Advent Devotion by Gary Bowman

Matthew 28:18-20 “And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.” Amen

Matthew 10:42, “ And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward.”

Advent is a time to prepare our hearts and minds for the coming and birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. As I prepare this year, I think of all the missionary trips that I have gone on to bring God’s love and God’s word to the world. I have seen God’s love and God’s word make a difference in mission trips to the Philippines, Honduras, Nicaragua, Albania, Ethiopia and Israel. I have seen starving children fed. I have seen orphans who have been deserted and forgotten given a home, clothing and food. I have seen water and God’s word brought to Ethiopia.

This Advent season I am concerned about the people of Ethiopia. There is a famine in the horn of Africa, including Ethiopia. It is the worse catastrophe in the world at this time. People are dying by the thousands every day.

Our companion, Lutheran Church in Ethiopia is doing the best they can under the circumstances. Ethiopia is the only Christian nation in Africa. The Lutheran Church in Africa is the fastest growing Lutheran Church in the world. The problem is they have so little resources. Further, their success has brought attacks by the Muslims.

We have taken three trips to Ethiopia in the last three years. We have taken clothing, medicine, bibles and installed water pumps in Ethiopia. We are planning another trip in February 2012. The problem is that our current financial crisis makes it difficult for churches to donate to Ethiopia.

I have often at Christmas time, wondered why we have so much and others have so little. Why has God created these people and abandoned them? Christ comes at Christmas to the world. However, how does God come to these people in such great need. The answer is God did not abandon them. He left His people and His church to care for them. As we prepare for His coming Advent season, I pray that we remember it is our duty and our commission to be sure that our brothers in Ethiopia also prepare and share the coming of our Lord.

Prayer:

Lord, I thank you for the time to prepare for your birth. I pray that all of your people prepare their hearts and minds for your coming. May we also remember our brothers and sisters in Ethiopia. May we support them in this crisis and share God’s love as we prepare for Christmas. Amen.

Advent Devotion by Cindy Goke

Matthew 23:11-12:  “The greatest among you will be your servant. For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”

As we journey through the Advent season, we take time to pause in our busyness and ponder what it means to prepare the way for the coming of Christ.  How can our lives reflect the glory of God and His love as we look ahead to the celebration of Jesus’ arrival as a little baby? Reflecting on my growing up years on the island of Madagascar, off the coast of East Africa, I was blessed to be surrounded by Malagasy believers, who displayed tangibly what it means to be surrendered to Jesus Christ. Throughout the island, the Malagasy Christians have created communities known as spiritual care centers, or “tobys”. 

As a child, I remember traveling to a toby and witnessing the Malagasy spiritual care-givers, known as shepherds, ministering to the mentally ill or demon possessed family members or neighbors.  They would bring the sick into their homes and provide them with prayer, love, and care until the sick person was healed. What a vivid demonstration of personal sacrifice, commitment, humility, and God’s love!  I wonder how we, as individuals and as faith community, might more fully demonstrate this kind of humble service in our neighborhoods and communities here in Atlanta, Georgia? How might we choose to step out of our comfort zones into a messy world with a message of Advent hope? 

 Prayer:

Father, during this season of Advent, let us provide “tobys” of sorts for those around us who are in desperate need of Christ and His saving grace. Amen.

Advent Devotion by Lovesta Jones

Psalm 96: 1-4  “O sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth.  Sing to the Lord, bless his name; tell of his salvation from day to day.  Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among the peoples.  For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; he is to be revered above all gods.”

I remember Christmas in Africa as a child at Gbarnga United Methodist Elementary School in Liberia.  Ulysses and Margaret Gray came as missionaries from Houston to develop the school. They planted trees with plums and built the school.  They gave me a scholarship to go to the school at the age of ten in exchange for cooking in the school kitchen.  Every morning at age ten I made buckwheat pancakes and powdered eggs to feed all the hungry students, and I did this for three years.  I had to walk a mile and a half.  We had to go to say prayers every morning and then I had to cook breakfast before school.  I was so sleepy!  After school I had to go back to the kitchen to clean pots and pans every day.

It was hard, but it paid my tuition to the school as a little girl.  I sang in the school’s choir as a little girl, and I love singing in a choir ever since.  I especially remember singing at Christmas.  Every year at school they would teach us a different program for Christmas.  We would always have Joseph and Mary, though, and three Kings.  People from the U.S. sent gifts to the school children in Gbarnga.  The gifts arrived in big barrels, and they were given in response to what the children had said they wanted:  doll babies, shoes, clothes, everything!  It was the most amazing thing!

