season of expectation, it might be good to keep in mind the near and far experience of our relationship with God. On the one hand, we know God is awesome holiness; on the other, God is a Babe cradled in a mother's arms. There we know we are most unworthy, but here we wait with eager anticipation. At Christmas, could a great deal of the rush and bewilderment be our attempt to ignore feelings of painful inadequacy? Instead we should celebrate this decisive moment when God breaks into history to demonstrate love and set things right.

Let's remember that the intersection of time and eternity that brings us home to our Father is a breath taking reality, that overcomes the fear in our hearts - then we will be better prepared to bring God's nearness to others this Christmas. Our Father will give the true joy for us to give to them.

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Advent II

Isaiah 40:1-11
Psalm 85:1-2, 8-13
2 Peter 3:8-15a
Mark 1:1-8

"...your kingdom come."

Jesus was God's will embodied in the flesh, God's reign come to earth, God's rule demonstrated and fulfilled. Abraham's and Sarah's descendants had long carried with them the promise of Messiah's coming as they anticipated the Day of Yahweh, Israel's ultimate deliverance from bondage to its enemies.

After the Israelites returned in great numbers from their captivity in Babylon, they expected God to soon restore the nation as it had been under David in the golden years. They rebuilt the walls in Jerusalem and rededicated themselves to Yahweh, and then they asked, "Why isn't Messiah coming? When will the promised day arrive?" Isaiah had written, "A voice is calling, clear the way for the Lord in the wilderness; make smooth in the desert a highway for our God." (40:3) And John the Baptist showed up over 500 years later!

If the people who lived long before the days of supersonic jets and space travel were impatient for the Kingdom to come, how much more do God's seeming delays unnerve us in our fast-paced day and age. On the eve of the new millennium, we long for the abiding peace and lasting reconciliation of God in our lives, but too often we lack the patience to do things God's way and wait for God's wholeness. Instead we look for quick, cheap substitutes. We hate our enemies and grasp for happiness by any quick means.

In our society in particular, we tend to be very results oriented. "Go-to" and "Can do" states of mind are usually rewarded. We focus on quick results, but God consistently focuses on the long term. Second Peter 3:8-12 speaks of "looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God," for "according to his promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells." In God's time, all things will be set right. And even the "delay," as these verses remind us, is because God is "not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance."

When I was a child, my oldest sister went through an exceptionally difficult time entering adulthood, being unprepared for the harsh world outside our family enclave. I have a recollection from that time: I remember a bible on her bed stand. It was a great comfort to me as a 6 or 7 year-old looking on at her troubles, because it represented something solid and good in a time when it seemed that dark and evil might overwhelm someone I loved dearly.

Christ-centered celebrations are like that bible on the bed stand for those who experience fear and turmoil in the world. Last Christmas, a church near my house had a live creche where I stopped one day to observe the goings on of some farm animals. A woman beside me turned and said, "Every day should be this peaceful." There was an abiding peace as we stood in the churchyard, before that humble setting depicting the scene of our Lord's birth, because it enabled us to live in the truth that the Messiah has come and-in God's time-God's will shall be done on earth as it is in heaven.

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Advent III

Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11
Psalm 126 or Luke 1:47-55
1 Thes 5:16-24
John 1:6-8, 19-28

"...your will be done, on earth as in heaven."

Jesus came to preach good news to the poor, to heal the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to captives. These were dramatic, mighty acts of God in history. Excitement and high drama surround John the Baptist's proclamation about the greatness of the One to whom he pointed. It was no ordinary day when the true light came into the world.

Our days are mostly ordinary. We labor to earn a daily wage and work hard to keep our families and communities in good shape and working order. We work. We pray. Day in and day out, we try to manage our lives and fulfill our responsibilities to God and one another. Sometimes we feel inspired, but many times we basically fall in line and accomplish routine tasks.

Christmas breaks into these days of monotonous routine as exciting, high drama. We rejoice and celebrate the greatness of the light that came into the world, knowing that Jesus came to bring change-ultimate, absolute change. He was turning things around from darkness to light, death to life, failure to victory. Isaiah 61 says much about these turnings: a garland instead of ashes, oil of gladness instead of mourning, and praise instead of fainting-all newness to replace endings.

