Daily Devotions

As soon as they left the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told him about her at once. He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them.  That evening, at sundown, they brought to him all who were sick or possessed with demons. And the whole city was gathered around the door. And he cured many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him.  Mark 1:29-34

Entering the gospel of Mark is like riding a roller coaster…except for the part where it starts out really slowly with lots of anticipation.  Mark has no room for that.  Mark is all about the urgency of the good news of Jesus.  There is a certain breathlessness to Mark’s story that I find compelling.

Jesus teaches and immediately heals.  His teaching and his healing belong together. 

For much of my life I was taught to reduce everything about Jesus to a little phrase – “Jesus forgives our sins.”  I was taught (don’t ask me how, I don’t remember anyone sitting me down and drilling this into my head) that salvation could fundamentally be boiled down to the forgiveness of my sins based on my belief in Jesus so that my name could be added to the Book of Life and I could go to heaven when I died and everyone that didn’t believe in Jesus therefore was consigned to spend eternity in hell which would be awful but I’d be in heaven which would be great so God would work out a way that I could forget about everyone else in hell so that nothing could get in the way of me enjoying eternity in heaven.  On streets made of gold.

It was a compelling story for me as a teenager.  Basically self-centered, I wanted good stuff for myself and I worried about ending up with bad stuff.  If accepting Jesus as my personal Lord and Savior could keep me out of the fires of hell then I accepted Jesus at every available opportunity.  So I did.  Every time I could.  But it never seemed to take.  It never made much of a difference.  I may have been rescued from an eternity in hell but my most pressing problems were the hellish aspects of life between now and then.  My new deal with Jesus wasn’t touching those.

Eventually I came to learn – and I am still learning and re-learning this – that the root word for “salvation” isn’t “forgiveness” but it is “healing”.  And these two terms aren’t as different as you might think if you think in terms of relationships.

Just as the teaching and healing sides of Jesus’ ministry belong together, so it is that forgiveness heals our broken relationship with God and, once internalized, makes us very uncomfortable in settling for brokenness in the other relationships of our lives.  This insight, this connection, makes all the difference in the world.

Now it makes sense that Jesus begins his ministry in Mark both by teaching and healing, AND that such healing inevitably is accompanied by a restoration of relationships, a return to community.  Our broken world is desperately hungry for such healing.  Thus Peter’s mother-in-law moves from the bed to the kitchen to make lunch…and every suffering person within earshot of this story brings their loved ones to Jesus’ feet.  Wouldn’t you?

Let us pray:  Dear Lord, broken people seek healing.  Our deepest pains are rooted in broken relationships.  We believe you are both Source of Life and source of the power to heal.  Give us a deep sense of urgency to be about this work in everything we say and do.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.

They went to Capernaum; and when the Sabbath came, he entered the synagogue and taught. They were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. Just then there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit, and he cried out, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.” But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!” And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying with a loud voice, came out of him. They were all amazed, and they kept on asking one another, “What is this? A new teaching—with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.” At once his fame began to spread throughout the surrounding region of Galilee. Mark 1:21-28

Capernaum was a little seaside village about 20 miles from Nazareth. Matthew 4:13 tells us that Jesus used Capernaum as his home base during his ministry. Yet here in Mark, Jesus sounds more like a new sensation than a local boy made good. His coming out party begins in worship.

Mark tells us that Jesus’ surprised the crowd by teaching “as one having authority.” The common style of teaching, the style employed by the scribes, was to teach the tradition by drawing upon the collected wisdom of those who had gone before. Scribes would quote the teachings which had been handed down to them. Much like trial lawyers who base their arguments on the accumulated interpretations and applications of the law, scribes were not innovators or expected to draw out fresh new ideas.

Evidently, Jesus’ teaching was different. Not like the scribes. More like the Author. Jesus taught with authority. We see that later when Matthew portrays Jesus’ teaching using phrases like, “You have heard it said…but I say to you.” What Jesus brought was fresh and new. It was good news.