The bigger girls and the missionaries wrapped these gifts.  After the Christmas program each child was called up front and given a wrapped gift, and in it was what they had asked for.  We all thought Santa was really real!  This was on Christmas Eve.  After the program we would take our gift and go home with our parents.  I was from Zorzor, and Pastor Tim has visited my little village in 1982 after I left in 1980.  I was raised by Mr. & Mrs. George there.   So many people helped me go to school and believe in Jesus and learn to read and write and sing.  So many people sent us gifts.  God is good and to be praised!

Prayer:

God our Creator, we want to thank you for the Christ Child Jesus you sent into the world through the Virgin Mary in the form of a baby who came to save us from our sins.  Let us be reminded when we see a baby of the infant Christ who came into the world.  In Advent let us remember how he came to live among us, how the three kings came to worship him.  So heavenly Father, each time we see a young baby coming, let us remember that Christ Child and be hopeful.  And Lord, be with each and every adult that there will always be room for a Christ Child in our hearts, and may he bring healing and peace to the world.  Give our pastors strength to be vessels of your healing.  Thank you for all the churches.  We pray and thank you for the birth of the Christ Child, in Jesus’ name.  Amen.

Advent Devotion ~ELCA.org

John 8:12:  “Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world.  Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.”

As Christians, we use symbols to express visually the basic tenets of our faith and as reminders of the pilgrimage of our life in Christ. Symbols can have heightened meaning for us when associated with particular seasons of that journey. One such symbol is the Advent wreath.

The Advent wreath has its roots in the pre-Christian practices of northern Europe. People sought the return of the sun in the dark time of the year (at the winter solstice) by lighting candles and fires. As early as the Middle Ages, Christians used fire and light to represent Christ's coming into the world. Using this same symbolism, the Advent wreath developed a few centuries ago in Germany as a sign of the waiting and hopeful expectation of the return in glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. The wreath, a circle, came to represent the eternal victory over death through Jesus Christ. The evergreens were a sign of the faithfulness of God to God’s people, even in death, and the lighted candles were a reminder of the light of Christ brought into the world.

This symbolism can be just as strong for us today. As is the case with all symbols, they speak most loudly to remind us of God's promises of life when they are drawn directly out of our daily experience and environment. One should consider using only natural materials from God's creation when making an Advent wreath. Evergreens come in many varieties and may be treated with a flame retardant substance. Branches of holly, laurel, and other green shrubs, which retain their freshness longer than pine, may also be used. The circular shape, a symbol of eternal life, is most important. Using an alternative shape, such as a log, would diminish the meaning of the symbol, which is no longer a circle.

There is no one prescribed color for the candles, although several traditions are current. Four natural colored candles are always appropriate and symbolize the Light for which we wait. Four deep purple candles, a sign of the penitential nature sometimes attributed to the season, may be appropriate. Congregations that use blue as the liturgical color during Advent would be consistent to use blue candles. The older practice using a pink candle on the third Sunday in Advent is no longer consistent with the current lectionary.

Liturgical renewal in the last decades of this century has shifted the focus of these four weeks to one of hope and expectation of the coming of the Christ. This hope looks forward not only to celebrating the child in the manger, but even more to Christ’s coming in glory at the end of time–-a continuation of the eschatological emphasis of the last Sundays after Pentecost. Candles in rich royal blue are symbolic of this hope. Coincidentally, these two colors, purple and blue, have long been associated with the same ideas: the symbolic colors of royal blood and of longing; the natural colors of the dawn before the sun rises and the deep shades of midnight.

The size of the Advent wreath should be appropriate to the size of the worship space. Although the wreath should not draw attention away from the font, the table, and the ambo, it should be of sufficient size to make a strong statement about the meaning of the season. It may be hung or placed on a table or stand but it is never put on the altar.

Because the Advent wreath does not carry with it liturgical action or significance, its should be lit simply and unobtrusively, perhaps before the service when the other candles are lighted. It is also appropriate to light the candle after the Old Testament reading during the singing of the psalm or as a part of the entrance rite immediately following the entrance hymn. Blessings for the Advent wreath may be found in Sundays and Seasons. Some congregations like to accompany the lighting of the Advent wreath with an appropriate song. Consider using a different stanza of the same hymn, such as "Light One Candle to Watch for Messiah" (ELW 240), each week.

The Advent wreath is also appropriate for daily use in home devotions. The making of the wreath can be a family activity, using materials gathered from the yard or garden. Resources for use of the Advent wreath in the home, including suggestions for assembling a wreath, are among those listed below.