A few years ago, I had an opportunity to visit inmates at the prison in Attica, New York, a maximum security facility. Nowhere is boredom and routine more pervasive than in prison. But the inmates I met were different, because they had received the light that came into the world in the midst of probably their darkest days. During one visit a young man in our group shared the booklet "My Heart Christ's Home" with the guys. I was amazed at how candidly they spoke of their desire to be pleasing to God in every way, and more amazing yet was how much they wanted other inmates to know the freedom and joy that they experienced in Christ. I was humbled by the transformation Christ had brought into their lives.

Christmas can lift us above the boredom of daily routine. Often our desire to answer Jesus' call to care for the poor, heal the broken hearted and proclaim liberty to captives degenerates into mechanized routine or even neglect. As Jesus comes to our ordinary lives, we find new strength for patience, kindness, goodness, self-control, to see God's will done on earth as it is in heaven.

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Advent IV

2 Samuel 7:1-11, 16
Luke 1:47-55 or Psalm 89:1-4, 19-26
Romans 16:25-27
Luke 1:26-38

"...Give us today our daily bread."

Jesus was born in Bethlehem, a name that means "house of bread," and a fitting destination for the gift of life and lavish love that God delivered there. To bring the gift at the right time, God found willing servants throughout the generations of Israel who would herald the reign that was to come.

Psalm 89 is a song that celebrates God's steadfast love and faithfulness to all generations. Likewise, as recounted in 2 Samuel, King David received that very assurance. God spoke to him through the prophet Nathan to promise David that his "house and kingdom [would] be made sure forever" and his "throne...established forever." (2 Sam. 7:16) Although David did not, could not, imagine how this would come about, God's promise was sure, and so Jesus was "descended from David according to the flesh." (Rom. 1:3)

God lavishes love on willing servants. What is required is the "Amen" of faith. So be it. Let it be done according to God's will. Mary conceived Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit, and as in the case of David the shepherd boy, she was given an exalted purpose in spite of humble origins. Joseph also had to be amazingly strengthened to fulfill the plan and purpose of God unwaveringly; he was a faithful servant.

As God found servants in Mary and Joseph, and many before them, God also looked forward to the day when we would be able to be servants after the model of Jesus. Not only is our perfect example found in Christ, but he also sets up his rulership in our hearts. Jesus fulfilled all of God's will so that we might be faithful, too, because we have come to know the Servant of servants.

You can no doubt think of people in your own life who exemplify the servant heart that has always characterized God's faithful. A few years back, I ran into my fourth grade teacher when I was leaving a church near to my childhood home. I had not known that she was a Christian, but I might have, as I remembered her being exceptional in her care for us students and in the energy with which she brought us along in the learning process. But what most impressed me were her questions when we met those many years later. She didn't ask me about what happened to the brightest kids in the class. She wanted to know about that boy (whose name she remembered after 25 years!) who was difficult - how did he do? And the girl who was withdrawn and socially inept - did she eventually come out of her shell?

I could hear Jesus' voice in my teacher's recollections. As I think of it again, I am reminded of the tenderness of Jesus' heart. A return to Bethlehem is also a good reminder. May it keep us in the knowledge of God's steadfast love, so that the "Amen" of faith is ready in our hearts and spoken in confident earnestness.

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Christmas Eve

Isaiah 9:2-7
Psalm 96
Titus2:11-14
Luke2:1-14

"...Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us."

 

Jesus was born in humble circumstances in order to become our righteousness, to set right what is out of joint in the world. Isaiah says there will be no end to the increase of God's government, no end of God's goodness where so much evil has prevailed. God never grows tired of bringing that righteousness and salvation to us, and angels continually herald the saving event. Later the same Good News is proclaimed when Jesus said, "there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents." (Luke 15:10)

The angels sang in chorus on the night of Christ's birth: "Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace among those whom God favors." We dare not, however, allow the wonder and glory of the angels to cause us to overlook the humble, indeed, despised status of their listeners. The angels did not sing for Herod the king or a top Roman official. Instead they came to lowly shepherds. Religious people of that day despised shepherds because their work kept them from participating in the religious activities of their communities, but God used them as special witnesses to the Savior's birth.

God likes to turn our expectations on their head. Sometimes God uses angels. But frequently, too, God uses humble folks on the margins of society to be special messengers. Unlearned shepherds. Mary. Joseph.