Interestingly, but something we will come to expect in Mark, an unclean spirit which possesses a man in the synagogue instantly recognizes Jesus. The unclean spirit knows that Jesus is the Holy One of God and that Jesus’ presence means the end of the unclean spirit’s welcome. With authority – that is, with the power to get something done – Jesus silences and casts out the unclean spirit.

The people are amazed.

We’re just 28 verses into Mark and already people are amazed by Jesus. A man is newly released from his bondage. A crowd of people have been given fresh insight.

Being amazed is one thing. Following is another.

Let us pray: Gracious Lord, you come into our presence in Jesus, bringing fresh insight into our lives, helping us see those who are broken in our midst and giving us hope for healing. You are the Author of life; may we surrender to your authority as you lead and guide us through this day. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

As Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the sea—for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, “Follow me and I will make you fish for people.” And immediately they left their nets and followed him. As he went a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John, who were in their boat mending the nets. Immediately he called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men, and followed him.  Mark 1:16-20

I wish I could talk to Jesus.  Not in prayer.  Not in my imagination.  But face to face, man to man, personally.  I want to see what he looks like when he talks to me.  Does he look me in the eye?  Does he gaze off into a distance only he can see?

The Bible, particularly the gospel stories, does this to us.  It draws us in.  It appeals to our imaginations.  The words come into us and start dancing.  The Word becomes incarnate in our hearing.

My guess is that we react differently to this calling of the first disciples.  Someone might say, “Jesus was so compelling that he was irresistible, mesmerizing, and people couldn’t help themselves but follow when invited.”

Someone else might say, “God already knew who the right disciples were so he sent Jesus to them and, with a one sentence invitation, they sensed the compelling Spirit of God and left everything to follow Jesus.”

Or, “Since the Bible tells us almost nothing about Jesus’ life before this point, it is safe to say that he had long developed a group of like-minded friends who followed him for years.  It didn’t happen as Mark would have us believe but eventually Jesus did attract a significant following.”

Such imaginings are interesting but what I am most interested in is how can we do that again?  What does it take to help a modern 20-something or 30-something or young couple with children who are scheduled up to their eyeballs find faith and their place in Christian community?  How does the Spirit enable us to do it again?

Here is what I’m fascinated about this year – I am remembering again that the Christian movement took root in people’s lives and continued to grow during the 40+ years between the death and resurrection of Jesus and the writing of the gospels.  That is a long time, a lifetime.

All that earliest Christian movement had was an experience of God in Jesus that transformed their lives.  No written Bible, no organized worship life, no church buildings, no hymnal, no paid staff, nothing that we think is essential for “doing church.”  Nothing except people talking to people.  People telling both the Jesus story and their own story and then choosing to live their lives differently.

I don’t think that all we have added to the Christian experience through the years is evil.  Most is actually helpful.  But much can be distracting.  So I don’t want us to miss the simplicity and the beauty we see in this moment by the lake – “Follow me and I will make you fish for people.” – and they did!

Peter, James, John – and now us today.  We’re all in the same boat, still following the same Lord, still given the same commission.  And my sense is that what worked then is all that really works today – one person caring enough about another to tell a compelling story about how God is transforming their lives.

Let us pray:  Dear Lord, you called common fishermen to follow you in reaching new people – we pray that you continue to do this work through us today.  Use us to bring a new way of seeing and doing life that brings hope to the hopeless, home to the stranger, healing to the broken and justice for the forgotten.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.

And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him. Mark 1:12-13

Immediately after the affirmation of his baptism, Jesus is thrust into the wilderness.  Mark tells us this wasn’t accidental.  God literally threw him out.  The image is as violent and disruptive as Jesus throwing the money changers out of the temple.

The entire wilderness experience is communicated in a single sentence.  Not unlike the veteran who says “I was a prisoner of war for six years and then came home.” Or someone else casually saying, “I’m a cancer survivor.”  The brevity of the description is too much, no wonder both Matthew and Luke felt the need to expand its telling.