 

Prayer:

As the days grow darker, O God, our hearts can follow that same path.  Let your light scatter the darkness and illumine your church and us.  In the name of Jesus, the light of the world.  Amen.

Resources:

Briehl, Susan. Come Lord Jesus: Devotions for the Home. Advent/Christmas/Epiphany. Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress.

Stauffer, S. Anita. Altar Guild and Sacristy Handbook. Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, 2000. Explains seasonal colors and describes the use of the Advent wreath and Christmas crèche. ISBN: 0806638966.

Sundays and Seasons: Worship Planning Guide. Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, published annually.

Welcome Home: Scripture, Prayers, and Blessings for the Household. Years A, B, C. Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress.

Advent Devotion by Leith Fitch

Romans 8:3 “For what the law was powerless to do....God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering”

Matthew 19:29 "And everyone who has left houses or .....(family)....or fields for my sake will receive 100 times as much and will inherit eternal life.”

By age 38 I had accepted my sinful nature, despite efforts to convince myself and others that I was a" good person." So in the decade since then, have I made up for the errors of the previous 38 years? Or could I ever earn enough points to justify me spending ETERNITY in Heaven? No, and no. It was explained to me that no human could, so God sent his sinless Son to earth to die and pay MY sin debt!

I went to Nicaragua for the first time on the 2004 Redeemer Medical Mission trip feeling full of this Good News and eager to share it with those who "needed me" to bring it to them. Then I met a couple hundred beautiful brown eyed / brittle haired children.

Yet many spoke of God's love, and often it was the Nicaraguans witnessing to us! One told me he knew God was real and He loved him because He had answered his prayers to send someone (us!?!) to care for them. I have gone on every mission trip since then in part because I need their faith example way more than they need the medicine or school supplies.

Prayer:

Father, thank you for your Son, whose birth we soon celebrate, and for the redemption His life brought within the reach of me and all people.  Rekindle Your Spirit in our clay vessels so the light of Your love can shine through us to our neighbors on this and other continents. Amen

Advent Devotion ~Unknown Author

Revelation 7:11-12 “And all the angels stood round about the throne, and about the elders and the four beasts, and fell before the throne on their faces, and worshiped God, Saying, Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honor, and power, and might, be unto our God forever and ever. Amen.”

I've been reading about thanksgiving, and have recently come across some challenging examples of this from other cultures, that I want to share.

In Africa, there are several tribes that have remarkable ways of expressing their gratitude. In East Africa, the Masai tribe expresses thanks by placing their foreheads on the ground and saying, "My head is in the dirt." Another African Tribe communicates gratitude by sitting for a long time in front of the hut of the individual whom they want to thank, saying, "I sit on the ground before you."

These Africans understand that a core attitude of thanksgiving is humility, and their way of expressing it clearly represents that attitude. Our passage in Revelation reflects the same thing: angels, elders, and living creatures all fall on their faces in humility and gratitude to God for who He is.

I see a deep connection between thanksgiving and humility which, perhaps, is often overlooked. Thankful people recognize their need, and the generosity and beneficence of the Giver, and every truly grateful person is humbled by the amazing gifts he's received from God. So I see that true humility will always be accompanied by gratitude, and also, that those who are truly grateful will be growing in the beautiful characteristic of humility. May it be so for us.

Prayer: 

Father, we have so much for which to be thankful.  Give us hearts of gratitude to realize that all we have and all we are come from your gracious hand alone, O God.  May we remember that the greatest blessing is not an abundant table all to ourselves but rather in giving ourselves away.  Amen.

(shared on www.worthydevotions.com on 1/29/09)

Advent Devotion by Carol Swisher

Matthew 25:34-37 “Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me.”