Margie was one such unlikely messenger for me. She was crippled in her early 40's by multiple strokes and left unable to speak, so she communicated by using an alphabet board to spell out words. Abandoned by her husband and son who couldn't bear with the strain and trouble her illness brought upon their family, her life was in a shambles. Despite this she had forgiven them and experienced the freedom of that release. With an unearthly light in her eyes, she was telling me that God had come and had set up a new reign of peace in her life. During that same time she moved into a place called "Liberty Village" (how fitting!), where she had an apartment living in community and received needed assistance.

Messengers like Margie are found on the margins of society, where hope had failed until God graciously entered their rejected lives. If we listen to people on the margins - the poor, the despised, the oppressed - we too may hear God speaking.

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First Sunday After Christmas

Isaiah 61:10 - 62:3
Psalm 148
Galatians 4:4-7
Luke 2:22-40

"...Save us from the time of trial."

Jesus shows us the beauty of God's salvation by coming to earth. Isaiah describes that beauty as being like a bridegroom decked out with a garland, or a bride adorned with jewels (61:10). In Psalm 148 the praise is unending for the God who saves. All of creation is included in ever widening circles, reaching heaven and earth, to join in the hymn of praise.

At the beginning of this advent season, we reflected on our experience of God as both near and far and allowed ourselves to feel the pain of how our being broken and inadequate seems to keep us from experiencing God's nearness. And we were comforted by the way God's nearness in Christ and the season's announcement of God's lavish love brings joy and hope to our hearts.

As we turn to the new year, we can ask God to mirror in our lives the beauty Jesus has shown. We need only to enter into the new expectations that turn the old ones on end. Anna and Simeon entered into new expectations when Mary and Joseph brought Jesus to be presented to the Lord in the temple. Luke writes of Simeon that he "looked for the consolation of Israel" (Luke 2:25) and of Anna that she spoke of Jesus to "all those who were looking for the redemption of Israel."

At the end of the warm season, a late bloom appears on rose bushes that is wistfully called the "last rose of summer." And it is usually the most glorious of all. It is a matured bloom that excels its predecessors of the season; in color and fullness it is unequaled. The last rose is reminiscent of the fullness of time by which God determined the Messiah's arrival. It calls to mind the beauty of salvation that, in Jesus, ended one era and began another; His birth signaled an awesome beginning.

Wonderfully, we enter into what God is doing and can start the year with our eyes focused on new things God has in store for us, redemptive things. Like Anna and Simeon, we can rejoice in the salvation that reaches through many sorrows. And when temptation and despair weigh us down, we can ask God for the strength to imitate the constancy of Simeon and Anna who waited long in the temple, praying for God's salvation.

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Epiphany

Isaiah 60:1-6
Psalm 72:1-7, 10-14
Ephesians 3:1-12
Matthew 2:1-12

"...Deliver us from evil."

Even from the beginning of his life, Jesus encountered the powers of evil. The star over Bethlehem was an invitation to the magi to go pay homage to the king of the Jews, but to Herod it signaled his own demise; in his time, such signs were understood as indicators that a new ruler would displace the one in power.

Herod did not succeed, of course, in stamping out his "rival," although in his fear he planned great evil. God's power, demonstrated in an infant, seems weak by comparison to Herod's. But as theologian Karl Barth remarked, "all these [worldly] powers...are laid at the feet of the power of God." Our human tendency is to overestimate powers opposed to God because in their visibility they appear more real. However, God's protection of Jesus in the face of Herod's evil strength reminds us where true power lies.

The magi who visited Jesus were astrologers who have been called "wise." They were given understanding that it was a true king to whom they brought their costly gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh; did God open their eyes even to recognize that the Creator of the heavens and the earth, of the sun, the moon, and the stars was before them? They obeyed, when in a dream, God warned that they should not return to Herod. The popular term "wise" fits after all, for wisdom consists in knowing the One who deserves all worship and obedience.

As we have come to Bethlehem, recalling Jesus' birth throughout this Christmas season, our awareness has been heightened to recognize the power of God resident in the humility of Christ. For a moment, think again of God's entering into our sphere of existence to experience every vulnerability we ourselves endure. Pause for a while at that intersection of time and eternity. Then think of the way he suffered a humiliating death to make possible God's very presence in our lives. Now the infant is very near... in our hearts.

The apostle Paul wrote to the Romans, "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?... No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us." (Rom. 8:35 and 37) Having eyes of faith, may we never doubt that the God who saves us in love is good and wonderful - and very near - and is great and awesome and far superior to anything or anyone we know.

"For yours is the kingdom, the power and the glory now and forever. Amen."

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