We know what the wilderness means.  Isolation.  Deprivation.  Temptation.  We know 40 is a powerfully symbolic number in the Bible.  40 days of rain in Noah’s flood.  40 years in the wilderness for the people of Israel.  Moses on the mountain for 40 days and 40 nights. A 40-something time period is a period of testing and trial but it always leads to something better.  New insight, renewal, rescue, new life.

As an athlete growing up, I had mixed feelings about the pre-season.  I loved being back on a field or court but dreaded the way that coaches would push us to the edge of our abilities and endurance. Over and over again through the years I would hear things like “the harder we practice the easier we’ll play”, “remember that somewhere someone is working harder than you for what you want”, “we can’t control the outcome of a game but we can control how how we work in preparation.”  Those memories always come back to me when I hear these verses.

People recognize the “wilderness moments” they have lived through.  Usually painful, wilderness moments are times following a divorce, a severe illness, a major move, the death of a love one.  Wilderness moments are debilitating, confusing, depressing.  We forget that life will one day get better for wilderness times do end.

Sometimes we need wilderness moments.  Many people seek time in the wilderness, time in retreat, to find themselves, to rediscover their connection to God, to restore a sense of balance in their lives.

So it is that, just as Jesus identifies himself with us in his baptism, he also identifies with us in his time in the wilderness.  He is tested.  He is tempted.  And he experiences the restoration that God works in our lives as he is cared for at the end by the angels that God sends his way.

So it is that, regardless of what is going on in our lives just this moment, there is as much comfort for us in this wilderness memory as there is in his baptism.

Let us pray:  Dear Lord, our lives have tasted the joy of affirmation and the pain of separation.  We’ve known good times and hard times.  Thank you again for the enduring promise of your love which helps us endure the wilderness moments of our lives.  Help us learn every lesson that every hurt sends our way and sustain us in the midst of our education.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.

In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”  Mark 1:9-11 

And just like that….the deed was done.  Jesus was baptized by John in the Jordan.

Washing.  Tearing.  Blessing.

So many images come to mind in reading these three brief verses as Mark not only opens the story of Jesus but ties it together as well. 

The image of the heavens being torn apart and our mind jumps to the odd reference to the temple veil at the crucifixion of Jesus.  “Then Jesus gave a loud cry and breathed his last. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.” (Mark 15:13-14) 

Something is happening in Jesus – God is changing the nature of things.  The inaccessible – heaven, the inner court of the temple – has become accessible.  God will not be locked away, out of sight, out of mind. 

We hear the stirring words of affirmation that Mark tells us only Jesus could hear: “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”  And then our mind jumps to the other places we will hear these words in Mark.  First, on the mountain of the transfiguration in Mark 9, and then from the mouth of one of the Roman centurions who did the dirty work of the crucifixion, “Now when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, ‘Truly this man was God’s Son!’” (Mark 15:39)

Only Jesus hears the words…then Jesus, James, Peter, and John…then the truth of Jesus’ identity as Son of God was revealed even to an accursed Roman centurion.  This is how the Jesus story will spread.  This is what “tearing open the temple veil” will look like in people’s lives as the Holy Spirit works through the good news of Jesus in the years to come.

And between the tearing and the blessing there is a strange reference to a dove.

I have no memory of learning the story of Noah and the ark, it just feels like one of those stories that I have always known.  And I remember as one of the best parts the dove that returned to the ark with an olive branch, a sign of new life, a promise that the waters of death would recede and life would start anew.  As a child I didn’t get caught up in the particulars of the story.  (I certainly didn’t think it might be necessary to send an expeditionary force in search of ancient ship boards.) 

I only remember Noah being obedient in building a large boat in a very dry place, looking foolish to his neighbors.  The adventure of gathering up animals.  The rain falling.  The water rising.  (I do remember thinking the fish were lucky.)  Then the dove.  And soon after…the welcome sight of dry land.

Thus, Jesus entered the water of the Jordan River.  Identifying himself with sinners, the ministry of Jesus begins in the water of baptism.  In this baptism – as in our own – heaven is torn open, the dove of peace and promise descends, and words of affirmation are spoken.  You are my beloved child.  With you I am well pleased.

In that, we are born anew.