I had always wanted to do a mission trip, but the time never availed itself due to my career and raising my family.  I  retired, but I felt empty. I knew I was seeking more meaning in my life.  I saw in the bulletin an  opportunity  to travel  through the Redeemer Nicaragua medical mission team and I accepted. I was apprehensive about how I was to serve, but remember singing that favorite hymn “Here I am Lord” and as always, he provided me with my first glimpse of what a mission field would look like! Before my eyes were hundreds of people who had walked miles and waited in the sun for hours to just see our team for care.  Now, having made seven trips to Nicaragua, I continue to be asked “What can you do to  make a difference in  such a short time with people who have so many needs?”My reply is, “It’s not about me or the sacrifice of going and doing.  It’s something with a much bigger meaning.” It is God’s command to seek and serve.  He promises to give us meaning, lift us up and allow us to see  a much bigger picture of the world he created for all of us to give and share. I have gets me into places most people never visit. In serving, I am able to be  part of their community,  bringing  touch, prayer, and hope.  They humble me by their gratitude. I remember seeing a 2 year old child who had hydrocephalus and we had no possibility for getting the child  treatment, as it would mean traveling 10 hours .The mother wept as we held this child and prayed.  It is difficult to see so many things that are needed, but we attempt to restore faith, give encouragement and peace. This year we were able to arrange  for treatment of a severe cardiac  problem by a surgeon in Honduras for an 8 year old  boy at our Christian Academy of Los Torres school. We ask each person that we ministered to if they would like prayer and no one denied the request-I can’t imagine how that response would be here in the U.S. , but those who have so little know the meaning of prayer. Giving grows greatness.  When I live beyond myself, I return humbled, thankful for all God has given me and eager to go again.  I am overwhelmed by the closeness from our mission team member’s, who love and  nurture me, and help to guide me in Christian love. I am older than the group who goes, but this mission trip provides a very supportive Christian community for those who dare to serve. It isn’t about age, it is about willingness to serve. The reward is always more than is given.

Prayer:

Dear Lord, during this Advent season, helps up to open our hearts and minds to way’s we can proclaim your word and love.  Allow us to not make it complicated, but seek out truth and simplicity to all those in need of care and hearing your promise. Allow us to continue to grow in passion and spirit! Amen.

Advent Devotion by Isaac Smith

Philippians 2:1-4 “If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose…Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.”

Before serving as an ELCA missionary last year in Montevideo, Uruguay, it was easy to distance myself from the problems of other people.  Though I often volunteered within the community, there was always a clear distinction in my mind between my own burdens and those that belonged to others.

This all changed when I became part of an ELCA program called Young Adults in Global Mission.  ELCA Global Mission is centered around the idea of accompaniment, or walking together with fellow faith communities to gain a deeper understanding of what binds us together.  My experience living and working abroad in Uruguay helped me to connect faces with a far-removed concept of a far-away people.  In those around me I saw people I knew, past teachers, pastors, friends, and family.  I witnessed the great work they were doing on the other side of the world and came to know firsthand that there are Christians in South America fighting the same problems facing us at home.  For the first time I realized that we are not alone in our struggle against human suffering, and this realization was strangely comforting. Though we bear a heavy burden, there is still hope because we all shoulder it together as a global community united in Christ. 

 

Isaac Smith, age 23 (Pastor Tim & Wendy’s son)

Prayer:

Thank you, God, for loving us. 

Help us to love each other. Amen.

Advent Devotion by Paul Hermann

We begin in Central and South America...

Rays of Hope in Managua, Nicaragua:

“The Christian Academy of Las Torres”

Micah 6:8 “and what does the Lord Require of You? To Do Justice, to Love Mercy and Walk Humbly with your God.”

In the middle of the most dreadful barrio in Managua, the capital city of Nicaragua, a struggling Christian school, is filled with wide-eyed, eager young children. Their dedicated teachers, offering a few hundred children of the Las Torres barrio daily instruction, time to play, and faith filled worship.

The Christian Academy of Las Torres gives Joy and Hope to these children.

Walk up to the blue walls and through the iron gate that protects the school from its surroundings and you walk past the most squalid living conditions anywhere in the world: open fires to cook on, open sewers to avoid.

At night gangs of armed youths steal anything of value they can grab or extort; Coca-Cola is delivered to the neighborhood snack bar in armed trucks!

Yet the children of Las Torres show up in the whitest shirts and blouses, with the widest most spontaneous smiles. They scamper over steps inlaid with colorful native tiles and the words: “Come Share Life”, a gift from Redeemer sisters and brothers.

Jeremiah 29:11 “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 hope and a future.”

Sponsors and Ambassadors from Redeemer have their hand prints all over Nicaragua, not just in Las Torres, for it is one of the poorest countries in all of the Americas.

Our missions deliver needed medical supplies and treatment to our Nicaraguan friends from the Pacific to the Atlantic coasts, in the city and countryside.

In Leon and Manchester, on the shores of Lake Managua – a school sponsored by our friends at the Methodist Church of Smyrna – you have built desks, lockers, established a library, built book shelves, shored up crumbling walls, painted walls and murals, and patched leaking roofs.

You have brought our Nicaraguan friends Bibles, picture books as well as chalk and school supplies and sports equipment. Perhaps most importantly, you have brought fellowship and hope. Without hope, these young children will most surely be condemned to lives of grinding poverty and despair. As one of my heroes the late Karl Menninger expressed it, “First comes Faith, then Hope. So that drop by drop and little by little, a life instilled with hope becomes more joyous and purposeful.”