Let us pray:  Gracious Lord, by water and the Holy Spirit you bring new life in our world by raising us to new life.  May we ever see baptism, not as a once upon a time event, but as a daily dying and rising, a daily homecoming and sending forth, a seal of our identity and a sign of our calling.  May we live, not in the bondage of seeking to earn your love, but in the freedom and lightness of knowing that nothing can ever separate us from your love for us in Christ Jesus.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.

As it is written in the prophet Isaiah, “See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way; the voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight,’”

John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. He proclaimed, “The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”  Mark 1:2-8

Back in November I was part of a Jewish/Christian interfaith wedding at our church.  As part of our preparations for the wedding, I invited Rabbi Dan to come and spend a morning with me.  I wanted to learn as much as I could about his theology of marriage, the meanings behind the various Jewish traditions in the wedding, and just generally talk “church shop” with my cousin in the faith.

The conversation became wide-ranging and eventually we got around to what it takes for a Christian to convert to Judaism.  I wasn’t surprised to learn that the last step, in a long process, for both women and men is to be baptized, ceremonially washed with water.  (I’ll admit that I was taken aback at the news that men would need to be circumcised or, if that was already taken care of, be expected to yield a drop of blood from a sensitive donor site.)

Yet my sense is that many Christians would be surprised to learn that Christians didn’t “invent” baptism, just as many Christians are surprised to be reminded that Jesus was a Jew rather than a Christian as we understand it.  The ceremonial use of water is part of nearly every religious tradition.  This ought not be surprising given that water is one of the basic building blocks of life.

What IS surprising is that Jesus, not to mention “people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem”, all firmly Jewish, would have traveled out to the wilderness to be baptized by John in the Jordan River. 

Why?  Mark tells us it was “baptism with water”, “baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.”

The universal meaning of baptism is transformation; it is a change, a movement from one state of being to another.  The unclean is washed clean.  It is a symbol of death and rebirth.  It is both the ending of the old and the beginning of the new.  God was doing a new thing along that river and the people were streaming out to be a part of it.  Jesus among them.

This weekend we will remember this baptism of Jesus in worship.  Pastors will offer various interpretations of what it means.  Central to any such interpretation will be the conviction that the public ministry of Jesus begins with his baptism and that Jesus begins that ministry by publicly identifying himself with sinners. 

Baptism for us then means both that we are set free from our bondage to sin and rebellion from God AND that we are set free TO serve the world in Jesus’ name.  It isn’t an initiation rite into a club but a commissioning to service.  Baptism doesn’t take us out of the world, it sends us back into the world as newly born followers of Jesus.

Let us pray:  Dear Lord, we see your humility and love as you entered the Jordan to be baptized by John.  May we see in our own baptism how graciously you love us as you claim us as your own.  We pray today for those searching for a spiritual home – that they might find spiritual mentors who are genuine, generous, and loving who can help prepare them for their own baptisms into your service.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen. 

The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Mark 1:1

Welcome to a new year!  I hope you enjoyed the rest, the busyness, the memory making and all that goes into the Christmas season and that you are ready now to tackle whatever God brings our way in 2012.

For those of us worshiping in congregations that follow the Revised Common Lectionary of Sunday morning Bible readings, we are now in year B, the year of Mark (and big chunks of John).  As we move into this year, it seems a good idea to me to spend a significant amount of time in our daily devotions listening to what Mark has to say.

We’ll start today with a little background.

According to most Bible scholars, the Gospel of Mark was the first attempt in the early church to write down an account of the life and ministry of Jesus.  (We have to say “most” Bible scholars because those who devote their lives to such work often come across like economists in that much of what they do is disagree with one another.) 

It makes good sense to see Mark as the earliest written gospel.  It is the shortest and the tendency of later works would be to expand it rather than drop what it says.  Virtually all of Mark is included in the gospels of Matthew and Luke so it seems obvious that Mark would have been written first. 

No one is sure who wrote Mark, exactly when it was written, or exactly who the audience was for whom it was written.  The most common traditions suggest it was written sometime around or after the Jewish Civil War of 67-70 CE to a largely Gentile audience, perhaps in Rome, by John Mark, mentioned in Acts as a young man who served under Paul (Acts 12:12, 15:27).  Like all traditions, some of that might be close to reality and some just educated guesses.

As each of the four gospels were written after the death and resurrection of Jesus, the heart of Mark is responding to the big question, “What do we do with a Messiah who died?” 

Mark begins his answer with a short one sentence prologue that sets the context for what is to come.  He will be writing about Jesus Christ who he immediately declares to be the Son of God AND that what he says about Jesus will be good news.

As we leave behind the chaos of 2011, it will be good to begin 2012 with some good news.

Let us pray:  Dear Lord, thank you for seeing us into another new year and thank you for staying in touch with us through your Word.  As we begin listening anew to the gospel of Mark, we pray that you might speak good news into our lives.  We pray that this good news might make us new.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.

“For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all, training us to renounce impiety and worldly passions, and in the present age to live lives that are self-controlled, upright, and godly, while we wait for the blessed hope and the manifestation of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. He it is who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify for himself a people of his own who are zealous for good deeds. Declare these things; exhort and reprove with all authority. Let no one look down on you.” Titus 2:11-15

What if no one opened their presents?

What if some sort of strange “Occupy Christmas” movement started and spread like wildfire around the world?  Twitter feeds and Facebook groups all encouraging young people to reject the abject materialism of Christmas and not open a single present?

All around the world, parents who had used their hard earned money to buy video games and bicycles and jewelry and the coolest clothes and the latest electronics had to wake up the day after Christmas, knowing that their children had refused to open the presents that had been purchased and wrapped especially for them?

It would take a bit of the fun out of Christmas Eve and Christmas morning, wouldn’t it?

Families would be gathered in the den.  The oldest child, or maybe this year the youngest child, would dutifully play “mailman” and bring each person their presents.  And then no one would open them. 

Fathers would get angry and say things like “Fine, if you don’t want what we bought for you then we’ll just take them all back!”  (But then they would start imagining the long return lines and they would change their tunes.)

“This is ridiculous!  I’ve never seen anything like this.  I’LL open those presents for you and you WILL appreciate what you’ve been given!”

After the wrapping paper they would go, in anger rather than joy, until the den floor was littered with glitter and the new things just lying there untouched.  And there they would lay.  On into the New Year.  On into the days and weeks and months to come. 

It would be a shame, wouldn’t it?

Yet isn’t this what we do when we close our hearts to God, rejecting the gift of God in Christ by refusing to let God’s love do its transformative work in our lives?

The grace of God came down to earth in Jesus, revealing God’s character and love, inviting us to lives that are “self-controlled, upright and godly”.  Yet how often do we leave that gift unopened and ignored?  How often do prayers go unsaid?  Worship services ignored?  Good deeds left undone?  Where does our faith fit in our lives – at the center or out on the edges somewhere?  Do we play in our faith or so we leave it on a dusty forgotten shelf back in the corner of our lives?

Does it matter?

Can you believe we would ask a question like that?

Let us pray:  Stir up your power, O Lord, and come.  Take away the hindrance of our sins and make us ready for the celebration of your birth, that we may receive you in joy and serve you always; for you live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and forever.  Amen. 

The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness– on them light has shined. You have multiplied the nation, you have increased its joy; they rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest, as people exult when dividing plunder. For the yoke of their burden, and the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor, you have broken as on the day of Midian. For all the boots of the tramping warriors and all the garments rolled in blood shall be burned as fuel for the fire. For a child has been born for us, a son given to us; authority rests upon his shoulders; and he is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. His authority shall grow continually, and there shall be endless peace for the throne of David and his kingdom. He will establish and uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time onward and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this. Isaiah 9:2-7

It is very difficult for us to forget what we know.  It is hard for us to imagine where we have not been, to see what we haven’t seen.  But if we could…

If we could put ourselves back among the earliest followers of Jesus…

It would have begun with rumors.  We would have heard stories told by those who had heard stories.  We might even have heard from someone who had met him themselves.  A teacher but more than a teacher.  We might have heard stories of people restored to life and health.  Someone might have said something that made us decide that we needed to meet him ourselves.