Galatians 5:5 “By faith we eagerly await, through the spirit, the righteousness for which we hope.”

Albert Einstein wrote: “When you do nothing, you feel overwhelmed and powerless. But when you are involved you feel the sense of hope and accomplishment that comes from knowing that you are working to make things better.”

Prayer:

Dear Lord, Help me to be ever mindful of the needs of others. Help me to cultivate hope and insure justice for all God’s children. With God’s race help me to walk humbly and confidently so that my life of compassionate service glorifies my Father in Heaven. Amen.

Welcome to Advent at Redeemer...

Advent, like Lent, is a penitential season—a season of restraint, looking forward, looking inward, and renewed commitment to spiritual discipline.  Unlike Lent, however, Advent and thus its penitential opportunity are literally overrun and co-opted by the cultural and consumerist “feel good” spirit of Christmas.  For the church, Christmas begins after sundown on December 24 and ends on January 5, the 12^th day, but for the culture, Christmas begins before Halloween in stores and certainly by Thanksgiving on television and in our homes.

We’re providing you with these daily devotions, written with only a few exceptions, by Redeemer members and affiliates.  Each week prepares us for the Global Theme which will follow at Redeemer on the upcoming Sunday.  We begin one week before Advent’s official start with that in mind.  We hope you’ll take the time, make the time, in this wonderful season of hope, to draw closer to Christ through these scriptures, reflections, and devotions and to draw closer to some of your Redeemer family in the process.   Make sure to spend some time in our global village and take advantage of the many opportunities there to support our brothers and sisters in Christ all over the world as a part of your Advent discipline.  A blessed Advent to you.

Pastor Tim Smith

Sheepishness | Devotion by Pastor Tim Smith

Ezekiel 34: 11-15

34:11 For thus says the Lord GOD: I myself will search for my sheep, and will seek them out.
34:12 As shepherds seek out their flocks when they are among their scattered sheep, so I will seek out my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places to which they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness. 34:13 I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land; and I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the watercourses, and in all the inhabited parts of the land. 34:14 I will feed them with good pasture, and the mountain heights of Israel shall be their pasture; there they shall lie down in good grazing land, and they shall feed on rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. 34:15 I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I will make them lie down, says the Lord GOD.

Shepherd imagery abounds in both the Old and New Testaments…and why not?  This was such a common and necessary part of life in the ancient world.  Such is still true today in many more subsistence economies of the world—a shepherd boy or girl watching over the family’s flock, their livelihood and source of milk, cheese, wool, and meat.

The whole shepherding theme was highly romanticized for me as a Sunday School boy.  Sheep were so sweet, so innocent.  I didn’t realize until jogging through the battlefield at Gettysburg (where I was at the Lutheran Seminary) how disgusting sheep really are!  After a fall rain, the smell REALLY bad!  They’re also not very smart.  They really do follow blindly!  The don’t have sharp teeth, they can’t run fast, they can’t really fight or defend themselves.  They are totally helpless and vulnerable.  A sheep is only as viable as its good shepherd.

In this week’s Christ the King Sunday (now called “Reign of Christ” officially to avoid sexist language) texts, we have this passage from Ezekiel that reminds us of the 23^rd Psalm and of the prophecies of Isaiah (“he shall feed his flock like a shepherd”).  When Israel realizes in exile that all they have held dear—their king, their temple, their land—have all been destroyed, they also realize that they are completely dependent on a good shepherd to restore, guide, and protect them.  They will lie down and find rest, not worried about the wolf or the thief.  God, the Lord, is their shepherd.

Ezekiel’s comforting words quickly morph into judgment.  The shepherd will separate the good sheep from the bad.  Jesus’ parable in Matthew about the sheep and the goats echoes this not of judgment.  So which is it?  Comfort or judgment?  Hope or fear?  The answer is both.  The ancient prophets, and later Jesus, comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.  Christ, the good shepherd, will come again as King to judge, and the basis of that judgment, says Jesus in Matthew, is how we respond to “the least of these.”  In them we meet and serve (or not) Jesus himself.  

PRAY:  Gracious God, I am but a helpless, pitiful, defenseless, and stinky sheep.  Though I would rather believe otherwise, I wouldn’t last through the night apart from your guidance and protection.  Help me to be one of the good sheep, so grateful for all your mercy that I do my best today to serve you.  Remind me that you’re as close as someone who’s really struggling, the least of these.  Even as you meet me in your word and at your altar, give me the grace to meet you in these vulnerable and powerless ones. Amen.      

 Pastor Tim