Maybe we took a long walk and ended up in a hillside crowd where we heard him teach.  Maybe he happened to walk through our village.  At some point we saw him for ourselves.  There was something about him.  A mystery.  A power.  A determination. A strength.

He talked about love, about justice, about peace, about freedom.  He talked about a new kind of life that seemed so much better than the life we had known.  We wanted what he had to give.

But then came the news that he had been killed by the Romans during Passover.  But not just that.  The rumor was circulating that he had risen from the dead, appeared to some of his followers, and ascended to the right hand of God himself.  Now we would have wanted to hear from those followers, perhaps we ourselves became devoted followers.

But how could we explain who he was?  How ought we now walk in his footsteps?

Only then would the long remembered words of Isaiah come to life again for us.  “For a child has been born for us, a son given to us; authority rests upon his shoulders; and he is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” These were the kind of titles that Roman emperors would bestow on themselves but they would only lead to further domination and oppression. But Jesus?  Jesus brought life, freedom, joy and hope.

They remembered even more deeply into the scriptures and they began to see signs of Jesus all over.  The messiah. The suffering servant.  The great day of the Lord.  The promise that he would come again.  So they told the stories…the stories which have reached through history to claim us.

Let us pray:  Gracious Lord, we pray that you continue to bring the light of your love into the darkness of our world.  We pray for peace among nations, peace between people.  We pray for hope and strength to follow, that we might tell the good news story of your love for the rest of our lives.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.

Then his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke this prophecy: “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has looked favorably on his people and redeemed them. He has raised up a mighty savior for us in the house of his servant David, as he spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets from of old, that we would be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us. Thus he has shown the mercy promised to our ancestors, and has remembered his holy covenant, the oath that he swore to our ancestor Abraham, to grant us that we, being rescued from the hands of our enemies, might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him all our days. And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to his people by the forgiveness of their sins. By the tender mercy of our God, the dawn from on high will break upon us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.” The child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the wilderness until the day he appeared publicly to Israel. Luke 1:67-80

We finally put our Christmas tree up.  I’d like to say that we have been observing Advent in our home…which we have…but the delay in putting up the tree had more to do with the fact that I didn’t feel like cutting it down from the rafters of the garage and no one else mentioned it.

We finally got around to it last night.  Now that it’s up, it is triggering memories.

Time for a confession:  I was a horrible “waiting for Christmas” kid.  There was a series of years in there, I’m thinking through my junior high years, when I just couldn’t stand the suspense.  So I peeked.  That I had to manufacture surprise when I opened the gift didn’t seem to bother me at all.  But then I learned to appreciate the suspense and I haven’t peeked at a gift in decades….really, I haven’t.

Yes, all that we pour into celebrating Christmas is a cultural distraction.  Yes, it helps us work our way through the longest and darkest nights of the year.  But there is something much deeper going on.

Waiting.  Anticipating.  Expecting.  Hoping.  These are all powerful emotions that run deeply in our lives.  Advent and Christmas trigger them all.  And each of these emotions grow out of faith.

Because we trust God, because we believe the promises of God, we live in faith, in expectation, in hope.  Because we believe God has been trustworthy in the past, we yearn for God to keep his promises in the future.  Our memory of a child born in a stable is our anticipation of a God who will one day reveal himself again in glory. So we wait in eager suspense.

Zechariah waited for a lifetime.  He knew the stories from the past.  He knew the promises of God.  He waited a long time but never gave up.  While he had no way of anticipating the present God had in store for him and Elizabeth, when the time came Zechariah saw the connection.

I saw a tree in our den this morning.  I saw some presents.  Thank God that I can also see the connection – to a tree, to God’s presence.

Let us pray:  Gracious Lord, like children we see Christmas just around the corner.  We pray that, like Zechariah, we can see the connection between the promises you have made, your trustworthiness and our trust.  May we live in joyful anticipation, ever ready to be surprised by what you might be up to.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.